The Feeding Season

  ***

  While the Gatherers were fulfilling their special order, the rest of the boys rested except for the Mechanics, who had a very important job to finish. Thirteen was observing from the side how Zimmer was repairing Lem's hydraulics. He had tried to help several times but both of them had ignored him each and every time.

  “I just have to secure this end into the new slot and you'll be ready,” announced Zimmer while he bravely tinkered away with his tools.

  “I'm impatient to move this arm around, you know?” Lem was excited about the possibility of becoming a fully operational Defender again.

  “Ready! Try it now.”

  Lem moved his left arm – he was able to move it in every direction, but with a slight delay.

  “It doesn't feel the same as before. I've lost strength in it.”

  “But you're still able to move it, aren't you?”

  “Try crushing a rock with it,” suggested Thirteen, who had been waiting for the proper moment to intervene. “That way we'll understand if there's enough pressure.”

  Lem reached toward the ground and took the closest rock fragment. He grasped it in his fist, but no matter how hard he tried, the rock remained whole.

  “You try!” said Lem as he threw the stone to Thirteen, who lifted his hand, caught it and in the blink of an eye smashed the rock to pieces.

  “Damn it!” said Lem disappointed.

  “That'll have to do for now. There's nothing else we can do,” said Zimmer shrugging, then he began to put away his tools. “It's a miracle, that you're able to move your arm at all, if you ask me.”

  Lem chose some other rocks from the ground, but he was unsuccessful in crushing them with ease, in the way he wanted to.

  “Is there no way to get it back to its former strength?” Lem asked. “I need this hand to be at one hundred percent, if I'm going to be a Defender.”

  “It's too complicated,” Zimmer tried to explain. “You've lost too much hydraulic fluid.”

  Thirteen examined the completed repair work and he was shocked at Zimmer's response, since he had a flawless reputation as a Mechanic. Thirteen was sure that the problem could be fixed and in a much better way. Unfortunately, no one trusted him.

  “I have an idea and if you allow me, I'll try to restore the pressure.” This time Thirteen was determined to help at all costs. “It'll take me about 10 minutes.”

  Lem and Zimmer looked at him in disbelief.

  “Since Zimmer was unable to do it, why are you so sure that you'll be able to?”

  “Trust me and in no time you'll be like new!”

  “Tell me what you have in mind, and I'll do the repair,” suggested Zimmer.

  “Yeah, that's the best way to do it,” said Lem supporting Zimmer.

  “How do you know that'll be for the best?” angrily replied Thirteen. “You're just a simple Defender. I'm a Mechanic and I'm telling you that I can fix your messed up arm!”

  But Lem moved farther away from Thirteen.

  “What's your problem? Why are you moving away?” said Thirteen continuing to wonder at Lem's actions.

  “Leave me alone!” Lem sought to protect himself from Thirteen in every way possible.

  At that moment, the rest of the boys in the group began to move about loudly and energetically. All of them were pointing at the edge of the rocky outcropping, from where the Gatherers were returning. They were short one.

  “What happened? Why are you returning with empty hands?” said Leegan as he met them. He looked at each of them and then he noticed that Magar was missing. “Where's the other one?”

  “He's not coming back,” replied Rogar. “And there's no metal either.”

  Then the Gatherers told them what had happened. The story upset most of them, once they understood, that their Shells were constructed from the survival suits of boys who had been eaten on previous Descents.

  “The pile in the hangar was huge! How many suits were collected to make it?” wondered Gor, who didn't stop watching the crazy Number 1.

  “Why didn't anyone warn us about the giant monster, since they knew that it has been attacking every Descent?” said Luhar unable to understand.

  “What of it? What could they have done about it?” answered Rogar. “It is a monstrously huge creature, and neither we, nor the Fortress have the weapons to defeat it.”

  “And it's only going to get bigger. Year after year...” Bars wondered how much time would pass before the tentacles had grown enough that they would be able to reach the Fortress itself. It was a real and inevitable danger. In spite of the monster, the Descent continued to take place every year without exception, because there was no longer room for the older boys inside. They had to leave their secure home and fight for survival outside in the unknown wilderness.

  The sky began to darken and thick clouds were dropping down to the ground. The air pressure was changing and the boys sensed it immediately.

  “We're leaving right now! There's nothing to keep us here any longer,” thundered Leegan and everyone turned a worried eye toward their leader. “From here on out, we have one common goal – to survive, and for as long as possible. That's not going to be easy, as you all well know. Especially knowing the places that we'll have to roam about in. Since the way north is cut off and there's no way to connect up in time with the rest of the groups – we'll continue south. We have only a few months before the climate changes for the worse and the Freezing season begins, when we'll be forced to go into hibernation. Until then we'll use every day to hunt for food – we need to eat and fill up our food reserves to the maximum. If we succeed in doing all that, then we'll have a better chance of continuing forward in the same way in the future. And only time will tell who of us will be worthy of returning to the Fortress as a Hero.”

  A Hero – the dream of every boy who was kicked out of the Fortress. The despair and sadness were easier to handle, once one realized, that one day he might return home again. The fear of the infinite dangers quickly faded, thinking of the time he would be able to write his exploits in the priceless pages of the Textbook. The hunger and thirst weren't so horrible, knowing that some day when he had returned to the Fortress, it would only be a bad memory. Bars' great desire to turn into a Hero could only be compared to his equally great horror of the unknown future, awaiting him.

  “Hunters!” Leegan's voice awakened Bars from his reverie. “Find food, but don't separate. We'll follow you from a close distance.”

  “Hey, what are going to do with him?” asked Gor, who obviously didn't like his task.

  Number 1 didn't show any signs of improvement. He still stood away from the other boys and if anyone tried to get close to him, he would take an aggressive stance.

  “Don't worry about him anymore. If he has a brain – he'll follow us,” stated Leegan categorically. “Let's go! Say goodbye to the ancient, stinking Fortress, because it's no longer going to protect you.”

  Bars and Vestule left first, and soon after them the rest of group followed, moving in a single file.

  Looking up at the Fortress, Number 1 didn't end up following them.

  Chapter 7