The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (39 page)

             
“I don’t, either.”

             
The thought of having to stay confined to that ship at nighttime made my head spin. It was the same feeling I would experience if someone threw me in a trunk, slammed the lid shut, and locked me inside. After spending two and a half
weeks on-board, I needed to be out in the open and I knew Alice did, too.

             
“There are so many people!” Alice muttered as we looked around, “It’s like Rockefeller Center at Christmastime.”

             
“I don’t like it. Let’s try to move out of the crowd a little.”
             
We
had to squeeze past people as they argued and reasoned an answer to the question Alice had posed to me earlier. What exactly were we going to do now?

             
As a final answer, I heard an unfamiliar male voice over the loudspeaker.

             
“Ladies and gentlemen, can yo
u direct your attention to the ship, please?” The man asked. Alice and I looked to see that he was raising one hand in the air to show everyone where it was they were supposed to be looking. A hush fell over the crowd.

             
Though this was, without a doubt, th
e weirdest situation we could have found ourselves in, the universal quality to it was that people could rarely tell themselves what to do. Instead, they opted for the comfort of being told. Alice and I were no exception but we could blame our age for that
tendency, at least.

             
“Right here, ladies and gentlemen!” He strained himself to reach up higher and continued waving. “People in the back? Right here.”

             
Now everyone was giving him their full attention.

             
“Hello, everyone. We are going to be calling you by
your housing compartment number. When your number is called, please come to the left side of the ship to gather your belongings. You will be given one tent per party. You will be given one set of matches, a set of rations and a sleeping bag for every memb
er of your party. We will be handing out rations daily at daybreak. The moment the sun comes up, one member of each party needs to be present to accept their rations. For your own sake, please do not be late.”

             
“Why would it matter?” I asked Alice softly.

             
“
Shh!
” She hushed me as she craned her neck to see the man speaking.

             
“It sounds like him.” A girl was whispering behind me and I heard her jumping up and down as she tried to get a better look.

             
“You are imagining things.” Another girl hissed at her.

             
I
drowned out their argument in order to hear the man better. He was speaking into a megaphone, but we were so far back that it was hard to hear. It was nearly impossible to get a good look at him.

             
“The ship is going to be closed off temporarily. Please rem
ain within sight of it at all times. If you can’t see it, then you’ve gone too far and you need to come back. Right now, we’re not sure if there is anything else here. There could be wild animals.”

             
“Are there people?” Someone in the crowd shouted. Some pe
ople laughed nervously, but the silence grew heavier with a sudden tension. Everyone was wondering that. It was not just a question, it was a fear we all shared.

             
“No, sir. Thank you for asking.” There was a note of irritation in the man’s voice. “Are ther
e any other questions?”
             

             
“What will happen if we aren’t there at daybreak?”

             
“Just be there at daybreak.” The man insisted calmly.

             
“Why can’t we go off on our own?” Another man shouted.

             
“It’s too dangerous. We don’t know what’s out there. Ladies and gen
tlemen, there is strength in numbers. If there is a threat that we don’t know about, we will be more apt to survive it if we are all here to face it.”

             
“What’s your name?!” One of the girls behind me nearly shattered our eardrums with her deafening shout t
o the front.

             
“My name is Daniel Olivier. I paid for this ship to be built.”

Violet

             
I gasped sharply before storming forward. In the process, I almost knocked the young couple in front of me to the ground as I ran forward. I pushed people and didn't bot
her to ask for their excusing. I knew Maura, Elijah, Brynna, James and Penny were right behind me but I didn’t look over my shoulder once because I was in such a hurry to get to him.

             
“Daddy!” I exclaimed once I had reached the small stage he was standing
on. I threw my arms around his neck, sobbing into his shoulder as he held me tightly.

             
“Hey, sweetheart. I knew you were here somewhere.”
             

             
“Why didn’t you come find us on the ship? We were registered. Why didn’t you come find us?
She
told me you were dead!” I pointed an accusing finger at Brynna whose face remained impassive. But if one were to look closely at her eyes, they would see the monstrous rage burning behind that icy blue.

             
My father’s face, however, was anything but express
ionless. The smile that had emerged when he had seen us faded slowly. It was replaced by a fury so menacing that it almost matched Brynna’s. Her boldness never faltered, though, the way mine would have upon seeing that look. She stood firm and glared back
at him, forcefully pushing his buttons, hoping that he would snap.

             
“Alright, we will deal with that later.” Maura said quickly and they snapped their eyes to her.

             
My dad reached out and put one hand on her face as she leaned forward. He kissed her cheek
and she asked, “You alright?”

             
“I’m fine,” He replied softly, “Thank you for getting them here.”

             
Penny jumped into our dad’s arms and he spun her in a circle. She giggled uproariously as she always did when he played with her. Elijah, our dad believed, wa
s far past the age where hugs were allowed, so they clasped hands quickly. It was a cold gesture that I had always found disturbing. It felt like whatever bond they had before (and it had always been fragile) was permanently dead the day Dad decided he cou
ld no longer embrace Elijah. It’s a strange thing, when that happens between fathers and sons.

             
When it came time to speak to Brynna, he stared at her for a moment as she stared back.

             
“Come with me,” He ordered coldly, “I want to speak to you privately.”

             
“I do not want to speak to you, period,” Brynna snapped back without missing a beat, “so I will not be doing so.”

             
Oh, boy. Off they went …

             
“Don’t start that inane babbling with me. I said I wanted to talk to you. Now let’s go.” My anxiety was rising as
he struggled to keep his temper. My mouth dried out and my breaths stopped
coming as easily despite the crispness of the air.
             

             
“I will not take orders from you. Not anymore…”

             
“There are people watching, Brynna Claire! Now move!”

             
“I am supposed to care t
hat there are people watching? When have I ever cared about that, Dad?’

             
Everything, from the way she stood to the devious glint in her eye, told me that she was purposely trying to stir the angry storm inside of him. My father acted brutally towards Brynn
a only. I had never been on the receiving end of his wrath. But I knew the consequences by witnessing what he had done to Brynna over the years. She never gave in to him or showed any fear, which only strengthened his determination to hurt her.

             
Her finger
s linked with James’s and he snapped out of an angry daze of his own. He had been glaring at my father, his eyes burning red. I wanted to warn him that he had better allow his eyes to switch back to normal unless he wanted my father to know that some drast
ic, freakish change was occurring in each of us. Somehow, I knew that my father learning of our evolution would be dangerous for us all.

             
“I believe she told you that she’s not going. That’s the end of it. Let’s go, Brynna.”

             
“James Maxwell…” My father’s e
xpression changed from one of deep discontent to one of pure loathing at the sight of him. His eyes traveled down to see their hands grasped together. “Somehow, I knew you would find her.”

             
What the hell was going on?

             
“You two know each other?” Elijah ask
ed, “You said you’d never met them, James.”

             
“He lied.” My dad replied simply.

             
“I was just going to say that I lied.” James added abruptly. “I lied about meeting your dad, at least.”

             
“Why would you lie about that? Do you realize what that means?” Brynna
was asking him softly and yet her voice was shaking with anger.

             
“Brynna, let’s go.” Dad had turned his attention back to her and was obviously growing more and more impatient with every moment that passed.

             
“Daniel, can’t we just be happy that we’re all t
ogether and that we’re alright? There will be time to be angry later. Just let it go for right now.” Maura was urging him gently as she grasped his hand. He shook her off, still glaring at Brynna.

             
“How do you two know each other?” Brynna demanded as she l
ooked between the two of them. “I want to know the truth!”
             
“And I want you to come with me. Let’s go.”

             
“She’s not going with you.” Of the three, James was the most furious. His stature seemed to have grown; he had gained a sudden bulkiness that made him
thicker and more intimidating. His eyes were burning red and he didn’t seem to care that Dad saw. For his part, my father did not seem surprised by the change.

             
“Do you know what that is, Brynna?” My father asked as he pointed at James. “He looks like that
because he feels that I’m impeding on his territory. It’s possession.”

             
“Well, I do not need anyone, let alone a liar, to protect me. You really feel the need to have a discussion? Then we’ll discuss.”
             

             
“Brynna!” James called after her, but she was
walking with my dad to the other side of the ship where they would be out of view of the gawking crowd. The onlookers had turned away after growing bored when they hadn’t been able to hear the whole conversation clearly but if Dad reached out and hit Brynn
a the way he did when he was angry, they would certainly turn back around to watch. An outburst like that certainly would not keep him in good standing with the survivors he was trying to lead.

             
I looked at Maura and saw tears in her eyes.

             
“I loved him on
ce,” She whispered to me softly, “I am sure you know that by now. But I loved him before he became what he is now.”

             
I nodded, barely understanding what she meant. I was too preoccupied with the fact that Brynna was about to see the worst of “what he was n
ow.” The different man than the one Maura had fallen in love with was one that hated the very sight of his oldest daughter.

             
I was luckier to escape his wrath than I was to escape the end of the world. I knew that with absolute certainty.

Brynna

             
Because
I was walking in front of him, I knew that he was going to grab my arm, twist it around and shove me up against the ship’s hard exterior before he did it. Because he was so angry, I knew he was going to hiss at me through clenched teeth to make his disple
asure known. The only thing that I didn’t know was whether I’d be seeing the back side of his hand, something I hadn’t seen since I had moved out.