Baited

I woke up to the world upside down. It could have been from dealing with the wars and mutations that followed, but this time it was because my legs were tied up. Hanging over a swampy lake with a headache and my mouth tasting like copper, I saw a pair of violent eyes stare at me from the murky water. I tried to remember how I got into this situation, and I started to recollect the last few hours.

It had been over a month since I left my old home to get away from dangerous raiders, exploding car fires, rotted abominable creatures, and decided to take my chances in the woods. With my hunting and camping experience, the trees provided great resources to keep stealthy, with soft dirt and easy to read landscapes. I was following the river knowing that it would lead me to the coast eventually, and that would give me enough of a chance to find better assets to survive in a world like this.

Being by myself definitely seemed like the worse situation for me. In my old group, I was the scout due to my light body and quick thinking but unfortunately I didn’t have much of a choice. I lost my family, my team, and my home all in one week. So instead of the power of a hunting group, I had to use the lonely task of working solo.

Hours earlier, I had just finished hunting for supplies along the riverside and was checking on my tools for maintenance. My backpack was still in good shape, with my claw hammer, hand hatchet, knifes, survivalist med kit, and water carrier with purification tablets. I also kept a small pistol in my pack, but unlike my hand crossbow, this was not for hunting. I haven’t had the courage to use it yet, and I probably will never be ready to use it, but if it needed to be done I had to hope that I could pull the trigger at a scavenger or something worse.

…Also multiple pairs of socks. You never heard of movies talk about the importance of socks, but I’m thankful my father taught me that when traveling on foot for a long time, it is extremely important to have socks.

I got a few smooth stones near the riverside to use as spare ammo for my hand crossbow, but when I went to go check on my fishing lines, I noticed that I wasn’t even getting any nibbles. This could be for two reasons in my mind, one being that I had to be careful drinking any of the river water nearby; even with my purification tablets it could be possible that I would get sick. Or the more terrifying thought was that something was in the water that was also hunting fish.

I put my stealth suit back on, which consisted of a tight camouflage shirt that shimmered in a see through manner and quiet pants, and I rewound my fishing line back into my necklace. I took a moment to look at my lures, which had been crafted from metal pieces I made from my father’s dog tags and shook off the desire to remember better times. I put my pack back on and started down the river.

The air felt heated with the rising sun and the river path was loud as it moved down the rocky sides. I could see hand made steps from people who used to camp nearby, but were now ruined from years of neglect. The trees were all dead, nothing but dried stumps that were killed off by either chemicals or some other wartime hazard that I couldn’t imagine. I kept following the path until the river shore rocks disappeared and were replaced with cliff sides. I sighed and pulled out my breathing mask as I started heading away from the water and into the woods.

Even with a breathing mask, I always remember smell of campfires when I walk next to trees. Maybe it was a residual memory from better times with my family, hunting in the woods on camping trips and cooking our catches with pride of a job well done. Even after running from scavengers, I always felt more at peace when I was out in nature. However, after a few minutes, I realized that the smell wasn’t from memory.

Up the hill was a house that was a wreck, a shell of its former glory. Where once there was warmth and possibly love was now only a skeleton of broken dreams. I ducked around a tree and looked for any sign of raiders. I didn’t see anything but smoke coming from the side. No sign of any shadows moved in the house. But silence filled the area, that kind of silence that told me something bad happened here.

If I was brave enough, I would have tried to go in closer for more supplies, but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe I needed to gamble with my skill to survive this new style of life that has come from a lawless time. If there was anything there, living, dead, or otherwise, I wasn’t going to chance it for scraps.

As I moved away, I kept low and stayed as quiet as I could on the soft dirt, away from the house. The noises of the river started to fade and the sounds of the forest started to grow, but it wasn’t very long when the landscape I could read became muddy, unfamiliar, and boggy.

What once was a forest had become more like a swamp in just a few minutes of walking. I questioned if this was a natural occurrence or if this was an effect of something man-made, but I continued through the area by staying close to the trees. When the ground started to crunch under my foot, I had to force myself to not look down to see what it was. I kept my eyes forward to see my way out.

Then a shine caught my eye.

In my peripheral vision, I saw something hanging off a branch on a dead tree. I looked around and saw nothing else that seemed off, so I made it closer to see what it was. Was it a weapon or a tool?

I walked closer to the tree and saw that the shine was a locket; a silver metal locket in the shape of a heart, the kind that lovers would share with each other. I realized that this could have been a grave marker, maybe from a lover or family member.

And then…

I woke up to my legs being tied and hanging upside down. In a panic, I checked my backpack and found it was gone. I still had my breathing mask on, but my crossbow was no where in sight. I felt around my back to see if I still had my knife, but had no luck. I looked around for any captors or hunters, but saw no one around.

I was captured. When was I trapped?

As a last resort I checked my neck and found my necklace to still be there to my relief. I pulled it off, twisted the sides to pull the metal fishing lines I had, and fed it through my legs to try and start sawing my binds to cut myself free. But when I looked at my legs, I saw that it wasn’t tied with rope, but thick metal wire. Was it construction cord or a telephone wire?

The smell of burning rot overpowered my breathing mask and I looked at the swamp that was below me to see something… look at me; some creature with eyes and a lot of teeth. Panic started to fill my lungs, and I screamed in frustration. I debated trying to cut one of my feet off with the wire but I knew there was no hope of me surviving the cutting before being eaten. As a last resort, I held the wire in my hand and put it in front of me, thinking that if I was going to be eaten, I was going to make sure whatever was eating me would choke on it. Sorry Dad, I couldn’t do more.

A spear came from the behind me and into the water where the eyes of the monster was. The creature screamed and trashed a bit, and then quickly went back into the murky water.

I froze in shock, my heart beating like crazy and my hands bleeding from the grip on the wire. I spun slowly around to see a bush stand in front of me, holding a large canon like weapon in its hand. While my shirt was made of a digital camouflage, this bush was part of nature that made it one with the land. I never seen a spear gun before, but I guessed that’s what it was with a harpoon sticking out of it.

A rough, female voice said, “No good, still human.”

I blinked and didn’t understand what she said, but she took off what I think was a mask to show an elderly face worn by time and weather. She reminded me of a grandmother who had been in the country her whole life, but her eyes seemed without warmth.

She asked me, “Are you by yourself?”

I hesitated to answer, but I instantly realized that she could easily dispose of me without a second thought. So I answered truthfully, “Yeah.”

She turned and went to the tree that was near her to pull a branch. A mechanical sound pulled me to the side and I dropped to the land before the wires on my legs loosened up, pulling my feet through to be free. She threw my backpack to me and felt that it was untouched, nothing taken, never even opened.

“What’s the name on your tags?” she asked.

I was taken for surprised, but I slowly answered with my Dad’s name. “And my name is Asha, what’s yours?” I asked in return.

After a moment, she responded, “Ruth.” She then pulled a locket from her suit, a heart shaped locket that matched the one I saw on the tree. “And his name was Jake.” She opened it up and gave a small sad smile that lasted for a brief time. “It’s funny what you remember after years pass. I remember his laugh, his crying, and his smile… but I can’t remember his face anymore.”

I nodded in recognition, knowing that even though I didn’t have the best relationship with my family, I still remember my father fondly now that he was gone. I asked quietly, looking at the water, “Did one of those monsters get him?”

Ruth didn’t turn to look at me. She simply responded, “No.”

I left it at that and asked for simple directions, which she told me a safe path till the next town that was free of raiders. I thanked her and started to leave.

“Did you see anyone on the way here?” she asked coldly.

I told Ruth about the house I passed upstream and the fire I saw. Her face didn’t react, but her cold eyes were staring in the direction of that house.

Then she spoke and it hit me, a retched feeling in my gut that connected all the pieces in my head.

I wasn’t strung up by accident. That grave was a trap that lured scavenger nearby and it had been feeding people to these monsters. She had been using people as bait to survive off them. And with the locket, I only guessed that maybe it was for revenge for a fallen lover. Or maybe it was just madness.

Ruth’s words were, “I need to get some better bait.”