Falcon hated the city.
The air was so stale and dead. On one brief trip there as a nestling, he remembered how the wind blew smells of rotten metal from various old buildings. Despite the democracy that had ensued, he still saw many stray children wandering around, digging through trash to find food. Everything had seemed so unfriendly, right down to the stray cats in the alley. When he rushed home before sundown, he could remember his mother swatting his behind with a bamboo stick. "What have I told you about the city?" She told him, angrily, drying the small tears from his eyes. "People die there. Men will snatch you up and take you to a place far away from Mommy. Crazy people are there, Falcon... terribly insane people."
When his mother had died, his younger sister, River, thought it best that he go back there. "Mom died of a strange disease. If it couldn't be diagnosed here, maybe a doctor in the city could tell you more about it. Maybe it could save the rest of us."
Falcon had crossed his arms around his chest. "Save us? Whatever this is, it's only hitting the elders of the tribe. Besides, I'm not going into that filthy place. It's only existence is to breed slime."
"That's where Mother was raised… You know just as well as I do that things have changed."
He threw his arms into the air. "Really, River? Can you honestly believe that things have changed there? I hear whispers from the trees. They cry of such destruction and sadness whenever the wind blows from the east. The city is probably where this virus came from. Mom wouldn't have wanted me to go-"
"Well, Mom's dead!" River yelled. Her green eyes were fierce, surrounded by her pale, porcelain skin. Freckles dusted her flushed cheeks. "She's dead, Falcon. And if you're wrong about this virus, we all will die too."
Falcon hated to see River angry. Though she was only a year younger and a foot or two shorter, she had the temper of a grizzly bear. "Fine." He said, bitterly. "I'll go."
River spun on the heals of her feet, collecting things off of various shelves in her hut and gently placing them into an empty woven satchel. "There is a tribe Mom used to talk about- The Mallrats. Find them and tell them of this sickness." She stopped for a moment, touching something around her neck. In one swift movement, she pulled on it. Slowly turning around, she stretched out her hand and dropped something into Falcon's palm.
It was her locket. He opened it and saw a picture of a woman smiling at him. "Who's-"
"I'm not sure of her name, but Mom used to tell me that they were great friends. They were both Mallrats back when they were nestlings. Give that to them. They'll identify the girl and hopefully identify our Mom." River picked up the satchel and handed it to Falcon.
It had been four days since he left The Eco's base. River had packed a week worth of dried fish and berries for him, along with a small blade for hunting. She insisted he packed more, but Falcon told her he didn't need many things. He'd lived off the earth almost all his life. If he ran out of something, he knew it wouldn't take him long to retrieve it himself.
Falcon could see the buildings of the city in the distance. With each step closer he could feel the air getting caught in his lungs. The locket in his pocket felt twenty pounds heavier than it should have. It was a firm reminder of why he was doing this- his tribe and his sister needed his help. A couple more steps could easily be the answers that they were all hoping for him to find.
He stopped and made an abrupt turn to his right. A boy a couple yards away had a rifle pointed toward him. Falcon raised both hands in retreat, having no idea what else to do.
"Who are you?" The kid asked. His head was shaved, leaving small patches here and there which were dyed different greens and browns. Shaved into his eyebrows were small lines. On his chest was a shiny metal plate with dents by the heart. He looked dirty, like he'd previously been rolling in a mud pit. The smell of him made Falcon's stomach churn.
"I'm from the Eco Tribe. My name is Falcon." He replied, bowing his head slightly. "Is there anything wrong?"
"You're on Bulldog territory." He said while cocking his gun. "We don't appreciate tree huggers."
Falcon lowered one hand slowly, trying to grope the inside of his satchel for his knife. "Maybe we can talk this out… I have some food you might be interested in? You look like you haven't ate a decent meal in days."
It was true; the boy looked skinny as a rail. There were deep pits in his cheeks which were sunken in. The whites of his eyes were now a dull yellow. "Oh? And what will you feed me? Some bloody roots and berries?" He seemed to get a kick out of his own joke. He started cackling like a mad man.
Having grabbed the knife, Falcon immediately dropped to the ground. The boy noticed this sudden movement and lowered his gun. Just as his finger hit the trigger, Falcon rolled quickly and jumped back to his feet. As soon as the boy cocked his gun again, Falcon began running toward him in a zigzagging motion. The boy couldn't keep up with him. With each shot, the stray bullets would hit a tree or the ground. Falcon jumped and landed on top of the boy, the knife in his hand on the boy's neck. "Drop your gun." Falcon told him.
With a scared look in his droopy eyes, the boy did as he was told. "You ain't gonna kill me." He spat in Falcon's face.
"Really?" Falcon asked, pressing the knife closer, almost digging into the boy's skin. He knew he could never really kill anyone- it was hard enough to kill animals for the hunt. The only thing that could allow him to sleep at night was to know that he'd set their spirit free to be reborn into something greater. "I could kill you with just one swoop of my knife, you son of a-"
A jutting pain shot through Falcon's body as he recoiled backwards, his knife falling out of his hand, the other hand blindly landed on his stomach. There was blood, everywhere. He looked over at the boy who had a long knife in his hand, a smile on his ugly face. "Look who's stuck now." He smirked, grabbing his gun from the ground and running off.
Falcon laid there, the pain so great in his stomach that he couldn't move. All he could feel was sadness overcome him. He hadn't even made it to the city and he was going bleed to death on the outskirts. What would River say? He wondered if Mom was watching from the Beyond. He wondered if she was disappointed. He wondered-
Everything went black. A sudden fatigue fell over him as he felt two arms picked him up…
* * *
Falcon opened one eye to blinding light, and then shut it again. Groaning, he rubbed both of them with balled fists. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw he was in a white room. The blinding lights were coming from the open windows. He turned on his side to look outside and noticed buildings against blue sky. Was he dead? Maybe this was hell?
"Hey, guys… he's awake." A female's voice seemed to say out of nowhere.
Falcon sat up quickly. A jutting pain went through his entire body, causing him to suck in his breath. His head turned toward where the voice was coming from. It was a female. She was a beautiful brown hair, brown eyed angel. "H-hi." He responded, stunned.
"My friends found you while on our rounds for food. One of them carried you back here, to our mall." She spoke softly, yet she was sure of her words. She sounded to him like a leader. "I'm Amara. This is Niko and Tristan." She motioned to the two people sitting next to her.
Falcon only glanced at the two of them but stared at Amara. He couldn't help it. She was just so lovely.
"And you are?" Niko cut in.
"Falcon." He told them, drawing his attention away from Amara. "I'm from the Eco Tribe. I'm looking for some people… the Mallrats."
"Looks like you've come to the right place." Tristan said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're looking at us… well, some of us."
Falcon's eyes lit up. "You're the Mallrats? Is this the mall?" He sat up, this time ignoring the sharp pain in his stomach. "I've got something for you." He patted his pants pockets, trying to find the locket that his sister had given him. He couldn't feel anything but fabric. "This locket… My sister gave it to me to give to you. It was my Mother's. She died from a mysterious virus. It's been hitting all our elders. I've come to ask for your help. I've been told that you could cure it. You have the antidote."
The three Mallrats looked at each other, then back at Falcon as if he had three heads. Niko opened her mouth but Amara cut in before her. "Your mother was right. We do have an antidote-"
"Then you can give it to me. I could save our Tribe-"
"It doesn't work." Tristan told him, his hand still rested on Falcon's shoulder. "Our elders have died too. We tried giving the exact same antidote we had before, but the virus must have mutated into something even worse than anyone has ever seen. There was nothing we could do."
Falcon lay back on his pillowed bed. He was quiet. How could this be? He heard his Mother talk about a virus that destroyed her parents, but how could it come back in a second wave? What if it grows into something that could potentially destroy them?
"I'm sorry, Falcon." Amara told him, solemnly.
"I have to leave." He lifted himself up and stiffly moved his legs to the side of the bed. "I have to get back to River, she needs me-"
"Woah, you're not going anywhere!" Niko exclaimed as herself, Tristan and Amara tried to stop him. "You've got internal stab wounds. If it wasn't for Tristan, you'd be dead right now… bleeding from the inside out in the woods."
Falcon suddenly felt weak again, another wave of fatigue swept over him. "But, I-"
"You need rest." Tristan told him, covering him back up. "Sleep. When you wake up, we'll have a meal for you and we can discuss more."
"Right.." Eyes starting to close, Falcon was on the edge of awake.
"Did you see the way he was eyeing you up?" Niko said to Amara, nudging her slightly with her elbow. "He's kind of cute… Maybe you could get to know him better." Niko placed her had into Tristan's, indicating that maybe Amara should try an intimate relationship.
Amara glared at the girl and shook her head. "Tell me if he wakes." She said to the both of them before she walked out of the hospital wing.