Duality Merged - Chapter 4 Sticks And Stones..

The scream caused both men to awake in a panic as they scrambled to their feet, rushing through the cave. As they made it the outside and into the once more silent night however, they couldn’t help but grow confused. The two guardswomen were very much still safe and unhurt Max noticed, making him believe he had been woken up for no reason. “What?” he asked in a guttural tone thick with confusion. “Molly seemed to have been spooked by a spider,” answered Janette, obviously unconcerned with the quickly growing rage of the unfortunate soul before her. Why would she be concerned? She wasn’t going to be the target of his ire. But Molly would, that much was unavoidable. And she knew it.

Molly had her head bowed in shame and preparation for the coming verbal thrashing, but she couldn’t help but peek through her bangs after what felt like an eternity of silence, something she quickly came to regret. What she saw made her go wide-eyed and pale-faced: the expression of pure hatred on Max’s face as his eyes bored into hers left her terrified. “You screamed because of a spider,” he said, more so a statement than a question, voice quivering like a dam during an earthquake, hands clenching and unclenching as he, no doubt, fought the urge to lash out in a way not so verbal. “Whatever, Max Let’s go get some sleep,” came the calm voice of Charles, somehow managing to rein in the bigger man’s temper who, with one final look of warning towards the now catatonic Molly, stomped his way back into the cave.

Charles didn’t walk back inside immediately but instead went towards Janette. “She’s cute,” she whispered with a tiny smile as she couldn’t help but be reminded of a small animal frozen by the headlights of an oncoming truck. Charles, however, didn’t share his sister’s sentiments, “She’s useless,” he corrected with a whisper of his own. His answer didn’t seem to make his sister happy if her frown was anything to go by. “Fine, fine, but you’ll take care of her,” Charles surrendered as he threw his hands up into the air. He knew very well how willful and stubborn his sister could be, something his spoiling of her certainly didn’t help any. All he could do at this point was hope she’d lose interest

The rest of the night thankfully went by in peace, much to everyone’s relief, and the day started with a simple breakfast of apples. Max, obviously still angry at the events of the previous night, took some of the food left from the day before and exited the cave, leaving the three others behind to eat their own breakfast. Molly ate by herself, most likely still ashamed and in some amount of shock at what happened, while Janette joined Charles as they ate and spoke in hushed voices, sending Molly periodic glances. Following the unsatisfying meal, the three exited the cave and found Max looking towards the red-leafed willow-like tree on top of their cave.

“Good thing you didn’t wander off already, Max. I was thinking we might want to get some weapons as an added safety and wanted to hear if you happened to know anything about making primitive weapons?” asked Charles in a chipper tone, a stark contrast to Max’s current mood. “I don’t think we can get our hands on anything other than long sticks. Might be able to sharpen them a bit, though they won’t be able to pierce a whole lot” was Max’s answer, “And some stones for throwing,” he added. “Good idea as any, I suppose,” Charles said, deciding to put his trust in the obviously more seasoned fighter. He’d never actually been in a fight before. Not a physical one, anyway, just the occasional verbal scuffle. But even those were few and far between after a while

Janette and Molly made their way towards the apple tree without talking, the silence only broken by the occasional bird’s song or the rustling of leaves. “Does Max scare you?” asked Janette after having observed Molly for a while, causing the latter to jump slightly at the unexpected noise. Molly remained silent for a moment to calm down, blushing slightly at her fidgety display, before she answered, “He’s angry with me, which is understandable, I guess. I haven’t exactly been the most valuable member of our group. I didn’t even find any food yesterday I really am useless.” she said, trailing off towards the end as she looked down.

“Don’t worry too much, Molly,” Janette chuckled, causing Molly to look at her, “Try and get closer to him, why don’t you? You’ll be keeping watch together with him soon, after all,” she continued, but, judging by the girl’s paling face, only seemed to make her more worried. “And, according to what Charles said, Max is probably just stressed because he’s under some amount of pressure. If you manage to befriend him, he’ll probably be more forgiving towards you, even if you do make some mistakes every now and again,” she reasoned in an attempt at placating the girl’s worries.

Lady Luck seemed to smile upon them today. They’d managed to obtain a handful of suitable wooden ‘staves’ without having to strain themselves a whole lot, only having to use Max’s knife for a while on any of the wooden limbs. Their only dissatisfaction stemmed from the fact that Max’s doubts about the impromptu spears being all that good at piercing were quickly confirmed after they’d stabbed one of the surrounding trees. The result was slightly disheartening: the speartip blunted very easily and had little actual effect in the way of harming the tree. They’d be better off simply beating any potential aggressors, for the time being, it would seem. “You know, Max” said Charles as he handed the now much calmer man the last of their finds for him to sharpen, “I can’t help but think that you may not be a fan of Molly’s.”

“You think?” Max asked, the question obviously rhetorical. “She wouldn’t survive a day where I’m from; she’d be either dead or wishing for it,” he added. “How do women fit into that, by the way?” probed Charles, “Gangs, I mean,” he clarified. “It depends on the gang and the woman, I guess. In my gang, a woman’s either for fightin’ or fucking” Max stated rather eloquently after a moments pause, “Those who ain’t afraid of a fight usually got bigger balls than some of the men, while the others are usually there for the money, drugs or the thrill. Most for the money. Good business, or so I’ve been told,” he said, ending with a lascivious grin, obviously having been a patron of said business. “Hmm Well, who am I to judge. Let’s head back, shall we?” Charles asked as he grabbed two of the staves, “We might as well grab a handful or two of rocks,” he continued, bending down to pick up a rock he thought suitable and saw something that resembled the pawprint of a small animal.

Returning to the cave, it didn’t take long for evening to arrive and, with time passing as it does, the night was swiftly approaching. Their evening meal was eaten in relative silence, only disturbed by the hushed whispers of the brother-sister pair. Max didn’t waste much time after sating his hunger with apples before he went to sleep. He would take the last shift accompanied by Janette and therefore had every intention of getting an extra couple hours of sleep, an intention Janette seemed to share. And so, the only two left awake sat against the wall of the entrance to keep watch, and they’d be sitting there for the next eight hours, Molly hoped.

As time ticked by at what she perceived to be a painfully slow pace, she couldn’t help but begin to resent her only possible conversational partner who, despite his own earlier claims that this would be a good trust-building exercise, had remained silent for what she guessed to be over five hours. Hell, he hadn’t even looked at her, perhaps yet another reason for her current feelings of petty anger. Actually, now that she thought about it, he hadn’t ever looked at her properly; more like he was ever only acknowledging her existence, but nothing beyond that. He only ever really interacted with Janette and Max, although she couldn’t help but have a feeling that Charles’ interactions with the latter were more a choice of convenience than anything else.

But even her thoughts couldn’t keep her body from behaving as it should. “I have to pee,” she muttered as she felt the tell-tale signs of a fiery blush colouring her cheeks. “Better get it over with, then,” answered Charles disinterestedly as he stood up and, while he didn’t blame the girl for having to take care of her bodies basic needs, he was very much bored. He’d become quite good at going into ‘autopilot’ over the years, chiefly due to spending time with people whose existence could best be described as vapid.

“You look that way and do your business,” he said, gesturing towards the west while he walked some distance towards the east, giving the still furiously blushing girl some privacy. Molly, however, wasn’t quite as calm, which had the effect of her having to spend longer than she would’ve liked getting her muscles to relax, allowing her to empty her bladder. But not even that action brought her the feeling of satisfaction one normally would after the act; the sounds of her pee hitting the ground seemed to have been amplified due to her embarrassment. “I’m done,” Charles finally heard Molly call out in a subdued voice, so he nodding with a yawn in response. He couldn’t wait for their shift to be over. Molly didn’t really make for the most stimulating of company he lamented

As the sun rose above the horizon, bringing with it the light and warmth of day, Max and Janette went inside to wake their two blissfully sleeping companions, before they ate a light breakfast consisting of apples garnished with repetition, went about their day. Max and Charles went around the perimeter of the clearing checking for anything unusual and, to their relief, found nothing.

“It’s hard to believe that we’re in another world,” remarked Molly as she and Janette walked through the woods, “with how similar everything looks to back home with only a few things being different” a statement Janette couldn’t help but agree with, “Indeed, I feel much the same way,” she said, before silence enveloped them once more. “I do believe it’s your turn to talk about yourself today, Molly. Why did you accept the invitation?” Janette said, finally breaking the silence. Molly nodded but stayed silent for a minute as she gathered her thoughts, “It’s my mother I wanted to get away for a while. It’s not like I don’t love her, I do, more than anything… But after father died she’s been getting more and more controlling and overprotective I felt suffocated” she finally said, and she meant it, perhaps now more than ever before.

As time passed, she couldn’t help but find herself lacking in everything, at least compared to her current companions. She wasn’t headstrong or brave like Max, she wasn’t calm and comforting like Janette, and she most certainly didn’t have any leadership qualities as Charles did. She couldn’t help but start believing her mother had unknowingly crippled her to some extent or, at the very least, stunted her. “Wanted to get away from an overprotective parent, huh? Well, I wouldn’t know about that, being adopted into a family only for the financial benefits I would bring” said Janette, “But wanting to prove oneself, I can definitely relate too” she muttered with a wistful smile on her face.

Molly looked at the beautiful woman beside her and, judging by the knowing smile on Janettes lips, she’d understood the question on Molly’s mind. But instead of answering she simply laughed, intent on leaving Molly in the dark. “Say, Molly, what do you think about Brother?” Janette asked just as they arrived at the apple tree. “Charles?” Molly couldn’t help but ask, even though the answer was obvious, “I don’t know He’s handsome, I guess, but I can’t help but feel like” Molly answered, uncertainty in her voice. “I won’t tell him. This is girl’s talk, after all,” Janette said in an attempt at appeasing the young girl’s worries.

“He feels wrong?” Molly said in a questioning voice, testing if that’s what she’d describe him as. Nodding slightly, she continued, “He felt so far away during our shift, even when he accompanied me to take a leak, he just treated it as if it didn’t matter. Like nothing did” she trailed off, remembering Charles’ almost dead eyes during their shift. “That’s quite an impression of him you have there, but I’d have to agree with you. He has sadly made it a habit to drown in his thoughts at times, making him feel awfully distant,” agreed Janette, pain evident in her voice. “He’s quite whimsical, to be honest. He’ll gain interest in something one day and the next he won’t even glance at it unless he has to.” Janette, noticing her fellow apple picker had fallen silent after her answer, couldn’t help but peek around the tree, spotting Molly who had an awfully cute pout to her lips. “What’s wrong?”

“You just called me uninteresting,” Molly answered with by a look of blame, causing Janette to laugh like a bell. “Don’t look at me like that, dear Molly,” she managed to say between laughs before she calmed down. “If it’s of any consolation, you’ve caught my interest,” she added with a radiant smile.