Starlight

So few stars were ever visible anymore. Still every night she looked for them. But she did not find them. Although she herself had theories, no one could be sure what was causing the change. This unknown force had altered so much of their world over the last year.

Zenora watched closely for the children. She hunched down low in one of the burroughs, barely poking her camouflaged head high enough to see the forest above. At any moment, they would be returning...she hoped. Harvesting wasn’t an exact science, and the heavens only knew how long it would take tonight.

Her anxiety felt tangible as she waited and watched. Sleep begged to take hold of her. The sleep she had been neglecting for weeks. Always too much to do. Although that wasn’t why she refused rest. How could one sleep when there were so many to watch over? So many things she was still working through. She never felt safe. Eventually, she might be able to overcome her fears, however she somehow doubted she would even live to see that day.

Suddenly she spotted them and released the tight hold she had on her pack. A coping mechanism of sorts. If she gripped her pack, then she felt she was able to keep control. Her nails dug deeply into the thick leather strap. Whenever she released her hands she realized what she was doing. The natural response to her haunted mind. She kept her eyes locked as the children scurried through bushes and trees hiding the contents of their hand-woven pouches. She could see the slightest glow coming from their chest, the place where they kept the pouch. Close to their heart. The safest place.

At last she felt a taste of relief. They had been gone an unusually long amount of time tonight. Waiting while they harvested was her greatest cause of anxiety. Especially when they were met with delays. She was never sure if they would be successful for one more night. Never sure that they would continue to survive. One more dangerous hunt to find the magical glowing berries that delivered power to her veins.

Getting caught with the berries was never a good idea. Going without them was an even worse one. So she had sent the children off on a hunt, always against her better judgement, for yet another night. One less night that they would have to go without.

“Ezdreay.” She whispered as they got close enough to hear her. The code word for their sector. It was a voice they had been trained to listen for which would lead them to the next safety point.

Keeping a low profile was a necessary part of Harvesting. Changing the locations of safety points was the only way to do this. Before long, they would be discovered, as so many other sectors already had. But for now, they were safe.

Zenora realized for the first time how starved she was for breath. Forgetting to breathe was something she did often. After lifting the two children down into the burrow with her, she carefully removed their shoes. She gasped for breath, and held it in for a short moment, allowing the oxygen to return to her lungs.

“Good work.” She told them, returning the shoes to their tiny feet. Although Zenora herself had never seen a Snappit, she knew what to look for. The little metal tracking device that was used to close in on locations of the Sectors. Three locations in Central Bay had already been caught using the tiny traps. Zenora wasn’t about to let their sector, Krezek, be the fourth to fall.

She pulled her analyzer out of her pack and keyed in the coordinates for their location. A microscopic wave dispersed from the analyzer stretching the length of the forest. It scanned for Guards. They all wore lots of metal on their person, which made them easy to detect. Luckily no one in the underground government system had discovered this. It was a little trick Zenora used when she needed it. The last week, twice as many guards had been on patrol, so she justified the use of the analyzer. Because it sent out a frequency, she was never certain if it would give away their location. But if she took the children out of the borough when there were guards around, then she would be in bigger trouble.

Her curiosity begged her to ask them how much they were able to harvest. But she knew it wasn’t safe yet. Tucking her analyzer back into her pack, she pulled out the water vessel and handed it to the children. They were always thirsty when they returned, and so she made sure to keep a good amount of water just for them. They drank every drop, sharing it between the two of them.

“Ready?” They nodded their heads. She held them tightly by her chest in a deep grip and engaged her powers. Both of the children shared her glow and they teleported quickly to the edge of the forest. It was as far as she could take them using her power. A distance of 300 feet or less.

They hid beneath shrubbery as they waited for Zenora to use her analyzer again. Unfortunately the glow did not disappear. Which was why she had to be certain they wouldn’t be seen. Especially now. The reading came through. A guard. He was toward the edge of the analyzer’s radius, but was still too close. He would surely see their glow.

Zenora cursed under her breath as she scanned the area for another burrough. The closest one she could see was too far away. There was only one alternative: start digging. They simply had to hide their glow before they were spotted by the guard.

She and the children quietly pulled away leaves and plants from the area beside them. Then they dug a small trench in which to hide themselves. Zenora laid herself first, as her glow was the strongest. The children stretched on top of her. They knew how to do this. They had been taught well. As they lay in the trench, Zenora couldn’t help but feel sorrow for these children. The life they were forced to live in their current system. These were young creatures. Creatures that should have been living a childhood. A childhood like the one she had enjoyed. Days filled with laughter and running in fields.

If she had been in this forest, she would have been playing with her friends, not praying for survival. As much as they prepared the children for moments like this, she hated when they actually had to experience them. Her powers set off a glow. They always had, and they always would. That glow made them visible even with camouflage in the middle of a forest.

Zenora’s mind often wandered back to a time when everything had been different. A time when the current state of the world would have seemed like a joke. She had enjoyed the availability of everything. Back when the stars shown brightly at night. Back when they weren’t worried about being caught by a band of corrupt government or wondering when they would be able to make another Harvest. Back when they had had different problems. She knew that there had never been a time of true peace, never been a time when things had been perfect. But with how things were now, she wished she could return to the state of dysfunction they had once maintained. Everything felt so wrong about the way she was raising these children. They weren’t even her own. Orphaned, because their parents had been captured by the guards.

She knew that what she and the other sectors were doing was the only way to keep the children safe, but she also knew that she was using them. These harvests were the only way to keep any of them alive. But it was the most necessary evil she had ever encountered.

After a few moments, the glow began to disappear. She was thankful that that was something she could count on. She checked her pack for her rifle. It was there. Fully loaded. Using her powers was somewhat like a supercharge of a battery. It could only be engaged once, and then there was a period of time to recoil. Since she had gotten them through the forest, she couldn’t get them the rest of the way. They would have to run. Running, unfortunately also meant fighting.

They couldn’t make a sound. These kids had been trained through every scenario and knew the expectations. Zenora cocked her rifle and motioned for the two kids to get out of the trench and into the forest. They moved as quickly and quietly as possible. It was very dark and they were in dark and camouflage clothing, so it would get them most of the way to the high road without being spotted. However, it was foolish to assume that there was only one guard. If she had sent off the radar, then he had already signaled for reinforcements. They did not have much time.

Just as she had assumed, the guard was at the edge of the forest. The children followed closely behind her. They hadn’t been spotted yet, but it was only a matter of time. She could hear the sound of approaching carriages. Too many to count.

As they approached the opening to the highroad, she heard shouting. They had almost made it undetected. But such was their luck. She sent out a single fire. Dead in an instant. Dropped to the ground. She chose to look away. Her life was far too filled with bloodshed.