by E S Richards
“I could be convinced to stay here,” Cain replied suggestively, pulling her back to the bed by her hands.
Zahyra groaned and took a step towards Cain again, leaning forward so her forehead rested against his. “You know there is nothing I’d like to do more,” she whispered, “but you were the one who just said we need to act normal, so we need to show our faces for lunch.”
Cain grinned at the playful tone in her voice and dutifully obliged, dragging his heels slightly as they made for the exit.
“And you were supposed to be sick this morning, remember?” Zahyra prompted. “So maybe try and wipe that grin off your face.”
Zahyra’s words only made Cain grin more, finding himself so lucky that they could be so natural around one another even after what had just happened. That grin quickly dropped however when they stepped out of their new home and spotted Cyrus walking down the little street ahead of them. He didn’t notice them but from his route towards the dining room it was clear he must have walked past them. Cain quickly dragged Zahyra back inside.
“Do you think he heard?” Zahyra asked worriedly, her eyes darting around the room suddenly as if she thought she might find someone else there.
“I don’t know,” Cain shook his head. “But Asher said he tuned the voices out a lot of the time, he won’t have known we were inside, there’s no reason he would have been listening in on us.”
“But Asher also said he was particularly interested in you didn’t he? So maybe he will have tried to see if we were home.”
Cain set his mouth into a thin line at Zahyra’s response. She was right. Cyrus already had a special interest in the three of them – well, the two of them now – so he could have focused his mutation on their thoughts when he walked past.
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Cain spoke eventually. “We’ll never know for sure if he heard anything, but we can make sure he doesn’t hear anything again. Come on; we’ve got to go to lunch, just be careful with your thoughts okay?”
“Like that’s so easy,” Zahyra sighed but started to move out of their hut once more. Cain followed; nervous for what they could find when they entered the dining room.
The two of them needn’t have worried. Lunch passed without so much of a whisper from anyone else, Cyrus wasn’t even present in the dining room meaning they could relax their thoughts slightly, although neither of them did so completely.
They tucked into their simple sandwiches with enthusiasm, Cain even going up for a second before they made their way back over to the farm lands for an afternoon of heavy labour, Zahyra complaining the whole way there about the blisters that had already begun to form on her hands.
The simple, monotonous work gave Cain a chance to think properly about what the future may now hold for himself and Zahyra. He realised that with Asher gone they would have to remain in the warped settlement until his return – something none of them had really thought about before. Cain didn’t mind that so much but knew they would quickly find it boring, both himself and Zahyra used to faster paced lives.
It did however provide them with the opportunity to mature their relationship. Cain was excited by the prospect of sleeping beside Zahyra every night, feeling her touch on his skin and not having to stop his burning desires for fear of who might be around them. As he glanced over at Zahyra he felt that desire bubbling up inside of him and his heartbeat increased alongside it. Stopping himself he tried to focus on his work, but it was so boring that his mind became very quick to wander.
It was a constant struggle for Cain trying to keep his mutation under control. It was ultimately his brief slip of control yesterday that had sparked Asher’s entire departure and he couldn’t help but blame himself for that. Being around Zahyra however in such close quarters, and without the constant drama of trying to escape somewhere or rescue someone, was putting an increasing amount of strain on him. He had thought more than once about the pills they had stolen from the safe haven that could maybe help him control himself better, but even he knew it would be a great risk to take one.
Yet as he knew his relationship with Zahyra would soon be taking the next step – or at least he hoped so – Cain worried about how it would end, whether he would be able to control himself in more than one way at once. He wasn’t going to push Zahyra for anything, feeling perfectly happy with how things were between them at all times, but he still couldn’t stop himself from hoping it would be soon.
“What are you thinking about?”
Cain blushed a bright red. “Nothing. Just work. We’re not supposed to be thinking remember.” He avoided eye contact with Zahyra, turning over the soil at his feet with his shovel instead. But he could feel her eyes watching him for a moment longer, before she too returned to her work.
Only then did Cain realise he might have come across as rude towards her, knowing she must be suffering from losing her brother. He stopped digging for a moment and looked at her.
“You.”
Zahyra looked up.
“I was thinking about you,” Cain continued. “Are you alright?”
Zahyra smiled. “I’m okay,” it was now her turn to blush slightly. “You’re a big softy, you know that?”
“Only for you,” Cain grinned again and blew her a kiss before bending down to pick up his shovel from the ground where he’d dropped it.
Things were going to be all right between them he thought to himself. No matter what the warped settlement, or the safe haven or anyone else threw at them they would have each other. They would find a way to deal with it all.
Chapter 11 – Cain
Three days had passed since Cain dropped Asher off near the safe haven. Three days of boring manual labour, tense conversations and worry about Cyrus or someone else in the settlement finding out what had actually happened.
Cain and Zahyra had broken the news about Asher going missing at dinner that same day Cain had driven back. It hadn’t been difficult to look worried about his whereabouts; both Cain and Zahyra were already filled with dread about what could possibly be happening to him at the safe haven.
When the other children who Asher went to school with were rounded up, and it was discovered that none of them had seen Asher all day a search party was launched. The council members, along with Cain, Zahyra and a number of mutants who had mutations that would aid them in a search for someone started to fan out. Cain and Zahyra made sure they were in a different search group to Cyrus, both constantly struggling to keep their thoughts censored.
Only when it got too dark to search properly did the settlement stop for the night, another search party setting off at first light. Two other attempts to find Asher had now been made, with less and less volunteers joining in each time. It was clear to see that the members of the warped settlement thought of Asher as a lost cause.
The plan worked perfectly for Zahyra. Claiming to be too struck with grief to work she avoided heading out into the settlement and therefore kept as far from Cyrus as possible. Cain himself had to continue with his routine and without Zahyra by his side the work was even more monotonous.
It was on the third day, when he was just walking towards their hut to collect Zahyra for lunch that he saw Cyrus walking out of it and immediately stopped in his tracks. Quickly Cain moved behind a building, hiding from view of the old man. He had no idea why Cyrus would have gone to speak to Zahyra, but his first thought was that they’d been discovered.
As patiently as he could he waited for Cyrus to walk past him, blocking out all of his thoughts by imagining a rushing waterfall; focusing on the deep blue colour and the crashing sound of water hitting rocks below. Once Cyrus was far enough out of sight he made a break for the hut, closing the door quickly behind him.
“Zahyra?” Cain called out when she wasn’t in the first room. “Are you here?”
“I’m here,” her soft voice carried through from the second room, where the bed they now shared lay.
“Are you alright?” Cain questioned urgently as he
walked into the room, seeing her sitting on the edge of the bed. “What did Cyrus want? Did he...?” Cain trailed off, unable to finish his question – half not wanting to say it out loud in case it was true, half not wanting to think it in case Cyrus had doubled back to listen in.
“It’s okay,” Zahyra looked up at him with a smile. “Cyrus just came to tell me that they’ve officially stopped searching for Asher now. The council thinks it’s a lost cause, apparently anyone gone this long without reason is unlikely to come back.”
“Oh,” Cain sat down on the bed beside her, unsure of what to say. “Well, that’s good I guess isn’t it? At least they believe he’s gone for good. They’ve taken the bait.”
“Yeah I guess so,” Zahyra sighed. “It’s just, even though I know he’s not around here, even though I know we were never going to find him, I kind of liked looking. It gave me hope. It’s stupid I know because he’s not here, but, it still gave me hope.”
“That’s not stupid,” Cain reached out and took one of Zahyra’s hands. “It’s natural for you to feel that way. But look at it like this: he’s not lost in the forest or in the desert. We know exactly where he is, who he’s with and if we ever decide we need to go and get him back we can do.”
Zahyra muttered under her breath and moved closer towards Cain, wrapping her arms around him in a hug and pressing her face against his chest. Cain took in a short breath. For three nights they had shared the same bed and he’d felt her warm breath against his bare chest through the night. He’d be lying if he said he’d had much sleep, being that close to Zahyra in such a personal way distracted him too much to let his brain switch off.
The number of kisses they’d shared were a huge tease for him. Both quick and hungry kisses when he struggled to control himself and more loving, tender kisses when his mutation was more relaxed. Yet still it pained Cain that his mutation was holding the two of them back. Still he was disappointed they hadn’t been able to take the next step.
“RAID! Everyone to their posts! RAID!”
Cain gripped Zahyra tighter at the sudden shout that came from outside their hut, instinctively wanting to protect her.
“What was that?” She asked suddenly, forcing Cain to let go of her so the two of them could stand.
“Get the children inside!” The voice came again from outside. “Everyone to their posts!”
Cain looked at Zahyra with a worried stare as the two of them simultaneously started moving through their small hut and out into the settlement. Chaos was already tearing through the once civilised streets, women pushing children into their homes and men running off towards the centre of the settlement.
“What’s going on?” Cain shouted at a warped mutant who was jogging by, tiny wings fluttering rapidly against his back albeit too small to ever lift the man from the ground.
“There’s a raid,” the mutant panted as he slowed slightly to talk. “We’ve got weapons in the main hall.”
“Who is it?” Zahyra questioned hurriedly. “Are the advanced mutants here?”
“Don’t know,” the warped mutant shouted back over his shoulder. “Come on though, this way!”
Zahyra immediately took off after the mutant and Cain sucked in a deep breath before following her. If there were advanced mutants about to raid the settlement his first thought was getting Zahyra out of the place, not helping to defend it. As selfish as he knew that sounded, he couldn’t let anything happen to her.
That selfish feeling only intensified in Cain when they reached the main hall of the settlement, the very same place where all meals were had, council meetings held and many other things Cain hadn’t yet experienced. The food was being quickly pushed to one side from lunch and a meagre display of weapons were moving around the room.
Cain was horrified to discover how small the arsenal of weapons that the settlement had was. Immediately he knew they wouldn’t stand a chance against a party of advanced mutants, even with advanced mutants in the settlement itself. The memory of being part of an attacking mutant party was still too fresh in his mind and he knew they wouldn’t be taking any chances if they’d come to overrun the settlement.
“We can’t stay here,” he whispered to Zahyra as she pushed forward to try and grab some guns. “We don’t stand a chance.”
“What are you talking about?” Zahyra called back over her shoulder, moving further into the throng of mutants trying to arm themselves.
Cain waited patiently until she returned with two rifles, not wanting to shout over the ever-increasing crowd.
“Look around Zar,” he urged her when she handed him a rifle, “there aren’t enough weapons here for everyone and you know what the advanced mutants are like. We’re better off getting out of here while we still have the chance.”
“We can’t do that! We have to help them defend the settlement.”
“There’s no use,” Cain muttered as he checked his rifle, letting out a long breath when he discovered only three bullets in the chamber. “We’ll die if we stay here and you know I’m right.”
Zahyra paused for a moment and looked around the main hall. It was now almost filled to capacity with members from the warped settlement but Cain was right: there were only enough weapons to arm less than a third of them. She desperately wanted to stay behind and help them fight but when Asher’s face popped into her mind she knew she didn’t have a choice. If the possibilities were stay and fight and maybe die, or run away and live she knew what she had to do. She had to stay alive for her brother.
“Okay,” she sighed, slinging her rifle over her left shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Thank you,” Cain breathed in relief and leaned forward to kiss her cheek, bringing as always a slight hint of blush to Zahyra’s face. “Try not to draw attention to yourself.”
As they moved over towards the door of the main hall Cain realised he didn’t need to issue such a warning to Zahyra. The council members were already sending people out to man stations around the settlement and defend against the advanced mutants. It was Vincent, the council member who had first welcomed them into the warped settlement that passed on orders for where they should set up a post.
Cain nodded to him, only a slight feeling of remorse rushing through him for betraying the old man’s trust. Thankfully he had ordered them to move towards the outer walls of the settlement, so Cain set off leading Zahyra back to their hut, meaning to grab a few small possessions before they made their escape.
“Okay, from the sounds of things they’re coming in from over by the farm lands,” Cain spoke as they jogged back to their hut, relaying to Zahyra the rumours he had heard within the main hall. “We should try and get out on this side then, thankfully we’re about as far away from there as possible right now.”
“Surely they’ll have surrounded the settlement though?” Zahyra rebuffed. “Didn’t you say...?” A loud explosion going off behind them cut her off, causing them both to stop dead in their tracks. “What was that?”
“Sounded like a bomb,” Cain pondered as they started moving again, now at a faster pace than before. “And I know what you were about to say – and yes, you’re right. When I was with the commander’s mutant party they always surrounded camps before attacking. They never used bombs though, although I was only with them for a short time.”
“And thank god for that,” Zahyra panted as they ran into their hut, immediately bending down and scooping up Cain’s rucksack from the floor. “So what do we do?”
Cain thought about her question as he moved swiftly around their hut, picking up things they would need and passing them over to Zahyra. They still didn’t have very much, but a few bottles of water were packed, spare clothes and a letter Asher had written them before he left – still yet unread. He had told the pair of them they’d know when it needed to be read and Zahyra had decided that time had not yet come.
“I think around the back is still the best bet,” Cain finally answered Zahyra’s question once their packing was done. �
�They’ll have surrounded the settlement yeah, but I would guess most of their forces will be coming in from the front.”
“Okay,” Zahyra replied uncertainly. “I suppose it’s the best plan we’ve got.”
“Hey,” Cain’s voice softened for a moment as he moved in closer to Zahyra, placing his hands on her shoulders. “We’ll be fine. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“Okay,” Zahyra replied again, although this time with a little more confidence. “Let’s go then.”
As Cain took the rucksack from Zahyra and slung it over his shoulders she moved towards the door, poking her head out first to check the coast was clear. Then, with a nod to Cain she moved out onto the street and began running towards the post Vincent had given them. At least this way the council wouldn’t know they were running away just yet.
As the ground began to rise the closer they got to the settlement’s walls Cain turned around and looked back over the destruction that was already taking over his vision. Several fires burned around the settlement and the cries of women and children could be heard dancing through the air. He paused for a moment, watching a pair of mutants trying to shoot at some of the attackers, one with a rifle and the other with a stream of water flowing from his hand, albeit not very powerfully. The water hit one of the attackers but then Cain had his breath knocked out of him by what he saw next.
“Zahyra!” He shouted, immediately spinning around and running to catch up with her. “Zahyra, stop! Look!”
Zahyra’s shot Cain a puzzled expression until he pointed over to the scene he had just been watching. Slowly but surely, realisation started to creep over her face as her eyes darted around more of the settlement, witnessing similar events happening around it.
All around the warped settlement mutants were being knocked down and immobilised by blinding beams of white light. Just like the white light the two of them had witnessed in the city, when the safe haven had stripped the advanced mutant party of their mutations. Sure enough, countless safe haven soldiers were now parading around the settlement in pairs, each second man carrying the mystical device that could somehow destroy mutations entirely.