Janie Morrison was sixteen years old. She wrote a short biography and there were pictures of her in the box. She had a mother and a father, went to school, had friends. Back then, they used paper value to trade things. I don’t think her family had much of that, because it was clear they couldn’t afford a tailor. In a couple of the pictures, Janie’s clothes were torn, and her top was so big it kept sliding from her shoulder. But Janie always looked happy.
The human race lived a brilliant and glamorous existence before the event. The people wore colorful and flashy clothes, their hair was full and large.
I may not have been born in 1988, but I can imagine it wasn’t much different than the world was before the event. My mother probably wore those same flashy clothes, her straight and braided hair was more than likely beautiful when she wore it big and high.
Often I wanted to make my hair big and high but feared if I did, someone would know I had knowledge of the past.
That box was my secret treasure. A treasure of knowledge of the world before Akana. Every chance I got, I read the papers, looked at the pictures, and studied the contents. Always though, staying clear of the poison. I didn’t know why Janie would put that in there. I never did figure her reasons, despite the number of times I looked in the box. Maybe she had the information about the Sybaris and she was giving us a weapon?
I kept the box in a carrying sack hidden in the corner of a stall. It would be there for me to take when I left Akana.
The box made me knowledgeable of a world before the Sybaris. I suppose my knowledge was something that did make me different. I knew things others did not, forbidden things.
Now I had something else that kept me apart from the others in my tribe.
I was a Mare.
Although I still didn’t fully understand what that meant, I soon would.
11. The Ceremony
I walked aside Casey to the ends of the Akana town limits. I could have ridden him but I promised my mother that I would look tired for the monthly ceremony. The best way to do that was to stay in the heat and keep moving, not taking in any water.
Very few ever went to the edge of Akana. Mainly because it was dismal. While the event had not touched our pocket of the world, time took its toll and the civilized Sybaris concentrated on creating our communities out of places that once were thriving small towns, leaving the rest of the world to decay, fall apart, or turn to waste at the hands of the Savage Sybaris and rebels.
I don’t know what it looked like before it became Akana since they removed many of the buildings. The farmland was kept thriving, and the older roadways remained intact, unlike the ones of the former world that had set on the end of Akana just before the Salton Sea. Those roads were still there. They were barren, desolate, and mere remnants of a world that once was.
The road was wide, and made of smooth stone. Nature had reclaimed it, and weeds, grass, and other growth poked through, and some of the road had broken. It was marked by a faded sign that had fallen from a metal post. I never knew what it meant, just what it said.
The number ‘86’ was on top, then the sign read with faded lettering ‘Next Exit, Awly – 2.
The sign meant the end of the line to me, the end of the protected civilized world, the end of life under the thumb of the Sybaris.
I walked a good distance along the edge of the ‘ends’. A strong wind from the west brought in a mighty stench of the Elder Sybaris that waited hungrily and impatiently at the gates.
It was time to feed and feast.
I wonder how they fed them? The way they devoured my brother told me they were ravenous. It has been told to us that, unlike the Savage Sybaris, the civilized ones use machines and tools to take a small amount of the human blood every few days. They dare not mix their saliva into our bloodstream, or they run the risk of turning us into one of them or allowing their appetites to get ahead of them, making us into creatures.
Instead, the Civilized feast on fruit and ration our blood like they did thousands of years before.
We are taught that our sacrifice is small. In my opinion, one drop of my blood to feed them is too much.
After a long walk, I heard the bell. It rang from the town square signaling the high and mightiest of the Sybaris were entering our town limits.
I was in perfect condition. My hair was messy, and I was so thirsty and dehydrated, that I wasn’t even perspiring.
I hurried without stopping to the center of town, where everyone lined up in a single file. The sound of their motorized vehicles drifted over and shortly after, the sun reflected from the shiny black vehicles.
I found my mother and Sophie and took my place next to them. My mother looked bad, worse than she had in the morning. Sophie appeared dreadful and pale. I knew for a fact that my mother had given her that syrup that caused her to expel the contents of her stomach. The entire day before I could hear my sister retching.
After the Sybaris had made their selections, Sophie would be fed and cared for. Until then, so she wasn’t selected, my mother kept her ill while the Sybaris did their adoption process, and Sophie looked as if she was knocking on death’s door.
“Perfect,” my mother told me, then straightened my blouse so I didn’t look too intentionally messy.
I hated what was happening. Were we the only family to not look their best? Everyone stood proud and anxious.
Across the road Iry emerged from the school building. He too looked anxious, probably because this was his last ceremony to witness. He would move in a month from the outskirts of Akana to the City for the Ancients and then he’d start choosing himself.
He tried to make eye contact with me and I turned my head.
“Why is your educator coming this way?” my mother asked.
I lifted my head to see Iry walking our way. “I don’t know,” I replied. “I wish he wouldn’t.”
Iry approached, making his stand near me. My hand shot to my nose.
“Vala, concentrate,” he said in a whisper. “It will cease. Concentrate.”
It couldn’t, it was time for the ceremony to begin.
The Civilized Sybaris emerged from their vehicles, walking pompously and wearing their best clothing.
Tutano was a leader, older, but fit, and he stepped to the center opening where the Sybaris would browse. He spoke up as he did every month. “It is time to reward the Elders of your race with peace and prosperity. May they step forward.”
Were they that stupid? At least seven people from our town over the age of sixty stepped from the pick and choose line and made their way to the vehicles of the Sybaris. There they entered a larger vehicle.
Promised a better life, a free life, after years of never being chosen, they, I believed were the food for the gatekeepers. Still flesh, but not as fresh. Use them before they go to waste. That’s what I thought.
People cheered them as they walked out, wishing them luck and happiness.
Me, I didn’t believe they made it far.
“That will be me one day,” my mother said in a wistful voice.
“No,” I replied, “it will not.”
The choosing ceremony began and the Sybaris browsed each one of us. A mated pair chose an infant, lifted it with adoration, and embraced the child. The baby’s natural mother rejoiced and thanked them.
Thanked them for taking her baby? Families aren’t even rewarded when they give a child.
The Sybaris came and took what they wanted. I didn’t understand or get it. When picked, people screamed with joy. I would scream in horror.
“This is absurd,” I said.
“Vala!” Iry scolded me in a whisper. “Cease.”
I shifted my eyes to him, then I noticed he looked in another direction.
Nito.
Her age was hard to tell. She painted her face with blue above her eyes, and her lips as red as blood. She stared at me and walked in our direction.
Her mate was at her side. I wondered if he was a chosen companion at one time and she had
turned him. His eyes were not deep like a Sybaris.
“Such attitude little one.” She walked my way then stood before me. “You’re not even trying any longer to look as if you didn’t wear down.”
Her stench was unbearable. I never recalled her smelling so badly.
“I’m waiting on you,” she said.
“Then you will always have to wait.”
“If chosen you will go. That is law.” She lowered her gaze to Sophie and smiled. “Perhaps I need a child in my life. Would you like to wear the prettiest dresses, feast on the richest food, have items of play?” she asked Sophie. “Perhaps I shall choose you as my own.” She reached out her hand to my sister.
“No!” I barked. “Don’t touch her.”
The corner of Nito’s mouth raised in a snide smile and she glided closer. “Then I choose you.”
“You can’t,” Iry quickly interjected. “She isn’t ready. She has one more month of education.”
“Teacher, please,” Nito scoffed at him. “I can finish her education.” She turned her head and raised her voice. “I place bid on this one. Anyone else?”
“Me,” Iry stated.
“You can’t.” She laughed at him. “You have another month, so you have no choice.” Again she shouted to the other Sybaris. “Any bids?”
No one said anything.
“Then I guess…” Nito reached out, “you are mine.”
No sooner did her hand touch me, and the breath of her final word seeped into my nostrils when I was hit with a sickening wave of nausea. Her foul breath made me gag uncontrollably and my mouth filled with saliva.
“Come now.” She tugged my arm.
She yanked me forward and everything that had built up in my mouth, involuntarily shot out, landing on her arm, and when it touched her, Nito screamed in pain.
The fluid from my mouth was a watery fire that burned her skin upon contact. She released me and cried out over and over. It was so shill it hurt my ears.
While I was trying to register all that was happening, Iry looked at me seriously and told me in a stern voice, “Run.”
I backed up.
“Run, Vala, run!”
In my turn, my hand grazed across my sister, I glanced at my mother and gushed out, “I’m sorry, Mother.” Then I took off.
The moment I ran, Nito ordered, “Get her!’
I couldn’t look back or wonder if they were chasing me. I knew they were and I headed to the safest place I could think of.
Running as fast as my feet would carry me, I headed to the stables. Once inside I made it to Casey’s stall, and tried to catch my breath. What did I do? How did I do that?
I reached down to Casey’s water bucket, splashed my face, then brought some of his water into my mouth. As I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, I heard the motor sounds. Peeking out through the planks of the barn I saw the Sybaris vehicles surround the stables.
They had come for me.
My whole being shuddered in fear and there was no turning back, no giving up to the Sybaris. My only choice was to flee.
I always kept my satchel with the time capsule and other items in the barn. I tossed that bag over Casey’s neck, walked him from his stall, and mounted him.
The doors to the stable were open and I knew the Sybaris could see me.
They didn’t come in, but their faces were smug, as they believed they had me encircled with their vehicles.
Taking a deep breath, focusing forward, I whispered to Casey that we were going to go as fast as he could.
With a loud ‘Ha!”, I snapped the reins and bolted from the barn.
The line of vehicles were ahead of me and I didn’t have enough distance to generate the momentum for a jump. But I had to try.
Thinking ‘leap over’ and ‘fly’, I pulled back on the reins and hoped for the best.
How it happened, I still don’t know.
Casey made the leap and without a problem, we cleared a vehicle. His hooves hit hard to the sandy ground surface and we didn’t stop.
We just kept going.
12. The Run
They followed me with their vehicles until the terrain of the land made it impossible for them to keep up.
I went south, then west, away from the gatekeepers and finally, I lost them.
Or so I thought.
I crossed over the old road on the edge of town, and they turned around. I was foolish to think they ceased following me. I slowed down my pace, feeling secure.
In the few minutes that we trotted with ease, I decided I would go around the Salton Sea and head toward Angeles City. There were people there when I was a child, surely there were still people living there. As well as the fact that the Rebels against the Sybaris were somewhere, I just had to find them and hoped that they welcomed me.
The Salton Sea was never a thriving body of water, in fact it reeked of dead fish. But it was a passageway for refugees to make it to Akana.
I knew I could take the long way around the body of water, and once clear of it, I was safe. The Sybaris never went that far west. That was Savage territory.
As soon as I came upon my route to go around, I realized how wrong I was in my thinking. I wasn’t safe. Not at all.
Six vehicles rapidly began to pursue me. They’d figured out what I was doing. Knowing well they could outrun my horse.
My only option was the Salton Sea, as foul as it was. I veered in that direction, planning to get as close as I could with Casey, then dive into the body of water, knowing they’d never come for me in there.
I’d get in the water, wait it out. Taking a refugee float was out of the question, Casey couldn’t do that.
I smelled the salvation of the sea, and pushed Casey to the limits of his speed.
A little more. Just a little more.
The water was close and there was a planked bridge. All I had to do was get there, jump off, and dive in. I was focused until Casey stopped and reared up on his hind legs with a painful ‘nay’.
He didn’t go forward, in fact, he nearly threw me from his back. I tried to calm him, then I saw an arrow dug deep into his side.
“No!”
They had shot my horse.
Another nay, another jolt, and another arrow into Casey.
I could no longer keep him steady. Emotionally, I was crushed for my dedicated friend.
His final attempt to get me to the sea ended with an arrow to his neck. Casey’s legs buckled and he went down.
The force of his fall threw me to the ground, and I rolled quickly to a kneel. The Sybaris climbed out of their vehicles and rushed my way.
Sea to my right, Sybaris to my left. I noticed my bags had been thrown from Casey and I snatched them up and ran as fast as I could to the planked pier.
Just as I was about to jump in, I spotted one of the floaters that Refugees used to cross the sea.
The Sybaris stopped. “Go on!” one of them shouted. “Jump in there. You were not educated in water. You’ll sink and die. It will consume you.”
They were right. I had no idea how to be in water or what it would do. I never thought past the idea of jumping in. There was a reason there were floating devices. Man, as well as Sybaris, weren’t meant to be in large bodies of water.
“Make your choice!” he shouted.
I did.
When I lowered my bag to the floating device, they raised their bows.
Eyes wide, I hurried to the edge and carefully climbed down into the floater. It was tied with rope to the pier. I undid it and pushed away. The floater moved slow and on its own.
Crossing the sea was going to take forever at that rate.
The Sybaris were relentless.
They kept aim on me and fired. An arrow sailed my way, and while I tried to move, it hit into my arm. Not deeply, but enough to penetrate the skin. My reaction was to quickly remove it. Blood seeped from my wound. With nothing to cover my injury, I ripped the bottom of my blouse, and held the cloth tight to the entry site.
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The float drifted with the current of the sea. Slowly, but farther away from the Sybaris.
I couldn’t figure out why they still waited. What were they waiting for?
For me to drift back to them probably.
When an immediate sense of dizziness hit me, I realized there must have been something on that arrow. A poison. Everything went out of focus and my head swarmed in disarray.
I was fading, my eyes were hard to keep open, and consciousness was slipping away. I could only hope that I made it far enough away from the Sybaris before I passed out.
13. Floating
Consciousness drifted from me. My eyes were heavy, my head hurt, and it felt like the one time I drank wine. I had heard tales that Sybaris poisoned their arrows, and I found the truth in that when one sailed into me.
Knowing how fast the poison worked, at least Casey didn’t suffer much.
I fought to keep my eyes open, using my hands in a manner to push the floater farther from the shore.
My battle to stay awake ended and my eyes grew too heavy to keep open.
The last I saw were the Sybaris at a distance from the sea. Standing there, watching me.
Was the poison deadly or did it only disable me? I guess I would find out. No matter how hard I fought it, it was stronger than I.
*
I woke to a dark sky speckled with stars,. still in the floater. My head was shooting with pain, as was my arm. The blood from my wound had saturated the sleeve of my blouse and it was sticking to my injury.
Using my uninjured arm, I tried to bring myself to a sitting position but couldn’t move. My legs and body felt as if they were weighted down.
I tried to see where I was. Looking left to right, I discovered I had somehow made it to the middle of the sea. It was cold and my lips were dry from thirst. There was still nothing I could do but take comfort in my safety surrounded by water.
Awakening the Mare (Fall of Man Book 1) Page 4
