by R. W. Ridley
“Everyone in the room jumped, but remained seated. ‘Our existence, boys and girls, is as fragile as that plate,’ he said calmly. ‘I don’t think you people really get that. Am I wrong?’
“No one answered, but I snickered unintentionally. The redhead looked at me and shook her head, warning me to shut up, but it was too late.
“‘What’s your name?’ Carl asked me.
“‘Archie,’ Jerry answered for me.
“Carl shouted, ‘I asked him!’ He breathed deeply to settle his nerves. Through clenched teeth he said, ‘What is it you find so funny, Archie?’
“The redhead lightly kicked me under the table. I got the message. Ask for forgiveness and hope I receive it.
“‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean...’ I stopped myself. I looked at the redhead and she gave me a look that reminded me of my wife. It was a fleeting look that flashed through her eyes in a split second, but I saw it and couldn’t shake it. I cleared my throat. ‘I... I lost...’ I couldn’t find the words to say what I wanted to say without making Carl even madder. ‘I’m twenty-one. I know that’s not very old. Although, in this room I’d say it makes me the second oldest guy here. I’ve seen how fragile life is first hand. I lost my family. I had a wife, a son... I had plans for the next fifty or sixty years of my life... I don’t know what happened to them. I imagine what happened to them every day. I try not to, but I can’t help myself.’ I saw a tear running down the redhead’s cheek. I smiled and turned to Carl. ‘At the risk of really pissing you off, I think that telling these kids they don’t know how fragile life can be is... well about the dumbest thing I ever heard. Just because they were strong enough to survive the end of the world doesn’t mean they’re not broken into a million little pieces like that plate.’
“The oxygen was sucked out of the room as each member of the dinner party gasped at my unabashed insolence. I had challenged the unchallengeable. I got the feeling they fully expected to see me be beheaded by the sheer will of Carl’s anger.
“He sat silently, twirling his fork in his hand. His eyes fixed on me. I could feel the heat of his stare. ‘Jerry,’ he said still looking at me. ‘Assemble everyone in the library.’
“A quick glance at Jerry revealed a seething, sweaty soldier anxious to choke me within an inch of my life.
“‘Jerry!’ Carl shouted.
“Jerry turned to him. ‘Sir?’
“‘Assemble our captains in the library.’
“Carl’s second-in-command stood, eyes back on me. ‘Library,’ he shouted. ‘Now, double time!’
“The others quickly scooted their chairs back and trotted in an organized fashion to the hallway. The redhead looked over her shoulder at me before she exited. I prayed for her that nobody noticed.
“The room was empty with the exception of Carl and me. He stood with his glass of water and moved to a chair next to mine. His posture was relaxed and unthreatening. He crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. ‘Why didn’t you save your family?’
“He asked me this as if he were asking me why I let the milk in the refrigerator go sour. He didn’t give a thought at how uncaring it sounded. I didn’t know how to answer.
“‘C’mon,’ he said. ‘Let’s not kid ourselves. Your family’s dead or worse. It’s your fault. Why didn’t you save them?’
“I thought I said ‘I...,’ but it could have been a pathetic squeak of a sound, or I may not have said anything at all. I was shocked and horrified by the question. Not because I hadn’t thought about it before. I thought about it a million times a day. I didn’t save my family. Whatever their fate, I was responsible. I was the husband and father. It was my job to protect them. I failed.
“‘Do you want to know what I think?’ Carl asked.
“I didn’t but I didn’t have enough wherewithal to tell him. I just sat there dumbfounded and let him speak.
“‘You’re not a man, Archie.’
“The tears began to fall.
“‘Your little boy, what was he? Two, three years old?’
“I don’t know what possessed me to answer, but I said ‘Fourteen months, three days.’
“Carl laughed. ‘I bet you know his age to the hour. Did he know any words?’
“‘A couple.’
“‘Did he know how to say Daddy?’ He leaned in.
“I nodded.
“Whispering now, he said, ‘I bet you even money he was calling for you when they got him.’
“I went numb.
“‘Your wife, too.’
“I raised my arm and rammed my elbow into Carl’s chin. His head jerked to the right and blood shot out of his mouth. He didn’t cry out in pain. He brought his hand up to his face and rubbed the site of impact.
“‘Nice shot,’ he said hovering his head over the plate in front of him. He spat out a tooth, took a swig of water, swished it around in his mouth and spat the red fluid into the glass. He held up the tooth. ‘If you want to keep on surviving this world, you got to get rid of the fragile parts that are holding you back, including those thoughts that tell you what’s right and wrong, or where you failed. They don’t matter. If you let them matter, you’re dead.’ He stood up. ‘You lost your family. I don’t care. Is that clear?’ He didn’t wait for me to answer. He moved to the door to the hallway. ‘Tomorrow we see where your people fit into our group. When you get your assignments, you’ll do your duties with no questions asked.’
“‘And what if we don’t want to join your group?’ I asked.
“I got some satisfaction when I saw him grin with one less tooth. ‘Archie, it should be abundantly clear to you by know that not joining our group is not an option.’ He opened the door. ‘By the way, if you ever raise a hand to me again, I’ll have your hand cut off.’ With that he disappeared into the hallway.”
***
“The redhead escorted me to the pens. I got the sense that she was ordered not talk to me, but once we were in the cover of darkness, she couldn’t resist any longer.
“‘My name is Madison,’ she whispered. There was some awkward silence before she spoke again. ‘I’m sorry about your family.’ More awkward silence. ‘I’ve never seen anyone talk to Carl like that.’
“‘Yeah, well it wasn’t the best idea I ever had,’ I said.
“‘I know he seems like a bad guy, but he’s not. If it weren’t for him, half of these people would be dead. The other half would probably wish they were dead.’
“‘You’ll forgive me if I don’t throw him a parade.’
“‘His methods may seem harsh...
“‘I actually think it would be better if we didn’t talk about... him.’ I said sharply as we rounded a corner of hedges. I couldn’t take her rationalizing Carl’s behavior anymore. She seemed a little hurt by my tone.
“The pens were a hundred yards ahead. They were small dog pens. Tank, April, and Little Bobby where huddled together in one pen. It was maybe eight by twelve feet. There was nothing but hard ground for them to sit on.
“There were other pens. Most of them were empty, but I counted at least three others that housed people, animals, or creatures of some unknown origin inside them. There were more pens that stretched beyond the darkness. Whether they contained captives or not, I didn’t know, but throughout the night we heard grunts, groans, and crying coming from the deepest darkest recesses of the pen area.
“We arrived at the door to the pen holding my crew. It was padlocked shut. Madison unlocked it and hesitated before she opened the door. ‘I could talk to Carl,’ she said.
“‘About what?’ I asked.
“Turning to me, ‘Your accommodations. I might be able to get you into the house. You’d have a bed. A fully stocked kitchen to raid at night.’
“‘Thanks,’ I said walking past her and opening the door. ‘But I like these accommodations just fine.’ I stepped into the pen and pulled the door shut. The others didn’t bother to greet me as I entered.
“She clicked the padlock back
in place. ‘Suit yourself.’ She started to walk away and then stopped. ‘Lose the fight.’ “‘What?’
“‘Your first test,’ she said. ‘Lose.’ She walked away without another word.
“‘Test... fight?’ I said to the darkness.
“Tank started to laugh.
“‘What?’ I asked.
“‘Nothing. I just think it’s funny that she thinks she has to tell you to lose the fight. Obviously she’s never seen you fight.’
“I nodded and gave him a hard look. ‘Ha, ha.’ I sat across from the others with my back against the chain link wall of the pen. ‘You guys okay?’
“‘Super,’ April said giving me the same hard look I had given Tank. ‘You should have seen the lovely oatmeal they gave us to eat.’
“‘They feed you?’ Tank asked.
“‘Ahh, yeah,’ I said. ‘Oatmeal. Like you.’ I tapped Little Bobby’s foot. ‘How you doing, Little B?’
“He pulled his knees to his chest and turned away.
“‘Look, Bobby, about what I did back there. I didn’t want them to hurt you.’
“‘You hurt me,’ he mumbled.
“‘They would have hurt you worse,’ I said.
“‘You called my cartwheel idioptic.’
“I dropped my chin to my chest and held back the urge to laugh at him. He had me there. ‘I did, and I’m sorry. I was just trying to help.’
“He started picking at the chain link wall. He wasn’t in the mood for a reconciliation. I backed off.
“‘What did you find out up there?’ Tank asked.
“I thought about his question. I learned things were getting more and more hopeless by the hour. I learned the world ended and apparently all that was left behind were cowards and jerks. I learned that given the right tools and circumstances I probably could have taken another man’s life. I rubbed my chin and said. ‘I learned we’ve got to do whatever we can to get as far away from this place as possible.’
***
“We were dragged out of the pen at first day break. A pair of lackeys I hadn’t seen before threw warm water on us as we lay sleeping on the ground. They took great joy in our startled reaction to their wake-up service. They handed us bowls of cut fruit and gave us five minutes to eat it. The fruit had spoiled sometime ago, and we spit it out long before our time was up.
“They guided us through a path that took us past all the other pens. They were empty. I had the feeling the fight Madison wanted me to lose involved one of the missing occupants from the other pens.
“We passed a large oak choked by Spanish moss and entered a horseshoe-shaped bowl surrounded by small hills, lightly sloped, about thirty feet high. Carl and his followers sat on the hillside looking down on us as we approached.
“Carl clapped, ‘The entertainment is here, boys and girls.’ The crowd cheered.
“We were in an arena. Our first test was upon us. I scanned the crowd and saw Madison leaning against a tree at the highest point of the biggest hill. She nodded. I could read the meaning in the nod. Lose.
“Across the small field, at the foot of the hill immediately in front of us were what I could only guess were the other captives.
Only one was remotely human. And he was twice the size of Tank. The other creatures were freaks in every sense of the word. There was some kind of part ape part Délon that I would later find out is known as a Dac. There was a Bashir, and something they called a halfer that defied description.
“‘Pair ‘em up!’ Carl shouted. ‘Halfer forward.’
“One of Carl’s soldiers jabbed the halfer in the back with a pitch fork and forced it to the middle of the field.
“‘Let’s see, who shall we pair our halfer friend with?’ “‘The big one,’ a member of the crowd shouted.
“‘The girl,’ another one shouted.
“‘Yeah, the girl,’ someone else concurred.
“Carl smiled. ‘Ladies first.’
“One of our escorts shoved April toward the halfer. I stepped forward but was immediately punched in the kidney, which sent me to my knees.
“April tried to step back a couple of times, but each time she was pushed forward by one of the goons. Tank dropped his head in shame. He was too afraid to do anything. Little Bobby paced nervously. He tugged on Tank’s arm a few times trying to get him to help April, but Tank only responded by pulling his arm away. I attempted to stand, but couldn’t catch my breath from the kidney punch.
“The halfer was poked repeatedly with the pitch fork until it couldn’t take it anymore . It hobbled hurriedly and wrapped its purple arm around April’s neck. She screamed bloody murder. Her only defense was to bite it, but the ugly beast seemed to take joy in her choice of defense. It picked her off the ground and tossed her aside with little effort. April pleaded for help as she crawled away from the approaching halfer. I stood despite my pain and turned to the punk who had punched me in the kidneys. I motioned for him to come closer. He witlessly agreed. As he leaned in to hear what I had to say, I gave him the same elbow to the mouth I had given Carl the night before, betting that this crony wasn’t as tough as his boss. As I expected, he tumbled to the ground. I took the opportunity to turn and run out into the middle of the field. The crowd booed me. I helped April to her feet and positioned her behind me. The halfer seemed tentative. It didn’t know what to do. It clumsily lunged for us, but I gave it a light tap on the shoulder and it fell in a heap to the ground. It’s impractical build of half-man half-Délon obviously didn’t make it very fleet of foot. It made its way to its knees and flailed wildly, grabbing for my feet, but I easily moved out of its reach. The crowd grew more and more impatient at the creature’s ineptness and my interference.
“The creep I had knocked out with the elbow to the face was coming too. Happily, I watched as Tank feigned helping him up, but really struggled to keep him flat on his back. Our second escort was too occupied with trying to get me off the field to notice. I was just about ready to feel like we had won the day when I was faced with an unexpected development. The halfer’s head was flattened like a pancake.
“I saw the Bashir draw back its enormous fist, its mouth open in a victory roar, strands of mucus stretching from pointy tooth to pointy tooth creating a grotesque web.
“‘My opponent, I presume,’ I said.
“It didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure if Bashirs could talk. They had a great reputation for smashing things. But they were not known for their gift of gab. It raised both fists and brought them down to the ground with an earth-shaking thud, leaving large dents in the hard ground. The force of the blow knocked me back into April and we both stumbled backward. The Bashir leaped forward and snapped its massive jaws. Its two huge tusks stopped a whisker short of the monster’s black eyeballs when the mouth clamped shut.
“April screeched in my ear. The Bashir recoiled slightly from her scream. It was a promising sign. I screamed, but it had no effect. Maybe my voice was too deep. ‘Scream,” I said to April. She processed the request for a second and then let out a bloodcurdling scream. The Bashir cupped its massive hands over its ears. ‘Again,’ I said. She happily complied. The Bashir stepped back. It was working. It was too perfect to be true. ‘Keep it coming,’ I said, but this time she did not respond. I turned to see goon number two muffling her screams with a meaty hand over her mouth.
“I turned back just as the Bashir had made up the ground it had given and then some. The monster was just a foot or two away. Just as I was about to give up and let the smasher do its thing, I heard another scream. This one was not quite as high pitched as April’s but it was a decent imitation. A glance to my right revealed Little Bobby screaming his ever-loving head off. I could have kissed him.
“The Bashir did not have the same reaction to Bobby’s screams as it did to Aprils. Instead of repulsing him, the freak of nature was drawn in by Little Bobby’s screeching. In fact, it even lost interest in me. It tilted its head and examined poor little stupid Bobby, and Bobby was too dumb to st
op screaming.
“‘Bobby,’ I said. ‘Stop.’
“But Little Bobby was screaming so loud he couldn’t hear me. “‘Bobby...’
“Before I could plead with him to stop again, the Bashir bolted toward Little Bobby. I frantically looked around for something to stop it. I spotted a baseball size rock in the field, picked it up and flung it at the Bashir. It hit the creature on the back of the head, but didn’t seem to affect him at all. It stomped forward, drool hanging from its clenched mouth. Little Bobby was about to be smashed to bits and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. “‘Bobby,’ I yelled one more time.
“This time he stopped screaming, but it was beyond too late at this point. The Bashir stopped and stood in front of Little Bobby. It nodded its massive head frantically. A clacking noise emanated from its throat. It circled Bobby. There was an unsettling sense of joy in its odd display. It was ecstatic to see Little Bobby. It craned its neck back, lifted its snout to the sky, and let out a sound like a bugle, which forced everyone in the arena to plug their ears.
“When the cry ended it was replaced with the swishing sounds of dozens of arrows flying through the air. I instinctively dove to the ground pulling April with me. I covered my head with my hands just as I heard the thwack, thwack, thwack of the arrows striking the Bashir. Most of them bounced off their target, but a few found soft spots in the Bashir’s otherwise impenetrable armor-like skin. It squealed. An odd sound for such a brutish beast. Bobby stood stunned but unharmed.
“Carl and his soldiers stormed the field, new arrows drawn and ready to fire. The Bashir turned to them and snorted. It raised a fist and smashed the ground. The force of it knocked several of his attackers off their feet, their arrows flying misguided throw the air.
“The Bashir grabbed Little Bobby with its other hand and placed himself between Bobby and the unfired arrows. Little Bobby gagged. ‘Archie, help!’