by Zac Strong
The flicker of realization hits her like a bus. Her mind scrambles to process the glimmer of hope I just installed into her, into us both.
“This isn’t over. I need you to stay with me. We’re going to get through this, okay? If they can make it out here, so can we.”
She nods eagerly as if her life depended on it.
“What are you waiting for, you fee-fee la-la?” Kalli mocks. “It’s just sand, it’s not gonna bite.”
“I’m just - give me a second, will ya?” I cautiously reply. “You know I’m not that great at heights.”
“Fee-fee. La-la.”
“I told you not to call me that… What if we get lost? The dump is miles from here and… I just feel like something bad is going to happen.”
She laughs and points at me standing on the edge of the city’s wall, too afraid to jump.. “Nothing bad is going to happen. Bad and good…” she air quotes, “…are just different perspectives of the same experience. Things just happen. In the unlikely event that something unfortunate does happen, worrying about it only punishes yourself twice. That’s irrational, Palin. Don’t be irrational.”
The memory of her forces a laugh from my beaten chest, but my stomach lashes out in agony. The realization of my task weighs heavy on me erasing the remnants of my smile.
I miss her.
I miss normal.
An hour or so passes before we find a place in the wall of 34 chipped enough to possibly climb over with a little help and a perfectly placed pile of rocks. The lingering heat from the warm, roasted sand soaks deep into my skin in the early moon’s light. There is a stillness present. I never realized how calm the Outlands were. The sound of our shoes sifting through the sand is the perfect melody to the backdrop of a clear indigo sky. The stars are just beginning to peak down on us. There’s barely a cloud overhead.
“It’s beautiful,” awes Jacee, her head pointed towards the shimmering pieces of earth stuck in the starscape. Her voicing losing focus at the end, like a transmission, slowly fading out.
Every so often, for a few seconds just after sunset, the sun aligns perfectly with the pieces of land that got blasted to space when the meteor hit. The floating masses of land bend the light into something beyond divine.
“I remember the first time I saw it.”
She nods back, still captivated. Eyes glued to the cosmic light show.
“At the time I was a fresh born like you. Had no one, and nothing more than a job and a name tatted on my arm. Then I looked up. I saw right in front of me the evidence that something beyond beauty can come from something tragic.”
She turns to me, takes a step, and wraps around me tightly. I let my arms fall across her back. My heart hurts for her.
We stayed like that for a while, silent. I think she needed it, maybe we both did.
“Why’d you do it?”
“Do what?” she asks.
“Why’d you get yourself banished for me? You should have stayed quiet… kept your head down.”
She takes a step back and pierces the sand with those sinking sapphire eyes. “I don’t know,” she pushes her bangs around her ear. “I guess I thought I was doing the right thing. Maybe, I thought I owed you or something. You know.. you’re not the only one tired of the way they treat us.”
“You don’t owe me anything though. It’s not your fault. None of this is. You should’ve kept out of it.”
“And do what? Continue slaving for Lethe until it’s my turn to disappear? I’d rather take my chances with you,”
We decide to rest before our heist. She lies next to me in the black sand as we wait for the shroud of darkness, both of us hopeless.
The roar of a shuttle rocketing over wakes me. We must’ve fallen asleep. Tiny sandstones crumble to dust around me as the engine overhead stirs the ground and vanishes into the midnight moon. My muscles scream in anguish. My body feels even more broken than earlier. Existence is pain.
From the corner of my eye, I see something move behind some boulders a few meters away.
“Jacee?” I yell.
She doesn’t reply.
Maybe it’s not Jacee. Maybe Lethe has come back to finish the job? Why not kill us at the gate?
My eyes catch another glance of something moving on my other side. They have me surrounded. Here we go.
Using what little strength I have left, I back myself up against a small boulder embedded near the wall in the Outlands. Armed with a jagged stone, I wait for the attack.
My ears hear nothing for several minutes outside the wisps of wind feeding on stray grains of sand, but I know they are getting closer. My voice cracks as I cry out, “What do you want from me??”
Something suddenly appears from around the boulder. Insidiously, it creeps towards me. It doesn’t make a sound. Standing over me, nearly 7 feet tall, a monster draped in rusted trash and bone armor shifts even closer to me. Its face is a fleshless skull. I peer deep into its eyes and darkness stares back. The creature’s body is marked with a muddy paste, strange blue symbols from its neck to its legs. I’ve never seen markings like that before.
What is this thing?
What does it want from me?
Its human-like body wields a large metal rod that’s dripping liquid sparks of purple electricity at the sharpened tip. Hands like a giant. The creature moves closer as I impulsively back further into the sandy rocks behind me.
Another beast appears from my left wearing a slightly different variation of painted junk and bone- this one wears a red hooded fabric around its neck just as a human would.
The first slams its staff into the ground at my feet. Two more of the creatures emerge silently.
“What do you want from me?” I cry out desperately. With each loud thump of my heart, my chest flinches in pain from the soreness.
“Look who I found,” sings Jacee coming into view around the creatures.
The one with the red hood removes his bone mosaic helmet. He stands firm bursting with confidence, taller than me, but only by a few inches. His eyes remain hidden in the shadows.
“My name is Xander,” he declares reaching his rugged hand towards me.
I cautiously shake his hand in disbelief.
“Nice to meet you. I’m.. umm, Palin.”
Jacee looks oddly enthused. We don’t know these people.
“Oh, we’ve met before,” he says as he steps into the light. His face reveals a scar embedded under his left eye stretching to the corner of his lips.
He’s the infirmary intruder! Stumbling back a few steps, I raise my fist ready to strike.
“Easy there, guy,” he laughs.
“What were you doing in the infirmary that night?” I ask straightforward with obvious suspicion. “How’d you get into 34?”
“Palin, relax. He’s here to help us.”
“You have every reason to be cautious. I get it, but I come in peace with an offer for you,” says the man named Xander.
“What offer?”
“Shelter, food, companionship. In return, you work for our community. If need be, you fight for our home. I’m aware of your plan to break into 34, but I beg you to reconsider. Even if you make it out alive, where will you go?”
I don’t know about this. Something about him doesn’t feel right. We stare at each other for a few minutes while I try to decide if I’m angry with him or not.
My eyes lock with Jacee’s. She’s excited, hopeful even.
The larger of the masked raiders makes an odd gesture. They briefly communicate with each other, seems like a disagreement between the two of them.
“Everything okay?”
“The choice is yours Palin, but we don’t have much time. We need to go. It’s not safe out here.”
“Okay. Let’s do it. We’re in.” What do we have to lose?
The phantom in front of me raises his staff to his waist with both hands, the electric tip right in front of me.
“Don’t take this personal,” says Xander before his creature zaps me with his
prod. A hundred volts of electricity surge through me. I’m sucked out of my reality before my head hits the sand.
The void captures me.
From the edge of the darkness above them, I watch.
They drag my unconscious body further into the Outlands, away from 34.
Where are they taking me?
I’m locked away, helpless, and…
stuck.
Cool water washes over my face soothing my every inch. My body is absorbed by it. I am as weightless as the clouds beneath
me. I actually feel relaxed. Refreshed. Surprisingly, the soreness has left me as my arms cut freely through the water. I feel myself smile.
My eyes open to those of a beautiful woman looking down over me. Her golden hair is silk and braided down her spine. Her
freckles pepper the smoothness of her skin. She has Kalli’s innocence and a smile of her own.
“Where am I?” I ask in a voice of heavy-eyed confusion.
She stares at me silently seemingly amused at my state of disarray. Something about her feels inviting.
My head rises from her hands on the brim of the water. The room’s dim. There are stone walls all around me, a dark stone ceiling, a corroded metal bench by what appears to be the entrance that feels out of place. As I float in a pool of glowing turquoise water, I ask the stranger, “Have I died?” despite assuming she doesn’t understand me.
Her soft, garnet lips part as she smiles at me.
Swimming to the rock floor at the edge of the pool I lift myself out of the water. A gripping chill shoots through me. Looking down, I realize I’m completely naked. My cheeks only warm from embarrassment. I can imagine my face glowing the brightest shade of red.
Her eyes read every inch of me.
“There are some clean garments for you in the next room,” she says with a look of excitement written on her face. She nods at a carved opening in the stone wall to the left of the pool.
Still lost in disorientation I trek across the smooth rock floor through the opening into the next room and dress in the clothes she laid out for me. They aren’t anything special – pieces of old linen and clothing hand-sewed together, but they are better than the ripped and blood-stained gown I presume I was wearing when I arrived at this strange and mystical place.
“Nice birthmark. It kind of looks like a spade.”
I turn around and she’s standing directly behind me wearing nothing but a devious smile.
Something about her is enchanting.
My eyes take everything in.
I suddenly yearn to be the water dripping off her golden, wet skin.
This is insane. I must be dead.
She steps closer and gazes deep into me.
Her eyes are green, marble-like, vibrantly glowing from the reflection of the pool. So full of life… And lust.
My mind resists her, but my body betrays me.
She leans in, still smiling.
She can probably hear my heart slapping my chest. I’m trapped. I don’t know what to do.
Her lips softly meet mine for the shortest of seconds before I jerk away.
She pushes me against the wall, stronger than she looks.
With a quick duck under her arm, I evade her attack once more. I know nothing about this woman nor her true intentions.
She strikes again, going for my neck, my weak spot.
I throw her off me a little more dramatically than I needed to, but she didn’t care. It only fueled her fire.
She grabs my naked dick.
“I’ve seen you met one of my wives, Hera,” interrupts a deep voice from behind me.
The mysterious woman unhands me.
I snap around to find Xander standing in the opening. Everything begins to spin. Nothing is making sense to me right now. “Where am I?” I ask distraught. “Where’s Jacee!?”
“You’re in our home, the Outlands is what I believe you city-people call it. We call it Elysium. Welcome to our cave,” he replies with both palms up in front of him. “Jacee is recovering finely in the dining hall. She is safe. Shall we join her?”
“You fucking zapped me! I’m not going anywhere with you!”
“Oh, come on… We can’t let just anyone know where we live. You have to prove yourself first,” he chuckles. “I’ll be happy to answer any question you may have, but first we must eat. I’m starving.” He casually walks past me, grabbing the back of his wife’s head, kissing her with force.
I’m lost. The immediate awkwardness overshadows my gut-wrenching hunger. My stomach is either turning from the excitement of the sound of sustenance or from the nervousness of still being unaware of what the fuck is happening.
“I’m sorry.. about that.. with your wife; I tried to stop her,” I confess with confused sincerity as my eyes cut towards the woman who violated me. I feel taken advantage of, used, a little bit guilty.
Xander laughs. “Hera has a way of doing that, doesn’t she? She’s a little aggressive.”
Hera clasps her hand in his while continuing to smile at me seductively. Her long, braided hair barely covers her breast as the
rest of her body greets my still curious eyes fully exposed.
She breaks from his embrace and softly kisses my cheek before she excuses herself to put on something more dinner-appropriate. It’s obvious she’s trying to get me killed.
Xander slaps her on the bare ass on her way out.
“I think she likes you,” he says as we depart for what I assume is the dining hall.
We exit out of a rocky, narrow opening after a hike through a spacious cave tunnel leading into the dining hall. Immediately I’m stricken with awe. This place is huge! Five large tunnels all open to this giant room. It’s beautiful. Unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
The room’s illuminated with glowing moss and strange plants growing all throughout the wall. The same tiny mushrooms I noticed glowing in the tunnels. There are large, metal tables speckled with rust and erosion in the center of the room. Above the middle table hangs an enormous steel structure pieced together with chain and cut pieces of scrap. Broken glass and chiseled crystal are strategically fastened in holes every few inches from each other. Bioluminescent moss, which I’ve only read about from the old world, illuminates the chandelier causing an array of every shade of blue light in every direction around this massive stone room.
The air is cool and refreshing. The sound of falling water is hardly audible over the lively chatter of conversation flowing throughout the packed room. The table benches are covered with new and bizarre faces while some of the other cave dwellers converse near an exit. Probably around forty of them altogether, not including Xander or myself. All with the same blue streaks in their hair or armor. Some with it painted on their pale skin faces, and for no apparent reason. They carry on joking and laughing loudly as if the world outside this cave didn’t exist. The best part so far? No sign of Lethe anywhere.
I sense a general feeling of respect towards Xander as he smiles and greets the people he encounters on our way to the vacant seats at the center table. They look up to him. He has a feel of honesty about him that would make most people uncomfortable. He didn’t have to tell me he was their leader. His people’s reaction made that clear enough. Why has this guy shown me mercy? What does he want from me?
I nervously take my seat at the table beside Jacee with Xander at the head. She smiles subtly at my presence. I’m not sure why but, I find myself happy that she’s okay.
A mountain of a man sits on my other side. He looks a bit younger than Xander but appears older than me. As always, looks can be deceiving. His hair is as long as Hera’s, only a thicker, dirtier blonde, and mangy. His beard, just as feral. Tattoos cover both of his arms. He is square-jawed and visibly angry. Giant nostrils flare at the sight of me sitting next to him. The fuck is his problem?
“Palin, I want to introduce to you my right hand. Leon, meet Palin,” exclaims Xander with one arm stretched in my direction.
The barb
arian to my left slams his hands on the table and stands, fuming mad.
“We shouldn’t be taking in no fuckin’ outsiders! What in the hell are ya thinkin’? What if he’s one of ‘em? You can’t keep doing this shit!”
“Sit your ass down Leon, before I sit you down,” growls Xander breaking the silence that swept the room. “I will do what I think is best for this tribe to survive. This man is not our enemy.”
I immediately feel everyone’s eyes on me, studying my every move, trying to dissect me. Great first impression.
“You know nothing of this man!” shouts Leon.
“I know his heart! I’ve seen it,” screams Xander passionately as he stands at the head of his table.
He shouts slamming his fist, “We cannot grow stronger by remaining idle! We cannot hide forever. The days of living in the shadows will soon be behind us! We are going to need all the help we can get. If you or anyone else has a problem with that, then take it up with me in the pit or keep quiet.”
Silence knifes the room as the two titans scowl at each other in a deadly stare-off. You can cut the tension in the musky cave air.
Leon submits, shaking his head at me in disgust. He pauses for a second as the brute captures a passing idea. He looks down,
points to me. With a deep, raspy growl he declares, “I challenge this newcomer… to the pit!!”
The cave erupts with a mixture of wild screaming and cheers. The fuck is the pit?
I look over helplessly at Xander.
He nods at me through the pandemonium with a benevolent assurance in his eyes.
“First thing tomorrow morning -you and me brown-eyes!” shouts Leon as he jerks a metal staff out from under the table and disappears into one of the openings.
“Um.. no thanks. I’m good,” I refute in vain.
The insane crowd does not muffle the sound of my heartbeat. My frantic eyes move around the room. These people are blood-hungry savages. What have I got myself into?
They beat on the tables and stomp their feet singing continuously in deathly unison, “To the pit! To the pit! Never surrender! Never quit!”
“Don’t mind them,” shouts Hera joining us through the drunken chaos. She pushes a polished piece of metal towards me and Jacee and advises, “If you want to stand a chance tomorrow, you might want to eat.”
