Tomorrows Child

by Starr West

  “We are very close to Lon Everly’s property,” said Phoenix.

  “Didn’t Ruben say to keep away from there?”

  “Yes, but Tahinah is worried that Raven is there and this is the only chance we will get to check.”

  “I think it’s a really bad idea.”

  “So do I, but Tahinah asked me. If it was earlier, we could call in and just ask and leave. But it’s late. Maybe we should think about staying there tonight.”

  “Will it be safe?”

  “Well, it will be dry and safe from the hellhounds, probably not from Lon and his crazy ideas, but I don’t think our lives will be in danger.”

  Chapter 27 ~ THE SANCTUARY

  The sign hanging from the wooden gate read “The Sanctuary.”

  “Ruben would love this,” Phoenix joked. Ruben made it clear that he didn’t like Lon Everly and trusted him even less. Our travel plans had not included a night at “The Sanctuary,” but here we were, against the advice of Ruben, standing at the gates of Lon Everly’s property.

  “This place used be called “The Boar Hunter Resort” or something lame like that,” Phoenix said.

  We stood at the gate, waiting to be let in. We could have climbed through the barbed wire fence, but the old sign beside the freshly painted “Sanctuary” sign clearly stated that we should not enter.

  “Maybe it’s just an old sign.”

  “I don’t think so. See? There’s someone coming.” An armed man approached. He didn’t look especially dangerous, but after the raid in the valley, the sight of any stranger with a gun made me nervous.

  “What do you want?” the man addressed Phoenix, ignoring me completely.

  “Oh… hello,” Phoenix said, “We are hoping Lon can provide us with a meal and a place to sleep tonight.”

  “This isn’t a charity, you know.”

  “Sorry, but we are just travelling and my grandmother knows Mr. Everly and said he might help us if we needed anything,” I said. My voice was sweet and innocent. Slipping into the damsel act was easier than I thought.

  “Who should I say is calling?”

  “Phoenix Riley and Psyche Darnell, and my grandmother is Libby Darnell.” I smiled, hoping the sweet damsel would win over the burly man. He left us standing at the gate.

  “You were laying it on a bit, so sweet and polite. Let’s hope it worked,” Phoenix remarked.

  We stood at the gate for about half an hour. “I don’t think they are coming back. We should find somewhere to camp,” Phoenix eventually suggested.

  Just as we were about to leave, a young boy ran to the gate and pushed a key into a huge padlock, “Sir said you’re welcome to stay the night.”

  We were led past the main homestead, which was a sprawling mansion, built with old money, and followed a long, narrow, dirt road. The road continued down a steep hill, across a concrete causeway and up a gentle slope. As we reached the top of ridge, we got our first look at “The Sanctuary.”

  I stood there, unable to take a step further. Phoenix reached for my hand and squeezed it tightly. Standing on the ridge gave us a perfect view of the camp below us. There were people, tents, tarps, and makeshift lean-tos everywhere. Many of the buildings, if you could even call them buildings, were made from old corrugated iron and saplings. It looked more like shantytown than a sanctuary.

  “Hey, are you coming? Sir wants to meet you,” the boy asked.

  We wound our way through the camp following the boy. As we got closer, the stench of human habitation bombarded our nostrils. I tried not to gag and forced myself to breathe. My eyes began to water and I hoped my senses would become used to the smell fast.

  People were busy doing all sorts of things, but nobody looked up at us as we passed and no one spoke, until we reached the centre of shantytown.

  “Welcome to the Sanctuary.” I remembered Lon from the markets and his visit to the valley. He was larger than life, over-animated and fake. I felt the same that day at the markets as I did now.

  He looked surprised when Phoenix reached out to shake his hand. “So you must be Phoenix Riley. I’ve known your father for many years; and Psyche, I remember you from the crossroads earlier in the year. You were there with Libby. So sorry to hear about your mother, sweet girl, Celeste. You’ll fit right in here.” He waved his arm over the groups of people and said, “Everyone here has lost someone close.”

  Phoenix asked about Raven.

  “We don’t see many kids around here. But we’ve had dealings with a gang living in the caves near the river. We do a bit of trading with them occasionally. It stops the brats stealing. I’ll tell my men to keep an eye out for the girl.”

  A willowy woman with fine, blond hair walked up and stood silently beside us. “This is Heather; she will show you where you can sleep tonight. I expect you to join me for a meal later. I’ll send someone to get you when I’m ready.”

  Heather headed off without a word. We had been dismissed. The Sanctuary was turning out to be a very strange place. Heather took us to one of the only “real tents” in the entire camp. “Sir puts our guests here,” she said as she held the door to the tent open and motioned for us to enter. “I can get you anything you want.”

  “I’d like some water, but I can get it myself if you show me where to go,” I said, as she shrugged and I followed her through a dozen small campsites to the creek.

  “There’s a bucket there,” she pointed to an assortment of coloured plastic buckets. What I really needed was a bath, but I washed my face and drank the cool water from my hands. “If you want a wash later, you’ll need to fill the bucket.”

  “Oh,” I replied as I filled the bucket and followed Heather back up the bank away from the creek. We passed a number of gardens, or what resembled gardens. Small yellow plants in rows struggling to exist in hard rocky soil. Libby would be horrified. I was horrified.

  “Is this your only garden?” Heather looked at the pitiful plants in the shallow, pebbled soil. She shrugged. We arrived back at the tent and Heather left without saying another word.

  “This is strange; no, it’s more than strange. I’m not sure what is going on here, but I wish we’d never come. This was a really bad idea.” I whispered to Phoenix, afraid someone would hear me.

  “We need to rest; we still have a long way to go and this place is safe, even if it is really weird.” Phoenix was lying on a mattress fully made with clean sheets, pillows and blankets.

  “Everything around us is in a state of disorder, but this place is fitted out like it’s made for royalty.”

  “Maybe they like to treat their guests right.”

  “You don’t think it’s strange?” I was still whispering.

  “Of course, it’s strange, Psyche. Heather and the boy both called him ‘Sir.’ And that’s just for starters, but I don’t think we should get into it now.”

  Now wasn’t the right time, but this place was more than just strange. The energy was all wrong, but I couldn’t figure out why.

  ~~~

  I awoke sometime later. It was already dark and Heather was standing at the door again. “Sir said to get you for dinner.” I struggled to put my shoes on my sore and blistered feet, but I couldn’t go barefoot either, so I winced through the pain and again we followed Heather back to the centre of the camp.

  I couldn’t see Lon, but the atmosphere around the camp had changed. Smiling faces greeted us and the people chatted amongst themselves. Chunks of meat roasted on the fire, the smell was amazing and made my mouth water.

  “Sir will be here shortly.”

  Phoenix had his arm around me. I felt safe and protected and I knew Phoenix well enough to know that this was his intention. He held my hand all the time, but seldom put his arm around my shoulders. Despite the smiling faces, I still felt that something wasn’t right. I could almost taste the energy - thick and bitter. But I couldn’t feel the pure energy of the earth and it wasn’t coursing through me like it normally did. I felt as if I would suffocate.


  Lon arrived, “Sit, eat.” He waved his hand over the food as if giving permission to the people and they immediately began carving the roasted meat into chunks. A thin, red-haired woman brought a plate to Lon. Heather arrived with two similar plates and served Phoenix and then me. The tin plates piled high with roughly cut chunks of beef and small green leaves that looked like four-leaf clover. The leaves were watery and tasteless.

  “Thanks, Heather, but we could have gotten our own dinner,” I said and Heather simply smiled, nodded and left.

  “I hope Heather has been taking care of you. She’s a good girl now, but she needs to be reminded sometimes,” Lon remarked.

  “See these people here? There are more than three hundred people living on my land. I have over one thousand hectares here and ten times that has been abandoned where my boundary ends. Almost everyone is from the city, and left everything behind. They were running from death and found their way here.” He paused, “It’s no coincidence that all these people found me.”

  I had no idea what he was telling us. “I am a gift to these people,” he said. “Without this land, they would have nothing. They would probably be dead. If starvation didn’t get them, those black, devil beasts would.”

  “We call them hellhounds,” I was going to tell him that we thought they were only after me, but I remembered where we were.

  “Yes, yes… Truly a beast sent from hell and a sign that God has abandoned us.” Again he paused, but I got the idea that this was well-rehearsed and the pauses were inserted for effect.

  “I’ve never been much of a religious man myself, but there have been some very dark days, dark days indeed. Still not much for religion, at least not the God-fearing, church-going type, not that it would do me much good anyways. But it is time for something new, something to get us through these dark and lonely nights.” And then another long pause.

  “If you two ever want a change of scenery or if things get bad out there, we can always use a strong, young fellow like you. Fresh blood is what will keep places like the Sanctuary alive in the years to come.”

  “I will keep that in mind, but things are fine at the moment,” said Phoenix.

  “Yes, yes, but it can’t be easy living out there with Ruben. He can be a hard man sometimes.”

  Surprisingly, Phoenix agreed with him. I had not found Ruben to be a hard man, but then, he wasn’t my father.

  Lon continued talking for the next hour or longer, but I had stopped listening and only caught snippets of the conversation. I watched the people around me. The meal appeared to be served in shifts and the faces around the fire changed many times.

  I noticed that there were no old people, and apart from the boy that greeted us at the gate, I had seen no children. A few of the men around the fire were dressed in the same shade of green and wore the same style shirts and pants, while the women’s clothes were more tattered.

  Well, I’m callin’ it a night.” Lon stood up and stretched his arms, “If you need anything, just call Heather.” Within minutes, the firepit was deserted and Phoenix and I were standing there alone.

  Phoenix grabbed my hand. “Hurry up, we need to get back to the tent,” he said as he almost dragged me every step of the way.

  “What the hell was that all about?” I whispered.

  “Nothing, I just didn’t want to be standing out there like that. I felt like a target!”

  “So now you’re the one freaking out.”

  “He’s crazy, Psyche, I really thinks he is setting up his own kingdom. These people? He calls them the peasants. I think he treats them like slaves.” Now Phoenix was whispering, “This is what Ruben said would happen.” It appeared more cultlike than a kingdom, but I still couldn’t figure why the energy was so dense.

  “But I don’t want to talk about it now. Someone might be listening. We’re leaving first thing in the morning.”

  There was only one bed in the tent. This time we really were alone. Phoenix removed his shirt and used the bucket to freshen up. It wasn’t as good as a bath and there was no soap, but it was better than nothing.

  “You know, this is really our first time alone in a real bed,” I commented. Last night didn’t count as being alone, so this was a big deal.

  Phoenix was already in bed, but it was dark and all I could see was his shadowy outline.

  “I know.”

  I washed my face and hands in the bucket of water. The night air was cool, but I was sticky from walking all day, I felt terrible. I climbed in bed beside Phoenix. He reached over and pulled me close. His chest was bare and warm and he smelled surprising good, despite not showering.

  He kissed me then. His kisses were sweet and gentle. They were always sweet and gentle. This could have been our night. It could have been special, but the reality of our location crept into our minds and it was no longer special. It was creepy.

  “I love you, Psyche.”

  “I love you, too,” I sighed and snuggled into Phoenix’s chest.

  “We have plenty of time. We’ve been given a whole lifetime to be together again. People don’t get that and never know it when they do. There will be a right time, but this isn’t it.”

  I hugged Phoenix tighter and fell asleep against his bare chest.

  ~~~

  I woke as dawn’s light seeped into our tent. Inside the doorway, beside the bucket, were an old towel and a large cake of soap. Heather must have supplied these during the night. Kneeling beside the bucket, I picked up the gritty soap and attempted to form a foamy lather in my hands. The bubbles were thin and the caustic sting of fresh soap bit my flesh. I drew the soap toward my nose, and inhaled the greasy scent. Time stood still as the hand of fear held me and dragged me back to a cold stone bathroom.

  The soap was familiar, too familiar. I could be mistaken, of course, but I probably wasn’t. I turned to Phoenix and held my trembling hand toward him offering him the soap.

  “What on earth’s wrong?” Phoenix asked.

  “This is Volante’s soap, the same soap she gave me, when…”. The gritty texture and greasy smell were etched vividly in my mind alongside the other memories.

  Making soap was a craft and the signature of each artisan was left in soap they made; it linked the soap back to them. Everyone in the valley made soap. Emily made the best soap and I knew when I was using Emily’s or Libby’s just as I knew this was the same soap I had used then.

  “It doesn’t mean she’s here,” Phoenix tried to console me, “It just means that the same person supplies soap to this camp and to Volante. You know Lon was trying to form a type of cooperative.”

  “I know.” Phoenix might have been right, although I added, “but it means they are connected and I want to leave. Now!”

  It only took seconds for me to collect my things and stand ready to leave. Lon was already at the fire, watching water boil in huge pots over glowing coals when we arrived, packed and ready to go.

  “You won’t stay for breakfast?” he said.

  “No, thank you, we must get going. We still have a long journey ahead of us.” While Phoenix thanked Lon for his hospitality, the hum of an engine drew close. A four-wheeler came into view and pulled up at the edge of the encampment.

  I knew who it was even before she arrived at the fire. Phoenix pulled me close and whispered in my ear, but the words were lost to the humming that droned in my head.

  “Ah, we have visitors!” said Lon and we watched as two people approached.

  Lon reached out and took Volante’s hand. “Welcome my dear, what has bought you to the Sanctuary today?”

  She had arrived with a stocky, grey-haired man. He stood lifelessly beside her, nothing more than her lackey and possibly the man who carried me when I was too drained to walk.

  Lon introduced us and I winced as he spoke my name. My actions today would decide my fate. Was this a trap or a coincidence? Could Lon and his Sanctuary be a feeding ground for Volante? Or perhaps it was as Phoenix suggested, they were all part of a cooperative.
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  “Psyche, what a surprise to see you looking so well”, Volante said. Her eyes burned with desire, but she wasn’t surprised to see me. “Hmm, I see you have come into your power, how wonderful.”

  My power. She could see it just as I could sense hers. This new awareness grew and filled me with tension and seized my heart. I could see the truth now, in her lifeless eyes, but I neither spoke nor responded. I was shocked that she didn’t look the same as in my memory and the pretence of youth and glamour faded as my awareness peaked.

  “And Phoenix,” she held her hand toward Phoenix and smiled. “I wondered if I would ever meet the mysterious Phoenix.”

  Phoenix turned toward Lon, “Thank you again for your hospitality, but we must be going,” he said. I wasn’t sure we could escape so easily. And we would make no friends by ignoring Volante.

  Phoenix held my hand and I looked back only when we reached the top of the ridge. Heather was running along the road toward us. We were at the gate when she reached us, red-faced and out of breath.

  “Please, take this,” She handed me a small blue stone. “Pretend that you are thankful, that this is something you lost.” I took the blue stone and hugged her just as she suggested.

  “Please, tell me where you live. I need to leave this place, but I have nowhere to go.” Tears of fear glistened in her eyes.

  “Come with us now,” I said. Heather had been quiet and detached from her surroundings until now, but the energy in the camp was dense and the depression, thick as smoke when we arrived.

  “No, they would stop me. You would be in danger,” she said, “I have a child, a little girl; I need to find her.”

  “They can’t stop you, Heather. It isn’t a prison. Come with us now.”

  “You don’t understand, we are meant to have babies. He wants to repopulate the new world. He said it is our responsibility. They make us…” her voice trailed off without explanation, but I knew what she was going to say.

  “Oh, oh, that’s horrible,” I began rummaging through my bag. “Here take this; just a pinch is enough, every morning. You won’t get pregnant.” I pushed the calico bag into her hand. “I really don’t know if it works for sure, but I think it will.”