by T. Rudacille
***
We were led by Andy to a towering wall made from smooth, old rock. Vines slashed their way across its surface so that the whole structure camouflaged into the surrounding forest. After walking several feet, Andy pulled back a particularly thick patch of vines that held beautifully shaped pink flowers.
“Don't let them fool you.” Andy told me as he used his knife to pull back the vines. “The second you touch them, they shoot a barb from inside straight into your eye. If you manage to avoid that, they get you with this weird white smoke that kills you in seconds.”
Without even addressing exactly what he had said, I looked at James.
“Do you think Penny...”
“No,” He held my hand to comfort me, “Her instincts will stop her, sweetheart. Besides, I doubt there are any more around here...”
“That's not true, actually. There's a whole tree where they grow around the trunk about a quarter mile from where we're standing.”
“Let's not talk about that.” James said firmly, and when I went to continue, he grasped my face and shook his head to warn me against speaking further on the subject of Penny, Violet, and Elijah.
A door meticulously fashioned from old stones was revealed to us once Andy had safely moved all of the vines away with his knife. A small window at the top of the door was pushed open, and an eye appeared; it looked between the three of us in slight alarm before the door swung open without a word from the mysterious gatekeeper. In fact, when we walked through, we did not even see him. When I looked up the long, dirt path we were to travel, I saw at the end a colossal Gothic mansion that had to be as old as the planet itself. It was in that house that Don and his people had taken shelter.
I surveyed the grounds, noticing that people were busily farming on either side of the path. I did not know exactly what they were growing, but I did note that two men sat in chairs on both sides, lazily observing the work being done. My brows furrowed, and I looked at James, finding my own confusion reflected in his eyes.
“How big is this place?”
“The house or the grounds?” Andy asked quietly. His gaze was diverted to the ground so he could easily avoid looking at the people working.
“Both.” James and I answered simultaneously.
“The house is bigger than any Hollywood mansion back home, I can tell you that. It’s big enough to house all of the people who came with Don.”
“And the grounds?”
“They stretch on for miles. The ground is really fertile, Don says, so we’re planting our own stuff. We’re all responsible for feeding ourselves, but some has to be given to Don and his people…” He trailed off, perhaps sensing that this information was not meant to be divulged so freely.
“Cool. Thanks.” James said in an easy tone that was meant to let Andy know discreetly that it was alright to end the conversation. I squeezed his hand. He was proving to be an invaluable asset in those complicated situations that always seemed to be cropping up; those particular moments that I could not squirm my way out of were as unwelcome as weeds in a lavish garden but luckily, James was there to keep everything cut and polished.
“I have a bad feeling.” I whispered to him almost inaudibly. I pointed to my chest quickly. “Something ominous is lurking, James.”
James shook his head and turned mine so that I was looking at him.
“You have nothing to be afraid of, Brynn. I promise.”
“James, this just does not feel...”
“I know. But I've got you, sweetheart.”
That was all the reassurance I needed.
Andy pushed the door open, and a torrent of cold air that smelled of dust and ruin rushed towards us. I huddled closer to James, though my need for a closer proximity to him had little to do with the chill in the air. There were more people in the corridors and huge, sprawling rooms of the mansion. They were busy pulling vines down that had invaded the house and covered the walls from outside. Some were even patching windows and floorboards. I watched two kids a few years older than Penny as they swept the floor, giggling softly all the while as they observed James and me.
Besides being slightly disturbed by witnessing that instance of child labor, I was pleased to see that there was no gender divide; both men and women were cleaning and farming. I had no idea at the time why I cared about something so incredibly trivial, but the reason would become apparent later. In the moment, I chalked it up to the unapologetic feminism I had always embraced as long as I had known to have an opinion on the matter.
When we reached the top of the creaking staircase, Andy led us through a corridor lined with chestnut walls and white doors. As we walked, the maroon rug that ran the length of the hallway coughed dust up from under our feet. I sneezed four times, trying to stifle the sound by covering my mouth but still, it bounced off the walls in an endless echo.
“Bless you for the rest of the day.” James said quietly after my fifth sneeze.
“Thank you.” I muttered after wrapping my arms around one of his to avoid holding his hand. He did not share my mild germophobic tendencies but still, I wanted to be courteous at the very least.
Andy raised a shaking hand to knock on the door before us. He cast his eyes downward once again when a male voice instructed us to enter.
Don Abba was certainly not what I was expecting. Though I had been informed by Nick that he was a humble man with little to say, I still expected one who led a group of terrified survivors to be terrifying, himself.
James was of a decent height, but he certainly was not gigantically tall, where I had to possibly suffer a neck injury each time I looked up at him. But the top of Don Abba’s head barely reached James's chin. There was a certain alarm constantly present in his large blue eyes; they darted from me, to James, to Andy, and back again in record rapidity. After all he had seen and experienced in order to safely bring those for whom he was involuntarily responsible there to safety, I could forgive his skittishness. His hands shook as they spun a feather quickly over his fingers. He was clean-shaven, leading me to assume that they had devised some kind of shaving technique. Perhaps they even had some method of showering.
“Hello.” He greeted us softly as he rose to his feet slowly. “You’re from Earth. I remember you two, especially. You were the brave souls willing to walk out into the unknown before the rest of us cowards. You were the very first to volunteer.”
There was not a hint of irony in his voice. I could not help but smile slightly as I shook his outstretched hand. His modesty and honesty were refreshing even under the uncertain circumstances.
“In the interest of full disclosure, I am going to inform you that I am Daniel Olivier’s daughter. My name is Brynna Olivier.”
“I am well aware that you’re his daughter. I’m also well aware that you don’t share his ruthlessness.”
I suppressed a small chuckle. Perhaps I did not willingly starve people as a means of population control. Perhaps I would not cause even the slightest harm, either physical or emotional, to my offspring. But I certainly was ruthless in my own way.
“This is my…” I put my hand on James’s arms but stopped short once again when I attempted to come up with the right term for what James was in relation to me. I did not want to frighten him away by proclaiming anything too serious. I did not want to insult him by downplaying whatever our relationship was to him. I tried again, hoping the appropriate term would just come tumbling out when the time came for it to be spoken. “This is my…”
Nope.
“Boyfriend.” James answered for me, and he was smiling slightly in sarcastic triumph as he shook Don's hand, “James Maxwell.”
“Yes,” I positively beamed and grasped his arm, “Boyfriend.”
“Very nice to meet you both. Don Abba.” He replied, still in that barely audible voice. But there was genuine enthusiasm present in his tone. He indicated the two intricately designed leather chairs in front of the polished wooden desk behind which he was taking his place again. “May
I ask how you found us? Before you answer,” He held up his hand and looked behind me, where Andy was still standing. “Andy, would you kindly bring these two something to drink?”
“Thank you.” I muttered awkwardly. We were both reaching the point of dehydration where the symptoms began to slow the body down. We certainly needed all of our wits about us now because though Don Abba was not physically threatening, he had many in his house who were. The feeling of unease was still stabbing at my insides, and we could not afford to let our guards down or be unable to fight if Don suddenly turned on us.
“So, you were telling me how you found us.”
Neither of us had given even the beginning of an answer, actually, but I chose not to call his attention to that. In order to appear cooperative, I answered without a fight.
“We found you because we were looking for you. We have been traveling through the woods for days now.”
“Yes, you escaped the campsite after your father very rudely informed you that you would be traded to Adam. Adam is the…”
“We know who he is.” James informed him crossly. The slight mention of what my father had proposed left him reeling and enraged, not only because it was atrocious, but because he had not been expecting it at all. I reached over and grasped his hand when Don looked away, and a stream of his thoughts bombarded my mind; there were many expletives and gruesome threats of violence promised for the next time he saw my father.
“It’s alright, baby.” I whispered, so quietly I was unsure if he heard. He continued to stare straight ahead, his eyes ablaze with animal rage, but his other hand came to rest over mine, and after a minute, he pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it quickly. The gesture was not just to comfort me; it was an apology, for not being there, for leaving me when I needed him.
“You do know Adam?” Don sounded slightly shocked as he jotted something down with the feather.
“Oh, it is a quill…” I mused out loud. I had been slightly bemused as to why the man was carrying around a feather.
“Yes,” He smiled slightly, “I have to keep track of what we’re doing here some way, don’t I?”
“I do not know what you are doing here, but I am going to say yes to the query you just posed to me.” I was looking around the office. The light outside was having trouble breaking through the thick clouds; the room was lit only by the slightest glow from the guarded late-afternoon sun.
“How is it that you know Adam, exactly?” We both stared at him, feeling threatened by his inquisitiveness. He looked up at us and smiled warmly. “Just curious.”
“We had to go to the city in order to save my sister. She was attacked by some creatures in the woods.”
“Which creatures?” He asked, “We’ve encountered quite a few. We’ve lost several people to the various things that are in those trees.”
“Adam called the ones that attacked her ‘Shadows.’”
“Oh, they’re the worst!” Don replied sympathetically, “Six of my people were killed by them a couple of days ago. They walked right into their nest. I didn’t know that Adam could heal people injured by them.”
A woman entered the room with a silver tray bearing two hollowed-out coconut shells filled with liquid. James and I took them and looked at each other warily. These people really had gone above and beyond in deciphering how exactly they were going to survive. They were completely self-sufficient. Still, there was something not quite right about the situation…
“Your sisters and your brother escaped with you, didn’t they?”
“Yes.” I nodded and swirled the liquid around in the shell.
“Are they alright? Why aren’t they with you?” I looked up to find that his eyes had widened in alarm once again.
“They’re fine,” I assured him calmly before changing the subject. “So, you have aligned yourself with Adam.”
“Yes, I have. He has offered to help us with our problem, and in return, we will help him with his. That’s the deal, anyway. Who knows if he’ll honor it?”
“What exactly is your problem that you’re dealing with?” James asked in a tone that challenged Don to lie, if he so dared.
“We don’t see eye-to-eye with the other group of Earth survivors, James. Adam has offered to help us rectify the situation.”
“Rectify it how?” James pressed, and I glared in his direction to warn him without words not to push the man too far, lest we wish to overstay our welcome.
“We want to get rid of them. Originally, your father decided to form his own group. The natives took out most of them. They would have gotten him, too, if it weren’t for us. But we weren’t going to allow him or his people to stay here, so he left.”
“Where did he go? With the Bachums?”
“Yes. And they took him in with open arms, as I’m told.”
“How very Godly of them…” I muttered irritably. I rolled my eyes to the heavens that I was currently criticizing.
Don laughed softly.
“I can gather that you don’t quite see eye-to-eye with them, either. The reason why we want them gone is because Adam will grant total safety to only one of us. It will either be the Bachums or me. We are trying to round up the survivors who chose neither group, though there are few left alive, sadly.” He was silent for a moment, studying us as he attempted to gauge our reactions to that most chilling news.
“That's terrible.” I said, just to offer some response.
“It is. It's also very unfortunate that we should have to resort to such barbaric measures in order to live here safely. But this is Adam’s world. He determines how things run. He decides how it all turns out.”
“You mean to tell me that he’s proposed this epic war between you and the Bachums, and yet he’s helping you? Forgive my morality, but isn’t that cheating?” James asked somewhat derisively.
“Perhaps. But it’s also a fair trade between myself and him. His people hate the cave-dwellers. They say that they are stuck in the past. They won’t move forward with the times.”
“Is that why they tried to sacrifice my five-year-old sister?” I leaned forward slightly in anticipation. I needed to hear his answer.
“Yes. They believe that in order to be pious one must also be heartless. If they want to appease their God and keep their lives and freedom, they have to follow a very bloody and violent interpretation of their creed.”
“Adam told you all of this?” I was shocked that he would divulge secrets to a different breed so readily.
“I told him if he wanted my help, then he needed to be honest with me.”
I nodded, surprised again by Don's boldness.
“You were inside the cave?”
“Yes.” James and I answered.
“Then you saw their painting on the ceiling, I’m sure. The Four-Armed God?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see what he was holding?”
“There were symbols. Yeah, we saw them.” James answered.
“They symbolize the four great powers bestowed on the people we call the natives. Apparently, for the first several hundred years on Earth, we had those powers, too. Now some of us are regaining them. We’re evolving, but in a way, we’re also moving backwards in time. Does that make any sense?”
“Is that why he’s so strong now?” I beckoned to James. “Is that why I can see these things before they happen and hear other people’s thoughts?”
“Yes. That’s why you can fight like wild animals. It’s all an evolutionary tactic that had been rendered inert by our civilized lives on Earth.”
“Oh.” I muttered. I ran my fingers through my hair and then placed my face in my hands for a minute of quiet processing. It was far too much information to take in at once. My ability to think was not aided by my desperate need to eat and drink. A headache was rumbling painfully in my ears as it tightened around my forehead and ran with heavy feet down the back of my neck.
“Are you alright?”
“Drink this, baby.” James told me sof
tly, and I felt the coconut shell being held to my lips. He tilted it back, and I drank two gulps of the most amazingly sweet coconut juice I had ever tasted.
“Oh my God…” I muttered.
“It’s good, isn’t it?” Don replied with a slight grin.
I nodded and took another drink. After I had swallowed, I spoke again.
“So, why are only some of us changing?”
“Because we’re embracing it, Brynna. Do you want to know something else that’s shocking? Prepare yourself.”
“I am prepared.” I answered instantly.
He paused, forcing me to mentally prepare for another bombshell. I just wanted to know what he was going to say. I was sick of dramatic, soap-opera-style breaks in conversation.
“We will never die.”
I stopped breathing at the words. James had taken a huge gulp of coconut juice and was choking on it now.
“I told you to prepare yourself.”
“We’re… immortal?” I exclaimed in incredulous shock. I was unsure why the thought brought forth such a potent fear in me.
“Immortal, ageless…” Don filled in airily. “Do you enjoy being young and beautiful?”
I looked at him quizzically, feeling slightly put off by that random and personal question with such heavy implications behind it. Or perhaps I was imagining things. I felt quite dizzy.
“I suppose.”
“Well, then, you’ll be happy to know that you will look the same forever. You won’t age another day, either of you. Any of you, I should say, because your sisters and brothers are…” He furrowed his brows when he looked at me, “Where did you say they were?”
I shook my head back and forth rapidly, trying to be discreet about my fight with that sudden onslaught of dizziness. If we wanted to stay there, he had to believe that we were all able-bodied enough to work, and if I passed out, he would assume that I was afflicted with some illness that rendered me anything but.
“I did not say.”
“Brynn…” James muttered to me as he went to stand up. I looked over just as he fell to his knees, holding his head.
Oh, God or Gods...
Disregarding any wisdom or common sense, I jumped up onto my feet only to feel the ground sashay right out from beneath them. I hit the ground hard before turning over onto my back to stare up at the ceiling. The dancing stars and pools of black and silver that had become so familiar to me during my descent into drugged sleep on the ship were back. I had been drugged again, this time completely against my knowledge and will.
“Her sisters and brother are out there. They’re close.” Don’s voice was still as calm as ever, as though he was simply commenting on the weather on any old day instead of standing over two people who were struggling to remain conscious after he had drugged them for no reason that was evident.
“James!” I cried out.
My heart resumed its fearful, quickened march. I hated any kind of sedation. This time, it was so much worse because I had not been able to stop it… It had been against my will, just like the very first time back on Earth…
I only heard James spit out three words in fury after he had reached out and grasped Don’s ankle to stop him from walking further away where he would not be able to hear him.
“Let… her… go…”
The long-clawed hands that were the darkness of deep, unforgiving sleep grabbed hold of me and dragged me into the unknown depths more merciless than that of the river in which we had almost drowned.
Pull for the surface, Brynna, my mind screamed in a plea too desperate to ever be spoken aloud by me.
It was useless. The hands were too strong. I collapsed onto the floor.
The already dim light faded away.
