Dark Genesis (Shadow and Shine Book 1)

by Danial Hooper

  “No one did,” Jenna said, “But Mona will be here soon and she’s going to change everything.”

  “How do you know her?”

  “I saw her in a dream. She told me she was coming to save my life and help us. She’s like you, sort of. She has power and can fight back against them, but it’s different.” Telling the story made Jenna feel exposed and insecure. The story sounded made up and silly, like something she would have told her parents about Santa Clause coming to visit at night. Asher didn’t help her insecurities any either. He just stared with a bored expression. No affirming gestures, not even a look of disagreeing.

  “Well, alright,” he said.

  “Where are Greg and Mickey?” Jenna asked.

  Asher shook his head and regained some of his handsome confidence saying, “Unless they do something stupid, they’ll be fine. The migration kept us from being able to do the little project Greg wanted to complete, and then our power went out. I had to leave and check on Ben. I worried he would try something crazy, but I made sure Mick and Greg were safe and secure. They weren’t going to do anything stupid after seeing all of them on the streets, ya know? But Ben would…” His voice trailed off. “I’m so sorry. Why did he do this? What did he say?” Asher said to Harry, while Harry stared at him with his swollen red eyes.

  “He said he was using a sheep to bait the wolves.”

  Why didn’t he use you? You were easier prey than Harry

  A knock at the door interrupted everyone.

  Tink opened up to see Shelly and Mona holding hands. Both women had been crying and their eyes looked like Harry’s. Which meant, their eyes looked like Jenna’s too. Shelly looked at Jenna and smiled.

  It’s an act. Shelly hates you more than anything. You are the reason her dad is dead.

  “Oh you’re here,” Harry shouted. His voice was too loud for the small room, and everybody winced from his volume. Mona let go of Shelly and walked over to him. Jenna admired her as she walked by, the little girl was so powerful even if she was just a kid. Harry kept talking as she sat on the couch with him, “Please, please tell me you’re going to do something about my leg. Send someone next door to help me. It hurts so bad and… I don’t want to die. Twyla had medicine. She has anything we could need. You said you would save me, right?”

  Mona looked at her brother through the corner of her eye. Their dynamic was cute. Jenna was always envious of brothers and sisters who were friends. She didn’t have siblings, and she never had that kind of closeness with anyone other than Robert.

  You were never that close with Robert either.

  Okay. Fine. She was jealous of how people could be so close they would have their own secret language. Mona was looking at her brother with a look only he would recognize, which must not have been good because he gave a heavy sigh.

  “That’s right. We’re all going to do what it takes to make sure there is no more death. Tink would you please go get the medicine in the room next door, and Asher please retrieve the bottle of whiskey two rooms down. I need you both back here in 4 minutes. Asher, listen for any potential wolves that could be hiding. I don’t think they are out there, but I don’t want to bet my brother’s life on it. Jenna, please turn the stove on high.”

  “Ss-sstove?” Harry’s voice was lower now.

  “Yeah, Harry, we need to take the leg.” She brushed some of his scraggly hair out of his eyes. Jenna noticed he was very pale compared to what she remembered.

  “Take? No. Why don’t you abracadabra my leg back to normal? I believe in you. I know you can fix me. You don’t have to take anything. My leg will be fine with some pain killers and antibiotics. Please.”

  “I’m sorry, you cannot risk infection. Be strong, it will be over soon. It’s either death or let us take the leg.”

  Harry leaned up and screamed at Mona, “Let me take my chances. I can. I can live through this. I’m strong enough to survive and heal. I know I can. I’ll heal. I’ll heal and be okay. Just give me a chance. Please. That’s too dangerous. I’m scared.”

  Mona looked back at Tink and Asher, prompting them to leave. Jenna followed their obedience and walked over to the stove. It was old and dirty. Harry started crying again, this time loud and aggressive. “Harry, I have to keep you alive, at all costs. I’m sorry it has come to this. Maybe if I would have gotten here sooner, this wouldn’t have happened, but we’re here now. So, your leg has to go. This is the only way, I’m sorry, my friend.” Mona said.

  She wants to cut his leg off.

  -

  The room temperature rose significantly as Asher returned with a bottle of alcohol and Mona’s brother. The reality of what was about to happen had sucked the air out of the room. Harry was going to die unless they took care of his problem with urgency. Someone needed to be the surgeon. It shouldn’t be Asher. Harry would not allow it, and Asher did not want the potential failure to be on his hands. He understood the necessity of why there was a pan on the stove, but even with clotting with a hot iron, the chance of his death was high. Too high. Asher couldn’t be the one. It needed to be Mona. She didn’t flinch under the responsibility. She looked ready to do whatever it takes.

  The rest of the room stood idle, waiting for her instructions, but she ignored them while softly combing through Harry’s hair. This girl lived on a different plan than the rest of the room. Much like Asher, but also much unlike Asher. She was not physically threatening like him, nor did she seem aware of every noise and irregularity in the room. Time might have moved slowly for her too, but she appreciated the moments rather than utilized them for an advantage. She was a little girl though, and while she has poise, there was an innocence and naïveté to her that could not be mistaken. She was pure, but she was young. She had more power than Asher to go along with the potential to be a great leader, as long as she had the right support.

  “Mona Leigh… It’s time,” her brother said.

  Asher was not sure what to think about a mid-twenties man bringing his kid sister the whole way from Chicago during the first trials of the apocalypse, but Tink still came off as a likable guy. If his first impression was any indication, he would be the right guy to help. He wasn’t threatening or an idiot. He appeared to genuinely want the right thing.

  Mona took his spurring in stride too. “Right right. Let’s make it happen. We’ll need your blade, Asher. Tink, please hand the bottle to Jenna. Jenna, bring it over. Harry needs a drink, and we need to clean the blade. Tink, make sure the pan is on high, and pour out some of the little bottle on it to make sure it’s clean too. I’m not strong enough for the job, so…,” she said, looking at Asher’s spade. “Cut just above the highest piece of damaged flesh. Don’t babysit it. Cut it clean and fast. We’ll have the iron ready to stop the bleeding, but if you screw this up, he’s dead.”

  “I won’t,” Asher replied. He smelled the infection circulate in his blood stream and heard Harry’s heart rate struggle for consistency. He couldn’t afford to bleed anymore and was running out of time. Asher looked back to Mona, and said, “We should get a belt too, we need to limit the bleeding.”

  “Ahead of ya,” Mona said. She pointed to Shelly’s leather belt. Shelly pulled it from the loop and handed it back. They shared a little smile before Mona turned away to tighten just above his mutilated kneecap. Harry winced and took another big drink from the bottle. “On you go.”

  Harry’s heartbeat bounced and dribbled slowly, he was fading, even if no one else noticed it yet. Asher knew though, and he was going to do something about it. He brought the blade down through his leg causing blood to spurt in every direction while his leg flopped onto the floor. The dash to cauterize the wound frantically followed while Harry writhed in pain. Tink tossed the hot pan in an underhanded motion, Asher caught it by the handle and placed it against the wound. The singeing was louder than Harry, the blood sounded like boiling water hooked up to a stereo.

  “Three Vicodin, Shelly, and an anti-inflammatory. He’s going to be okay, right Asher?”
Mona said. She was trying to regain her composure despite being flustered. Asher thought it made her look more human, more relatable. He understood the pressure of being different and knew it would be a learning experience for anyone, especially a teenager.

  She was right, though. Already his blood flow smoothed out and became steady. His heart rate was consistent. Harry was no longer crying either. It was a successful, quick surgery.

  “He’ll be okay. Are there antibiotics in your stash too?”

  -

  There was blood in Tink’s eye.

  It belonged to a white man who Tink never met before tonight. The guy would be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, unless Tink’s super powered sister was able to make him grow a new leg. She had special talents, but bringing Harry’s leg back was too much of a stretch even for Mona Leigh Morris, right?

  There was blood in Tink’s eye and a leg on the floor.

  Surrounded by Harry were other strangers, who in the purest way possible, loved Mona. Even Asher, who didn’t know much about her, followed through with her orders. The whole group adored her, and with good reason. After all, she came to Salt Lake City to save them.

  Tink stood alone in the kitchen and tried to get Mona’s attention. Instead, Jenna started talking to him. “Thank you for bringing her,” she said, “words can’t express how amazing it is that she’s here. I’m sure it wasn’t easy, and all of this is just a huge, giant mess to you, but you saved us too. You brought her, and we all owe you for that.”

  “Sure, yeah, no problem.” Tink said. He didn’t have much else to say other than that. He tried to get Mona’s attention again, but she was too busy talking to Shelly.

  “She saved Harry’s life. Isn’t that crazy? He was going to die and Mona is the one who saved him.”

  “Yeah, I was standing right here when it happened. It’s crazy. Sad too, since he’s never going to walk again.”

  “That’s true. But at least we’re all going to leave here, right?”

  “Leave? Where we going?”

  Mona interrupted Jenna by making an announcement, “Alright everyone. Y'all need rest. Shelly is going to fix beds for everyone. Tomorrow is the most important day of our lives, so you need sleep. I’m sure there is a lot running through your minds, but now is not the time. No questions for right now, but I promise answers tomorrow. At least, of the stuff I know.”

  Tink wanted to sleep more than he needed to speak to his sister. This was the first chance he had to get some uninterrupted rest. He was going to take it.

  He wiped the blood off his cheek and took off his shoes. Shelly handed him a pair of fresh linens from across the street and said, “You get the recliner, is that okay?”

  Tink wasn’t going to argue with that.

  -

  Asher waited patiently for Mona to speak. She had the lead in this. Hopefully, she would answer his questions and give him enough time to search for Ben before daylight. The others fell asleep quickly. Their bodies were desperate for recovery and their soft snoring was peaceful. Asher and Mona did not sleep anymore. They did not need recovery; the bruising over Asher’s eye and cut down his cheek began to heal. Mona sat at the table playing with her full glass of water watching over the room.

  She smiled and opened her hand to invite the first question. “The floor is yours, Asher.”

  “Question one; where is Ben?”

  “Answer one; I don’t know.”

  “Not off to a great start, are we?”

  “I know who he is with.”

  “Is he with… her?”

  “Ben is with Lucy, yes.”

  “How did she come back? I watched her die. I buried her.”

  “Life and death don’t have the same rules as before, Asher. The Lucy you knew, the one you loved, has passed on. All that is left is a dark echo of her. All of her wonderful qualities have been replaced.”

  “Is she one of them?”

  “Yes. She’s a wolf, as y'all call ‘em. The wolves are consumed by the darkest elements of human nature. The night gives them power, fear builds on that, and they want to spread his shadow all over the world. Everyone has a deeper darkness within them, and a deeper light, the wolves have lost the light and are now darkness personified.”

  “How do we stop them?”

  “We? We can’t, honestly. I’m not the Hero, and neither are you. But we can slow them down long enough to ruin their plans. Kill one wolf, and they’ve already gained another pack. Kill one hundred, and a thousand. Thousand to a million. Killing them only slows the inevitable.”

  “So it’s hopeless?”

  “No. Hope is the wild confidence untamed by adverse odds. We have hope. We just don’t have the strength. Yet. But just because you and I aint the Hero doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It’s all a matter of perspective, honestly.” She said.

  “Who is the Hero?”

  “I don’t know. I know a few things about him. But I don’t know him personally.”

  “Could it be one of us?”

  “No, the Hero is someone else. The Hero is out there, waiting to be found. We’re the pathfinders. The Hero is the one who will end the upcoming reign of darkness.”

  “So, this is just a battle of good and evil?”

  “Basically. Yeah.”

  “And we’re caught in the middle of it?”

  “No. There is no middle ground here. Not for us. We’re on the battlefield of light and darkness - you’re either shine or shadow.”

  “Okay. So… what about the others here? If they’re in the battle too, why can’t they do things like us?”

  “How do you know they can’t?”

  “Well…”

  “This is a long road we’re on. Not everyone has the same calling, same shine. Not everyone shines early either. Everyone has potential to shine just as bright, maybe brighter, than you or me. They’re no less than us, just different. Timing, talent, and role: all different, but the end result is the same.”

  “What’s the end result?”

  “Light over darkness. The Hero defeats the villain.”

  “And the villain are the wolves?”

  “No. Adam is the villain. The wolves are his shadows. They’re pawns. Adam is the true villain.”

  “Who is he?”

  “Really you should be asking, ‘What is he?’ It would be easier to answer it that way, honestly. He’s the first shadow, the oldest adversary of light. From the dawn of time there has been darkness, and Adam is the walking, talking mold of the absence of light. He has waited for a chance to crush the world. And here we are. The world doesn’t stand a chance. Neither do we. Adam is stronger than our group, smarter too. You gotta promise to run if you ever see him. You can’t beat him. He will win, and then he will take you. Adam is the villain, and he has begun his final assault to take over all that he thinks is his.”

  “The world?”

  “And all the people in it.”

  “What do we do next?”

  “Tomorrow is the end of Salt Lake City. You know the dust that’s all over the place? You see how it’s eating away at everything? Well tomorrow, a bomb will finish the job, so we need to get to safety. The only building prepared for this is the capitol. The bomb shelter is accessible and planted deep enough inside of Capitol Hill to protect us from the damage. In order to do that, you need to make the path safe.”

  “Wolves have all migrated. The path is safe.”

  “Not quite.” Mona said. Her eyes were intense all of a sudden. It made Asher confused.

  “What do you mean?”

  “There is someone who will be waiting on the hill. Ready to keep us away from our only chance of safety. ”

  “Adam?”

  “No. I’m sorry.” She said, looking down at the glass again. She went from composed to uncomfortable. She didn’t like the answer. She was afraid to say the answer out loud. Mona was a little girl all of a sudden, frightened by how Asher would respond.

  “… Ben? No, Ben won
’t do that. He couldn’t. That’s not him.”

  “I hope you’re right, but I know only the things I know. You will have the chance to speak to him, but this is what I know; Ben is standing between us surviving and us dying. He is prepared to kill every one of us.” She said, still not looking up.

  “I can talk to him. Ben isn’t evil. He’s not a bad guy. He’s not a wolf. Even Lucy couldn’t make him do that. I’ll talk him out of it. There’s no way he would let innocent people die.”

  She raised her head to look at Asher, “You can. I want you to. But if it doesn’t work…”

  “Is he a wolf?”

  “I don’t know, honestly. If the change has happened, I can’t see it. If so, you need to realize and accept that he is no longer the Ben you knew growing up. He’s a dark echo of Ben. And any ounces of hatred, anger, and malice will amplified into tons. But listen, I know this much, any man who can do that to Harry’s leg, and leave the room key out for a wolf to break into Jenna and Edie’s room. He’s got some dark marks.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Ben left the master key outside of Jenna’s door. Not only did he use Harry as bait, but he planned on letting the wolves kill the others as well.”

  “No. It can’t be. I don’t believe you.”

  “Ask him. I’m sure he will be happy to tell you.”

  “When do I go?”

  “Tomorrow morning.”

  “Why not now?”

  “Because… you need to wait. Just trust me on that.”

  “Will Lucy be there too?”

  “No. She’s going to be leaving soon. It will be just you and him. But I need you to dig graves for Edie and Lynn tonight. Deep enough to not be disturbed by the explosion or Adam.”

  “Okay,” Asher said. “You said the wolves were migrating. Where are they going?”

  “Eventually? Everywhere. For now? South. The entire West Coast will be decimated in less than seven days. After that, the rest of the US spread will take less than a week.”

  “Wow.”