The Feral Sentence - Part One Read Free Page A

whistled
through dangling vines and past several tree trunks. There was a
squeal in the distance followed by rapid footsteps and the stirring
of leaves. Eagle bolted forward, and the others followed, leaving
me at the back. I hurried to follow, but the moment I arrived at
the site of her wounded target, I cringed.
    Across the root of a tree lay a dying boar, its eyes wide and
its head swaying desperately from side to side. Eagle pulled a
rusted hatchet from her holster, grabbed the pig by one of its
tusks, and raised the weapon over her head.
    Rocket barely had time to warn me to look away when Eagle
swung downward at the boar’s neck. The sound of impact nauseated
me. There was a violent squeal, followed by another blow and
another and another until the boar stopped moving entirely. Eagle
stepped onto the boar’s body, and with a hand on each one of its
tusks, pulled upward. I nearly threw up at the sound of flesh and
soft tissue tearing.
    “ Nice shot,” Trim said, staring down at the arrow that
protruded from the animal’s chest.
    “ Thanks.” Eagle raised the boar’s head to eye level, analyzing
its face, tusks, and teeth. “Better than my last,” she
said.
    I threw my hand over my mouth at the sight of blood dripping
from the wild pig’s severed head. Rocket laughed and squeezed my
shoulder.
    “ You get used to it,” she said.
    Eagle wiped her bloody blade against several vines to clean
it, then quickly sliced through one of them before placing her
blade back into its holster. The thick, green rope-like plant fell
to the ground with a thump. Eagle wrapped the vine around the boar
and secured it by tugging hard. She then bent over and tore her
arrow out of the boar’s chest. She inspected it quickly, then wiped
it and tossed it back into her quiver.
    “ Need help?” Fisher asked.
    Eagle shook her head and began dragging her kill through the
forest’s bed.
    “ That looks really heavy,” I whispered.
    “ That’s nothing,” Rocket said. “Maybe two hundred pounds, at
most. A while back, Eagle killed one that was at least five hundred
pounds. Had to cut it up to bring it back to the
Village.”
    I
grimaced.
    “ The Village?” I asked, suddenly enthused by the prospect of a
civilized society.
    “ What were you expecting?” Flander said, her wrinkled face
suddenly near mine. “You were dropped off on an island with over a
thousand square miles of land, along with hundreds of criminals.
You really think it’s a free-for-all? Humans are social creatures.
We wouldn’t survive without each other.”
    I noticed Rocket roll her eyes, as if to say, ‘Old woman. Here
she goes again…’
    “ How do you know all of this?” I asked.
    “ I do my research,” Flander said.
    “ Let’s keep moving,” Trim interrupted.
    She
continued her lead through the jungle, hacking away at the
overpopulation of tree branches and vines.
    “ Hundreds of criminals?” I whispered, leaning in toward
Fisher.
    She nodded all knowingly.
    “ Are they all in the Village?” I asked.
    She smiled, as if this had been the dumbest question she’d
ever heard.
    “ Like any society, Kormace has its outlaws and its rebels. And
like any prison, women fight to hold a position of power,” Flander
said. She wiped several beads of sweat away from her shiny forehead
and gazed around, as if paranoid of being heard. “A few years ago,
someone challenged Murk. Didn’t agree with the way she was running
things. Long story short, she and her loyal followers were removed
from the Village. Rumors say they moved to the north of the island
and created their own society. They’re dangerous—merciless. They
attacked a while back, killing a dozen women in their
sleep.”
    I swallowed hard. Flander paused, and I knew she was vividly
reliving that terrible night. I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d
lost anyone she truly cared about.
    She
cleared her throat. “The Northers all deserve to be
killed.”
    “ Fucking right,” Rocket