Evelyn, meanwhile, had now been hauled ashore.
“Let her go!” Matthew shouted, and Evelyn turned her head to see him dash forward and hit one of the slippery behemoth's legs with a large piece of wood. Unfortunately, the wood was rotten, and splintered on impact. The salamander paid him no heed. It walked, or rather waddled, up the bank to a kind of circular cairn built of river rocks piled up several feet off the ground. There was a high-pitched squealing sound coming from inside the cairn.
The giant salamander deposited Evelyn into the cairn, where she was immediately set upon by four miniature versions of the creature. Each one was only slightly smaller than she, and they writhed and squirmed, knocking her around the inside of the cairn, which she figured was a nest, squealing all the while like piglets. After several seconds she realized they were not trying to eat her. In fact, it seemed they were trying to play with her. Their mother had gone.
Evelyn heard shouting, and managed to fend off the excited babies long enough to haul herself up the edge of the bowl-like cairn to see Matthew facing off with the leviathan of the river. He had gotten his hands on another stick, and looked ready to jab it into the creature's eye. It gazed at him mournfully.
“Matthew!” Evelyn shouted. “It's alright, she doesn't want to hurt us!”
He glanced at her quickly, but didn't drop his guard. “You-you're okay?”
“She thinks we're its babies. Look,” she hefted up one of the playful young salamanders for him to see. “Our suits make us look just like them.”
Matthew's eyes widened at the sight of the baby, and the mother salamander took her chance while he was distracted. She lurched forward and snapped him up in her gummy jaws, and for the first time Evelyn noticed slits like gills behind its prominent cheek bones.
“Hey! Put me down!” Matthew yelled, but it was no use. A moment later he was placed gently beside Evelyn, and the mother salamander gave them both a reproachful look as if to say 'stay there', then it pulled a peculiar expression and began to gag.
“Uh, what's it doing?” Matthew asked nervously.
“I haven't a clue.”
The creature's shoulders were hunched, and it seemed to be suffering some kind of convulsion. Suddenly it opened its jaws wide, and with a loud retching sound spewed up a torrent of foul-smelling sludge into the nest and all over Matthew's legs.
Matthew immediately began to gag as well. “Ew, what the hell!”
Evelyn was watching the babies, who dove into the sludge voraciously, slurping it up with loud sucking noises. Looking more closely, she saw that the stuff seemed to be comprised of small shrimp-like creatures, partially-digested fish, and a lot of greenish stuff that she supposed was river weed or algae.
The salamander beamed at them, then turned and ambled back to the river.
“It's going ...” Matthew said. “Thank God.”
“I think it's going back to collect more food. They must be filter-feeders,” Evelyn said. “They sit in the rapids and just wait for food to land in their mouths.”
“Lucky for you and Clove. Do you suppose Kenji …?” He left the question hanging.
Evelyn hung her head sadly. “I didn't see him. I don't think he made it.” Then, “Where's Bob?”
“He went to try and rescue Clove. Another one of these things got her.” Matthew glowered at a baby that had started gnawing on his slime-coated leg. He shoved it away.
“Okay, let's get out of here and go find them.” Evelyn detached herself from another of the babies that was trying to climb her, and slid down the outside of the cairn.
They moved down the rocky beach, keeping an eye on the water in case another of the salamanders should spot them and decide they were its straying offspring, and found several more of the cairns. Clove's antagonized shouting directed them to the correct one. “Get off of me! Hey! Get back. Aaaargh!”
“Clove!” Evelyn called.
Clove's head popped up above the rim. “Oh, thank God you're–” she was cut off by a baby salamander leaping onto her head and tackling her to the ground.
Matthew ran over and helped her out while Evelyn cast about for Bob. She found him lying near the water's edge, and hurried over to his side. He appeared unconscious. Or dead ...
“Oh no. Bob!” She splashed some water from the river onto his face, and to her relief he snapped upright, spluttering. “What happened?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
He frowned, looking a little dazed. “I … I did coming to rescuing your very special Clove friend, but that great big river people did knocking me over.” He rubbed his head.
“It's okay, they weren't trying to hurt us.”
Bob looked around as Matthew and Clove came over. “You are all being okay?”
Evelyn shook her head sadly. “We lost Kenji. I … I think he went into the rapids.”
Just then there was a shout from upstream. “Yo! There you guys are!”
“Kenji?” Evelyn stared in disbelief. “But … how did you …?”
“Hey man, that water was cold. I got out right away. Didn't realize you lot were planning on taking such a long swim. I couldn't keep up with you – the bank's really overgrown back there. Whoa, what the hell are those?” He was staring at the baby salamanders, all mewling at them over the edge of their nest.
Evelyn laughed and went over to give him a hug. He stiffened awkwardly. “I'm so glad you're okay. We'll tell you all about what we've been up to, but I think we'd better get going. Those wolves might still be after us.” She turned to Bob. “Their eyes were black, Bob. Does that mean they were being controlled by the Mind?”
“Oh, yes. The Mind it does using the hunters to catching any peoples who try to leaving the colony. But we are being safe now. The Mind cannot reaching this far. And we are nearly being at my very safe place. Come I will taking you there.” He glanced at the sky, and Evelyn noticed dark clouds gathering on the near horizon. “Raining is coming.”
Bob led them at a fast pace along the river, and soon the rocky beach gave way to thick green forest again. After picking their way through it for a short distance they came upon a smaller river feeding into the one they had been following, winding its way between round boulders covered in moss. They turned to follow its course, which ran along a narrow creek hidden beneath the ancient forest giants on either side. The leafy boughs touched high above, creating a tunnel of shadows.
Bob stooped to drink from a small pool, and the others followed suit, removing their helmets to get at the cool, clear water. Evelyn noticed small fish swimming in the pool as she squatted to slurp up some of the refreshing water. It had a loamy taste that was quite pleasant. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that water was only one of the things it was missing.
Thunder rolled overhead, making them all turn their heads towards the sky, and, as if on cue, the sun suddenly vanished behind the encroaching clouds, turning the green creek into a dark and foreboding place.
“Are we almost there?” Evelyn asked Bob.
“Very close now. Yes yes yes! Very very close.” He turned and bounded upstream along the riverbank a short way, then stopped and turned back to them at a bend in the river, where the rocky sides of the creek became suddenly quite sheer. “Come, come!” He beckoned wildly at them.
They walked wearily after Bob, clutching their helmets under their arms.
“Do you seeing?” Bob gesticulated at the rock wall before them. “My very very safe place!”
They frowned at the steep and slippery rock. Evelyn saw nothing but moss and creepers and a very large spider scuttling along. Then she noticed what Bob was pointing to. At the base of the rock face, behind a trellis of creepers, her eyes made out what at first she had thought to be nothing but a crevice in the rock. As Bob pulled the creepers aside, however, letting in the gray light, she saw that it was in fact the narrow opening of a cave.
“Come, come and seeing!” Bob ducked through the small gap and vanished into the darkness.
“Uh, guys ...” Ke
nji said. “This is creepy.”
Clove shouldered past him. “What's the matter, you afraid of the dark?” She followed Bob inside.
“No ...” Kenji said to the space where she had been standing. He glanced sharply upwards as a large drop of rain splashed on the top of his head. “Great, here it comes.”
“Whoa … You guys have got to see this!” Clove's voice came out of the opening sounding like a ghost.
“Ladies first,” Matthew winked at Evelyn.
“Chicken,” Evelyn replied, ducking into the darkness as the rain began to fall more steadily. As soon as she was inside the crevice the sound of the river and the rain and the forest seemed to fade away. She inched forward, and an unexpected smell reached her nostrils; not the damp, earthy cave smell she'd been expecting, but a delicious savory aroma. She continued on through the dark crevice, feeling her way along with her fingers and opening her eyes wide to try and let in as much light as possible. There seemed to be a faint glow up ahead. Suddenly the crevice opened up, and she found herself in a large space, illuminated from above. Her eyes went up to the ceiling. Her jaw dropped.
“Do you liking it my very safe place?” Bob asked, doing a little dance of apprehension as he waited for their approval.
Evelyn's eyes didn't leave the roof of the cave. “What are those things?” High above, at least thirty feet up, hundreds of oblong lights dangling from some kind of string shone with a green bio-luminescence. Something smokey in the air caught the light, making it even more captivating.
“They are my worms, my own very clever friends who do making light for me.”
“Worms?”
Bob nodded enthusiastically.
Evelyn heard Matthew and Kenji enter behind her.
“Wow!” Matthew exclaimed, his eyes following hers up. “That's ...”
“Beautiful,” Clove finished, turning in a circle to take in the full view.
“Yeah, yeah, very nice,” Kenji said, glancing briefly upwards. “Where's the food at? I can smell food!”
“Yes, food, yummy yummy, coming, coming!” Bob beckoned them further into the cave, where a pit of coals smoked gently – the source of the smoke in the air, Evelyn realized.
Over the fire pit, a crude rack of sticks had been erected, and upon the rack four small fish glistened.
Bob rushed forward and scooped up the fish, dishing them out to his guests. They were warm and oily. “Eat! Eat! Very tasty, you will seeing!”
Kenji fell on his immediately, grunts of appreciation mixing with the slurping sound of him sucking fish meat off fish bones.
“Bob, what about you?” Evelyn said.
“I did eating two fishes yesterday already. I will catching more soon.” He nodded to her, indicating that she should eat.
“Oh my good lord almighty, amen!” Kenji exclaimed as he tossed his bones into the fire, which Bob had fanned back to life.
“You did liking it?” Bob asked hopefully.
“My friend, that was the best fish I've had in ten thousand years. A little on the small side, but delicious none the less.”
Bob appeared nothing short of delighted by this praise, and as Evelyn started on her fish she decided that Kenji's description had not done it justice. It was perfectly cooked after smoking slowly for hours, and the flavor, though lacking in salt, was exquisite. She couldn't remember tasting anything so good ever before, and all too soon it was finished.
“So tasty, these fishes. We did having them in the stream by the Colony, but the People don't eating them. It is forbidden!” Bob shook his head in wonderment at what he had just said. “But I am being dead and do not needing to follow the laws, no no no. I do eating fishes all the time!” He grinned around at them, but they weren't paying attention. They were all surreptitiously looking around the cavern to see if he had more food stashed, even hungrier now than before, having had their appetites piqued.
“Bob,” Evelyn said, since she seemed to have landed in the position of ambassador for the group, “do you have any more food? It's just that, well, we haven't eaten for quite a long time.”
Bob practically leaped up. “Yes! Yes, yes! I do having plenty more – fruits and vegetables I did finding in the forest.” He scuttled into the darkness and returned a moment later carrying some kind of box.
Bob laid the box down before them ceremoniously.
Evelyn stared it. She was vaguely aware of Matthew leaning in close to her. “Is that what I think it is?”
She nodded in wonderment. Bob had just placed a plastic cooler box before them. It was cracked and flaky with age, but it was unmistakable. This was an object from planet Earth.
“Where'd you get that?” Kenji asked the question they were all thinking.
“This, my keeper?” Bob stroked the cooler box affectionately. “I did finding it in a place very far away. Not a nice place, I do not going back there ever again, but I did finding it my very nice keeper to keeping my fruits and vegetables away from the rats and bugs.” He lifted the lid, and a sweet aroma wafted out. Bob reached in and lifted out a handful of what looked like miniature green apples. He offered them around until each person had taken a few, then he popped one into his mouth whole and shivered with satisfaction as he crunched it between his sparsely-toothed jaws.
Evelyn took a bite from one. It tasted like an extra-sour apple, and made her lips pucker, but it was sweet, too. She ate three.
Next Bob drew out what she at first thought were rocks. When he snapped one in half and showed them the orange center she realized it was some kind of tuber. “This is being my favorite vegetable,” he declared, and bit off a chunk.
Evelyn had never eaten a yam raw before, and it was far tastier than she expected. By the time she had finished hers the hole in her stomach finally felt like it was beginning to fill. Now that she and the others were fed and out of immediate danger, the scores of questions she had been keeping at the back of her mind started pushing their way forward, demanding answers. “Bob, can you tell us about the People, and the Colony?”
“Yeah, and what's this Mind thing you guys keep talking about?” Clove added, looking between Bob and Evelyn.
Bob puffed up his chest, clearly pleased to be the subject of all their attention. “The People they do living in the Colony. The Colony it is at the bottom of the mountain. The Mind it does controlling the Taken.” He smiled happily, apparently finished.
“Right, okay, but what do they do there, the People?” Evelyn asked.
“They do farming the land, and they do eating, and they do sleeping.”
“That's it?”
Bob nodded his head. “That is all that is being permitted.”
“Permitted by whom?”
“The Mind.”
“But what is the Mind?” Clove asked again, frowning.
“You know that weird black stuff we've been seeing?” Evelyn explained. “The stuff that came out of those people who attacked us at the river? It's all part of it, the Mind, and it allows it to control people, and animals.” She glanced at Bob, who nodded. “That's what happened to Holly. That's what happened to those people who attacked us. .”
“Mm, the Taken,” Bob added.
“Right. You spoke about the Taken before. In this colony, not everyone is like them, right?” Evelyn prompted.
“No no no, only one people from each family is being Taken.” The dark look she had seen last time he spoke of the Taken passed over Bob's face again. “I was being Taken once. But now am being dead, yes, and so I do not ever having to going back to the Colony.
“Bob,” Evelyn looked around at the others, “you keep saying that, that you're dead. What do you mean?”
“I mean that I did dying, yes!”
Evelyn shifted awkwardly. “But then you … came back to life?”
“It was being like this: When I was being a boy in the Colony my mommy's mommy she was being the Taken for my family. Horrible things the Mind did making her doing: when I did trying to making for me some t
oys to playing with she did taking them and breaking them and beating me. I could doing nothing because when you do trying to disobeying the Mind it will making your family's Taken hurting you, or it will hurting your family's Taken and then it is being your own fault!” He buried his face in his hands for a moment, and when he looked up again there were tears in his eyes. “One day I was doing working in the fields with my family, the same like every day, and I did seeing with my two eyes a face in the trees. My family's hut it is being at the edge of the Colony, right very near the forest's edge, you seeing? And the face I did seeing, it was being a girl's face, and it was watching me like this,” – here Bob opened his eyes wide and ringed them with his fingers – “frightened she was, yes. And no, this girl she was not being from the Colony. Never before did I seeing her. Never before did I seeing anyone not from the Colony, because there are being no people anywhere except the People in the Colony.”
Bob sat back and drew a breath, his eyes on the fire. “The girl she did beckoning to me to coming to her, and me I did looking around to see that nobody was watching me too close. I saw that my mommy's mommy she was standing at the other side of the field, looking in the other way, so quick quickly I did running to the girl in the trees. She did looking very hungry, yes, very thin and very sad. 'Coming please with me,' she did saying, 'My mommy she did falling hard.' So me I did looking back and seeing that still I was not being watched, and I did going with the girl, not far. And there, like she did saying, her mommy did lying on the ground. She did making the groaning sounds, like she was being sick, and I did thinking it was a long time that those two peoples did not having some foods in their tummies. I said that I would bringing for them some foods and some water to drinking, and I did going back to the field and I did going very sneaking into my family's hut to fetching some foods and some water. And again, yes, I did sneaking back through the fields. I did thinking nobody was seeing me, but I was being very wrong, very very wrong!” To Evelyn's surprise, Bob raised a hand and smacked himself in the side of the head with his palm several times.
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