The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (74 page)

             
“Do you want me to take her? Your arms are shaking because you've been carrying her for so long.” El
ijah pointed and for the first time, I noticed that Brynna's arms were shaking somewhat
severely.

             
“Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?” I remembered that she had shed her own to give to Penny. While we were walking and it got colder, Brynna had pulled th
e hood up over Penny's head. I smiled slightly, thinking about how cute Penny looked inside of the sweatshirt that, despite Brynna's small size, was still much too big for her.

             
“No. Keep it, dear.” She laid her head against Penny's. “And it's alright. I'l
l just sit down.”

             
“You can't carry her around forever, Brynn.” Elijah told her gently. “They're not going to get her again. I promise.”

             
“Promises are just words, no matter how honorable their intentions may be. There is no way you could possibly guarante
e that Penny will not be taken by them again. The chances of them stealing her from me while she is attached to my chest are slim to none. And she is, quite literally, attached to my chest. Look...” She carefully maneuvered her hands so that she could push
Penny away ever so slightly without waking her. Elijah and I both grimaced upon seeing that where Penny's bare skin met Brynna's, they were linked together.

             
“Oh my God...” Elijah muttered. He looked away and rubbed his eyes as a shudder of disgust passed
through him. “How are you going to pry her off?”

             
“When she or I want to let go, we will let go, Eli.” Brynna replied with a sigh. “It is part of the mutation, I am assuming.”

             
“James, have you seen this?” Elijah pointed at Brynna when James came over to
us.

             
For a moment, his eyes widened as he thought, I'm sure, that Brynna had been injured in some way. But then, he saw that Elijah was referencing Penny's attachment to her skin and he calmed.

             
“Oh. Yeah, I pointed that out to her. I assume it has some ev
olutionary meaning that I don't really feel like speculating about right now.”

             
“What are we going to do with him?” I expected the straight answer from James that I had wanted from Brynna. He didn't disappoint.

             
“We're going to find out what we want to kno
w from him. After that...” He paused for a minute. Then, he shrugged, raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “I don't know.”

             
“What do we want to know from him? What can he tell us?” I prodded him further.

             
“We need to find out where we can go. We need a
place where they can't get at us as easily. Then, we're going to find out why they're trying to kill us.” James continued breezily. “I also need to know if they have any weaknesses or if there are any kinds of real weapons on this stupid planet. Probably n
ot, though.”

             
“I don't know. Their city was quite advanced. I am sure they have ways of protecting themselves. They more than likely do not manufacture guns but knives and spears existing somewhere is certainly a plausible scenario.” Brynna chimed in.

             
“We
're never going to be able to fight them with knives and spears.” My eyes were widened as I looked between the three of them.

             
“We will learn. We have adapted to survive this much, have we not? If we are meant to fight with knives and spears, then it will
be done.” Brynna reassured me. “Did anyone else gather that the natives are split into two factions that I assume are at war with one another?”

             
“No. Where in the world did you get that from?” James asked her, “Did you read their minds?”

             
“One of the peopl
e, in her fit of pious terror, mentioned that their God was going to let the 'others' attack, if Penny was not sacrificed immediately. 'Overtake us' were her exactly words.”

             
“And you think that by the others, she meant maybe the people in the city?” James
asked. “Well, it would make sense. Why would those people be living in a cave when they could be living in that huge city? Do you think that them being at war with each other could help us?”

             
“Yes, I do,” Brynna answered, “But the reason why it will help
us is one that, depending on your own personal morality, might repulse you.”

             
“Are any of us really that moral anymore?” I asked with a shrug.

             
There was silence; apparently, I had just said something deep that required a moment of thought. In that silence
, I mused on the subject as well. Sure enough, I arrived at the conclusion that we weren't moral anymore. The longer we stayed on Pangea, the more we embraced heartless brutality. We didn't really have a choice on the matter.

             
“What's your idea?” I wanted
to break that uncomfortable quiet because the idea of losing my humanity was one that made my heart bound upwards into my throat. I feared becoming completely superhuman as I now was able to understand and acknowledge the full implications of the change.

             
“I know the way I just know sometimes that this boy is important. I am sensing a familial connection to their leader. That man that I assaulted, the one who was speaking, is their leader.”

             
“If there's a familial connection, why didn't he stop us from taki
ng him?” Elijah asked.

             
“Perhaps he thought it was wiser to pretend that the boy was nothing than to give away his high standing. We would be more likely to hurt him if we knew he was of 'royal' blood, correct?” Brynna leaned forward in earnest as she expl
ained.

             
“Yes.” James agreed, “I know what you're going to suggest. Do you want me to tell you?”
             
“Absolutely.”

             
“You think we should hand him over to the city-natives in exchange for our safety. He'd be a peace offering.”

             
“Indeed. I do not want to think f
or too long about what they might do to him. It will weaken my resolve to go through with the plan. But if this is our chance to live safely, then we need to take it. Running from them is only a temporary solution. It is not even a sure bet that we will es
cape them every time they come for us. This is our chance to guarantee our own safety.”

             
“But he's a kid!” Alice's voice exclaimed behind us in horror. We all jumped before turning around to see that she, Nick, and Quinn had been listening.

             
“The three of
you were disqualified from these negotiations before they even began, I'm afraid.” Brynna informed them in a fake, rueful tone, “You gave up your rights to determine the fate of our young prisoner when you decided to sit, twiddling your thumbs, as we saved
Penny and dragged him out of the cave with us.”

             
“You said something about them offering up Penny as a human sacrifice.” Quinn told us.

             
“Yes, I suppose if you were rudely eavesdropping, you would have heard that snippet of our conversation.” Brynna respo
nded icily.

             
“So now, you want to offer up this guy as a sacrifice!” Quinn shouted in disgust, “He's a kid, just like us! You're no better than them if you do this. For all we know, he's never done anything a day in his life to deserve being killed!”

             
“We
don't know that they'll kill him.” I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled at him.

             
“It's a pretty safe bet that they're going to kill him. You all know it!” Alice looked at us with tears in her eyes. “I want no parts of this!”

             
“No one asked her to ha
ve a part in it.” I told Brynna, James and Elijah angrily. We watched as she huffed off.

             
“Ignore the little girl, Violet,” Brynna replied, “She is just trying to be heard. After we turn this boy over, are we going to join up with Don’s group?”

             
“We don’t
really have a choice. Even if they guarantee our safety, there’s no way that we can hunt for the rest of our lives on our own.” Elijah looked around us, seeing what the rest of us saw; either the forest was scant in animal population or they were very good
at keeping themselves hidden from hungry apocalypse survivors.

             
“I want to shake Nick, Alice and Quinn.” I proclaimed suddenly. “They’re a liability, don’t you think?” I looked at Brynna, knowing that if anyone was going to be in agreement that we had to
abandon the three kids that were tagging along on our little adventure, it would be her.

             
“I do not know if that is necessary at this point. They may still be of some use. Until we join up with a larger group, we need as many eyes and ears watching and lis
tening for threats, even if that is all
we will get from them. Their fighting skill are archaic, barely above average. Ours have adapted further than I ever could have imagined.” Brynna looked back at the boy tied to the tree. His head was lolling from sid
e to side, resting on his shoulder one minute and then falling forward so his chin touched his chest the next.

             
“What’s his problem?” I asked.

             
“While you were arguing with Nick, he tried to run. James and I took him down. He’s a native. He should be easie
r to handle like this.” Elijah told us as he chewed a piece of grass.

             
“Get that out of your mouth.” I scolded him.

             
“I suppose now that we have successfully carried out a rescue mission and intimidated our enemies in combat that Elijah is a cowboy slash
super soldier. I find his imaginary world very cute. Surely, a full-fledged paracosm is just around the corner.” Brynna smiled at him ruefully. I cracked up, mentally noting how surprised I was to have understood everything she had said.

             
He pretended to k
ick her in the leg.

             
“Actually, I’m just hungry, asshole.”

             
“Do not refer to me by that disgusting term, you foul-mouthed perversion.” She was only feigning great offense and we laughed again.

             
“You're hungry!? We could eat him!” Alice called sarcastically
to us.

             
“Go away!” I shouted at her, “If you have a better idea on how to handle the situation, by all means, let us hear it!”

             
“You sound like me.” Brynna said with a grin.

             
I fought the urge to smile because I was scowling at Alice still.

             
“You weren’t
attacked by those things. Your sister wasn’t taken by them.” I felt that animal rage that had exploded inside of me as I got out of Miranda’s car that day resurface. “You can barely fight because you’re trying not to change over! We’re embracing whatever i
s happening to us. The three of you stand no chance against them but we do. Besides these new abilities, we have him!” I pointed at the boy, “And he may just be the only peace offering we will ever have our hands on!”

             
“He’s a human being. I mean, he’s not
human but he’s…”

             
“We have the same abilities he has and yet he tried to kill us.” I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes. “I am done with this conversation. Keep your poor attempts at debilitating sarcasm to yourself. They make you look pathetically ridicul
ous.”

             
“Very nice.” Brynna said to me proudly.

             
“Thank you.”

             
She was gently pulling Penny from her chest. I crinkled my brows as I watched their skin separate. Not even a red mark was left behind on either of them. She handed Penny to me and I turned her
sideways to press the skin of her chest to my own. It didn’t attach.

             
“Alright, nothing too gruesome, if you please.” Brynna said softly to James, who was glaring at the boy in silent fury. “Hey…” Brynna reached out to put her hand under his chin and turn
ed his head so he was looking at her. I watched from a distance as his white eyes changed over to their usual brown at the sight of her. After glancing over her shoulder to make sure Elijah’s back was turned, she stood on her tiptoes to kiss James quickly.
I had never seen her in a relationship before, but I knew from watching them periodically over the previous days that she was more than fond of him. It was strange to see that loving side of her worn so proudly on her sleeve. Even as those Pangean powers
began to overtake her Earthly human nature, the humanity that had long been suppressed was growing stronger by the day; it was clawing its way to the surface in a fight for its already weakened life. It was truly strange to witness, after knowing Brynna as
being cold and emotionless for so many years.