Forget Him If You Can - Digital Eden

Dave had very little time but he knew that he had to move. The tiger and his hunting party had fallen for his subterfuge but it would not take them long to see it. He rushed to the beach to find the Tigers camp. Luckily, he thought to check for traps, moments before hitting a tripwire. He then noticed that there were anti-personnel mines strung around the perimeter of the camp.
“Guess if you can’t keep your stuff safe, might as well blow it up.” Dave said to himself, carefully going in.
Dave raided the camp for what he could. Unfortunately, all guns and explosives were either in locked boxes or with the group on the hunt. He grabbed food, flashlights, first aid equipment, and whatever other useful stuff she could fit in a knapsack he found. He could hear the men coming back down and knew he had to move fast. He thought for a moment about setting off the mines and destroying the camp. However, they did not know he was at the camp and could not guarantee he wouldn’t get caught in the explosion. Instead he tried to make it look like he hadn’t disturbed much and left. With luck, they wouldn’t know he had come there and have to start a larger search circuit.
Dave left along the beach, allowing the waves to obscure his tracks. His plan was to get to the rocky mountain area of the island and climb up. There seemed to be a large mountainous area and he knew he would be harder to track there as well as offering more places to hide. He managed to get off the branch and find place that was not visible from below. Here he decided that he would finally allow himself time to rest.
As the sun began to get low on the horizon Dave started to think he might have a chance. He had some food, some supplies, and some manner of e defensible position. He had seen hide nor hair of the hunters and started to think that it would take some time for them to come find him. However, a sound called from back the way he had come and it chilled him to the bone. It was the howling of dogs. Dave had not thought to look at what other facilities were around the camp and didn’t think to look for a stable or impromptu kennel. It seemed that the men had hunting dogs and this was not something he had remotely prepared for. He immediately packed up his supplies and began to rapidly try and get higher into the mountain area.

As he moved he started seeing shapes out on the rocks. Whenever he stopped to look they froze. When he moved he hard them move and when he looked back they were ever closer. Dave started to run knowing that the predators at his heels were now quickening their pace. He saw ahead of him was a rocky hill, perhaps he could find somewhere to hide, somewhere to mount some sort of defence. However, before he could get within twenty yards of the rocks he felt something strike him from behind. He fell with a roll but managed to get to facing his attacker as it came in for another strike. He was still wearing a long-sleeved shirt and the sleeve was the only thing sparing his flesh as the attacking dog bit into his arm when he raised it to defend. The strength of the dog was terrifying, though the fangs weren't yet breaking his skin he could feel the vice-like grip threaten to crack bone should he allow the attack to go on much further.

“Get off!” Dave shouted, hoping that he could somehow intimidate the dog, however as the rest of it's pack circled he realized that it was far too bold too fall for intimidation. Dave struggled to shake the dog's grip off his arm while keeping an eye on the others as they grew closer, each seeming to size up where they might attack as well. Dave knew his chances were not very good and started to steel his mind for what was coming next. Before the next closest dog could attack and axe flew from behind him, cutting into the dog’s neck, killing it instantly. The other dogs lost their focus on Dave as they looked in the direction of the attack. Dave looked up to see a figure throw a second small axe, it striking a dog and mortally wounding it. The figure was a woman and she moved with impressive speed and strength, closing the distance to the dogs and slicing at one with a long knife, drawn form her belt. The dogs began to retreat, the one loosing its grip on Dave’s arm. He rolled to his feet in time to see the figure attack again, the dog yelping from the wound and joining the other survivors of his pack as they fled back the way they had come.

“Thank you.” Dave said to the stranger as she tried to recover his wit from the attack. She was tall and strong, buffer than most women he has met. She had tan skin but with wispy blonde hair. She was barefoot, and dressed in ripped patchwork clothes with many weapons. She seemed to be mostly ignoring Dave in favour of retrieving her throwing axes. Dave waited until she was done. “I would have been done for were it not for your help.”

“Help?” The woman said with a perked eyebrow before bending down and beginning to skin one of the dogs. She seemed to be harvesting it for meat as she cut off long flanks and “I wasn't trying to help you. You were bait mostly.”

“Oh...” Dave said in an awkward tone. “Either way thank you. My name is Dave. I was brought here against my will.”

“Everyone here was.” The woman answered as she continued to work, seemingly uninterested in Dave's plight.

“Listen.” Dave began. “I am in a lot of trouble here and i really could use some help. Perhaps I can be of use to you somehow. I am sure there are many things I can do to repay you for the help. I have money in my accounts back home and could provide a fairly substantial reward.”

“Not interested much in money.” The woman said. “Survival is the main goal out here and you would prove of little use for that if you cannot even do it for yourself.”

“OK listen!” Dave spoke up, knowing if he could not convince the woman to help he surely would be done for. “I admit that I have little experience surviving in a place like this. I have never even left the city before. But I am a quick learner and I will show you that I can be useful.”

“I doubt that.” The woman said, standing up with her spoils and turning to leave. “Good luck.”

“Fine.” Dave said in a frustrated tone. “Leave me here in the middle of nowhere with no means of survival. I will find my way back regardless...I need to find out the secret of my grandparents and why they restrict so much on Digital Eden.”

“Your Grandparents?” The woman said as she stopped. “You do not know who they are.”

“That is what this all is about.” Dave returned. “I had photographs of them, proof of their existence and when I went searching for more information of where they went and how they got into the upper society they came after me

The woman turned back to Dave. “I once had a brother, he did not see the point in going with the rules about Digital Eden or the banning of carbon records. He disappeared first…all that I had left of him was a photograph. However, when they found out that I had it…I became as complicit as he. I never saw him again but I always wondered if he had come to this place.

“You never let him go from your heart, did you?” Dave asked. “They want us to detach from our families, our friends, and our fellow men. They want us to be despondent and obedient.”

“They do.” The woman replied. “But I never can forget him…I refuse.”

“Then we are the same.” Dave explained. “We are not just people with contraband, we are not criminals, just people who did not want to live as told and wanted to hang onto the things that mattered to us.”

The woman sighed. “Alright I can give you a chance to prove yourself.”

“That is all that I ask.” Dave assured. “I do need help but I do not expect it for free. I will repay anything given to me two-fold.”

“I’ve survived here on my own for three years.” The woman explained as she began to lead Dave though paths in the rock that he did not see before. “There had been others butt hey had proven…too reckless. I can see the hunter’s patterns and I learned the island well…I had to.”

“If that is what I have to learn to survive then teach me.” Dave replied. “I will not let them kill me, I will do anything to survive.”

“Well you had better.” The woman replied. “It wont just be me and the hunters putting you to the test…but the island itself.”

“My name is Dave by the way.” Dave offered. “I am pleased to meet you.”

“You have already said that.” The woman explained. “You will not need such formalities out here. Here you are judged by your skills and your use to others. You may however call me Skye.”

“I will keep that in mind Skye.” Dave replied. “Where are, we going if I may ask?”

“They are still on the hunt.” Skye replied. “The dogs will be back and you will help me by doing what you just did. You will draw out our prey and I will dispatch them. Though you will be more prepared.”

Skye drew a long stone knife from her belt and handed it to Dave. He tested the weight and though crude he had no doubt that the weapon was formidable. “Thank you, I have never really used a knife before.”

“Oh, you will learn pretty fast.” Skye replied. “Either you figure out how to use it to protect your life or those who you fail to use it against will kill you.”

“You are a pretty bleak person.” Dave commented. “What were you like before you came here.”

“Meek, naïve, useless.” Skye explained. “Like you.”

“That hurt.” Dave replied as he scratched his head. “Though I suppose not entirely off base. I am learning to survive and improvise as I go.”

“Fear not.” Skye replied with a smile. “Should you fail you will be dead and none of it will even matter.”

“That’s far from encouraging.” Dave replied as she put the dagger in his belt. His arm still throbbed from the bite from before. He admitted that he wanted some payback against the dogs and had a lot of frustration over what had happened before. “I suppose I survived one danger...on to the next.”

“That is how life works.” Skye replied. “To think otherwise is foolish.”

“So, I am learning.” Dave replied. The fight before had been like no other he had been in. He had so many questions still nagging at his mind but there were other things to do. First step was to stay alive, then it was to get off the island. There were answers for him, abut Digital Eden, His grandparents, everything. Something was very wrong not just in his life but in the way the government was treating the people. He felt that the problem was a mountain for him to climb and would get much more challenging before things got better. For now, however, he had to focus on this enigmatic girl. For she might prove to be his only chance to move forward…and he had to take it as there was only death behind.