Gabriella and Ethan

Gabriella ran through the woods in tears, her bare feet leaving tracks in the fresh snow. Branches whipped across her body, ripping away at what tatters were still left of her makeshift clothes.

Suddenly, a cliff appeared in front of her.

She grabbed a tree trunk with one arm and stopped herself from falling into the wide expanse of Alaskan mountains below her.

She looked down into the valley below, tears streaming down her face. The tears left streaks of clean skin in their wake as they washed away the dirt covering her face.

Gabriella put her back to the tree that had saved her and slowly slid down until she sat at its base.

She pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her hands around her knees, buried her head and sobbed.

Gabriella froze as she heard the soft crunch of snow behind her. 

Her calloused hand gripped the wooden handle of her flint knife tightly.

Ethan stepped out of the woods and stood beside her.

Gabriella relaxed her grip on her knife and continued to sob softly with her head buried in her knees.

Ethan gazed out from the cliff to the vast wilderness beyond.

He slowly squatted down next to Gabriella, still staring out into the abyss.

He remained still until Gabriella's crying subsided.

Ethan spoke softly.

"Do you want to quit?"

Gabriella didn't reply as she breathed with deep shuddering breaths.

"If you don't want to quit, you need to eat."

Gabriella's head snapped up and she glared at Ethan.

Her grip tightened on her flint knife.

Ethan glanced at the hand holding the knife, then at Gabriella, then back to the wilderness beyond the cliff.

Gabriella's body vibrated in anger as she stared at Ethan, a death grip on her knife.

Her eyes narrowed as her breathing intensified.

Ethan remained motionless in a squat next to Gabriella.

Gabriella loosened her grip on her knife. She stared out into the wilderness below.

Gabriella spoke in a low croak.

"What..."

Gabriella licked her lips, cleared her throat, and spoke more clearly.

"What is the point of all of this?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No. It's not."

Ethan kept his eyes on Gabriella's knife as he shifted from a squat to sitting on the ground. He scanned the mountains on the horizon as rays of sun jutted out behind them and illuminated the clouds above.

"This is a part of your training to be a field agent."

Gabriella snorted.

"Really? Are we going to be recovering technology from bears and wolves?"

Ethan shook his head and replied softly.

"No."

"So then what's the point?"

Ethan paused, then spoke.

"What happened?"

"Answer my question."

"Answer mine."

Gabriella paused.

"Didn't you see? Don't you always see? Aren't you always watching?"

Ethan remained motionless.

"I saw you leave a warm fire and a meal to come here. Why did you run?"

Gabriella gritted her teeth.

"I will not...I will never..."

"Never what?"

Gabriella hesitated.

Ethan continued.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"That's not the point."

"Isn't it? When did you last eat?"

Gabriella didn't reply.

Ethan continued staring at the mountain in the distance.

"Your body's already consumed your fat stores, and now it's consuming muscle. You need to eat, or you won't be able to hunt, and if you can't hunt, then Naomi and Jasmine have to hunt for you. Is that what you want?"

Gabriella sighed heavily, billowing condescension in the cold evening air.

"No."

"So either you participate in the hunt, or your friends have to feed you - or you have to quit. You said you didn't want to quit, so you have to hunt. To hunt, you have to eat."

"I'm not eating that."

"What?"

"It's...it's..."

"It's food. It's protein and fat, and not a lot of it."

Gabriella growled.

"It's a baby."

"It's not. It's a cub."

"Same thing."

"A baby is human. A cub is an animal. You're not a vegan or vegetarian. You eat meat. What makes this meat any different? Your body won't care. It will break it down into the proteins you need to survive just the same as if you ate meat at one of your fancy restaurants."

"It is very different. The fact that you can't see that says a lot about you."

"The fact that you can't see it's the same says a lot about you."

They both fell silent.

Gabriella's stomach growled loudly. She winced and put an arm across her stomach.

"We should keep looking for larger game."

Ethan shook his head.

"The three of you got lucky that the mother left before nightfall. If Naomi and Jasmine hadn't killed the cubs as quickly as they did, they would have cried out and their mother would have come back, and you'd all be dead - or maimed so badly you'd wish you were."

Gabriella shook her head as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"I can't believe they did that."

"Why not? They're hungry. The three of you are starving. At least they're doing something about it. What are you doing?"

Gabriella wiped away her tear, leaving a streak of dirt across her face.

"I'm not like them."

"No, you are not. Jasmine is from a warrior family. Naomi has a warrior spirit. You're a rich girl from LA. So why are you here?"

"I'm here because you brought us here."

"What did I say you would learn?"

Gabriella paused, staring out into the wilderness as the sun slid further down behind the distant mountains. 

"How to survive."

"Isn't that what you're learning?"

"I didn't know we'd be killing innocent animals."

"Innocent? In two years those cubs would have been apex predators that wouldn't hesitate to kill you and eat you raw if they were hungry. You'd be nothing but a meal to them."

Gabriella's stomach growled loudly.

Ethan reached into the thigh pocket of his fatigues and took out an apple.

Gabriella's eyes went wide as she looked at the apple.

Ethan took a bite, then chewed loudly.

Gabriella stared at the apple unblinking.

Ethan finished the apple in a series of bites, then tossed the core over the cliff.

Gabriella watched in horror as the apple core disappeared into the valley below.

She glared at Ethan.

Ethan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You know the rules."

Gabriella looked furious.

Her stomach growled again.

Ethan stood up slowly. He stared out into the mountains as the sun set.

"If you don't eat, you will die tonight from hypothermia. If you don't go back before Naomi and Jasmine are finished skinning and cooking the cubs, they may eat everything because they're starving. I committed to Elias that none of you would die under my watch, so if you don't eat before you fall asleep, I'm calling in a chopper and you will fail the program. Choose what you want to do. Do you want to be a part of a team, or go back to being a rich girl from LA?"

Ethan turned and walked back the way he came.

Gabriella stared at the sky as the first stars appeared in the darkening sky.

She stood slowly, using the tree for support.

She shivered.

Her stomach growled loudly.

She closed her eyes, then took a deep breath.

She exhaled slowly, her breath billowing condensation into the cold evening air.

She opened her eyes, then turned and followed Ethan.