Frontier
Frontier
Rating: PG
Word count: 823
Characters: Original
Timeline: Future Far, Far Away
Disclaimer: This is a fictional, nonprofit work for entertainment purpose only. The copyright in the TV show LOST and its components is owned by "American Broadcast Companies, Inc.", which reserves all rights therein.
She was startled by the sound of a branch being stepped on. Clutching her battered shot-gun to her breast, she slowly and carefully got up from her hiding spot behind a tree; just as slowly, and in complete silence, she counted to five.
He saw the movement behind the high foliage of the glade, right after his noisy step. He breathed in, also counting quietly; if he had any luck it would just be another boar, for he was hungry and tired of dealing with people. Whichever it was, his pistol was at aim.
When she turned to him, none of them fired.
They stood paralysed, half expecting each other to react, half not. Throughout their lives they had been trained to shoot first, before the other, but now that they finally came to face one of them, their guns stayed ready but quiet.
They studied one another. He was older than her, tall and the cleanest person she had ever seen - his clothes had spots of earth and sweat, but weren’t tearing apart like hers; he looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days, not in a few years like the men in her group.
"You come from the camp", he deduced.
"You come from the village", she concluded on the same tone, as if trying to assure herself.
Both kept their guns aimed at each other, looking around the area in search of more of them. It could still be a trap. "So there are young women in your group," he said with curiousity, "we haven’t seen one in years. Thought you were bound to perish in a few decades." He wasn’t going to tell her that he had never seen a woman of theirs. That, in fact, he had never seen one of them alive.
She pondered for a moment, wondering how much he should learn even if she was going to kill him in the end. "There are some, they just don’t come into the jungle."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I’m hunting."
"Alone?"
"I don’t see your party either", she reminded him, and he could only raise his eyebrows. Then, she noticed the silver key hanging from his necklace. "You must be their Adam", she said disdainfully. "What is the legendary heir of the island doing alone?"
He glared at her, at first. Then, chuckling bitterly, he dared lowering his pistol. "They say I’m too stubborn", he told her with a tinge of sarcasm. "What about you? Why do you come into the jungle all by yourself?"
She didn’t know why she should lower her gun also; didn’t know why she should trust, but she did, and she did so with a small smile. "They say I’m too stubborn too", she told him.
"Damaged goods, both of us." They shared a laugh.
When she started to come closer to him, though, he remembered they were still enemies. The pistol came back, ready to shoot at point-blank; but to his surprise, she didn’t flinch.
He looked down at the ground. "You’re stepping at the frontier."
"Yes," she answers, her voice serene.
"If you cross it I’ll kill you."
"Yes."
He approached the line as well, still aiming at her, desperately trying to grasp what was hidden behind her freckled, dimpled face or under the wilderness of her hair. But he would never understand, because he couldn’t understand her people - how they could still remain even after the planes stopped dropping provisions, why they insisted on opposing his own group, why they couldn’t see that everything his people once did to them had been for the best. And she would never understand why his people insisted on keeping her people isolated when they themselves had new clothes and ammo and industrialized food; much less would she ever understand why they were still in the island, why they didn’t just jump on the next shipment and went back to the unknown world outside.
Now he stood right in front of her, himself barely a feet away from the brackish line on the ground, the pistol still in his hand but thrown to the back of his mind. He thought she smelled of rain and instinct. "If you turn away now, we can pretend we never met", he whispered to her cautiously.
She looked into his hazel eyes, now so close. "Only we can’t really."
He knew it, as well as he knew his body and soul were inexplicably pulled to hers and he wasn’t completely certain that it was a bad thing. He had already been expelled from his clan; it wasn’t as if he actually needed their approval to his actions now. "I don’t know your name."
She smiled, knowing this same dialogue must have happened before thousands of times out there, in those mysterious places the elders used to talk about to the young people at the beach.
"Eve", she breathed, and then she crossed the frontier.
Rating: PG
Word count: 823
Characters: Original
Timeline: Future Far, Far Away
Disclaimer: This is a fictional, nonprofit work for entertainment purpose only. The copyright in the TV show LOST and its components is owned by "American Broadcast Companies, Inc.", which reserves all rights therein.
She was startled by the sound of a branch being stepped on. Clutching her battered shot-gun to her breast, she slowly and carefully got up from her hiding spot behind a tree; just as slowly, and in complete silence, she counted to five.
He saw the movement behind the high foliage of the glade, right after his noisy step. He breathed in, also counting quietly; if he had any luck it would just be another boar, for he was hungry and tired of dealing with people. Whichever it was, his pistol was at aim.
When she turned to him, none of them fired.
They stood paralysed, half expecting each other to react, half not. Throughout their lives they had been trained to shoot first, before the other, but now that they finally came to face one of them, their guns stayed ready but quiet.
They studied one another. He was older than her, tall and the cleanest person she had ever seen - his clothes had spots of earth and sweat, but weren’t tearing apart like hers; he looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days, not in a few years like the men in her group.
"You come from the camp", he deduced.
"You come from the village", she concluded on the same tone, as if trying to assure herself.
Both kept their guns aimed at each other, looking around the area in search of more of them. It could still be a trap. "So there are young women in your group," he said with curiousity, "we haven’t seen one in years. Thought you were bound to perish in a few decades." He wasn’t going to tell her that he had never seen a woman of theirs. That, in fact, he had never seen one of them alive.
She pondered for a moment, wondering how much he should learn even if she was going to kill him in the end. "There are some, they just don’t come into the jungle."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I’m hunting."
"Alone?"
"I don’t see your party either", she reminded him, and he could only raise his eyebrows. Then, she noticed the silver key hanging from his necklace. "You must be their Adam", she said disdainfully. "What is the legendary heir of the island doing alone?"
He glared at her, at first. Then, chuckling bitterly, he dared lowering his pistol. "They say I’m too stubborn", he told her with a tinge of sarcasm. "What about you? Why do you come into the jungle all by yourself?"
She didn’t know why she should lower her gun also; didn’t know why she should trust, but she did, and she did so with a small smile. "They say I’m too stubborn too", she told him.
"Damaged goods, both of us." They shared a laugh.
When she started to come closer to him, though, he remembered they were still enemies. The pistol came back, ready to shoot at point-blank; but to his surprise, she didn’t flinch.
He looked down at the ground. "You’re stepping at the frontier."
"Yes," she answers, her voice serene.
"If you cross it I’ll kill you."
"Yes."
He approached the line as well, still aiming at her, desperately trying to grasp what was hidden behind her freckled, dimpled face or under the wilderness of her hair. But he would never understand, because he couldn’t understand her people - how they could still remain even after the planes stopped dropping provisions, why they insisted on opposing his own group, why they couldn’t see that everything his people once did to them had been for the best. And she would never understand why his people insisted on keeping her people isolated when they themselves had new clothes and ammo and industrialized food; much less would she ever understand why they were still in the island, why they didn’t just jump on the next shipment and went back to the unknown world outside.
Now he stood right in front of her, himself barely a feet away from the brackish line on the ground, the pistol still in his hand but thrown to the back of his mind. He thought she smelled of rain and instinct. "If you turn away now, we can pretend we never met", he whispered to her cautiously.
She looked into his hazel eyes, now so close. "Only we can’t really."
He knew it, as well as he knew his body and soul were inexplicably pulled to hers and he wasn’t completely certain that it was a bad thing. He had already been expelled from his clan; it wasn’t as if he actually needed their approval to his actions now. "I don’t know your name."
She smiled, knowing this same dialogue must have happened before thousands of times out there, in those mysterious places the elders used to talk about to the young people at the beach.
"Eve", she breathed, and then she crossed the frontier.