Native… Why were there natives?
In that one second that it took for me to make that realization, the woman below me brought her fists back and hit me hard in the stomach. I grunted in pain, my breaths rasping as I tried to inhale. She pushed me backwards and got over top of me now. With a deafening screech, she brought her clawed hand back and scratched my cheek deeply. With her other hand, she did the same on the other side of my face. I spit a mouthful of blood at her; she was blinded for only a minute. She screamed in surprise but I lunged forward to tackle her around the middle. Once she had collapsed back into the mud, I got above her again.
I was breathing raspy breaths at her for a minute, my blood dripping onto her face as she shrieked and roared at me in burning, animal rage. I brought my head back and slammed it down into hers twice, ignoring the dizziness that was bound to follow two head-butts.
The gun had flown from my hand and I reached sideways for it. That movement gave her just enough time to pull a twisted dagger from the pocket of her black dress. I tried to brace for the blow but no thought or physical tensing could have prepared me for the unbearable pain of being stabbed straight through the stomach.
I didn’t scream; it felt as though my lungs had deflated. I could only gargle and hold my stomach as blood poured over my hands. I fell backwards, kicked my feet and arched upwards, trying desperately to apply pressure to the wound but instead, only pained myself more. While struggling for a breath, for enough air to yell out, I watched her crawl over top of me and raise her knife for the final blow. There was only one defense that my strength would allow; I kicked her once and sent her hurtling backwards.
I tried to push my way away from her towards the gun. As she stood back up, I kicked my feet harder and faster, propelling myself across the ground with strength that was beginning to fade slowly with the effort. When she lunged through the air, her white eyes ablaze with fury and her own lion-like teeth on display, I reached back and finally, thankfully, grabbed the gun.
The safety… I had heard the term before but that didn’t mean that I knew what it meant. I pushed something on the side of the gun and then aimed. Just as she was about to plunge her knife into my chest upon landing on me, I fired off every bullet in the chamber.
She fell on top of me, hissing and snarling weakly in my ear. I struggled to push her off but the exertion was too painful. I moaned in pain as I turned over onto my side; she fell off of me but that was the least of my concerns. I reached back slowly, my arm trembling, and ran my hand down my back.
“Oh, man…” I muttered and a maniacal giggle burst from me. I had to have been going delirious from the blood loss and the pain. “Bitch stabbed me straight through…”
I laid down and my laughter died away as quickly as it had come alive. I stared up at the sun that was hiding behind the thick, eerily gray clouds. Nature was completely untarnished on Pangea; all the colors, light and dark, were more brilliant than anything we had ever seen on Earth. I thought about Earth for a long while, wondering if I would trade the death that was sure to be slow and agonizing for the quick, explosive death that had wiped out the population on our home planet.
“Alice…” I muttered aloud in response to my mind reminding me that on Pangea, Alice and I had gotten what we had always wanted. We had gotten what would have been denied us by the progression of an Earthly life.
I worried that she would be very sad. I knew that if the situation were reversed, I would be inconsolable.
I had to put my faith in her strength now. She would survive. I knew that. She would be taken care of by Brynna and James. She would have a family of sorts, made up of the other people in the house. I knew that she would grieve, but I also knew that my death wouldn’t be her own, as well.
I closed my eyes.
Violet
The chaos in the foyer of the house drew us away from our work. Brynna had been distracted all morning; at least once an hour, she would stop abruptly in the middle of whatever task she had been assigned to close her eyes and hold her heart with one hand. When I inquired if she was alright, she muttered that she was and forced herself to resume her work immediately. At one point, she leaned forward to put her hands on her knees and hung her head. Some dark knowing was plaguing her. Some premonition of an awful event was snaking around her and snatching the precious breaths in her lungs.
“Let’s go get some air.” Alice told her. When Brynna shook her head, Alice took one of her arms and led her out of the room.
They disappeared for about ten minutes. When they returned, all the color had drained from Alice’s face.
Brynna and Alice were the first to run from the kitchen towards the entrance hall. Brynna was well aware that whatever terrible thing that had been pulling at her instincts all morning had finally occurred.
“What happened?!” I heard Alice scream. I rounded the corner and gasped sharply upon seeing the sight.
All of the men and women in security were either covered in their own blood or the blood of another. Dirt had caked onto their shoes, splattered up their legs, and covered their torsos. The ones either unconscious or dead, I couldn’t know, were being carried or dragged along by those still able to move.
“Ten of them… Ten of them came through the gate…”
“Quinn! Oh God! Oh my God!” I knelt beside Alice and grasped her shoulders. I moved down to press my face to the side of hers.
“It’s going to be okay…” I whispered in a trembling voice, “He's going to be okay...”
Ten of them were coming our way...
“Are they armed?!” Don demanded after he had stormed into the room. When I looked up at him, I saw that his eyes were red with the blaze of fury.
James nodded in response before he and Brynna took off out of the house.
“Brynna!” I screamed in terror as I jumped up to run after her. But a hand grasped my arm roughly and threw me back to Alice. Elijah was going after her, too. Wes, Bennie and Henry followed after him.
“Stay with him. I’ll be right back!” I told Alice. She nodded and I ran onto the porch, my entire body trembling so viciously that I was finding it difficult to move at a pace the situation required.
The Bachums had coerced some natives to join their side. Their group charged our group. Guns were fired and someone went down. I jumped out of the way as five stray bullets came whizzing at me, quicker than one beat of my racing heart. I crawled to the wooden post of the porch and peeked out, watching as Brynna ran forward in a blur, jumped, planted her foot in the stomach of one of the charging natives and flipped in a complete circle over his head.
“Whoa!” I was unable to hide my awe, even under the highly dangerous circumstances.
Her back was to the native, who had jumped up and turned to face her. She swung her arm back and I saw for the first time that she had brought the knife she had been using in the kitchen. With a fluid movement, she sliced into the man’s throat and then flipped him over her shoulder without ever turning around completely to face him.
“Keep at least one alive!” Don’s deafening shout behind me made me jump.
Elijah had the upper-hand in his fight. He was one deadly strike away from killing his opponent. Instead of ripping into his flesh with his fangs, he thrust his fist forward hard enough to send the man flying backwards several feet.
When they had won, they returned, huffing and puffing from the effort. James’s arm was wrapped tightly around Brynna’s shoulders. Her own were locked around his middle. They were keeping each other close after facing such a dangerous threat.
Elijah and Wes were dragging the unconscious man Elijah had taken down. Henry was carrying a huge native man on his shoulders without even a grimace.
“One native, one Bachum…” Henry said as he threw his body forward so that the native landed hard on his back with a painful thud.
“Perfect.” Don replied in a voice lacking emotion. “Get them downstairs.”
Brynna pulled me up and I squeezed he
r hand in both of mine as we walked. I let go only to grab hold of her arm. I rested my head on her shoulder as we entered the house again.
The injured were being carried upstairs. We had only four doctors in our group. They were coming upstairs from the basement where they and several others had been trying to fashion an office and an examination room for them to use.
“Alright, I need anything clean that can be used to stop the bleeding. I need anything that can be used as bandages. I need alcohol.” One of them demanded quickly.
Several people were off in search of those items.
We followed them upstairs and began to immediately search for Alice.
“Put them in here. It’s the most space.” Don instructed. He was pointing to his own room, the master suite.
Alice was sobbing beside Quinn and grasping his hand tightly.
“I don’t think he’s breathing!” She cried hysterically. When she looked up at us, we saw the black lines smeared down her face from the mix of tears and mascara.
I didn’t know what to say and neither did James or Elijah. There are few words that can comfort those preparing to lose one they love. That is a truth that has never changed.
“It is alright. Look at me. Alice, look at me.” Brynna was knelt on the other side of Quinn. Dr. Anthony tossed her one of the First Aid kits that had been foraged from the ship.
“Do the best you can.” He told her hurriedly, and she nodded. I noticed that her hands were only trembling slightly.
“I am going to do everything in my power, Allie. I promise.” Brynna told her. My sister's eyes were still fixed on our friend's even as her hands pulled out the gauze from the kit and pressed it to Quinn’s wound almost by their own will.
“But you’re not a doctor… We need him…”
“I will not be offended by your lack of faith. Guys, I need alcohol,” She ordered us over her shoulder, “And Don is calling Adam. When he gets here, tell him that I need to see him.”
“Brynn, the last person we…” James started to say.
“Alcohol, James! Now!” She barked at us before pushing harder on Quinn’s wound. His body jerked forward and he moaned softly.
“He’s alive. He can still feel pain. That’s a good sign.” Brynna told Alice soothingly. Alice nodded and kissed Quinn's hand twice.
“What can I do?” Alice managed to whisper to Brynna.
“Talk to him. Keep him with us.”
Alice nodded again and moved closer to Quinn’s head so he could hear her voice.
“Hey, baby…” She whispered through her shuddering sobs, “I’m right here. We’re all right here. Brynn is going to help you. She’s going to do everything she can. I’m going to do whatever I need to do to make you better, okay? I’m not going to let you go anywhere. I promise.”
James handed Brynna a small bottle of vodka. Those tiny bottles had been very popular on the ship at nighttime, when people from all over came together to talk and socialize before they all went to bed. I had always been annoyed by the noise those drunken people made in the rec-room, which was three floors above where we slept. But now, I was definitely thankful for the bottles.
“Shh…” Alice whispered after putting her hand on Quinn’s face. He had jumped again when Brynna poured the alcohol onto his stomach, “It’s okay, baby. I know it stings, but it’s going to help you. It will. I promise.”
“You requested to see me, Ms. Olivier?”
Everyone except for Brynna jumped upon finding Adam standing right beside our group.
“Oh, wipe that smirk off of your face!” She snapped at him angrily. I gasped and covered my mouth, stunned that she would call him on his cruel arrogance and the joy he was clearly experiencing at witnessing our misfortune. I wanted to shakily remind her that if he wanted, he could easily murder each and every one of us.
“I apologize.”
My brows crinkled together in confusion. Had my sister's scathing nature really gotten Adam, the leader of an entire planet, to apologize sincerely?
“I need to know how severe his wound is. I need to know if anything got damaged and what I should do.”
“Oh, do you?” He asked with his eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face again.
Quinn started trembling, slightly at first. But then, as though we had pressed a fully charged defibrillator to his chest (which, given his condition, would have been very useful), his body jumped off of the ground, twitching and jerking wildly.
“Quinn!” Alice was wailing now. I embraced her again as tears streamed down my cheeks. She was trying to hold him down but Brynna broke her grip.
“Just let it run its course.” She ordered softly, “He has lost a lot of blood.” When she addressed Adam, her warmth froze over and a violent scowl of impatience took hold of her features.
“What do you want?”
“What do you think I want? Mr. Maxwell, I have had all that I can stand of you and will gladly snap you in half if you step towards me aggressively. Please think again.” His eyes were blazing when he looked at James.
“Brynna, do not agree to this. Don’t listen to him!” James ordered her.
“He’s going to die any second now, James.” Brynna looked at Alice and then back at Quinn, who had gone motionless. “He has two minutes, maybe less.”
“Just tell him you’ll do what he wants!” Alice screamed at her pleadingly, “Please, Brynna! Please!”
Brynna looked up at James, a desperation in her eyes that I had never seen before. As quickly as I had noticed it, it was gone. Her resolve had returned.
“I will handle this myself, thank you so much.” She shot at Adam, “Carry on.”
Adam chuckled softly and turned to walk away.
“Without blood, he will pass. You will need Elixir, which I supplied to your leader just yesterday.”
“Yes…” Brynna realized in a soft whisper. She looked up at Elijah and me.
“Where is it?” I asked immediately.
“It is downstairs where they were building. It is dark blue, almost black, with purple around the edges. It is a medium-sized leaf. Go! Hurry up!”
Elijah and I ran downstairs, almost knocking over those who were waiting in the hallway for news because we were in such a rush. We stormed into the basement, avoiding the corridor that led to the very last floor of the house. We ran down the hallway lit with torches. When we entered the room where the doctors had been working, we rooted through their large bags of medicinal supplies until we found the very leaves Brynna had described.
“What does this do?” Elijah asked.
“Who cares?” I responded as we took off running again, “If he says it will work and if Brynna believes him, then it will work!”
When we returned, Adam was healing Bennie's gunshot wound. His hands were covered in blood; he had dug into the wound in order to extract the bullet. I grimaced.
When I handed her the leaf, Brynna put it in her mouth and chewed it up as quickly as she could. Once or twice, she scrunched up her face in disgust. Apparently, it wasn’t the most appetizing of plants.
“Open his mouth.”
“Oh, gross…” Elijah murmured. He turned away with his hands over his eyes.
“Shut up, Eli!” Brynna, Alice and I yelled simultaneously. I grasped Quinn's head and tilted it back so that Alice could pull his mouth open. Brynna spat the spit-saturated leaf into her hand and shoved it into Quinn’s mouth. Her fingers pressed to the artery in his neck that, given her expression, I could gather was barely pulsing anymore.
“He’s not swallowing it!” Alice cried, “Damn it!” She pushed her fingers down into his throat, forcing the mashed-up leaf down further, “It’s down! It’s down!”
“Alright.” Brynna nodded, “Now, we just have to wait.”
As she sat back, she looked over at Adam, scowling once again. When James sat beside her, she took his arm and wrapped it around her shoulder.
“He ever looks at you like that again…” James muttered to her and
I noticed for the first time that not only had his irises turned red but so had the whites of his eyes. I looked down, knowing that James had reached the level of anger humans simply could not achieve. If ever there was a time when he was unthinkably dangerous, it was during those moments of unspeakable outrage.
“Look at me.” Brynna whispered to him. She grasped his chin and looked up into his eyes. Now, I looked at them again. Her blue eyes were glowing with the calming tranquility of the ocean to extinguish the fire that burned in James’s. His eyes returned to normal.
“Guys, look! Look!” Alice exclaimed. When we did, we saw her pointing to the wound in Quinn’s stomach. We all leaned in to watch as his skin pulled back together. It was as though an invisible needle was sewing the wound closed. Color was returning to his face as his breath began to draw in and let go quietly.
“You did it! Brynn, you did it!” Alice screamed in shameless glee. She reached out, pulled Brynna forward and squeezed her so tightly that Brynna frowned in pain.
“I have a slight fear of suffocation…” Brynna told her. But she was patting Alice's back and smiling slightly.
“Thank you! Thank you!” Alice was crying.
“Well, there is little need for tears now, my dear.”
Typical Brynna, so uncomfortable with outpourings of any emotion that wasn’t blind rage. Alice apologized and wiped her tears away.
“You’re right. He’s going to be okay. You saved his life.”
“We all saved his life. We all helped.” Brynna corrected her.
“Call Guinness, ladies and gentlemen. Brynna Oliver has said something humble!” James exclaimed. Brynna reached back and slapped him lightly in the chest, a gesture she seemed to favor when she was looking to offset his sarcasm.
“As if you can say anything about being humble…” She told him.
“I know.” He kissed her forehead and continued to rub her back even after his lips had left her skin.
The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) Page 63