“This is your leader, ladies and gentlemen.” James pointed at the man who he had just released. “He has been attacked and injured by two people who were barely even trying. If any of you try to follow us, you will see the full extent of what we can do!”
“If you take one of ours, it will mean that you wish to go to war!” Their leader called after us in warning, as though he was telling us that for our own good before we made a terrible, life-threatening mistake.
“Shh…” Brynna whispered to Penny. James grasped the back of Brynna's neck and led her along ahead of us. Penny was attached to the front of her chest and crying into her shoulder.
“Do you want me to carry her?” He asked her softly.
Brynna shook her head as I ran up to walk by her side. My hands flew up to rub Penny's back and to stroke her hair.
We allowed our feet to guide us back the way we had come. We had been in such a panic when we were running into the cave after Penny that we hadn’t marked our trail. Luckily for us, our instincts were getting stronger. At their current level of strength, they could lead us to safety.
When we emerged from the cave, Alice, Quinn and Nick were sitting on the ground, waiting for us.
“Good teamwork, guys.” I spat at them sarcastically as I ran my hand down the back of Penny’s soft hair again.
“Who is that?!” Nick demanded furiously. He pointed to the boy that was struggling to free himself from Elijah’s tight grasp.
“Is she okay?” Alice ran over and touched Penny’s back.
“We are taking him, whether you like it or not!” I heard Elijah bark at Quinn and Nick. “We went in there. We saved Penny. We’re making the decisions from here on out!”
“He’s one of them! Are you mad?!” Nick asked and he looked between all of us, awaiting further explanation.
“No, we aren't. In fact, this is the most sane thing we've done since we've been here!” James snapped at him before grabbing the boy by both of his arms and dragging him off.
His cavalier nature that so smartly rivaled Brynna's arrogance and disdain for all things was gone. He was losing his grip on the situation and it was wearing him down right before our eyes. Now, we had a prisoner. What were we supposed to do with him?
Nick's gentle touch on my arm snapped me out of my thoughts.
“I don't want to talk to you.” I walked away from him, trying to force my eyes to turn back over to their normal brown by blinking feverishly.
“Why? What did I do?”
“You stayed out here!”
“Yeah, and we had to kill four natives! They dragged us out of the cave. They were going to kill us!”
“And then you just decided to let us handle that situation on our own? A five year old girl gets pulled into a cave by God knows what, you kill some natives, and then you just call it a day? Forget the fact that you and I have both been toying with the idea of having a relationship. Not to sound like an overly emotional stereotype, but how would I ever be able to trust you?!”
“Maybe because I've saved your life before!”
“Excuse me?!” I whipped around to face him. “When have you ever saved my life? If I recall correctly, I was the one swooping in to play Hans Solo to your Princess Leia! I was the one fighting natives!”
“Did you just use a Star Wars reference?”
“Yeah, I did! As if you didn't know that I was a nerd already!”
“Why are you so angry?”
“Because, Nick! The three of you just sat out here while we faced those natives in the cave. I get that it's the twenty-first century in Earth time and that women can stand up for themselves. That's not what this is about. It's about you being able to defend me if I need you to! If I get myself into a bad situation, I would need to trust that you would be there for me. Look at James and Brynna! She almost gets eaten by a dinosaur-slash-kraken-slash-Loch Ness Monster-thing and he jumps in the water to save her! Penny gets dragged into a cave, Brynna runs in after her, and James follows. Do you see what I'm saying here?”
“Well, haven't your sister and James been together for a long time?!”
“No! They just got together like, a week ago!” I sighed heavily and looked up to the sky for guidance.
“I don't know what you would like for me to say, Violet.” He told me softly. “Whatever it is, just tell me, and I'll say it, alright?”
“This conversation is stupid. This whole thing is stupid. I shouldn't expect anything of you. We never set anything in stone, right? Plus, I don't need anyone to save me.”
Brynna's pride and self-righteous anger were flying from my mouth before I could stop them. Pride might have been a sin but Brynna wore it like a badge of honor and rightfully so. Though she was currently going against every life principle she had ever established in terms of men and relationships by engaging in a romance with James, she had always been right about them. They were untrustworthy. All were cowards at their core. All would save themselves over their female partner if the choice was given because they lacked our maternal, caring nature that was cruelly inflicted on us by the Gods. Brynna's words, not mine.
But now, they were becoming mine. I stormed away from Nick, sickened by the sight of his face. How I ever believed that I could trust him after all Brynna had taught me was beyond my understanding. I was finished with dating. If my life was in danger, I needed a boy who would kill in order to save me. That was only if I needed saving. I needed a boy who would follow me into almost certain death with no hesitation. It was a grand, romantic thought that should have been accompanied by a string quartet and swans soaring overhead in a perfectly synchronized flight. It was so ridiculous.
It wasn't entirely unheard of, though. I watched James and Brynna walking ahead. Even as he steered the boy through the trees, he glanced at her every few seconds to make sure that she was beside him. In the fights that I had witnessed, he had never treated her as though she couldn't defend herself. It was only because he was her boyfriend that he accompanied her into dangerous situations. It wasn't because she needed to be saved by a big, strong man. Despite my anger, I smiled as I watched them walk. Brynna deserved no less than the man she had; he was kind, strong, and brave to the point of recklessness. He was even good-looking, to top it all off.
“Maybe I need to start looking for a man twice my age.” I mused to Alice.
“I should have followed you.” Alice ignored what I had said. It seemed to dawn on her and she looked at me with her eyes widened. “No, don't do what she's doing. He's a great guy, don't get me wrong. But they'll never last, Violet.”
“What?” I took a step away from her. That anger that had dissipated so quickly took hold of me again.
“Come on, are you serious?” Alice asked and she actually chuckled slightly in disbelief. “She's twenty-two. He's like, forty-five. When has that ever worked?”
“On Earth, maybe it wouldn't have worked. Maybe it would have. We'll never know, will we?” I snapped at her bitterly. “You don't know my sister. You might think that you do but you don't. She really cares for him. She trusts him. You have no idea what that means in Brynna's world.”
“Does she love him?” Her voice was saturated with lighthearted sarcasm.
“Yeah, I think she does, actually!” I replied indignantly. “Just because you and your boyfriend, who is your same age, can't make it work doesn't mean that Brynna and James can't. She's way mature for her age and he loves her, too!”
“You're clearly not that mature for your age or else we wouldn't even be having this conversation.”
“Oh, shut up! All of you! How's this?” I had stormed ahead but I turned back to face her, Quinn and Nick. “You're cowards! All of you! We went into that cave after Penny and you all stood out here and waited! If that had been any of you, I would have followed you. But you all are cowards!”
I turned around and walked quickly to catch up to Brynna, James and Elijah. I didn't hear their snippy retorts. I wasn't even sure they had spoken any. I just knew t
hat as soon as we met up with Don Abba's people, we were shaking those three immediately and continuing on our own.
It was the first seismic shift in our mindset. It was mirrored almost exactly in the other groups, though I wasn't aware of that. The question of cowardice was being posed to every man, woman and child by the circumstances that brewed beneath the fragile grasp we held on our lives. Being considered brave meant more than just being able to fight natives with every last bit of superhuman strength we possessed. It meant more than not succumbing to the fear that one would starve or dehydrate sooner rather than later. It also meant that one had to be able to make the tough, sometimes merciless decisions.
The boy we had stolen was one of those decisions. I watched as James and Brynna dragged him along, noting that he was maybe a year older than me, if that. Because of his sandy hair and tan skin, I was reminded of the surfer boys back home who lounged around on the beach all day. Some had been annoying because their ability to stand up on a board that was being thrust about by waves made them cocky enough to think that they could have any girl they wanted. But most had been harmless and just looking to have fun. It was a stupid thought, I knew. The boy we had taken had never seen Earth and was, in reality, nothing like those boys. I had to stop sympathizing or else I would be as much of a coward as Alice, Quinn and Nick were.
“What are we going to do with him, Brynn?” I asked after we had stopped walking. It had taken hours but we had put as much distance between us and the cave as we could. James was pulling vines that crisscrossed around the trunk of an old oak tree; he used them to tie the boy to it.
“I hope he camped frequently as a child and knows how to tie a rope. Those knots have to be strong. I am sure that if we give him half the chance, he will break free and kill us all. We are going to need to keep watch over him for as long as he is with us.” She ran her fingers through her hair. I knew she was purposely evading my question because the answer had not come readily to her.
“I have many questions for him, none of which will help us substantially.”
“Like what?” I pressed her.
“Well, I want to know why they took Penny, first and foremost.”
“That man said they were going to...” I stopped, feeling a lump in my throat as horrible images of Penny being offered up as a human sacrifice to some faceless God bombarded my mind. “Well, you remember what they said.”
“They said that they would sacrifice her.” Brynna clearly hadn't heard a word I had said. “But why?”
“It was a religious sacrifice.” Elijah answered after coming up behind us. “You saw the way they were dancing around like that. Plus, there was that thing painted on the ceiling with the four arms. It's their deity.”
“See? All that you just said will more than likely make up the bulk of his answer to that question. It does not help us at all. We could ask him for the whereabouts of a safe place to live, though I sincerely doubt that any place on this planet is safe from the eyes of the natives.” Brynna adjusted Penny, who she was still holding to her chest. I moved Penny's hair out of her face to find that she had fallen asleep.
“It was too much for her. I cannot imagine the fear she must have felt.” Brynna muttered to us. She was trying hard to suppress the note of sadness in her voice that was brought about swiftly and easily by the thought of Penny in any kind of pain. “She just needs to sleep.”
“Do you want me to take her? Your arms are shaking because you've been carrying her for so long.” Elijah pointed and for the first time, I noticed that Brynna's arms were shaking somewhat severely.
“Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?” I remembered that she had shed her own to give to Penny. While we were walking and it got colder, Brynna had pulled the hood up over Penny's head. I smiled slightly, thinking about how cute Penny looked inside of the sweatshirt that, despite Brynna's small size, was still much too big for her.
“No. Keep it, dear.” She laid her head against Penny's. “And it's alright. I'll just sit down.”
“You can't carry her around forever, Brynn.” Elijah told her gently. “They're not going to get her again. I promise.”
“Promises are just words, no matter how honorable their intentions may be. There is no way you could possibly guarantee that Penny will not be taken by them again. The chances of them stealing her from me while she is attached to my chest are slim to none. And she is, quite literally, attached to my chest. Look...” She carefully maneuvered her hands so that she could push Penny away ever so slightly without waking her. Elijah and I both grimaced upon seeing that where Penny's bare skin met Brynna's, they were linked together.
“Oh my God...” Elijah muttered. He looked away and rubbed his eyes as a shudder of disgust passed through him. “How are you going to pry her off?”
“When she or I want to let go, we will let go, Eli.” Brynna replied with a sigh. “It is part of the mutation, I am assuming.”
“James, have you seen this?” Elijah pointed at Brynna when James came over to us.
For a moment, his eyes widened as he thought, I'm sure, that Brynna had been injured in some way. But then, he saw that Elijah was referencing Penny's attachment to her skin and he calmed.
“Oh. Yeah, I pointed that out to her. I assume it has some evolutionary meaning that I don't really feel like speculating about right now.”
“What are we going to do with him?” I expected the straight answer from James that I had wanted from Brynna. He didn't disappoint.
“We're going to find out what we want to know from him. After that...” He paused for a minute. Then, he shrugged, raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “I don't know.”
“What do we want to know from him? What can he tell us?” I prodded him further.
“We need to find out where we can go. We need a place where they can't get at us as easily. Then, we're going to find out why they're trying to kill us.” James continued breezily. “I also need to know if they have any weaknesses or if there are any kinds of real weapons on this stupid planet. Probably not, though.”
“I don't know. Their city was quite advanced. I am sure they have ways of protecting themselves. They more than likely do not manufacture guns but knives and spears existing somewhere is certainly a plausible scenario.” Brynna chimed in.
“We're never going to be able to fight them with knives and spears.” My eyes were widened as I looked between the three of them.
“We will learn. We have adapted to survive this much, have we not? If we are meant to fight with knives and spears, then it will be done.” Brynna reassured me. “Did anyone else gather that the natives are split into two factions that I assume are at war with one another?”
“No. Where in the world did you get that from?” James asked her, “Did you read their minds?”
“One of the people, in her fit of pious terror, mentioned that their God was going to let the 'others' attack, if Penny was not sacrificed immediately. 'Overtake us' were her exactly words.”
“And you think that by the others, she meant maybe the people in the city?” James asked. “Well, it would make sense. Why would those people be living in a cave when they could be living in that huge city? Do you think that them being at war with each other could help us?”
“Yes, I do,” Brynna answered, “But the reason why it will help us is one that, depending on your own personal morality, might repulse you.”
“Are any of us really that moral anymore?” I asked with a shrug.
There was silence; apparently, I had just said something deep that required a moment of thought. In that silence, I mused on the subject as well. Sure enough, I arrived at the conclusion that we weren't moral anymore. The longer we stayed on Pangea, the more we embraced heartless brutality. We didn't really have a choice on the matter.
“What's your idea?” I wanted to break that uncomfortable quiet because the idea of losing my humanity was one that made my heart bound upwards into my throat. I feared becoming completely superhuman as
I now was able to understand and acknowledge the full implications of the change.
“I know the way I just know sometimes that this boy is important. I am sensing a familial connection to their leader. That man that I assaulted, the one who was speaking, is their leader.”
“If there's a familial connection, why didn't he stop us from taking him?” Elijah asked.
“Perhaps he thought it was wiser to pretend that the boy was nothing than to give away his high standing. We would be more likely to hurt him if we knew he was of 'royal' blood, correct?” Brynna leaned forward in earnest as she explained.
“Yes.” James agreed, “I know what you're going to suggest. Do you want me to tell you?”
“Absolutely.”
“You think we should hand him over to the city-natives in exchange for our safety. He'd be a peace offering.”
“Indeed. I do not want to think for too long about what they might do to him. It will weaken my resolve to go through with the plan. But if this is our chance to live safely, then we need to take it. Running from them is only a temporary solution. It is not even a sure bet that we will escape them every time they come for us. This is our chance to guarantee our own safety.”
“But he's a kid!” Alice's voice exclaimed behind us in horror. We all jumped before turning around to see that she, Nick, and Quinn had been listening.
“The three of you were disqualified from these negotiations before they even began, I'm afraid.” Brynna informed them in a fake, rueful tone, “You gave up your rights to determine the fate of our young prisoner when you decided to sit, twiddling your thumbs, as we saved Penny and dragged him out of the cave with us.”
“You said something about them offering up Penny as a human sacrifice.” Quinn told us.
“Yes, I suppose if you were rudely eavesdropping, you would have heard that snippet of our conversation.” Brynna responded icily.
“So now, you want to offer up this guy as a sacrifice!” Quinn shouted in disgust, “He's a kid, just like us! You're no better than them if you do this. For all we know, he's never done anything a day in his life to deserve being killed!”
The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) Page 45