Escape from Paradise

by D. Richard Ferguson

  Adam opened his eyes. He was alone. The cave was dark, and Adam had not moved since he had gone to sleep. His wrist was fine, and no wounds marred his body.

  He sat up and attempted to gather his wits. The dream troubled him. The first part was nothing unusual as dreams go, but the man—that was different. He seemed, somehow, to be outside the dream.

  Adam contemplated the words. Remember the vigor with which you cast it. What did that mean?

  A violent shiver shook Adam’s core. The fire had clearly been out for some time and his chilled legs could hardly stand. I need some more wood.

  He felt his way along the sides toward the mouth of the cave. Something touched him from behind and an involuntary yelp escaped his throat. He tried to run, but a massive hand clamped down on his shoulder. Adam wondered if his collar bone would snap. This time it was no dream.

  Chapter 8

  A God-like voice bellowed, “What are you doing here?”

  Thick, strong fingers clamped Adam’s shoulder and the back of his neck and drove him out of the cave. He stumbled forward and would have fallen if not for the iron grip on his shoulder.

  Whoever held him seemed to see in the dark just fine. Arriving outside the cave, the dawn’s first light revealed his captors. Towering before him stood the giants he thought he had escaped. His heart turned to stone.

  Up close, the men were even larger than he thought. Standing as tall as he could, Adam barely reached his abductor’s waist. The rest of the men were even taller, and they all glared at Adam.

  The tallest of the men, perhaps the leader, spoke first. “Are you lost?” His resounding voice vibrated Adam’s chest.

  Adam kept his eyes down. “I ... I apologize if I’m trespassing. I’m just passing through and needed some shelter for the night. If this is your land, I’ll move along.”

  The man released Adam and the group slowly parted, allowing Adam an eastward path.

  “Um ... actually ... I was going that way,” he said, turning west.

  The man from the cave frowned, not moving from Adam’s path. He had a square jaw, fair skin, and blond, curly hair. He glanced at the leader, who nodded, and he stepped out of the way.

  Adam began walking, his muscles tensed from head to toe. Would they really let him go that easily? Images of the mutilated bodies assaulted his memory. With each step he wondered—would a sword impale him from behind?

  He quickened his step, daring a glance over his shoulder. The giants hadn’t moved. The curly-haired one watched Adam, his expression almost ... concerned? Adam stopped. Why did they want me to go east? His eyes shifted westward. Is there something they know that I don’t?

  With tentative steps, he rejoined the giants.

  Curly smiled. “Good choice. This isn’t a good place to be alone. You’ll be much safer with us. My name is Alexander. And this”—he extended his hand toward the leader as if introducing a celebrity—“is Doctor Jensen.”

  “I’m Adam. I was on my way to find a cottage in the high country. I heard it was—” Adam stopped when he saw their reaction.

  The men encircled him and he felt like a sapling in a forest.

  Doctor Jensen spoke. “What business do you have with the cottage?”

  Jensen’s searching glare gave Adam the sense he was on trial. He decided not to volunteer any more information to these men just yet.

  Despite the rough meeting in the cave, Alexander struck Adam as the friendliest of the group, though that wasn’t saying much. Alexander broke the silence. “I don’t think he’s one of them. He’s too big. And look at his clothes. He’s from the city.”

  Jensen stroked his thin, salt-and-pepper beard.

  “Not one of ... whom?” Adam asked.

  “The mountain people,” Alexander replied. “They are small, but dangerous.”

  “I thought you were the mountain people.”

  All the men laughed—except Doctor Jensen.

  Adam cocked his head. “So ... this isn’t the high country?”

  “The high country is west of the river,” Alexander said, pointing across the grassy valley. “Trust me, you do not want to go there.”

  “Are the mountain people responsible for the bodies down there?” Adam asked, nodding toward the carnage.

  The men exchanged glances. Then Alexander spoke. “You are welcome to join us if you like. You’ll be safe with us.”

  “With respect, that’s not an ans—” Adam swallowed his words when Doctor Jensen raised a brow. Adam hadn’t seen it before, but now he wondered how he had missed it—their eyes were huge. He thought back to the mural in the library. Could these be the ... Adam’s heart had been pounding with fear. Now it raced with hope.

  “Are you the ... prophets—the Great Ones?”

  For the first time, Doctor Jensen smiled. “We are students. Some call us prophets, but we have no supernatural knowledge. Quite the opposite. We are merely observers of the natural.”

  Adam struggled to contain his enthusiasm. “I’ve read many of your writings and dreamed of meeting you someday. I have so many questions. All those years in the city, and I’ve never seen you.”

  “We travel wherever our research takes us,” Jensen said.

  “Do you know of a pond south of the city?”

  “We do,” Jensen said.

  “Could you take me there? Or tell me how to find it?”

  “Why do you want to go to the pond?” Alexander asked.

  “I believe I am from ... another place. I need to know how I got here and I believe the pond is the key to—”

  “It’s not,” Jensen said. “And there is nowhere you could go that would be superior to the city. It boasts the richest supply of gold and fruit anywhere in the world.” With a sweep of his hand he added, “You can see the scarcity of fruit out here.”

  A war between grief and desire erupted in Adam’s chest. Grief, because a decade of hope in the pond as the way home had just been swept away. Desire, because the thought of returning to the gold, fruit, and safe familiarity of the city wooed him.

  “I noticed that,” Adam replied. “Is it like this in the high country as well?”

  “Fruit is outlawed in the high country,” Alexander said.

  “Outlawed? Why? How do they live without eating?”

  “People still eat. But they have to do it in secret to avoid shame or disciplinary action from their merciless Ruler.”

  “Have you been there?”

  Alexander turned his head to the west. “I grew up in the high country. Before I came to my senses, I believed in all that nonsense—the myths, the magical colors—all of it.”

  “And the cottage? You’ve seen it?”

  Adam sensed from Alexander’s lowered eyebrows the question may have been a mistake. It seemed dangerous to show interest in the cottage with these men. He tried his hardest to sound casual, but he couldn’t restrain his curiosity.

  “So, what’s inside?”

  “Nothing. I have been through every square inch of that old shack, and I assure you, it is an interesting historical site—nothing more. The uneducated fill the vacancy of the place with contrived fantasies. With a little reading, one grows beyond such stupidity.”

  Alexander paused, released a deep breath, then continued. “They believe their myths and traditions because they want them to be true. Rational people have evidence-based knowledge, not blind faith. Take my advice—go back to the city.”

  “I’ve tried. But I couldn’t make any headway against the ... air. It rushed against me.” Even as Adam uttered the words, he realized how ridiculous they sounded.

  Adam cringed when the men snickered. To be thought a fool by such a venerable council mortified him. He craved their approval.

  “So someone told you about the wind?” Alexander asked.

  “The ... wind? No. I—”

  “I know the wind can feel very real. I thought I felt it when I lived in the high country. But studies have proved there is no wind. It is amazing what
the mind can convince itself of when it really wants to.”

  With a roll of his eyes, Doctor Jensen turned and began walking.

  “Come on,” Alexander said. “If you have any trouble with the ‘wind,’ we’ll help you through it.”

  The allure of the city and the opportunity to spend time with the Great Ones compelled Adam. He’d had quite enough of this ill-fated adventure.

  But he hesitated. He remembered the difficulty of getting through the foliage to make it this far and had the sense that a second attempt may not be successful. Was it wise to simply discard all his hard-fought progress?

  Trailing behind the others, Alexander turned back toward Adam. “Are you coming?”

  Chapter 9

  After a pause, Adam ran to catch up as the Great Ones departed.

  There was a smooth grace to their gait, like animated trees gliding through the forest. Adam wasn’t sure why he would have expected such large bodies to be clumsy, but they moved with a calm majesty he couldn’t help but admire. Every few strides, Adam had to jog a little to keep up.

  Soon the wind returned, but the Great Ones didn’t seem to notice. Adam felt it, but as long as he stayed close, the Great Ones served as a windbreak and, with some effort, he kept moving.

  The man walking beside Doctor Jensen pointed to the right. Jensen nodded and left the path. The group followed, and within two minutes came to a lone apple tree in a grove of aspen. The giants helped themselves.

  Alexander plucked a large apple and tossed it to Adam.

  Adam made short work of the crisp, juicy treat. Oh, how he had missed the intense sweetness of the fruit! And it had only been a couple days. He reached for another.

  Alexander stood against an aspen, arms and feet both crossed, watching Adam. “That will give you strength to walk. The wind shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “I feel stronger already,” Adam said.

  Alexander responded with a detailed explanation of the chemical properties of apples and the effect on the human metabolism. Adam couldn’t follow some of the more technical parts but was fascinated nonetheless.

  “Can I ask you something?” Adam said. “Do you know of any plants that have a blue sap or residue?”

  Alexander eyed him a long moment. “It sounds like you know more of the mountain legends than you are letting on.” He furrowed his brow. “Are you claiming to have seen the ... residue? Or did someone tell you about it? Have you been speaking with mountain people? Someone who looked like a child, perhaps?”

  “Oh ... uh ... no, nothing like that. A ... friend of mine in the city once told me he explored out this way and got some kind of blue sap on his skin and asked me about it. I just thought you might ...” Adam cleared his throat. “You said before the mountain people are small but dangerous. If they are so small, what makes them such a threat?”

  “They are devious. Their innocent, harmless appearance is a ploy to make you drop your guard. Then they prey on your psychological needs. Once they have you, you lose all freedom. Everything good is forbidden.”

  Adam thought of Kailyn. She looked like a child but spoke with an adult’s intelligence. She had certainly seemed harmless to Adam. He had not only let his guard down but had been convinced to go blindly into the high country. It was just as Alexander described.

  Adam opened his mouth to respond but thought better of it. He didn’t know if he wanted to put Kailyn in danger. At least not until he knew for sure who was telling the truth.

  When Adam spoke with Kailyn, the cottage had seemed so appealing—a fact that now embarrassed him. But he still had some questions about the city.

  “Why are the buildings in the city collapsing?”

  “Time to go,” Doctor Jensen announced, and the group made their way back to the path.

  Just out of earshot, Alexander and Doctor Jensen were embroiled in a conversation as they walked. Jensen looked back at Adam. Alexander put his hand on Jensen’s back, pleading for something. Finally, Jensen stopped and motioned for Adam to come.

  “Alexander is convinced you are a truth seeker.”

  “That’s right,” Adam said.

  “You have a lot of questions. Would you like to see the answers for yourself?”

  Anxiety and hope entwined themselves in Adam’s chest. What would they show him? And why did he ask first? Was he about to see something marvelous ... or dangerous ... or both?

  “Of course,” he said in the most confident tone he could muster.

  “Very well. I will do for you what I did for Alexander.”

  Taking a bottle from his bag, he poured a clear gel into his hand.

  “Keep your eyes open,” he said. Then he placed his hand over Adam’s face, pressing the gel into his eyes.

  The cold goo gave Adam chills, then a headache. But it only lasted a moment.

  Doctor Jensen pulled his hand away. “What do you see?”

  Adam tried to blink, but the thick ointment blocked his eyelids. With effort, he forced a blink. Then another. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust.

  Then a whole new world opened before him. He looked at his hands, then the grass at his feet, then a stone. Adam broke into laughter. Like a child with a new toy, he appraised everything around him.

  “It’s all so clear. I can see every contour on every pebble. I can see ... everything!”

  “It’s only the beginning,” said Alexander. “A universe of new knowledge will be within arm’s reach everywhere you go.”

  A butterfly floated across Adam’s view. He could see each of the thousands of tiny scales on its wings—and veins that ran through the wings and connected to its ears.

  And with the enhanced vision came understanding. It hears through its wings. The creature landed on a leaf and Adam knew it was drumming the leaf with its feet to taste for dissolved sugars. He knew the cool air was near the lower threshold in which it could fly, and that, judging from its spots, it was near the end of its lifespan.

  Adam laughed again. “This is incredible!” He turned to Alexander. “Is this why you left the high country? You were given this gift and saw everything clearly?”

  “I saw through the myths of the cottage long before I met Doctor Jensen. It doesn’t take special insight. It’s obvious to anyone who isn’t brainwashed—the cottage is nothing but a scam designed to control weak-minded fools.”

  “You sound kind of ... angry,” Adam ventured. “Did something happen to you?”

  The Great One looked down at Adam like a man deciding whether to squash a bug. Then he turned without a word and started back on the path. One by one, the Great Ones rose and followed. Adam trailed, berating himself for asking such a personal question and wondering if he was still welcome in the group.

  After a half-hour of walking in complete silence, Alexander slowed to walk beside Adam. “My son. He was ... killed.”

  “Your son was killed? How—”

  “The so-called Ruler claims to have power over life and death, but he did nothing to save him. I begged him to at least give me a reason, but he wouldn’t say a word.”

  The minutes passed slowly until Alexander spoke again. “I was desperate for answers, so I turned to the writings. That’s when I realized everything I had been raised to believe was an elaborate fairy tale.”

  “How long ago did you leave?”

  “About six months. But it seems like years. I’ve learned so much since then.”

  “Six months? Is that normal—to go from being a mountain person to becoming one of the Great Ones in just six months?”

  “I’m not a member of the council yet. I’m still studying.”

  “Well, for what it’s worth, it suits you. I think you’ll make a good addition to this council. And from the way you’ve described the mountain people, it’s hard to imagine you were ever one of them.”

  Alexander smiled. “I think I always knew the myths weren’t true. My belief in them was more like suspended disbelief. I told myself it was all true so I could enjoy the s
tories along with everyone else. But deep down I knew something wasn’t right. If the Ruler were as good as they said, why would he outlaw fruit?”

  “So your desire for fruit was part of your reason for leaving?”

  Alexander shrugged. “A man’s got to eat.”

  The heads of the Great Ones all snapped to the north. Adam thought he might have heard some pebbles rolling downhill for a moment. But now he saw only—There, on the other side of the path—was that a flash of movement? The sudden wariness of the Great Ones assured Adam it wasn’t his imagination. Were they being surrounded by the mountain people? Was a battle about to erupt? And had Adam chosen the right side?

  Chapter 10

  The Great Ones turned to the right, crouched, and arrayed themselves in an attack formation. Glad to be behind the group, Adam leaned sideways to catch a glimpse of the threat.

  Is that ... Kailyn? Sure enough—the same little girl he had spoken with at the creek sat cross-legged under a tree. She seemed not to notice the Great Ones as she played with toys made of old, splintered wood.

  A gust of wind nearly knocked Adam over. Trees bent under the force of the gale, and the girl stood up.

  Then the giants—all except Alexander—changed. Doctor Jensen morphed into a massive grizzly bear. Two others became mountain lions, and the rest, wild boars. Alexander, still a man, nudged Adam backward and then stepped in front of him.

  The smells of the beasts and the cacophony of growls and grunts assured Adam this was not a hallucination. Wanting to run but frozen in place, Adam reached up and grasped Alexander’s shirt, keeping the giant between him and the snarling creatures, who had now formed a half-circle around Kailyn.

  Adam knew he should do something. What kind of coward would stand by as wild animals mauled a helpless child? But he couldn’t have resisted this group when they were human. How could he fight ferocious beasts?

  Alexander backed away, averting his face. Adam moved with him.

  Without warning, the mountain lions charged Kailyn. In an instant, the smaller and quicker of the two had its jaws around her neck. The other bit into her right leg. She was about to be ripped to pieces and Adam was powerless to help. I can’t watch this.