The camp was quiet when we returned. The silence of peace....no, the silence of people waiting for something.
They watched us from the edges of their tents, from behind the woven shields, from the circle of stones that passed for a fire pit. Some held children. Some held weapons.
All of them held their breath.
I couldn't blame them.
The girl with the cat plushie was still there. She hadn't moved from where I'd seen her earlier....just stood at the edge of the group, one hand wrapped around the toy's torn ear, watching me with those big, tired eyes of hers.
Peko walked ahead of me, his stride shifting from the easy pace of the shore to something more deliberate. He stopped at the fire pit and turned.
"We're moving," he said.
No one moved.
"Let me repeat, we're moving!" Peko raised his voice.
A woman with feathered shoulders stepped forward. Her face was too blurry for some reason. "Where?"
"East."
And just like that, everyone started muttering. Louder.
"East is death," someone said. A man with scaled skin, his voice cracking at the edges. "The scouts who went east never came back."
"Three of them didn't," Peko agreed. "But we can't stay here. The thing that attacked yesterday, knew where we were. It will come back."
"Then we fight," another voice called out. A younger man, his arm still bound in a sling. "We've fought before."
I stepped forward.
"You can fight," I said. "But you're fighting to stay in a cage. A cage that's getting smaller."
The feathered woman turned to me, her eyes narrowed. "You've been here three days. What do you know about this place?"
I looked at her.
"The things hunting you," I said. "They're not the problem. They're the walls. The cage is this place itself. It's designed to break you down. Test you. See what you're made of."
Peko shot me a glance. I kept going.
"The ones who went east and didn't come back? They found something. Maybe the edge of the cage. Maybe the lock. But staying here, waiting to be picked off one by one,that's exactly what this place wants."
Then the girl with the plushie spoke.
"You went east?"
Her voice was small. Clear. It cut through the crowd's hesitation like a blade.
I crouched down to her level. "I'm going there."
She stared at me for a long moment. Then she held up her cat. Its ear was hanging by a thread, one eye missing, stuffing leaking from a tear in its stomach.
"He got hurt when we were running," she said.
I looked at the toy. At her.
"I see." I said.
She nodded once, "if I run again..... Will I get hurt too?"
"You won't. I promise." Peko spoke up.
"Most probably, all of us will get hurt." I spoke.
Peko glanced at me. His eyes raised in question.
The crowd started whispering again. Some now scoffing, in a dry, roughed laugh.
The feathered woman exhaled. "See, then why should we go? It's better here."
"Because staying here doesn't mean we'll survive either." I glanced at her.
"Shut it, I'm not going anywhere!" A woman screamed. Her voice breaking.
I ducked my head to the left. Someone threw a can at me.
"Get lost! You're manipulating our leader! We're all safe here!"
Peko rushed forth, standing in front of me. "That's not true! He's my friend, I told you! We're trying to save-"
"Shut it! Shut it! Shut it!" An old man spoke up. Smacking his wooden stick with each word.
"We have to stay here! There's no other way!" Another woman screamed from the crowd, her hands scratching her neck. Madly. Red with her own blood.
Peko caught his locket, a giant green wind pushing the crowd away. Turning them silent.
"Just listen to us-" Peko spoke up.
The screams returned.
"That's right! Our leader has been compromised! We can't trust him no more!"
"That's right! Push them out, we'll live here safely together!"
The crowd yelled in agreement.
Rocks, mud, sticks, everything flew in our direction as peko forged the giant to defend us from them.
I looked around. And I wasn't surprised.
Fear.
They were scared of the unknown, so much so that they couldn't even fanthom that things outside might be better.
Hatered.
Towards something they couldn't name, build up over time, so they directed towards us. Because we were the only one they could direct it on after all this time.
Madness.
For not understanding anything.
And finally...Acceptance.
Because accepting this is might be in fact, better than trying to change their circumstances.
I knew that, because I have felt that. Everyone, has at least once, felt that.
I leaped out the green giant, and rushed towards the crowd.
My legs sprang me up, the vison clouding as I went fast. Too fast.
And then, I landed a punch.
The man, in his twenties maybe, fell on the ground few feets back.
People stopped, gasped, stepped back.
I didn't stop.
"Nobita, what are you-"
"Stay back, Peko." I sat on top of the man, and strangled his chest.
"I didn't-" He tried to speak.
"You weren't throwing anything." I spoke, completing his sentence.
He flinched. "That's right-"
One punch, his blood sprayed out his mouth.
He looked back at me, defending his face in fear and pain. "Why are you hitting ME?!"
I used my one hand to remove his and punched him.
"You were looking down, and clenching your fist why?" I spoke.
"I wasn't-"
I punched him again.
"Lies"
"I'm not lying."
"Nobita!" Peko grabbed me from behind.
I pushed him away.
Then punched the man. "Tell me, why weren't you screaming."
The crowd flinched.
I looked at the man. Now shaking in fear. "You're crazy.... YOU TRULY ARE CRA-"
I punched. "That wasn't an answer."
Peko pushed me away, off the man.
I struggled to get off Peko's grip as I tried going back to the man.
The man immediately started sliding away.
"ARE YOU THE ONE WHO TOLD THEM TO NOT TO RUN AWAY?!" I screamed on top of my lungs.
"no! i would never-"
"THEN WHY ARE YOU NOT STANDING UP, YOU SPINELESS BASTARD!" I spoke as I got out of Peko's grip.
The man looked at me, now confused.
I grabbed him by his collar.
"You want to run away, right?!"
"Huh-w-"
"Yes or no?!"
"I..I-"
I headbutted him.
"I do!" He screamed.
I got away, letting go of his shoulder.
I panted. The man panted.
Peko just grabbed me slightly to not letting me go after him.
"I DO! I DO! I DO!" The man screamed.
"Then why-"
"Because they don't get it! And if I try to escape, I'll be left alone!"
The crowd flinched.
I looked down at him. Sighed.
The man busted out in tears.
I looked around me.
The man crying was the only voice around anymore.
"I'm not claiming anything. The east might be worst. I'm not the strongest here either. And there might be some fucked up shit there.You might die." I got away from Peko slowly, dusting off my shirt.
"But I don't care. I'm going to East anyways. Because looking at your face... Makes me mad."
I looked down at the crying man. "Especially yours."
"Now, I'm going to the East. If anything else happens, I don't know, but If I find a way out, I'll come back to take you all."
Peko looked at me for a second. Then nodded. "And I'll be going with him."
I turned back to him. Nodded back.
"So then, who wants to come along now?"