Camp Yognau(gh)t

Chapter 10

Duncan's P.O.V

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I gently put my hand on Alice's shoulder, she tensed but didn't turn around.

 

"Are you alright?" I asked softly, pulling my hand away and moving around the table to sit opposite her. Even though she had her eyes closed, I could tell that she was following the sounds of my footsteps. I sighed and sat down, looking at her.

"Tell me about your scars."

 

She froze, then slowly removed her hand from her eye. Placing it on the table, her emerald green eyes searching my face for clues that this was a stitch up. Finally satisfied that it wasn't, she turned to look out of the window on her right, exposing her scars. She was silent for a few minutes longer, the light outside catching her eyes and making them look a thousand years older. She breathed in silently, disturbing the 'tick-tock' of the clock and the silence that had fallen.

"It's not a happy story." She whispered, I shrugged.

"When is the process of getting scars ever happy?" I asked, she shrugged this time.

"Well then. I was around six when I got my scars," She started, going glassy eyed as she rumaged through her mind for the memory. "I had a therapist because I wouldn't talk. She decided that it was a brilliant idea to send a six year old kid to live with wolves, so-"

"Wait! Your therapist sent you to live with wolves?" I gasped.

"Yes." muttered Alice, her eyes never leaving the outside world while she spoke.

"Because you wouldn't talk?" I queried, raising an eyebrow of inquiry.

"Yes, she said I needed to go somewhere where vocal communication was key."

I looked at Alice in silent awe, this girl had already revealed so much even though she's hardly spoke. She wasn't the talking type, but often people didn't accept that, they saw it as a problem they needed to fix. I'm guessing that in this case they didn't succeed. I touched the back of her hand reassuringly. She looked at it then looked back out of the window.

"So off I went into the woods, thrown amongst a pack of wolves If it wasn't for the alpha female defending me I...." She trailed off, I winced. She would have been killed.

"Why'd she defend you?"

"I was crying, her cubs died. I guess I was sort of adopted by them."

"Oh, right."

"I learnt how to survive like them, learnt how to climb trees in record time to catch my pack food. To pick berries and fruit that grew in the trees. I became quite a survivor. I lead the pack on a hunt at one point." She whispered, reminicing about her hunting days, I carried on in my silence. Awwed by this survivor, this amazing girl.

"I'd made myself a bow and a quiver full of arrows, I learnt many skills in that time and harnessed the ones I knew. I was hunting one day, it was peacefull. I remember that there was elk in the woods, I had aimed my bow, hoping for a clean kill. That's when it happened."

"When what happened?" I asked gently, trying not to destroy the peace that had settled around Alice as she told her story.

"Another pack attacked us, they went for me because I was the one leading the hunt. Their alpha then got his claws into my face," She pointed at her scars that ran across her eye. "I was temporarily blinded, but I managed to fight him off. He got scared aswell."

"How come you're not blind in that eye then?"

"I'm not blind because I picked a plant with anti-septic properties and mushed into up. I then used the paste on my eye and held it in place with a square of torn cloth from my t-shirt and a make shift bandage also made from part of my t-shirt."

"You did clean out the wound first right?" I queried, worried about her even though the danger had passed.

"Yep, with honey aswell as water. I wasn't stupid enough to let it turn septic. And do you know the best bit?" She smiled, her eyes taking on a mishchevious glint.

"Do tell."

"During the fight, my tracker got ripped out. I went under the radar for a year before anyone found me. By then the scars had healed and I was fine, I'd not lost my sight. I was healthy and fit, but when my shrink tried to get me to talk. I refused to talk."

 

I laughed, a hearty laugh. It served them right, trying to fix something that wasn't broken. She smiled at me, it was a shy smile but I could see that she was glad to have gotten rid of the weight on her chest. I thought she looked sweet as she shyly hid behind her fringe. I reached out and brushed it away.

 

"Well you spat that back into their faces!" I chuckled, she nodded and smiled shyly. I stood up and she mimicked the movement, they mischeivious sparkle still lingering in her eye. I chuckled again, she blushed and looked away. I started walking towards the door.

"We're doing archery now, want to come show them how bad-ass you are?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. She nodded and bounced over, I chuckled at her and started walking. We walked until we reached Rythian's cabin, Alice motioned for me to wait as she dashed inside.

 

I waited for several minutes until she came out with a black sports bag, I raised an eyebrow but didn't ask any questions. We headed towards the archery range, where Rachel was trying to give everyone the correct bow size for their height. Nobody turned to look at us, only Hannah, Zoey, Kim and Rythian raising an eyebrow at our late arrival. I shrugged at them. Rachel started bombarding me with a selection of bows, I finally chose a large one that fit nicely into my hand and was the correct size for my height. She offered Alice a bow but Alice shook her head. I started at her but shrugged. She called the leaders to step up first, nobody shot better than and eight. Then it was our turn, Simon was struggling to pull back the string, whilst Lewis, Hannah, Rythian, Zoey, Kim and I were the calm ones. I noticed a white beanie next to me, I smiled.

 

"Alice, you can't shoot if you don't have a bow." Rachel tutted, reaching towards Alice but Alice raised her hand and Rachel stepped back. Slowly she reached down and unzipped her sports bag, we all gasped at the beautiful thing she pulled out....