Just A Knife

I was alone, surrounded by nothing but thicket of trees, the smell of smoke in the air.

“Finally” I whispered as I caught my breath. I had gotten away but not that far away.

The screams had gone away, drowned out by the sound of aircrafts and birds chirping. I finally stopped running and bent over to catch my breath; droplets of sweat fell from my forehead and onto the grass. I took out my handkerchief and wiped the sweat away from my stubble and brow, and swept my hand through my shaggy blond hair to move it away from my eyes. I knew I had to keep going but it would be nightfall soon and I wouldn’t be able to find my way out of the thicket with the all branches and limbs intertwining above and around me, the massive tree trunks, and the tree roots rising up from the ground. So my best option would be to stay where I was until morning. I took a quick look around to see if anyone had followed me and listened carefully for the sound of footsteps. Once I was certain that I was truly alone, I decided to make camp. I really didn’t much on me except for my clothes and a survival knife that I managed to pull off one of the men who attacked me, but I realized that that was all I really needed as I looked around and noticed all the branches, leaves and rocks and saw that I had all the means to make a fort, build a fire, and live off the land.

I decided to make build a fort first so I pulled out the knife and placed it between my teeth as I started to climb up one of the trees. After much effort, I managed to saw off one of the branches and then another and another until there was a pile of them on the ground. It was time to put my time as a boy scout to good use; I sawed off several more branches and placed them into the pile, and dragged them over to a small clearing that looked big enough to hold a one-person fort. I pulled the leaves off Then taking my knife, I sharpened the ends off four of them and hammered them into the ground with a rock. Then using vines I pulled off a large tree trunk, I tied four other branches together onto of the four staked into the ground. And then I laid the branches that still had their leaves on on top and stepped back to examine my work; I had built a fort, now I just needed to build a fire and find food. I had seen a river not long ago while I was running so I knew where to get water , and I already had everything to build a fire, but food was going to be less easy to come by.

After gathering water using nothing but leaves, I was able to gather enough wood for a fire just as the sun started to set. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a squirrel climbing one of the trees; though not exactly my idea of a great meal, I could only take what I could get. I picked a rock and slowly inched my way over to the tree where the squirrel was, being careful not to make too much noise. I chucked at the rock and, with sheer dumb luck, managed to hit the little one on the head and it fell to the ground. I stabbed it with my knife and walked over to my fort; it made me a little sick to my stomach as I thought about what had to happen next but I knew it had to be done. I skinned the squirrel and cut off its head and gutted it before I started the fire, using a stick and a log to do it the old-fashioned way. I roasted my kill over the flames, waiting until the meat was crispy and brown. I ate as the sun went down and the sky turned dark;I listened to the sound of crickets chirping and felt glad to be in a place that seemed so peaceful, somewhere I could almost forget about what was happening outside the thicket of trees and bushes and the sound of nature. The light of the flames illuminated the darkness and I knew I would have to put it out soon or else someone would find me. But when I heard footsteps and saw a shadow in the trees, I knew that someone probably already had.

I dropped the squirrel carcass and stood with my knife in my hand. “Who’s there?” I cried.

“Don’t move,” a woman’s voice called out from the darkness. When she stepped out of the shadows, I wasn’t sure if I was looking at a woman or an angel, though I found it hard to believe that angels walked around in black tank tops and olive green shorts holding crossbows. She was absolutely stunning, with bronze skin and raven hair that glowed in the light of the fire. Her browns eyes narrowed as she looked at me, her cheekbones sucked in and her thin lips in a prominent line. She sneered as she pointed her weapon at me.

“Who are you?” She asked sharply. “Are you with them?” She nodded to the aircrafts flying away from us.

“Does it look like it?” I said, though I knew that now wasn’t to be a smart-aleck; she was armed and I wasn’t, and if she decided to kill me, I would be at a serious disadvantage.

“Can’t afford to take any chances,” she said. “You could be a spy, you know.”

“So could you,” I pointed out.

“And right now, I don’t see any proof otherwise,” she said. “So maybe I’ll just kill you here; you’ve got a nice camp set up and I might make good use of it.”

“You’re welcome to it,” I said. “But only if you put down the crossbow. I know you’re only trying to defend yourself but I have a feeling that this conversation will go a lot smoother without you pointing a weapon at me.”

“Not gonna happen,” she sneered.

It was obvious she wasn’t going to trust me anytime soon; if I didn’t want her to kill me, I was going to have to talk her out of it. I wasn’t much of a smooth talker but it was my only chance of getting out of the situation alive.

“Look, just take it easy,” I said putting my hands up. “I wouldn’t want to hurt a pretty lady like yourself even if I was working for them.”
 “Sure you wouldn’t,” She said.

“I’m not looking for a fight here,” I said. “And even if I was, I’d be pretty stupid to take you on with just a knife.” I held up my survival knife.

“That’s all you’ve got?” She raised her eyebrow.

“They say it’s good to travel light,” I said. “And a knife is really all you need if you know how to use it.”

“I still think you’re one of them,” she said.

“And how do I know you’re not?” I said. “You don’t trust me and I don’t trust you but right now I’m more concerned about survival than I am about trusting a beautiful young woman with a crossbow.”

“What does that mean?” She asked.

“It means we may not trust each other but we might have to work together,” I said. “Right now, I just want to get some sleep and not have to worry about what’s going on out there. And if I let you stay, there’s a chance I won’t wake up but there’s also a chance I will be able to wake up well-rested, have breakfast, and get out of here. And the same goes for you, too.”

She looked at me long and hard; I held my breath as she stood aiming her crossbow at my chest. Then finally she lowered it to the ground.

“I can’t argue that what you say makes sense,” she said. “But if you give any reason to believe that you’re in cahoots with them, the last thing you’ll see is an arrow aiming for your head.”
 “Fair enough,” I said. “But don’t think I’m so gullible either.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she smiled slightly. “Name’s Tara.”

“Adam,” I said.

“Where you heading, Adam?” she asked.

“Right now, nowhere,” I sat down on the ground.


 “But you are going somewhere,” Tara said as she joined me.

“Undoubtedly,” I said. “Wouldn’t be very smart to stay here”

“It’s quite a setup you have here,” Tara said as she looked around my camp. “And to think you did all this with just a knife.”

“Like I said, it’s all you need if you know how to use it,” I said.

She smiled but it quickly vanished we heard the sound of bushes rustling. We both stood up slowly and turned toward the direction which the sound came from. I whipped out my knife as Tara picked up her cross. From the bushes stepped out a rather tall foot soldier in all back carrying a MP5 machine gun. His face was complete covered as he wore a mask and night-vision goggles, and a black helmet on top of his head. As he stepped closer pointing his gun at us, I could tell that under his black vest, he was well-built and wondered if we would be able to take him down.

“Freeze!” He said. “Don’t either of you move.”

Tara glared at him as she pointed her crossbow at his chest.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you, lady,” the soldier said. “It would be most unwise considering the fact that I have backup behind me. I doubt either of you would make it out alive if you were to attack me.”

Tara and I glanced at each other; I looked down at her crossbow and then back up her, she nodded and I could tell that we were thinking the same thing. Gripping my knife, tightly, I looked back up at the foot soldier.

“I think we’ll take our chances,” I said and then knelt down as Tara’s arrow went flying at the soldier. It hit him square in the shoulder and he stumbled back in pain; I seized my chance and ran forward, knocking him to the ground. We wrestled the in the grass as I tried to pin him down but then he reached up and twisted my arm which held my knife. I cried out in pain, dropping the knife, and he used my moment of weakness to shove me hard against a tree trunk. I slumped down to the ground, out of breath, and looked up to see the soldier marching towards Tara hiding behind a tree. She fired three more arrows at him and while the first two whizzed by his shoulder, the third hit him in the thigh and he doubled over. I picked up my knife and ran forward and slammed his body into the ground. I pinned him down as he desperately tried to get up and then he flipped us over, holding me down at he wrapped his fingers around my throat. He squeezed hard and I began to cough as the air left my lungs and I struggled to break free but his grip was firm. Just then, Tara came up and kicked him off of me; he stumbled and then turned toward her, and growled as he lunged for her and pushed her against a tree. I gripped my knife and ran toward him with it, and plunged it into his back. He let out a gagging noise as he released Tara and I took the opportunity to stab him several times in the back until he fell to the ground in a heap.

I panted as I knelt down beside him and felt for pulse; when I didn’t feel anything, I looked up at Tara to reassure her and she smirked.

“So a knife is good if you know how to use it, huh?” She said. “Well, you definitely know how use it.”

I smiled. “Well, having a gun doesn’t hurt, either.” I looked over and picked up the MP5 the soldier had dropped. “May need something with a little more kick next time I run into them.”

“Wouldn’t be worst thing in the world to defend yourself against me either,” Tara said.

“Considering what just happened though, I’d say you’re probably one of the good guys,” I said. “Forget sleep, we should probably get out of here.”

The End.