The Bridge: Chapter Five

If Cahira hadn’t drawn my attention to the sight before me, I would have thought I was hallucinating. Hallucinating would make sense; I was exhausted, hungry, faced with the immediate threat of a possible raider. Everyone has their limits. I could definitely be hallucinating.

Except Cahira saw it too. And evidently, so did Amis. The three of use sat staring at the creature now cohabitating in our makeshift tent, mouths agape. Cahira and I had our hands resting on weapons, just in case.

The animal before us was distinctly humanoid. Its legs were shorter in proportion to its torso, but if it wasn’t for that and the thick covering of fur, it could have passed as an exceedingly strange person. Its large yellow eyes sat in the middle of a red, hairless face, which was in turn surrounded by a shock of beige fur, sticking straight up around its head. It sat back on its haunches, fidgeting with its hands in an anxious manner, studying us while we studied him. I could barely tear my eyes away from the yellow ones before me. Huge, inquisitive. Undeniably intelligent.

Reality seemed suspended. All around us, the storm raged, wrenching insistently at us, the tarp, trying to pull us away with it into what was undoubtedly the icy black waters of the ocean below. Yet the sounds of the storm seemed muted. Even the sting of the rain was dulled as the three of us stared at the intrepid creature in front of us.

Cahira was the first to break the spell.

“Should we, you know…” she called out over the howl of the wind. At the sound of her voice, the animal fixated on her and placed his hands to either side of his torso, his whole body tensing. It was exactly the sort of movement I would make if I was seated and debating whether or not I needed to make a run for it.

“…eat him?” Cahira finished.

At her words, the creature squealed, indignant, and began rocking back and forth, though he didn’t leave the shelter. As he rocked, he began chattering loud enough to be heard over the ongoing tempest. He locked eyes with me and gave me a look which, if I had seen it in a human, I would have labeled as beseeching.

I shook my head violently toward Cahira and held out my hands towards the creature in what I hoped was a placating gesture. Slowly, he slowed to a standstill and resumed his silent observation. Cahira and Amis just gaped. I shrugged, not knowing what to say and unwilling to put forth the effort required to be heard above the storm anyway.

We waited.

˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

The uneasy truce lasted for the remainder of the storm. It was impossible to tell how long it had been; by the time the wind had blown the raider east, night had fallen, or at least the cloud cover was enough to make it seem that way. The entire time, the four of us had just sat staring at each other, absolutely dumbfounded. No one had said a word after Cahira’s earlier suggestion, which I was almost certain, given his reaction, the creature had understood. At any rate, he seemed to be actively avoiding Cahira’s presence as much as possible in the cramped space. Amis, for his part, seemed fairly green, though that could have very well been from his wound.

As the unending torrent of rain turned gradually into a slow, steady trickle, and the wind petered out, the four of us cautiously began stretching our limbs and peeking out from under the tarp. I honestly wasn’t sure if the creature was mimicking us, or vice versa, but either way we all seemed to move in tandem. He certainly didn’t look like a predator, and he’d gone at least a few hours without attempting any sort of attack. However, I got the feeling he could do a lot of damage if he wanted to, mostly because I was pretty sure his anthropomorphic hands could have wielded one of my knives with both ease and accuracy. I definitely held on to them a bit tighter in the company of his suspicious yellow eyes. When the rain finally turned into a drizzle, the creature took one last look at us and leapt out from under the tarp and into the forest in front of us, bright red rump bouncing through the damp undergrowth until he was out of sight.

Cahira, Amis and I looked at each other.

“Well. Anybody know what that was?” I asked, mildly surprised to hear the sound of my own voice after going so long without using it.

“Actually,” Amis began, voice scratchy from a similar disuse, “I think I might.”

Cahira and I just looked at him.

“My dad has this book, from sometime during the Before, about different animals of the world. It had all sorts of animals, some I recognized, some I didn’t, like there was this one that was taller than a tree with these weird spots and an insanely long neck but also kind of like a horse and- “

“Amis!” Cahira and I interjected in unison.

“Right! Sorry! Anyway, there was one in the book that looked similar, not exactly the same, but it was called a monkey, if I remember correctly. It belongs to something called the primate family. There’s all sorts of them, some as small as a cat and some a lot bigger.” Amis finished his spiel and looked at us expectantly.

Cahira rubbed her fingers against each other, her telltale nervous tic. “It looked almost human,” she gulped, “and I swear it understood me when I said I wanted to- you know…” She trailed off, gesturing vaguely.

Amis shrugged. “From what I remember of the book, monkeys are pretty closely related to humans. Kind of like how an eagle and a sparrow are both related; both are birds, but very different in appearance.” Amis continued, “Plus, they were known for their high levels of intelligence. It probably did understand you. Although, for that to be true, it would have to have been around- “

“Humans.” I finished, staring at the forest where the creature had disappeared.

“I didn’t know you were such an expert, Amis,” Cahira tried to joke. Or flirt.

“Not just humans,” I ignored Cahira and persisted, “humans that speak our language. And I don’t think a creature like that could make it close enough to our village without someone noticing. Which means either on the bridge, or on the other side of it, the monkly, mumky, whatever it’s called- “

“Monkey,” Amis supplied.

“Monkey. The monkey has been around people. Long enough to not instinctively fear us, and for it to comprehend our language,” I finished, not exactly sure of the point I was trying to get across.

“It’s a good sign,” Cahira insisted. “Means whoever we’re headed towards, they must be nice,” she said firmly.

“No,” I countered, “all it means is that whoever they are, they don’t kill munchies.”

“Monkeys,” Amis corrected.

I glared at him. He just raised an eyebrow.

“MONKEYS.” I ground out.

“I still think it’s a good sign,” Cahira grumbled, almost unintelligibly.

“Whatever. Look, we should just get some sleep,” I start, running my hands through my hair. “And we may as well stay here for the night, the tarp is already up and we can grab the waters in the morning, they should definitely be full. We can get an early start tomorrow. Who knows, maybe we’ll even run into some more monies.”

Amis just glowered. I think he finally caught on to the fact that I’m screwing with him, although there’s a decent chance he just thinks I’m hopelessly idiotic and can’t remember the one word he has been patiently trying to teach me for the past half hour.

“Agreed,” Amis said. Cahira just nodded.

“Great. I’ll take first watch.” My tone brooks no argument. Without much further ado, the two of them settle rather closer to each other than is necessary, and before long their breathing softens and slows into the rhythms of the fast asleep.

I step out from the tarp and position myself with as clear a line of sight as possible, though the darkness of the night, no doubt compounded by the clouds, as well as the density of the forest, makes it hard to see very far. I try to focus on my hearing instead, since my sight is likely unreliable. For a moment, I consider setting the tripwires from the night before, but quickly dismiss the idea since the inherent dangers of trying to set them up myself in the dark outweigh the benefit now that we have done away with what was probably our greatest threat out here. I guess I shouldn’t think that though; no reason to pointlessly tempt fate.

I can just make out the sound of the ocean from somewhere below. Louder, closer than the sound of the waves, is the familiar nighttime noise of insects. I hadn’t noticed it before, but I was hardly surprised. If the bridge-forest could support an animal like the monkey we had seen earlier, and likely far more animals with it, the buzzing cacophony of insects made sense. Not that any of this made sense.

While my own senses remained alert, I allowed my mind to wander. So much had changed in the span of twenty-four hours. I had gone from a killer of animals to a killer of men. We all had. The foundations of everything I believed in, that all three of us believed in, had been absolutely shattered. We met a monkey. It was a lot to take in.

Alone in the darkness, and somewhat jealous of the companionship Cahira and Amis had found under the tarp even in sleep, I let the thought that had been sitting on the edge of my mind all day creep in and take full residence. We had killed ten of our own people. If Chief Vis was in on it, and more people with her, they would probably figure out what had happened. Wounds made by arrows, knives, and axes are distinctive, and they knew exactly who they’d sent out onto the bridge. I don’t know what they would tell everyone else, but one thing was clear: for the three of us, there would be no going back. I personally had the least to lose in this scenario. I didn’t want anyone back home to suffer or die, apart from Chief Vis and anyone who was in cahoots with her, but I had no family. No real home. My friends were here, with me; as scary as it was, and it was pretty scary, I could move ahead and leave behind the village firmly behind me with minimal regrets. I knew Amis and Cahira couldn’t say the same. Amis had his father, Cahira her parents and her psychotic aunt. However messed up, they both had family. Which would only complicate matters given the fact that her family had tried their hardest to kill us. That they’d succeeded in killing my parents, and countless others. I had known Cahira all of my life, but a traitorous corner of my mind whispered, what if she was in on it the whole time? What if this is all going according to her plan? What if you can’t trust your best friend, the girl who is like your sister? What if she knew all along how your parents died?

Alone, on watch, feeling far more frightened and overwhelmed than I’d ever own up to, I let these thoughts take root, and a seed of bitterness and mistrust grew in my heart.

˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

I woke Amis for second watch about three hours later, by my count. My sweet friend, the gentle, trusting giant, jumped about a foot off the ground as I nudged him awake, axe in his hand. Cahira, ever the light sleeper, also roused herself and had an arrow pointed at my head before I could blink. Amis apologized over and over, and I assured him no wound, no foul. I could tell he still felt bad as he took up his post. Cahira just shrugged and smiled as she laid back down to sleep.

Not for the first time, I wondered what this expedition was already doing to us.