Chapter 8, Alira
The German Shepherd aimed his gun at the animals from Eris as if attempting to shoot them. As soon as they saw the barrel pointed at them, the animals obediently started to walk. Skye did not though, until the Shepherd clicked then gun. Then he moved.
The Shepherd walked them far away. As Skye looked back, Eris became harder and harder to see as the new planet filled his view. But Aster was not different at all; it was like he was still on the same planet.
"Um—sir?" He asked the German Shepherd. It looked at him and snapped its pointed teeth. When it turned away Skye looked at it. It was almost like a wolf, strong with a black coat and pointed ears. What was it, though? It looked like a police dog almost, but if it was a police dog it would be a Kinetic…and it seemed too kind to be a Kinetic. Skye always thought that Kinetics would be savage and mean, because of the horrible bombings they had been suspected of doing.
But how did he know they were behind it? Skye flicked his ears at the thought. Maybe somebody else was doing the bombings, but the citizens of Eris had nobody else to suspect.
They walked for a long time. Skye looked around, and then they entered a city. It was empty. He peeked in the holes that usually contained animals, but they had been swept spotlessly clean. Nobody milled about, and the bushes had overgrown and were peeling onto the asphalt. The German Shepherd did not speak about this or mention it at all. He just smiled and paraded through.
They continued on for the rest of the day. Every so often they'd come across big patches that had been cleared of asphalt and bushes. They were just plain, parched, tan dirt where clouds of dust rose steadily and whipped around the area. The Shepherd avoided these blank patches, walking neatly around them.
They walked even in night, and when morning struck, something that signaled life came into view. Skye squinted in the dawn light, was just able to make out what looked like a bunch of cabins. As they neared it, he realized that it was cabins, all small, dog-house like and identical. The bushes were overgrown and draped the cabins in their leaves, making everything look shady and pleasant.
In the center of the small cabins was a larger cabin, with two doors. It rested near a large, cleared out place. But instead of the parched sand, it was filled with thriving bushes and greens.
The German Shepherd stopped by this large cabin. As Skye watched, some other animals emerged from various areas. They stared hard then skipped off, talking or playing.
"Welcome," Said the Shepherd to the travelers. "As I said before you are on Aster, and if you have any intelligence, you will have figured out what Aster is. This is Camp Gathering. Here animals gather because well…that's actually private, heh heh. Anyway, you are to stay here and live at the camp. There is a meal when the sun is half down, and the rest of the day is spent either in cabins or doing fun activities. I'm Caster, or the Escort-Boy. Thank you. Any bad behavior will be called on, so try to be good. Any vacant cabin can be yours. Claim it by scratching the wood above the door."
Caster walked off, leaving the animals from Eris alone. Skye moved with them as they headed into the sea of shaded, wooden cabins. But he soon broke away and neared a clean looking one that was draped in bushes and vines. He looked above the door of the cabin. The faint marks of others who had scratched it showed, and he wondered what had become of the ones who used to live in it.
But the cabin was vacant, so Skye slipped inside the dog-house sized thing. A rounded door and small window was all there was to let outer light in. A blue cotton blanket was scrunched on the dusty floor, amid some spiders.
Skye cleared them away and collapsed down, staring through the door out into the camp. Why am I here? He wondered. Why am I wanted? He had resolved that Aster was Eris's twin, with some minor differences. It was older, obviously, because of the overgrown bushes, it was less populated, and it had patches that had been cleared out, leaving the dry sand.
He saw some young fawns race by, giggling and chatting. Skye flicked his ears. This camp looks fun, he thought, but I'm so confused about what's happening.
Skye stood up and stepped from his cabin, making sure to scratch deep into the wood above the door. He looked around, trying to remember it so he'd find it later. When he saw a gold number 124, he knew instantly he didn't have to worry anymore.
He started to walk around. The bushes were draped over the roofs of the cabins, so he walked underneath them, in constant shade. It was very pleasant and pretty, really.
"Hey!" Skye jumped as a hyper looking greyhound raced over with his friends. He walked quickly beside Skye, pushing into the young tom.
"Hey," He said again, "Wanna help me and my mateys beat some of those other guys in a race?"
His panting was loud and raucous, and Skye didn't like it at all. "No thanks, sorry." He said.
"Ok." The greyhound ran off with his 'mateys.'
He watched them disappear into the shadows. It looked like creatures really did have fun here. Maybe this was some kind of summer camp.
"Don't mind them."
Skye jolted and turned around to see a young wolf resting against the roof of a cabin. Contrary to Selena, she was pretty, with a smooth white and grey flecked coat, deep sparkling brown eyes and an intelligent, intense face.
"They're always a bit…hyper." She said, jumping neatly from the roof and standing beside Skye. Her voice was calm and dreamy, making her seem laid-back.
"Who are you?" Skye asked the wolf blankly.
"I'm Alira." She said. "You?"
"Skye." He replied. His name would mean nothing here.
"Nice to meet you. Are you near here?"
"Yeah. I've been here about an hour now. I don't understand it."
"Let's see," She said, turning to look him full in the face. "You're foreign, maybe?"
"Yeah. I'm from Eris."
"Eris is…?" Alira looked confused.
"Um…another city…" For some reason, he felt he shouldn't tell Alira that there was another, twin world next to Aster.
"That would make sense," She said. "I don't know my cities well at all."
"Why are we here? I mean, at this camp?"
"I'm not quite sure," Alira said. "I was collected from my family to be taken here. They said they were needing ones for the breeding…"
"Breeding?" "They're having all the pure-bloods breed."
"Pure bloods are…?"
"Animals who have the same animal for each parent. So say you saw an eagle with a giraffe for a dad and a giraffe for a mom. It'd be a pure blood."
"Why would they want to breed purebloods?" Skye asked, confused.
"No idea," Alira said, then added, "I'm a pure blood. Why didn't you know this stuff?"
"My city was small…poor animals lived there." He shuffled his paws nervously.
"That makes sense. Here, I'll tell you more. A dirty-blood is someone who has parents completely different. Here's an example. Say there was a prarie dog whose mother was a hippo and whose father was a lion. Nobody's the same. Then there are the half bloods. They're really rare. It's when the child gets one of his parent's breeds. Example: A lion mated with a cow and the kid was a lion. See? The kid is just like one of their parents. Half-bloods are rare because it's hard to transfer breed-blood into offspring. If you're a pure blood though, it isn't hard at all to transfer breed-blood because both parents are of the same breed. And another thing about half-bloods is that they never have any siblings with the same two parents. Nobody has ever found out why. It's strange, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Skye said. "You know a lot about it."
Alira smiled. "I'm interested in science."
While Selena is interested in geography, Skye thought absently.
"Well anyway, nice meeting you, Skye," Alira said, giving him a slight smile. "Will you come to the patrol game with me tomorrow?" "Oh—uh—sure! Alright." He smiled back.
"Thanks." Alira scrambled into her cabin.
Skye watched her disappear then turned around, heading back to his own cabin. He searched until he saw the number 124 and as soon as his dark blue eyes rested upon the golden numerals he sighed with relief.
He had just settled down on the blue blanket when a yell echoed through the camp, voicing the word: 'dinner!' Skye scrambled to his feet and exited his cabin.
Lots of other animals were pouring from their cabins. Skye was washed up in a flow of creatures all heading toward the vacant spot beside the big cabin. Instead of it being empty, it now was covered in piles of carrots. Skye's tail curled up at the thought of eating the orange things. He didn't want to.
He found an empty pile and remembered he was supposed to eat the carrots. He didn't really enjoy the long orange things, so he just sat out instead of eating.
