When crafting your medicine, you want to pay close attention to how you heat the mixes over the fire. Underheat it, and the results will be underwhelming; overheat it, and you’ve rid the mix of all its benefits! Be mindful; make it with care, and it will care for you. Satisfaction guaranteed.
“So, since you’re handing whatever this stuff is over, I may as well ask, how do you guys make medicine?” Levi looked around us as we walked, “You have nothing out here.”
My lips tightened into a straight line, “Y’know, you should figure out how to talk without insulting me every other sentence. Most you meet out here wouldn’t take kindly to that kind of attitude, and besides, don’t think you’re the only one packing,” My eyes trailed over his body to the gun very obviously resting on his side, “Everyone shoots first and doesn’t care to ask questions later. There’s no law and especially no order once you’re on the other side of those walls, so the sooner you get that in your head, the more likely you will be to survive out here.”
He was silent, contemplating as we walked. The ground beneath my feet turned from pavement to dirt as I led him into the woods where my camp was set up. It was dark under the shade of the trees, making the area a little harder to navigate, but I had been staying here long enough that I found my way.
Under Levi’s watchful eye, I packed up my things and dismantled my tent, “You have houses not even a hundred yards away, and you decide to sleep out in the open?”
I laughed callously in response, “And do you see how easily I tracked you? It’s where anyone with a brain would look. I am here to survive, not be comfortable.”
It took less than five minutes to grab the rest of my things. Although this was incredibly stupid and completely out of character, I wanted to learn more about them. I had to. What other chances do people like me get to see, speak with, or even touch a city person?
“I feel like everything I ask you is turning into a lecture,” Levi leaned on a tree, “Are you always this uptight?”
I’d never heard that expression before, ‘uptight’, but I could only assume it was another insult, so I decided to ignore him and walk by with my belongings slung over my shoulder.
“Alright, alright. I’m sorry. You’re the first girl I’ve met who’s serious about something other than...” He trailed off.
“Other than...?” I stopped in my tracks, interested in what he had to say.
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“The city is nothing like out here,” he said before opening the back door to the house and allowing me inside. Before I could press further, he changed the subject: “This medicine, is it effective? Will it even help Bear?”
I shrugged, “Well, I don’t know what’s wrong with him. I honestly didn’t expect to run into anyone or get too sick, so I didn’t bring my strongest aides, but I do have some stuff that might help. So, how’d it start? What are his symptoms?”
Levi rested on the counter, his legs long and stretched, mere inches off the ground. He bit his cheek for a moment and then began speaking, “It started four days ago. We were camping out at this place, maybe twenty-five miles away, for a few days, and the morning we were leaving to move further Southeast, Bear was complaining about a brain-splitting headache and thirst, but then it got worse and worse as we kept traveling. He began to act and speak sluggishly, can hardly breathe, and at this point, all he does is sleep and sweat.”
None of that sounds promising, “Okay, have you given him water or any kind of medicine?”
“We gave him Vitratasol like three times but, none of that worked, so now we’re here.”
“Vitratasol? What’s that?”
The name was unfamiliar, not even similar to anything from the Old World. So the city does make its own medicine, but with what? Where? Who tests it to see if it works?
Levi watched as I rifled through my bag, pulling out everything I could that was medicinal. “It’s an all-purpose healing agent made by the Eaton district. They’re the brains of New Haven and well trusted, so I don’t understand why their medicine hasn’t worked for Bear.” He got off the counter and stalked over, picking up one of my tied pieces of cloth full of herbs. “What’s in this?”
I untied the cloth in his hands, picking up every dried herb to show him which they were. I picked up a long brown leaf and waved it under his nose. “Smell that? It’s something called spark rue. It’s perfect for inflammation of the joints, and these?” I picked up a dark green pile of seeds. “Ago grass seeds, crush them into a fine powder and heat over a fire, and you get the best pain relief you’ll probably ever feel.”
I moved both ingredients to the medicine bowl that had previously belonged to my mother.
“How does that turn into something that helps Bear?” Levi asked, taking in my process as I began crushing the bowl’s contents with a perfectly rounded stone.
“I’m combining something that calms pain and inflammation. That way, we can at least get him awake and talking to find out how he actually feels and go from there. There’s a whole bunch of plants out there I can use, and if we catch a rabbit, it’ll be perfect.”
“Catch a rabbit?” Levi looked taken aback, “I didn’t even think of catching animals for food. We’ve just been rationing MREs this whole time,” Levi shook his head and grumbled, “We weren’t prepared for this at all.”
I couldn’t imagine what life inside the city must be like if people don’t hunt animals for food and don’t know how to navigate.
Knotting Hill was not geared toward the Southeast; we’re actually in the Northwest. But I neglected to bring this to his attention and spoke about what I needed: “Well yeah, we could eat the meat as a meal if you want, but I need the fat; it’s a perfect binder for the chemicals in the medicine.” I then remembered the last of his sentences: “Also, what is an MRE?”
Levi chuckled and shook his head, “It’s looking like we have a lot to teach one another.”
“You think?”