Episode 3 - Trouble in the Air

‘Where are they?’ Destiny snapped. She was pacing, she was showing signs of nervousness. She was breaking her cool and her control over her clan. Oh, well, what was left of it.


‘It’s not like Belle to get lost,’ Asbel said, she was leaning against the tree, continuously flipping a rock while Matt sat cross-legged on the ground, picking at the grass and wild flowers.

‘Maybe Cani’s throwing a tantrum and Belle’s trying to calm her?’ he said absent-mindedly as he picked up a blade of grass, examined it, and put it back down again.

‘Cani,’ Destiny muttered, angrily. ‘It’s only like her to go an drag someone else into her own stupid mess,’ she tried to kicked at a stone which Matt was reaching for and ended up hitting his hand instead. He pulled it away with an ‘ouch’ and shot her a bad look.

Destiny couldn’t care less.

Her Tribe was breaking up.

‘Whoa, Dest, calm down,’ Asbel said, coming towards her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Destiny smiled, already knowing he was near her was making her feel better by the minute. She and Asbel had been together for as long as she could remember. Well it was long before 2012 for sure.

She knew that they were going to last, and she was so glad that she and her family—meaning Cani and Asbel—had survived the whole ordeal. They were survivors and still together.

And then there’s Matt and Belle, Destiny thought, glancing down at the sweet but definitely random guy with messy brown hair and a skinny but muscular frame. He was a city boy, Destiny remembered him coming around her house all the time when he and Cani used to date. Even after they had broken up he still hung around. He was sweet like that and couldn’t even hurt a fly.

Destiny even remembered his parents. His father was an alcoholic. One night he had come to their house and started swearing and yelling at Matt to come out even though he wasn’t there. Matt never knew his mother, she ran away when he was young. That was all the knew about the guy basically.

And then there was Belle.

Belle was almost dead when they found her, she never talked about her parents but Destiny knew that she lived on a farm with her grandfather who died before 2012 even happened. She was definitely the icon of a survivor.

And she’s probably in trouble, Destiny thought as she shimmed out of under Asbel’s arm. ‘Look,’ she said. ‘Maybe we should go look for them, it can’t be hard—tracking I mean.’

At that Matt lifted his head and stood up quickly. ‘I can go—Belle taught me a few tricks, I could find them no problem!’

Destiny considered this but quickly shook her head. ‘No, if we should go we all should go,’ she played distractedly with her hair. She really needed a trim. Quickly she shook her head. No, she couldn’t let herself get distracted from the matter at hand. ‘Look, it’ll be dark soon we should leave now if we should leave at all.’

Asbel nodded and picked up the deer which he had caught and placed in a potato shack which he found a while ago, floating down the river bank.

‘I hope their okay,’ he said, taking Destiny by the hand as they walked down the way which Belle had left.





Night fall came quickly.

One minute Cani was sitting there, watching as the others ate their meat and spared no food for her and then the next a big buddy guy was picking her up by the hood of her black cardigan and tightly tied her to a tree, in front of a large hut and tied still unconscious Belle to another tree directly opposite her.

As she watched the others all disappear off she was silently hoping that the guy would leave to so she could work on some sort of escape (or at least wait until Belle woke up to do the whole thing for her). But instead the buff guy placed himself at the door of the hut and sat there, a large stick in hand.

She watched as the guy said goodnight to the angry girl who kept hitting Cani and giving her evil threats and saw her disappear into the hut he was guarding.

She’s probably their tribe leader, she thought, curiously. I wonder what her name is. This was obviously a large and successful tribe and Cani was secretly hoping that they would allow her to join their tribe.

As soon as she realised the thought she quickly shook her head and tried to think of something else. No matter how many people this tribe has and how good their resources were she would never abandon her own.

Would she?

Cani yawned sleepily and tried to go to sleep even though her butt was getting numb and she couldn’t feel her hands. She needed sleep so she would be strong enough for whatever they were going to do to her tomorrow.

What were they going to do to her?

She tried to put that out of her mind too and concentrated on sleeping, but her eyes wouldn’t shut so she instead stared off into the distance when she saw a movement from the corner of her eye.

Suddenly alert Cani rose her bright yellow head and glanced around. Please don't be someone coming to kill me, she thought, anxiously. But then she saw the movement again and clam fell over her. It was Belle. She was shaking her left foot and moving her arms as she tried to wake up.

‘Belle,’ Cani hissed, trying as hard as she could not to wake anyone up. She glanced at the guard but he seemed to have already fallen asleep himself. Perfect. Cani called out again, ‘Belle.’

Slowly Belle opened one eye and then the other and glanced around. Her pale blue eyes were wide and her long wavy hair was stuck to her pale face. She looked awful, but Belle still managed to keep her calm even when she was facing danger in the eyes.

Cani grinned and rolled her eyes at her friend. ‘Belle!’ she hissed.

This time she saw Cani and pulled one corner of her mouth up in a half-smile. Cani was about to say something else—like she was sorry—when Belle raised a hand and placed it on her forehead.

And that’s when Cani noticed. Belle’s hands weren’t bound.

Well actually they were, they were tied together by a thick rope which Cani was amazed this tribe even had. But to the point they weren’t bound behind the tree she was resting up against—like Cani’s—they were simply in her lap. She guessed that they didn’t expect her to wake up anytime soon.

‘Belle, do you think you can untie yourself?’

Belle opened her mouth and then shot a nervous look at the guard who was still half-asleep against the hut he was suppose to be “guarding”. His foot moved but nothing else. Phew.

After making sure he really was asleep (by throwing a rock at him) Belle nodded and whispered back, ‘I think I might,’ to Cani.

Cani grinned. If she had to be stuck and captured by anyone she would definitely choose Belle—she had the brains and the ability to outwit and rescue anyone if she put it to work.

She watched patiently as Belle grabbed a nearby rock and, carefully, started going at the rope around her hands. But 20 minutes later no process seemed to be happening and Belle ended up throwing the rock to the ground in frustration.

Cani half-expected Belle to lash out at her. Exclaim that it was all her fault for getting them into this mess in the first place, but instead, like a loyal friend and great hunter, Belle glanced up at Cani and said, ‘I think I have an idea.’