by L M Feldt
“She ok.” He sputters, then coughs.
Speech is getting harder for him. I pause and watch the ripples stop. Suddenly a violent thrashing froths the water white and I nearly dive in after her yet again but Fish’s delicate hand reassures me. I stand anxiously at the shore’s edge, sure some grotesque monster is holding her under, chewing on a leg. I don’t like that I can’t see her but a moment later Naoaki’s wet head pops up. She swims smoothly up to shore and drops a squirming silvery eel at my feet, deftly cuts the head off and dives back into the water. We have a pile of gutted eels in a matter of minutes. A pile of sopping dark green weeds is next. Hand signals fly back and forth. Naoaki points to a reed growing in clumps at the pond’s edge. More hand signals.
Naoaki wades over to the reeds and carefully pulls the first plant up, roots and all. The roots glow darkly, a purple bruise that reminds me of something rotten. She gathers three of these, rinses off the mud and then bundles everything up, keeping the reeds and their ugly roots separate from the rest of our catch. She fills our water bottles and we head back with our loot.
We arrive to find that Aito set up camp all on his own. The pop-up tent is small but will easily accommodate the five of us. A small brazier hangs from the ceiling below a vent hole and the glowing embers have already started a small fire in the curved brass bowl. Aito takes the reeds from Naoaki, cuts the green tops off and drops the ugly roots into a tin cup with some water. It boils quickly and smells foul.
I help Aito move Khane outside, close enough to the opening of the tent that we can still see him but far enough away that he will expel the larvae without it getting back into the tent and inside one of us. A barrier of salted mercury further prevents it from entering our tent.
“What is this?” I ask as Aito feeds Khane the now tepid brew. The color had changed from rotted eggplant to a more pleasing soft green.
“Poison.”
Five
The storm hits us just as we are finishing a meal of stewed eel and overcooked pond greens. It is my first meal in freedom and it tastes wonderful despite some unfamiliar textures. Too bad Khane can’t enjoy it. I can just make him out in the gloom, back hunched as he throws up in the pouring rain. Lightning cracks the sky and for a moment it is bright as day. Then it is black again. The storm is playing havoc with my lenses.
“Will he throw the thing up?” Naoaki asks. Khane has a reputation as a huge jerk but right now it is hard not to feel just a tiny bit sorry for him.
“No, that is a reaction to the poison. The hope is that the larvae is forced out of his body and that the poison doesn’t kill him.” Aito sees my flabbergasted expression.
“What? What other choice is there?”
He is right as usual. Still, it is pretty cold to purposely poison someone knowing full well it just might kill them instead of cure them.
We watch from the warm, dry interior of the tent as cold rain pelts the outer skin. We are lucky, the chill doesn’t invade our shelter. The light from the brazier throws crazy shadows against the walls of the tent and lights our faces with an orange glow. It might have been cheery if the circumstances had been different. Suddenly, a pain filled scream rips the air.
I follow Aito out into the storm, shoulders hunched against the pounding rain. We walk to Khane’s still form and watch a tiny glowing slug make its way through the wet grasses. It is headed away from us and that is all that matters.
Together, we drag Khane’s nearly naked body into the tent and lay him down at the back with dry blankets. He has passed out and only time will tell if the poison has expelled the larvae without killing him in the process. Aito draws another line of salted mercury across the tent’s doorstep and we settle back around the brazier to dry. Four pairs of eyes stare at each other, we are all wide awake.
“Tell us a story.” I ask of Aito. He can, when in the proper mood, tell fantastic stories. Tales he read whenever he snuck into the library and broke into the forbidden rooms. Most make little sense to me. The world they take place in is long gone and often there are references to things or ideas I can’t relate to. What’s a toaster? Who was Starbucks? Sometimes, however, he gets wrapped up in the technical details and I find myself drifting off.
Aito smiles benignly. A king entertaining his fools.
“Perhaps tonight would be a good time to speak of the Wars and what led to them. It seems fitting I think, with us having so recently escaped Banishment.” He laughs at the irony and we join in. We have escaped to the outside, the very place we would have been Banished to. At least this way we are together as group with supplies and a fighting chance.
“The year was 2023 and science had officially broken the DNA code. All hereditary diseases could be erased in the womb. Children were born whole and healthy one hundred percent of the time. From there it was a small leap to start correcting other issues like asthma, allergies, or obesity. Then people thought, why not correct other unfortunate traits in their family’s gene pool? Baldness, unusually large ears and sunken chest syndrome were eradicated. Over the next fifty years humans became more and more perfect until one day they realized that they had bred themselves into uniformity. Everyone looked essentially the same, no one was ugly and no one was special.”
Fish’s hands flutter like little birds mating.
“Yes,” Aito responds. “We are all of us very special.” He winks at Fish and is rewarded with a snuffled laugh. I hadn’t realized Fish had a sense of humor.
“As you can imagine, things quickly got out of hand. First it was little changes. Unusual eye color, hair that curled just right, or a fancy metallic skin tone. These were concerns of the middle class. The rich, however, wanted to separate themselves from the chaff and took things even further. Some wanted wings for their offspring, some chose stranger, darker modifications. DNA alterations became so popular so quickly that the testing stages were rushed. No one realized how quickly things could go wrong and by the third generation, mutations were starting to show up. No one had counted on the behavioral aspects of playing god with the building blocks of life and suddenly there were monsters in their midst. The most famous was called Angel, so called for her pure white wings, white hair and ice blue eyes. She was beautiful, a goddess, and she killed thirty people before the police even thought to look at her for the crimes. It took ten mercenaries outfitted with the very best weaponry money could buy to finally bring her down. Only two mercenaries lived, one left in a coma. By the time the police had finished, they discovered nearly eighty more people she had tortured and killed. Most were identified only through DNA testing there was so little of them left. Scraps of skin, preserved eyes and finger bones were found neatly shelved in a hidden room.” Aito pauses for effect, studying our faces, making sure we get the point.
Fish hisses and claps his hands, impatient for Aito to continue. We all get it. You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.
“You all know the rest. People got scared. There were monsters living among them and even though the Angel had been beautiful, people still judged by what they could see. If you looked dangerous, then you must be. Keep in mind it was the very wealthy who had gone overboard with DNA alterations and the wealthy controlled not only countries but sometimes whole economies. Empires tuned upside-down as fear and mass hysteria took over. Small wars flared up between nations forced to share a border, each side sure that the other was sneaking something heinous into their lands, either as a discard or as assassins. Violence escalated and businesses built on crime flourished, creating sicker and more outlandish mutants. Finally, it was every country for itself, and then every city. Bombs dropped and all civilization would have been wiped out if not for a few solitary strongholds. Our city was one of those and while I cannot agree with their politics they have come a long way from the post-apocalyptic hell they found once the dust had settled.”
Silence reigns as Aito’s words faded away into the sound of rainfall. I contemplate his take on things. Often I am too busy being mad at the world to re
ally think about what had led us to this point. The trials were mainstream societies way of weeding out potential monsters. By forcing us to battle they outed those with dangerous ‘gifts’. In my case, my eyes alone would have gotten me Banished even though there was nothing dangerous about their color.
“Politics my skinny behind!” Declares Naoaki. “Those bastards wanted to kill us!”
We all laugh, stomaches full, and relax in our shared camaraderie. The storm’s violence has abated, the thunder fading as it moves off. I snag a spot near Aito and listen to the softly drumming rain. My eyes droop and I curl up on my bed of old blankets, truly happy for the first time I can remember. As I drift off I find myself wondering about Aito’s comment earlier, that my blood contained more steel than iron. What did he mean by that? Was he being literal?
Morning light brings colorful swearing from the back of the tent. Unhappy about his nakedness and the undoubtedly painfully throbbing red veins in his arm, Khane’s imaginative curses have us laughing until our sides hurt. The guy’s alive. One would think he’d be happy about that. A few soft words from Aito and Khane quiets, dutifully drinking a cup of boiled pond weeds. Not bad tasting with eel but probably a bit bitter on it’s own. It is clear right away that he is still too weak to move and we can’t just leave him even though he plans to part ways as soon as he can. He is sure he will be able to find his girlfriend before she dies, either from whatever wounds she’d sustained at her Trial or from whatever creatures might be waiting for her beyond the gates. So far we have been lucky and the local wildlife hasn’t tried to get frisky with us.
“Keira and Naoaki. Fish needs a particular plant to sooth his skin. Can you two take him? Don’t touch anything too colorful and watch out for septh. They tend to fly out in small groups after a hard rain, they like the humidity.”
I shudder and see Naoaki do the same. Neither of us wants to go through that particular hell. I promise to keep my eyes peeled for the flying glow-lizards and help Fish into his harness. I am sure now that he has lost weight. His face looks sunken too.
“Ok?” I shrug at his lack of response. At least he doesn’t flinch every time I move anymore. I wonder what had him so afraid of me. I search my memories for any altercations with him in the past but find nothing. I’m sure I had never met him before that fateful day in Aito’s secret lab. Weird. Just my reputation preceding me I guess.
I strap him on and we head out.
We go a slightly different direction this time, hugging the stone wall for a while before diving into the forest. Here the palm trees are a little different. The trunks are purple for a start. I remember a snippet I had read after class one day about a rich guy who spent half his fortune just coming up with new and different plants. His masterpiece had been a red spotted vine with teeth that moved on it’s own, snagging unwanted visitors and tying them to a large fence to be digested later. Maybe purple palms were his design too.
“Naoaki, can you teach me that sign language you guys use? It could really come in handy if we’re ever in a tight spot.” I ask.
All of our training in the Compound had been one-on-one but I could easily foresee situations that would call for teamwork, silent teamwork. She drops back and shows me a few basic signs while we walk, my eyes scanning the skies for anything glowing or anything moving at all.
We travel about two hours as best I can gauge from the sun’s angle before taking a rest. Our surroundings are more arid here and the ground cover is mostly clumps of pointy green spears. We heed Aito’s words and carefully avoided anything too colorful or interesting. I chew leftover dried eel in silence and watched as Naoaki signs to Fish.
“Close?” I ask.
‘Yes.’ She signs back, then points over a low rise.
We finish our snack, then Naoaki sighs, straightens her spine and looks me in the eye.
“What is between you and Aito?” She stares at me, her face carefully neutral.
I am taken off guard, although in hindsight I should have seen it coming. What can I say to her? That I have adored my angel since the first day I’d seen him? How can I explain our relationship to her when I can’t explain it to myself. It isn’t a crush or infatuation, exactly. We are far too different in size to be mates. Our bond is strong, however, and has been ever since I’d chased off some bullies that had been picking on him so many years ago. I have a narrow build but am actually a lot stronger than I look. I have an innate knack for sudden violence that most people find off-putting. I am also proficient with knives, so taking care of a couple of wanna-be bullies hadn’t been a problem for me. Making friends was a problem. If my eyes hadn’t been enough, then my anti-social habit of augmenting my tat to make it stand out more killed off any potential friendships. Not so with Aito. He accepted me for who I was. After watching the bullies run off, he’d stuck out his hand and introduced himself as though we were equals. We’d been friends ever since.
“We’re just friends.” I say, hating that I have just defined something precious to me, something above such petty labels. Naoaki seems satisfied with my answer, packing up the remaining food without further comment.
Over the rise we find the plant Fish needs. It looks like a pale green spray of swords sticking out of the sandy ground. Naoaki breaks of one of the wider blades and I see a clear jelly inside. With her knife, Naoaki carefully splits the plant’s leaf in half and scraps the goo into a small jar from her pack. It takes about ten blade shaped leaves to fill the jar.
“Anything?” Naoaki asks.
“All clear.” I respond.
Nothing moves either in the skies or anywhere around. It is disconcerting. Where are all the monsters the minders and guards had assured us were waiting for us? Had it just been good fun to them? Putting fear into the hearts of children who might someday become stronger and fiercer than they were?
We finally head back. We have been gone now for nearly five hours and I hate that we had left Aito and his patient alone for so long. Fish whispers and gurgles every so often but other than that it is quiet.
We’d nearly left the shelter of thickly growing palms when movement catches my eye. I wouldn’t even have noticed if I hadn’t been looking toward the sky, searching for flying lizards. My eyes swept sideways and then I saw them. My arm shoots out and I crouch down, pulling Naoaki with me. She knows better than to say anything out loud, even startled she is silent.
Her hands flutter like a birds wings.
I look again. Yes, I agree, nodding. I can see the glowing creatures just barely against the dull gray of the stone wall. They are darting up and down, swooping in and out of the hole in the wall we had escaped through. Now I understand Aito’s insistence that we leave no sign of our camp beyond the shadow of the ledge. The guard’s uniforms glint brightly in the sunlight as they swat at the glowing lizards and survey the forest, searching for us.
Six
“We need to pack and leave now!” Aito hisses as we enter the tent.
I’d waited for the guards to disappear back down the tunnel and remain gone for a while before gesturing to Naoaki that it was clear.
“They left.” I point out.
“Doesn’t matter. I heard what they said. They plan to flush the tunnel.” Says Aito.
“But we’re not even in the tunnel.” I insist.
We’d run into no threats so far and had food and water available nearby. It is as safe as we could have ever dreamed of. Besides, one look at Khane and I know without doubt we are not going anywhere quickly. At least he is fully dressed.
“There will be enough water coming out of this tunnel to drown us in seconds. We need to be as far from here as we can get before this evening.” Aito ushers a stiff Khane out of the tent along with the rest of us.
We grab the packs and cluster to one side as Aito pushes the red button. He picks up our tent, which is now a small ball the size of a potato, and we head into the jungle. Khane tries to keep up but I can tell he is struggling long before he finally calls for a rest. Nao
aki helps him remove the thick leathers from his upper body and strap them to his back. He is overheating on top of still fighting the poison in his blood. The red veining in his arm seems to have gone down a bit and it isn’t as swollen, or glowing. Even so, we can all see the rash his leathers have left behind from chaffing. The poison has made his skin extremely sensitive. Out of necessity our rest is short and soon we loop back to follow the line of the wall toward the place we think the gates are located. It doesn’t really matter that we reach the gates today, just that we outrun the coming flood. Khane won’t be saving anyone today. I don’t ask but I hope Bel made good use of her training sessions. She is on her own for now.
It is nearly dusk before Aito calls a halt to our pressed march. Khane, exhausted, drops like a stone. We let him be and set up camp like before, tent against the wall facing out, no debris beyond the five foot radius of Aito’s alarm string. A bigger circle would have been better, given us more time to react if something tried to sneak up on us, but the strand had been broken in our headlong rush from his lab.