by Caleb Karger
I relocated the small community to an unpopulated island and kept them hidden from the Anunnaki with the help of my closest friends. I spent years with the colony, helping them to survive. The more I saw, the more saddened I was by their fragile existence.
It was too easy for them to become ill or injured and even if they were relatively healthy they still died, every single one of them. I felt responsible for all of their misery. If only my people had listened, we could’ve spared them.
Somehow the Anunnaki discovered my treason. Instead of hunting humans, I was helping them to flourish. They tried to hold me captive as they gathered a war party, but I eluded them. By then I was the greatest warrior among the Anunnaki. I had mastered all of my senses.
I ran to my friends’ homes. Together, we raced to save the colony. As we fled, I knew the only way to succeed was by doing something drastic. So, I did the unthinkable and unleashed my power against my people. The moment we left our city, the clouds gathered, and it began to rain like never before.
The sky was blotted out, and the thunder shook the foundations of the Earth. It took us seven days to reach the ocean. By the time we got to the shore, the ocean was spilling onto the continent and swallowing it whole. But the waves had not overtaken our boat. We got in and paddled for the island as the waters swept away the army behind us.
The island housing the colony stayed above the rising seas. It was as if it had become like a ship floating on the surface. When we reached the beaches, the humans had been frightened by the weather.
We didn’t tell them that the Anunnaki would be sending another army any day now. The five of us guarded the beach, pretending to meditate while we waited. After a month, we started to sail out to see if maybe our brethren had changed their minds—only to find there were no landmasses. Everything was underneath the water.
The island was all that remained of the world. Everything we knew and held dear was gone. Eventually, the floodwaters receded, and the continents reappeared. We were free to take the world for ourselves and start anew, but my friends and I were devastated.
We were confident the colony could survive without us. So, we parted ways and went into exile to mourn.
While we were away, the human colony spread out to occupy the far reaches of the Earth. But then the world plunged into an ice age. In the harsh environment, the humans struggled to survive. They forgot everything we’d taught them.
When we finally emerged from exile, humanity was in shambles living in caves and talking in crude languages. The five of us split-up and once more shared our knowledge with the humans. We taught them mathematics, architecture, how to farm, and gave them laws. Civilization began to flourish, but the peace didn’t last. We learned that human nature is like the waves; it is constantly changing. They turned on us, calling us evil dictators.
In the end, we gave them what they wanted. We let them choose their own leaders and their own laws. Chaos ensued, but they still wouldn’t listen to us. We were driven out of their lands.
I knew if we wanted to continue to help humanity it would have to be in secret. We withdrew again and began to deliberate on a new strategy.
The humans remembered us for a while; they told our story to their children and their grandchildren. Each time the names and events changed until what transpired passed into the foggy realm of myth.
It was at that point; we felt it was safe to venture back into society. As I traveled, I studied the humans closely and sought to understand the differences between my race and theirs. It was during this time, I discovered a variation in humanity, a new race blending in seamlessly with the rest. Their genetic make-up was ninety-eight percent identical to the Anunnaki. My theory was these offspring had to be the result of Annunaki and human couplings as opposed to the original Anunnaki and ape people pairings.
This new bond allowed the offspring to evolve into a potent state. I was concerned at first. Human nature combined with unlimited power sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. Then I saw how difficult it was for them to grow stronger; it would be near impossible for them to discover their unique adaptability on their own.
I saw an opportunity. If I could train them from a young age, I could teach them to overcome their nature and they could help me ensure global harmony. Together we could keep humanity in check.
I brought countless children back to the home my friends and I had built while in exile. Eventually, that became our first base. The nearby island nation that would later be named Japan was where we got much of our supplies and was usually the first stop on our way out into the world.
The humans there nicknamed us shinobi no mono, but the Chinese-derived pronunciation “ninja” somehow became more popular, and so we’ve been the ninja ever since.
I didn’t know if I could believe this Enki guy. His story sounded a little out there, but I guess all origin stories did. I was going to read some more, but Katherine started knocking on the door.
“The wave keeps coming. By the time it gets to me it’s this monster, right? I couldn’t even try to ride it; I just fell over,” Hot Stuff said. She was running at the front of the group, but I strained my ears to be able to hear her conversation with Katherine.
Katherine snickered. “That’s ambitious. I remember my first time trying to surf. I spent an hour clinging to the board. I was so scared there was going to be a shark. I panicked and hauled it back to shore.”
“Maybe you were having a premonition about your leg.”
“Right?!”
Some part of me was hoping Katherine would go into the story about the shark, but they went on to talk about surfboards. After that, they lost me. I let my ears relax until I could no longer hear them.
“I know she told me to practice, but is it wrong to spy?” I asked Lily, who was running beside me. Lily couldn’t help but laugh.
“I don’t know if you’re asking the right person. My whole ability is about spying on other people whether I want to or not,” she said.
“Which is why I thought you might understand,” I said.
“I figure if you choose to spy, then you must also decide to keep that person’s secrets. It doesn’t make spying a good thing, but it helps.”
“I guess…” I nodded. “I still feel like I’m turning into a stalker.”
“Yeah, it’s easy to abuse your powers, especially when it comes to someone you care about.”
My head turned sharply. Lily had a knowing look in her eyes. She glanced towards the front of the pack. I swallowed hard and felt my ears heating up. I knew Lily could hear thoughts; I never realized that included mine.
“Don’t worry. I knew without reading your mind,” she said.
My heart shuddered with panic. “What do you mean? Is it that obvious?”
“It’s not surprising. Everyone’s had a thing for her at some point,” she said.
My lips pressed together as I seethed with jealousy. I didn’t like the idea of competition. My eyes zoned in on the back of Wolf’s head. I noticed he would try to act extra macho whenever Katherine was looking.
“Did she show any interest?”
“Of course not!”
“Good.” I sighed with relief. “Do…do you think she knows?”
“I’m sure she knows,” she said. “And no, I’m not going to tell you what she thinks. You’ll just have to find out the old-fashioned way.”
I frowned. “I’m not sure I want to know.” I knew Katherine cared about me, but no more than anyone else.
“It’s our favorite time of the day! Sprint it out, people!” Hot Stuff said.
The speed I had been holding was nothing. For the past twenty minutes, my body was begging to unleash all it could. At last, I filled my lungs and pushed off of the ground. I dashed across the trail like a cheetah. The wind rushed through my hair. At that moment, I was as light as a cloud.
I zipped up through the group. I passed Castile and Kavi until I reached Wolf. When he saw he was in danger of falling behind, he g
rowled and fought to go faster. We ran neck and neck. I started inching ahead, euphoria pulsing through me. I was going to beat him! He snatched my shirt and tried to pull me behind him. I shoved him off of me.
“That’s it, trainees!” Hot Stuff said. Katherine blew a whistle.
I struggled to slow down. My legs were wobbly like the bones had suddenly disappeared. I skidded to a stop and glanced back to see the trail had a cloud of dust hanging over it. I didn’t outrun Wolf, but only because he had cheated.
“Well done, Wolf. You hit twenty-five miles,” Katherine said as she looked at her radar gun. I waited to hear my number. “Pick it up next time, Kaine.”
“But I was going just as fast as he was!” I said, but she was already talking to the others. I looked at Wolf. From the way his eyes were squinting, I knew he was smirking underneath his mask.
“Maybe you’ll get me next time, bro,” Wolf said and brushed off his shoulders. Castile and Spaz patted his back in awe. “Did you see how fast I was?” He boasted as they sprinkled him with compliments.
I was blindfolded again, but my focus wasn’t on the objects I was supposed to be smelling. Whatever Katherine was holding now smelled awful, like dingy, unwashed clothes. Then she did something to it, and the stench was less intense.
“You’ve dipped it in water,” I said.
“Correct,” she said. She walked away for a minute and then returned. She held up the sample once more. I coughed and waved away the stench.
“Ugh, cigarette smoke.”
“Can you still pick up the original scent?” she asked. I nodded. The smell was fainter, but still there. A breeze blasted me, and I knew she’d moved away. I focused my ears on picking up her voice. “What about from here?”
“Yeah, and I want to say you’re a hundred feet out,” I said. She adjusted. “A mile.”
“Good job,” she said, instantly next to me again. I wondered how long she trained to be able to move as fast as she could. “But still—”
“I could use more practice.”
“You’re getting better at that,” she said. It’s all you’ve told me for that past week and a half, I thought. She tucked the jars away into their bin and snapped the lid closed.
“If I remember correctly, you promised to tell me how you became a commander,” I said. Maybe if I said it extra sweet, she’d give in?
“HA! I never said that,” she replied. “Besides, it has nothing to do with training; it’s not necessary.”
“No, but I’d like to know.”
“Why are you so interested in wanting to know my past?” I could feel her eyes scanning over my features, searching for an answer. I untied my blindfold.
“Why are you so bent on being mysterious? I mean, is it so awful that you don’t want to share it?” I said. My words had hit the target straight on. Katherine’s eyes dashed away from me. She looked like I’d stabbed her heart with an arrow. I frowned. “I’m sorry. I should’ve been more…I dunno…”
“I don’t like dragging up the past. It’s over. It’s done. There’s no reason to keep looking back,” she said. Each word was forced from her lips. I dared to scoot closer to her.
“I didn’t ask because I wanted to drag it up. I asked because, whether it’s good or bad, it’s a part of you. I only want to know who you are,” I said.
I could see her struggling. She was torn between her want to be my friend and her duty to be my unattached teacher. I could see a mini war in her eyes. I wondered which side of her was the strongest.
“I…I’ve just remembered something I need to do.” She rushed into the house.
I felt my stomach drop. My hands tore at my hair in frustration. One moment she was fun and carefree, the next she was closed off and had an unbearable weight on her shoulders. What made it worse was that I knew I was right. She wanted to open up, but something was stopping her.
Chapter 10
Endurance
T he next phase is all about strength and endurance. At the end, there will be an exam. You must be able to lift a minimum of two thousand pounds, run a mile in under twenty seconds, and survive falling from fifty stories,” Katherine said on the first morning of our third week.
Spaz looked like his face had been smacked with a wooden plank. “How’re we supposed to do all that?!”
“Yeah, we can’t survive a fall from that height,” Lily said. She crinkled the bottom of her shirt in her hands repeatedly.
“It’s completely possible,” Kavi said. “My grandfather fell from twenty-five stories. But, it was into water.”
Katherine shook her fist the way motivational speakers did. “See? With the right conditioning, you’ll easily be able to withstand more.”
“Okay, but why do we need to be able to do that in the first place?” Spaz asked.
“Some of our enemies can generate an enormous amount of force. I don’t want anyone dying from a hard punch,” Katherine said. “Also, if you build up your strength and neglect your endurance, your body will break when you try to use your abilities.”
Hot Stuff started to rise but froze as Spaz’s hand shot into the air. “What happens if we fail the exam?” he asked.
Katherine rubbed her hands together. She seemed like she’d rather not answer that. “If you can’t pass, I’m afraid you won’t be fit for combat. You won’t be on the team. However, I will do my best to find a suitable place for you in a different division.”
“But we’d have to start all over,” Wolf said. “We wouldn’t know anyone or anything.”
She nodded. “In a way, yes. You’d be training to do their jobs instead of operations.”
“You can’t even get into some of those divisions!” Spaz said. He turned to the rest of us. “It’s true! The Science Division makes you take some kind of genius test, and if you don’t answer everything right you can’t get in!”
“Then I guess you all have a lot of incentive to pass my exam,” Katherine said.
“Let’s get to work!” Hot Stuff said before Spaz could think of another question.
Together, we made our way down to the gym. Hot Stuff had set up different stations around the room. At each one, we were supposed to perform three exercises then rotate. I tried to pick the one that looked the least daunting; the only equipment at station three was a rack of dumbbells. Katherine blew her whistle, and the gym filled up with noise.
“So, going for the easy station first?” Katherine said as she came up behind me. I stopped moving; I knew I was in trouble. “Good thing I caught you before you slacked off.” She gave me a mocking smile. She put two colossal dumbbells at my feet. With her hands on her hips, she waited for me to begin.
She managed to move them easily enough so they couldn’t have been that heavy, but when I tried to lift them, I thought I was trying to lift Mount Everest. The weights didn’t even budge. The harder I tried to get them off of the ground, the more I worried I’d bust the vein in my forehead. I panted and put my hands on my knees.
“Come on; I don’t have all day,” she said. I groaned and tried again. The blisters forming on my hands were getting pinched.
“Grah! I can’t! It’s too heavy,” I said. “I need something lighter.”
“Not an option,” she said. “What if this was a steel beam that fell on you? Are you just going to lay there and die because you can’t lift it off of you?”
My forehead knotted up. “That’s not fair!”
“Pick. It. Up.”
I wasn’t happy with her and, honestly, I wanted to chuck the dumbbells at her. I tried once more; maybe it was my irritation that helped because the weights moved this time. I yelled as I brought them off of the floor.
I had to use my entire body to hoist the weights over my head. It felt like gravity was crushing me. My arms vibrated and I realized I didn’t have the strength to lower the weights. I jumped back as I dropped them.
“Ha! I did it!”
“Good, now do it again.”
For the entire hour, sh
e followed me and barked orders at me. She was loud enough to draw the others’ attention. I wondered why she wasn’t harassing any of them. I would’ve loved for her to ignore me right then. Maybe this was her way of getting back at me for asking questions she didn’t want to answer.
“Keep going, Kaine. If I can’t convince you to leave, then I’m going to make sure you survive,” she said as she piled more weight onto me.
By the time Katherine announced we were moving on, I was so weak I couldn’t lift my canteen. My arms felt like limp noodles. I’d gotten so sweaty my uniform was sagging from trying to absorb it all.
We spent the rest of the afternoon outside. The sun baked us as we were forced to hold heavy logs over our heads, sit in a bucket of ice, and hit a punching bag wrapped in sand paper for as long as we could. Everyone’s hands were bloody by the end of the day.
I couldn’t bend my fingers to hold a fork, so I had to eat my dinner out of the bowl like a dog. I was in too much pain to fall asleep. I managed to drag myself outside towards the pool.
The pool had a beach-like entry, and the water was so dark at the deep end I’m sure a submarine could fit down there. I followed a winding path lined with trees wrapped in white lights to what I was searching for, the hot tub.
I didn’t bother unmasking, I just sunk into the bubbling water. A deep sigh escaped me as gravity’s pressing weight was taken from me. I leaned my head back against the ledge. It was only me and the stars—
“Hey, there you are,” Katherine said. I’d been trained to dread her voice all day. I winced as I saw her coming.
I waved at the air. “No, leave me be you cruel woman,” I said.
She laughed as she sat down and put her feet in the water. “I’m cruel because I want you to live?”
“You didn’t give me a single break! And you’re always singling me out. You never treat the others like this,” I said.