The Truth Circle

by Cameron Ayers

  “Will you forget the rock slide?” Gaby replied. “Just get over here.”

  “All right, all right,” he muttered. “Dammit, my neck hurts.”

  In a few moments he was standing beside her, his face streaked in blood from a gash above his right ear.

  “What’s so important that … holleeey shit!” he exclaimed, kneeling down in front of the violet in awe.

  The two stared at it for several seconds, transfixed, before Coop’s voice snapped them out of their stupor.

  “How badly are you hurt?”

  Gaby looked up and saw Coop rushing toward them from the left side of the valley, where the downward slope was gentler, while Lamar was still a ways behind, navigating the path with Beverly on his arm.

  Instead of answering, Gaby motioned for Coop to come over and look.

  “Wha … what is that?” Coop stammered as he joined them.

  “We’re still trying to figure that …” Gaby started to say when she looked up and saw that Coop wasn’t looking down at the flower at all. He was staring off into the distance, pointing toward the other side of the crescent-shaped valley. She followed his finger and saw in the distance a 15-foot-wide patch of preserved grassland with a small sapling in the center. There were no flowers there, but as with this tiny scrap of land, it was somehow blight-free. The trio immediately forgot about the flower and wandered over to the grassland, not hearing Lamar as he shouted questions to them from the other side of the glen.

  As they traversed the basin, they saw that the patch of unblighted land stretched further out of view as the valley narrowed, encompassing at least 30 feet: a tiny Eden that was nearly impossible to spot from above. As they drew nearer, Gaby saw that the delicate, budding branches of the sapling were swaying in a slight breeze only present within this space.

  She stepped out of the wasteland and into this private sanctuary, looking around in wonderment. She reveled in the sight of healthy soil, marveled at the taste of clean air again; even the colors seemed brighter after traveling the gray wastelands for much of the day. Behind her, Coop was laughing with joy as he stepped into this hidden world. Ken held his hands up in wonderment as he entered. The three of them silently reveled in all the sensations that had been so dulled during their time in the blight. They simply had no words to express their delight at seeing green again after going so long without.

  “What’s it mean?” Ken asked as he ran his fingers over individual blades of grass in wonderment.

  “I think it means we’ve reached the outer boundaries of those things’ territory,” Lamar said from behind as he entered the space with Beverly leaning heavily on his shoulder. They didn’t realize how long they’d been standing there until he suddenly showed up. Lamar looked perplexed and overjoyed at the sight of all this greenery, while Beverly still seemed oblivious, looking around hazily.

  “If I’m right, we should see a lot more green up top,” he added.

  They started for the end of the glen, about 70 yards away. They exited the unblighted lands as swiftly as they’d entered, excited at the prospect of more greenery. Their exhaustion after walking so many miles suddenly melted away. New strength surged through their aching limbs. Just the knowledge that safety might be on the other side of the valley gave all of them a second wind, except for Beverly, who still clung to Lamar for support.

  Fortunately, the path upward was even and the slope gentle, and they soon discovered Lamar was correct. On the opposite end of the glen were two hills side by side with a narrow passage between them. The group walked between them and came across a wide plain, stretching as far as the eye could see, filled with nothing but luscious greenery and fecund foliage. They were finally clear of the ikus’ territory.

  Ken gave a low whistle of appreciation.

  The looping, swirling ash patterns that had decorated the featureless wastelands tapered out right at the edge of the valley, with the blight only extending a few feet beyond. Everything else was pristine. It felt like they’d stepped into a different world. They could feel the wind on their faces again and hear the sounds of wildlife once more.

  “This is incredible,” Gaby marveled.

  “I guess this is as far as they came last night,” Ken responded.

  “Does this mean we’re safe now?” Coop asked.

  Lamar stroked his goatee thoughtfully for a few moments before answering.

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” he said. “Think of how much ground the iku covered just last night. Two nights ago, the blight petered out at the floodplain. Now it stretches for miles. I think we’ve got a ways to go before we can rest easy.”

  * * * * * *

  The sun had crested the sky and was beginning its slow and inevitable descent before the group paused for another breather. Nearly two hours had passed since they had escaped the blight, and all of them were still grateful to be in a living, breathing forest once again.

  They delighted in the little things — seeing squirrels stocking up for winter, hearing birds chirping again, the quality of the air, feeling the wind on their faces — all the things the blight had denied them.

  Even Beverly was showing improvement. She was now walking unassisted, albeit slowly, and her delirium had abated, leaving her weak but alert. She said little and seemed to only half-believe the others’ stories about their misadventures since leaving the campsite, which was the last thing she could recall. Despite her improvement, the black mark on Beverly’s hand continued to spread, and now covered the front and back of her hand up to her knuckles.

  The group’s collective joy at seeing such abundance of life helped them to cope with some of the more challenging aspects of this leg of the trip. For one, it had taken some time for them to adapt to life outside the blight’s equilibrium-disrupting influence; for the first 30 minutes, all of them walked like bow-legged sailors on shore leave trying to adjust to solid ground. Another issue was the steadily rising landscape, which made the going painfully slow as they fought against gravity as well as their own weariness.

  But for Gaby and Coop, the worst change was the formation of a new power center in the group. Lamar and Ken, who had been spending increasing amounts of time together throughout the day, had been inseparable ever since they’d escaped the blight. They finished each other’s sentences and took turns calling out instructions to the others, leaving them feeling increasingly like bit players in their own stories.

  Even now, on a break, the two were still carrying on together. Lamar was performing another directional check while Ken regaled him with some ridiculous tale from his misspent youth.

  “So, there we were, middle of nowhere in my dad’s prize Mercedes,” Ken said, speaking animatedly with lots of hand gestures. “I’ve got my pants around my ankles, she starts going down, and all of a sudden there’s this flashlight in my eyes, and a cop starts rapping on the window. ‘You two lovebirds lost?’ I roll down the window. ‘Why no, officer, we found the back seat just fine!’”

  Lamar looked at him, jaw agape for several seconds before bursting out in laughter.

  “You did not,” he said with a shake of his head, still chuckling.

  “Hand to God,” Ken assured him. “Her father took a swing at me the next morning. That was our first and last date.”

  “Wow. Just … wow.”

  Gaby and Coop watched the exchange from a small, grassy knoll some 15 yards away. Gaby was decidedly more downbeat, harrumphing at Ken’s bawdy tale as she tried to pull her wavy black hair back into a ponytail with the help of a scrunchie, but Coop was more unsettled by the pair’s easy rapport.

  “Well, those two seem to be having a good time,” he intoned, making it clear that he was not.

  “I’m glad someone is,” Gaby muttered. “Meanwhile, we’re on crazy-sitting duty.”

  She cast a backward glance at Beverly, who sat on her own several yards away, studying a leaf in her hand as though she were trying to remember what it was. Her complexion was still deathly white, and she app
eared to be silently mouthing the same phrase over and over again.

  “But that’s not the frustrating part. See those hills in the distance?” Gaby said, pointing to the range of high hills in the distance. “I’d swear they haven’t moved this whole time.”

  “Oh, they’re moving, just not closer,” Coop said with a snort. “When we started, the hills were to our north, south and east. Now they’re to our east, south and west. We’re not going north anymore. I don’t think we have been for some time.”

  “Then say something,” Gaby encouraged him, nodding toward Lamar and Ken. Just then Ken gave a wave to Lamar as he disappeared behind a grove of pine trees, saying something about answering nature’s call.

  “No way,” Coop said, folding his arms defensively. “The last time I questioned Lamar’s navigation, he bit my head off.”

  Gaby stood up assertively.

  “If you won’t, then I will.”

  She stepped down from the mound and walked purposefully toward Lamar, who was just finishing up his reading by placing a stone where the stick’s shadow had moved. Hearing her approach, Lamar looked up and smiled.

  “Hey, Gaby. What’s up?”

  Before answering, Gaby craned her neck to look between the rows of pine trees that Ken had disappeared into. She saw no sign of him.

  “I had a question, now that the human hair shirt is gone,” she said.

  Lamar clicked his tongue disapprovingly at her characterization of Ken.

  “Lamar, why did we stop going north? Coop and I are worried you’re getting us lost.”

  “We never stopped going north. That’s what this is all about,” Lamar said flatly as he gestured to his primitive sundial. “According to this …”

  Lamar paused midsentence as he drew a line between the two shadow readings he’d taken and oriented himself accordingly.

  “Huh,” he said, seemingly surprised.

  “Are we off again?” Gaby asked.

  “Not much. Maybe 10 degrees from true north.”

  Gaby rubbed her temples in frustration.

  “That is not the same north we followed this morning,” she said, gesturing in the direction Lamar was facing. “There were giant hills there this morning. Where’d they go? We certainly didn’t scale them.”

  “We went between them,” Lamar said patiently, as though he were talking to an emotional child.

  “Look at the sun!” Gaby insisted. “It’s going down in the same direction we’re walking. We’re heading west!”

  Lamar looked to the sky, shielding his eyes.

  “It’s too high in the sky to tell where it’ll set. Now stop overreacting.”

  “I am not overreacting!” Gaby fairly shouted before covering her mouth in embarrassment, realizing she’d just proven him correct.

  Lamar didn’t even try to hide his disdain.

  “You can disrespect me all you want,” he said slowly, choosing his words carefully, “but don’t question my decisions again. We’re leaving … with or without you.”

  Gaby stood there in stunned silence, trying to process the ultimatum she’d just been given, and positively aghast at who had issued it.

  Lamar walked around her and cupped his hands together as he called out to the others.

  “Break’s over, folks,” he shouted. “We move out now.”

  Coop sidled up to her just as Lamar walked off, flashing her one more contemptuous look as he departed.

  “So, how did it go?” Coop asked.

  Gaby stared at Lamar walking away for several seconds.

  “I … I think I was just put in my place,” Gaby said quietly.

  “What?” Coop exclaimed. “By Lamar? Our Lamar?”

  Gaby shook her head slowly.

  “I think he’s Ken’s Lamar now,” she said bitterly.

  “If only we could get through to Lamar somehow,” Coop lamented. “Make him realize that he doesn’t have Ken on a leash at all; it’s the other way around.”

  “Ahem!”

  Someone to their left had just noisily cleared his throat. They looked over and saw Ken emerge from the grove of pine trees, zipping up his fly. His smirk made it clear he’d heard everything they said. Gaby and Coop looked away awkwardly and went to fetch their bags for the journey ahead.

  Ken beamed with satisfaction. This was going better than he could have imagined. Now all he had to do was light the fuse at the other end. He scooped up his suitcase and hurried uphill to join Lamar.

  He found the younger man muttering to himself, still fuming about his interaction with Gaby.

  “The natives are restless,” Ken warned him.

  “So am I,” Lamar groused. “I’m getting tired of them questioning my decisions. I feel like I’m walking on eggshells.”

  “Then stop walking and start stomping,” Ken encouraged.

  “I don’t thrive on confrontation the way you do,” Lamar replied, waving off the idea. “Gaby and I already had it out. I think one pissing match a day is my limit.”

  “Suit yourself,” Ken said. “But they’ll never respect you if you’re afraid to lay down the law. Personally, if I heard them talking smack about me, I’d have lit them both up like fucking Christmas trees!”

  “That’s fear, not respect,” Lamar said. “And I can’t do that. I’m not like you.”

  In the distance they heard Coop calling out his name.

  “LAMAR!” he shouted, waving him over, where he was standing with Gaby and Beverly.

  Ken snickered.

  “Then you better get used to hearing that.”

  The pair carefully made their way downhill to where the others were waiting.

  “Is this about before?” Lamar asked Gaby pointedly. Her eyes shot open in anger, but she held her tongue.

  “It’s about the water,” Coop said.

  “What about it?”

  “There isn’t any,” he said plainly. “I was thirsty, so I asked Beverly for the canteen, and she said …” He paused to point at Beverly, who finished his sentence.

  “I don’t have it,” the older woman told them.

  “So, who does?” Lamar asked.

  “That’s the point. None of us do,” Coop explained. “We thought one of you two might have taken it while Beverly was … incommunicado.”

  Lamar looked to Ken, who shook his head no.

  “I didn’t take it, either,” Lamar said, undoing the straps on his rucksack. “Let’s everyone do a bag check. Someone here has to have it.”

  One by one, the others set down their backpacks and suitcases and began rummaging through them.

  “Not here,” Coop said after a quick search of his.

  “Or here,” Gaby said a few seconds later, zipping her knapsack back up.

  “Nada,” Ken said as he snapped his suitcase closed.

  “Still nothing,” Beverly said weakly after rooting around in her tote bag.

  Lamar was getting worried. Even the thought of having no potable water the rest of the day made his mouth run dry. He opened up his rucksack and peeked inside. All he saw were cans of food, unopened ones for dinner tonight and empty ones, which he’d saved as a receptacle for boiling water on their journey. He saw a metallic glint underneath them and shifted the cans to the side. Staring him right in the face was the canteen, and even more improbably, a rose-colored brassiere, both buried at the bottom of his bag.

  Lamar just stared at them for several seconds, trying to work out how they got there, and more importantly, how he would explain it to the others.

  “Well?” Gaby asked impatiently.

  “I … uhm …” he stammered, trying to figure out what he should say or do. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest it was a wonder the others didn’t hear it.

  As he stood there, paralyzed by indecision, Ken walked up behind him and grabbed the bag, lifting it to chest level so he could see inside.

  “Just give it here,” he said as he snatched it out of Lamar’s numb fingers. The younger man was about to prote
st when Ken pulled the canteen from the bag and held it aloft like a hunting trophy.

  “Here’s the canteen,” he said, tossing it in Coop’s direction as he took another look inside the bag. “Is there anything else in … oh-ho!”

  Lamar winced. He could tell from Ken’s tone that he had found the bra.

  “Hey, anyone here missing a knocker locker?” Ken asked as he hoisted the bra in the air and spun it idly on one finger.

  Gaby’s eyes went wide with alarm.

  “That’s mine!” she shouted as she ripped it from Ken’s grasp and clutched it close.

  “Well, looks like Lamar’s got a little crush,” Ken said, smirking. “Either that or one strange-ass hobby!”

  “That’s not funny, Ken!” Lamar said, finally mustering the courage to defend himself. “Gaby, I swear to you, I didn’t take it. I don’t know how that got in there. You have to believe me.”

  “I don’t have to do anything,” Gaby replied coldly, glowering at Lamar as she stowed the bra in her bag. “Not 10 minutes ago you were lecturing me about respect and now I find that you’ve … violated my belongings!”

  “Gaby, I promise you this is some sort of misunderstanding,” Lamar pleaded. “I would never go through your possessions.”

  “I better not find any … stains on it,” Gaby said, shivering in disgust.

  “I’m telling you, it’s some kind of mistake,” Lamar said, trailing off into an embarrassed mumble at Gaby’s insinuation.

  “What the hell?” Coop suddenly shouted, startling the others with his uncharacteristic outburst. He was shaking the canteen. After a moment or two, the others realized that they weren’t hearing any water sloshing around inside.

  “Who cares about her stupid underwear?” Coop shouted, his face rapidly turning red with rage. “What did you do with the water, Lamar?”

  “I didn’t do anything with it!” Lamar protested.

  “It’s all gone?” Ken asked.

  “All of it!” Coop said emphatically, upending the canteen for emphasis.

  “Folks, I know how this looks, but I didn’t take Gaby’s underwear and I didn’t drink the water. I promise you.”