The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (68 page)

             
“So why did he save her life? And how did he do it?” Elijah continued to push her and I could see her patience wearing thin.

             
“Let the woman breathe for a minute.” I told him before turning to look at Brynna. “You look lik
e you need to sleep.”

             
“I do. But I cannot. I have to keep an eye on her. She has not woken up yet and that is worrisome. He said great darkness is coming. I sense it all around us. Can any of you feel it?”
             

             
We all looked at each other, shaking our heads.

             
“Well,” She muttered as she her fingers through her hair, “then it’s a cross I must bear by myself, I suppose. I need to talk to my father.”

             
“What?” Elijah jumped up and looked down at her where she was kneeling. “Brynna, the last time we were there, he
…”

             
“I know what he wanted to do. But we are wandering aimlessly through the woods. If something is coming, then he will be the one that starts it. I need to know what exactly is going on.”

             
“The group is splitting up.” Nick answered, “Do you remember thos
e other people that walked out with you from the ship?”

             
“Yes. The other sacrificial lambs.” Brynna replied bitterly.

             
“Well, there are these two people. They’re married. Their names are Mary and Richard Bachum. Did you ever meet them?” Nick asked her.

             
I
remembered those two. They made an obvious show of their religious devotion by dropping to their knees and praying after both minor and major setbacks. After the first attack, they were downright insufferable. I had always found broad showings of faith to
be slightly uncomfortable. That day, they were gesticulating, throwing their hands up to the sky and screaming loudly to the heavens, begging for help. I had wanted to storm over and order them to stop, as they were driving everyone around them even more d
eeply into paranoia. Instead, Alice and I went for a walk.

             
“What about them?” I asked, “Their camp was two over from mine and hers.” I beckoned to Alice with a quick jerk of my head.

             
“Well, they’ve gathered up a huge group of people. They’re heading nort
h. Another guy said that he was getting people together.” Nick continued, “They were heading south.”

             
“And my father? Which group did he choose?” Elijah asked.

             
“He was staying behind. He had a group of his own.”

             
“How very interesting. I was not aware he
had a spine.” Brynna said with an apathetic shrug.

             
“Just because he’s staying behind doesn’t mean that he has a spine. In fact, the only thing that it proves is that he doesn't have a
brain
.” Elijah spat back. His anger was not at her but at his father’s
continued hold of power over weak-minded people. I could definitely agree that Elijah’s ill feelings towards the man were justified but I didn’t want to know the details. It all seemed too complicated and upsetting. I couldn’t afford to carry anyone's emot
ional burdens because I had my own weighing me down.

             
“Yes, and he's not staying at the campsite. They’re moving on, too. I don’t know which direction they’re going. But I do know that these groups are staying away from each other.” Nick added.

             
“Why?” Ali
ce asked.

             
“They disagree about where they will find safety. Perhaps there are also slight ideological differences. Am I correct?” Brynna asked.

             
“I’m not sure, honestly.” Nick replied, “But you’re probably right.”

             
“Good enough.” Brynna nodded, “Well, we
can at least forage through the campsite for food and supplies. Then, we will form a group of our own, I suppose.”

             
“Maybe it would be better if we joined up with one.” I suggested before adding hastily, “But I definitely don’t want to go with the Bachums.
No way.”

             
“They are out of the question, I agree.” Brynna chimed in.

             
“Your father’s group is also out of the question.” James added.

             
“Why are we joining up with a group?” Elijah asked suddenly, “I think we’ll do much better on our own.”

             
“Yes, because
we’re doing so well already.” Alice replied with a roll of her eyes. “Violet just almost died. There are things in these woods that are deadly. Not to mention, we are so close to the natives. I mean, hello?!” Alice pointed to the city in the distance. “Tha
t’s their main city, as far as we know. They’re not just going to let us chill here. Safety in numbers, guys. I agree with both of you that we shouldn’t join up with your dad’s group or the Bachums. Even though the Bachums haven’t given
us a reason to not
trust them...”

             
“Their blind, naive, gaudy shows of faith are more reason than we need.” Brynna replied firmly. There was no shaking her conviction on anything but in her objection to the Bachums, she was overly adamant.

             
“Thank you!” I exclaimed, holding
my hands up to the sky. I put them back down immediately after realizing that I was mimicking the same gesture that I had criticized in those weird people.

             
“Fine. Whatever.” Alice huffed away with her arms crossed over her chest.

             
“So, we need to follow t
he other guy. Do you know his name?” James asked Nick.

             
“I’m trying to remember. He was very soft-spoken. He was far back in my section of the campsite. We were number five. Oh, I remember now!” Nick snapped his fingers as it came back to him. “Don. Don Ab
ba.”

             
“Oh, Don!” Elijah exclaimed as he, too, remembered. “Yeah. Weird guy. He’s not weird in a threatening way. He’s just really smart. Really short, though. He said since he came here, a bunch of guys have gained like, fifty pounds in muscle mass and he
feels like he's only gotten shorter and thinner.”

             
A look passed between James and Brynna. They were trying to hide small smiles. I knew that James had undergone a transformation similar to the first that Elijah had described. They weren’t huge like bodybu
ilders or anything. But they were certainly toned up. I wished the same thing would happen to me. In James’s presence, I felt weaker and in need of an immediate weight-lifting binge. Of course, given that there were no weights, I would have a hard time cat
ching up to him. It was shameful, considering he was twice my age.

             
A huge gasp behind us jolted us all out of our discussion. We turned to see Violet sit up suddenly. After drawing in several sharp gasps, she started to swing her arms around wildly; in be
tween those huge breaths, she was screaming.

             
“It’s okay. It’s alright.” Brynna had run to her and dropped to her knees. She wrapped her arms around Violet’s neck and pulled her close. “They’re gone. You’re alright.”

             
Violet’s hands flew up to touch her fa
ce; she was checking the damage done by those creatures’ claws. But her scratches were long faded, healed by whatever magic the leader of the natives had summoned.

             
“What were those things?” She asked quietly as tears streamed down her face.

             
“I do not
know. What were you thinking, eating what was there?” Brynna demanded softly as she grasped both of Violet's hands in her own.

             
“I was just so hungry! Nick…” Violet looked behind her at Nick, who had walked forward. “I should have listened to you!”

             
“It wa
s a mistake.” Nick told her gently with a shrug. “Anyone would have…”

             
“Do not make excuses for her! It was foolhardy at best. At worst, it was a show of plain, blind stupidity.” Brynna barked at him as she stood up. Her warmth had iced over in a matter of
seconds. She was no longer hugging Violet or comforting her. Now, she was chastising her for what was an honest mistake, as Nick suggested.

             
“Let’s go for a walk.” James told Brynna somewhat firmly.

             
“No! Of all the stupid courses of action one could take
upon seeing unguarded food in the  present climate, you took perhaps the most pitiless.”

             
“I’m sorry, Brynn!” Violet exclaimed through her tears. The genuine remorse in her voice was enough of an acknowledgment to Brynna’s accusations of stupidity. Violet
knew that she had been wrong.

             
“Well, I am sure that you will think twice before consuming conveniently placed food, however hungry you may be.”

             
“I will. Of course I will.” Violet replied, “Please just go easy on me. I paid for it, didn’t I? I’m sorry. I
know that you’re angry because I scared you…”

             
“You angered me by completely disregarding common sense! I would have thought you far more intelligent than this! Consider me more disappointed than angry.”

             
“Let’s go.” James ordered but Brynna was already s
torming off ahead of us, headed back towards the campsite, I assumed.

             
“She’ll come around.” Alice assured Violet softly as Elijah pulled her to her feet.

             
“You know how she is. You’re right; you scared her and she’s angry that she had to feel vulnerable.”
Elijah added comfortingly. “It’s not fair of her to act this way after what you’ve been through. But honestly, Violet, what were you thinking?”

             
“I was
hungry
.” Violet insisted. She was desperate for someone to understand. “And then there was all this foo
d…”

             
“It was like it had been set out for us.” Nick added helpfully, “And it smelled so good. Imagine that temptation.”

             
“Temptation. That sounds about right.” I chimed in with a nod of agreement. “It’s weird, isn’t it? You’re just walking along and you st
umble across that. We’re all inches from starving to death. Then you find food.” I looked at Violet who was wiping at her eyes quickly and sniffling with each new, soft sob that took her. “I would have done the same thing. It doesn’t matter how stupid it w
as. We’re only human, right?”

             
“Well, we’re not,” Alice snapped at me, “But that doesn’t mean that we don’t make human mistakes still. Those things…” Her voice dropped to a whisper and all anger towards me faded as she looked at Violet. “They always tempt
us first. They offer us what we want most in the world. I fell for it, too, Violet.”

             
“Really?” Violet was obviously reassured by the fact that she wasn’t the only one.

             
Alice nodded.

             
“It didn’t manage to attack me,” She continued, “But it would have kill
ed me if I had given it a chance. I won’t even tell you exactly what happened after I killed it. I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to.”

             
“Well, you have to tell me now. You can’t just lead into that and then drop it.” Violet told her in a steady voice.
She was calmed down now.

             
“Sure, I can. Maybe another time.”

             
Alice turned and scowled at me one last time before walking off. I wanted to blurt out the gory details of exactly what had transpired after she shot the creature. But something stopped me from
disclosing the secret she and I had kept so tightly guarded. I wasn’t afraid of what they would think. We hadn't known that those creatures had possessed her parents. We had only known that they were monsters hell-bent on killing us, though we still didn't
know why.

             
The attack on Violet posed the same question. Were they simply hungry beasts in need of a meal? They were too patient. The drive to eat would have been too strong to hold off long enough to stalk us for as long as Alice’s mom had. The way they
consumed the souls of the living in order to mutate their bodies into that hideous form betrayed other motivations.