The Shattered Genesis (Eternity)

by Rudacille, T.

  I nodded in response to what she had said as I picked up a handful of strongly-scented herbs that I had chopped and threw them into the steaming water on the stove.

  “He expects us to believe his lies. He expects us not to question him. That is just plain irresponsibility and I will have no parts of it.” I told her solemnly.

  I wiped the sweat from my forehead on the back of my hand and glanced over at Penny. She and two of her friends were filling water bottles and glancing in apprehension towards the door. When Penny's fearful eyes met mine, I smiled, rolled my eyes and shook my head in an attempt to pretend like the argument outside was just an instance of three boys being utterly silly. A look of relief came over her face and I watched as she told her friends that everything was alright.

  “Why do you think he’s giving Adam most of the crops?” Rachel asked.

  “He is trying to appease him. He believes that Adam is also aiding the Bachums, though I am almost sure that is not true. Adam has some sort of stake in this war. There is something very crucial in it for him. I have not yet deciphered exactly what that something is.”

  “I can’t believe that Adam would just take our food like that. Lord knows he probably has plenty to eat in that city of his. He’s their leader. I’m sure he’s eating well.” Rachel replied in disgust.

  “Yes. I am sure of that, as well. But I absolutely can believe that he would take from us. He will take whatever he wants just to take, I’m afraid.”

  We stopped talking for a few minutes to focus on our mindless jobs while also trying to drown out our opinions on the matter.

  “Are you and James okay?” Rachel asked me. Her question moved a little too close to personal territory in a way that I was not comfortable with entirely. But instead of snapping at her about her business versus business that was mine, I sighed heavily.

  “We are doing well. I forgive him for what he did.”

  “That’s pretty big of you, considering exactly what he did.”

  “Well, he was high. He has not taken the Peace Fruit since. I cannot believe so many others are still recklessly endangering themselves and everyone else in this house by doing so.”

  “It’s what everyone wants though, isn’t it? They don’t want to think. That’s why so many people aren’t calling Don on his bullshit. They just want to keep their mouths shut and tow the line.”

  “That kind of thinking led to the mess we were in on Earth. The political mess, I mean. The governmental mess…”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “I am right.”

  “Of course you are.” Rachel chuckled before turning to another serious, personal topic, “What about Penny? How is she?”

  I looked over at her again and Rachel joined me in the glance. The water bottles were full and standing in neat lines on the sink. Penny and her friends had moved on to separating vegetables both known and exotic. Nick was there with her, talking to her quietly while stealing a little of everything. Penny beamed when he ate what he had taken in grand gestures. A few times, she even laughed out loud. I could not help but smile to myself.

  “She is coming around. It has been a few weeks. She still feels badly about it but we are working to resolve her guilt. It is a struggle, but she will endure.”

  “I don’t doubt that. Not when she’s got her tough-as-nails mama to look out for her.”

  I grinned at the compliment; it was so very fitting.

  “I do my best. James and I have both picked up the slack that was never carried by my parents. Finally, she has a respectable father figure.”

  “He is respectable. He loves her a lot. Everybody says that. Everybody says that he loves you a lot, too.”

  “I know he does. I am sure our relationship is still very shocking to everyone…”

  “Not at all. People get it. He’s good to you. Everybody sees that. Except for what happened with the Peace Fruit but then, so many others went through the same side effects. He’s a good man, Brynna. Don’t let him go.”

  How very sentimental and yet, how very true as well. The smile on my face widened at the thought of him. When they were not running back and forth to the campsite, the security detail worked out in the fields with the gardeners, harvesting the land for our sustenance. I pictured him out there with his shirt tied around his head, sweating as he plowed the fertile earth. I pictured him laughing along with the jokes and banter that the gardeners tended to use as their conversation. A swelling of love for him spread throughout my chest, caressing my insides and warming me straight down to my soul.

  “I am glad that you said that.” I told Rachel through my small smile.

  “Why is that?”

  “Because though I might not ever have doubted this, I suddenly acknowledged openly to myself how lucky I am to have him. He loves me. He loves Penny and Violet. He even loves Elijah, to a certain degree.”

  “That’s definitely not reciprocated.”

  “It is not. But in time, Eli will see why I love him so much. When I would come in contact with men I thought to be upstanding in all ways, I always described them as good, honest and decent. James fits all three of those traits quite nicely.”

  “He does. Plus, he has a rocking body and a hot face. He’s the total package. Consider yourself lucky and believe me when I say, most women here are jealous that you have him. They’re jealous of what you two have.”

  “That gives me very little pleasure, surprisingly enough.” I said, “I do not care about the envy of other women.” I thought to myself for a moment before clarifying a nagging point, “But if any of them try to take him from me, they are going to suffer the full wrath of my evolution, I can tell you that.”

  Rachel and I both laughed half-hysterically.

  “Yeah, girl! That’s your man!”

  “Damn right, he is.”

  We laughed again, ignoring the ongoing argument out in the hallway. I did not care to listen. I just wanted to muse briefly on how everything had remained level despite all that had lead me to believe that chaos was inevitable. I looked around, feeling great affection for my coworkers in the kitchen. I liked mostly everyone in the house. I enjoyed socializing with them, which as I am sure you have gathered, was quite an odd turn for me.

  I had help, finally, in taking care of Penny. I did not have to shoulder the responsibilities completely on my own. She had a paternal figure who was both strong and caring. Violet had somebody else to bother with her requests for permission to do teenage things. Sure, Elijah had someone to hate but I did not view him through the eyes of maternity the way I viewed my sisters. I could not have cared less what he thought of James.

  I loved that man dearly. I would hold him close to me for all the immortal years I spent on Pangea. We would strengthen our deep bond with every moment we spent together. Maybe, I thought quietly to myself with uncertainty, we would even have children of our own.

  No, maybe not.

  Outside the window, thunder rumbled and a streak of lightning slashed a jagged line of light through the dark gray clouds.

  How very, very cliché, my mind drawled sarcastically.

  No, I thought forcefully in response, It's nothing. Superstition is for the young and stupid.

  Yet I could not help but believe that something ominous was on the horizon. The world would soon erupt into madness and no one, not even me with all of the things I knew, would be able to stop it.

  Quinn

  I had been reluctant to believe that everything was going to turn up, but after several weeks living in Don’s house, I couldn’t help but embrace a little optimism. There were many people to talk to and the work definitely wasn’t difficult. We never ran into any threatening forces on our trips to the campsite and we were foraging more than we needed.

  After the first night that Alice and I took the Peace Fruit, we had witnessed the horrible after-effects. James had attacked Brynna. He hadn’t just used his fists; he had tried to do the absolute worst. Alice was devastated; she sympathized
greatly with the girl who was barely our friend. I couldn’t help but feel badly for her as well. But we didn’t judge James. We both just silently thanked our lucky stars that we hadn’t suffered a similar episode of violence.

  After that, though, everything shaped up. People continued to party every night but those that didn't want to take their chances again with the Fruit hung out together. Believe me when I say that those lazy evenings playing cards, listening to music, and talking about our lives on both Earth and Pangea, were welcome moments of peace far more powerful than anything that could be achieved by the two-faced fruit.

  It wasn’t the log cabin that I had promised Alice, but it was a consistent lifestyle. It was the most normal life we could have had on Pangea. I went off to “work” every morning and came home to her every night. She worked in the kitchen with Brynna, Violet and Penny all day. Since coming to Pangea, we were living more like married people than we ever would have at our age on Earth. It was good practice for the real thing.

  “So, what do you think, man?” Angie, one of only five women on our team, asked one day as we walked, “Who is going to be the first to get married? Brynna and James, or Quinn and Alice?”

  “Don’t say that word to Brynn. She’ll flip.” I told him with a laugh. James and Brynna were inseparable but I knew that getting married was not at the top of their priorities list, at least not yet. She would be especially adamant about avoiding marriage, given her staunch opposition to the institution as a whole.

  “Yeah, and we’re not at that point yet.” James agreed, “Maybe in a couple of years.”

  “You two love each other, don’t you?” Angie pressed him.

  “Of course we do.” James said surely. “But this is the twenty-first century. Well, who knows what century it is here. But from where we came from, it was the twenty-first and marriage was on its way out anyway.”

  “I heard that over in Mary and Rich Bachum’s camp, you have to be married to someone.” Bennie, an Italian-American from New York, informed us, “They’re like the Gestapo over there.”

  “I don’t know if the Gestapo ever mandated marriage.” James replied, “Wait, who told you that?”

  “Gary and Danielle Hill.” Bennie answered, “They escaped from there.”

  “They escaped? They didn’t just leave?”

  “No. They run a tight ship up north.” Bennie continued. James and I looked at each other in disbelief, both of us wondering if Bennie was exaggerating or even fabricating the story all together. I made a mental note to find Gary and Danielle later that evening so I could ask.

  “It’s supposedly like, very refined. Men have to work, women have to stay home.” Bennie went on. “There are lots of rules.”

  “Do they dictate how many times a week you have to screw your wife, too? I could use that rule around here.” Wes, the least popular member of our group, mused. He expected us to laugh and a few of the guys did. James, Bennie, Frank and I gave each other the same look we always wore when he opened his mouth; one of disgusted disbelief at his ridiculous foulness.

  “I hate that guy.” Bennie muttered as we walked.

  “Yeah, he’s a tool.” Angie agreed and we shared a quiet laugh.

  We broke through the trees, the graveyard that was once our campsite looming in the distance against the mid-afternoon sun. We climbed the hill, talking about whatever random tidbits of our daily lives popped into our head.

  “And in response to your question, Frank…” I said, “Alice and I aren’t thinking about getting married any time soon, either. Besides, we’re all basically married to the people we live with, aren’t we?”

  “Yeah, man. Plus, how would we even get married?” Frank replied, “Aisha and I were talking about that last night. All that normal shit we’re used to from the old ways, even something like getting married, is gone.”

  “It’s gone because it’s unnecessary.” James chimed in again, “Marriage was for show. I don’t need to be married to Brynn for me to know that I love her. You don’t need to be married to Alice, you don’t need to be married to Aisha.”

  “You all are such guys!” Angie groaned loudly, “Bennie, listen to these idiots. Marriage isn’t for show, you old dog. It’s for commitment. It’s to show your boyfriend or girlfriend that you want to be in it with them ‘til the end. Maybe I’m just being a typical female about this, but it’s true.”

  “Amen, girl.” Bennie replied.

  “No, typical female.” I chimed in and the guys all burst out laughing. Angie turned around and punched me in the arm.

  “I’ve heard you talk, sir. You’re the most romantic guy I know. The way you talk about Allie, and you don’t want to marry her?” Angie challenged me.

  “It’s not that. Frank is right. How would we even do it? And James is right. It isn’t necessary anymore.”

  “Yes, it is!” Angie and Bennie exclaimed.

  “Ooh, battle of the sexes!” Frank proclaimed dramatically.

  “Hey, if you two want to marry your significant others, then by all means, go for it.” James told them as he held up his hands up in surrender, “We’ll come to the festivities and drink all the booze.”

  “Does Don allow gay marriage?” Bennie asked, “Would he even let Nicole and I get married?”

  “Don is the most non-judgmental person on the planet. We’re lucky in that everyone in our house is non-judgmental, or at least they seem to be. I think anything goes, really. Now, if you were over in the Bachums camp, then no. You two would get stoned to death.” Frank told her.

  “Probably.” Bennie agreed, “I want to sneak over there and just watch them live.”

  “You want to witness their misery. Sadist…” James shook his head in jokingly disgusted disbelief at her.

  “Who says they’re miserable? I think some people like being restricted. It keeps them from having to think for themselves.”

  “Oh, we’re getting deep!” James informed the rest of us.

  “James Maxwell! You and your freaking sarcasm! At least Brynn gives you a run for…”

  We stopped talking all at once. Our animal fangs shot out as our eyes turned white. There were others amongst us. I closed my eyes and smelled the air as I tried to determine the source of the warning that was pounding in my chest.

  “They know we’re here.” I muttered to the rest of our group, “Remember that they have…”

  Frank went down before the sound of the gunshot had even registered. All of us jumped to the ground before crawling to take cover behind rocks or by ducking back into the trees. The person was wielding a machine gun and firing off bullets without pause. Whoever it was, they were certainly not aiming. They were just firing into the distance where they had seen movement and hoping for a hit.

  When there was a slight pause, Bennie jumped up from behind the rock she was crouched behind and pointed the Beretta we had stolen on our first trip at the person charging us. She aimed and fired expertly with no hesitation. With ease, she took down the assailant from almost forty feet away.

  “Alright, let’s go!” She ordered before moving out from behind the rock. We jumped up and followed her. Don had supplied those of us who didn’t have guns with knives and spears. I grasped my knife firmly, trying to ignore the trembling in my arms and noting that I much preferred just fighting with my hands. I didn’t want to stab anyone.

  “We should just go back!” Angie called to us as she and Henry, another guy on our team, lifted Frank onto his feet.

  “You two take him back! We’ll handle this!” James ordered before looking at me, “You ready for this, man?”

  “There’s no time to not be ready. Let’s go!”

  We charged out, running right into two of the Bachums’ people. James made a valiant effort of trying to take one of them down by sliding in the mud towards the boy and kicking his feet out from under him. The boy he knocked down, however, pulled a handgun from the back of his pants and aimed right at James’s head. Quick as a flash, James jumped u
p and ducked behind some crates. The boy fired blindly at the crates, hoping to hit him but James was crouched low to the ground, almost like he was doing a push-up. When the gunshots stopped, he barreled over the crates and punched the kid so hard in the face that his jaw snapped. The boy yelled in agony and spit teeth out onto the ground. Then, his wits returned and he aimed the gun at James again. Blood spewed from his mouth as he shouted some gargled obscenity. James’s thought processes had abandoned him the same way mine would have if I were in a fight for my life. He was not aware that the person trying to kill him was just a young boy. He brought back his fist and hit him again, knocking him unconscious or worse.

  For a moment, we stared at the kid, noting that he was probably younger than me. James shook his head slightly. I could see his guilt and I sympathized with it.

  “Come on. Let’s go.” I urged him, “Take his gun.”

  James and I stared, hearing the gunfire all around us and the yells of the people, ours and theirs, clashing in a fight to the death.

  “You take it.” He told me before sprinting off to find another opponent who was, hopefully, much older.

  I stared at the motionless boy. I took his gun and ran after the other people in my party.

  Several of them had wrestled guns from the Bachums’ people and were firing off bullets as best they could. I never aimed my gun at any of the people who charged me. Instead, I beat them into unconsciousness, remembering how I had said that killing them wasn’t necessary. Alice had told me that I would never know until I was on the receiving end of their merciless assault. Now, I could safely continue to say that I hadn't needed to break my rule...

  One of them jumped onto my back and grasped both sides of my head. They struggled to twist it sideways but every muscle in my neck had tensed, making my head as impossible to turn as a rusted wheel. I flung my head back to nail the person hard in the face. After whipping around, I jumped on top of the woman and grabbed her hair. I pulled her head towards me and slammed it hard into the ground, that animal roar erupting from me with enough force to scare the second native that was charging me away.