Surviving for Death
Chapter 1- The Letter that ends it all
Regarding The Wanted Sandrine Durant;
Miss Durant, the Military Police have made an outside contact to deal with your constant disregard of the law. They have asked us to deal with you appropriately. Your crimes of theft, assault, murder, ownership of government issued weapons, impersonating government officials, theft of government issued military gear, assaulting Military Policemen, conspiring against government officials, and the over hunting of preserved forest areas have proved you to be a menace of society as well as a danger to the peace inside the walls. You have two days to come forward peacefully to the military police headquarters in your area. If you fail to do this, we will come and reprimand you personally. Thankyou for your time.
The letter was left on my desk while i was helping to harvest some of the food from our fields. The accusations were technically true. But i was just doing the best for my village.
The King and the Military Police left the village to die. This all began 50 years ago as a group of impoverished people that moved out of the major cities tried to find refuge in farming towns. They were rejected from nearby villages and forced to create their own village from scratch. The village Drorf was created next to a highway transport road inside wall Maria. They lived by hunting in the forest that the highway ran through, but it wasn't enough to thrive. No matter how many times the reached out for help, nothing happened.
I was born into this village 19 years ago, the daughter two mayors who did their best to bring a basic way of life to the 150 people living here. My father hunted and served as the main lawmaker of Drorf. He worked hard to feed everyone, even during the winter when hunting was difficult. My mother built homes and educated the young in hopes of them being able to work in the bigger cities later on in life. I was forced to take over the village at 14 years old; i had grown up learning the ways to run the village and had already assisted my mother for two years after my father had died. Once my mother died of a disease we could not treat, the villagers insisted that i took control.
All of my crimes were for the good of my people. I stole to give my people supplies. I hunted to feed them. I had weapons to make this all easier. I killed to protect them. If anyone committed a crime it was the government; they abandoned their citizens and left them for dead. I was the one that helped them.
"So what does it say?" Hayden was standing at the door with her arms crossed in her usual way, she always seemed like she was trying to look uninterested in the situation, "Anything important?"
"No, trash from the government like usual," I ripped it in half and tossed it into the garbage, "Shouldn't you be helping build a new house?"
"Trajan is already starting-" i scoffed before she could finish her sentence, "I don't need to-"
"Hay, that house needs to get finished soon. I'm going out to get more supplies in the mean time. Just go and help so it can be done as quickly as possible."
She sighed, "Sandre, can't you let me help with the supplies just once?"
"Its a one man job."
She grunted and left without another word. Hayden had been helping run Drorf ever since I was put into this leadership position. She can be convincing, being relatively pretty in this area is all you really need, which can be an asset to me. Plus, she has incredible farming abilities; truly a huge help around here. But she wants to do all the dangerous things: wants to hunt at night and steal from traders and used the 3DM gear. But she's reckless, and I don't know if its safe for her to get involved in it until she grows up a little bit.
I needed to get started so I picked up my 3DM gear and pulled my black cloak on. The information I gathered disclosed that there would be a transport wagon moving through the highway around seven at night. It would be carrying wood and building supplies to the next district over. It should be taken by a few traders that shouldn't be armed. A simple enough task, but difficult to get the goods away from them. I'll have to knock them out and then take the whole wagon. It shouldn't require many, if any, weapons. So i took a few hand knives and a bow with a few arrows for simple protection.
It was already close to the time. I found a hidden spot in the leaves of the tree towering over the highway to get a good vantage point. It didn't take long for me to hear the wagon up the road. However, no one was talking; the traders were being quiet and keeping their heads down. The word of how dangerous this area is for traders must be getting around. I pulled my hood over my head, and before they could get much closer, I used my gear to swing down from the trees and land softly on the dirt road.
"Please, If you just leave the wagon and turn around this will be easy for you. I'm sure you know how this highway works." The wagon stopped but no one moved. They all kept their heads down. "Either pay up, or leave it all here. I don't want to get my hands dirty,"
This was all very strange. Most traders and transporters didn't look this clean. Or uniform: they all had on the same green cloaks. These couldn't have been traders at all. Under their covers, did they have maneuvering equipment?
"Shit-"
I shot my hooks up into the trees to the right to send me deeper into the forest. The sound the 3DM behind me sounded. They were all in pursuit. They definitely had numbers on me; there had to have been at least five of them with the wagon. However, I know these trees.
I took a quick look behind me to see two of them directly following me. That means there is at least one on each side. If there were more men, there may even be one in front of me.
I shot my left side directly up to sling shot myself above the trees. I flipped over and pulled myself back in the direction from which i came before hand. When i was back into the cover of the trees i took my bow from behind my back and hooked an arrow into it. I found placement in a tree with a good enough vantage point to see them come back this way.
When I heard the gear I got myself ready. This first guy was so fast that i think i only got him in the leg. The second went by before I had the chance to get another arrow. And my third arrow found its way into someone's side.
I heard someone land on the other side of the tree too late before they had a large blade pressed to my neck.
"You're good," he said, "but you didn't really think you could defeat us?"
I sighed and dropped my bow down to the ground below me, "I really did, I still do."
All of my knives were still in my waistband, so i pulled one out and slashed down his arm. I got away and dropped to the ground below me. The two men i had hit- one in the leg and one in the side- were down in the bushes. Two more men appeared behind me, and then the man who i cut.
He looked at the two injured men, "you're not all that good of a shot,"
I laughed, "I don't have to be; those arrows are poisoned."
The men gasped and i heard the two behind me pull out their blades, "Commander!" one of them called.
I whipped the knife out of my hand as i turned around and nailed one of the men in the stomach. I shot the grappling hook of my 3DM into the other one's leg and pulled him into me, he dropped his weapons in pain. By the time i had him in my arms with a knife to his throat I felt the cold tip of a blade on my neck.
The commander had gotten behind me.
"If you don't put him down in the next ten seconds, you won't see the sun ever again."
"and what if i kill him where he stands?"
"You won't get any nicer a fate. Trust me kid, you're going to want to give up here."
With five other men, I didn't truly stand a chance here. I knew this when I started; I just like a good fight.
"Ok, Commander," I dropped my knife and let the man go.
He pushed me to the ground and tied my hands together. I felt my 3DM gear get removed and my knives taken out of my belt. The Commander stood in front of me while someone else held my shoulders down.
He was a handsome man- too handsome for the military police, and too skilled too. He almost looked kind, blue eyes and blonde hair always made me want to trust somebody. Thats how I ended up trusting Hayden, afterall. A badge peaked out from under his green cape. The Survey corps. Why would the survey corps be handling something like this?
"Are you ready to talk now?" I didn't reply, "First, what kind of poison is on those arrows?"
I laughed a little which made the guys behind me push down on my shoulders, "They're not poisoned, its just a mental trick."
I thought i saw him smile for a moment, "Smart. So, where did you get the 3D maneuvering gear and where'd you learn it?"
I didn't want to sell out the old man in my village who got me access to it because he use to make it when it was younger, so i said, "I stole it from some people passing through the forest and tested it out until i understood how to use it. I have a lot of scars from failed attempts, if you don't believe me."
He nodded for a second, "So, Sandrine, I have a proposition for you. If you haven't already noticed I'm a commander in the Survey Corps. You can either agree to come with me and join the Corps, or I can hand you over to the military police, where I'm sure they have a nice public execution waiting for you."
I tried to struggle for a second before responding, "I would rather die than leave my village. I need to make sure those people are safe and healthy, it is my duty."
"What if i say i can promise an outstanding donation to your village from the Survey Corps should you join us. And if you serve for a minimum of five years you will be exempt from your crimes and allowed to return home. How does that sound?"
A large donation was exactly what my village needed. It would fix some poverty and hopefully get them back on their feet to become sufficient. I didn't want to leave, I wanted to stay and make sure all would be well. However, the best thing seemed to be to leave them.
"If you assure the donation. And i won't get reprimanded or treated poorly because of when i did to these men today."
He nodded and smiled, "I can't assure the second part when I'm not looking, but I'll do my best. You know, I just picked up another kid just like you. He was a smart ass too. You'll both go through training before joining me. If you're up for that, then the deal stands."
"Then I'll do it. I'll become a scout."
