The Shattered Genesis (Eternity)

by Rudacille, T.

  “Look at this.” Elijah said and we all turned to see that he was holding up one rations box and a half moldy tomato. “This is it. Unless they ate the rest, this is all they get to eat.”

  “That’s foul.” Brynna muttered in disgust, “Come on. The deathly atmosphere and horrid conditions these people have been forced to live under is provoking a high level of despondency in me that I am not used to. Come along.”

  “Let me translate for you,” James told us, “'I feel really bad for these people and I don’t want to admit it openly.'”

  “Why don't you translate this, James Maxwell?” As she walked out of the cabin, she gave him the finger.

  “I’m sorry, I am not fluent in sign language.” James replied sarcastically as he followed after her.

  “Alright,” Brynna told us once we were all outside. “There is but one course of action to take and it is very unwise. In fact, it is downright stupid. Yes, I am going to do something stupid.”

  “What are you going to do?” Elijah asked her hurriedly, “Brynna, don’t test our…”

  “BACHUMS!” She shouted deafeningly. We all gasped as her voice echoed off of the surrounding mountains, reverberating just as loudly as her original scream. “COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!”

  “Brynna!” Alice exclaimed in a fearful whisper. “Brynna, stop it!”

  “The adrenaline rush is messing with your head! Stop it!” I ordered her fiercely.

  She laughed softly and still, the sound echoed eerily around the empty village.

  “You didn’t think I would show up?!” She was walking forward. “You didn’t think I would hunt you down for taking what’s mine? Very foolish, my dears! I adore your pyramid, by the way!”

  We had reached the many steps that led to the door of the pyramid.

  “Let me guess, you’re going to shoot me the moment I open the door!”

  “Don’t open the door! Don’t open the door!” Alice begged her as we watched her saunter up the steps.

  James grabbed her but it was too late; she had already kicked the door of the pyramid in, sending it flying off of its hinges and ricocheting down the long, dark corridor. No bullets sprayed out into the open air to bring both her and James down. No exclamation of horror or battle cry came rushing down the hallway to meet us outside the front door.

  “How very disappointing.” Brynna muttered as she turned away. James grabbed her arm roughly and spun her to face him.

  “Are you insane?” He hissed at her furiously.

  “I am sorry, did you want to search every cabin only to find dust and dank depression? I know I didn’t.” She jerked her hand free from his grasp. Something came over her suddenly, snuffing out the boisterous recklessness that had seized her. Her expression softened just before her knees gave out.

  “It’s alright. Baby, everything’s okay.” James told her as he lifted her off of her feet.

  That strange moaning sound escaped her again as she grasped his face with one hand and buried her own in his neck.

  “Brynn… Brynn, it’s all going to be okay.” Elijah told her as he rubbed her arm.

  Her whimpers and moans made her sound as though she was seconds from getting sick. Whatever anger I had felt at her for endangering us evaporated suddenly. Sympathy exploded inside of me. I couldn’t imagine fearing for Alice’s life and in all honesty, she was only my girlfriend. Brynna had raised those girls by herself, sacrificing her own childhood in order to ensure that they grew up happily. Penny especially was her daughter; she even bore an uncanny resemblance to her. I couldn’t imagine the blind fear that Brynna was experiencing. I didn’t want to try.

  All the adrenaline that had been built up for the fight was escaping us. Alice sat down on the log steps of the pyramid, put her face in her hands, and started to cry softly. James leaned against the ledge in the pyramid wall, kissing Brynna’s face gently and whispering soft promises to her that he couldn’t possibly keep. Elijah walked away from us, choosing to drain his fear and grief in private where we couldn’t see. I sat down beside Alice, staring at the dead village in front of my eyes. The clouds cast a gray light on the world, amplifying the sadness in our hearts. To reach the dead-end of the road is a harrowing and very sad thing. To look left, right, upwards and downwards and see no path, not even one that is obscured from view by underbrush or fallen boulders or darkness itself, is enough to turn the bravest men and women into sobbing children. It is enough to buckle the knees of Brynna Olivier, who had never fallen in the face of any sadness, ever.

  “This world is huge, Quinn. They could be anywhere. Where do we even start?” Alice whispered to me through her tears. I pulled her close as tears pooled in my own eyes, too. They fell only when my face was hidden in her hair.

  It began to snow.

  Violet

  “Please, Lord, let me have inherited Brynna's steel spine. I'll need it now and forever.”

  The prayer crossed my mind as I drifted in the depths of unconsciousness. I meant every word. My eyes slowly opened as my heart dreaded discovering the nature of the situation I was in. All in all, it wasn't too bad; I was lying on one of the fur beds in a room that was thankfully dark. I massaged my throbbing temples, grimacing as I sat up. Luckily, the memories of what had happened at the house were still fresh in my mind; they played out seamlessly in a review meant to remind me of the danger I was in.

  “Penny?” My voice crackled and broke; I was in need of water desperately.

  “She's not here.”

  I had begun to forget her voice but the English accent gave her away. I turned away from the wall and saw that Maura was keeping vigil at my bedside.

  “Maura.”

  “That's me.” She replied with a slight smile. “Darling, it's been so long. I've missed you.”

  She opened her arms, actually believing that I was in the mood for hugs and teary apologies.

  “Where is Penny?” I forced my voice to rise. I needed to assert authority over the situation or they would think me weak and easily broken. It was the Bachums that had taken me; they and the cave-dwellers had aligned to defeat Adam's city people and those I had lived with happily for several months. Brynna, Elijah, James, Alice and Quinn were in the latter group; I would not sit back and allow the others to harm them. My heart fluttered magnificently as I realized that I could now gain valuable information about the opposing side. The soldier mentality had taken over and I was ready to learn all that I could before fighting my way out of captivity.

  Oh, how naïve I was...

  “Penny's fine, Vi. You did not honestly think your father and I would let anything happen to her, did you? Or you, for that matter.”

  “Eli and Brynn... What about them?” I asked fiercely.

  “Elijah and Brynna have gotten themselves involved with that terrible man. What is his name?”

  “Don Abba.”

  “Yes. Him...” Maura avoided my eyes. I realized that she hadn't looked at me since I had turned over to see her. There was something different about her; something was broken, something was lost. Her body was frail and her face was sunken in, giving her the appearance of a rapidly decaying corpse. Admittedly, a small pang of sympathy pulled at my heartstrings. She had always been so beautiful. Her time with the Bachums had not agreed with her at all.

  “That other man,” Her brows furrowed in apathetic confusion, “Or is he a man? Adam. He's just as bad, if not worse. He made us think he was on our side. Then, he turned on us. Apparently, our offerings were not good enough for him. Whatever you all were doing where you were living clearly worked in your favor. He has aligned himself with you, hasn't he?”

  “Do you really think I am so stupid that I would actually answer that question honestly?”

  The dim light cast by the torches around the walls enhanced her skeletal features eerily. I shuddered slightly, a part of me wanting to reach out, embrace her and urge her to come back with me to the remains of our house. Don would allow me to bring her, as long as she s
wore allegiance to him and cast away all thoughts of my father. I needed to prod her gently in that direction; no matter what had occurred since arriving on Pangea, she had helped raise me on Earth. She had been an ever-present figure in my life. The very sight of her evoked a strange calm in my heart as the smell of summer rain filled my nose. I shook my head slightly, forcing the wondrous serenity from my mind. It was simply an inconvenience under the tense circumstances.

  “I hate that we're on opposite sides of this, Violet.” Maura whispered and her dull, drooping eyes finally met mine. “I love you. I love Penny. You have to know that. I've driven your father mad with how much I've talked about you.”

  “Yeah? Is that how you got those bruises on your face?”

  They colored her pure white skin in a pattern of dark blue, purple and black like a sloppily designed ink blot test. In the darkness, the cuts in her lip looked like piercings punctured into her flesh by an amateur.

  “No. That wasn't your father.” She whispered and her eyes diverted away from me again as her hands flew up to cover her face from my view. She stayed like that for a long while but after starting to draw back from both me and the topic at hand, she reconsidered and leaned forward, her dead eyes alight suddenly with a need to make me understand something vital.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” I could not look into her eyes for long without a shiver stomping up every vertebrae in my spine.

  What had happened to her? I did not recognize the woman I had seen everyday for seventeen years. I could not begin to fathom what she had been forced to endure in order for that drastic change to come over her.

  “Violet, if you understood the gravity of what is to come, you wouldn't be asking me such stupid questions.”

  Jerking my hands from her grasp, I stood up and began to pace. My heart raced not with the battle-ready anticipation of a warrior placed in enemy territory at the right place and time but with the fear of an abandoned child. Maura was gone. It had taken mere minutes alone with her to understand just how unhinged she had become. I wondered how many others had succumbed to such lunacy. If I spoke of that to Brynna, she would surely weigh the effects on a scale of environmental hardships and malnutrition versus tyrannical regimes and potent, never-ending fear of death. Briefly, I found myself wondering the same. The scale remained level.

  “Why did they attack us?”

  “The same reason you attacked us, darling. Adam and Tyre have spoken clearly, haven't they? Only one side can live. But it's alright.” Her hands grasping mine again stopped my furious pacing. “You're with us now. Violet, I have seen the error of my ways. We have all repented for the awful things we did on Earth. Do you want to hear the strangest thing? It was only yesterday that everyone had finally repented. Then, we attacked Don and Adam's people and destroyed them! Isn't that amazing?”

  She let go of my hands to clasp her own together. While she looked up at the ceiling with tear-filled eyes, I grimaced in discomfort. Her hopeful, blind gratitude to this God she had been told encouraged war was sickening. I scowled at her, my red eyes burning into hers when she looked back at me.

  “Violet, do not do that!” She jumped up abruptly and pointed at me with a trembling finger. “Make them right! Do not let your eyes change colors! They'll kill you for that! It's,” She looked around fearfully before lowering her voice to a whisper, “It's Satan that has given all of you those powers. Look at what they do to you! They make you kill! They make you control people's minds! They make you control the forces of nature when that is God's job! Violet, I need you to see clearly! Please,” Tears cascaded down her swollen, bruised cheeks, “I love you and I couldn't bear it if I lost you!”

  “I love bursting your bubble, Maura, but I sincerely doubt that your ridiculous leaders killed the other side completely. Maybe you took a few of our people. But you certainly didn't take them all. We all have powers, you're right. You're wrong to say that they're evil. You're just afraid of what you don't understand. I guess that for you, it's easier to shut off your mind and worship this God blindly even though it's crazy people that claim He exists, but I will never be that stupid, do you hear me?!” I leaned forward so that my face was close to hers. “What is the endgame, Maura? Why am I here?”

  “Because your father was meant to give me a gift now that we're married. He's very powerful, even here. They said that he could give me one gift and do you want to know what I asked for?”

  “I don't have to guess.” I replied sarcastically, “Well, it's a bubble-bursting extravaganza because I'm telling you now that I'm not staying here and neither is Penny.”

  “You're safe here. The other side is dead. If they haven't all died yet, they will soon enough. We'll win and we'll be able to live peacefully. We survived the end of days, Violet. Now, our brave soldiers are going to make sure we survive this new age, too. And we're going to fight them and win without ever using those terrible powers. It's going to be wonderful, darling, I promise. We are the chosen race, my love. We will come out of this on top. The Bachums promised us that much. The Old Spirits have been kind to us. Tyre makes sure that we are fed. He hates Adam and he will bring him down. They will reclaim the city.”

  “No, I can assure you that they won't.” I snapped at her indignantly, “Adam told us that Tyre, or whatever the hell his name is, has lost his powers. All of his people have.”

  “They were farming the earth. They sent horrible creatures to hunt down people like Brynna and Elijah. They know that humans are not meant to wield such great power. Luckily, they got a lot of them. But the people who made it and have embraced those powers...” Maura shook her head, “They have to die, Violet. That's why I'm telling you to stop it. Stop it or they'll...”

  “Maura, get out.”

  My father was standing in the doorway. Maura jumped up and immediately walked towards the door with her head down. Her clothes hung like draping robes from her emaciated form. I shuddered again.

  While she looked on the verge of death by starvation, my father had acquired a swollen belly and fatty jowls. I grimaced at the sight of him; he had always been handsome, so handsome that two women had vied for his affections. Now, he reminded me of an eighteenth century king who spent his days imbibing on ale and gorging roasted pig meat as readily as he breathed. The metaphor was not far from the truth, I would soon discover.

  “Violet.” He opened his arms as he walked towards me. What was it with those people expecting warm embraces after all that had transpired between our two sparring armies? Did they truly believe that I had longed for them or that my allegiance would change with no hesitation? I held my hand up when he went to wrap his arms around me.

  “I know. A lot of bad things have happened. But just know that I'm going to make it up to you.” He sat down on the chair Maura had been sitting in and it creaked under his weight. “I was afraid that you and Penny were starving to death. But you look healthy. I'm glad. At least that despicable man and that disgusting tramp made sure you were fed.”

  “Did you just call Brynna a tramp, really?” I asked with a slight laugh, “That's funny.”

  “Violet, you should have no loyalty to her anymore. I saved your life in more ways than you know. Not to mention, I'm your father and you wouldn't be here without me, right?”

  “So, I should just forget that you abandoned Mom, imposed rules over the campsite that involved people starving to death, abandoned us, shacked up with Maura, and abducted Penny and me from our home?”

  “I did not abandon your mother! Brynna did. I was letting people starve because I was thinking of the group. You don't think that was hard for me to do that to people? I had to think of the whole and not the parts, Violet. I don't expect you to understand that.” In his voice, I heard genuine remorse. I heard a genuine plea for me to understand.

  “You're right. I don't understand that.” I told him angrily, “There were other ways, Dad, and you know...”

  “I had to do what was right for everyone. We never would hav
e survived a month if everyone had to have a fair share. Don't you see that? And I didn't abandon you! You ran away. We searched for you for days! Maura and I love each other, so yes, we're together. But that doesn't mean that I don't still love your mother. How could I not still love her? We were married for almost twenty-five years.”

  “And God knows how many affairs you had! Don't try to convince me that you two were happily married! You might think that I'm still that young, immature little girl that I was only a year ago but I remember things clearly now!”

  “You remember things the way Brynna wants you to remember things.” My father hissed in fury. “I can't imagine the lies she's put in your head.”

  “Brynna never even talked about you. She never tried to warp my view of you, Mom or Maura. But I do know something that you all kept a secret. I know what happened to her. I know now, even better than I did before, that what happened to Lucien wasn't her fault.”

  He rose to his feet, trembling with rage.

  “Lucien's death was no one's fault but hers! She went off into her head and while she was rolling around in her ridiculous thoughts, he was drowning! My son! Your brother!”

  “You all shouldn't have left her alone! Not after what happened! And you called her a liar! Maura knew it was happening! Only Mom believed her! Only Mom took care of her after it was over! That is, until Lucien died and she turned on her, too! I believed your lies about Brynna for years, Dad. But for some reason, I couldn't hate her. Now, I know why. I couldn't hate her because all of the things you said about her were bullshit!”

  “You watch your mouth!” He grabbed a hold of my face in a grip so painful that I whimpered. My body was shaking with fear; I squeezed my eyes shut when he brought back his hand. I was going to experience the same punishment he had inflicted only on Brynna. I wanted to feel the pain she had been forced to endure. I deserved it for believing their disgusting lies. But my father took a breath, released my face and dropped his arm back to his side. When I opened my eyes, I saw that he was seated again with his face pressed into his hands.