First Visitor

1-02-070808

Radeon sat in his cabin. It was raining. A small fire burned in the corner giving little heat and no light. Radeon was trying to read something but the lone light bulb kept flickering. Rain leaked through the roof and was dripping on it. It would short out soon, but Radeon was too tired to worry about it. His doorbell rang. He forced himself to his feet and opened his cabin’s crumbling wood door. Beyond was blackness. He blinked. Then the smell of decaying flesh hit him. His stomach turned.

Radeon awoke. The door was open again and light splashed across the wall at his head. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, dazed. He was trembling slightly. Nice dreams seemed the rarity, but waking was often not much better. He had his health, his cabin, tracks of land to wander, and a peace he had never before known. Yet, despite my denial, I remain somber at best. My thoughts are shadowed and my best days edged with tension.

I am alone. Alone… the door shouldn’t be opening like this. Radeon sat up in bed. Maybe a hinge was loose. Radeon threw his legs out of bed and moved to the door. No tracks once again. Mild wind. No horses in sight. Hmmm, they’ve broken free of the hitching post again. No ropes hung from the pole. The top log had come unlashed in the night and the horses had slid the ropes off the free end. Smart horses. He’d better go find them before they were too tangled up in the dense forest.

Radeon closed and opened the door a few times. The latch, though rudimentary, was sufficient. The hinges, greased with animal fat, were fluid. The door was solid. No cracks. Radeon shrugged and left it open as he strolled into the meadow. He spied the horses at the far end of the clearing. One had its long lead caught in the branches and was stuck. The other two looked at Radeon sheepishly. He shrugged at them, then circled around the cabin and took a long drink from the pond. His water garden, a variety of weeds that flourished in fresh water, was doing quite well. He plucked up a fist full and chewed on them as he plopped down under the small awning over the cabin door.

The sun was low yet. Several deer were cautiously eying him from forest edge. The birds were chirping their melodious songs. Radeon let out a sigh and his eye slowly closed. Nature’s songs faded so rhythmically into silence that Radeon didn’t even notice.

Radeon opened his eyes with a start. The light was different; the shadows had crept down onto him. Over an hour had passed. He rose to his feet.

He entered the cabin, closing the door tightly behind him and dropped his tight shorts. As he chose a pair of longer pants and slid them on the door popped open a crack. Radeon rolled his eyes. What on earth was wrong with that darn door?

Radeon stopped moving. He wasn’t sure but something had caught his attention. Sound. There was no sound outside. The birds were silent.

As Radeon thought quickly on what that could mean the door opened the rest of the way. There was a shriek, not harsh, but of surprise and then rapid movement. Radeon cursed as he spun around, too slow to see anything.

He dropped his pants and jumped outside. He was sure it was human, probably one of the boys from the distant village. Odd, though. Why would they hide?

Radeon ran to the other side of the cabin and saw tracks near the pond in the soft mud. It was female, judging by the thinness of the track. Radeon caught his breath: she was wearing rubber soled shoes. The treads were deep indicating that they were new. Shoes.

He could hear her crashing away through the forest. Branches swayed where she had passed. He dashed deftly through the forest. He didn’t need to follow her, though. He would cut her off at the trail down off the plateau. There was only one and unless she had advanced technology she would have to descend there. She had shoes though, so he couldn’t rule out the technology possibility. But what of it? He would find her even out of practice as he was. He was sure.

Emerging from the trees at the overgrown trailhead, Radeon stopped. He could hear her still. She was about to make it through the forest and to the grassy edge of the plateau. She was making good time too.

Radeon hunched down and sat on the ground. He bowed his head and took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. His heart was pounding with excitement and also fear. What is she doing here? Why did she come and find me just to run? Just as the idea that she might not be friendly was dawning on him the crashed through the last of the dense underbrush and stopped right in front of him.

She blurted several phrases that Radeon couldn’t understand.

Radeon remained sitting, which took considerable control due to his fear. The was a good height, slender build, and quite toned. She was panting hard but was doing well to keep it hidden. She had long braided brown hair and a smooth face. She had on full clothing of synthetic fibers and several electronic gadgets. Electricity. Radeon’s head spun remembering electricity. He forced the thoughts out, recognizing that she was indeed a direct threat.

“Let me go.” The woman warned. Woman was indeed a better description than . She radiated a strong energy, something stable and subtle that shocked Radeon. It made him tremble.

“I don’t have you,” Radeon said with much effort. She had switched to a local dialect similar to what the prairie tribe spoke. This too shocked him.

“Look, please, just let me pass and we’ll forget this ever happened. I promise I won’t remember this place. I’ll never mention your face and you don’t have to worry, I haven’t seen anything.” Her words took on a pleading note, but her body hadn’t changed its stance. She was tense, muscles rigid, and ready to fight.

Radeon didn’t know what to think. You come to me and now act like a trapped animal? He had not spoken to another person in months. Slowly, remembering the words, he said, “You are free to leave the way you came. I have no intentions of stopping you.” He was lying and his words had a physical affect on her. She actually scowled and raised her fists. Did I say something wrong? Can she sense my fear?

“What is this, a game?” She growled.

“Please, tell me you—you tell me?” Radeon stumbled.

“What?”

“You came to me. You opened my dur, uh…door. I didn’t ask you to come and I won’t force you to stay. First though, I want to know who you are, why you came, and how you found me.”

The woman narrowed her eyes. “What are you trying to pull? I don’t understand.”

“Which didn’t you understand?” Radeon asked sincerely concerned he had spoken incorrectly.

“I know you get nothing from letting me live. What do you get out of hunting me down after I run? Is it some kind of pleasure to you? You killed the others easily enough, why not shut up and get on with it?”

Radeon wasn’t sure he understood everything clearly. His confusion was outweighing his fear. He’d been chased, captured, hunted even, but no one had acted like this around him.

“Explain to me why I would want you dead? But I agree, obviously letting you go may be foolish,” Radeon said. He didn’t want his location known.

“Oh no, I’ll tell you nothing.” She slowly started backing towards the trees. She kept her arms up in a defensive stance.

“Did you say I killed others? Which others? What do you know?”

“You , shut up and let’s end it.”

“What? Who are you?”

“Shut up,” She screamed.

Radeon was totally caught off guard. What is going on? Nothing added up. He couldn’t understand her completely, but it was obvious she was terrified of him. Why? She actually believed he was going to kill her. That doesn’t fit. Why? She found me; she must know enough about me? Why would she think I would kill her?

“What, is this a game?” He asked. “Who sent you?” She backed away a step farther. “Who do you work for? Which…” he had no idea of how to say government or company in this language. He had never needed to before.

It didn’t matter; the woman was speaking frantically in her native language. Radeon took a deep breath to calm himself. He was still terrified, but his curiosity and confusion had taken over.

And he suddenly realized he was sitting in front of an actual woman. He had been alone so long he hadn’t even thought about clothes in his rush. Embarrassed, he look up at her. Right then she kicked him in the head as hard as she could.

There was a crunch, flashes and stars. Radeon fell over on his back and grabbed his nose. Blood flowed through his fingers. He jumped up and turned to the woman. She had distanced her self and was pulling a small weapon from an internal pocket in her clothing.

This was totally unexpected from her. “Are you crazy? What are you doing?” She didn’t even hesitate. Radeon only had time to widen his eyes in surprise before she fired. He took the blast directly to the chest. A searing fire burned into him as he was knocked from his feet. He was gone before he hit the ground.

Intro to Citizen Soldier

1-01-070708

Dead bodies lay all around him. He sat on a twisted spire that snaked up out of a murky blackness. Above him dangled a lone light bulb. It flickered weakly. Radeon stood, the spire shifted under him and several of the bodies rolled towards him. He swallowed his revulsion and reached for the bulb. It swung just out of his reach in some invisible breeze. He didn’t dare jump. The blackness was growing, the bulb dimming. He had to reach it, it was his only chance.

The door opened causing light to spill across the cluttered room. Radeon opened his eyes. The light’s harsh brightness caught him completely by surprise. His eyes narrowed to slits, adjusting as he tried to place where he was. There was no one in the doorway. His mind raced as to possible reasons his door would open as he climbed out of bed and stalked across the floor. His eyes could now make out the landscape through the doorway. There was no wind; neither grass nor tree swayed. There were no obvious footprints in front of the door. One of his horses was grazing, he could see, at the feet of the trees circling the little meadow surrounding his cabin; there was no other movement and no other sounds.

Cautiously Radeon paused inside the doorway before leaning his head out and checking side to side.

Nothing.

Radeon’s right hand found its way to his red hair and tugged at the knots the night’s sleep had left, then stroked his wiry beard. His left fiddled with the door latch. A yawn escaped and he stretched. He had never received unwanted visitors. And he wanted it that way. He did all he could to ensure it. But after so long now, he was beginning to get lonely.

He put on deerskin pants and rough sandals fashioned from tree bark. Finally he wandered out into the bright day. The sun was high. He had over slept. His mind chided him but the fact only encouraged another longer stretch. What did it matter? Radeon had accomplished more than he had planned the day before. He had repaired his roof, filled his water barrels, and adjusted his hitching post (his horses had managed to untie themselves the night before and run off). His garden was weeded. The corn was already chest high. Summer was passing so quickly. Radeon didn’t have much time until he would be harvesting. He had planted enough to feed an entire tribe. It kept him busy and he would dry the corn for meal or trade it with his distant neighbors come fall.

Idly Radeon plucked a small tomato off the vine. It was still a little green but would suffice. He bit into it and paused as he chewed. There were tracks around the vines; Radeon stooped to the ground finding several vines damaged. The rabbits had been by last night. Well, they weren’t rabbits but they were similar enough to be called so.

The tracks led off to the east but one pair led to the south where the forest was densest. Radeon thought he had trapped and eaten all the rabbits that lived in that part. Obviously he presumed too much. Well, he would share his crop with them the rest of this year. Let them reproduce and multiply so that next year he could continue to have young, tender hares for supper.

He took another bite of the tomato as he strolled from the garden. One of his horses looked up at him as he passed. Its tail whipped lazily, almost as if a greeting.

Radeon headed into the forest north of the cabin.

There were no trails leading to his dwelling. Trails, he felt, were not very pleasant to the eye. Radeon liked the undisturbed look of the forest as he sat out in the evenings watching the sun set. So he always took a different way through the forest. Plus the animals responded better without him tearing up the land. At least he thought so.

The snares he had set were still bare. Radeon moved on to his right and after several minutes leisurely walk he came to the beginning of the eastern batch of snares. Two plump birds caught! Well, that was quite nice for a days work. They were big. If the snares here had done so well he decided he had better make a complete circle of the plateau checking the rest of the snares. With luck he may have more.

Sure enough, after checking all his traps, he had four birds hanging from his hand and one fat squirrel. He would have meat for many days without worrying. That called for the weekend off. Off to do what, he wondered?

The sun was now much higher. It was getting to midday. While out, he might as well take a look off the edge. He strolled through the trees and came to a grassy strip that sloped downward. Walking to the edge of the grass he stopped at the top of a massive cliff, the west rim of the plateau on which he lived. It afforded quite a view. Prairie grasslands stretched away from him as far as the eye could see. To the north, mountains ran along, and over, the horizon; their beautiful peaks hidden by a bank of clouds.

All was peaceful.

Radeon sighed. Time was passing so swiftly. It was summer. Before finding the plateau, he had had a brief stay with the tribe of Indians that inhabited the valleys tucked in those mountains. And before that Radeon tried not allow his mind to venture. There was much pain and confusion. Suddenly he found himself in the black, on the spire again. He could smell the rotting corpses around him.

Radeon released his grip on the strands holding his birds. His hand had tensed with his thoughts. He calmed his breathing and marveled at how quickly he had become nervous. I can’t run forever, he thought. Indeed he wondered if he could even run at all anymore. But that can be a topic for a darker day. Let me pretend happiness yet another day. What was the purpose?

But he was sure within the end of summer one of his neighbors would be stopping by with provisions to trade and stories to share. They always came during the harvest. Radeon smiled. Last fall he had just finished dredging the pond behind the cabin. He had told Kuy’huy and Poi’huy of his giant garden and how quickly the plants had grown in the lands virgin soil. Sure enough the boys showed up one moon later with several horses. Radeon had bartered them out of a horse for all the vegetables they could carry, the likes of which they had never seen. A smile crossed his face remembering the trouble they had gotten into when Chief Ckon found out. This time they would not send boys to trade with him nor allow him to barter for a horse. Horses are far too valuable to the Indians since the raids and wars started among the tribes.

Quickly Radeon turned his back to the prairie below and let all his thoughts fall behind. He hiked the half-mile back to his cabin and turned his full attention to cleaning his catch and storing it.

Ah summer and its warm lazy days, Radeon thought with mixed emotion. Perhaps he should try and build something while he had a day or so of free time?