The Bargaining Path

by T. Rudacille

  ***

  James had a firm grip on Brynna’s hand long before Adam took the stage in the village square. Eury was behind Adam, but her eyes were cast downward; I saw that Brynna was looking directly at her and knew that Eury was purposely avoiding Brynna’s eyes.

  “It failed. She couldn’t convince him, and by the look on her face, he’s about to show you that he’s unconvinced. So we need to go now, while he’s distracted.” James hissed to her as quietly as he could, but still, several people glanced back at him with similar looks of fear on their faces.

  “Oh, will you cool your jets, as they say?” She hissed, “Look at how you have frightened these nice people with your panic-stoking.”

  “Well, my ‘panic-stoking’ is the only thing that is going to keep them alive. Yeah,” He said to a woman who was still looking at us, “Be panicked. This son of a bitch is crazy when he’s completely enraged like he is right now.”

  “Would you like to tell her why he is so enraged? Then maybe she can discreetly chastise me instead of outwardly saying that all of this is my fault like she really wants to?”

  “Oh, is that Brynna’s guilt talking? Hello, Brynna’s guilt. You and your sister, Brynna’s human emotions, were always rumored to exist, like the Loch Ness Monster. Or Bigfoot.”

  “James, your incessant needling has all but left my patience completely spent, and you will thank yourself later to recognize this as your first and final warning. After you told me that you did not blame me, you are going to…”

  “That is enough! Both of you!” Savannah snapped at them, “This is not helping us! We have no time for it, so stop it now! Goddamn it!”

  All three of us gaped at her, blinking in astounded silence. She never lost her cool.

  “I’m sorry.” She swept her long black hair away from her face with both hands, “I am starting to feel the stress of this situation, and it got the better of me. Sorry. Brynna, I am so sorry.”

  “It is alright.” Brynna replied coldly, though her iciness was not directed towards Savannah but instead, was directed towards James. She was looking away from him, her hand taken from his grasp so she could cross her arms over her chest. He was not even trying to apologize or explain away his anger. I was worrying even more, thinking that their relationship was falling apart; any change to our group’s make-up provoked that fear that was somewhat irrational, I guess. It was just hard to deal with change after the colossal upheaval of our lives.

  The next colossal upheaval was looming. In the crowd, I saw Eli standing with a group of his work friends. They knew we were there, because several of them were looking back at us and murmuring to him. It seemed that after he had allegedly hooked up with Janna, he had become the leader of his group of friends. He was either apathetic about us being there, or he was looking around for Janna, or both; either way, his head never turned back so he could look at us.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Adam said, and his voice was level, smooth, charismatic, and tinged with what can only be described as a slight hint of amusement, “I know that much has been said tonight. Many rumors have been started and are circulating faster than a deadly pathogen. And like a deadly pathogen, these rumors must be swiftly destroyed before they can destroy us, and the only way to do that, my dear humans…” His voice seemed to ice over immediately, and his eyes turned red, “…is with truth. The absolute truth will be told right now. I have taken great issue with one of your kind. Because the crime of this one person is so great, I will be holding each and every one of you accountable for this one person’s pitilessly stupid mistake. And with that being said, let me now introduce the new laws of this village. To my people, my honorable and loyal followers, know this, first and foremost: All trade with humans is punishable by death. Aiding them in any way is punishable by death. Now, I know what some very, very brave souls will say, or perhaps think. ‘But we have grown to care for them, Rexprimus. We have become their friends. We have become romantically engaged with them.’ For the sake of your lives, my brave fools, forget all of those useless sentiments now! Only then will you live another day.”

  I kid you not, a Pangaean woman in front of us took a huge step sideways away from the human man she had only seconds before been holding hands with.

  “Adella!” He whispered, sounding truly heartbroken. I watched one of Brynna’s arms unlock from around her middle and drop to her side. The other stayed latched around her middle, but the one that had fallen was now brushing up against James’s. Her fingers extended to wrap lightly around his, and he looked over at her. She shook her head, and his hand took hold of hers. After a second, his arm came up to wrap around her neck, pulling her closer to him. He kissed her forehead for a long second.

  “To the humans, to the plague on this perfect world I have sworn to protect, your parasitic leeching of all this world offers might come as natural habit to you, but it ends now. Tonight. Now, I know that it is a vice that you all share, but vices are utterly sinful, and while I may not be an Old Spirit, I will call now for a little purity.” He was being facetious about the sinful aspect of it, but he was not joking about us atoning for those sinful actions.

  “If you thought your first ‘leader’s’ reign was horrendous,” He continued, “Your filthy hearts will stop at all I will do! You will not solicit goods or services from my people. You will not speak to them. You will not even glance in their direction. You are below us, and you have always been below us, but now you will know it. You will know that your place is beneath us… in whatever sense.”

  I could have sworn that he had looked at Brynna right after he said that, and James must have sworn it, too, because his breathing deepened and his grip on her tightened.

  “He’s not gonna touch you.” I heard him bark in a furious whisper. “You hear me?”

  She nodded.

  “Any sustenance you require—food, water, housing—it will only be given by me, as a result of my benevolence. You will have nothing of your own anymore. Now, the same way I knew what the bravest of my own people were thinking, I know what those of your kind who think they are brave are thinking now. ‘But Rexprimus, we will run away! We will seek shelter in the trees. We will not live under such oppression!’ Believe it or not, I would much prefer it that way. I think you all remember your first nights here, when you were hunted by my people. I like big game; you must have seen then that we love the hunt. So please, run away. Hide in the trees. Think that you are escaping. Think that as you cower away in some woodland hiding place that you are outsmarting us. Actually, though, you will only be giving us a slight challenge. An infinitesimal obstacle to finding and destroying you.”

  Several people in the crowd were crying. Several were huddled together. Everyone was afraid. I thought I was the only one looking, but Brynna was, too. And it was because the people she had sworn to protect were so afraid that she did what she did next.

  “Your speech is missing several key aspects, Adam.” She said loudly, so most of the crowd could hear. “The ‘who’ is all those who are human. The ‘what’ is that we are essentially Untouchables. The ‘where’ is here in the village, or else. ‘When’ is now, effective immediately. But you are leaving out the ‘why.’ So how about if I share that part with the group?”

  Savannah, James, and I were storming forward to get her.

  “Goddamn it. Motherfucking shit. Gonna get herself killed. Fucking hell! I’ll kill her. Not even gonna worry about him. I’ll kill her!” James was spitting furiously in front of me.

  “Adam does not want to share this part, because he is too afraid that I will gain sympathy from his loyal sheep. Yes,” She said, looking around, “I called you sheep. And if you go along with this, with this plan of his that is the result of cracked-out, completely out-of-proportion and irrational racism, then you are only sheep. I am responsible for this sudden change in Adam’s mood. I am to blame. I heard many thoughts while I was standing here, and all of the former humans in attendance right now, beneath your fear
there is a burning need to point fingers. Most of you chose Don, though why you think Don could cause him…” I gestured to Adam, “to get so bent out of shape, as they say, I will never know. Adam regards Don as one regards a semi-entertaining but very useful captive monkey who is carrying a money jar that will soon be dumped into his, meaning Adam’s, bottomless pockets. But alas, I am rambling…”

  Adam was beside her, grasping her upper arms in a painfully tight hold. Several people gasped. Some people screamed. When he struck her hard across the face, everyone reacted, even if it was only with a gasp. As for James, Tony, Tom, and me, we were on him in less than a second, tackling him backwards, roaring. I looked back to check on her and saw that Savannah was pulling her back up.

  A surge of pain went through me, from my heart upwards to the tip of my head, and from my heart downwards to the tips of my toes. James, Tony, and Tom had suffered a similar attack, and we both toppled to the stage, panting.

  “What the fuck?!” I gasped out.

  “Yeah. Sucks, doesn’t it? That’s his checkmate.” James said, but he was getting back up again. Adam was storming towards Brynna, brushing the dust off of his shirt. When James regained his footing, Adam reached his hand behind him without looking back, and James crumpled back to the ground. Somehow, seeing that happen to James didn’t stop Tony, Tom, or me from trying to rush to her aid. The second I got onto my knees, I was back on the ground, yelling out in pain.

  “Quinn!” I heard Alice’s frantic shout, and I thought I was hallucinating. But then, I heard the rush of the air as she ran at that inhuman speed to me. Once she was at my side, she reached down to grasp my face. But I wasn’t looking at her. I was looking past her, at Brynna. Adam had reached her. He had shoved Savannah aside, and she had flown to the ground, skidded across the wooden stage, and banged her head hard enough in the process to get completely knocked out.

  “Savannah!” Alice screamed, and when she jumped up to rush to her, Adam reached out and effortlessly sent her to the ground just like he had done me.

  “Allie!”

  We really did just scream each other’s names like that. What else could we do?

  “BRYNNA!”

  Penny’s was the worst shout of all. Adam had yanked Brynna’s head back by her hair, and his fangs that were so much longer and sharper than any of ours were out, dripping with spit, as he hissed in preparation for what would no doubt be a roar that shook the stage beneath us and sent our people running for the hills.

  Penny was on the stage now, and when I looked up at Brynna, who was still stuck in Adam’s grasp, I saw what I prayed I would never see again. When he looked at her, all he saw was a begging, desperate beseeching for his mercy. She did not want to die in front of Penny.

  “Adam, don’t! You let her go!” Penny shrieked, and her tiny body charged into his, actually knocking him back a few steps. A feeble roar escaped her, and the crowd gasped when they saw her fangs. “You’re hurting her! Let go!” She shoved him, and he seemed too bewildered by her strength to react. “Let go of my Brynna! Let go of her!” She was hitting him with both hands repeatedly, shrieking at the top of her lungs, tears rushing down her face. “You’re not going to hurt her! I won’t let you! I won’t let you hurt Brynna! I…” She hit him hard, “won’t…” She hit him harder, “let you…” She hit him with both hands now, even harder than before, “hurt…” She jumped and managed to scratch him across the face, “my… MAMA!”

  He released Brynna with a forceful shove backwards, and she would have lost her footing had Penny not lunged back and latched her arms around her waist, holding her up and rooting her to the ground. When she let go, though, Brynna fell down onto her knees.

  “No!” Penny shrieked, swinging her arms at Adam when he went to walk forward. “NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOO!” She screamed so loudly that several people actually covered their ears. The torches erupted; large, wild flames stood at least five feet higher in their iron brackets. Penny stomped her foot, screaming and staring Adam down with dark red eyes.

  “Mine! Mine!” She was screaming as she stood firmly in front of Brynna. “MINE!”

  “You are going to take this from a child? This ridiculous temper tantrum?” Janna asked, loudly enough so the crowd of Adam’s followers could hear. “This premature territory-claiming? Kill the little brat, Adam!”

  Whatever daze Brynna had fallen under dissolved instantaneously at those words. Her head snapped in Janna’s direction, and Brynna pointed at her. Janna’s body lurched forward until she was on her knees, but then, her body rose back up before her feet had even received the signal to stand again.

  “I highly recommend…” Brynna hissed furiously, “…you shut…” Janna’s mouth closed, and her exclamation of surprise was muffled, “your…” Janna’s fingers were trying to pry her lips apart, but they sunk further into her mouth, “…mouth. It is in your best interest.” She turned around to face the crowd. “To my former humans… to my Earthean friends… go home. Pack only what you have gotten through fair trade.” Brynna’s shaking arms reached down and lifted Penny. Penny rested her head under Brynna’s. Her thumb was in her mouth, and her eyes were drooping sleepily. The rest of us were gathering ourselves up, trying to take our places beside her.

  “Wait for further instruction from either Don, James, red-headed Rachel, her husband, Joe, Tom, Tony, Savannah, or me. Disperse, ladies and gentlemen.”

  I was positive they wouldn’t budge. But they did. They began to walk home.

  “Brynna Olivier…” Adam said, “You know not of what you have just done. The second any of you step over the ash circle…”

  “When you are ready to discuss this like the fair, decent, and rational man I know you to be, come find me.”

  “Crazy.” James was telling her, “Out of your freakin’ mind, Brynna. But God, I love you. I love you so much. I thought that was it. I love you.” He was kissing her, then kissing Penny’s head, and then he was kissing Violet’s head; she was walking on the other side of Brynna, holding her arm tightly in both hands.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for being so mad earlier.” Violet told her quickly. “Your face is already bruising. Are you okay? Does it hurt really bad, Brynn? We have to put ice on it, and you can take a tonic if you need to. We still have some.”

  “We have to get out of here. He’s going to kill you if we don’t. Brynn, please.” Nick was saying.

  “Alright, guys! Give her a minute. Let her breathe.” Savannah told them, “What she did is basically the equivalent of jumping into a shark tank wearing a swimsuit made of chum, so let’s let her catch her breath, why don’t we?” Savannah ran her hand down the back of Brynna’s hair. “You are crazy, though, and I should know. This is my area, remember?”

  “Am I the craziest? If I am going to be mentally insane, I at least wish to be the most mentally insane.”

  “You’re not a cannibal or a mad arsonist or a serial killer with fifty heads in your closet, but you are reckless and… and just crazy!” Savannah told her, “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

  “You sound concussed.” Brynna informed her.

  “I am very concussed. You caught me.”

  “Quinn, Alice, Nick, get your stuff together.” I said, “We are all staying together. I am going to find Eli. I might be furious with him, but he is our brother, and we need to protect him. If I have to pry him off of her, I will.”

  “What should we get?” I asked as Alice and I started to hurry up the steps of our house.

  “Did you trade for or buy everything in your house?” She asked.

  “Yeah.” We answered simultaneously.

  “Then whatever you want. But make sure that it’s only enough to fit inside of a book-bag. If you are not in this house in fifteen minutes, I will assume that you have been attacked by enraged followers of Adam, and I will be storming in there, guns blazing, quite literally.”

  “Aye aye, captain!” Alice barked, and I actually laughed, despite the sit
uation, as I followed her into the house.

  Once we were inside the door, she stopped, turned around abruptly, and threw herself into my arms.

  “Whoa!” I actually exclaimed as I stumbled back a few steps, shocked by the sudden and surprisingly forceful impact of her slight weight. “Babe, are you ok…” She was kissing me before I could even finish the sentence.

  “We are in so much trouble.” She told me, “And I thought you were really hurt. I thought whatever Adam was doing to you was going to kill you. God, everything is such a mess, Quinn.”

  “I know.”

  She started kissing me again.

  “We need to do this now. We might not get another chance. I know I said I wanted to wait until everything settled down, but there’s no point. I thought I was going to lose you today, and we need to do this before he kills us. So…”

  “Oh, my God…” I murmured when her hand came forward suddenly and forcefully to rub the front of my jeans.

  “This has been stupid. Me waiting. Me making us wait. Who does that in today’s day and age? God, how many of our friends were doing it on Earth? God, I think Lane was thirteen when she did it the first time!”

  “She was, but no offense, Lane was the biggest skank who ever lived. She was like, Super Skank. I’ll bet under her clothes, she wore a shirt with a Superman logo made completely out of dicks.”

  “Quinn!” She exclaimed, giggling hysterically, “You’re killing the mood, but that was hilarious. What about Violet? She and Nick are trying to work things out after the whole Caspar thing. She’s having sex!”

  “Yeah, but I’ve told you, she’s not doing it for the right reasons. I don’t know. Baby, I know this is going to make me sound like a girl, but now is not the time. Not when you’re doing it because you’re afraid that one of us is going to die.”

  “How is that not the time? That seems like the best time, Quinn. That’s like, fate or heaven telling us that now is the time.”

  “Yeah, but no offense again, but you would never be talking about Lane like she was some kind of sexual role model if you were in your right state of mind. And you’ve been really upset about Violet’s shit here of late.”

  “I am not crazy, Quinn! I am not acting crazy. This is me completely sane. If you don’t want to do it, fine.”

  “Of course I want to do it! But you’re afraid right now. You’re upset, and you’re worried, and you have every right to be. Look, I’ve wanted to do it a hundred million times. I’m a guy, that’s just how I’m wired, but…”

  “And there were times when you put pressure on me to do it. Not a lot, but some.”

  “I did, and I’m sorry. So let me make that up to you right now by saying that we’ve waited a really long time for it to be right, and right now is not the right time. The last thing you should be thinking about is what you were thinking about earlier. You shouldn’t be thinking that at any moment, either you’re going to die or I’m going to die. It should be… I don’t know, baby. It should be better than that. Okay?”

  She was looking at me, smiling slightly.

  “Quinn Wesley, you are a hopeless romantic.”

  “I am not! God, everyone says that.”

  “Yeah, they do, and do you know what they say right after saying that? They say that I am lucky to have you, and I am.” She wrapped her arms around my neck more gently, and just then, the door caved in, and Brynna, Nick, Joe, and James were standing there, their eyes white, searching for a threat. Alice jumped, covered her mouth, and began giggling raucously. I just jumped.

  “Goddamn it!” I exclaimed, “God! I think I just lost control of my bowels!”

  “No, that is how you have always smelled, my friend.” Nick told me, and I picked up a pillow from our couch and chucked it at him.

  “You are complaining of being startled?” Brynna asked irritably, “I did warn you that if you had not returned to the homestead within fifteen minutes, we would come banging down the door. Now, come on, you two rambunctious slaves of roaring teenage hormones. Keep your frantic, uncontrollable need to copulate at a dull roar until we are all asleep, if you please.”

  “We weren’t copulating!” I called after her, but she was already gone.

  James looked between the two of us, looking as pained as he always did when he was aware of the fact that we were teenagers and would be having sex.

  “Just… I just… Make good choices!”

  As we walked back to the house, despite everything, we were laughing.