Age of Men

by Eduard Joseph

sluggish man in its claws before it took the sky again. The man screamed continuously as he disappeared from sight.

  Another monster descended in a magnificent blaze of flames and gushes of wind and swooped down ten yards to the right of Jack, grabbed two men in its claws and then it took to the sky again just as another monster swooped down.

  Jack shielded Timmy who buried his head in his chest again and the three of them watched as about ten more fiery monsters swooped down and plucked people from the pool of prey.

  “They keep flying past us.” Richard noted.

  The heat radiating behind Jack reminded him that they were within two feet of the fiery wall and wondered whether that might’ve been the reason why the monsters didn’t try and grab them.

  “I think it’s the fire wall.” Jack said.

  “What about it?” Josh asked.

  “You remember that guy who got stuck in the fire wall?” Jack pointed out, “I think once you get sucked into the fire wall you can’t escape – no matter who or what you are.”

  “They’re afraid of it.” Richard said as if having an epiphany.

  “Cautious, most likely.” Jack corrected him, “If we can get it into the wall, it might get sucked down by the fire and we may be able to use the creature as a sort of bridge through the fire.”

  “That’s why we need to create weapons.” Josh said as the last of the fire monsters disappeared back into the dark clouds.

  “And what use will we have for sharpened bones?” Richard was sceptical, “You want us to stab them or something? We’re down here and they’re all the way up there.”

  “Maybe I can help.” A stranger said to the left of the group.

  Jack immediately recognized the man as his favourite singer of all time and gasped with delight like a little boy seeing Santa for the very first time.

  “Oh, my God…” Jack gasped, “You’re… you’re… Meat Loaf!”

  “Please.” Meat insisted, “Call me Meat. Everybody does.

  “Who?” Richard asked.

  “How can you not know who Meat Loaf is?” Jack was shocked, “He’s only the greatest singer of all time!”

  Richard still had a blunt expression on his face and had no idea why Jack was so excited to see a seventy-odd year old fat man.

  “He has sold over 50 million albums?” Jack asked, but Richard shook his head, “The Bat out of Hell trilogy of albums? Come on! They’re legendary…”

  And then a peculiar thought popped into Jack’s head – did Meat Loaf become senile enough that he might’ve thought himself to be the hero depicted on the cover art of his albums battling the giant bat that escaped from hell?

  “I used to throw the javelin back in high school.” Meat said.

  “Really?” Jack asked, “I didn’t know that. I thought you played football?”

  “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”

  “Who cares what you did or didn’t do a hundred years ago?” Richard said annoyed.

  “I did throw the javelin.” Meat said, “And if you can make me one, I’m pretty sure I can hit my target and bring one of those devils down.”

  Richard still wasn’t convinced that the old chubby man was the one to save them and folded his arms across his chest as he raised one eyebrow in disbelief. What he saw was anything but a hero – guitar hero or otherwise and he had little faith in the old man that swayed from side to side like a weeble-wobble as he walked over to them.

  “You really think you can bring down one of those things?” Richard asked.

  “You don’t have faith in me?” Meat asked.

  “Not one bit.” Richard shook his head.

  “You sound like my ex-wife.” Meat teased.

  “Don’t all ex-wives sound alike?” Jack joked; trying to suck up to Meat who was clearly unsettled by the random remark.

  “Anyway,” Josh said bluntly, “Sorry to break up this… whatever this is, but we should get started.”

  29

  Hardly anyone noticed when Jack, Josh, Richard and Meat started to fillet the cadaver of a man with a broken leg – every one of the billions of people trapped within the fire walls were too preoccupied with their own dilemma and sorrows to really care what anyone else was doing. Nobody helped anyone who had fallen or had injuries; in here it was truly survival of the fittest and there was no way that the fit would help the weak.

  The lower part of the man’s leg was completely severed at the knee – hanging only by a piece of skin, and Jack shielded Timmy’s eyes from the ghastly sight. Richard tried not to gag as Josh twisted and jiggled at the leg as he used the scale to slice through the skin until it finally snapped free. Droplets of blood splashed onto his shoes and Richard could taste vomit at the back of his throat, but forced it down again.

  “Oh God…” Richard gagged.

  “Oh, man up.” Josh said as he stood up; holding the severed leg in one hand.

  “How can you be so calm?” Richard insisted, “You just cut off a man’s leg.”

  “It was already loose.” Josh corrected him, “And he no longer has use for it.”

  “That used to be somebody who mattered to somebody.” Richard said.

  “He’ll matter again today.” Meat insisted, “His leg will be our salvation…”

  “Now, get rid of the body.” Josh ordered.

  “What?” Richard asked baffled.

  “We can’t have it lying around just like that.” Josh said, “I’m pretty sure you’re not the only nancy-boy who’ll have a problem with what we’re doing and I don’t want a riot of nancy-boys on my hands. Get rid of the body.”

  “And how do you propose I do that?”

  “Drag it into the fire wall.” Jack proposed, “You saw how quickly it consumed that other guy. It’ll burn up the body in no time.”

  “I’ll give you a hand.” Meat said, “You grab his legs – well… his leg.”

  Richard hesitated as Meat walked over and grabbed both hands of the cadaver, and then he glanced down at the leg and stump at his side. He sighed and then finally picked up the remaining leg with both hands and the two of them carried the corpse closer to the fire-wall, swung it back and forth until they got a good momentum going and then dumped the corpse into the blue part of the flame which, in turn, consumed it.

  “This is probably illegal.” Richard said as they walked back to the others.

  “Who’s gonna arrest you?” Meat asked, “This isn’t your home town anymore. This is an alien planet where rules and laws don’t apply. And if it makes you feel any better; you had to do what you had to do to survive. There’s nothing wrong with doing what you must to survive.”

  “It doesn’t make me feel better.” Richard sighed, “It just makes me feel worse – that could’ve been me.”

  “Are you still whining?” Josh asked as they stepped closer.

  “I’m not whi—”

  “Yes, you are.” Josh said annoyed, “Just grow up.”

  Sulking, Richard folded his arms across his chest and it was only then that he noticed that Josh was busy stripping the severed leg of its flesh; Josh sat on a rock with the severed leg between his and used the scale to strip the flesh in a downward movement. The scale scraping against the bone was almost just as cringe-worthy as nails being dragged across a classroom blackboard. He tried to shake off his irritation of the sound and stepped back a few feet, but the sound kept clawing at his ears.

  “Do you have to do that?” Richard cringed.

  “I need the bone to be clean.” Josh said.

  “Why?” Richard asked, “Are you gonna sell it to tourists or use it as a weapon?”

  “If someone doesn’t do something about nancy-boy, I will.” Josh said without looking up.

  “Richard,” Jack said hushed, “Please…”

  “Fine.” Richard sighed and shrugged.

  He didn’t even know why he still hung around with these people who were clearly disturbed. Nobody in their right mind would chop up a human leg as
if it was an everyday thing. Surely he could find better company out there somewhere. After all, the entire human race’s male population was there – there had to be someone sane he could keep company.

  30

  Alicia watched from within her cage as Petrav barbequed the meat over the fire and then walked over with a piece skewered on a stick. He crouched down in front of the cage and held it out to her, but she was hesitant to take it from the native man whom kept her captive. Why was he being nice to her while the other one gave her grunts and stern looks?

  “It’s good.” Petrav said toying the stick at her.

  She stared at the meat and then at Petrav’s insanely intense eyes and then decided to trust him. If he wanted her dead, she’d probably be dead already. She reached out through the light-beam prongs of her prison and took the stick of meat from him.

  The other one yelled something in their language at Petrav who dismissed him with a quick motion of his hand and then sat down cross-legged in front of Alicia. He found her fascinating and studied her physique with great detail – and wasn’t hiding the fact that he was intrigued by her… not so much attracted to her, but intrigued by what made her special.

  “It’s good.” Alicia finally said after the first bite.

  “It’s semen.” He said.

  “I beg your pardon?” Alicia choked.

  “It’s the name of the animal you’re eating.”

  Alicia chuckled and when bafflement showed upon his face she said, “On my planet semen has a different meaning.”

  “Is it edible on your planet?”

  “You can say that.” She chuckled again and continued eating.

  She tried to ignore the fact that he watched her every move, but it was hard to