The One

by J. K. Accinni

  “What do you mean, it’s Doc? Something wrong with him? Is he sick or something?”

  “No, no, nothing like that.” She swallowed, suddenly shy and embarrassed with the attention on her. This was something she had hoped to avoid even as she knew it was impossible. “Eh . . . Doc . . . has been . . . eh . . . looking at me.”

  “Looking at you? What the heck are you talking about, girl? He’s been like a father to you.”

  Suzy cast her eyes down and mumbled, “That’s what everyone thinks. But he only cares to make me remember where my grandfather’s shelter is. He’s convinced I’ll remember someday . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  “Well, that’s no big deal. It’s not like he raped you.”

  As Suzy sat unmoving, the silence thickened.

  “Oh . . . my sweet, little Suzy girl. Come here and sit next to me, hon. He did rape you, didn’t he?” Her horrified voice reduced Suzy to tears and she quickly moved to the bed to be swept up in the capable hands of her best friend, mentor and surrogate mother. Her hot unshed tears finally emerged to gush unchecked onto the flannel smock of the only one in the whole tribe that could give her the kind of comfort she so desperately needed.

  *

  Two weeks passed in the Franklin Mines. Suzy managed to elude Avery, but her evenings became a nightmare. Even though she always knew the time was bound to come, she was revolted by the sick expressions dancing across Doc’s face now every time he looked at her.

  Often, they would sit outside their hovel to share the food she brought from the master kitchen. Suzy could always tell from the look on his face when she was in for another bad night, another assault. That’s what she called it. That’s what it was.

  During the moments he demanded she disrobe, she could feel her spirit slip back into her secret black hole, piece by piece, as he caressed her barely-developed breasts and moved on to his beastly satisfaction.

  She felt branded by the initiation. Branded and humiliated, positive everyone could see and mock her. No longer did she venture out into the cavern on her mercy errands, Doc’s trove of medicines now safe from her sticky fingers. She missed her moments with Liz, but couldn’t risk the exposure, and who had the strength anyway?

  The last time Liz had sent someone to get her, she lay flaccid, unwilling to listen to the summons for help that was sure to bring more stress and pain at a time she overflowed with horrors of her own.

  That’s where she lay today. On the same shabby altar Doc Benjamin had first used when he raped her. Wondering why he had waited this long to do it, she could only imagine that he must have given up on the hope she would reveal the whereabouts of her grandfather’s bomb shelter.

  As she lay drifting in and out of her fugue, she suddenly felt the jarring of her bed. Opening her eyes, she realized Doc was back.

  “Are you just going to lie there all day, missy? I’m not going to put up with much more of your prima donna conduct. You know I can’t afford to let the tribe see you disrespect me like this. You’re my woman now.”

  Suzy weighed the merits of rising, but was unable to rouse the energy. She watched Doc as he paced, his long, greasy hair tied back like the rest of the men, unable to disguise his now receding hairline. His once-straight legs had a decided bow to them, shortening his stature. Between his scabs, the blisters in his face, and the tooth loss they all suffered, he no longer retained the aura of a confident able leader she had once thought he was.

  No. He just looked like a common man with an evil core; the core of a slave owner who abused his slave.

  And now that she was a woman, Doc was treating her the same way the rest of the camp women were treated.

  From inside Suzy’s dark space, a burst of bitter bile illuminated her pain, crystalizing a shred of reality. She slowly lowered her feet to the floor of the hut.

  “That’s better. Now go get me something to eat, woman.”

  Fourteen-year-old Suzy stood, eyeing Doc’s machete that lay in the corner of the hut. The bile from her dark space began to rise, tentative and unsure. She let her eyes again flicker to the machete. Smoothing down her tattered clothes and reaching for a cloth, she rubbed down her bald head as if preparing to leave.

  Her feet slowly inched closer to the machete, sweat trickling down from under her arms in the coolness of the hut. Her right hand made contact with the handle of the machete as she continued to slowly and methodically rub her scalp.

  They heard a commotion outside the hut. Doc moved to the entrance, peeling back the privacy blanket.

  “Ladies? To what do I owe the honor of this unusual visit?” His voice thrummed with the message that served to remind the visitors their presence clearly was not an honor.

  Two women belonging to Liz’s man ducked inside, tears and red faces on fire as they gushed out the news.

  “Please, Doc. Please. You must come. They’re dying.” Kimmey sank to her knees to blubber her entreaties while Liselle sidled up to Suzy with a low hiss.

  “Suzy, you must come quick. It’s Liz. Where’ve you been? There’s blood everywhere. It’s the baby.”

  As if emerging from underwater, Liselle’s dire news pushed Suzy through to the land of the miserable living as her spark was released from where it hid and shocked her into action. Her eyes regained focus.

  “Liz?”

  “Yes. Now get us some help!”

  Suzy moved to a chest filled with freshly-rolled bandages, reaching in to pass them to Kimmey and Liselle as Doc Benjamin laughed.

  “Just what the hell do you women think you’re doing?”

  Suzy stopped, turning her bald head to Doc. She motioned to the women.

  “Go . . . I’m right behind you.”

  Doc laughed again; scorn his flavor of the moment. “I don’t recall giving you permission to go anywhere.” He stood with his arms crossed, relaxed and appearing not to take her intentions seriously. Looking him in the eye, Suzy demanded the keys to the medicine cooler.

  “You must be joking, dear girl.”

  She moved in closer, her face a mask of heinous intention and something else . . . something snake-like that flickered across her face. Something new that she understood frightened them both. “One more time. The keys.” The intonations of her voice promised nameless misery as Doc removed the keys from his chain. His unexpected capitulation emboldened her.

  “You’re coming too.” Wordlessly, with a shove from Suzy, they were out the door and on their way to Liz. Doc’s medical bag with an assortment of chilled vials and capsules from the locked cooler stayed clutched in her white-knuckled hands.

  The screams could be heard the second they stepped into the cavern, cutting through the thickening miasma of stench.

  Hurrying, they followed the sounds of commotion until they reached the large crowd around Liz’s hovel. Men and women surrounded the entrance, fear and terror in the posture of the women as they hung on to each other, praying for the woman who meant so much to their sanity.

  Suzy fought her way through the crowd, which finally parted as they realized Doc was with her. Ominously, the screams stopped.

  Suzy crept up to Liz’s blood-soaked bed, struck dumb by the copious amount that couldn’t possibly have come from one boney pregnant young woman. Not my Liz.

  Casting her terrified eyes around the crowded hut, she watched Kimmey sobbing softly, curled up in the corner. Liselle stood motionless, her eyes wide and unseeing. Liz’s man, Surrel, knelt at the side of the bed covered in blood as he tried to rub life back into the cooling hand of his favorite woman. Outside women clustered meekly at the foot of the bed, one holding a bundle in her arms.

  Doc sized up the situation, before ducking back out of the room to return with three other men who began to roll up their sleeves.

  “She died.” The words dropped like stone . . . cold venom filling the room. Liselle turned to face Suzy. “She died. And where were you when she needed you, little girl?” Liselle launched herself at Suzy, arms flailing, blows landing ineffec
tually on the teen’s head and shoulders.

  Surrel stood up as Doc and the other men subdued Liselle. She stood shaking, fear in her eyes as Surrel slapped her hard across the face.

  “What the hell’s gotten into you tonight? I said to bring Doc not his useless pet.” A quick glance over at Doc. “Beg your pardon there, Doc, don’t mean no offence, now.”

  “No offense taken, Surrel. Why don’t you let the boys get her out of here so the women can clean up this stinking mess?” Doc’s tone was dismissive and impatient. He reached out to liberate his bag from Suzy’s limp hands.

  “You’ve got five minutes. I’ll be waiting outside.” Doc’s voice sounded sure and commanding, the momentary control achieved by Suzy long departed.

  As Doc left the hut, the men pushed Surrel aside and began to wrap Liz in the bloody sheets and blankets.

  No one even heard Suzy whisper as they lifted her spent body from the bed. “Noooo, please God, give her back. I beg you . . .”

  “Move aside there now, girl.” Surrel began to take control of his hut and his women. “Kimmey, for Christ’s sake, stop your sniveling and get off the floor. She’s gone. It’s not like she’s not replaceable. Now get this place cleaned up. I want my dinner.”

  The Outside women brightened noticeably at Surrel’s words, hoping one of them might be the lucky replacement, enabling them to sleep safely inside, well removed from the nightly marauders.

  As Suzy numbly turned to leave, she heard the unmistakable sound of a newborn cry. Turning back to the Outside women, all eyes fastened on the bundle held in the arms of one of them.

  The tallest man carrying Liz out the door stopped.

  “You want to throw it in with this, Surrel? Or you gunna keep it?”

  Surrel scratched his head, looking at the dirty floor. “I don’t rightly know, boys. I’m of a mind to let you take it. I have enough little ones running around right now. His eyes lit up with a feral gleam of cunning.

  “Don’t suppose any of you boys might trade me for it?”

  “Is it a boy or a girl?”

  Surrel turned on the salesmanship. “It’s a boy. And not in bad shape. The foot looks a bit turned, but no bad lip. Cauliflower ear, but that ain't nothing.” The men looked at each other, a silent message flowing between them.

  “Na, we’ll take a pass. He won’t be good for much with a turned leg. He’ll just be a gimp. Doc don’t want no more resources spent on unproductive outcomes. Ya know what that means. If it had a been a girl, we coulda worked something out.”

  Suzy watched everyone nod their heads as if they understood; the women all agreeing while Suzy could see they were plainly paralyzed with fear and horror at the new policy.

  “Okay, just throw it on top here and we’ll be getting out of the way.” Surrel took the baby bundle from the woman and dropped it on top of the rubbish that was no longer Liz.

  Weak cries came from the bundle as the infant hit the dead body of his mother. The men lifted the pile, moving out the door; just another disposal job to finish so they could get on with dinner and some relaxation.

  “Wait,” Suzy shouted after the men, running after them and out the door. She scooped the infant up from Liz’s lifeless body, holding it against her chest, her heart thumping violently.

  As one of the men tried to pull the bundle from her arms, the infant’s cries increased.

  “Suzy, what the hell’s going on here? Let the men do their job.” Doc pulled on her arm as the baby was wrenched away from her.

  “Please.” Suzy made a pitiful meow. Her face shriveled with emotions, panic paralyzing her. She cast a quick glance at the men with Liz’s body and her baby, feeling that her essence lay under the bloody sheets with them.

  Her life was over. All hope of freedom had died with Liz. Her love for the young woman that had protected, nurtured and educated her in the subtlety of patience, threatened to tear her in two. And what of the other women in the tribe? What of their hopes of freedom and safety for their children, far from the brutality of Doc and his men? How could they replace Liz?

  Sure that her own strength came from the spirit of Liz, she knew she had to save the baby. Liz’s baby. It was a sign. A glimmer of a lifeline. A wisp of hope.

  She felt strength of purpose galvanize her into action. She threw herself at Doc’s feet, wrapping her skinny arms around his legs.

  “Please, Doc. The baby. I’ll do anything. I’ll take good care of him and keep him out of the way.” Her beseeching words, so uncharacteristic, made Doc pause. Suzy noticed and pressed her advantage.

  “I promise. I’ll do anything.” Jumping up, she ran to the men and made another grab for the infant.

  “Hey. Doc said . . .”

  Doc raised his hand silently, waving the men off. With resignation, they shrugged, mumbling under their breaths and moved off through the crowds with Liz’s body.

  Suzy walked slowly back to Doc, his expression unreadable. His silence made her nervous as she began to stumble and rush the words she hoped would persuade him.

  “How will you feed it?”

  Suzy’s heart missed a beat. “I can get the milk he needs from any number of women in the tribe. Some have had their babies . . . eh . . . taken.” Might as well call it with the truth. “They’ll be happy to allow the baby to nurse.”

  Doc’s expression remained unreadable, but Suzy could see calculations behind his eyes. She held her breath.

  “If I let you have this babe, I don’t want to see any more sulking. You will take your proper place in the tribe like any other woman. You will come to my bed when I call and you will do it eagerly. Is that clear?”

  The innocent child in Suzy was stung, her face drained of blood. Her thoughts warred with themselves as she considered the evenings of pain and humiliation it would take to save the baby. Her voice was a whisper. “Noooo. I cannot.”

  Doc moved forward to take the baby, his face darkening with anger. The infant suddenly calmed in her arms, a sweet musical squeak that muffled its way to her ears.

  “Wait, wait.” Sometimes pain can be bearable when done for the sake of love. Suzy didn’t know this, but she did know she loved Liz’s baby. Without it she would die anyway.

  As Doc placed his hands on the bundle in her arms, she reached out to place her fingers on his arm, his sweaty maleness invading her nostrils. She pressed down on his arm, sliding her fingers up to his shoulder in an attempt at a caress. “Okay, I agree.”

  Doc looked stoically in her eyes. The seconds ticked. Then his broken smile declared his acceptance; possessive and knowing as he slipped his arm around her. “All right now. Let’s go home. And no more nonsense.”

  Anxious over the deal she had just committed herself to, Suzy followed Doc through the stinking mess that Liz had called home.

  Approaching their own cavern, they could hear screams of laughter and cheering. Suzy wondered at the sounds, unusual in their nature for they included the sounds of women’s voices. As they followed the boisterous clatter, it became clear that something was occurring in the Council Center.

  Weaving their way through the deafening crowd, Doc pulled her and the baby to the center where some of the men stood dancing.

  Their faces were smeared with fruit juices and flakes of crusty green bits. The tribe members around them squatted in supplication, hands reaching out to beg as everyone stared at the impossibility of the giant fruit and vegetables piled high near the fire, the flames turning the healthy vibrant colors to jewels.

  Stunned, Doc and Suzy approached. Doc reached down to pick up a three-pound peach, heavy with ripe juices. The fragrant smell of freshness made Suzy dizzy. Doc took a sniff, his eyes still unbelieving. He held the peach out to her, inviting a bite. She looked around at the cheering crowd then down at the bundle in her arms. She hesitantly bit down into the soft juicy meat of the mythical fruit, liquid running down her chin.

  And Suzy smiled.

  Chapter 4

  2086 AD

  K
enya’s droopy eyelids fought with the calming sensation of Baby’s leather hands as they stroked her huge abdomen. The warmth of Netty’s cooking fire stroked tendrils of heat over her body, helping to suffuse her with the natural pheromones of relaxation that had kept her calm at meals for the last twenty nine years, thanks to Baby. She could feel the limbs of her unborn infant relax as Baby worked his magic with his auras on the unborn child.

  “Does the baby talk back to you, Baby?”

  “Sister, don’t you know the baby can’t talk?”

  “You sound like a wise guy now, Mr. Furburger.”

  “I am very wise, Sister, but my fur is not of the burger kind. It is quite ordinary.”

  Abby laughed as she overheard the discussion. Bending down, the two women exchanged a warm hug. Abby’s wings lay shimmering down her back, following the natural curves of her slender figure, the lethal emulsion in her delicate crystal-like horns reflecting prisms on the walls from the light of the fire.

  “I can see the two of you are discussing serious affairs again this evening. Don’t let me interrupt.” Patting Baby on the head she moved on, tossing a wave to Echo who sat curled up with Barney on his straw mat near the fireplace.

  The boisterous voices from the other tables thickened as the survivors sat down to await one of Dezi’s supreme culinary confections, his talent as head chef now unmatched by anyone in the Hive.

  “I don’t know how many times I need to tell you, Johno. Tobi and her herd of sixty nine will be invaluable for lugging the material out of the Hive when we need to build.”

  Johno grimaced as Jose made his case. “I don’t want my elephants to be exploited. Haven’t they been through enough in their lifetime? Especially Tobi. Do you think she forgets, my friend?”

  Jose assumed his most persuasive voice. “I’m just bringing it up now so they can get used to what we’ll need. We can practice with them. We have plenty of time.”

  “Then why do you keep bringing it up if we have so much time? Let them live and enjoy their new calves and their freedom in the growing fields with the dogs and piglets. There’ll be plenty of time to fight over the exploitation of Tobi and the herd. Miss Netty said we have another seventy years or so.”