Evolution (13 page)

Jedd didn’t even seem to twitch. His gaze was upon the ground. Watching. Watching something the rest of us must have overlooked. To my amazement, I witnessed the dandelions pop through the ground. One by one, the little creatures doubled in size and number.

He stood, frantically kicking at them. His foot smashing through the yellow as if the color itself was the danger. The yellow grew thicker and thicker creating an endless layer. Tiny eyes, blinking randomly throughout. The sun reflected the amber of the eyes and tiny black noses dotted their faces.

The thick mane and expressionless faces seemed to grow exponentially. The field of vivid yellow flowers became an entire pride of African lions. A mighty roar and the steady click of large nails puncturing the earth and wounding it was all I could hear. Before I could blink, before I could breathe, before I could even stand up in any sort of act of defiance they were upon us.

I let out an insane little giggle. If this was my very last thought it was wasted. All I could do is whisper “the dandelion uprising” over and over to the wind. It became very clear to me in what I was very sure to be my last moments, Jedd was not insane. He knew something.

I felt a shiver run up my spine as two of the creatures pounced. Their thick dry black nostrils flared. A blank stare emanated from within the creatures. Two very long seconds later, they turned their backs and all I could see was the swishing of their tails as they lay down soaking the sun’s rays deep into their pseudo hyde’s.

I took a deep breath and felt the overzealous beating of my heart bump in my ears. I looked over just in time to see Alex slam to the ground, passing out from sheer terror. I tried to run but my own legs felt like fishing line weighted to the bottom of a lake.

Jedd let out a bizarre vicious victory holler. His voice scattering all across his magical kingdom.

“MAGIC STEW! HA! MAGIC STEW! WASN’T EXPECTING THAT NOW WAS YOU? YOU JUST WAIT UNTIL PRINCE SHELDON RETURNS. WAIT RIGHT THERE, DON’T YOU DARE MOVE YOU MANGY CATS!”

*~*~*

Chapter 27

We were mesmerized. The sounds of nature and the abundance of creatures filled the kingdom. Everywhere we looked, wolves, lions, podradiles, and a whole slew of baboons taunted us. They neither attacked or left, they simply circled.

Our stomachs quivered as we sat forcing Jedd’s “Magic Stew” into our organs. The very last of the meat, and the only thing that separated us…from them. I could hear the pod creatures insatiable hunger pangs in many different forms. So different, yet all with the same meaning. They wanted us. They wanted to chew on us, savor us, and finally digest us and move on.

With our food supply diminishing, we knew it would only be a matter of time before we had to move on. It was now a race of starvation. I finished the stew, a little better this time around. I had managed to kill a bird and roast it, splitting among us all, watering down the flavor a bit.

We listened to Jedd speak and for the very first time, we did listen. We hung on every word and deciphered it all. We digested his wisdom as if it was our last supper. He explained the difference between the pod core and the pod creatures. Rather, He made us realize, there was no difference. The entire world was thrown into chaos by a single plant.

The creatures were nothing more than its feeding mechanism. Though Jedd described this as the Mars fly trap. The alien cousin to the Venus variety. All of this seemed fascinating and we asked a million questions to Chief Jedd, but only one question seemed relevant. How do we stop it?

I was hoping for some words of wisdom, something so far-fetched and brilliant that all of Alex’s father’s research would seem like child’s play.  I could see the regret in the crazy man’s eyes as the fire reflected his pupils. I already knew the answer before he said it.

An eternal silence seemed to hang into the air, before the man answered. His reply was very short and sugarless. Sour.

“We don’t”

Boomer just sat upon the log and frowned, not confused more desperately annoyed. We listened as he continued.

“It fears its own creatures. It’s afraid it can’t control that many different creatures all at once, An Auto-immune disease. The silly little plant is afraid of eating itself. I reckon I would be afraid of eating myself too.”  He chuckled loudly

“I imagine it would hurt.”

I was still unsure of the situation. Maybe it was just nerves, or maybe it was our old civilization’s brainwashing techniques, but instinctively I raised my hand like a scared school boy waiting to share my thoughts to the class.

I waited. I waited some more. Then I felt a sharp pain on my side. The wind caught in my throat and my expression was colored with confusion. On the ground beside me was the culprit. The rock that left Jedd’s hand at enough speed to sting but not damage my flesh.

“WHAT WAS THAT FOR?” I screamed

Jedd smiled slowly

“I thought we were just doing meaningless random things. You raised your hand and I threw a rock. I reckon I was expecting Alex to stand up and hula or something!”

“No”

I thought about this a moment, and burst out laughing.

“N-No I had a question, just a question, but now I kind of feel like dancing.”

Jedd looked at me; his expression flatly stated “I’m seriously serious.”

“Do Both!”

Feeling odd, but smiling for the first time, I stood and started dancing near the fire, wiggling my hips and flailing my arms in a truly nerdy fashion. I felt myself winded and tried to talk, but the volume control to my voice box seemed wonky.

“WHAT DO we do now JEDD? DO WE just wait FOR THEM to starve?” I huffed.

To my surprise, the old man stood. His bony legs shaking a bit and his feet leaving little prints in the dirt as he danced.

“YES MY dear boy, I THINK ITS TIME we leave this place. I DON’T THINK PRINCE SHELDON is coming back. IT’S UP to us. ALSO BETWEEN YOU and me HE WAS KIND OF A JERK TURTLE.”

*~*~*

Chapter 28

Five years later

Somewhere in the Southwest

It was almost cute. Its tiny wings spread and its chest puffed on the edge of a tree branch. My face painted with an intricate design that blended perfectly with the landscape. I watched the sparrow for a good five minutes before pulling back on my bow. I inhaled deeply and exhaled upon release of the string. The arrow flew perfectly through the air and dug deep into the sparrow’s chest. Its tiny body fell from the branch and lay motionless upon the ground.

I leaped over the bush and ran across the landscape. Unafraid. Gathering my kill I tied the foot of the bird to the waistband of my garb and headed back to camp. In the distance I could see many friendly faces all painted in various fashions carrying what will be this week’s supper.

Boomer managed to hunt down two rabbits, their fur will become part of our tribe’s blankets for the winter months. It has been a very long journey for us. Individually, and as a species. After Jedd’s “Magic Stew” and the discovery of the plants weakness we set out on a new mission. A mission not of a scientific nature. A mission of survival and of rebirth. We had searched all these years, gathering the greatest species mankind could produce. The survivors. The lost souls that had managed to escape their own demise.

I will admit, the concept of eating the fallen in order to survive didn’t bode well with me and I still have nightmares of it to this day. But that is in the past. The last of the pod creatures had starved off roughly two years ago. You can still find the decaying carcasses littering the vast wastelands that were once our own sprawling metropolis. We use their bones for needles, utensils, and anything we can fathom.

Jedd’s bizarre but truthful wisdom has guided us across the landscape and our numbers have grown exponentially. What started as a group of four now exceeds ten thousand. Mother Nature has decided to start new as well. Plant life has shifted from dangerous and exotic to lush and beautiful. Even the animals have once again increased in number.

Now the end has become the beginning and we get a second chance, one that I feel shall not be wasted. NEVER shall we become a society that tries to take too much from nature. We are smarter now. We live in nature, with nature, and never shall we feel we are above it. The truth of the matter is, as long as we don’t give nature a reason to evolve than it never shall.

Boomer found his place in the tribe doing what he likes to do best. He plays games. No. He has committed his life to teaching others how to play games. He spends all of his time with the children showing them how to be happy just enjoying the company of one another and laughing. That has become our new currency. Laughter and love and each other. It is worth more than anything else at this point in our society.

Alex and I live together happily. The very first true family since the new world started. A chance to learn to love was all it took. To relax and feel very human emotions again. We became man and wife exactly two years ago to the day. I spend my afternoons hunting and gathering materials needed to feed an ever growing tribe. She spends hers in our home with our daughter. Our precious child that was conceived and born as the first in our new world. As fitting as it is, and as true as it should be. We named her Hope.