New Zion

Cole stretched as he stepped out into the light. The sun hung directly above, but it’s warmth was muted by a thin plateau of clouds. He and the rest of his class would be choosing their partners today. Or rather they would be competing for their partners. Cole shook his head, sighing. Walking over to the pier, he waited for the rest of the class. The water was a window to the bottom of the lake, fish darting to and fro, chasing one another.

“Why am I the one who had to be chosen for this? Isn’t there someone better?” he asked aloud as a small fish swam up to the surface and circled in front of him.

We all ask that same question every day; yet here we are, having to co-exist, Elder said. Cole sighed.

“But, so many of the voices have disappeared these last seven years. Am I doing something right, or wrong?” Cole felt Elder shrug.

The others can’t stay here with you forever. Some will disappear sooner or later, and some of us can’t make ourselves disappear, Cole watched as a larger fish darted up, swallowing the smaller fish whole.

“Talking to the fish?” Cole dropped into the water. Simon raised one eyebrow.

“You know, the challenge hasn’t begun yet,” Peter stated, laughing. Cole smiled and climbed up out of the water.

“Figured I’d get a head start,” he replied, grasping Peter’s outstretched hand. Simon laughed.

“Yeah, right,” he said. Cole shrugged.

“Anyways, you still haven’t told me the details of this ‘event’ that the teacher is having us do. What’s it for?” he asked. Peter and Simon smiled at each other mischievously.

“Not tellin,” they said in perfect unison. Cole hung his head with a sigh.

“Fine, fine. I missed that day due to family business, so I suppose it is my own fault,” Cole responded.

“I don’t know, family business is kind of out of your control,” another student stated. It was a Berg Leute girl, Jennifer. Her slender figure set her apart from most Berg Leute, and her long fair hair was tied into a ponytail. A seemed to flash across her eyes as she looked at Cole.

“Well, I chose my family, so in my case it is my fault,” Cole said with a slight chuckle. A couple of other students had arrived, and were standing awkwardly.

“Hey Cole, why do you always wear a shirt when you go swimming?” Cole turned to look at a new student, Shelby. He smiled.

“Well, if I took it off, some of the guys here would lose a bit of their confidence since I’m so in shape. I’d rather stay on good terms with them,” Cole said. Peter laughed.

“Yeah right. You’re the one who’d lose confidence if other people saw you without your shirt on,” Cole looked over at Peter and Simon. Peter was smirking, and Simon was holding his hand over his mouth, holding back laughter.

“So, who’s going to win this thing, do you think?” Cole changed the subject. The other students walked closer.

“Well, I’d bet my money on…” Callum, began looking around. Callum was average height, but extremely scrawny. His brown hair was cut short, and his equally brown eyes looked at the world in a unique way. “Jennifer, Skyla, and probably Taylor,” he stated. Cole raised an eyebrow.

“Why only the athletic girls?” Callum gave Cole a sly grin.

“Well, in this case they’re going to have to be if they want to get their preferred target,” Cole laughed.

“Callum, don’t you remember that lions back on earth were fully capable of killing a human. The human was able to survive not because he was faster, nor stronger, but because he was smarter. So watch your back, cause the lion in front of you isn’t your only concern,” Callum put on the expression of thoughtfulness.

“Well, if only the main target were not smarter, and wiser than the average human. And if only we all had the knowledge of earth the way that you do. Looks like the only way to be able to catch your target will be through surprise then, I suppose,” Callum mused, laughing. Cole looked around. It seemed to be that his entire grade was participating. Even the teachers from the other classes had come along.

“Well then, students! I see that all of you are ready to go. Of course, Mr. Avalon, and Ms. Amarante, since you were both playing hooky on the day that all of this was planned out, I had the class keep you in suspense,” Mr. Hunter had walked out onto the pier, and a few of the teachers chuckled. “As I understand it, you do not know what the competition that will be deciding your partner is. What we will be doing is sort of like the game that children play in science class called ‘the food chain’. Only in this ‘Food chain’, you need to grab hold of your target and hang on, and they must give up before they become yours.

“After you’ve caught them, you and your ‘prey’ will then leave the water, and will be partners. Now, the girls will be the predators, while the boys are the prey,” Some laughter came from a few of the girls in the group. “Also, the faster you get your prey, and the higher they are on the chart that we had set up in class, will result in a higher grade, as well as some spending money. Oh and prey, the longer you last, depending on your reason, will give you bonus marks, as well as extra money to be spent specifically on this assignment,”

What an odd competition, Elder mused.

Sounds rather pedestrian, Alfred quipped.

Be careful Cole, Cole acknowledged Abra while raising his hand.

“Yes Cole, what is it?” Mr. Hunter looked down at him. Cole stood up.

“I would like to know something… What is this whole competition for?” Mr. Hunter blinked.

“For a partner, of course,” Mr. Hunter sounded like he was talking to an idiot. Some of the voices in Coles head chuckled.

“I know that it’s for a partner, but what will us and said partner be doing? No one has told me a single thing except that some kind of competition will be happening today that will decide partners, get into my swim shorts, pick up a rebreather, and then head out to the pier. And what’s all this about charts and spending money?” Mr. Hunter turned to the other students, who all put on innocent faces.

“Well then, if you’ve made it this far without knowing, I’m sure that you can make it further!” Mr. Hunter exclaimed.

“What? Why won’t you… What?” Cole stammered. Mr. Hunter placed his hand on Cole’s shoulder and leaned in.

“Cole, allow me to say a few things. First, youth is but a fleeting moment in this journey that we call ‘life’…” Mr. Hunter slowly swung his other arm out, as if wiping a window in a straight line. “So enjoy it the best you can, with who you want,” Mr. Hunter started moving back to the center of the ring of students that were crowded around, but then turned back. “Oh, and just to let you know, you seem to be the most desired ‘prey’ here, so stay on your toes. Once again, youth is but a fleeting moment, so spend it with who you would want to,” Cole looked at Mr. Hunter, who simply smiled, winked, and turned back to the class.

“Ok, prey and predators, you know your roles! Prey, get swimming! We can’t have you getting caught right away, now can we? Predators, you will wait for my mark. All of you, don your rebreathers, and don’t lose them! You are to remain submerged for the duration of this exercise. Also, to those of you already in relationships, and I do know who you are, you may skip out on this, but you still have to do the rest of the assignment, and of course please stay out of the water,” Cole shook his head.

“Well Cole, it was nice knowing you!” Peter clapped his hand on Cole’s shoulder.

“Yeah, it was nice knowing me as well,” Cole responded, his smile coming back as Peter made a perfect dive into the water. He had been swimming for who knows how long, and had been the male representative for his school every year, right on till grade twelve.

“See you on the other side,” Simon yelled joyously, cannonballing into the water. Cole laughed.

“Well, here goes!” he called out, put in his rebreather, and took a running start to dive off the edge of the pier. He hit the water with barely a splash. Cole could hear the impacts of other students as they hit the water as well. He had counted the number of students that had jumped in, as well as the number of guys that he knew were in relationships, and the numbers didn’t seem to add up. Some of the male students hadn’t jumped in when they should have. It amounted to six male students who hadn’t jumped in. Cole looked around in the water, and recounted. He was right. The water vibrated, and the girls began dropping into the water.

No, not girls. They’re predators. I gotta think of them like that if I am gonna make it through this, Cole thought. But, what could we possibly have to do with a partner? Cole pondered on this as a predator lunged at him. He quickly dove deeper down. Planting his feet on the sand he looked up towards the surface. What he saw reminded him of a pack of sharks amongst a school of fish. Although these predators weren’t co-ordinated and the only ones following actual predatory hunting patterns were the Feline, Vulpine, and Lupus terra. The Lupine seemed somewhat capable, but would quickly shy away when someone came near them that they weren’t targeting. The humans and Berg Leute had no idea what they were doing when they were hunting.

Cole began ‘walking’ towards the pier when he saw three shadows on the sand. Quickly darting forwards, he swam with all his strength. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that it was Jennifer, Taylor, and another girl whose name he couldn’t remember. Cole tried to sigh, but all he saw were bubbles float up in front of his eyes, which somehow didn’t feel as satisfying as hearing his own voice.

Well, I probably can’t outswim them for very long… Jennifer and Taylor actually play sports that require endurance. Although Skyla isn’t here, so that’s at least one worry aside, he thought to himself as he kept swimming towards the pier. Skyla’s our female swimming team representative, so she could catch me in a heartbeat, Cole reached one of the pillars at the pier, far ahead of his pursuers. Looking out to the rest of the area, he saw that there were seven girls missing from the group that should be there. Weird… Cole thought. He then looked to Jennifer and Taylor, who had slowed down. They knew Cole wasn’t going anywhere.

Cole made up his mind and moved out from under the pier, and held his position, defiant. It was a statement. He was a rebel that was being put down, but had stood up to defy his ‘betters’. Some of the prey saw this, and they began evading even better, and quicker. Cole looked in time to see Peter and Simon working together to evade their pursuers. They would pass each other, twist around, and work in perfect sync.

He stayed where he was, a symbol to the rest of the prey that they could make it through this. He saw that some of the students who hadn’t really been trying had picked up the pace, and were now moving around quickly. Their predators had a hard time keeping up. Cole felt the impact of someone landing in the water above him. Before he could even look to see who it was, he felt arms quickly wrap around his torso, with no time to react. Looking to Jennifer and Taylor, he had to try not to laugh at the look of shock on their faces.

Priceless, Cole looked down at the arms around his chest. They were slender, with an unexpected strength to them. The hands were a bit small, but their grip was most likely unrelenting. Cole shook his head, waved to Jennifer and Taylor, and began to swim towards shore. He felt the arms squeeze tighter.

Cole tried to look back to see who it was that had managed to catch him, but all he could see was crimson hair floating in random directions and his ‘revolution’ crumbling. Simon was caught by a brown haired Cat Terra with a spotted pattern to her ears and tail, and Peter stopped trying to get away. Cole shook his head.

Those two are always like this… if one succeeds the other will as well, but if one fails, the other will stop and fail with him, Peter was caught by a deep blue-haired Feline Terra, presumably Skyla. She had shot into him, probably surprised by the sudden stop. Cole swam to the surface, picking up the pace. The girl on his back had begun shaking, and was holding on even tighter. She sputtered when they made it into the air. He felt her legs wrap around him as well, as though she was afraid that her arms might give out.

Making it to shallow waters, Cole was about to stand but thought better of it. The girl would probably want to be as far out of the water as possible at this point, judging from her reaction and he could swim to the shore faster than running. He still had no idea who it was, and his eyes were blurry, which was either from the rebreather or the fact that he hadn’t used goggles in the lake, and his hair was hanging in front of his eyes.

“We’re out of it now. You don’t need to hang on,” Cole whispered over his shoulder. The girl kept shaking, but she unlocked her hands, and let go of him. Cole turned around to see who had caught him. He still couldn’t see properly. However, his hearing was left unaffected, so he could hear the girl crying. Cole froze. He didn’t know who it was, so he didn’t know what to do. He took into account the girls that he hadn’t seen and recognized underwater, but still couldn’t figure out which one it was. He chose to embrace her. As soon as his arms were around her, she began to drop. Cole slowly lowered them both down, and held her as she cried into his chest. He felt animal ears brush up against his chin. If I can figure out what kind of Terra she is, then I can figure out a way to comfort her, Cole thought.

I can tell you that she ain’t Lupine, nor Feline, a voice rasped. The person who used to own the voice was a well experienced taxidermist and worked at an animal reserve back on earth.

Which means that she is either a Wolf or a Fox, an unfamiliar little boy’s voice chimed in.

Their ears are different from each other, and I have seen the differences. The Fox ears have a bit more fluff around the outside pointing in, and the ear is longer, while the Wolf ears are shorter and more rounded, Cole furrowed his brow.

Her ears are a strange length… not quite as long as a Foxes, but not as short as a Wolfs. She also has the fur inside her ear that a fox does, the taxidermist was back.

How do I comfort her then? If she’s a wolf, then I have to be careful about not stepping over the boundaries of the ‘Alpha’ state of mind, if she has it. If she’s Fox, then this would be a lot simpler, since she would most likely be more timid and shy, A light flashed in his mind, and he instinctively began running his hand through her hair, top to bottom. The girl’s shaking gradually subsided.

“Ah, they’re finally dating! Took you guys long enough,” Cole heard someone say. He looked around, but everyone was simply a blur. It sounded like it might be Peter, but Cole couldn’t tell. He put his pointer finger to his lips, and people became silent. Cole then pointed in the direction that he thought the pier was in.

“What’s wrong? Scared of the water?” One girl mocked from the side. The expression that took residence on Cole’s face got his point across. A couple of the guys that had knelt next to Cole nodded and stood up. They began getting the other guys to get their partners away from them. There seemed to be a bit of resistance, but they finally left. Cole nodded his thanks to the blurs that were the guys. Four people stayed behind, but kept at a distance. It was completely silent, and all that Cole could hear was the girl crying and the water lapping up the sand.

“It’s ok, you’re safe now. You don’t have to worry, I’m right here,” Cole whispered to the girl. He thought he knew who the girl was.

“That’s what my sister said, but this still happened!” the girl cried into Cole’s shoulder.

“Well then, I will do what I can to keep these kinds of things from happening to you. Now, will you tell me what happened?” the girl shook her head, holding onto him. “It’s ok, you don’t have to,” Cole looked in the direction of the group as a tall person with ears and a tail ran towards them. I guess that’s Mr. Hunter, Cole figured. The girls shaking had subsided, and she was now silent.

“Are you ok now? Do you think you’re ready to head back?” Cole whispered to her. He felt the girl’s ears brush his jaw as she nodded. Cole stood up and held out his hand. The girl took it, and as he pulled her up Cole smiled. “My name is…” Cole began, but the girl interrupted him.

“Cole!” Cole blinked. The girl’s voice sounded familiar.

“Um, yeah. Sorry, but I can’t quite tell who you are,” the girl turned away, crossing her arms.

“So we’ll be partners for the next couple of weeks, and you don’t even know who I am?” Cole hung his head. What should I do? She just completely changed? Just a few moments ago she was crying for an unknown reason, and now she’s mad at me,

Don’t try to understand women, my boy. The only thing that you will achieve is losing your own sanity, another voice broke in, this one the Psychiatrist. Cole decided to put on a smile.

“I sincerely apologize, milady, but I believe that either the rebreather or my lack of goggles in the water have caused my vision to become impaired. I do not know if that is the real cause, but it is the only one I can think of at the moment,” Cole responded coyly, doing his best to sound ‘proper’. Alfred snickered. The girl turned to him again.

“Why are you talking like that?” she asked.

“Like what?” Cole kept the voice going, and even went so far as to make his ‘what’ sound as ‘hwat’. The girl shook her head. Alfred burst out laughing.

“Like that!” Cole cocked his head, putting on a confused face.

“I must say that I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Is there something wrong with my voice? If so, perhaps I should go see a doctor,” Cole kept a straight face, although the corners of his mouth slightly tilted up in a smile. Cole’s vision began to clear. The girl threw her hands up, exasperated.

“Fine, fine. Whatever you say, Cole,” she stopped moving, staring out into the lake.

You’re playing a dangerous game, my boy, Alfred managed to say. ’But I’m glad it’s a spectator sport!’

Learned from the best, Cole smirked.

“Ah, Lady Aria. So it was you! A pleasure to see you again,” Cole’s smirk broadened into a smile. Aria mumbled something. Cole came closer, but he already knew what she’d said. “I sincerely apologize, but my hearing isn’t what it used to be. Would you mind repeating that?” Aria quickly turned on him.

“I was only going to say it once, and you missed your chance to hear it!” With that, she walked off in the direction of the rest of the class. Cole sighed, shaking his head and then walked after her.

“Well?” Callum asked under his breath when he got to Cole.

“‘Well’ what?” Callum gave Cole a flat look.

“Did she tell you about what had happened?” Cole shook his head. “Really? I thought she would want to get back at them…” Callum stared off into the sky.

“Get back at who?” Callum smirked.

“Well, well! Look who’s finally taken an interest in the problem at hand,” it was Cole’s turn to give Callum a flat look.

“Are you planning on telling me, or are you going to drag this out longer?” Callum looked into the distance, thoughtful.

“I think I’ll savor this feeling for a moment longer… Me knowing something that you don’t? This is a rare occasion, now isn’t it?” Cole sighed.

“Yeah, it might even make its way into history. Of course, if you drag this out too much longer, you might not,” Cole threatened.

“Ok, ok, I got it. I didn’t see who had done it, but…” Cole held up his hand.

“Wait, why would you be able to see what happened?” Cole asked.

“Oh yeah, that’s right! You still don’t know anything yet. Well, six boys and six girls are not going to start off in pairs. They are, if they want to, supposed to try and take other people’s partners. We are given a card, and if we manage to win over a partner, we have to give the card to the person who is now partner-less. Then it is their role to ‘steal’,” Cole nodded. “Anyways, I was one of the guys who volunteered to start off without a partner,” Cole raised an eyebrow.

“Why am I not surprised?” Michael gave him a flat look.

“So, back to the matter at hand, I didn’t see who had done it, but, I did see what happened. She was standing at the edge of the pier, looking into the water. She seemed to be rather hesitant about going in. A couple of students, wolf ones I think, pushed her in. She fell in and, well, you know the rest. Wait, what’s wrong?” Callum backed away a little from Cole. There was a fire in his eyes that wasn’t all too friendly.

“Were all of them the same kind of Terra?” Cole asked, through gritted teeth.

“Um, yeah. It definitely looked like it. By the way, I’d like to know how to tell the difference between the Wolf and Fox types,” One look from Cole was enough. “Ok, some other time then. Wait, what are you planning to do?”

“Do you really want to know?” Callum thought a moment. Peter and Simon had walked over with their partners.

“You know what? Don’t tell me. You need to calm down, ok? If you simply go off here, imagine what’s going to happen to your family. You are the son of a Mafia Boss. You can only go after other Mafia, gangs, and other criminals. Bullying does not fit into the list of ‘Crimes’ in this country, but assault and murder do,” Cole finally stopped moving, let out a long breath, and resumed walking onwards.

“You know, I wouldn’t have gotten all fired up if you hadn’t brought up what had happened,” Cole stated over his shoulder.

“Yeah, well, better me having to stop you, since I don’t know if she could,” Callum retorted.

“So then, Cole. What do you plan to do?” Cole stopped moving. Mr. Hunter had made it to them. Cole hung his head.

“Just how much of that did you hear?” Mr. Hunter smiled.

“Most of it, I think. You still haven’t answered my question,” Cole sighed.

“I will do what I do in the interests of my partner, however, I still don’t know what the partner is for,” Mr. Hunter’s smile changed. It was a lot slyer now.

“I think I’ll let your partner explain to you. Especially since you two will be spending the next few weeks together,” Cole cocked his head.

“A few weeks? What could we possibly be doing that would require numerous weeks?” Cole asked incredulously. Someone clapped Cole on the shoulder. Peter was standing there, a sorrowful look on his face.

“Good luck,” and then he and Skyla walked off.

“I hope you live long enough for us to meet again, and I hope I live that long too,” Simon said sullenly following Peter with his partner, a Feline Terra.

“Wait a second. Peter thinks I’ll need luck for it, and Simon seems to think it’s the end of his life. Hey Callum, is it…” Callum simply smiled, turned and walked off. Cole ran to catch up to Aria.

“Aria, what’s going on?” he asked. She stopped walking and looked up at him.

“We are now dating,”

©2017