The Forsaken

all. It’s fireworks.
    Back in the UNA I saw them in patriotic commercials about national pride and military service. But never once in real life. Fireworks, like so many other things, were banned back home.
    I’m about to breathe a sigh of relief, when an object whizzes past my head like a rocket. I scream and duck.
    It detonates in the trees at the edge of the clearing, instantly setting the branches on fire in a shower of sparks. Everyone is yelling and running past me. Some of the underbrush is alight, and the flames are spreading fast.
    “Keep your head down!” Gadya calls out to me over the chaos.
    A spider burst of sparkling lights explodes overhead with a boom. The air is quickly filling with acrid smoke.
    “It’s a firework attack!” Gadya yells at me. “The Monk’s drones do this every couple weeks to start fires in our village.” A concussive blast drowns out the rest of her words.
    Another group of shirtless warriors runs past, whooping as they plunge into the forest. They’re moving in pursuit of the invisible drones.
    I hear more loud cracks as bottle rockets fizz and sputter, and smoke bombs detonate nearby. My ears are ringing. Rika gets down and presses her chunky body flat on the dirt. I do the same. Gadya remains standing.
    A boy runs past and tosses her a spear. She grabs it easily, the metal tip flashing in the firelight. “I’m gonna get these psychos!” she cries. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” Then she rushes off into the forest after the other hunters.
    “Is Gadya crazy?” I whisper to Rika, my head close to hers. “Where’s she going?”
    “To fight. Gadya’s a warrior. We’re just survivors.”
    From our vantage point, Rika and I can see boys and girls racing everywhere. A group of them pours buckets of river water onto the burning underbrush, trying to extinguish the flames.
    Fireworks keep exploding above us. I jam my fingers into my ears. Showers of multicolored sparks fall down like rain, forming pinprick afterimages that dance on my retinas.
    I still can’t catch any real glimpses of the drones. They’re just shadowy figures dashing through the trees at the edges of the clearing. They hoot and cackle as they run, using slingshots and mortar tubes to shoot off aerial shells like grenades.
    A particularly loud explosion makes me and Rika flinch. I blink and look back up from the ground. And when I do, my mind goes totally blank for an instant.
    A pair of feet has appeared directly in front of us.
    I’m hoping somehow it’s Liam, or Gadya, or one of the other hunters.
    But I find myself staring up at a drone clutching a metal spear. Red war paint obscures his features, making him look demonic.
    Rika instantly shrieks, “Interloper!” She rolls sideways onto her feet, surprising me with her speed. I stagger up ungracefully, several beats behind her.
    We turn to run, but then I hear a familiar voice call out, “Alenna! It’s me!”
    I turn around, stunned, staring at the painted drone. “David?”
    “Wait? You know this lunatic?” Rika practically screams.
    David moves closer, limping, as he lowers the spear. Now that I can see his eyes, I know it’s him for sure. He’s not wearing his glasses.
    “I thought you were dead!” I say.
    “I talked my way out of it,” he replies, speaking fast. “Told them I’d join their cult. Said everything they wanted to hear. But they’re all insane! They painted my face and said that tonight is my initiation rite. I have to kill a villager to prove I’m for real, or else they’re going to kill me!” He moves closer. “I don’t want to kill anyone. Let me hide in your village. I can—”
    “There you are!” a voice booms out. I spin around.
    There’s another drone standing right behind us.
    This one’s face is painted lime green, like a lizard’s. He’s holding a cigarette lighter up to the short wick of a massive cylindrical firework, as large and dangerous-looking as a bomb. He also has a knife strapped to his leather belt. We’re trapped.
    “Hey, this is our sector!” Rika yells at him.
    “We control this entire island,” he spits. “You girls just don’t know it yet!” He looks over at David. “Raise your spear, punk. Look alive.”
    Rika stares down the lizard boy. “You better not light that firework. You’ll blow us all to kingdom come.”
    “Good.” He starts baying like a wolf, and I see that his tongue is split down the middle, the two sections moving separately like worms.