“What do you think you’ll find behind that wall? Magic trolls?”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be so curious about it,” he says.
“Maybe it’s a hospital,” I tease him. “Or a fancy hotel from Earth’s past that is still open and
hasn’t realized the world has ended.”
I see him walk to the wall and start putting his plan in action.
“Not even you can be that strong,” I mumble before I close my eyes.
When I open them again, Damian’s sitting near the mouth of the cave. He’s naked above the
waist with glistening droplets of sweat all over his torso and arms. His breathing is fast and his skin golden over his exerted muscles except for some spots of blood here and there and bruises on his
shoulder and ribs. I’ve only seen such physical perfection in pictures of Greek statues.
“We shouldn’t be together,” I joke. “You’re too beautiful for me. For anyone really.”
“Men are not beautiful,” he says without looking at me, the whole time messing with something
in his hands.
“What’s that in your hands?” I say.
“Nothing much.” He quickly puts it away in his pocket and looks at me. “Did you even notice? I
moved the rock.” There is a hole in the wall big enough for us to walk through. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake,” he says. “There’s something I need to show you.”
12
Damian carries me down the tunnel behind the wall. I keep my arms around his neck and my
head against his shoulder. I feel secure and out of danger when I’m so close to him even in the
darkness and the cold. The flashlight works at its lowest setting to conserve energy.
I feel the pain in my thigh and hip now but I don’t want any more drugs. I might need them later
when things become really unbearable. So I tell him nothing and I let him take me wherever he wants.
Damian kisses my forehead. I feel a sudden happiness that’s almost as painful as my injury. A
strange feeling like a sweet ache in my heart. I don’t know why he’s decided we should cross the
tunnel to the other side and I don’t have the energy to ask. He knows what he’s doing. I’m certain of that. If he thinks there’s something I should see, then that’s good enough. I want to stop thinking now and just let him carry me home.
“There,” he says. “Can you see it? The end of the tunnel?”
Soft morning light comes through a round opening in brilliant circles and beams. We cannot get
outside into the light. There’s a pool of water blocking our exit from the cave.
Damian takes me to the edge. “Look at this,” he says. “Isn’t it amazing?”
“It’s a hot spring,” I whisper looking at the spectacular hues and shades of the water. Some
green, some blue, some brown, some golden.
“Do you want to get your feet in?” he says. “I’ve tested the water, it’s not too hot round the
edges.”
“So that’s what you’ve been doing while I was asleep.”
“I was actually hoping to find a hidden stash of food and tools, maybe even a vehicle,” he says.
“All I found is this spring. And this.”
He shows me what looks like a worn-out plastic bag.
“That bag? What significance is that?” I say confused.
“I studied this bag. It has not been here long. It’s old but it’s clean. It might have been down here days, maybe a few weeks at most. Someone has been here.”
He sets me down by the edge of the spring with the pod pillow under my injured thigh. He
removes my boots. I welcome the hot feeling of the colorful water on my feet and ankles.
“You should try it, too,” I say. “Clean up some of that blood.”
He removes his boots and rolls up his pants around the ankles. He dips his hands in the water
and washes his face.
He offers me the last bottle of our water when he sits beside me. I realize I haven’t seen him
drink any water in a while. I take a few sips and hand him back the bottle.
“Your turn,” I say.
He takes a small sip and puts the cap back on. “This water at our feet is fresh water.”
“We can’t drink it. The beautiful bright colors you see in the hot spring are a warning caused by
bacteria thriving at high temperatures,” I say. “Someone told me this in a past life.” I know that it was Finn but don’t want to say his name.
“Another trap,” he says. “I’m starting to hate South America.”
I kick the water with my good leg to punish it playfully. I immediate feel pain in my ribs.
“Ouch,” I say.
“Stop trying to be cute,” he says. “You’re going to kill yourself.”
I smile and rest my head against his shoulder. “Just say it. I want to hear it,” I say not quite sure myself what it is that I want him to say.
He stays silent examining his fingernails. “I never would tell anyone this, but I want a normal
life like old Earth. I want to marry you,” he says.
“You are definitely dehydrating,” I say not wanting to believe my ears. “Wait. What did you just
say? Say it again.”
“I said we should try swimming,” he says.
“No, you didn’t!” I protest. “You said something preposterous like getting married. What would
that even mean in this strange time?”
He smiles. “I think love is not a sane thing and this not a sane time. Perhaps marriages and
homes are what we get if we win back the world. I want to win. I want to win for me and for you and
for everyone else.”
“So you actually said what I thought you said?”
“C’mon, we both know I did.”
“And you were serious?”
“That’s not something to joke about, Freya.”
We fall silent for a while. In a fleeting moment I see myself in a white bridal gown with ribbons
and lilies in my hair. I see an imaginary father holding my hand, maybe the commander or, better yet, Finn walking me down the aisle with a cheerful smile on his face.
Damian would be there waiting for me at the altar dressed in a dark blue suit with no tie. He’d
refuse the tie. It’s probably useless to make decisions regarding my destiny now but I make them
anyway.
“I like the idea,” I say. “We’ll discuss it when we get back to Exodus. I can’t wait to see Pip’s
face when I tell her.”
Damian puts his arms around me with a gentleness that touches my heart. He checks the
temperature on my forehead with his lips.
“I don’t want to wait,” he says. “Let’s do it now.”
“Now? How could we do that? It’s just the two of us.”
“I thought there’s only two people needed for a marriage.”
“For a marriage, yes, but not for a wedding. You need witnesses and someone who’s authorized
to perform the ceremony.”
“Who needs all those formalities? We’ll do it for us,” he says.
I see now that he’s convinced I’m not going to get out of here alive. It’s not just a fear anymore,
it’s a very likely prospect. I decide to play along. To give him whatever he needs to help him cope
with being alone if I don’t make it.
“I can’t even stand up,” I say.
“You don’t have to.”
He takes the blanket out of the satchel and spreads it out on the ground. He supports me so I can
take the few steps to get there. He helps me sit and he kneels down opposite me. He takes my hands in his.
“You’re serious,” I say.
“I have to warn you,” he says. “I have no idea how to do this.”
&nbs
p; “Me neither,” I say. “Let’s just skip to the kissing. That’s all I remember.”
He looks into my eyes and licks his lips. “Freya, you are the one for me,” he says. “I want to
protect and hold you and be the man you’ve wanted me to be. With all my strength and all my
weakness, I love you. Now and forever.”
“Now and forever,” I say. “Nice touch.”
“Will you be my wife?” he says.
His sincerity overwhelms me finally. “Yes, Damian, I will,” I say smiling. “As long as I still
breathe and longer, even beyond the river of time.”
We kiss. I swear my heart stops beating in reverence to our union.
“The marriage is real,” I whisper. “I can feel it.”
Time is a river. It fights against itself to stay on course, smoothing out the rocky parts that try to resist it. The river flows gentle until all at once it roars and hisses and comes for us, for all that we have, terrifying us, thrilling us before it releases us to float further down the river or it sends us out suddenly into the dark sea that waits for us all beyond our mortal lives.
*
I FALL IN AND OUT of sleep. We’re out of clean bandages and almost out of food. The water
that we have left we keep out of sight so we don’t get tempted to gulp it all down. I keep telling
Damian he should be drinking that water. It’s really wasted on me now. But he won’t hear it.
He spends most of the time outside looking for a water source. He says even the jungle is dying.
There has been no rain in a long time. Maybe he secretly hopes for the aliens to find us so we can die in battle instead of wasting away.
Damian barely sleeps and when he does fall asleep, he wakes up shortly afterward drenched in
sweat with a dry mouth and a wild look on his face.
When he comes in from his latest scouting trip, I barely have the strength to lift my head. I
realize it’s time for me to say goodbye. I am drinking the water that could save him.
“There’s some moisture in these roots,” he says weakly holding an armful of dirt dry roots. “I’ll
eat them and it’ll give me some hydration.”
“Come here,” I say.
He humors me and sits down with his legs extended in front of him. He pulls me close to him
and places my head on his chest. I reach out to touch his dry, chapped lips.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so volatile,” he says.
“Listen to me, Damian. You have to start thinking ahead. You have to try and get out of here.
You’re strong, you’re resilient, you’ll get to a place where you can survive.”
“Don’t even start,” he says. It’s what he always says.
“It’s hard for me to talk for a long time,” I say. “Don’t interrupt. I know my leg’s not getting any
better even if you refuse to talk about it. You can’t think about me anymore. You have to think about yourself and Tobi.”
He stares at the wall. His lower lip trembles.
“Damian, it’s time to say goodbye,” I whisper. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m too weak now.”
“I can’t let you go,” he says. “I need more.”
“I wish I had more to give you. Just keep this feeling in your heart forever and find a way to get
back to Tobi. And don’t feel guilty,” I say. “Do you hear me? None of this is your fault. I can’t protect anyone now anyway. Nobody else will suffer on my account.”
I can feel his chest rise and fall. His heartbeat gets louder and faster. I look up at him to wipe
away his tears but I see none. Even his tear ducts have run dry.
“I don’t know why I’ve waited this long,” he says with a strange determination on his face. “I
should have done this the moment I realized you’d die out here without help.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m not letting you die,” he says.
“Silly man,” I say. “You can’t prevent it.”
He lets me lie back down on the blanket and starts picking up our sparse possessions. The last
bottle of water, the flashlight, some crackers.
“We have to get to higher ground,” he says as he picks me up again.
“Why?” I say more confused than curious.
“Just trust me,” he says.
We leave the cave that has shielded us from the bright sun and the wind for nearly a week. It
might have even shielded us from the aliens. It might have prevented Exodus from finding us. But it’s all behind us now.
I’m amazed at how strong and fit Damian is after days of barely eating or sleeping. He marches
along the dry jungle floor as if he’s gliding on ice. He has told me the truth. I don’t see a single sign of any moisture in the browning jungle. I think back to the oddity of the grocery bag in the tunnels.
Possibly the last survivor of the human race in the area.
I never thought I’d miss our district, the Plantation district, but I do. I miss its trees and birds and its rivers. I miss the day I met my chimp, Shy Boy, and the day I found Pip. I miss the way Finn used to tickle me and I miss the day I started feeling butterflies in my stomach when Damian entered a
room. Not knowing that it meant I was falling in love.
Damian walks up to the first rise he can find and only halts when he gets to the top. He reaches
inside his pocket and takes something small out. I look at it and I’m sure I’ve seen it before only I can’t remember where. It’s a round black electronic device the size of a big grape. With a little effort I remember that he was holding it a few days back in the cave. I also remember that he didn’t want to tell me what it was.
“What are you doing with that?” I whisper.
“I’m going to get us out of here,” he says.
All of a sudden I know what he means. “No,” I say, “it doesn’t make sense.”
“She gave it to me herself,” he says. “She wanted me to call her Mother. She said she’d come to me whenever I needed her.”
It’s the first time he has ever talked about the Empress and his stay at Plantation-15. I wonder if
he has entertained the thought of calling her before.
“Don’t turn it on,” I beg him.
“She said there’s a special connection between her and me,” he goes on. “She added something
in my brain. A little pin that will always guide her to me when it’s activated.”
“Damian, please,” I say and I feel my mouth getting dryer.
“It’s in me, Freya. She will come. She will heal you.”
“We did all this to escape her,” I say. “So I wouldn’t get caught and made to breed for her.”
Damian raises his gaze to the gray sky. “You have to trust me,” he says. “I told you there’s
nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I need to save you.”
“Not like this,” I say through dry tears.
“There’s no other way,” he says and switches on the little communicator. Its distress signal
escapes the device and races through the stagnant air to find her, the truest source of evil the Earth has ever known. Not just Earth. They have dreaded her in many places throughout time and space.
Damian helps me sit down. I wait for the drone to arrive wishing death had come for me in the
cave.
13
My return to Plantation-15 is rather less spectacular than my last visit. Two Sliman guards carry
me in on a stretcher with Damian walking right next to me.
They lead us through the gate and into a brightly illuminated room. The light hurts my eyes after
so many days in the cave. My mind is hazy and the only thing I notice is a stack of books on a table.
The guards lift me onto a bed and leave.
“Why?” I whisper to Damian. �
��Why did you do this?”
“Enough now,” he says. “I will always take care of you.”
I try really hard to fake a smile. “Remember, I am your bride. You can’t let them have me.”
“They will never have you,” he says. “Rest.”
I obey because I have no option. Every part of me is in agony both physically and emotionally.
I’ve never been more uncertain in my life. I try to believe Damian can protect me from the nightmares ahead.
The Empress has us, both of us, just like she wanted. And we walked in here voluntarily. I don’t
think Damian realizes the power we have handed her. If she has the Dark Legion and Kroll there is no
hope left. She told me herself that with Kroll, Damian and me she’d reclaim the whole universe.
We wait. The minutes crawl by like centuries. I keep shutting my eyes and every time I open
them, I see Damian pacing up and down the room with murder on his face. I hope he has planned more
than blind rage.
After a while, he starts banging on the locked door so ferociously I think he might bring it down.
I cover up my ears. Every bang strangles my soul and cuts into my headache.
The Sliman that eventually responds to Damian’s insane banging looks so programmed and
upright that he does not seem real. His back is completely straight and his neck is so stiff he seems to have been built around a steel pole.
“Where is she?” Damian yells at him. “If she doesn’t show up in one minute, I am going to kill
us both.”
The guard leaves as if he had heard nothing, as if he had just left a completely empty room.
“I think he liked you,” I say.
But then the door opens again and this time the Empress herself steps in followed by two guards.
She is the way I remember her, thin and frail with a black mask through which you can see her brown,
gem-like eyes.
“Excellent. You have both returned,” she says. “And, if I am understanding this correctly, you
need Mother’s help.”
I feel a smile forming behind that terrible mask of hers, if her kind even has the ability to smile.
“Enough talk,” Damian says through grinding teeth. “Her life’s in danger. That’s the only reason
we’re here.”
The Empress pins her eyes on him. “There are all manner of reasons in the universe, Damian.
[scifan] plantation 04 - beyond the river of time Page 11