Enter the Rebirth (Enter the... Book 3)

by Thomas Gondolfi

  Granny she sittin’ on the floor with her legs crossed, lookin’ like a statue or somthin’. She old-lookin’, that’s for sho’, with long scraggly gray hair and lots of wrinkles. She a white lady but her skin is tanned like she been out in the sun for years. She smile at us and say, “Hi there.” “Hi Granny,” say Henry, “These all your kids?”

  I can see there’s something wrong with the old girl's leg; it stickin’ out kinda funny. I try not to stare. “Granny,” say the boy, “they gots food.” Granny she smilin’ at me and now she say “bless your heart, thank you for being kind to my chirren.” I offer her food and she take it and split it up amongst the little ones sittin’ all ‘round her. While she doin' that I look at her leg a little bit more and it look like it done broke and healed bad. ‘Fore Curtis can mess things up Lily say, “hi Granny, I'm Lily, and this here’s Immy and Curtis and Jamal. Excuse me for axing but your leg don't look too good.”

  I tell you what, as many times as I seen Lily, I never done seen her talk as much as she do wit’ Granny right now. Pretty soon we got the whole story. This poor old woman done worked at a day care and she kept hold of the chirren whose parents didn't never come back for 'em when the end come. Them chirren growed up and had chirren and here she is with all these she calls her grandbabies. She say things was going fine till the hurricane. A bunch of the grownups had been out travelin’ and they done never come back. Then a group of the ones left gone off to look for them and it was just her and Christine, Granny say, whoever that is 'cause she sho ain't here now. With all these scrawny kids it's obvious they've been alone like this for a while.

  After a while I ax the little boy about it. He has plum adopted me, ain't left my side since we got here. After we make camp and cook some real food he snuggle up wit me jus’ like I'm his own momma. Little by little he tell me that he was scared ‘cause he thought granny was gon' die and they been having trouble with food and all. His name is Marvin and when he say that I almost start crying and I have to hold him and hug him tight for a minute so he don't see. That was my great grand daddy's name and it was the name of my only baby boy, who died before he was a week old. But Marvin he smart an’ he see me cryin’ and ax me “why you cryin’, Immy?” I tell him about my baby and he say “is it ok if I can be your little boy then since you don't got one no more?” All I can do is hug on him at first. Then I say let me talk to granny. Marvin he jus’ look up at me wit’ a smile on his dirty lil’ angel face.

  The sun go down and the kids all have these crank lights and they all start crankin’ away and granny she take out a book and reads to ‘em. It’s The Hobbit and that surprises me ‘cause it’s at this part where she talkin’ ‘bout them poor lil’ fellahs off in the pitch black woods fightin’ giant spiders. I don’t know but it seem like that would scare kids, but they is all rapt, listenin’ to her.

  This looks like what they useta doin’ so we don’t interfere; Curtis finally done calmed down and stopped harassin’ Granny and these poor lil’ ol’ scrawny chirren. Lily and me, we just make sure they all got enough to eat. When granny is done with the story and all them kids is finally fed and sleeping, I talk to Henry and Curtis. Lily there too, so is Vic and Danny. See I have had time to think now and what I want to know is why nobody has helped these kids ‘fore now. Obviously they was in trouble or they wouldn'ta attacked nobody. Vic say yeah, makes him wonder too, and makes him want to play a joke on Rafael when we go back through with all the ‘wild chirren.’ We laugh except for Curtis who say whaddaya mean? Ever’body lookin’ at him like he nuts and Lily say “Curtis do you think we gon' leave these kids here to die? And Granny too? We can leave a message for this Christine person but if she been gone as long as what Granny say she prolly ain't comin’ back.” I agree and I tell them about Marvin axin me would I be his momma. Only Curtis and Henry know about my own baby boy. Henry puts his arm around me but he don't say nothin’. Curtis say “yeah, you right, we gotta take ‘em, I was bein’ stupid.” Ain’t nobody argue wit’ dat.

  Next mornin’ we ax Granny an’ the kids an’ they all want to go. They pack up they stuff and Curtis and Jamal help them put air in they bike tires. We show Granny how she gon’ ride on the trailer wit’ me and she say that's just fine with her. She say, “I’ma look like the Queen o’ Sheba!” I can see they all excited and happy. The chirren all got they lil’ backpacks on now an’ they runnin’ round with Rufus and his friends.

  We all know it gon’ be kinda slow goin’ on the way back ‘cause they not useta travelin’ even though they know how to ride bikes. Curtis say, “well, guess we ain't going to Houston now.” I say, “you better believe we going to Houston now.” He say, “Immy darlin’, you the one wanted to take these chirren with us, what could you possibly need that is more important than getting these kids home an’ safe?” I ignore him calling me darlin’ and just show him my list. I say, “I need me a damn bra and so do my friends.” Well I didn't know what to expect but I sho’ nuf don't 'spect him to do what he do, which is to get bright red in the face and then start laughin' his stupid fool head off.

  “Shut up, I say, everybody lookin’!” So he try to stop and by now he's choking and his eyes is leakin’ and he's just a sight with that red skin and red eyes on that scrawny white neck o' his. I'm worried he might scare the chirren.

  Granny watchin’ of course, she sittin’ right there, and she takes my list. “You don't need to go to town,” she say and points back in the store. “They got bras in there. Delores can show you.” Then she yell, “Delores!” And here come a little girl with big brown eyes and stick-straight brown hair; I saw her before but now I notice that she jus’ a bit taller’n most of the other ones. I shoo Curtis away quick.

  Granny got her hands on Delores's arms like she presenting her to me. She say, “Delores here just got her first blood and we celebrated with her getting her first bra. Miss Immy need help finding some bras, baby. Bring her to the bra section, ok?” Say Granny. Delores blushin’ a little but she smilin’ too.

  As I follow the little girl back in the sto’ I hear Granny fussin’ at Curtis, “ain't no laughin’ matter son, an’ if I catch you laughin’ at Immy again or botherin’ her any kinda way you can book it, I'ma tan your worthless hide.”

  That makes me smile. Maybe I can talk Granny into livin’ with me and Marvin and my girls when we get back to Port Allen.

  So That They May Rule

  Madison Keller

  Editor: ‘Tis a good night out for man and beast . . .

  the original translation seems to have corrupted.

  Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”—Genesis 1:26

  Katie stared nervously out the window of the Humvee at the scenery flashing by. Burned out husks of tree trunks and exposed earth, left muddy by the sprinkles of rain that streaked the window, seemed all that remained.

  The man and the woman stuffed in the armored vehicle with Katie looked out of place in the military vehicle. Their hair was neatly groomed. Underneath their bulky ballistic vests they wore expensive looking tailored suits.

  The first suit was Mr. Holness, the United States Secretary of State. The other was Ms. Waldheim from the United Nations. But the details weren't important to Katie. Her job was merely to make sure they got to the meeting with the representatives of the races of evolved animals.

  The barracks gossip swirled around about an armistice or a peace treaty, depending on which rumor mill you followed. Katie's hope beyond hope was a peace treaty, but she would settle for an armistice. Anything to end to the years of brutal fighting.

  Corporal (human) Eggen, whom Katie had served under for the past several years, occupied the driver’s seat. Tank, an evolved bloodhound and Katie's best friend, sat in the passenger seat.

  Silence sat heavy in the truck as they roared along the di
sused road. Katie continued to scan out the windows for threats, doing her best to ignore the two people in the backseat with her.

  Tank whuffed in surprise. Katie barely had time to glance at the evolved bloodhound when the car jolted to an abrupt stop. The suddenness of it threw her forward. Her seat belt caught her, but not before her head rebounded off the seat in front of her.

  A low humming began just at the edge of her hearing. Tank gave a howl, dropped his M4 into his lap, and clasped his paws over his long ears, pressing them against his head. A drop of blood dripped out his nose, followed by another.

  All the windows in the vehicle shattered at once, showering glass onto Katie. She grabbed her M4 just as the gunfire started. She pushed Waldheim and Holness down before lifting her weapon to return fire. A flash of red fur darted behind one of the blasted tree trunks, so Katie sent a barrage of fire in that direction.

  Eggen and Tank fired through the remains of the windshield at something in front of them, their M4s combining with Katie's into a steady pop-pop-pop of overlapping chatter.

  A trumpeting scream became audible over the din. The call came again, louder and closer this time, another starting before the first one had ended.

  The noise was unmistakable. Katie recognized it from her childhood, but, no, it couldn't be, could it? In Kansas? Katie risked a glance over her shoulder, keeping her rifle pointed at her target to discourage them from taking advantage of her distraction.

  Charging down the road toward the disabled armored vehicle were three African elephants. The beasts charged heads down so that their gleaming tusks pointed directly at the Hummer. The ends of their tusks flashed in the sun, capped with razor-sharp metal tips, and bulky black ballistic material covered most of their gray skin. Thick goggles protected their eyes from bullets.

  The red fox she'd spotted earlier made a run toward the vehicle with its weapon up and at the ready.

  Katie, stunned by the sight of the elephants, had frozen only momentarily. Her training kicked in quickly. It was like someone else controlled her body, swiveling the gun, pulling the trigger. She watched dispassionately as her rounds found their mark in the center of the red fox's body. Even as the fox fell dead into the churned mud her gun turned toward a new target.

  The elephants reached the vehicle and rammed it with their shoulders. The interior dimmed as their bulk blocked the sunlight. The vehicle shuttered, the back wheels leaving the ground. Someone screamed. Holness, Katie noted, even as she continued to fire futilely out the window.

  Her rounds struck the nearest elephant without any visible effect.

  The one on her side reared back and stood, grabbing onto the top of the vehicle with its gigantic hands. Metal rent and screeched before thick, gray fingers poked through the space between the roof and the door jamb. They curled and with a sharp jolt of the vehicle, the door was ripped free. The elephant flung away the door with a contemptuous flick before reaching toward Katie.

  Katie screamed as she emptied the last of her clip into the monster. Even as she did, the massive hand wrapped around her. Her seatbelt snapped like tissue paper as the elephant yanked her from the car. It tossed her away with as much ease as the door. She flew end-over-end and landed in the mud.

  The impact was too much for her head, still tender from her smack into the seat. Katie rolled over, threw up, and passed out.

  * * *

  Katie's consciousness came back in fits and starts. Tank's face floating over hers. His mouth moved, but her mind couldn't process what he said. The next thing she remembered was sitting up, slumped against the remains of the vehicle with Tank tenderly patting at her forehead with a damp cloth. Emotion clouded his eyes. When her eyes focused on him he smiled, his wrinkled jowls flopping.

  "Are you awake now?" he asked her, pulling back the cloth.

  "I am, but I wish I wasn't." Her head pounded as if the elephant had trampled over her rather than just tossing her away into the mud. "My head hurts."

  Tank passed her a bottle of water and two white pills, which Katie swallowed gratefully. She passed the still mostly full bottle back to him. She'd had enough experience with being hurt to know not to chug the water, as much as she wanted to.

  It turned out she was resting against the driver's side back wheel, the least smashed part of the car.

  The view also showed her why the Humvee had stopped so suddenly and abruptly. A large ditch had been dug across the middle of the road and concealed with a black tarp that blended in with the asphalt. The two front tires were wedged in the hole and the front bumper smashed into the far edge.

  She eased back against the wheel; even that sent her head spinning again. Tank hunkered down near her and held his paw in front of her face.

  "How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked.

  Katie squinted at his paw. The dewclaw nub had grown long and his paw had split to form a rudimentary hand. She gathered her thoughts with an effort of will. "Three," she responded after a moment.

  Tank nodded and lowered his paw.

  "What happened, after I was knocked out? Where is Corporal Eggen and the packages?"

  "The elephants took the packages. Corporal Eggen . . . well." Tank's eyes darted toward the driver's side seat. He didn't have to say anything else. Katie took a deep breath and locked her grief away. She didn't have time to mourn him now, no matter how close they'd been.

  "How did you escape?"

  Tank seemed to shrink down into himself and he stared down at his paws. "I didn't. They let me go," he whispered.

  "Well, I'm glad they did." Katie wanted to give him a hug, but her head just ached too much. Instead she reached over and placed a shaky hand over top his crossed paws. "Even if I don't understand why."

  Rather than her gesture comforting him, Tank deflated further. "The ones that attacked, they're Survivors."

  "Survivors?" Katie blinked, puzzled for a moment before the pieces clicked over in her head. "The Survivors of Holocene? That evolved animal terrorist organization? But their stated goal is to wipe out humans. Why would they kidnap the packages rather than kill them?" Even as she asked the question Katie realized she knew the answer. "Hostages. To try and stop the negotiations."

  They had to save the diplomats and the negotiations. She pushed herself to her feet and began taking stock of their resources.

  She found where she'd dropped her M4. She crouched down and brushed mud off of it, only to find that the barrel was bent at an almost ninety-degree angle. One of the elephants must have stepped on it during the chaos.

  She scowled and stood back up. Tank's M4 was nowhere in sight. No reason to leave him armed, just in case. The only reason she'd survived is that they must have thought her dead already.

  All the other weapons she found were in similar condition to hers—smashed or bent beyond what repair she could do at the side of the road.

  She walked around the armored vehicle in a semi-circle, careful to avoid the edges of the pit. The driver's side had taken the most damage. A ragged black hole yawned at her from the backseat and the front door was dented and shot full of holes.

  Katie reached through the broken window and clicked the door unlock button, doing her best not to look at Corporal Eggen where he sat slumped over the steering wheel. To her relief the door opened when she yanked hard on the door handle. She shied at the body.

  "Want some help with that?" Tank said softly from behind her.

  Katie twitched and jumped, only barely stopping herself from spinning around and attacking him. Instead, she nodded and stepped back to give Tank access.

  Tank leaned over the body. He clicked the seat-belt latch open, removed the belt, and then gently pulled the corporal's body free. He carried it away and laid it out on the dirt by the side of the road.

  Katie turned away and knelt down by the now empty seat. Her gaze snagged on the blood soaking into the pleather. She had to dash tears from her eyes before leaning over to reach under the driver's seat.

  As she'd suspe
cted, the animals had not bothered to search the armored vehicle. Her questing fingers immediately found the cold metal box. It was surprisingly heavy and difficult to drag out from its hiding spot, but Katie managed it with a few hard yanks and some helpful swears.

  The lid swung open after she spun in the combination, revealing a Sig 9mm semi-automatic nestled in its foam shell. Katie picked it up, making sure the safety was on before running through a function check and sliding in a magazine. She dug two more out from the foam and slipped them into her pocket along with the gun.

  They still weren't safe, by any stretch of the imagination, but she felt a bit better now that she was armed. She turned back only to see Tank standing rigidly still, his paws above his head, with four assault rifles pointed at him by camo-clad humans. Two more of them were advancing on Katie, their guns held at the ready.

  Katie cursed herself for being so focused on her own plans that she hadn't heard their approach. She discreetly reached behind her and closed the metal box, which shut with a click.

  "Hands in the air," the man closest to her growled. Katie sighed and raised her hands above her head.

  "Where are they?" said the other soldier. The voice was low, but obviously female.

  "Gone, obviously," Katie snapped. Her head hurt, Eggen was dead, they'd lost the diplomats they were supposed to be protecting, and now this. She knew she should be a bit more polite to the people with guns pointed at her, but she just didn't care anymore.

  The man lifted his hand and signaled. Everyone in the unit lowered their guns, but didn't put them away. She and Tank kept their arms in the air.

  Katie studied what she could see of the patches sewn onto the soldiers’ camouflage jackets. Most were hidden by the camo netting they all still had draped around their shoulders like capes, but she could see enough to tell they weren't from any branch of the military she was familiar with.

  "Show us the bodies," the man ordered her.