The Shattered Genesis (Eternity)

by Rudacille, T.

  “Your interrogation ended on a very similar high note, did it not? Oh, the look on young Jonathon's face when he saw that it was none other than me coming to question him...” He smiled evilly and leaned against the wall.

  I groaned in disgust loudly before storming away. Now, I felt guilty not only over the death of the devout boy but over Jonathon, too. I should have gone with my instincts. The decision to live at Don's commune was wrong. Sure, we had been happy. We had felt secure, however briefly. But now, we were going to be forced to fight. I had two sisters that were my sole responsibility. I had a brother who, despite his temper, was also mine to look after and I had a boyfriend whose rage, once unleashed, yielded terrible results. I pondered momentarily the childlike hope I had allowed to set in not only when we landed on Pangea but also when we moved into Don's house. Now, I knew it had all been a dream. Dreams so often turn to nightmares before the person asleep can stop the harsh and sudden change. I understood that now.

  Don's hand wrapped around my wrist. I almost gasped in pain when his grip tightened. When he spun me around to face him, I saw the beast for the second time that evening but this time, the madness was even more intense. Don Abba was suddenly appearing to me in his truest form; he was a monster who thrived on chaos and catastrophe. With that crazed energy, he could command his subjects to do his brutal bidding and they would not ask questions. They would go along with his plans out of fear, but also by their own will. He would make them believe their rampage was justified, in need of being carried out to protect their freedom. It would be all too easy for him.

  “He will pay a great price for what he has done and you should, too! You were there! You're an accomplice!” He pushed me against the wall hard. I commanded myself not to grimace in pain and my body obeyed. I even managed a smile of aggravated disbelief.

  “Don't you smirk at me!” He punched the wall right next to my face. I jumped only slightly.

  “Get your hands off of me.” I ordered calmly, my smile growing with my dangerously insidious fury. Both then and now, I knew and know, respectively, that if that man had not released his grip on me in ten seconds, I would have destroyed him. I would have torn the limbs from his body and stomped on the remains until there was nothing left but a pool of blood and some shredded skin. In doing that, I would have shown him never to accost me so aggressively while simultaneously doing the world a favor by erasing him from it.

  “I asked one simple thing of you! I needed to know what their defenses were! Now, we're going in blind! You can thank yourself when I send your brother in first! He'll be the first to die.”

  Now, I grabbed him. I pushed him backwards, my long, pointed fangs shooting out. I held him against the wall and hissed in his face.

  “I am your leader! Let go of me now!”

  “You will not touch any of the people I love, Don Abba! If you want to die, then make your move! You will be dead before you can take two steps towards them! You do not want me as your enemy!” He struggled against my grip and I locked my hands on him even more tightly. He did grimace in pain and was unable to stifle a gasp.

  “I carry at least a little of every power. So tell me,” I squeezed him harder, feeling my fingernails ready to rip into his skin. He yelled out in pain, “does this hurt? Would you like me to utilize them all at once? That is coming next!”

  “Let go! Let go!” Don begged as he tried to pry my fingers from his skin before my nails pushed through.

  “I will let go if you shut up and listen!”

  For the first time, I was in control of the situation. For the first time, I was going to lead the way. I remembered how helpless and hopeless I had felt for so many years. All of that suffering, all of that self-loathing... They were being rectified right then. I was going to handle the situation with the Bachums myself. I was going to end the war and win our freedom. Don would be nothing but a fly buzzing in my ear. I could not deny that he was valuable; I needed any able-bodied men and women who were able to fight. Additionally, Don had the rage and power I needed to convince others to join us. He had the ability to cause great destruction with the power he had mastered. I did need him.

  “We are going north. We are going to take down the Bachums. We need only one strike.”

  “They have all the guns! They have all the weapons your father brought!”

  “Well, then, we had better learn to duck and cover.” I replied with a small grin.

  Adam chuckled. I scowled at him before turning my attention back to Don.

  “Your people are angry, Don. We have lived our lives in peace, giving without a fight what you have deemed is a fair share. But people do not believe it is all that fair. Adam, how much food does he supply you with?”

  “I don't give him that m...”

  “Very much.” Adam answered cheerfully, “Far more than we need. His offerings are to appease us, which I am sure you already know, given your brilliance.”

  I wanted to remind him that flattery would get him nowhere but I knew that it was not the time, at least not yet.

  “Adam!” Don protested the spilling of that secret.

  “Exactly. Your people are angry, Don, but it is alright.” I let go of him, “You are going to absolve their anger and fear right now. You are going to go up there and tell them that we are going to war. You are going to tell them that it has been brought to your attention that they are unhappy with the share they have had to contribute. You will tell them that when we return from this fight with the Bachums, revisions will be made. Adam, you will stop exploiting our hard work.”

  “I would hardly say that I am exploiting your hard work. I am simply accepting what I am being given. I am simply...”

  “Thank you so much. I am glad we agree.” I cut him off and beamed brightly at him. I expected to see the beast in him emerge right there in front of me. Something told me he did not appreciate being mouthed off to. He was the leader of his people, for the sake of all deities and Gods. He was the king of an evolved, superior race. Surely he would not take any orders from a lowly almost fully-evolved human. But he smiled slightly and leaned against the wall again to observe the scene before him.

  “Did you expect anger at your insolence?” He asked me as he wiped the blood from his hands onto a towel I had not noticed he was holding.

  “I did, indeed.”

  “I know I did!” Don interjected furiously.

  “I find it very fascinating, as boggling as the rest of you, Ms. Olivier. I find it quite enjoyable.”

  My face betrayed my confusion and surprise. His smile widened.

  “I like a woman with feeling.”

  “As opposed to a corpse? What are you even talking about right now?

  “Think about it.

  “Anyway,” I ignored Adam and looked back at Don, “Do you understand what I have said? Do you understand my reasoning?”

  “I suppose.” He smirked at me, “Remind me to put in my will that if I should die, you may take my place.”

  I smirked back.

  “How much do you want to bet people would like me more?”

  “You're so clever.” He replied irritably.

  “Yes. I am.”

  “Children, shall we adjourn to the front porch?”

  “Indeed, Adam. Let us adjourn.” I strode ahead of the two men, thinking that their current state of minds were polar opposites. Don was seething, believing that I was trying to steal his almighty throne. He loathed that I had used such force on him. He felt like less of a man. Well, that certainly had taken very little to accomplish.

  Adam, on the other hand, was bouncing in light, airy good-humor on the inside. The feeling of bewildered joy filled me up, reminding me of spring rain, the light in James's eyes, Penny's lighthearted, girlish giggle, and oddly enough, the smell of Maura's perfume. At the end of that stream of vividly beautiful, sedating memories, I saw the moment when I had first seen Adam. I threw myself backwards out of the thoughts, my heart pounding with the same potent fear I had fe
lt that night. I blinked several times, chancing a glance back at him. I jumped slightly to find that he was just behind me.

  Why had I felt such sublime sedation upon seeing his face? Why had my heart soared so brilliantly?

  His pale white hand grazed my back just once, sending shivers down my spine that neither repulsed nor scintillated me. He leaned forward, pressed his smooth lips to my ear and whispered in a tone of malicious seduction:

  “Well, isn't that interesting?”

  XXX

  “It has been brought to my attention that you all are not happy with the provisions that have been made.”

  There was a noticeable shift in the tension that had been bounding through the crowd already. Those that we lived with were now afraid of Don's wrath. Earlier, they had only been ready for the fight with the Bachums.

  “It's alright,” Don held his hands up and closed his eyes for one dramatic moment, “I understand. If you may allow me to be candid for a minute, I will tell you that I need all of you. Because of that, your happiness is very important to me. When we return, revisions will be made.” Don's eyes found me in the crowd. He scowled for but one quick second. I smiled in satisfaction at him before he looked away.

  “We are walking now into what might very well be the first and only fight with the Bachums. Adam has given us an advantage, though I cannot lie to all of you and say that this will be easy. We are going to have a hell of a time trying to take them all down. They have guns, grenades and other weapons that Daniel Olivier made sure were on board. The Bachums have also aligned with the other natives.”

  There was a gasp in the crowd and a sudden rustle of whispers.

  “Nobody worry. They have not accepted their evolution. We have. We are stronger and faster. We're able to fight until the last breath with ease and precision. We have nothing to fear once we can get past the guns. Now, let me make this very clear...”

  A change was coming over him. It was as sudden as the appearance of James at my side. The latter avoided my eyes when he grasped my hand. I stifled the urge to inquire where he had been.

  The former raised his voice several octaves to an authoritative thunder. His eyes bugged and the desire for bloodshed that was already being whispered about in our group hit a crescendo in the face of his self-righteous energy.

  “We are most like the natives that were already here! We are the ones that are supposed to live! Those people believe that they are above us! They believe that we have shunned God, and maybe we have. But we need to prove to them that they are not protected. We need to show them the wrath of red anarchy!”

  “That's right!” A man behind me yelled.

  “Bring them down!” A woman shrieked in the back of the group.

  “They believe that we have aligned with the devil! They believe, in all their self-righteous Bible verse-spewing nonsense, that we are evil and undeserving of life! Well, we are going to show them that though they may follow their laws and beg for safety from God, we are unstoppable. We are not going to be swayed by fear! We are going to take our rightful place in this land!”

  “YEAH!” Several men behind us yelled before throwing their fists into the air. I looked back at them in aggravation; they had startled me and I did not appreciate it.

  “They shot our people! They shot Angie, taking her away from her husband...” He beckoned to Angie's husband in the crowd, whose murderous need for revenge was justified, “and their four children! He took Frank, who was loved greatly by his wife, by all of us! He was the first volunteer for the security detail! They took Perry, Hiroshi, Abdul, John, and Katie! They took our brothers and sisters!”

  “KILL THEM!” A man in the back shouted. Roars of assent followed his bloodthirsty cry. Oh, the pot was bubbling now. Even I was beginning to mentally prepare for war. Even I was ready to make them suffer for those they had taken. Our house consisted of many people, all of whom had become close. One family's loss was everyone's loss. It was time to inflict the same pain on those in the Bachum camp. It was time to show them who truly was the superior race.

  “They followed them through the gates of our home and would have killed us all, had our other brave family members not stopped them!” He beckoned to those of us who had dispatched the insurgency.

  “They will know how seriously we take that offense. They call us freaks! They call us traitors to our kind! They say our powers make us unworthy of happiness! Well, we will show them today that they are the traitors! They are the ones unworthy of life! We will never let the Bachums forget that when you take from us, we take ten times more from you. Now, I ask you: Who will join me?!”

  The explosion of noise was immediate. The men and women surrounding us were roaring their commitment to the cause. If James, Elijah and I were fans of such pious shows of faith, we would have roared, too. We would have thrust our fists into the air to show our allegiance. The three of us certainly felt the same fury and were ready to inflict the same violence, though we would not show it. We stared straight ahead, our eyes burning brighter than the torches that lit the scene.

  The time had finally come to stake our claim on this land.

  XXX

  “Keep Penny close.”

  “Why?”

  Violet was becoming more like me every day. Every command had to be questioned; even the most simple of instructions required detailed explanation.

  “These people are not themselves. They are angry and itching for violence. They want revenge on those responsible. No rash action is unjustified.”

  “I don't think that they would hurt Penny and me, Brynn. We haven't done anything to them.”

  “We are our father's children. Being his is plenty. We should be back by night tomorrow. Until then, stay up here. I have left plenty of food in your room.”

  “You stole food?!” Violet whispered in terror, “Brynn, do you have any idea what Don will do if he...”

  “He is not going to find out. He is coming with us.”

  “I don't like this.” She said in a shaking voice, “This is bad. You're right, no one is acting like themselves. They're acting insane.”

  “They are insane. Losing seven of our number had its desired effect. However, I sincerely doubt that the Bachums are aware that we are coming so soon. It is best to strike them when they are reveling in their victory.”

  “Just be so careful!” She hugged me tightly.

  I wanted to pull away. Then, my hands moved up by their own will and smoothed the back of her soft hair. I closed my eyes, enjoying that moment of sisterly love. It had been so long since I had allowed myself to be embraced by her. I had left her so quickly upon realizing that she was old enough to stand on her own. I wanted to apologize for my coldness; I never should have put such distance between us. My pride was still too strong. Any apology that I wished to be heard was stifled by my belief that I was always right.

  I pulled away and rested my hand on her face.

  “I never wished for you to see such awful brutality.”

  “I know.” She reached up to swipe at her tearing eyes.

  “I have never wanted to kill anyone. But those people attacked us unfairly. They killed seven of our people. I might not be Don's biggest fan but I do feel great fondness for those we live with. I feel their pain and some have lost their family tonight. I cannot imagine.”

  “I know. You don't have to explain yourself to me. If you'd let me, I'd go with you.”

  “I'd sooner let you die before me. Though honestly, the two circumstances are synonymous. If you were to accompany me into the north, you would more than likely die before I could save you. I cannot afford to have one eye on the battle and one on you. Do you understand?”

  “I guess.” She crossed her arms. Any body language expert would say that the gesture was evidence of her feeling anything but understanding. I smiled slightly; she was so headstrong and so set in her beliefs. She could fight perfectly fine and yet I was sticking her on the sidelines. No amount of time that she stood with her
arms crossed or her lips pursed in irritation would change my mind, however. She was not going to come with James, Elijah and me to fight the Bachums. I would not lose her in that bloody struggle.

  “Remember what I said. I will see you tomorrow night.”

  I looked at her for one quiet moment of remembrance. If that was the last time that I would see my sister, I wanted to etch every detail of her young, beautiful face into my memory. If I was going to die that night, I needed the comfort of familiarity; I needed my sisters' faces in my mind to remind me why I had lost my life. I would gladly die fighting for them. I shuddered to think of them facing that hostile world alone, without my guidance or tough love. I turned away from her, forcing those breathtakingly fearful thoughts from my mind.

  “Brynn?”

  “Yes?” I asked without turning around.

  “I love you.”

  I smiled slightly and turned to her, acknowledging mentally that whatever strife had been between us had dissipated.

  “I love you too, Violet.” I was surprised that I had no urge to vomit upon saying such heavy words. Something was changing in me. Some softness I more than likely could not afford was beginning to set in.

  She deserves your kindness, I reminded myself, Here of late, you have taken far more than you have given.

  “No tears, ma'am. Keep it tough.” I ordered her, but my own throat had clenched. A renegade tear more headstrong than my will to suppress all feeling streamed down my face. I wiped it away and observed the drop on my hand as though it was a newly discovered species. My heart jumped in surprise and cowered in disgust at the sight simultaneously. Mainly, I was fascinated.

  “Look at that. Real tears.” Violet told me and when I looked up at her, she had many streaming down her face. She rushed to me and threw her arms around my neck. Though I allowed no more of my own tears to fall, I did hold onto her tightly, feeling that ever-present darkness rearing its head at us and bearing its fangs. It was poised to strike and hissing evilly in a final warning.