by Nick Ryder
Cara sat up. Sampson tried to stop his daughter from getting up, but he knew if she was going to make a difference in the village, she needed to show them who was in charge.
She went through the doorway. There was a boulder near the flat rocks that made up the walkway from the hut. It hadn’t been there before; a souvenir of the attackers.
Limping from her battle wounds, she made her way along the path, down the slope toward the ruined amphitheater. Maurice and Wilbert trailed behind her with Sampson. Cara felt the wolf woman press her shoulder against her and Cara put her hand on Lisa to help steady her.
Surre sat with the rats on the ground. New plants were sprouting around her. Marie sat close by watching. She nodded at Cara.
The villagers saw the girl make her way down the earthen steps to the arena. People began gathering. They murmured as they looked at the beasts that surrounded the girl. Cara waited. She was good at waiting. One requisite skill of a leader was patience.
Overhead a great eagle soared. It was impossible to know if it was a creature from the base or a mutation from the Change. But it dipped lower, and people gasped when they saw it was a person.
“Hey, look,” they said unexpectedly. “I can fly!” and spooled away, gliding on broad wings. Perhaps it was another of the village who had been keeping their Change power a secret.
The Keeper emerged from the crowd. He found a seat at the base of the amphitheater. The book in his lap, a pen poised over the page ready to record their continuing history. Cara wished him luck silently for counting the points.
Rebecca helped Victor to their seats. The chairs smashed, she sat on the stone steps. Her father sat on a broken log. Cara saw on the far side of the theater, half-hidden among the others, Isaiah. He looked battle worn. She heard he had defended the perimeter valiantly. When he saw Cara watching him, she nodded slowly. There was a hint of admiration on his sooty face.
There weren’t two-hundred and fifty people. No, there was much less. They had lost many during the siege. The villagers were unprepared for what happened. Had it not been for the few, the many would have been snuffed out.
“We are only alive because of my friends,” Cara stated. “Keep that in mind when deciding how to treat them.” Her words were clear and loud. Anyone speaking before Cara immediately quieted. “The survivors of the red army have retreated—for now—but you can bet they are still out there plotting against us. It might not be soon, but we would be idiots to pretend we’re safe.”
“What are we meant to do if they come back with more force?” asked a man in the crowd.
“If we’re going to survive, we have to stop fighting each other.”
Cara took a breath. She moved away from Lisa’s shoulder. She put out her right hand. After a moment the gathering electrons erupted in a blue orb suspended just above her hand. When she pressed her left hand toward the globe, it brightened and expanded.
“We have more power than we allow ourselves to admit. I’m tired of hiding. I know there are others among us who are tired of hiding. I don’t want to challenge anyone here. We all deserve to live in peace. But if any among us aren’t willing to put aside this pettiness between the reds and blues, I will end it here and now.”
The ball pulsated as if for effect.
“If you are remaining here, you are staying as one. We are going to disband the colors. We are going to choose to live free from the burden of separation because someone decided to draw a line between the teams. If we are going to stay together, then we are going to do it as one team.”
“The Seer’s way saved humanity!” shouted another in the crowd, and a great many called out in agreement.
“It has never been proven that the Seer told us to split into opposing factions of red and blue,” said an aged, wise sounding voice. It was the Keeper. He nodded at Cara with pride. “I think it’s time for me to do more than simple keep records, in this moment at least. I agree that we should abandon the red versus blue tradition.”
After a moment of silence mixed with low murmuring and worried faces turned to each other, people began to gradually nod, then they began to cheer. It was clear the majority was in agreement on this matter.
“Yes! Good!” shouted Cara. “Then it’s settled.”
Surre came into the arena. She went to Cara’s side and squatted. Both hands on the ground and the theater floor began to sprout vivid green. The plants grew quickly; their buds climbed toward the sun and burst in spectacular ribbons of color.
Sampson went to his daughter.
He stood close to the redheaded cat woman, sitting and watching the crowd. Her large green eyes looked at Sampson watching her.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said quietly. “I just remembered my pet cat when I was a kid.”
“I’m not a pet,” Elaine said. “And I’m only a little bit cat. And only on the outside.” As if aware of the contradiction, Elaine rubbed the back of her fist against her furry cheek.
“Oh,” Sampson said.
Maurice and Wilbert moved into the arena. It was the solidarity that made them want to be a part of something.
And people followed, pulling off their colored tartans and throwing them to a pile in the middle of the amphitheater. The red and blue fabrics mingled together into one.
If she’d been one for drama, Cara would have burned them, but the material was too precious to go to waste.
She beamed at the people who had been moved by her speech, and ignored those who hadn’t shed their tartans straight away.
Change wasn’t always going to be immediate. She was thrilled that she’d had just a positive response to such a controversial demand.
Spencer would be proud of her.
“What are we going to do?” Cara asked when the ruckus began to die down. “I’m not sure what to do next.”
Lisa leaned over and pressed her nose against the girl’s cheek. She whispered, “I got news for you, adults mostly wing it too.”
Elaine moved closer to Cara. “We have to get back to the base.” She regarded the group around them. “There’s a lot to do there. And you have a lot to do here.”
Marie scurried into the huddle. “Not to mention, I bet master is going out of his mind wondering how things turned out. I bet he’s worried about me… ah, all of us.” Marie scurried into the huddle. “I think Ego is going to blow a fuse because we’ve just about exhausted all the reserve energy.” She pressed her cheek into Cara’s shoulder. Cara embraced Marie.
“I think Ego is going to blow a fuse because we’ve just about exhausted all the reserve energy,” added Lisa.
“You’re leaving us now?” asked Cara with bewilderment. The village suddenly felt so exposed to outside threats.
“We’re not going far, Cara,” Lisa told her. “You have to get your people to work together.”
“I think she’ll do just fine,” Elaine said.
“We’ll see you again,” Lisa said. “Soon.”
Together, the three of them and their menagerie of genetically enhanced creatures departed the amphitheater, and the village altogether.
Surre stared after her new friends and drooped her head. The flowers surrounding her feet wilted in sadness in mimicry. Cara stood in the center of the arena. She was now confident to take on the mantle of leader.
Rebecca glared at her from her father’s broken throne and helped the old man limp back to his hovel. Cara surveyed the vicinity. There was a lot to do. She moved toward a group of people who stared at her, afraid and curious. She smiled at them for the first time. It was the responsibility of a leader to show her people the first step is to not be afraid.
Epilogue
My girls returned to me battered and bruised, but alive. They sure were a sight for sore, worried, brain-in-a-jar, CCTV eyes.
They traipsed into the lounge and collapsed into seats while the surviving mutant creatures followed instructions from Lisa to go and rest in apartments on different floors.
&n
bsp; I, of course, required them to tell me everything that had happened before they could sleep.
It felt emasculating, sitting behind my camera lens as they explained their fight to me. I knew that my time would come to be the central hero once again, just like I had been in my military days right up until the moment I’d died trying to lob a grenade at the biggest, most purple pair of balls ever.
I was a fighter. I should have been there. Only now, I was the core of what might be the most crucial place in the whole world right now. This military base was the real power that had made it possible for my girls to get out there and do something truly good and noble. In many ways, I was the hero too.
“You saved them all,” Marie said, voice soft and enticing. It was as though she could sense me frustration even though I had no face to express it with. “Without you sending help they would have been crushed. You’re so smart.”
“You saved our lives,” Lisa admitted, though she didn’t look at the camera as she said it. “I’m grateful.”
Elaine purred, eyes half shut. “You’ll have a body for the next one,” she said. “Then you can come and celebrate with us.”
Marie shot a flirty look at the camera, chewing her bottom lip. “Yeah, I’d like to celebrate with you. This isn’t really the same.”
Lisa visibly rolled her eyes, but didn’t dissent to the sentiment.
It wouldn’t be long until I had a body, and then I’d be able to do all the things that had been stolen from me. And so much more! I could fight for my territory, I could finally fuck my women, and I could reclaim the glory I’d lost in the Change.
Ego’s genderless voice cut through the moment. “Why don’t you want to celebrate with me?”
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