Genesis Virus

by Pinto, Daniel

  A hole in the ground where the elevator used to be makes David hard stop, he leans back flushed against the wall then shoots through the ghost elevator doors, flies through the air, hoping for anything. He wraps his body around the twisted cable wire like a kid in gym class and lifts off into a new hell.

  6

  Night is a greyish vapor. Neighboring owls and roaming wolves are ululating. Everyone’s reclining in their seats like after a Thanksgiving feast with a pile of dirty dishes between them.

  Job rolls some marijuana cigarettes and Youngblood sharpens his blades on a whetstone. Job tells him. “Don’t judge me, I’m stressed out and it helps with my eyes.”

  The Prophet leans the back of his head against the tree and takes in the stars. “If mankind survives these monsters, does it deserve to live after all the heinous things we have done to survive, humanity has lost its soul so what’s the point of rebuilding. Necessary evils and the lesser of two evils are taking over our lives. Violence only breeds more violence. Mankind is on its third strike, the first was the flood and the second was this Genesis Virus. The antichrist in the Bible is any nonbeliever, not one charming person destined to rule the world. Matthew 13:42: And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Someone has to emerge to lead the world again.”

  Ava wipes her hand down in front of her outfit, smoothing it, with high eyebrows. “Who you?”

  The Prophet exchanges a quick sidelong glance with her. “God no, but I will do my part to save everyone I come into contact with.” Everyone becomes quieter as if a stranger has entered a room of friends. The Prophet’s voice trails off as he walks around the tree. “Gandhi says be the change you want to see in the world.” Ava takes a sip of water, her head falls back slowly like she’s just drank a cold beer on a hot summer day. “Lighten up buddy.”

  Lou says. “Gandhi was a racist prick against Africans, another thing history wants to sweep under the rug.”

  The Prophet stands up straight and walks with hands interlock behind him. “You can’t discount a whole man’s life over a few flaws or bad actions.”

  Lou says. “According to who? One flaw can be more than enough.”

  Ava says in an over-the-top southern twang. “This here country is a chicken with its head cut off, and it hasn’t stop running. If I ever gander a door out here, I’ll slam the shit out of it because I’m tired of kicking rocks in frustration.” She laughs to herself like David after each of his jokes.

  Realization dawns on the Prophet’s face. “Jokes won’t excuse our bad behavior, we will pass that along to our kids like an addiction.”

  Lou’s about to say something, but Ava raises her hand at him and looks the Prophet squarely in the face. “People have been doing what they want to survive throughout time, only now they have a better excuse, these monsters to absolve them. There was never any sins of the father bogging a person down.”

  The Prophet steeples his hands under his nose. “This Genesis Virus has fast-forward my reincarnation as the Prophet. I was a nonbeliever in God like most people, who claimed belief only to fit in. But over time I started to open my eyes and chip away at my self-doubt, hate, and frustration. Until like a sculptor, I was done and ready to be a new person with a new frame of mind. Don’t worry I’m not looking for followers, just a conversation tonight like Job said earlier.”

  Job says. “Leave me out of it.”

  Ava absently nods her head. “Thanks for the not looking for followers part. Would you eat someone’s shit for immortality? No? What about believing in someone’s shit for immortality. People are so gross out about the idea of eating shit, but on the other hand they have no problem accepting shitty ideas and that mentality was the birth of exploitation on the amendable public and that’s the reason for civilization’s downfall. Not one bad apple that has doomed all of us.”

  The Prophet says. “I see where you’re going.”

  Time goes by.

  The Prophet waits for Lou and Youngblood to finish talking to say. “Another thing.” Ava groans, “argh,” then places her chin on a fist, squinting at him. The second round of food is stewing in the cast iron pot.

  He says. “The Bible has truth, but is not the absolute truth and I don’t worship the Bible, but I believe in the word of Christ. The Bible is a library books and to cast it aside because you disagree with sentences in a certain book is a drastic measure. It’s a book written for a particular audience in an particular time, but it stills has universal themes relevant until the end of time. The Bible is a practical book not a book to answer speculation questions like how old the Earth is or what happened to the dinosaurs. These answers will not change our lives, they are only numbers, loving and helping your fellow man is the theme to focus on.”

  “Name an act that a believer can do that a nonbeliever can’t do...You can’t because it doesn’t matter.” Ava crosses her legs and bounces the one on top. “This is hell, and this is the last Jehovah Witness to torture me.” Job’s wife laughs with her mouth closed to keep the delicious food from going to waste.

  Job wants to say something to the group and he makes a low sound. All eyes are suddenly on him now, he becomes gun shy like when a teacher calls on a kid and expects him/her to be interesting. His wife acts as if she does not notice by looking behind her and imagining she just heard something. “What was that?”

  The Prophet mimes what he says. “The way to heaven is like stretching a bow string. One stretches a bow to test it and make any needed adjustments. However, until a person is ready and willing to accept the truth only then can they use the bow like Odysseus and no imposter trying to take something that does not belong to them can ever use it. God works through us not for us.”

  Ava hugs herself with all her might with eyes shut and a smile. “Heaven is such a great place that you’re not allowed to grieve for those in hell, you are force to forget the people you loved and lost.”

  Job coughs louder than necessary. “I think people in heaven don’t want to grieve, more like gloat as they think about the losers in hell.”

  Ava points at Job with both hands in a firing imaginary weapons fashion, then shoots a cursory glance at the Prophet. “You just proved my point even better.”

  The Prophet says. “He’s just kidding.”

  Job nods in a hurry and says. “Yeah just playing, I’m allowed to make as many mistakes as I want, but towards the end of my life, if I truly believe and I repent I’ll be allowed into heaven even if I’m a baby murderer.”

  Ava taps the log besides her. “It sounds like you’re sitting on this side.”

  Job stands halfway off his seat and stretches out his arms and sways back and forth like he’s being ripped in two ways, then he’s pulled down by his wife.

  Job’s wife says in a thick southern drawl. “What if all these creatures are manifestations of our imagination. And we’re the sick ones killing the innocent. The end is not real, it’s only in our heads.” Ava thinks about standing up and clapping for the most creative story of the night.

  Job makes a stiff hand in the air between the two of them, and says to his wife. “Shush. Be quiet honey, grown folks are talking here.” She crosses her arms; Lou and Youngblood look at each other and grin like they’ve just seen something dirty.

  The Prophet and Ava continue to debate, meanwhile, the wife gets up to get some more food and Youngblood does the same, he says to her. “You mean, we see monsters, and they see us as monsters. And all of us are in hell and we’ll never know that all of us are tricked and are the true monsters.”

  She says. “I don’t know, who cares?” Takes a bite then says. “I’m going for a walk. It’s the end of the world and people still want to win and be right. Nothing has changed.”

  Youngblood says over her shoulder. “Personally, I think people who try to convince others about religion may be trying to prove it to themselves. It’s like trying to get a person to go into a scary house first, so we can all go down togeth
er.”

  She throws the bone on the ground then perambulates away from him. She says to Job when their eyes meet. “I’ll be fine, I won’t go far, nature calls.” She creates a torch then heads in the direction on Ava’s left with no weapon.

  The Prophet’s listening to Youngblood and he tilts his head an inch towards him. “Or rise together stronger. Fear has always run mankind’s life, but now we don’t have the luxury of wasting it on creating conspiracy theories or spreading hate, now everyone is fearful of the same thing. On this Genesis Virus. But I prefer the term Exodus Virus because many souls left this planet under a short time period. We have an famine of souls, and look how much sadness is now here.”

  Ava’s eyes scroll down his body. “Souls or no souls. The invisible handcuffs of society are now gone as well.” She pulls her hands apart. “No more religions. Now we can take that off the list of reasons why we kill each other and focus on the rest, which no surprise were also related to the number one reason on the list, religion. I can’t just shake my head like an etch-a-sketch and forget all the nonsense every religion preaches as truth. Which by the way changes with every new Pope or equivalent.”

  The Prophet leans forward, head tilting downwards, rubbing his eyebrow with two fingers. “Wow. I take it you feel religion poisons everything like Christopher Hitchens. God has given us life and now it’s up to us to determine the quality. Some people use religion to enslave and others use it as a way to lead people to a fulfilling life, religion is not responsible for a misguided believer’s actions It is an idea, not the doer.”

  Ava stands up and stretches her torso back and forth as if warming up for a sport. “I’m listening.” She interlocks her fingers behind her head and continues stretching. “Sorry, it’s been a long day and a even longer night. God does not exist and no one can prove a negative and you can’t prove his existence, it’s a standoff of wills.”

  The Prophet has his hands midway in the air and with each word they bounce like a politician’s hands during their speeches to sell themselves over and over. “People love to point at all the bad in their lives and take no responsibility for it. But they also love to pat themselves on their backs for all the good in their life. God is the bad guy that people love to hate everyday for every big and small problem in their life. To feel there is evil in this world and to be justified, you have to sit on God’s lap to slap him in the face… Just like how a black hole disregards the laws of physics, we first have to know the rules to prove it’s real and really does exist outside of our understanding. A person only has a rational mind because God created the universe and the tools of the human mind for you to try to understand it, up to a point. You can only dismantle God’s existence through the denial of yourself. A paradox like going back in time to kill yourself. God is the unknown like the black hole and the creator of the rules simultaneously. Black holes exist in every galaxy and it took us centuries to learn this fact, how long do you think it will take for us to discover their creator with science.”

  Looking at each person, the Prophet is speaking slowly, loudly, and clearly. “Without him there is no objective morality, nothing is good or evil according to the universe. We are just matter in motion who feel entitled and are selfish. The human experience is temporary and our spiritual self is immortal. Whatever we do in this life doesn’t matter unless you have a objective gatekeeper like God.”

  “You’re assigning traits to God to fit your personal preference. Ava says. “Sounds like a cop out. Gods are the easiest things to kill. Just stop talking about them. Civilizations took the Greek and Viking Gods seriously in their lifetime and now we know better and laugh at them, but we never laugh at our own Gods. I wonder why?” A rhetorical question no one answers.

  The Prophet says. “Ok, but people who don’t believe in anything greater than themselves still feel the need to keep talking about God or Gods. Atheists love to preach their Gospel of Disbelief. So why would I want to change my belief system to yours.”

  Ava says as she counts on her hand. “First, it’s about the journey to discovering hard truths by giving up feel-good fantasies like heaven and immortality, accepting responsibilities for all my actions, good and the bad. And second. atheism is a belief system like abstinence is a sexual position. Atheists are hated more than terrorists and the Jews, If you prick us, do we not bleed?”

  Lou stage whispers to Youngblood. “These two should just fuck already and let us get some sleep.” Ava raises her chin and stares into Lou’s back. “What’s that?” She then unlaces her boots, and struggles with removing them, all the veins in her face double in size, the Prophet approaches her to help, she says as she gets the last one off. “Fuck. Got it.”

  Job says. “I’m tired, let’s get some sleep.” The phrase comes out in a high pitch nasally voice synonymous with lying.

  Ava stands in the circle of sharers as if it’s a AA meeting. “I’m a born again atheist, all of us are born atheists, but somewhere we loss our way. Ava smiles at Job then looks at the Prophet, she knows he’s dying to talk. “I miss seeing my grandparents, not God. Family is the meaning of life why can’t that be enough for people. No…they want to live forever too…As a teenager, my mother went into a coma, and years later when I thought about this time period of my life I realized I didn’t even think of God. I didn’t blame him or ask for his help like you see in those cheesy movies and shows where every person is mad at God. For some infantile reason, people can’t have any emotion that’s not related to God. I realized like most people I said I believed in God as a kid out of obligation, to not be an outcast, and a way to cover my ass. This unrelenting desire to belong to a group is the most evident when it comes to religion, the largest social group ever. So now, I’m honest to myself and accepted the easy truth, I don’t believe, I never wanted to. I don’t even like the word atheist, I don’t believe in leprechauns and don’t I claim to be an a-leprechaunist, but I’ll be the a-theist for brevity sake tonight.”

  The Prophet says to Ava. “How did you become an atheist?” Not understanding her disdain for labels.

  She says. “I got jumped in, behind a church.” Lou laughs up his liquor. She smiles and looks at Lou. They’re bonding more over putting someone down than all the conversations they had up to this point. She says. “That’s what we are right? Atheists are immoral, the bad guys, the cynics. Reality is, we’re just on the road to objective truth without wishful thinking or giving up on unknowns by saying that has to be God’s doing because it just makes sense.”

  The Prophet bounces on his heels in anticipation. “Believers are in the same boat of being labeled with negative stereotypes…God’s behavior does not have to be understandable to you or anyone else, he answers only to himself, he does no owe you his obedience, it’s the other way around. You may just be upset at the idea of bowing down before something greater than yourself.”

  Ava says. “Disbelief in God does not have to have a sad story behind it or an ulterior motive. To be fair, if I followed your logic, God does not have a cause just like my disbelief, it simply is what it is.” Ava looks down at her wrist, looking for the time, but she has no watch. “Sugar-coating God’s behavior is like a child defending a parent they’ve never seen before, but know he’s the best dad ever and think he loves me and has to have a good reason for not visiting.”

  Job’s pestering Lou and Youngblood as they tie the hammocks around the tree trunks. “Hey do you have one for me...Where’d you get those…I hope my wife doesn’t come back, ha, ha.” Ava lifts and hugs her knees to her chest, sweeps the leaves off her socks and yawns.

  The Prophet sits directly across from Ava’s as if they’re being recorded on TV. “How can you control influence and inspiration? You can’t. Even if you’re a nonbeliever, what’s to say your morality was not given to you at birth from God or through believers in your life by observational learning, which is how every person learns throughout their entire life.”

  Job says. “Monkey see. Monkey do.”
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br />   The Prophet says. “DNA gives us the capacity to be things, empathy and sympathy may be genetic, but there’s not such thing as a morality gene.”

  Ava waves her finger before he finishes. “A selfish gene is real, according to Richard Dawkins, he probably would have found the morality gene, but would you have believed him, if he did?”

  The Prophet says. “Answering a hypothetical question is not relevant to this discussion. It’s like asking can there be unicorns flying around the universe, and if so, does that prove that the universe is chaotic and has no creator. Irrelevant questions only lead us deeper into the rabbit hole to Wonderland.” He joins her on her log.

  Ava turns and straddles the log, leaning closer into his personal space. “You know, if I wanted to hear about what’s right and wrong all day, I would go to church. If I wanted to hear how I could never be good enough, I would go to church. There are more denominations of Christianity than there are sentences in the Bible. With each creating their own morality. There is no objective morality, it’s all relative, everyone is responsible for their own actions, not through a God or a Devil.”

  Responding with a placid demeanor, the Prophet leans in closer as well, mimicking her relax tone. “Finding salvation in a church or at home, is a continuous journey not a destination. You can’t kill an idea, but you can kill everyone who believes in them like this virus. That’s why it’s so important for me to meet and talk with everyone because society can’t lose God and start over to find him again.”

  Both are silent, a chasm between them, staring into each other’s enlarged pupils over the candle-lit dinner. Youngblood takes a mental note: this must be her version of flirting, she’s a sapiosexual.

  7