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Lostling's Hope Part 2: Susana

I inched forward across the branch, trying to avoid looking down. My grip tightened on the razorroot harpoon. That would be my only safety line if I fell. I didn't want to think about the trip down. I looked up again, searching for my prey. The oblong crablike creature was hanging upside down from one of the upper branches. Its lone eye was shut. That nasty thing was a forest crawler. They were the strange monkeys of the Forest, complete with massive hook-shaped claws and hardened shells. They were also, regrettably, edible. And a lot easier to kill than anything else in the Forest. They also happened to think WE were just as edible.   I took a deep breath. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I stood up, balanced on the tree branch beneath me, and pulled out a pouch from my belt. I steadied myself, sighted for the crawler again, then threw as hard as I could.   THWACK. The bag ruptured on impact, filling the air with fine sand. The creature instantly woke, opening its eye. Then, it let out a keening wail as sand fell into its one eyeball. I grinned as the critter covered its eye with one of its legs, trying to get the sand out of it. Now that it was blinded, I could take my time.   I pulled out a bow and arrow. Bringing the arrow to eye level, I leaned against the tree trunk behind me and brought it back and released. A second later, the arrow sailed through the air and lodged home in the one of the crawler's back legs. The creature's wailing was quickly justified by another arrow to another leg. It made a hurried grab for the branch, but missed and went tumbling down towards the ground. Jeremiah would be waiting for it with a club.   Still smiling, I looped a rope around the branch and began the trip down. A flawless hunt always put a spring in my step.   Upon reaching the ground Jeremiah called me over. "Great kill dear. This should keep Taryn and the rest happy for a while. May even convince Cicero to stay for a bit." My husband looked at the freshly-bludgeoned corpse of the forest crawler, smiling. I frowned in response, biting my lip. Returning his gaze to me, Jeremiah asked, "What's up? Something on your mind?"   Something was, but now wasn't the time to talk about it. "I'll tell you later. For now, let's get this critter back to the town." He nodded and gave my hand a quick squeeze. We worked to strap the creature to a dowel and carried it between us. I looked around and found the ball of yarn we always brought with us, partly unrolled. Picking up the dowel, we began the long walk back along the thread.   We'd been in the Dark Forest for almost a year, as far as we could tell. Our family had left on a "fun weekend trip to see nature". That was back when we still had an SUV. Jeremiah had loved that car, as weird as he was. It had been crushed by one of the Forest's many monsters. It took a long time for him to return to normal, and I could still tell there was something different about him.   And why wouldn't he be different? We'd been living in this cursed grove for almost 3 years by my estimation. I was probably different too. I was just better at hiding it.   "Mom! What did you get today?" A screaming child knocked me out of my reverie. I looked at Jerry. He shrugged. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought the town was farther away than it was.   Karen began climbing down the ladder. "Don't you dare come down here young lady! Stay up there were it's safe! YOU KNOW WHAT'S DOWN HERE!" I jostled the crawler on the dowel by way of illustration. Karen giggled but did as she was told. I grinned at her. She knew better than to risk either of her parent's wrath. "Where's your brother? I'm going to need both of your help tonight."   She gleefully shouted down, "He's off playing with his ants again!" I sighed. Of course he was. At least I could count on a little sister to tattle on her brother.   "Can you go get him? I'll take this," I motioned towards the dead crawler, "To storage. I'll check in with Taryn too."   Jerry nodded and gave me a quick hug. "I'll ask you about it later." It took me a second to remember what "it" was.   I hoisted the dead animal on my back and finally took a moment to look at our home: Lostling's Hope. The village was little more than a series of pullies and huts built among the trees, but it kept us safe. One of the elevators around what we called Center Tree would take me up to the food stockpile.   "RON! SEND THE ELEVATOR DOWN!"   Jerry began climbing the rope ladder Karen threw down from Family Tree, and I waited patiently as Ron lowered the elevator to Center Tree. I wasn't worried about creatures near here. We had long since killed off any of the biggest threats, and the smaller ones had learned to avoid our little hamlet. But every once in a while we got something immortal passing through. Forest guardians Cicero called them. We just called them monsters.   The elevator came to a stop, and Ron's ancient disinterested face greeted my tired eyeholes. Ron was about 70, and it was amazing he'd been able to survive long enough to make it to the Lostling's Hope -- probably because nothing wanted to eat such a sour man. When he wasn't manning the elevator, he was also our village storyteller. He'd a talent for writing, but little to write on. But I guess he wasn't ever without inspiration nowadays.   "Hey Ron, seen anything interesting today?" He grunted in response. Ron wasn't much of a talker outside of story sessions. I saluted him and headed upwards, taking the steps that had been nailed into the tree trunk. I didn't mind. Truth be told, I still had a lot of walking to do.   Eventually I settled into a quick pace and made my way up to the store house. Brom ambushed me with a wide smile. "Sue! So glad to see you, and with a fresh catch too! I'll have the kids helps us prep it." I handed the creature to him and he hoisted it up to eye level. "HA, this is a big one. Hopefully wasn't too much trouble?" As usual I marveled out how strong Brom was. Crawlers were easily a good 40 pounds (not that we had any way to measure them) but he hoisted it like it was a bug. "A clean kill. Send Jerry my regards. He didn't waste any time putting it out of its misery."   "Thanks Brom. Where does that put our stores at? Taryn will want to know."   Brom frowned. "Lower than I'd like, but enough. There's still a few more months before the heatwaves begin, but I think we'll make it." But his voice lacked the usual conviction. "Just stay safe out their. There's not enough of us as it is. We don't need another person going missing."   I patted him on the shoulder. "You worry too much Brom." But it's why we put him in food storage. We knew he hated to see anyone go hungry. That... and he was also the best cook in the village. I said my goodbye and began to climb the stairs further up.   Near the top of Center Tree was a network of branches connecting the four trees we called our home. On this lattice sat the central treehouse, one of our few wooden structures. This was where Taryn and the older villagers lived. Ron came here to rest, along with Melissa, the doctor-turned-medicine-woman. I pushed aside the braided moss (a gift from Jerry) and entered the treehouse.   The treehouse wasn't that big, but it felt cozy. Three sleeping mats laid on the floor, with enough floorspace between them to walk around. The circular room was divided in half by another curtain, behind which I could hear Melissa working. The scent of various medicinal and cooking herbs wafted town from the rafters, where they hung in bulk, ready to be taken down and mortared up to dull pain or help with a cough. Melissa wasn't happy this was where we kept the cooking herbs too, but they would have rotted during rain in Brom's tent and risked spoiling all of the meat he kept there.   Taryn looked up from the mat she'd been braiding as I entered. She looked to be around 60 now, and her skin had begun to sag in protest of being attached to her body. One of her hands was wrapped in a black glove, permanently shaped into a claw. Her hair was already a solid silver. She had trouble moving around, and her eyes spoke of the years she had seen.   She'd been in this forest longer than any of us. Would you believe she was actually only 34?   "Susana? Is that you?" Her voice creaked uncertainly.   I walked over to her chair and knelt down. "Yes Taryn. I've come to let you know we managed to find a big crawler. No monst--" Taryns face twitched "I mean guardians today. Brom says we'll probably have enough food stored up before the heatwave starts."   Taryn nodded curtly and leaned forward in her chair, her one good hand grasping the arm rest. "And any new survivors?" I shook my head. Taryn's face was unreadable. It was amazing how fast she had changed since I had entered the room. She went from being an ancient grandma to a battle-hardened general in a few seconds. "We'll need to keep an eye out. I'm increasing the hunting parties from two people to three. We can't risk losing anyone, and we need to find the ones we've already lost." A pause. "Or anyone else who hasn't found Lostling's Hope yet." She raised her eyes to mine. They were brown with a bit of gold flaked in. "We abandon no one." Taryn fell back into the chair. the half finished mat forgotten in her lap. Again, she muttered, "We abandon no one."   I placed my hand on hers. For a second, I was nearly overwhelmed by the urge to hug her. Taryn was important to us all. The town may have been named Lostling's Hope, but it was Taryn who gave us that hope. She'd been its head since the very beginning, and it hurt to see her looking this worn out. A few seconds passed, and eventually I settled for nodding. "We'll keep looking. I'll let the others know. Brom says we should be fine on food if we keep bringing in kills like that crawler."   Taryn's face softened and sagged, mirroring her posture. "You know..." She stopped, then started again. "I mean..." Another pause. A look of confusion crossed her sharpened face, then cleared. "Take care of the family Susana. We may need to learn to live here for a long time." She shook my hand off hers gently, more of a shooing motion than a push. "Now go. I still have this mat to finish, and I'm sure Karen, Jerry and Howie will be wondering what's taking so long." I nodded. Something still bothered her, clearly, but she wasn't ready to talk about it. I knew better than to push Taryn. It was hard to believe she was only 6 years older than me. She had the demeanor of an old woman, and the stubbornness to match.   Taryn turned back to her mat and I left the treehouse. Time to head back to the family. Something still nagged at me though. Taryn seemed even older now than I had ever seen her. More than that, she seemed defeated. As I slowly walked down the stairs past Brom's food store, a question came to mind: Could we ever get out of here? Were we truly stuck in this prison of greenery?

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