So this is something that I've been working on for a few years now. It's part of a novel I was working on but then stopped to work on my Fanfiction series and another novel that I had planned out more so than this. The characters are very (or not really, depends on how you see it) OC...But I guess that's because I set it in a zombie apocalypse. (I write a lot of dystopian stuff with fantasy on the side. Hope you all like it
~Tati
When We Enter Neverland
Part I
Prologue I
The mid afternoon sun was beaming down on our backs. We couldn't complain though. Me because I can't speak. Erza because she was looking around. Natsu because he was trying to keep us alive. And the newbie because he was nervous. To speak now meant death to the rest of us and no food for the village. Which also meant more death.
But, I gotta give credit to the newbie, Gray. He was doing well for his first time. Nervous instead of excited for his first hunt. I figured that all eighteen-year olds would be the same. Excited, cocky, high above the likes of the experienced hunters. But not Gray. I could see him shaking slightly, not so much to make Natsu tell him to go back to the village and train some more 'till he's up to the hunt.
I don't think I was like that when I first started hunting. I was a kid on my first hunt. At that time I could talk, my father was still around, and my mother was too. I can't really remember what my first hunt was like for me. I'm not sure if I screamed at the black blood or if I was overjoyed with my first kill. That's lost forever in the back of my mind.
I watched Natsu focusing on the entrance of the forest. That's where all the game is. The Muerto Forest. The Dead Forest. People die there. It's believed that my father did right after the Citizens took away my mother. The bears in this forest have the best meat in the area…Well, the closest that you could ever get to the best meat. The deer always lead to the best places to graze for berries and roots. But, it's always a pain to get in. Getting out is the easy part.
The Infected don't like staying after dark.
Erza was a good scout. She's rather big, but her eyes are amazing at scouting out objects in the horizon. And she was quick enough to duck down before something found our hiding place. She looked over the rock we were behind for about a minute or so before coming back down. I looked at her expecting something. She shook her head.
Natsu poked my left ear. His signal for me to listen to anything I could pick up. When I lost my voice, my hearing and sense of smell got stronger. I listened. I heard the breathing of the others and the distant sounds of the village. I also heard the sound of heavy breathing. Almost husky even. I lifted my nose in the air, catching the surrounding smells. Grass. Pine. Dirt. Dried leaves. Blood. Death. West of us.
I kicked Erza gently as I grabbed one of my guns and motioned my head in the direction of the scent of them. She understood and stuck her head out as I started loading. I gave Natsu a look that told him everything that he needed to know: They're near.
Natsu turned to Gray next to him. "Get ready Ice Cube," he whispered. "Your big debut is up next." He tauntingly sounded like the man that took his cousin away last year.
"On it," Gray said. He sounded nervous, but confident at the same time. He didn't want to disappoint the village or get himself, and us in turn, killed.
I positioned my rifle directly on the rock and waited for Erza's report. "To the right," she said. I moved it so. "Keep going. Keep go-Stop! We're set for business."
I looked into the scope. I waited until I saw some sorta movement in the area. I saw the limp, pale hair of one of them and shot. I saw the head of that one explode from the impact and black blood landed on some of the others. The others stood up as I grabbed my pistol. Just in case I didn't have enough time to snipe another one. They looked around until they looked in our direction and headed towards us. It was a group of seven, not including the one I just got.
"Natsu, throw one," Erza said. Natsu threw one of his flaming spears into the chest of the lead. Down he goes. Dead.
"Ice Cube, Erza, get ready to shoot," Natsu said back.
Gray nodded and steadily got his crossbow into position and aimed for one in the back of the pack. Erza had three arrows on her bow and aimed for the front. Natsu got into his throwing position with another spear and I loaded my handgun. I stood up and I heard Gray choke.
"What are you doing?" he whispered/yelled at me. I looked to the newbie and smiled.
"Kid, watch and see," Erza said.
I looked to the pack, running now towards us. I tilted my head and tauntingly smiled at them. Though, I knew that they couldn't possibly comprehend the act of a taunt with the brain capacity already to the max thinking a single word: KILL!
I raised my gun and pointed it to them. My taunting smile turned into an evil grin as I let out the first shot; hitting one of them in the head. That one fell back as the others advanced towards me. I let out another two shots, landing in the head and shoulder of another. Four more to take out.
I lowered my arm and let the others take care of the rest for me. "And, now," Natsu said. Natsu stood up and threw his spear that ended up going through two of them. Gray stared in awe. Natsu noticed and shook his head. "Just luck Kid."
"But still," Gray said, "that was amazing." I poked Gray and he looked at me. I pointed to the pack. "Oh! Right."
He aimed for the farthest one to the right. He shot the arrow and it went through its head. Gray was good with a crossbow. Shaky by only a little. But with more practice on moving targets, he could probably be an Archer like Erza. She was up last. Her three arrows were aimed at the chest, heart, and head of the last one. She shot and the last dropped dead.
The battle was short but we did win a prize. To be able to get into the forest to hunt with no problem. And the stench of black blood in our noses.
I held up my hand before Gray let out a breath of relief. I looked around, waiting for another surprise attack from them to pop out from wherever. I nodded and lowered my hand. We're good.
"Let's head out," Natsu said. "It's two now. Probably will take us another two hours to get food and head back to the village."
I stuck my pistol on my belt and grabbed my rifle. I nodded and leaded the way towards the forest. Passing the now forever dead bodies of Infected. Their flesh was falling off of their bones and had a nasty sickening smell to it. Their bleached hair was limp and covered in the red blood of human from past meals and from their own black blood from this battle. Their dull eyes were open and were a vomit yellow kind of colour. Some of them wore clothes, but it was more like torn-up rags rather than clothes.
The forest hid the sad and horrifying reality of our world. It showed the true essence of what the world was like before the Outbreak happened and before we started living like this. At lease, that's what I heard from my great-great-grandmother. I consider myself lucky to hear what it was like in the Golden Age as she calls it from her very mouth. She lived during the peak of that era, and started raising a family too. Not a lot of kids could say that their great-great-grandparents told them anything of that time. They were mostly dead when we came around.
The lush green leaves were shining from the sunlight as they blew from the wind on the branches. I caught a couple of squirrels leaping from tree branch to tree branch in a sorta game of tag. The snapping of twigs beneath our boots sounded like a lullaby to me as I heard it so many times before now. The refreshing smell of earth mixed with the assorted smells of different trees in the forest. Gray looked around in awe. It's his first time being let out of the village gates. Let him look around as long as he's within earshot and not making us loose game.
"Okay, here's the plan. Erza, take Gray to the western river to catch some salmon. Me and Luce will look for a bear or deer to kill," Natsu explained.
"Aw! Why do you get to hunt for the meat and we're stuck on fishing duty?" Erza complained. She did always loved the thrill of the hunt and hated whenever she wasn't apart of it.
"Because I don't want the kid to get killed right off the bat," Natsu explained. "He should survive at lease four more hunts before getting killed by a killer bear." Erza rolled her eyes. "Meet back here in an hour, go gather strawberries if ya want."
"Pft. Whatever," she said, trying to hide the fact she loves strawberries. Erza grabbed Gray's collar and pulled him with her. "C'mon Newbie. We're going fishing. On the way I'll tell you what kind of roots and berries to forage. A lot of people back at the village died because some idiot picked the wrong ones."
"Oh…fun," Gray said.
I smiled and laughed. Natsu could tell because my shoulders were moving as if I was laughing instead of making the noise. He smiled to me and motioned his head deeper into the forest.
"C'mon Luce," he said. I looked to him and nodded.
We walked up the hill that leads to the nearest waterfall. Bears in the forest loved going to waters because it's easier to catch salmon when they're going upstream. Usually going on hunts makes me think. About what it was like in the Golden Age. Great-Great-Granny Ruth said that it was amazing. That there was no fear in being killed once outside of the village. That there was peace and there were no such things as Citizens or Sector Unknown. Just America.
The world that was from the past seemed so far away. It was years ago. But my great-great-grandmother thought that it was only yesterday. A Neverland of sorts. Some far of place that was never meant to be discovered. A fairytale. A myth.
But, what would it be like if we entered this Neverland that had flourished but perished? I thought as we continued looking for game.
So...that's it. But if you guys really liked it and there's a bunch of epic and awesome reviews praising it, wanting more, or something along the lines of that, let me know and I'll see to it that it'll be a work in progress.
Sorry for not updating in a long time. Been looking for a job, which I finally have now. Might get another one to pay for my school tuition. (That shit's expensive!) And sorry for mistakes, this was one of my first stories I've ever written and just rewrote it to put in Fairy Tail characters and elements to it. I'll fix it as I go if you guys decide to read more of it.
Thanks again for stopping by, Tati
