Chapter 5:
Amber stayed in bed the next day. Her shoulder still ached and Patch had warned her that if he saw her outside there would be dire consequences. Amber hadn't mentioned to him that she had witnessed the scene with Rain and he had not asked her.
There were no visitors to the hut that night, though Amber stayed awake to keep watch.
With the dawning of her third day in the Eco Camp Patch at last declared her fit to leave her bed. Scooping up Baby Bray she made her way outside. Wandering about looking for familiar faces, she found few of them. The Eco Tribe had grown considerably since her last visit. The camp seemed at least twice the size then she remembered.
Soon she was at a small wooden building with a bell out front, wandering inside the empty building she noticed several wooden benches facing what appeared to be a blackboard. To the side of the room was a bookcase filled with children's books, novels, classics and survival books. A desk sat at the other side of the room whose top was filled with papers, pencils and more books. At last she realized that this was a schoolhouse, but where were the children?
Amber wandered a bit further and soon encountered a group of children that appeared to be fugitives from the schoolroom. Curiously, they were all armed with bows and arrows. "Ok everyone," a tall brunette man in a knitted sweater of earth tones and an Eco sign on his cheek began, "take aim at the target and shoot your arrows as we practiced yesterday."
All at once arrows began flying in all directions. As Amber watched, the Eco sidestepped a particularly wild arrow and raised his hand for the children to hold their fire. "Very good effort," he said encouragingly, "That was much improved over yesterday. Let's see who hit the targets shall we?" The teacher walked to the makeshift targets that were placed a bit of a distance from where the children were standing and began removing the arrows from them. "Looks like the winners for today's lesson are Elm, Star and Mouse. Come and claim your prize you three."
As the three children started toward the teacher, Amber caught her first glimpse Mouse since she had returned to the Eco's. Living away from the city definitely seemed to have agreed with her. Amber could see that she had grown and seemed to be more confident of herself and her abilities than she had been while living with the Mallrats. The teacher handed each of the three students a feather, which they proudly displayed to their friends when they returned to the line. "Alright, that's enough for today. Class is dismissed," announced the teacher, sending children running in all directions.
As Amber took a step toward them, Mouse caught sight of her. "Amber!" she called, running in her direction. "I heard you were here. I'm so happy to see you," Mouse said as she hugged Amber tight around the waist. "I'm happy to see you too, Mouse." Amber managed to get out before Mouse began again. "You have to tell me all about the Mall, and I can't wait to see Baby Bray. Is everything alright Amber?" Mouse asked as she noticed a tear slid down the older girl's cheek. "Oh yes, everything's fine. I just remembered how much I'd missed you." Amber replied.
"So this is the famous Amber," a male voice intruded upon the reunion.
Amber looked up to see the Eco teacher standing just behind Mouse. "Amber, this is Trey," Mouse said, pulling her teacher forward by the sleeve of his oversized sweater. "He's been our teacher for the last few months."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Amber said, shaking his hand. "Good to meet you too," he returned.
"He's great," Mouse began again, "we learn all kinds of things like how to use, bows and spears, how to track, how to fight."
"What about reading and math?" Amber interrupted.
"Oh, well we learn those too, but that's not as important. Trey says that it's important that we know how to defend ourselves." Mouse returned.
Amber looked up at Trey, "Defend themselves? You're training these children for combat. Just what kind of a teacher are you?"
"Well, I didn't start out as a teacher, it's not exactly my trade." Trey answered.
"Come on, Amber," Mouse interrupted suddenly, a little louder than necessary, "Let me show you around the camp."
"Just what did you start out as, what was your trade?" Amber queried, ignoring Mouse's pleas and the urgent pulling on her sleeve.
"Well, for starters," Trey said, staring her straight in the eye, "I was a Techno, before I was decommissioned when the Mallrats took power."
"You were a what!" Amber yelled back at him.
"A Techno," he answered calmly.
"What are you doing out here with the Eco's? How dare you come here and corrupt their children this way," Amber ranted.
"Amber," Mouse cried, making a very dramatic sound of frustration, "He's not corrupting us. I told you, he's our teacher." As Trey smiled down at her, she grabbed Amber by the arm and began to drag her away from the scene of the confrontation. "Come on, let me show you the Eco Camp."