Chapter Three
Flashing Lights
Kana’s eyes drifted open and she squinted against the brightness of the sunlight that streamed in through the open flap of the tent. She felt stiff and by the feel of it she’d been here for a while, which meant that the brightness of the sun outside was likely that of the next day. Another day that she was alive.
“Thank you God!” She whispered out hoarsely into the still tent.
“Thank God indeed for your survival my dear! God well knows that we can’t go on without you. Whatever would we do without your spirit of optimism Kana?”
Kana’s eyes drifted over to the old hunched over form of Zora, who was the oldest among them. She was a hundred and four, an unheard of age in the present circumstances, but an age that had once been common before the disaster. Most older people had been killed in the early destruction of the cities, few had survived the days that had followed.
It had been Zora’s wisdom that had time and time again helped them to continue on surviving in the tenuous world that they lived in. Zora had been more than just a guiding influence to her and her sister Eshta though. She had stepped in and assumed the role of parent for her and her sister, when theirs had been taken away from them by the Hunters.
They had not been the only ones that Zora had adopted, in a way she was a mother to all within their group of survivors and she was fiercely loved by all of them. Kana reached out her hand toward her and Zora’s old hands closed tightly over her hand, as a single tear spilled down her old weathered cheek.
Zora held her hand for a long moment, as they both shared an intense unspoken communication of how glad they were to see each other again. Letting go of her hand Zora wiped the moisture from off her cheeks before saying, “As glad as I am to see you alive and all in one piece my dear I have a bone of contention to speak with you about. You have brought me many injured and maimed creatures over the years to patch up that were better suited for the stewpot than for anything else. I drew the line at the three legged marsh cat you once brought me, but this! My dear even you have to admit that bringing home a Hunter is an entirely new level for your caring heart to deal with!”
Kana’s eyes grew huge, as she remembered what she had told Eshta not to do at the stream. “He’s here! Alive?” She breathed out in horror.
“Very much so my dear! Whatever possessed you to save him my child?” Zora asked.
What had possessed her, Kana asked herself? It must’ve been some confusion due in part to lack of air surely, but then she remembered the odd flash of emotion in his eyes. The glimpse at something more buried deep within them, but was that enough to save a Hunter?
“Maybe we should just kill him.” Kana said haltingly.
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that my dear. That would be heartless of us to do now.”
Zora looked at Kana curiously, “What did make you do it Kana?”
Kana thought about it before she gave her answer, “As he was strangling me I asked him to stop and he did for a second. I thought I saw something worth saving in his eyes for a moment and then it was gone and he was killing me again.”
“Hmmm, I do hope that your caring heart Kana hasn’t bit off more than it can chew this time.” Zoar said, as she helped Kana sit up. She gave Kana a crutch to help her walk.
“Not broken my dear, just sprained, badly. It will give you some trouble for a few days, but that will be it.”
Once Kana was on her feet with the aid of the crutch Zora said, “Good, now come along, you may assist me.”
“Assist you?” Kana asked, as she awkwardly followed Zora out of the door of the tent into the warm sunlight.
“Yes, you and I will be operating on your Hunter. You’re the most gifted healer other than I and I’m going to need all the assistance you can give me.”
“Why does he need operated on?” Kana asked somewhat hysterically, as she did not want to be anywhere near the Hunter let alone operate on him.
“You’ll see, now come along child. I want to get this done before he wakes up and is the death of us all!”
Kana hobbled along after Zora panicking more and more with each step as she neared the main tent, where the Hunter must be. What had she done?
Kana eased into the tent and stopped, as her eyes fell upon the still laying form of the Hunter. She swallowed nervously and touched her throat involuntarily with one hand. Eshta was among those gathered in the tent and she came to Kana and the two sisters embraced each other tightly.
“Over here Kana.” Zora called out from where she stood next to the Hunter, who lay on his stomach stretched out along a wooden table.
Eshta gave a consoling squeeze before releasing Kana, who unable to keep herself from quivering, approached the table to stand on the opposite side of it from Zora. It helped to see that the Hunter’s legs and arms were tied securely to the table’s legs, but that was where the comfort stopped, as Zora pulled the blanket covering the warriors back to his waist.
“Oh my!” Was all she could think to say as she gazed at the corded sinew of muscle and bone that made up this man. She’d seen a few men shirtless before, but never anyone like this! There were muscles layered on muscles across the Hunter’s back and shoulders that she hadn’t even known existed. What did one have to do to look like this?
This man had tried to kill her, would have, if Eshta hadn’t come to her rescue. Why then knowing that did she want to see what the rest of him looked like? Why did she want to feel the big hands that almost touched the ground touch her instead?
What was wrong with her that the sight of a man’s naked back could inspire such thoughts? Not just any man either, but this man who’d had his hands wrapped around her throat ringing the life out of her. She had never felt like this before or had this reaction to any man she’d ever met. Kana’s eyes rose off the Hunter’s back to meet Zora’s wise old eyes. Kana’s face flushed at Zora’s knowing gaze upon her. Vainly Kana hoped that her dark skin would hide the flush from the rest of the others gathered in the room.
A smile touched Zora’s lips, as she pulled the hunter’s shoulder length black hair to the side, “This is what I wanted you to look at.”
Kana gasped, as a hand flew up to cover her mouth in shock at the sight of the alien device that seemed to be fused into the upper bones of the Hunter’s neck and that disappeared into the back of his skull.
“What is it?” She breathed out in question to Zora.
“I’m not quite sure, but I have a few theories. We’re going to take it off or at least as much of it as we can.”
“What will that do to him?” Kana asked.
“It could kill him or leave him paralyzed or perhaps something more positive.” Zora didn’t elaborate as to what something more positive could be.
“It’s been a while since I handled higher technological apparatuses. I hope it comes back to me. Wash up over there by the door and get ready to assist me cutting this stuff off.”
Kana glanced at Eshta and both shared a look of curiosity at Zora’s choice of words. Zora had never really spoken much of where she came from or what she had done before the attack that destroyed the world. What she’d just said had been as tantalizing of a clue, as she had ever let drop before, in regards to her previous history.
“Steady Kana! Steady! Don’t touch that cord! Oh my dear I wish I could help you more, but my fingers just aren’t steady enough anymore for work like this.” Zora said, in an exclamation of anguish over her helplessness to be of meaningful use.
Eshta leaned close to Kana and mopped the sweat from off her face slightly with a dampened cloth. Kana whispered, “Thank you”, but said nothing further for fear of throwing up. The way she felt right now was that if she kept her mouth open any longer her stomach would take advantage and heave its contents, if there were any, all over the Hunter. She should’ve eaten before starting this; she was getting jittery and lightheaded at the sight of the Hunter’s rich red blood all over her fingers.
Kana barely breathed in her concentration not to cause permanent harm to the Hunter, who was still thankfully unconscious beneath her. In her hands she held two pieces of chert, which was the same glassy hard rock that she used to make her arrowheads. The pieces of chert had a finer cutting edge than any of the knives they possessed.
Zora held the mechanical bug looking device one way and then another for her, as she sliced through the tough mooring straps that fused the device directly to the Hunter’s spine, which was laid bare to the bone. Only two more straps to go and Kana was grateful! Very grateful!
The last strap came free and Zora pulled the contraption to the side, but it was still connected to the back of the Hunter’s head by several cords.
“We had better close that all up and stitch it together before we go any further Kana.” Zora said. Kana had been thinking the same thing. It was hard to do a good job of it though. Everything was slippery with blood and the skin had to be stretched slightly to close over the gaping wound.
It wasn’t pretty; actually it made Kana cringe at the thought of the scar it would leave, if he kept his hair long maybe nobody would see it. Why was she even caring about something like that? She didn’t know why other than that she took pride in her work and it was hard to take pride in this butchery.
A half hour later, as Kana was tying off the last stitch Zora said, “I know it doesn’t look nice Kana, but you did an excellent job with what you had to work with.”
“Zora?” Interjected Eshta in a worried tone.
“What is it?” Zora responded quickly.
“There’s a little light flashing yellow on the back of his head!” Eshta exclaimed.
Zora quickly shifted to get a look at the light that had begun to flash in the black round nodule that seemed fused into the back of the Hunter’s skull. As they gazed at the flashing light they all saw it turn from yellow to red.
Zora said something under her breath sharply and then louder she said, “Everyone out now, except for you Kana! Give me that knife quickly!”
Kana handed her one of the pieces of chert not understanding what was happening or the reason for Zora’s urgency. Kana watched, as Zora stripped off the outer black coat of one of the two cords that ran from the device on the back of the head to the one she had removed from the spine. When the black leathery skin was peeled away off the cord it exposed a mass of tiny brightly colored wires. Kana had never seen Zora move so fast before or look nearly so agitated.
Zora grabbed brightly colored wire one after the other from the bundle and sliced them in half. She cut through a greenish one and the flashing red light disappeared, but in the next instant another red light came on and stayed on and a slight whining noise could be heard.
Moving faster than before Zora stripped the outer layer off the other cord that had been attached to the spine and madly searched through the jungle of wires for the greenish one. She sliced her fingers with the piece of chert in the process.
“You cut your finger Zora!”
“Never mind my finger! It’s the least of our worries right now! There it is!” Zora said with relief, as she separated the like green wire out and cut it. Then she took the two green wire ends, the one that led from the Hunter’s head and the one that been attached to the spine and was still connected to the bug light device and touch the exposed ends of the wires together.
There were sparks everywhere and the Hunter’s body jerked convulsively. Kana jumped back from the table reflexively with a little squeal, but Zora never moved as she grimly held the two wires together. The red light went out and a green light briefly came on and then disappeared.
There were no more lights left and Kana heard Zora release her pent up breath in a long sigh. She cut the bundles of wires off flush with the back of the device that seemed to be a part of the Hunter’s skull. She then picked up the device that had been on the neck and the wires and handed them all to Eshta, who hadn’t left the room with the others.
“Eshta, I want you to pulverize all this stuff and then throw the crushed up bits and pieces into the river. Kana, he should be out for the remainder of the day from the herbal mixture that I gave him. Finish cleaning him up and make a solantha paste and lay it thick over the stitched area before you bandage it up.”
Both Eshta and Kana nodded, as Zora stepped away from the table and headed for the door of the tent. They heard her say, “I’m getting too old for this sort of thing. I’m going to lie down for a while, get me if you need me.”
Eshta and Kana glanced at each other for a meaningful moment and then they both went about their assigned tasks.