Me, Lj, Angie, Alyssa and Victor are walking home together after leaving from the school. Captain Nash's and Rodney's conversation is still playing on repeat in my head. I don't know whether I should tell the others about it or keep this a secret. Either way I need to learn more.
"Yo guys could you give me a second, I need to piss." Says Victor.
"Boy we just left from the school five minutes ago, what happen to you?" Lyssa replied raising her voice.
"I didn't need to go then, just please imma be one minute." He says while running behind a building.
"I swear that boy is leak more than a broken faucet." Lyssa says stopping to wait.
"Hey Angie, could I ask you something over here." I ask while walking away from the others.
"Um sure." She replied as she followed.
"Back at the school I over heard your dad talking to someone. He was talking about you guys' relationship. I know I'm intruding but-"
"It's nothing." She jumped in cutting me off. "Don't worry about it."
"Alright."
"Was that all you wanted to ask?"
"No actually. Has your dad ever mentioned meeting a... crazy old man?"
"You need to elaborate more than that."
"Like, a man who came to the city alone possibly, and was saying weird stuff."
"Um no not that I could recall. Why are you asking?"
I pause before releasing a heavy sigh. "No reason at all."
"What's bothering you newbie?"
"Why do you think something is bothering me? I replied changing my somber tone to a more cheerful one.
"Because you haven't looked at me for this whole conversation and it sounds like your choosing your words carefully."
"Don't worry about me." I replied after a few seconds.
"Piss mission complete, let's get to stepping people." Victor says as he returned.
We finished our walk home with me remaining quiet and distant. Shortly after our break we waved bye to Victor and Angie as they broke off from us to head in the direction of their homes. Alyssa separated from us shortly after that, leaving me and Lj walking in silence.
"Everything good with you Ejay?" Lj asked finally breaking the silence.
"Never better." I replied still facing forward.
He analyzed me for a moment. Before letting silence shroud our walk home again. Right before we were about to enter the building though, Lj stopped and said...
"Before we met all the others we were brothers. Nothing's changed. Back in the city we dealt with everything together no matter what it was. Now I'm not gonna force you to tell me what's bothering you but don't let it stress you out. I'm here to help you through whatever."
He then walked inside leaving me standing in front of the building. Finally something somebody else said was in mind. Not only that but, he's right.
The next day
"Alright rookies line off against the fence." Said Rodney.
"Thank the Lord it's cloudy today, I couldn't survive another day in the heat like yesterday." Lici exclaimed.
"I sure I'm not the only one still sore though." Says Dameer as he stretches his legs.
"Alright settle in." Rodney says waiting for everyone to quiet down. "Today we're going to be seeing two things. Firstly I want to see how good you guys are at scavenging and then, I want to see how good of a shot you are. As you can see there are five targets here in front of you. Your goal today is to craft your own bow with arrows and bring it back here to shoot a bullseye. How you construct your equipment is entirely up to you. The only thing I'm providing you guys with is a knife. The first five people to hit a bullseye will be exempted from today's run. So if there aren't any questions..."
"Excuse me but what's a bullseye? Asked Miguel.
"Um your free to go good luck."
Everybody took a knife and ran off into the city to start the task. Luckily me and Lj know how to make a bow and arrow from scratch. Dad's training is paying off.
"Hey bush boys, I'm assuming you guys have at least a clue on how to do this." Said Alyssa as her and Lici walked towards us.
"Was that your version of asking for help?" Lj asked.
"It's the closest thing your getting out of me." She replied while smiling.
"If your giving out assistance I'm not opposed to taking some." Dameer added as he joins the group.
As much as I want to get this done alone I have to admit, I'm starting to like these guys. I half smile breaks into my face as I hang my head then look over to Lj. He looks away to hide his grin.
"Alright we could get this done together." I finally replied. "This is how we're gonna do it. Lj, I don't know if you remember where we saw those cedar trees when we first came to the city?"
"That could be our handles." He replied.
"Exactly. You and Alyssa head there and cut enough for the five us. Dameer as for you, I need you to gather sticks that are at least a foot long and the width of a pencil. Also we need you to find feathers."
"Where am I suppose to find feathers?" He asked looking around.
"I've seen plenty pigeons around." I replied as we all laughed. "Lici, as for you and me we need to collect fiber from plants. That's what we'll be using as our bow strings. Any questions?"
"Nope."
"Nah."
"Let's go."
"How the hell am I suppose to catch pigeons?"
"Alright we meet back here in twenty minutes." I say while we all run off leaving Dameer standing alone.
Five minutes into our search and so far so good. The overcast of clouds is making maneuvering throughout the streets fairly easy. Much more enjoyable than yesterday.
"I'm surprised you still have the energy to move around like this." I say to Lici as I stop to inspect a plant."
"I'm surprised your nose isn't broken after you ate the concrete yesterday." She replied while smiling at me.
"Yeah imma need you to forget about that." I responded with a laugh.
"Not a chance bush boy. Speaking of which, how are we gonna use this as bowstring?"
"We have to turn it into cordage by tying it together, I could teach you the method my dad showed us."
"The methods of father bush himself."
The both of us laughed before slipping into a brief moment of silence that didn't last long. A feint sound of thunder rolling in from the distance disrupted us.
"Maybe we should get this done quickly." I said.
"Yeah."
It wasn't hard at all finding enough fiber that could be used for all of us. Vegetation has slowly taken over abandoned parts of the city which was perfect for us. I started to tie what we had into cordage as we moved back to the training ground behind the school. Some people were already making pathetic attempts to hit the target and others were testing out their bows. As we got closer we saw Lj and Alyssa running in with the handles but there was no sign of Dameer.
"Alright Ejay, these should work as our handles we just gotta smooth 'em out a little." Says Lj dropping the sticks in front of us.
"Ok me and you will do that, Alyssa you could help Lici finish tie the cordage."
About five minutes went by and more and more people were making it back with every passing minute. Were almost done with the bows but without arrows they're useless.
"Wait, why that look like Meer?" Alyssa says pointing at a boy jogging towards us.
"That is him." Lici responded. "Um he doesn't look ok."
As he came closer we all saw the coat of mud and dirt that covered his body.
"The hell, I had to go through to get these damn feathers." He said handing me the feathers. "The sticks was easy but I ain't ever chasing birds again."
I let out a light chuckle before saying. "Lj let's make these arrows, we need them quick. Dameer you go chill out."
We have to sharpen the ends of the sticks since finding something to be an arrowhead isn't possible right now. We were only able to make seven arrows but that should do the job for now. The bows however came out amazing.
"Alright grab yours and let's go, I don't think anyone has hit it yet." I said picking up my bow and one arrow.
The five of us took a target each and waited for the signal to fire.
"As soon as the way is clear your free to fire." Said Rodney as he watched from the side.
This should be easy. Set. Draw back. Fire.
"Bullseye!" Rodney yelled. "Good shot Lj."
"Thanks." He replied as he walked to retrieve his arrow.
"That's one, there's four more spots!" Rodney exclaimed.
How did I miss? There was no wind. Dammit, no time to think about it I gotta try again. I run over to pull my arrow out of the target and right before I reached out to grab it another arrow flew into the board.
"Another one! Good shot Cory." Rodney yelled again.
I looked back to see him standing where I was. I grabbed my arrow and his and ran back. This time I'm hitting it no excuses. Set, aim, drawback. Fire.
"Bullseye! We have two more, Alyssa and Lici good job girls."
Why? That arrow didn't even stick into the target. I picked up Cory's arrow and drew it. That last spot is mine. Set. Aim. Fire.
"Bullseye. The last spot has been secured, everybody put down there bows. Congratulations to Lj, Cory, Alyssa, Lici and mud boy. Everyone else you have ten laps around the building."
"My name is Dameer sir."
"Yeah yeah everybody begin your run."
I failed. How? Another feint sound of thunder rolled in as the others began their run. I placed my bow over my shoulder and went to start running when I felt something hit the back of my neck. I turned around to see nothing and felt something else hit my shoulder. It feels like ice.
"Sir there's hail falling." A random girl says.
"Unless it's at least golf ball size, your not excused from this so you should get moving." Rodney replied.
It felt like grains of rice were being thrown at us but as we went on with the run the size, speed, and amount of hail falling grew very fast. To the point where by my fifth lap I was starting to get bruised. I didn't care though. This is what I get for failing.