Feral Heart Edit by Duron Crejaro (best ereader for epub TXT) 📖

loud noise crashed through the cafeteria as all the doors slammed shut and clicked, locking automatically. At the far end of the room, a single door opened, and a stream of enforcers poured through. All of them were armed, with weapons drawn. They scanned through the crowd of students, looking for someone in particular. The student body sat in silence. Blank expression looked back at the enforcers and the unfolding scene in abject confusion. They reverted to animals trapped in a sudden bright light.

 

Just then, a solitary figure stood at a table off to the side, some twenty feet away from us. She was tall, nearly six feet. Her skin a caramel color, with hair pulled into a neat topknot. She looked graceful, and unafraid, as if she already knew what was going on, even if no one else did. The enforcers surrounded her, weapons leveled. After a few seconds, it came to me that I knew this girl, Gloria Hatfield. She had been in our classes for years. I didn’t know her well, she was just another classmate I never grew a friendship with, though I felt no animosity to her either.

 

A single enforcer stepped forward, cuffs in hand. He made a move to restrain her, and chaos erupted. Gloria loosed a guttural sound that could only be described as a roar. Shocked screams and panicked cries resounded through her fellow students. Her face contorted as if in pain before it slipped into something wild. I’m not quite sure what to describe it as. It looked animalistic, but resembled no creature I had ever seen. I am however positive that she wasn’t done with whatever she was changing into, because in that moment, the enforcers tazed her into unconsciousness. A stifled silence descended over the room as they cuffed her inert form and carried her limp body from the hall.

 

Right away, the lockdown ceased and a calm voice played over the intercom, “No reason for alarm. Everyone return to your normal activities.”

 

I laughed a little to myself as the message played, as if anyone could pretend this was normal. That was the day I saw one for the first time. A Wylder.

 

Classes resumed of course, and everyone ignored the events of the cafeteria. Even I was silent about it, though my head raced with thoughts. It was all I could think about as I ran laps around the track during my Phys Ed class. I remembered Gloria, not well, but I knew her. We had lived only a few blocks from each other our entire lives that I could remember, and she was Wylder?

 

Was she one the whole time and just been hiding it? Was it something that happened to her recently? What did it really mean to be one? I mean we all heard the horror stories about them, but what did I really know? I Thought.

 

All I had to go on were stories told to me as a child. They were to be feared above all else, and they lived outside the walls. I wondered what would become of her now that the enforcers had taken her. Would she be killed? Imprisoned? Exiled? I sighed to myself as I tried to control my breathing. I didn’t have the answers, just more questions.

 

The bus ride home whirled by in a haze. Cami took advantage of my dreamlike state to flirt with Dhamon, which I ignored. Once home I knocked out the light bit of homework, and then found myself alone with my thoughts. My parents were still at work, and wouldn’t be home for a few hours yet. I wandered aimlessly around the house. Today it seemed small, inconsequential, confining. Feeling antsy, I grabbed my things and a half hour later, found myself wandering the vacant lots and dead buildings of the Old World. Perhaps after the days events I hoped to once again find the beauty and peace that seemed to come when I was here.

 

I walked through the cluttered debris of an alley, kicked a faded crumpled aluminum can along as I went. It clattered along the concrete with each step, the sound echoed in my ears, but then I stopped. I heard something else. Somewhere nearby, I could hear a voice. It was muffled, unintelligible I thought to myself, but there. My excitement grew, it wasn’t often that I ran into others out here. I only had company when Dhamon or Cami accompanied me. With care, I moved towards where I judged the sound to be coming from. I closed in, and estimated that the sound came from a run down building to my right, a dilapidated sign read “The Great Escape” hung above broken door. I sidled up to the demolished entryway and peeked my head around the corner to look inside, better safe than sorry I thought.

 

Inside I spied a young man. I was giddy with excitement he hadn’t noticed me. He was young, around my age I guessed. I assumed he was not alone, cause he seemed to be carrying on a conversation, but upon closer inspection, I found he conversed with himself, which I thought a bit strange. He had a swimmers build, taller than me, maybe around six foot even. His thick light brown hair hung shaggily about his face; his skin was sun kissed with a tan and had a smooth complexion to it. He wore the same dull gray uniform that was pervasive throughout the city. I crinkled my face, perplexed as to what he was doing out here in the old world.

 

He appeared to be scavenging. He tore loose bits of wiring from a wall as he complained aloud. “Why do I always get stuck doing these crap jobs.”

 

He must be doing a project for school I mused. I figured him to be a student in a later grade than myself, maybe an engineer like my father. I watched him, amused when it struck me. This young man was no student. His clothes, though the same, were to dull, faded, perhaps even a bit dirty. His hair left wild and unkempt. He muttered words to uncultured and harsh to have seen much formal education. Only one single word came to mind, Wylder.

 

The thought came unbidden and caused me to gasp. He heard that single sound, and stopped his rummaging. Then crooked his head sideways, and looked in my direction. I ducked back behind the wall, and hoped that he hadn’t seen me. I closed my eyes and held my breath. Maybe he would think a squirrel ran by. I considered my avenues of escape. My brain was interrupted by a light baritone voice.

 

“Who are you? I don’t recognize you.” He stated matter-of-factly as I stood there dumbfounded, unsure of what to say.

 

A slight tremble ran through me, and I noticed I still held my breath. Silly me right? I opened my eyes. He stood right in front of me. A million questions tumbled within the confines of my mind. Yet, none of them seemed to be willing to force my lips apart. Even my fight or flight instinct seemed to have taken its leave and I simply gazed at him as if confused. In that moment, I was caught, prey if he so chose. His eyes penetrated mine, as He looked deep within me, to the dark places hidden in my soul. Those eyes, an odd mixture of the faintest light brown mixed with sparkling emerald flecks. They captivated me. The unusual mix shimmered with an explosion of color I couldn’t follow.

 

He leaned in a bit closer, I think he was confused by my lack of response, or maybe it was the dreamy look on my face. That’s when things got odd, as if things weren’t already. In that instant, his nose crinkled , and he sniffed me.

 

Something about this unusual behavior relinquished its hold on my senses. With embellished indignance, I gave him a shove. “What the hell?” I exclaimed, and tried to decide if I was disturbed or intrigued.

 

“Did you just sniff me? Do I stink or something?” My sudden shove or high-pitched voice surprised him, at least I assumed as much given the perplexed expression on his face as he cocked his head to the side. To my astonishment, he took another deep breath, never uttered a word as he stared at me.

 

He gave a shake of his head, which caused his loose hair to flip about his face. In one smooth motion he slipped his other arm through the straps of his pack. He paused, and gave me one last look before he dashed off northward, away from civilization.

 

I knew for sure then that he was Wylder. I’d never seen anyone move with such grace or speed. Even once he had vanished into the ruins, lost to my sight, I stood at a loss for words. The empty horizon left me wondering if it had all been a fancy of my imagination. I shook the thoughts from my mind and turned for home, enough excitement for the day. It occurred to me then, maybe I should have asked his name?

 

Chapter 4: Spilled Milk

 

It had been nearly a week since my encounter with the strange Wylder boy in the Old World. Sometimes thoughts of him haunted my mind. Also, mention of the girl, Gloria,   became a thing of the past. She was simply gone, and in the week that followed, several more students had been taken. They were taken during classes, or during our lunch reprieve, but all taken nonetheless. Just yesterday a young man, unfamiliar to me, but who sported a jagged scar along his chin was taken. He put up quite the struggle in front of everyone, single-handedly knocked three enforcers unconscious before being subdued. The entire situation came off a bit terrifying, I wondered who was next, and could it be me?

 

Training ramped up in our classes. The fundamentals were being pressed upon with due diligence for all of the various professions laid out in the reconstruction plan for Nashboro. I sighed as I sat through my medical classes, all this generalized learning, just to take a test that would determine the rest of my life. It hardly seemed fair.

 

What if I didn’t like my chosen career? What if I was bad at it? So many what ifs and no answers I thought.

 

During lunch, conversation was terse at best. The repressive atmosphere killed everyone’s desire to talk. We ate in a hushed silence, and waited for that moment when the enforcers would burst in. I groaned and finished off the goop that passed for spaghetti.

 

“I don’t see the point in taking this physical education class.” I murmured in a low tone to my friends,

 

“We all know I’ll never get stuck in any enforcer profession.” Cami was more sullen than usual today, and, poked at her food without bothering to look up.

 

“Are you kidding? You’d make an amazing enforcer.” Dhamon said, “besides, that’s probably the best class I’ve got. It’s so easy.”

 

As the words left his mouth than Cami perked up. I Glanced over at the movement, and could see the rage that percolated under the surface of her blank face as she set down her milk. Wait. Where did she get milk? They never served