Paradise Lost Boxed Set

by R. E. Vance

  But these monsters are different—nothing chases them away. Instead they lurk about in plain view—big and hairy, fierce and loud—and every time you forgot they were there, they would screech or moan or growl or bang.

  No two monsters are the same. Some have big bodies with small heads. Others have big heads and small bodies. Some don’t have heads at all. Then there are the horns, claws, arms, legs, wings and tails.

  The monsters scare her—and Sarah doesn’t scare easily. So if she’s scared … the other kids must really, really, really be scared.

  ↔

  Across the courtyard there are other three-walled rooms with more children. From her own cell she can see at least twenty other rooms, each with—what?—four or five kids. Every day new children arrive; in the three days she has been in this place, she’s counted at least eleven new kids.

  Her own cell had eight kids, but now it has nine. A new kid arrived this morning.

  He’s three, maybe four, and he’s the youngest child that she’s seen here. He’s holding a doll. A dog’s head on a human body … no, that’s not quite right. Dogs have shorter snouts, smaller ears. The doll’s head is something that looks like a dog, but isn’t. Sarah knows this because she’s been to the zoo many times with her mommy and daddy, and seen many things that looked like dogs but weren’t. Hyenas, wolves … jackals.

  The new boy sits on the floor and cries. He’s terrified, Sarah can tell. The only thing he’s said since he arrived is his name.

  Something big and fierce howls and the boy cries louder, almost mimicking the monster.

  Sarah shakes her head. If he doesn’t calm down soon, he’ll be in full tantrum mode.

  “It’ll be OK, Ewwiot,” she says. His name is Elliot, but ever since Sarah lost her top two baby teeth, she’s had trouble pronouncing certain words. Elliot comes out as Ewwiot and Sarah really wishes her grown-up teeth would hurry up and come out. “You’ll be OK. I promise.”

  But Elliot—Ewwiot—will not be consoled. He’s doing that crying thing where he holds his breath for so long that Sarah actually thinks he might pass out. Then the breath comes, followed by a wail so loud that even the monsters stop their clamoring and clanking.

  Sarah looks around at the other kids. None of them move to help the newcomer. Fine, she thinks.

  Jumping down from the bunk bed, she grabs Ewwiot and pulls him under the metal slate that juts out of the wall and acts as their bed. Underneath its canopy, she holds him tight and, whispering, she tells little Ewwiot the story her mother always told her when she was scared. A story about a hero—her hero, Sarah’s hero—who is always brave, no matter how many monsters howl in the night.

  Her hero is a sailor. A warrior. A fierce being whom Sarah dreamed about a thousand times before the BadThings took her here, and a million times since she arrived. She knows her hero isn’t some made-up story. Her hero—Sinbad—is real. And Sinbad hears her anguish. Sinbad knows where she is.

  Sinbad will save her.

  She tells the story of Sinbad exactly as her mother told her so many times before. When she is done, Ewwiot is calm, drifting off into his own dreams of Sinbad, resting his little head on her shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, Ewwiot,” she soothes. “Sinbad is coming. I promise.”

  As if to debate little Sarah’s reassurance, a monster shrieks, waking up Ewwiot. In his sleep he forgot his surroundings, and when it dawns on him that he is not home, safe in his own bed, he starts to cry again.

  Sarah curses the monsters and issues a silent howl of her own.

  Yes, monsters are real.

  But so are heroes.

  And her hero is coming.

  Sinbad is coming.

  Chapter 2

  Not All Entrepreneurs Are Created Equal

  “Jean,” the voice on the other end of my mobile phone shattered. “Are you listening?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I half-lied. Truth was I was staring at the TV over the bar, half-listening to that as well.

  “There is an unidentified Other lurking about in the Compounds,” the voice shattered. I don’t know how this creature did it, but her voice sounded like she was pulverizing porcelain every time she uttered a word. “I need you to investigate. Can you handle that?”

  I nodded, forgetting that the person on the other end of the phone couldn’t hear a nod. Not that I really cared. If I had my druthers, I wouldn’t be on the phone with this creature. Not ever. I wouldn’t be coerced into going to the Compounds—a human-only suburb of Paradise Lot—no matter how frightened the locals claimed to be at one thing or the other. In fact, if I really had any druthers at all, I wouldn’t be on the phone at this bar waiting for an Other I had no interest in speaking with and a man I had no business meeting with. But here I was, druthers-less and miserable.

  “Jean … the unidentified Other? Will you take care of it?” The voice on the other end sounded more like nails scraping against a chalkboard than actual words, and I had to hold my phone a few inches from my ear. But I had spoken to this particular Other, with that shattering voice of hers, plenty of times. I understood her loud and clear.

  Still, I didn’t answer.

  “I own you, Jean,” the creature said. “Comply and stay free. Obstruct and I will happily escort you to the stockade myself.”

  I didn’t answer.

  “Do you understand?”

  I understood perfectly. But still, I said nothing.

  When the gods left, forcing their denizens—the Others—onto Earth, the world was thrown into chaos. Initially humans hunted Others, and me being a hot-headed young man at the time, I was one of the first to enlist in the fight. And I was good. Very good. Killing came naturally to me, and killing Others was my specialty. During my time in the Army I garnered a reputation for being one of the humans’ most fearsome soldiers.

  But the trouble with anger is that it is usually built on a house of cards. It can’t stand up on its own for very long. Eventually I learned that the Others no more asked to come to Earth than we invited them. They were forced on us, just as we were forced on them. Eventually I lost the heart to keep fighting. During a mission where my squad was wiped out by a fire-breathing dragon, I went AWOL, choosing absence without leave. The Army assumed I was charcoaled and I was declared KIA—killed in action. For six years I was dead to them, until the world was almost consumed by an apocalypse.

  Long story short, I got involved, General Shouf caught wind that I was still alive and here we were: she was blackmailing me into being part of her covert operations.

  Hellelujah!

  “Do you understand?” she repeated.

  I grunted in the affirmative.

  “I need a clear answer, soldier.”

  “I’m no soldier,” I said.

  “You’re my soldier until I say otherwise. Will you take care of it, soldier?”

  I hesitated, but a person’s dignity can only hold out for so long. “Yes.”

  “Yes, what?”

  “Yes, General. I will take care of it.”

  “And what will you be taking care of?”

  I took a sip of my beer, but now the taste felt flat. “Some rampaging Other is disturbing the villagers. You want me to deal with it.”

  “Unidentified Other,” General Shouf groaned. “Not rampaging, as of yet.”

  “Whatever. Why not send some of the Diamond Dogs out for a hunt? Ever since the war dried up, they must be dying for action.” The Diamond Dogs were her elite squad of hunters, a group of humans and Others alike. There were some bad dudes in there, a group I wouldn’t want to tangle with—not even if the fate of the world depended on it. And that’s a lot, coming from a guy who stared down the friggin’ Kraken.

  “No Diamond Dogs on this one. You know why. Some things must be unofficial,” her voice cracked. “Very well, then. The next time the Unidentified Other is sighted, I will contact you. I expect your immediate response.”

  The phone line clicked off.

  “I’ll be wai
ting with bated breath,” I said to the dead line.

  I needed another drink. Or four. I put the phone down and pointed at the TV. “Can you turn that up?” The cyclops, who wore a stained sleeveless undershirt he must have sown from a super king–size bed sheet, picked up the remote and upped the volume without turning around. Cyclopes—they may only have one eye, but in my experience, there is very little they don’t see.

  On the screen, a debate raged between three bigwigs. In the aftermath of the near apocalypse, there were a lot of debates as to what to do about the “Other problem.” I might not have taken notice, except the three debating were some of the loudest voices on the issue. And the one at the center of it all was the very man I was at the bar to meet: Mr. Cain. That’s right, Cain, as in the first murderer of man, brother of Abel, first son of Adam … and currently one of the biggest and richest businessmen in the world. Seems that the powers-that-be accidently cursed him with immortality—because even though he supposedly died at the ripe old age of 730, Death still would not take him, fearing that the Mark of Cain would fall upon her sevenfold. Rather than risking getting cursed herself, Death granted Cain immortality and he used his thousands upon thousands of years of experience to develop weapons that were particularly effective against Others. He founded Memnock Securities, and anyone who bought stock in them when the gods left would be very rich today.

  I checked my Mickey Mouse watch again. “Man, I really hope this isn’t a live broadcast,” I muttered.

  “Fear,” Mr. Cain said from the TV, “lets evil men control good people. And fear clouds our judgment, human and Other alike. We must take fear out of the equation if we are to have any meaningful discussions.”

  The Other sitting next to Mr. Cain rolled her eyes—all six of them—but before she could say anything, Mr. Cain raised a hand and said, “Let me finish … I’ve lived for a long, long time and I know enough about humans and Others to know that you must take fear off the table before you can have a conversation. That’s what my weapons do—they even the field for humans who do not have claws or wings or the ability to burn time. A level field means less fear on the humans’ part. Less fear on the humans’ part increases their willingness to have a conversation.”

  The six-eyed Other beside Mr. Cain finally broke in. “And what about increasing Others’ fear?” This was none other than Colel Cab, a centipede-like creature the size a Highland coo. Of all the Others to be banished to Earth when the gods left, Colel Cab was amongst the strangest. Colel Cab was technically a god—to insects. Apparently there is even a bit of divinity in bees, ants and silverfish.

  Still, despite Colel Cab being the insects’ god, she was not invited to leave with the rest of the gods during the GrandExodus. I guess the other gods saw the god of insects as still being an insect. And why would you want to take a mosquito or cockroach with you to your new home?

  You’d think Colel Cab would have a grudge on her shoulder, but amongst all the Others on Earth, she was one of the greatest advocates to equality and smooth integration. She was a fierce advocate of something she called Living Rights—the lofty idea that any sentient being deserved to be treated with respect and given the opportunity to thrive. It was her version of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness—and my fellow humans hated her for throwing our own ideologies in our face. Go us!

  “We Others did not ask for this to happen,” Colel Cab continued. “We did not wish for the gods to leave. Nor did we request that they abandon us on Earth as helpless refugees.”

  “Helpless? Give me a break,” chimed in Mr. Yew, the current frontrunner for the next presidential election. “What do Others like you have to be afraid of? Let me remind you that one of your Other ‘friends’ almost destroyed life as we know it. Something has to be done to bring these wayward creatures under control.”

  For dramatic effect, the TV switched to an image of Tiamat, that behemoth Kraken, that apocalyptic monster from the Assyrian pantheon that almost destroyed the world three weeks ago. Tiamat was the kind of menacingly huge that made Godzilla look like a pacified Chihuahua—and there she was on the TV, lumbering toward Paradise Lot’s beach front in full HD. She almost destroyed the world. Almost. But because of the efforts and sacrifices of many brave Others, she failed. Not that Mr. Yew would mention that, of course. Such facts do not garner applause or play well on the local news.

  Colel Cab snapped a look at Mr. Yew that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. All six of her eyes blinked in frustration before she took a deep breath and crossed her four sets of arms. With a heavy sigh she said, “The majority of Others are moderates, no more interested in destroying the world than you or I. This is, after all, as much our home as yours.”

  The crowd behind the cameras booed and Mr. Yew raised a hand to quiet them down. “Perhaps, but the majority of these so-called ‘moderates’ aren’t doing diddly-squat to help with those who are hell-bent on destroying humanity. And as for this being your home … oh, please. This is our home—and you are our guests.”

  The audience applauded loudly at this last. Mr. Yew leaned back with a smug smile, not bothering to quiet the crowd this time as he let them cheer. When they finally calmed down, he lifted a finger and said, “Let me point out one more thing: a human can’t use magic.”

  “Magic comes at a great cost to us, Mr. Yew,” Colel Cab objected. “You know that. Every time an Other uses magic they must burn through their allotted time. In other words, magic shortens our lives. The more we use it, the less natural breath we have to breathe. It is not something we do lightly.”

  “Still, there’s enough wacko Others out there willing to burn through all their time to cause a little chaos. Even if that’s less than one percent of your population, we still must take action and defend ourselves.” Mr. Yew adjusted his tie. “Look, folks, we must figure this out. We simply must, and I’ll tell you this—our current government doesn’t know what it’s doing, and neither do the so-called ‘moderate’ Others. And, as I said before, we humans can not burn time to use magic; we don’t have claws or wings or extra eyes. All we have is our ingenuity, intelligence and, if I am perfectly honest, Mr. Cain’s weapons—”

  “Deterrents, not weapons.”

  “You say that, Mr. Cain,” Colel Cab broke it, “but when you are building prisons designed to hold Others and not humans, you’re implicitly saying we”—the giant centipede touched her chest in a gesture that showed she represented all Others—“are more dangerous than humans.”

  “I don’t have to imply it. I’ll outright say it,” Mr. Yew said. “Others are more dangerous than humans, period. That’s why we need the jail built as soon as possible.”

  I took another swig of beer. The jail—it seemed like the only thing people talked about these days. It was to be built on Hawar Island, a two-hundred-acre speck in the ocean just off of Paradise Lot, with lead and iron walls specially designed to counter the strengths and powers of Others.

  Still, in my opinion, an Other-only jail came with a whole slew of other problems, from unjust incarceration all the way down to forced detentions. And that I was completely against.

  Back on the screen, Mr. Cain raised a hand. “Please, Mr. Yew, the question was directed at me. I’d like a chance to answer without interruption.”

  Mr. Yew looked hard at Mr. Cain, and it seemed to me he was considering firing back. But instead he gritted his teeth and gestured for Mr. Cain to continue—a very presidential move done by a very unpresidential man.

  “Colel Cab is correct. My company, Memnock Securities, has been commissioned to build an Other-only jail. We’re doing so because Others, unlike humans, can burn time and escape most facilities. We need a way to keep offenders in. The Hawar Jail isn’t operational yet, but when it is, it will act as a further deterrent—”

  Mr. Yew rolled his eyes. “Deterrents, weapons … security apparatus. Call it what you want. My point remains the same. They hobble wayward Others and that, if you don’t mind me saying, is a goo
d thing.” There was applause from the unseen audience behind the cameras. Mr. Yew turned his attention to the screen, ignoring the Others beside him now. “And one more thing—let me remind you once again that less than a month ago, a monster almost destroyed an entire city on its way to our homes. We must defend ourselves—and it starts with neutering their abilities. We must—”

  “Neuter?” Colel Cab spat out. “How dare you use a word fit for dogs and—”

  “Big words for a creature with pincers for a mouth!”

  “How dare you? How—”

  “Please, please!” Mr. Cain cut in. “We must keep this civil if we are to get anywhere—”

  At that exact moment, the TV went mute.

  “Hey, I was watching that,” I said to the cyclops behind the bar, who just pointed behind me.

  “It’s such drivel,” a voice said behind me. I swiveled to see Mr. Cain staring up at the TV, remote in hand. “And I swear, sometimes I think all I do is debate myself. Security apparatus, weapons … Others and humans getting along. How do we do it? How can we bring peace between our races?”

  Despite having lived since the dawn of humanity, Mr. Cain still had a youthful zeal to him. He wore a blue suit with a red striped tie and stylish glasses with a thick black frame to them. If I didn’t know how old he actually was, I would have placed him in his late thirties, maybe early forties. Behind him stood an Other named BisMark who, in stark contrast to Mr. Cain’s attire, wore his trademark suit made up entirely from peacock feathers.

  Not that I had any right to judge. I was wearing black jeans, a white T-shirt and a black collarless jacket that somehow made me look like a priest, hipster-monk and valet all rolled into one.

  “Our races?” I repeated.

  “Yes, ours.” Mr. Cain pointed at me, then himself. “And theirs.” He gestured around the room. “We share the playground now, and as much as humans would like to bully Others around, there are too many Others with way too much power for that to be a realistic option.”