For the Love of Family

Navy crouched down in the dry brush and focused to control both her breathing and her heartbeat. Her pulse was ringing in her ears as she slowly slid her hands up and down the backs of her thighs allowing the tights she was wearing to dry her sweat-soaked palms. The doe she was stalking suddenly jerked her head up and got completely still save for the ears that were twitching. Listening. Navy held her breath and followed suit. Completely still but watching. Waiting. The creature resumed its meal, and Navy prepared to kill hers. She picked up the hand-crafted bow and arrow and aimed. As she exhaled, she heard the air being sliced as a foreign arrow whizzed by her ear striking her prey.

“Shit!” Navy hissed emerging from her cover. Her older brother, Coal, sheathed his extra arrow and casually threw his bow over his head to rest crossbody. He shrugged.

“You were taking too long.”

“I had her, Coal!” He grinned showing the dimple in his left cheek and strode over to where the doe had collapsed.

“I hear you.” Navy mimicked her big brother by sheathing her arrow and putting on her bow. Coal gingerly removed the arrow from the deer’s torso and wiped it on the leg of his tunic before adding it to his others.

Navy looked around at the near-barren land around her. No other life stirred. Navy closed her eyes allowing the wind to gently caress her face and thought back to being a young child -- running around without a care in the world. Playing with friends, going to school, having birthday parties. That seemed like lifetimes ago. The world had changed so quickly. After the nuclear war, the one thing that nobody anticipated is what wound up being the demise of the planet. Following the viral outbreak were the subsequent mandatory vaccinations. What scientists didn’t know was how the vaccines would affect humans’ biological makeup and how the new makeup would react to radiation and nuclear emissions.

As a result 80 percent of the world perished, many of whom were the pillars of the world as it had been known. Doctors, scientists, politicians, teachers, entertainers, and on and on were dying in droves daily. The remaining population was comprised of mostly conspiracy theorists and children. It didn’t take long for the age of technology to deteriorate. Now, baser instincts emerged. Clans and alliances were formed. Hunters, gatherers, soldiers, and leaders were established. Navy and Coal were a part of the Hughes Clan. Because Coal, Cyan, and Scarlett were the oldest able-bodied members of the group, they shared a checks and balances type of responsibility as the heads of the crew. Today Coal was supposed to be training Navy to be promoted to the third tier of hunters. She would finally be allowed outside of the clan’s surrounding territory and be able to hunt in free range areas where the big game was found. Yet here she was helping him load the day’s kill -- which HE’LL get all the credit for! -- onto their makeshift sled. Hoisting one rope over her shoulder they began their trudge back to camp.

“Why did you steal my kill, Coal?” she asked. He purposefully marched forward, never breaking his stride and not even looking in her direction.

“You’re not ready.”

“How do you know? You didn’t give me a chance!”

“I gave you the chance, Navy! You didn’t take it!” He wrapped his rope around his hand and stopped to face her. He knew better than to drop the rope. This was a free range area meaning rogues, pirates, and other clans were at liberty to take whatever was on these grounds whether it was claimed or not.

“You doubted me --”

“No,” Coal interrupted. “Do you think any other hunter or any other clan would have hesitated to take that shot? They wouldn’t care if you were standing there and had stalked the prey or not. As a hunter you have one job: bring home food and come back in one piece. You had the shot for two whole minutes. You doubted yourself.” He placed the cable back on his shoulder, adjusted his footing, and prepared to resume the journey. He cocked an eyebrow in Navy’s direction and waited for her to do the same. Navy clamped her jaw and blinked back her hot, angry tears. There was no room for weakness in the Hughes Clan or any clan for that matter. They trekked on.

***

When they made it back to camp, they were greeted with whoops and hollers from the others. Navy couldn’t help but grin at the response; however, she had to force herself to swallow back the salty taste of bitterness that crept up when thinking about how much sweeter those cheers would have been had her arrow been the one to slay the beast. A wild-eyed little boy with wild, shaggy hair to match ran right up to Coal with his arms outstretched.

“Ash! My man! What’s up?” Coal said, scooping him up and throwing him onto his broad shoulders.

“Can I help skin and cut this one, Coal? Pleeeeaaaase?” Ash pleaded while softly bouncing with each of Coal’s steps.

“You’re still a little young for that, bud,” Coal responded, lifting him up and placing his feet firmly on the ground. He bent down so they were eye level. “You can be my tool caddy, though. How does that sound?” Ash’s frown turned upside down as he raced towards the corner of the territory devoted to food preparation and storage. Cyan approached next with Scarlett, Ebonie, and Olive in tow. Cyan and Coal touched forearms in welcome.

“Kudos to you, man,” Cyan said looking down at the haul. “Nice.” His bright blue eyes surveyed the deer, no doubt dissecting it in his mind.

“Yeah, Coal,” Ebonie added as she pulled her shoulder-length, black locs up into a messy but practical bun. “Couldn’t have done it better myself.” The others chuckled. Everyone knew that Ebonie was the expert marksman of the clan. Before the pandemic Ebonie was on the archery team at her school and would also hunt regularly with her stepdad. Her first few weeks after joining the clan, she didn’t say a word to anyone. She just ate, slept, and went to target practice. She licked her full lips and placed her hands on her full hips. “Let’s carve this turkey.”

As Ebonie and Coal headed in Ash’s footsteps, Scarlett and Olive hung back to grill Navy.

“I thought you were supposed to be bringing in the haul today, Navy.” Scarlett said.

“I almost had it.” Navy started raking her hand through her hair.

“Almost doesn’t count.” Olive retorted, rolling her green eyes. Navy fought the urge to roll hers in response.

“Excuse me.” She attempted to brush past them both, but Scarlett grabbed her arm.

“Please don’t walk away from me when I’m talking to you,” she spat through clenched teeth. “It’s terribly disrespectful.” Navy shrugged her off and headed towards their family’s tent. She could still hear the girls’ shrill laughter behind her.

***

She threw back the tent’s flap and ducked to enter.

“How is she?” Navy knelt down beside the pallet on the floor where her little sister, Sage, rested. Sage had been sick for days, but try as they might, the clan had been unable to come up with a remedy. None of the people in her village or from the Brown Clan, the clan in which they had a shared alliance, had people with medical backgrounds in their midsts. Coral shook her feeble head and gazed upon Navy with sad, wisened grey eyes.

“She’s not getting any better, and now she won’t even eat.” Navy gently rubbed Sage’s forehead; it was feverish and clammy. She whimpered in her sleep and shifted her weight to her left side.

“She needs help, Navy. She needs the Ottos.” The Otto Clan and the Hughes Clan had history. Ever since Royce Otto stole from the Hughes’ camp, there had been tension between the two groups. The Ottos were known for being abrasive, confrontational, flashy, and obnoxious. However, they had one thing that the Hughes were lacking -- a medical professional. Mercedes Otto was in a nursing program when the pandemic started, and she was also a psychic medium. If anybody on the planet was left to help Sage, Mercedes would be the one. Navy needed to find her brother.

***

Navy triple-checked her satchel -- food, canteen, pocket knife, a change of clothes. She reached underneath her shirt and pulled out her mother’s locket. She gazed lovingly at it and ran her fingers along the inscription: “For the love of family.” Her mother had this locket made for her when news of the nuclear radiation effects was confirmed. Inside the locket was a picture of their whole family -- Navy, Coal, Sage, and their parents Gray and Jade. Her mother was so vibrant and strong, like the sun. Beautiful and full of light yet so bright and bold that she was almost difficult to withstand.

Her family’s tent opened. Coal’s head peeped in, and he jerked it back signaling for her to come outside. She closed her satchel, draped her bow across her chest and yanked her sheath off the floor as she made her way outside. Standing next to Coal were Auburn and Roan from the Brown Clan. They were dressed and equipped as if they were prepared for a voyage. Navy cut her eyes at Coal.

“What is this?”

“We’re coming with.” Roan replied picking his nails with a knife. Navy never took her eyes off her brother.

“I was speaking to him.” Roan put his hands up in mock surrender while Auburn rolled her eyes.

“Both clans need the same thing, and there is strength in numbers. The council agreed to allow you to travel to the Otto camp in order to barter for medicine, but these are the terms that were established.” Navy stepped closer to her brother so as not to be within earshot of the others.

“So first you don’t trust me to shoot a doe, and now you don’t trust me to barter for goods?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Navy. This is much bigger than your ego, though that’s a hard thing to accomplish. You know the Ottos. They are both stubborn and greedy. By taking Auburn and Roan, not only are you increasing your likelihood of coming back in one piece, but the clan doesn’t have to exhaust all its resources in order to create a worthwhile exchange. The weight is now shared by the Browns. This isn’t about you, remember? It’s about Sage. ‘For the love of family.’”

“Can we go now, princess?” Roan moaned. “There are a few people in my camp that will be missing me. I don’t want to keep them waiting too long.” Auburn snorted.

“It’s three days, Navy,” Coal coaxed. “How bad could it be?”

***