Under The Tent Top (COMPLETED)

Ten

I STOOD motionless in my place as Marius walked off. From the distance I noticed a figure, yelling at a large one.

A fleshy thud was heard in the air. The large shadow staggered backwards, as the smaller one ran past Marius. They exchanged a few words, a short embrace and soon the small figure ran towards me.

"Nightingale!" Rene called out. "I'm sorry, I didn't know Brutus would do that!"

I stared at her red knuckles. "Did you hit him?"

She laughed.

"You can't do that!"

Her brows furrowed. "What?"

I shook my head. "You can't hit the guests! Samil is going to be so upset with me."

She grasped my shoulders. "But he tried to hurt you!"

Abruptly I could feel the air leave my lungs. The thought of Samil finding out about Brutus sent fear into my blood.

"He won't find out," Rene whispered. "Brutus is just more afraid of Marius than he is lustful for women. I promise Samil won't know."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "I believe you." I didn't.

~*~

Rene and I walked back to the performers' trailer soon after. We quietly tiptoed through the sleeping entertainers and sat at the edge of my bunk.

"Samil hasn't told me where I could sleep yet." Rene confessed.

I shook my head. "He never will. He expects you to figure it out on your own. Don't worry Mirna is good with arranging things."

She smiled through the darkness.

"Take my bunk tonight." I offered.

"Where will you be?"

"I think I'll go visit the elephants. I'm sure the party has some left over corn from your people. They could use something to eat."

She nodded in understanding. "And the cubs?"

"Dandra takes them in the morning to walk through the bushes if there's some around. They usually find insects or berries. Left over pickings from the audience's payment if they didn't have anything valuable to trade for tickets. Things like that."

She laughed. "Not too bad for a bear in the apocalypse."

I shrugged. "Could be worse." They could've been a Nightingale.

By the time Rene was fast asleep, I snuck out into the darkness. Mist has started to form and the air grew cold. The frosty ground tickled my toes.
I made a short detour to the main tent for left over corn, and what was left of the water, before making way towards the back trucks.

Gem, the larger elephant was still awake. The Asian elephant spotted me with little effort. Her ears swayed high and her eyes widened. I reached over the fence allowing her trunk to find my palm.

She nuzzled against my hand. I patted her gently. Her eyes moved towards the gate of the fence, the field ahead was filled with nothing but what was left of a small town and a few military vehicles. Further up the dusted road was a highway. The edges skirted with fallen trees, open dry grass, and no fences.

"I know. Me too."

"What would you do too?" A voice called out.