The Song of the Wild in the Concrete Jungle

Melody tried to block out the incessant sound of traffic that rushed along the overpass above her. She focused on the five river stones and placing them in the correct order – it was vital she get this right, and time was running out as the solstice sun approached the horizon. With each stone placed she murmured another phrase of the ritual.

At her feet a few straggling weeds had broken through cracks in the concrete and it was around these that she so carefully arranged the stones. They barely counted as greenery, let alone wilderness, but they were the best she'd been able to find in the vast, grey metropolis.

She placed the last stone, then turned and genuflected to the sun. The ritual complete, she quickly pulled a cheap phone from her pocket and texted thumbs-up to the group chat.

Stewart eked his way along the narrow ledge, face pressed to the concrete retaining wall and his heels almost of the edge. One misstep could see him fall into the sewage treatment plant below. The heavy pack made the traverse tricky, but it was essential. The end of the ledge and wall terminated against a steep hillside, which Stewart stepped onto with relief. A chain link fence followed on from the wall and Stewart walked along it until he found the gap he’d cut.

On the other side was a patch of vacant land, a small, triangular wedge barely enough to lie down on, that somehow had not been covered over. Tufts of spindly grass dotted it amid tenacious, prickly weeds.

Stewart glanced at the westering sun, then drew five stones from his pack and started placing them.

Passengers waited; sweaty, dull-eyed and staring ahead or at their phones. The sound of trains arriving and departing accompanied warbled loudspeaker updates.

“The next train North will depart from platform eleven in two minutes.”

As Daiyu approached the far end of the platform she looked across nervously at the guard. He was usually back in the station office with his feet up by this time. Today, however, he was talking with a young woman on the platform. He was facing away from Daiyu, but he only had to turn slightly and he’d spot her.

She glanced at the sun; no choice, she’d have to risk it. She vaulted the barrier, and jumped off the concrete platform dais. Someone behind her shouted, but she was already scrambling under the corrugated iron fence that the station backed onto. Between the iron fence and dull brick of the adjacent building was a narrow strip of gravelly dirt where a few thorny bushes clung on.

Daiyu placed the first of her five stones and softly sang the ritual.

José raced along the footpath, bumping off strangers who swore at him. He had long since dropped the pack with the stones. He could hear the pounding feet in pursuit and knew they would soon coordinate and cut him off. He cut right down an alley and stopped in the shadow of a doorway. Quickly he texted thumbs-down, then dropped the phone into nearby a drain and started running again. As he sprinted from the alley, a burly man in dark security officer uniform crashed into him, barging him to the ground.

“Wildling filth,” spat the man. José looked up into a large, gloved fist, then darkness.

Melody’s phone buzzed repeatedly with text messages, but she didn’t have time to check them. She hoped they were thumbs-up. For now, she walked swiftly along the side of the motorway, putting some distance between herself and the ritual site. As always, a pedestrian was conspicuous, but there was no helping it.

As she passed a small pull off, she heard the crunch of tyres slowing onto gravel. She stopped and checked over her shoulder. A security patrol car… Gods they’d found her!

The passenger window rolled down and a security officer leaned out.

“You ok miss?”

“Uh… yeah, yeah.”

“You sure? Ain’t safe walkin’ along the road like this. Why you walkin’ anyway? Car trouble?”

She nodded, “Oh, yeah. The worst kind.”

“Give you a lift? It ain’t safe, like I said. And there’s them wildlings doin’ their weirdo thing this time of year.”

She stared helplessly at the security officer, the next bus stop was over a mile away, nobody would normally turn down a lift, not in this heat.

“Sure, thanks.” She climbed in the back seat. There was a thick, safety, Perspex screen between her and the officers, and the doors had no inside handles.

“I’m just headed to the next bus stop if that’s ok.”

“Oh, I reckon we can take you further,” drawled the passenger, “where would ya like us to take you?” She saw the driver smirk in the rear view mirror.

“Uh, well… the bus stop’s fine. But otherwise I’m meeting friends in town.”

“Yeah? Wotcha gonna do in town?”

“Mmm, catch a movie. Excuse me, I just need to check these messages. It’ll be my friends. And I want to let my parents know where I am.”

“Sure. Good idea to let your parents know.”

She bent over the phone screen. The reports were coming in fast now. Thumbs-up from S and D – that would be Stewart and Daiyu – but they were some of the few positive texts, most were thumbs-down. She quickly scanned through, counting under her breath. Six up and over thirty down. Then she saw the letter, R, thumbs-down. Ryan. She gave a quiet sob.

“Everything alright?”

“It’s nothing… just a friend got some bad news. A job he was going for fell through.”

“Aw gee, that’s tough.

She glanced at the screen. Another two thumbs-up buzzed through, then suddenly, a bright, red X. Emergency. Someone had been caught with their phone and the network was breached. They’d have everyone’s number. Ditch the phone and go to the backup before they track you with it.

“I… I feel a bit sick.”

“What?”

“I lied, sorry. It wasn’t a job. It was something bigger. I feel sick because of it. Can we pull over? I just need some air.”

“Sure. You still wanna go to town after?”

“Yes, please, it’ll take my mind off it.”

They pulled over and one of the officers opened her door and stood there holding it. She leant out, taking some deep breaths, waiting for the officer to move, but he just stood watching her. She had the phone palmed in one hand, but couldn't drop it with him watching.

“Oh god, I’m gonna puke.” She scrambled from the car and hurried round the back, where she made some retching noises and dropped the phone.

Back in the car, she opened her backup phone. It immediately buzzed with multiple texts, but one caught her attention from Charlie, the coordinator who’d started the movement.

WE’VE DONE IT!!! TWELVE RITUALS COMPLETE!!!

“You’re lookin’ happier,” said the driver.

“Hey Norm,” the passenger tapped the computer screen on the dash, “there’s an urgent call out. Bunch of locations from traced phones – wildlings it says. Seek and detain. Hey, there’s one just back down the road from us, better find a U-turn.”

“I can’t turn for a couple-a miles… what the…” he slowed the car and pulled over again, staring at the enormous figure ahead.

Striding along the central concrete dividing strip, and outlined against the setting sun was a giant creature, man-like but over twenty feet tall, with the legs of a deer and immense antlers jutting from his great shaggy head. Melody could hear the concrete shattering with every step he took and already, behind him, stringy plants writhed through the cracks and straggled across and along the road, unusual splashes of green against the barren grey.

“Let me out.”

“What? I ain’t getting out here.”

“Let me out!” screamed Melody.

The security officer opened the door and Melody hurled herself out and raced towards the creature.

“Man she’s crazy,” – dimly heard words that she left behind her.

He paused his implacable advance as Melody approached, and stooped to survey her. She froze. His shear size was terrifying enough, but his presence was simply overwhelming and in that presence she could barely even breath. He snorted through his great horse-like muzzle, tracing her neck for scent, brushing across her skin. Though her mind screamed in terror a part of her noticed how velvety soft that muzzle was, and the smell that came with it, of dark soil and rain and wild grasses. Then he reached out with a gnarled and scarred and muscular hand, and gently lifted her face and she stared into deep golden eyes that seared into her soul.

Then he was suddenly rising up again and he threw his head back and bellowed, an ear splitting cry, then stalked on past her, his hooves once again cracking and shattering the concrete.

They had done it. They had rekindled the wild.