Broken

Alone Once Again

Alex comes into the room. I look at his face and realize I have to go hunt. It has been about two weeks since the last one. He smiles sadly and comes closer. He grabs my arm and drags me out of the room into another. Within the room stands the warriors who survived. The look on their faces tell me something is about to happen.

Alex says, "Today you will hunt on your own. Come back with food. Come back broken. Come back with a story. Come back as one of us."

Clayton's body screams he is willing to throw me to the wolves, but his eyes whispers against this. I laugh slightly and ask, "Will I be able to get a spear? Will I be able to know what I am hunting for? Will I be able to survive this? How long will you wait for me to get back?"

They all look at each other. Silently, one steps forward. Then the next and the next. I do not understand what is happening, but I stand there and watch.

Clayton is the last to step forward. He looks like he is going to regret what is happening. Slowly he opens his mouth and says, "You are a weapon in our disposal. One that must learn to fight without our help. One without an idea what it is to go hungry. Within the hunger you will gain, you have to learn to remove it. You will be surprised what you will eat to survive. We all went through the unknown. We all went through this alone. No one is going to wait for you to survive because many do not.

"Everyone in this room, every warrior, only cares for their own survival. In the end, you will not fight for those around you. You will fight against those who stand before you. Because in the end, no one cares for you. Learn this and come back. If you do not come back, you will not be missed."

His words are daggers against my being. I nod. My body moves without my command and walks out alone into the cruel world. I look at the sun. The sun shows me all the vulnerability I have. It shows me all the harshness the world has.

Maybe I won't survive this. Maybe I will die within the first day. Maybe that is the last time I see them. I start running to the closest building. I walk into the building and realize this was the building that I had first walked into when I was thrown from the care of Dohean.

I look around, going from aisle to aisle. I stop when I see a horribly decomposed body lying in front of me. This is the world I live in. It looks as if she was the last to be here. Her physic is small. Almost childlike. Maybe she is a child. I shake my head and move on. I find a comfortable place to rest till morning.