Final Challenge

by Al Cooper

  Only in me!

  Those words struck deep into Hanson. Behind dementia of Clerigan had an obsession, that of perpetuating the woman he loved. For a moment the image of Kelly crossed his mind, he felt about her what had never felt for any woman, despite having passed so many for his life and for his bed. He was not willing to lose her under any circumstances, so he posed himself the question of what he had been able to do if Kelly disappeared forever from his life and he had the resources and knowledge of the professor. He concluded that he could not criticize him for his obsession but by pass over all moral values​​, for causing so much unjust suffering to satisfy his selfishness. Hanson also thought that although you love someone deeply, you have to know how to accept her death. Never, however much it may seem to her, there will be no one to fill that gap. As he threw in the hands of another woman, although she was a clone of the former, all that he showed was that, more than loving her, he loved himself. Hanson remembered something that he had read related with the iconodules that could have something in common, because Iconodules did something similar, worshiped an image representing their God, that is, their desire to have God near them, to achieve an image that would meet their expectations, exceeded their admiration and respect.

  Hanson, as a result of his reflection, made ​​a comment, followed by a tough question.

  - I would wish you had realized your mistake before starting all this! Clerigan, I can even understand your reasons and why you've done, but I can’t understand is for what. Where the road takes you now?... Where once that your hopes, your expectations have been frustrated

  - Do you mean to say I'm a failed? - Raised his voice, one could see his eyes the glow that precedes anger - Failed? I admit that at first I didn't care how far I had to reach to quench the thirst to have her by my side, she was the soul of this project, I was the potter who only put his hands, so her spirit is in all and each of the creatures I created. That's more than enough. Did you notice? - Stared at the children - would you call this a failure?

  - How is it possible that our society can breed monsters like you? How?... Something is wrong with our system - Harold mused aloud as he shook of his head - Mengele, the Nazi doctor at your side was a saint.

  - Please do not ever compare me! I'm no ordinary butcher. And I have powerful people behind, people whom supported me and deserves respect - he paused, then looked up to heaven - This is a new world with a new power.

  - A power which does not mind the blood on his hands - pointed out the President -

  - You'd be surprised if you knew some of the names of people who support us. You may win this battle, but your war is lost.

  Hanson, true to his character, was getting impatient. It struck him that the talk of Clerigan only sought to conceal his desire for justification, self-pity. That waiting didn’t take them anywhere.

  - Come on Clerigan, you have no outlet. Surrender!

  - I think you haven't correctly assessed the situation - Clerigan answered a sarcastic smile - Drop your weapons and leave this house right now!. Get away. Walk until the gate of the fortress.

  - What do you pretend? You have nothing to do!

  - I'm not going to repeat it - shouted Clerigan making as if to shoot Tommy -

  They had no choice. Hanson left his weapons on the ground and then, with a look, invited their colleagues to follow suit.

  - Okay, it looks like we're getting understand each other - told Clerigan challenging them with his gun - Now go out one by one, slowly - think twice and corrected - rather, by first the lady, never forget that first and foremost I am a gentleman. Then you, President, I mean ... former president. Then you,detective, and finally, Mr. Klein. If anyone stops in the garden, halfway between the house and the palisade, the following one will pay for it.

  They were going out in the established order, except Harold, who messed up, had to be helped by Susan. Clerigan told when corresponded to get out each of them with a pause of about two minutes between each.

  As soon as Klein, the last one, went out the door, Clerigan shot two bullets in his back. Klein tried to get up and continue, moment in which he received two shots more that finally ended his life. When Hanson heard the shots, he turned around and saw Klein lying on the ground. Then he ran back toward the house. He came like a shot, so Clerigan missed his shot. Then, as Hanson was about to go upstairs, Clerigan pointed with his gun to the child.

  - Stop playing games. Go again with your peers or I kill her now.

  - Miserable! - Hanson answered before retiring slowly, as if he was unable to resign to his fate, to the garden -

  Kelly went to Hanson's step and they fused in an embrace, under the watchful eye of Marvin. It had been too long without knowing of each other, wondering if they would have opportunity to meet again, imagining as would be the time of their remeeting. They stayed embraced without uttering a word, the mere presence of the other was enough to reward them for so much suffering, for a moment became isolated from the reality around them. Then they gently took to Marvin between both and withdrew him to a safe distance from the house.

  In turn, Clerigan desperately sought a plan that could save both him and his project, but the only chance he could think of, was that the Indians made ​​an appearance. He also missed his man at the village, surely he would come to help him soon. In any case, they should have come for some time, it was strange that they had not been aware of the shooting.

  Martha had been kept at the back of Clerigan, she had been listening intently to each and every one of the words he had spoken to the strange, wasting no detail of his attitude. Although her mental age didn't exceed seven years, she had sufficient intellectual capacity to understand and interpret his arguments. She felt humiliated, disappointed, betrayed. She thought that her father didn't deserve any respect. He had cheated her. She had been like a puppet in his hands, like a toy he had made to meet his instincts. All he promised was a lie, she meant nothing to him, only a reflection of a past to which he clung for fear of being left with nothing. And even he wasn't a better father to the rest of his brothers. He had created them to satisfy their selfishness and vanity, not to give them a chance to be happy.

  As Clerigan was seeking a solution he didn't find, he detected on his back a smell of smoke that caught his attention. When he turned around, his worst fears came true. The curtains were on fire, but he couldn't understand what had happened. Then he stared at the clone of his beloved Martha, she had a candelabrum in her hand, it couldn't have other explanation to that fire. By looking in more detail, also observed flames coming out of her dress. Surprised, his first thought was that it had been an accident. He didn't have time to react, let alone to draw conclusions as what had been the cause. Martha rushed into flames on her biotechnologic father and at the same time lover, whom hit while shouting desperately.

  - I hate you, hate you, hate you. Why did you give us life? I do not want to live!

  Clerigan's clothes began to burn, the smoke was unbearable, it didn't allow them to breathe, the wood did the rest. The screams were appalling, as much that they were the first sign that Hanson perceived from the garden, even before the smoke was beginning to go out the mansion.

  Hanson ran toward the house, and behind him Kelly. When he arrived, the scene was horrific. The upper floor was inaccessible, in flames. However, in a sublime effort, he tried to climb the wooden stairs, but before he set foot on the second rung collapsed. He could see, in the darkness of smoke, Martha standing, undaunted, worthy, as if she didn't care to immolate, as if death meant her release, as if conscious of having done the right thing. The smoke and fire had taken over the mansion, becoming Clerigan's paradise into a hell, an allegory of what he had created in his intention to revive a past that had been reluctant to lose.

  Hanson could do nothing except save his own life. He went out half suffocated, Kelly helped him to get a few meters away. He was coughing, lyi
ng on the ground for a while, unable to speak as Kelly tried to reanimate him. As soon as he felt a little better, he looked back and could see how the whole house was engulfed in flames.

  - You've taken them with you to your hell, bastard! - Exclaimed -

  - And he has also brought his secrets with him - Kelly turned his eyes instinctively toward the bungalow. Most of them were there, which could mean a breakthrough for humanity or the greatest of disasters, depending on the hands that they fell. She was, as a scientist, tempted to approach, but then reconsidered it, thinking that it would be best leaving it to fate, the same fate that had carried to Clerigan to meet with the love of his life, which he had always been longing to the point of losing his mind and defy all laws human and divine -.

  - I fear there will be always some Clerigan in this world - Hanson reflected in the arms of Kelly -

  The house was about to collapse, they had to get up and walk away as soon as possible to get to safety. Between the two moved to Marvin to the gate of the stockade, where President and Susan were waiting for them. Susan kissed and embraced to Marvin. He reassured her. In turn, Kelly got a great surprise as she met Harold, it was clear that Hanson had many things to tell her. Hanson then approached to the corpse de Souza. That great guy as smart as kindly, as cunning as prudent, without whose knowledge of the Amazon would never have achieved their goal. They were in eternal debt with him. He had given them everything, even his life in a act of courage to save the life of his peer. It seemed unfair that Souza would have been just the victim. He thought that life does not understand about justices or injustices, it does not always help those who deserve it just as rarely punishes evil wills. However, as he crouched beside him and picked up his badge, the keys of the helicopter and hat, he thought that perhaps Souza was the piece that God, or fate or whatever handle the threads of our lives, had sacrificed to do finally justice. Because Clerigan, driven by an obsession that had become dementia, had challenged not only human laws but divine so they probably had turned eventually against him.

  XL

  They decided to pick up the last mercenary of Clerigan that was still alive, the same that Marvin and Souza had left tied in the middle of the forest, they found him as they had left. They improvised two stretchers with branches and vines from the trees. In one of them placed the President, who had led his effort to the extent of fainting, so Hanson and Clerigan took him in the first instance. On another of them set out to Marvin, being carried by Kelly and Susan, who in an act of integrity rejected that nobody helps her.

  They surrounded the village with the intention of avoiding it, at their ignorance of what could have been the reaction of the natives to appreciate the smoke of the fortress in the distance. They could have decided to approach or the opposite, moving away terrified. It could even happen that they would have continued to make their daily lives in the village, without flinching, but whatever it was, they had no doubt that it would be best avoiding to meet them on their path.

  They found their two faithful guides waiting them, just at the point that Souza had indicated. Realizing the absence of the Brazilian, the two Indians didn't need further explanation, as a counterpoint to their silence on their face one could see a grimace of pain. One of the guides replaced Hanson at front of the stretcher of the President and the other one to Susan, who exhausted, leaned on Hanson. The walk was long, but given the state of the patients and the general exhaustion, they decided to do it much more slowly than in their previous way to get there. They walked for no more than six hours a day, stopping to rest every two hours. They had no food, so they readily agreed the two pieces that natives hunted every day early in the morning. They were not asked about its origin, they couldn't afford delicacies in their state but grilling it over the fire, it seemed all a delicacy.

  The walk had no major incidents, except that it was long, hard and painful. On the third day the President was determined to get up and start walking. He was far from being recovered but his determination and his spirit was imposed on his body, so he did half the distance of the third day on their own feet. When the fourth day, at sunset, they finally reached the village of their guide, they thought it was a hallucination caused by the effort. But as they saw that it was a hallucination shared by all and to be greeted by the whole village, could confirm that they had reached their goal.

  That night they held a great feast in their honor. Hanson and Kelly, although exhausted as the whole group, regained their sense of humor. They enjoyed the dinner, based on abundant game and fruit. They even think that those cooks were not so bad, because it was just other customs, other rites and other flavors so as good homo sapiens they should be able to adapt to changing conditions. In fact, coming as they came from a paradise turned into hell, the meal tasted to glory. But Hanson thought that a little of Western counterpoint would not hurt. He sought with zeal at the helicopter until he found a box of rum that, as expected, the good of Souza had very well hidden. The natives were not averse to the invitation, in fact it seemed that they had had a chance to test it in more than one occasion.

  In turn they offered them snuff, a mild hallucinogen made ​​from toasted snuff leaves and ash from the bark of tree Pupui, which produces a sore throat to those are not used. From that moment the dream was taking possession of them. They rested in the huts that were allocated for this purpose as well as long ago they did not remember. The next morning, in an atmosphere of general excitement, they said goodbye to their guides, their new Indian friends whom they also were owed ​​their lives, and from the whole village.

  They went to the helicopter and were settling into the extent possible. Hanson and Kelly helped Marvin to get in, Susan came in behind him making cuddle. They then helped the President, Hanson could not avoid to dedicate him one of his jokes.

  - Go ahead, President. I am sorry you have to go a little tight.

  - I don’t care, I never had so eager to go home - Harold said smiling as he jumped to get in the machine -

  Kelly and Hanson finally got into the front seats. Kelly thought that it was very strange that Hanson had decided to fly the helicopter as he wasn't friend at all of the aerial devices. In fact usually he had had even to overcome his aerophobia to get into. However, he had been so decided from the beginning that no one had dared to doubt about his expertise.

  However she preferred not to ask anything, for fear of finding an answer that did not meet her expectations. She didn't need it. He started the engine, and after noting as natives moved away prudently, Hanson, who kept looking and touching some of the controls, implicitly answered the question that was in the air.

  - Finally the diploma of intensive pilot is going to serve for something - he said calmly -

  - Thank God! When did you do the course? - Kelly asked, relieved -

  - About fifteen years ago - he said very seriously -

  - God!

  Hanson looked at her with a knowing smile. Then he kissed her cheek.

  - Quiet. Everything is going to be fine - confirmed in a tone of security - In addition, I feel much better when I am the pilot. I only have fear, I mean … panic, when I am in other hands.

  - I hope it is not the same on the road. I warn you that I consider myself a good driver and I'm not willing to allow that no one doubts about my driving skills - Kelly said smiling back –

  - Okay - he paused, he waited for the helicopter was high before continuing

  - By the way, I'm glad you have so confident in me because you haven't ever wondered how we are going to be oriented.

  - Well, we have the GPS, I think it's enough, not?...

  - The GPS is not working.

  - You are transmitting me much confidence, thanks! Is there something that we can do?...

  - It is simpler, more than you think - he pointed with his hand to a glove compartment located in front of her - Open it, please

  Kelly opened the glove
compartment and pulled out a paper. She unfolded it and watched it closely.

  - A map! – she exclaimed -

  - Yeah, and made for dummies, just what we need.

  - Where did you get it?

  - It was there all the time. Yesterday, when I came in search of the rum, I was searching in every corner of the device. Souza was a phenomenon, one of a kind, he didn't miss any detail. He must have drawn it some time ago, in anticipation that something might happen as unfortunately has happened. As you can observe - put his finger on a point of the paper - it is very simple. It marks the exact address to follow until meeting the great river, the Amazon. From there, we only must to follow it.

  When the helicopter lifted enough, Susan took Marvin's hand and with a knowing wink invited him to look down out the window. A green mantle spread beyond the eye could reach. But regardless of its wild beauty, Marvin knew her well enough to know how to interpret the look of who was still his wife. She wanted to say him that under that mantle, they had returned to be reunited with their love, which seemed lost forever. Who would say that, ironically, her kidnapping and such suffering were to bring back the lost happiness?... As so often in life, when we choose a path, we are unable to see beyond the first tranche, of which we have before our eyes, our reference is short, easily lost. Therefore not possible to choose the most appropriate way, as could tell a deterministic, our ability to maneuver is very limited. Other times it seems to be the destiny that we mark the way so we aren't forced to choose. In such case we have to limit ourselves to follow him, without stopping to think where it ends. That was the case of Marvin and Susan, their marriage probably would have sunk if those circumstances had not united them in their fight against adversity, the adversity that had marked their lives forever.