by E S Richards
Asher thought for a moment. “I understand. Mine too as well, right? I’m an even more advanced mutant than you are.”
“Asher,” Zahyra cut in at her younger brother’s words. “We don’t know what’s going to happen to you, or in fact whether anything’s going to happen to you at all. As far as I’m concerned you’re not a mutant, you’re a little Zero like me. You shouldn’t talk about yourself like that.”
“But it’s true Zar. What if I turn out to be really dangerous?”
Zahyra dropped to her knees in front of her brother so she was at his level. The look on her face was deathly serious as she spoke and her tone of voice told Asher that she believed every word she was saying.
“You’re not dangerous.” She paused for effect. “What our father did to you was horrible. It was... it wasn’t fair. But just because he did something bad, doesn’t mean you’re going to turn out bad as well. You don’t want to let him win do you? Look at Cain, he has an advanced mutation and he doesn’t let that win over him. You can beat your mutation too Ash, whatever it turns out to be. I don’t want you to think of yourself as a mutant, like you’re a threat to anyone else. You’re so, so strong and if you believe – just like me – that you can beat this thing and stay as the wonderful, brilliant boy that you are then you will do. Okay? Promise me you’ll try.”
“I guess so.”
“Asher...” Zahyra’s voice was stern now, like she needed to hear the right answer from her younger brother.
“I’ll try,” Asher eventually whispered, although it was clear his heart was not in what he was saying. Zahyra could tell that too and wrapped her arms around her little brother, holding him close to her chest.
As Cain stood and watched the interaction between the two siblings he couldn’t help but smile. His younger brother’s faces flashed before his eyes for a second and he took a sharp intake of breath, blinking to remove them from his vision. He hated to think about them, think about what he had done to them. At their memory he realised what Asher could be thinking himself. Not knowing what he was about to turn into must be terrifying him and Cain was sure that worrying how his mutation would affect Zahyra was at the top of his mind as well. He hated that such a young boy had to deal with such a huge burden.
“How about we go and explore the settlement?” Cain suggested, keen to get the three of them out of their new home and their minds focused on something else. “Vincent said we’d have the rest of the day off right? So we might as well make the most of it, especially if we have to start work, or school, tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Zahyra smiled at Cain’s idea, rising slowly to her feet from where she had been hugging Asher. “Shall we see if we can find the school?”
Asher wrinkled his nose at the thought of going back to lessons. The ones at his old camp had been so boring, so easy. At the safe haven he’d actually been challenged, but he knew school in the warped settlement would be nothing like that.
Going back outside into the settlement Cain was relieved to see that everyone had gone back to their daily tasks. He had never liked attention much and having all eyes on him in a brand new place was his idea of hell, although for the next few days he knew he would have to get used to it.
The settlement itself was much bigger than Cain had expected. It seemed to operate like a small town, various areas cordoned off for different activities and workforces. They found the school fairly quickly and determined it had two classes, for children of varying ages. The lessons were held outside, most of the buildings being assigned as bedrooms and stores for keeping food. A history lesson was taking place as the three of them walked past and Zahyra drew their group to a halt in order to listen.
...last contact our country had with anyone else was ten years after the nuclear warfare finally ground to a halt. As you’ll all remember from previous lessons our country is not the only one out there. In The Before Time, travelling across the waters was easy. Some people would even fly, although not as we know of it today. Our ancestors hoped that when the bombings stopped someone from another land would travel over here and save us, take them back with them and allow us to continue living somewhere new across the sea. But as we later came to learn, the warfare of this country had an even bigger reach than anyone could imagine. Bigger than anyone could have foreseen. You kids understand that when one person does something, everyone else wants to do it too. And that was exactly the same in The Before Time. Unfortunately, copying people is not always a good thing and in this case it only made things worse. Much, much worse.
“Has anyone been over the sea since?” A little girl chirped up from the front of the group, her long blonde hair cascading down over her back. “How do we know that’s true?”
The sad thing is that we don’t. But don’t you think someone would have come for us by now if there were people out there who could? If you knew a neighbour was in trouble, you would help them wouldn’t you? The same is true again for neighbours across the sea. Sadly we are unlikely to ever get these answers.
Cain looked away from the young woman who was leading the class and saw that Asher and Zahyra had wandered away from them slightly. When he caught up to them he could tell Asher was upset, although from a slight shake of Zahyra’s head it was clear she hadn’t managed to find out why.
“Is everything –”
Cain began to question what was going on but a loud gong cut him off. He spun around instantly changing into attack mode, ready for whatever was about to happen. All the children leaping up from the ground where they sat distracted him slightly, and then he let out a laugh as he realised they were all running for the meeting room, licking their lips in preparation for a meal.
“Well that scared me,” Zahyra remarked disapprovingly. “You’d think they’d have a nicer way of inviting people to eat.”
“You and me both,” Cain smiled. “Ah well, I suppose we might as well go and join them. I for one would welcome a proper meal.”
The meeting hall was utterly transformed by the time the three of them arrived. The long desk that the council members had sat behind earlier that morning was now covered in food, from fresh fruit and vegetables to a warm broth and plates of sliced meat.
Tables had appeared in the room between the wooden benches where mutants of all ages now sat. Cain couldn’t help but notice the deformities that many of them carried, from missing limbs to additional ones, funny looking facial features and strangely patterned skin. Out of the corner of his eye he even saw a woman sitting down with a tail poking out from underneath her shirt and he had to do a double take to realise what he was actually looking at.
The three of them joined the line of people waiting to get their food and moved down the queue in an orderly fashion. Cain respected how everyone operated in the settlement, no one seemed to be pushing in line or helping themselves to more of their fair share of food – something he had become very accustomed to in the mutant camp run by the commander. He wondered what was happening there now, himself and Repo no longer around to supply information from within the safe haven.
“You can sit with them if you want to, Ash.”
Cain pulled himself out of his daydream and focused his attention back on Zahyra and Asher. Asher was looking longingly at an empty seat on a table full of children from the class they’d just been watching. Cain wondered how long it had been since Asher had spent any time with children of his own age and knew it would help him start to feel normal again.
“Do you want me to take you over?” Zahyra offered to her younger brother, starting to take a step in the direction of the other children. Asher quickly stepped out in front of her.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll go. I’ll err,” he paused for a moment, looking further around the room. “I’ll meet you outside after?”
“Sure thing, have fun.”
“See you in a bit little man,” Cain smiled at Asher before looking around the room himself. Spotting an almost empty bench towards the back of the room he
motioned to Zahyra and led her towards it, sitting down with his back facing the rest of the room. The only other people sat on the bench looked uninterested by the new arrivals and Cain was grateful for this. He’d wanted some alone time with Zahyra for a while now, even if it was alone time in a room full of strangers.
“How’re you doing?”
“Not bad,” Zahyra replied sitting opposite Cain and craning her neck to check up on her younger brother. “Do you think he’ll be alright over there?”
“He’ll be fine,” Cain said reassuringly. “Asher’s a smart kid, and it’s good he’s trying to make friends. He’ll be in school with them as of tomorrow after all.”
“Yeah I know,” Zahyra sighed. “I still worry about him though. What do you think,” she paused, lowering her voice considerably, “what do you think will happen to him?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. But he’s got us and we can get through whatever happens, don’t worry. I won’t let your father cause either of you any more pain than he already has done.”
Zahyra smiled at Cain’s words, looking up and into his piercing blue eyes. His beard was starting to grow back finally and he was beginning to look more like he had done the day she first met him.
“I’m so glad you saved me,” she breathed softly.
“What?” Cain asked in a confused tone. “When do you mean?”
“The day we first met,” Zahyra continued, letting Cain know what she was thinking about. “Thank you.”
“Zahyra,” Cain reached across the table and took one of her hands, pushing his plate slightly to one side. “You’re the one who saved me. I know I don’t talk about it often, and I don’t show it a great deal but you are truly the one who saved me.
“You changed my life – you heard everything I said this morning in the council meeting. I don’t know where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for you but I can hazard a pretty good guess at it being back in my old cabin, doing the same things I’d been doing every day for years. I didn’t realise what life could be like, what life should be like, until I met you. I should be the one thanking you.”
As Cain spoke he had to do everything in his power to stop himself jumping over the table between them and kissing Zahyra. There was a burning desire deep within him that was yearning to be with her, in every sense of the way. Where he normally struggled to keep his mutation at bay he now struggled to keep his feelings to himself, it was almost as if that was the overpowering part of him all of a sudden, not the dull ache of his mutation that he was so used to.
There was a silence that spun out between them after Cain had spoken. He didn’t need a response though, he could see exactly what Zahyra was feeling from the look in her eyes and he returned the very same look. Eventually they started eating, although neither of their minds were focused on the food.
For the first time in a very long time Cain was realising that he was happy. He hadn’t felt that way since he was a young boy living with his parents and he hadn’t expected to feel it again maybe ever. But Zahyra had truly changed him. He was a better man now than he had ever been and he completely wanted to remain that way.
Three words danced around in his head as he looked at Zahyra, knowing that he was entirely hers from that moment on, although probably already had been for some time. Three words so nearly almost slipped out of his mouth on more than one occasion but he stopped himself each time. Knowing that when the moment came for him to say them, for him to be with Zahyra utterly and completely, it would have to be perfect. It would have to be a moment that truly marked the start of their new life together.
Chapter 5 – Asher
School was boring. Asher was sat in his second class of the day listening to a man with four arms talk about the importance of scavenging. His first class of the day had been on reading, which was at least something Asher could sort of enjoy.
He liked learning about how everything was in The Before Time and because all the books that were available came from then, reading them helped him to learn more about the past. Talking about the safety procedures that everyone had to abide by when out scavenging for food though bored him close to death.
Cain and Zahyra had both left him that morning after breakfast, the pair of them walking off towards where the livestock were kept to start their jobs working on maintaining the farmland. That was one of the big reasons why Asher didn’t understand the class he was in to begin with.
The warped settlement was pretty much self sufficient, so he figured the number of times they would have to leave the settlement to scavenge for food would be few and far between. The way the man – his teacher – spoke about everything only added to Asher’s boredom as well. His voice was dull and monotone, and even he sounded bored by what he was saying, like he had recited the same speech a thousand times.
Thankfully classes only went on until lunch. According to the brief introduction he’d received from a few other children yesterday when he’d joined them in the meeting room/dining room for lunch, there were only three classes he had to endure every day.
The first class was apparently always one of reading, writing or rithmetic, although Asher didn’t understand what the last one was. The second class was supposed to teach them practical skills like scavenging, construction or the basics of working on the farms. Then a history class always ended the day before lunch. History was definitely what Asher was most interested in and he let his mind wander as he sat through the hour of scavenging talk before it.
Wow this is boring.
“Tell me about it.”
“Excuse me Asher, did you say something?”
Asher looked up at the teacher with a confused expression on his face. He could’ve sworn someone just said something to him but now saw all the other children looking at him expectantly.
“Err, no. Sorry.” Asher shook his head at the teachers’ question and tried to stop his cheeks from blushing pink.
Asher?
Asher looked around again, trying to see if anyone was still watching him. He had definitely just heard someone say his name.
Can you hear me?
What is going on, Asher thought to himself. There was definitely someone speaking to him. As he sat on the floor puzzling over what he had just heard the teacher finally came to the end of his scavenging class. Asher stood up to clear his head and have a drink of water, knowing they had a few minutes before the next class started. He wanted to get back in plenty of time for the history class, keen to discover more about what his world had once been like.
“Hello, Asher.”
A man’s voice made him jump as he was leaning down over a small stream to cup handfuls of water to his mouth. Spinning around he saw Cyrus, the Gen 4 who had been on the council during the meeting they’d had the day before. Ultimately he had been the one who’d allowed them to stay – or so Asher believed – be nice, he told himself, you need to fit in here.
“Hey,” he mumbled, “err, how are you?”
“I’m very well thank you, Asher. How are you enjoying your classes so far?”
“They’re alright,” Asher replied politely. “I should probably get back. We have history now.”
“Ah yes, I hear you enjoy learning about The Before Time?”
“Yeah I guess.”
“Your mind seems to often wander to it.”
What was Cyrus going on about? Asher didn’t understand what the man was trying to say to him so just smiled and nodded his head, looking over to where his classmates were all starting to sit down again, ready for the lesson to begin.
“Well I won’t keep you,” Cyrus said finally. “Just remember to keep track of your thoughts.”
“Err, thanks.”
Asher smiled politely at Cyrus once more and jogged back over to his class. He regained his seat towards the back of the group and looked towards his teacher who was just about to begin.
Cyrus was still standing where he’d left him though and Asher could tell he was watching him. Zahyra and Cain h
ad said they’d be watched closely due to Cain being a Gen 4, but Asher hadn’t thought that meant he’d be watched too. Unless...
He pushed the thought to the back of his mind quickly. No one here could possibly know about his true generation ranking. He hadn’t exhibited any symptoms yet and as Zahyra kept telling him, he was still just a normal boy.
He desperately tried to concentrate on what his teacher was saying – something about the different types of technology they’d had in The Before Time – but Asher’s eyes kept drifting back over to Cyrus and wondering what the man was still doing there. Eventually he moved away and Asher breathed an internal sigh of relief.
Should he tell Zahyra and Cain about the fact Cyrus had been watching him? After brief thought Asher decided against the idea. Cain was already on edge trying to hide his own mutation and Zahyra hated him talking about the fact he was a Gen 6. No, he didn’t want to worry her any more. It was probably nothing anyway; Cyrus is a council member, he probably just wanted to see how Asher was settling in.
Reassuring himself slightly Asher finally managed to turn his attention back to the lesson. Tuning in just in time to hear the teacher move onto talking about transportation methods. How once the whole country had been connected by rails, which moved people at high speed from one place to another or how people could fly in giant metal boxes called planes and travel all over the world. There were of course still some vehicles that worked today, but as Asher listened to how everything had been in The Before Time he longed to have been alive back then, just to experience it for a moment.
As the class drew to a close Asher saw Cain and Zahyra heading towards the dining room. They were holding hands as they walked and the sight of it brought a smile to Asher’s face. When school finally finished he moved inside, collected his food and looked around the room to find them. They were seated on a full table, both in animated conversation with the mutants opposite them. Feeling his heart sink slightly Asher took his tray over to sit with the other children from school. Even though he had sat with them yesterday, and spent the whole morning in classes with them Asher didn’t really feel like he fit in yet. A big part of him couldn’t help wondering if he would still feel the same way if he weren’t turning into an advanced mutant. Whether his new frame of mind was a side effect of what his father had done to him.
