by Pierce, SJ
Her jaw tensed with anticipation. Their screeches howled from only yards ahead. They traveled fast. Too fast.
The beasts’ clear, irregular shapes finally revealed themselves as they tumbled toward them through the air like a tornado, disturbing the leaves and pine straw and pebbles on the ground. A growl rolled from her chest, and she flung the shield around her body, her legs shaking as she walked. One foot in front of the other. Follow the strings, her thoughts chanted.
Within half a breath, their razors scraped against her shield, violent and unmerciful, and as she forced her way through the windstorm, a gritty scream escaped her lips, fighting to keep her shield steady and her feet moving forward. Her tired legs felt close to failing them now as though she pulled against weighted cannon balls, shackled to her ankles with a chain.
Her right foot extended to take another step, and when she placed it on the ground her knee gave in. To keep from crumpling to the ground, she allowed the shield to snap away from her, and her screams amplified as the beasts ripped at her flesh, lacerations tearing into her arms, legs, and face.
She staggered forward with the blender of spiked whips that fixated around them, and ragged pieces of her t-shirt and blue jeans flew through the air. When she couldn’t stand another excruciating moment, she forced the shield around her again, determining that she would have to suffer both torturous scenarios to make it through. She would need to psyche herself to the finish. The last leg of this marathon would be brutal and cruel. She pictured Isaac on the other end of her strings at the finish line, pulling them to move her forward. I trust you, his voice whispered in her mind -- the very thing he assured her back at his flat.
He trusts me, her thoughts echoed, and her legs lunged forward, now in command of the weights that were shackled to them. The strings Isaac pulled drew tight, on the brink of snapping, and she pictured his beautiful face waiting for her when she got there. “I’m coming!” she cried and released another scream to prevent the pain of her exhausted legs from prevailing.
The beasts must have sensed that her drive had been fortified because their malice strengthened to compensate. Their lashings felt as though thousands of stinging wasps smacked against the shield to find a way though. After two more grueling steps, her shield wobbled, almost giving completely. Despite her new found drive, her body could only handle so much. It was time to sacrifice her already shredded skin to their lashes.
She pressed her eyelids shut to draw in the shield, bracing herself for the certain agony, and a cool, gentle breath washed over them. Faint whispers echoed through the trees. “Prayers,” she gasped and sunk to her knees, dropping the shield from around them for the first time since the stairwell.
They were protected here.
She extended her arm that hooked around his legs, and placed him gently on the ground. She needed a moment to rest. Drawing in deep, refreshing breaths, she slumped forward, resting her palms against the cool earth.
To get her attention, the strings tightened, and she looked up. Close to ten paces away was an opening in the side of the mountain like the mouth of a small whale, waiting to engulf them. Knotted tree roots and curling leaves decorated the rim of its lips. As she studied it, the center of her chest practically burst through her rib cage. That’s it, she determined. Almost there.
She sucked in another breath and drug her right foot beneath her body, leaning forward to cradle Isaac in her arms. While pressing him against her chest, she pushed from the earth to boost them upwards. Her weary legs faltered, and she fell to the ground.
Isaac groaned in his sleep as he thudded atop the bed of straw and twigs. Shit! She had successfully protected him from the beasts, but her weakened body was what she needed to conquer now.
She looked at the gateway and envisioned Isaac at it again. Except this time, everyone she had known and loved in this life hovered beside him, holding the long white ribbon. She saw Cindra and their friends Jessica and Erica, Benjamin, Frederick, Stacy, Mona, Agnosio, and Moe. Isaac’s son stood beside him holding his hand, and she imagined what loved ones they might have had surrounding them, watching her earnestly. “We trust you,” everyone said in synchronization. Whatever these beasts had done to them, they all deserved vengeance.
Her stomach stirred excitedly at the imagery, and her energy recharged. She had one more burst of it left and needed to put it to good use.
She scooped her hands under Isaac and pushed off of the earth as she held him, her legs still shaking, but sure. As she staggered forward, their loved ones watched with contented grins. A few short steps away and they would finally be through to certain safety. He would get the help he needed, and she would plead for someone to find his son. It’s going to be alright.
When they made it to the white ribbon, she sat him down in front of the gateway as though he were a cracked, porcelain figurine. The gateway was only big enough for them to go one at a time, and before she pushed him through she wanted one last moment with him.
When his head rested against the leaves, she knelt beside him, brushing the hair from his forehead that curled from the sweat, imagining his eyes gazing back at her. She wasn’t certain if she would ever have the privilege of losing herself inside of them again, whether the sting of death seperated them or whatever fate lie ahead. This might be the last time for her to study him, feel him. Her eyes flickered over his beautiful face – that even the clutches of death couldn’t mar, not completely – and she instinctually leaned in, her heart undeniably his, the place that he had left his piercing marks on permanently.
Her desire reached through its cage, setting itself free, and curled around his dying body, pulling her into him in one visceral, rebellious motion until his lifeless lips pressed to hers. Tears streaked her face, dripping onto his. She wanted him to make it so badly, and give her a chance to make everything right again.
From somewhere inside him, a soft moan escaped, and her kiss deepened. He couldn’t possibly be coherent enough to realize what was happening, but perhaps – despite his anger with her – it was his soul’s way of recognizing her act of love.
After holding her lips there for a heavenly moment, she withdrew, caressing his face with her hand one last time. “Stay alive for me,” she said and gently pushed him into the cavern. His body slowly disappeared into the darkness, and she wiped her tears. Her momentary bliss left as quickly as it came, realism taking its place. She had been careless with her choices, and it led to a lot of heartache. He now barely clung to life, and his son was missing. She had a lot to answer for on the other side.
Breaking her moment of mourning, the prayers began to fade. Her eyes raked through the forest to see the trees rustling as the barrier retreated inwards, toward her, the gateway mere minutes from closing. A small part of her wanted it to so she wouldn’t have to face her Elders, but the whole of her knew it would be the only way she might get to see Isaac again. He was the only thing that tied her to this life anymore. Everyone else that she loved, that meant something to her, was gone.
Remembering the moths that once clumsily danced around the light pole outside of Isaac’s building, she decided to follow her only light left into the darkness. She leaned forward onto her hands and crawled into the space.
As she broke through the white ribbon of the ‘finish line’, she imagined all of their loved ones cheering her on to a quiet victory.
CHAPTER 14:
A Moment to Grieve
When she stepped through the gateway, time held its breath, and the forest around her faded into complete darkness. Gravity released its hold and gifted her joints with a weightless reprieve.
As she hovered in the thin air, all of her past memories replayed in her mind; her birth into her first lifetime, her newly created body sent through space to make it to Earth. Her and her brethren side by side, gliding through the tight, unsaturated air, the atmosphere burning through their tough skins for the first time, changing it into something supple and fragile, something more like a human’s.
A blinding light flashed, and she awoke in an alleyway in Germany, disoriented and curled into the fetal position. She panted as her very first breaths of oxygen poured through her human lungs and flooded her body, her head spinning from the sensation.
Her memories flashed forward, replaying her other births into the world and her experiences; a montage of people and places, memories and memoirs, most of them pleasant, but a lot like life, some were agonizing like her last visual of Isaac as he lay comatose on the ground.
The images faded away, and the darkness around her brightened from a wall of stars that rushed toward her. Before her body met the burning balls of fire, something pulled at her, and if she was able to have any point of reference would swear her body moved forward as her stomach plunged upward into her throat. The stars streaked by in long rays of white, hot light, their warmth soothing the gashes on her skin.
Once through, the darkness settled, and her body lowered onto plush, dewy grass. She wiggled her toes atop the spongy earth as her body surrendered to gravity once more. Where are my shoes?
Humid air brushed over her exposed legs, and the darkness lifted away. She blinked into the daylight as her eyes readjusted. Figures stood in front of her with the sun shining behind them, and when they came into focus she searched their faces for recognition. None of them appeared to be like her with their normal, human eyes. They were all women, beautiful women, and they stared back at her as though she were a foreign entity. Beyond her observers rolled chartreuse hills spotted with thick bushes, and hazy, grey mountains lifted above them in the distance whose crowns kissed the feathered clouds. To her right sprawled a field of tall grass with violet wildflowers as far as she could see.
Alyx looked down to examine her clothes. The blue jeans and long sleeve black shirt that the beasts had torn to shreds were traded for a short, black spaghetti-string silk dress – the same thing the other women wore – and felt soft against her skin. She lifted her arms, studying them in amazement. Her wounds appeared to be a week old, and the scabs had flaked away. The gateway must have healed them. Her body felt revitalized and strong again, as though she had slept for an entire month.
When she looked back up at her audience, their intrigue had turned to disgust, the judgment in their eyes unmistakable. Unsure if they meant to direct it at her, she turned to see what they could have possibly been gawking at, and her mouth dropped. She stood at the edge of a new forest of towering silk oaks and fiddlewood trees, which covered a sea of bushy bright green ferns with a comforting shade. Between her and the foliage floated a large convex bubble that displayed the dark mountain of Brasstown Bald. The gateway.
Like a round mirror, the portal dangled above the ground, displaying the dark, motionless forest her and Isaac were just a part of. The visual through the gateway was as clear as if she were still there. They saw me kiss him.
Her final moments on the ground with her Marked had played out for them like a movie on a widescreen TV, and whoever these women were, they must have known that it was unimaginable for her to do such a thing.
She couldn’t muster the courage to turn back around and face them, and fantasized about running through the large bubble to escape the embarrassment when a voice called to her in a familiar, chiming tone. “Alyx, over here!”
She peered over her shoulder guardedly, disbelieving in what she had heard, and shot a skeptical glance where the voice had come from -- behind the disapproving crowd.
The top of her blonde head bounced up behind the women, and she busted through the middle. Alyx blinked in disbelief and turned to face the person who had practically bounded up the hill to get to her, probably the best person she had ever known – Cindra.
She watched in astonishment as her long-lost friend sprinted toward her in the same short, silk dress. Her once messy hair fell gracefully around her shoulders in lively golden locks, her face glowing, and body statuesque. All of her clumsy awkwardness had vanished. She was now this magnificently stunning creature.
Alyx’s heart soared when she realized what she saw was not a mirage, and her arms opened for her friend to plow into them. Practically knocking her over, Cindra wrapped her arms around her and twirled her around. She sat Alyx on the ground and studied her face with sparkling eyes. “My Alyx,” she cooed. “I was so worried!” She brushed the back of her hand over the healing gashes on her cheek and leaned back in for another hug. “I’m so glad you made it.”
Alyx was still in shock, but the relief she experienced in that moment lifted her spirits. As her friend embraced her, she closed her eyes to soak it all in; as alone as she just felt, standing by herself in humiliation, Cindra had swooped in to save her.
With their bodies locked together, Alyx watched another woman follow in Cindra’s footsteps up the hill. Her light brown, curly hair bounced as she ran, and her ice blue eyes gave her exotic beauty a palpable sense of purity, almost hypnotizing. She too busted through the other women that still gawked at the ‘disgraced Protector’, and by the way she looked at Alyx with fondness, she figured both her and Cindra must have been somewhere else, not watching her shameful kiss with Isaac.
Cindra released her neck and clasped the bend of Alyx’s arms. “What happened to you guys? Your Marked is down at the human camp now being worked on by the doctor.”
When Cindra said “the doctor”, Alyx grinned. Maybe Isaac really would make it.
“There we go,” Cindra said with a chuckle. “I thought your face was broken for a minute.”
Alyx cleared her throat. “I’m sorry,” she said as her hand covered her heart. “I’m a little shell shocked.”
“It’s ok. We all were when we first got here.”
She stared at the ground between them and brushed her foot over the carpet of soft grass. “Did you see us before we came through?” she asked timidly, verifying that her assumptions were right – that Cindra didn’t see ‘the kiss’.
“I saw you guys coming, and then my Marked needed me at the camp so I left. But I just had to get back up here and see you!”
Her Marked!? “S-so you’re a Protector too?”
Cindra flashed her trademark grin. “Yes, we have a lot to talk about.”
“I’d say.”
As Alyx processed this news, the pieces of her memories on the other side of the gateway tumbled together to form a clearer picture. That must have been what Cindra meant in her letter, that she would see her here. But how did she know? And why didn’t she look like her? Her eyes were their usual, hazel brown.
“Oh, and this is Willow,” she said as she waved her hand toward the exotic woman.
Alyx nodded and offered her hand for a shake.
“Nice to meet you,” Willow said sweetly with a Spanish inflection.
As they greeted each other, Alyx sensed the others staring at them intensely. She turned her back to prevent their abhorrence from disrupting their reunion.
Her mind raced back to Isaac. If Cindra knew he was with the doctor, she must have seen him. “Is Isaac going to be ok?”
Cindra’s brow furrowed, and she dropped her head while picking at her fingernails. “It’s hard to say,” she said in a low voice. “But it’s not good, though.”
Alyx stormed between her and Willow to head down the hill, in the direction Cindra suggested the human camp was stationed. “I need to see him.”
Cindra’s strong hand grasped her upper arm, jerking her back. “Not right now!” she said with a heavy desperation. “He’s still passed out, and they need their space to work on him.”
“I need to see that he’s ok!” she said and pulled her arm away, surprised that her friend was so against it.
She cut her eyes to the other women cautiously and stepped toward her, lowering her voice even further to keep their conversation private. “He’ll be fine.”
“I thought you said that it was ‘hard to say’!” she barked, too annoyed to regard her friend’s attempts to stay quiet.
Cindra gently seized her hand and stroked
the top of it. “I know you’re worried, but let’s give them some space. You’ll be able to see him soon enough.”
She glanced down the hill and scowled. “If you say so.”
Cindra’s eyes brushed over the sky. The sun descended in its usual subtle curve. “Let’s escape for awhile and talk in private,” she said and gripped Alyx’s hand tighter. “This might be the only chance we have. We have to be back at this very spot at dawn to meet with the Elders.”
Alyx opened her mouth to protest, not wanting to be too far away from Isaac.
“We’ll be back by sunset,” Cindra said to Willow, cutting Alyx off, and took off running to the South through the flowered fields, tugging Alyx along without her full consent.
* * *
Once Alyx accepted that Cindra was going to get her way, she let go of her hand and was finally able to enjoy the body that she was given. Her long legs stretched forward with each spring and boosted her through the tall grass and flowers. She estimated they sprinted around sixty miles per hour as the field went by in blurry streaks of green and purple.
Even though her feet and legs were bare, her durable skin remained unaffected by the whipping of the grass and the stones along the ground. She might as well have been running on soft, lumpy carpet. As they continued South, she gazed over the horizon, allowing her eyesight to stretch its legs, as well. It zeroed in on two vivid red birds skimming the tops of the flowers, whose violet petals shivered from the draft beneath their black and white trimmed wings. As her and Cindra approached, the birds flew higher into the sky to avoid the two strange intruders. She smiled as aggravated chirps escaped their hooked beaks, slicing through the air. Their afternoon flight had been rudely disrupted.
She expanded her gaze farther to a butterfly in the distance. Its blue, watercolor wings flapped shakily against the stiff breeze. Alyx forced her sight in closer and could now make out the veins that weaved throughout them like a delicate lace. Beautiful.