The Great Altruist (58 page)

       
    
Val exited at the same point in the stream as Genesis, and the initial disorientation of time-traveling set in as her stomach churned. She was still recovering when she heard the roar of the massive Tyrannosaurus bearing down on her.

       
    
“Oh my God!” she screamed as she took off running as fast as she could. Genesis relished the fact that Val was still relying on her normal abilities as she safely watched the pursuit from the comfort of a tree limb. The lizard closed in on Val when she suddenly disappeared again.

       
    
“I really don’t like this woman,” Genesis mumbled. She jumped into the stream to follow Val again. Once in the stream, she tracked the point where Val tried to escape; she clearly had no direction. She wanted to lead Val to points in time she knew would prove dangerous for someone with her limited knowledge of their shared skills, but she couldn’t catch up to Val.

  
         
Val left the stream, spun around, and charged an attack in preparation for Genesis’s arrival. But her adversary appeared high above her and fired ice from her hands down at Val. She stretched her hands toward the falling ice and melted it just as she felt Genesis’s presence behind her. Another wave of ice rushed toward her. She pushed against the blast and melted it too but not before another wall of ice ascended from beneath her. Soon, she was overwhelmed by the barrage of attacks Genesis forged against her. She was buried against the ice, now falling from every direction. Encased in a foot of ice all around, she gathered her energy and tried to warm her entire body to melt the ice. But as each inch of ice melted, another inch was added on the outside. Soon, the melted ice collected and began to rise all around her. The hotter her skin got, the warmer the temperature of the water. Before long, she couldn’t decide if the cold ice or the near boiling water was going to be the end of her.

           
Outside the igloo surrounding Val, Genesis floated high in the sky and absorbed all the energy from the sun she could and channeled it through her body
into
a never-ending stream of ice, it descending upon the girl trapped inside. Then, the inevitable happened: Val realized the futility of fighting and simply jumped back into the stream.

           
“That was bound to happen,” Genesis said as she followed.

           
When she emerged again, Genesis was prepared for whatever Val threw at her. But then she recognized the point in the stream and realized she would need to defend herself - and James.

           
The room was dark when Genesis appeared. “Don’t move an inch,” Val whispered.

           
Genesis’s eyes adjusted to the low-light and knew instantly where she stood: James’s baby crib was just a few feet behind her. “Please, Val,” she said. The baby’s soft cry grew louder. “I beg you. Please leave him out of this.” She closed her eyes and tried to block from her mind what Val might be doing to harm her future husband as the cries of the baby grew ever louder. Then the room was aglow with azure light, and the baby cried no more.

           
She rushed to the side of his crib, but he was gone. Furious, Genesis dove into the stream and stormed after Val. She followed Val’s exit and gathered all her strength, but Val was too quick. Genesis fell to the ground as Val struck her on the head with a log. She tumbled down the slope and tried to regain her bearings but she slammed into the trunks of several trees before she finally righted herself and prepared a counterattack. She shook off the slight pain of the attack and, as usual, there was no blood.

           
She frantically looked around and finally saw her mark. Val descended from the top of the slope and hit Genesis in the abdomen before she could gather enough strength to defend. Then, she heard the cry of the baby. She tried to locate its source, but the distraction was enough for Val to attack again, this time grabbing Genesis by the hair and dragging her to the nearest tree. The baby’s cries echoed throughout the forest and Genesis struggled to fight off Val but couldn’t.
This isn’t possible
, she thought.
How can she be stronger than me?

           
Val lifted Genesis by the hair with one hand and reached around her throat with the other. Genesis kicked away from the tree, crushing the tree behind her while also forcing her knees into Val’s stomach. Val dropped Genesis and fell to the ground, reeling in agony. With the upper hand, Genesis lifted Val and tossed her like a doll a thousand meters away, where she landed against a tree and toppled to the ground in a heap.

           
Genesis spun around and tried to find the source of the baby’s cries. High on the hill and in the boughs of a tree, baby James screamed for help. She rushed to his side and cradled him in her arms. Immediately, she disappeared into the stream and emerged in James’s room where she set her infant husband back in his crib. Val emerged a second later, but Genesis was prepared.

           
“Not this time,” she said as she took Val by the hand and dragged her back into the stream.

           
Genesis kept Val in the stream as long as she could but Val struggled to break free from her grasp. Genesis knew that if this battle were ever to end, she could not be the cause of her death. She only had one other option: lead Val into times or places where the odds were against her survival or fight Val emotionally, as Val had just done to her.
Why not both?
she thought.

           
Genesis finally let go of Val and exited the stream a few meters above the Pacific
Ocean
. Val appeared a short distance away and smiled as she realized that she hadn
’
t had a chance to combine her new abilities with water.

           
Val held up her hands and gathered energy from the sweltering sun and channeled it into an incredible ball of green, pulsing light. When the orb reached its limits, she pushed it deep underwater. At the bottom of the sea, the ball exploded and created a massive wave of water and energy that Val pushed toward Genesis, who simply stood on the water and took a deep breath. The wave approached with terrible momentum. To protect herself, Genesis lifted water from the ocean and formed a wall to block the wave. The two columns of water collided with a tremendous force that Genesis confidently ignored. But the energy Val created was too great to control. The force of the collision receded – back to Val who was forced to watch the shock wave hit her, casting her high into the sky. She blacked out and landed in the ocean several miles away. Genesis flew to where she landed and from high above, looked down to see if Val would surface.

       
    
Is she dead?
she thought. As minutes passed and the chances of Val’s survival lessened, Genesis turned to leave. Then Val rocketed as fast as she could at Genesis, who watched with delight as Val grew a deeper and deeper red as she approached. Although Genesis had never used this ability before to its full extent, she knew what Val was doing. Val had gathered energy from every source around her – the sun, water, and wind – and tried to reach a critical mass she hoped would overwhelm Genesis.

           
Genesis always assumed that her body, although strong, was not completely impervious. The forms of energy Val was accumulating all at once would overload her eventually.
Finally! She's done it!
Genesis thought. Right before the two women collided, Genesis held her breath, gathered what power she could, and disappeared into the stream.

       
    
Val followed and exited the stream an instant later and continued her flight toward Genesis. She saw Genesis hovering a great distance away and then noticed the great void around them. The brilliance of her own skin blocked her vision but behind Genesis she saw the faint glimmer of stars against a vast darkness. She gasped for air as she realized they were in deep space; she couldn’t control her trajectory anymore. Val hurtled through space and felt excruciating pain as though she was being burned alive. The energy within her could no longer be contained; her body collapsed long before she came close to harming Genesis. No longer could she suppress the terrible and violent rage that flowed in tandem with the energy in her veins. The energy pushed its way through the pores of her skin, but it could not be released fast enough. It finally discharged into the vacuum of space and vaporized the young girl amidst a brief, but terrible, explosion.

           
Genesis hovered over the area of Val’s destruction. She still held her breath and felt the surge of radiation from the explosion coursing through her body. Just as quickly as Val’s explosion dissipated, Genesis confirmed her enemy’s demise. Her conscience clean, she entered into the stream and looked forward to seeing her husband.

       
    
Genesis returned to the surface of the earth and fell to the ground to catch her breath. James was right where she left him, safe and secure.

       
    
“Are you all right?” he said as he rushed to her side.

           
She took several deep breaths and regained her balance. “I’m fine,” she answered. “She took a lot out of me.”

           
“Is she…dead?”

           
She nodded as she bent over with her hands on her knees, still recovering her energy. “It was all her doing.”

           
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” he said. He took her in his arms and embraced her tight.

       
    
She looked over his shoulder and noticed the total silence that surrounded them. Animals off in the distance frolicked and ran free across the city streets. Miles away, the remains of
Apocalypse
burned as smoke drifted into the sky; the last vestiges of Roger’s organization were gone forever. But so were all the people. “So, it's just us then,” she said.

       
    
He followed her gaze and watched the wreckage burn. “It looks that way.” The chill in the night air enveloped them as the loneliness set in – the awareness that no other human being lived in all the earth.

           
“Fortunately, it won’t be like this forever,” she said. “Val tried to convince me that she was pregnant with your child. When I was in the stream, I sensed your presence, but not from her. From me. I felt your son’s heartbeat.”

       
    
He pulled her as close to his chest as he could and kissed her deep. “You never actually believed her, right?” he said.

       
    
“No. I know who has your heart.”

       
    
They held each other tight and enjoyed the total silence surrounding them. All they heard was the soft wind blowing alongside each other's heartbeat.

       
    
“I can get used to this,” she said.

       
    
“There's only one problem. After the baby comes, it's still only us. Where will we find a wife for him?”

       
    
“I think I know just the girl for him,” she said.

           
“I just realized something else.”

       
    
“What?” she asked suddenly concerned.

       
    
“We don’t have to wear clothes ever again.” He smiled.

       
    
She laughed aloud and kissed her husband. “Face it, honey. We’re the new Adam and Eve.”