The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (72 page)

             
Elijah, James and I walked around to see. To our immediate left, there was a staircase chiseled from the rock. We were on the makeshift landing, hidden by a rock wal
l about five feet high. I put my hands on the cold stone and looked over cautiously to see the natives engaged in what looked like a group interpretive dance performance. They were swaying their hands in the air, humming all together to create an eerie, ec
hoing drone that bounced around the large open space of the cave.

             
Lion’s den.
The term popped into my mind before I had time to suppress it. It was accurate; we were in their territory now. Our chances of escaping were slim. Our chances of fighting them all off were nonexistent.

             
“I had the very same thought when I entered Adam's h
ome.” Brynna told me as she watched the natives. “Though I must say, this is a far stranger experience. It is even stranger than him.”

             
They twirled their wrists and reached their hands out far simultaneously. If we weren’t facing our swift yet painful dea
ths, I would have loved to observe them as they were. I had always said that it would be cool to observe primitive tribes going about their daily activities. For a minute, I watched, dumbfounded and fascinated, wishing I had a guide who could explain exact
ly what they were doing.

             
“Look!” Brynna whispered. I looked at her to find that she was standing behind James and holding onto him around the middle with one shaking arm. She was pointing up.

             
In the flickering fire light, we saw a mural that spanned the
entire mass of the ceiling. It was a red painting of a four-armed man. In each hand, he was holding something different. In one, there was an eye similar to what would be found drawn on the wall of an ancient Egyptian temple. In another, there was a small
stick-figure man pointing a bow and arrow at the sky. On the other side, the drawing’s hand was holding a flame encircled by black ash. I was so busy trying to decipher exactly what the symbols meant that I didn’t realize the picture was caked onto the roc
k with dried blood. Over the many years, the blood had hardened; the image was etched onto the rock forever.

             
“We have to get Penny. We have to get her, James.” I heard Brynna whispering to him. When I looked at her again, I saw that she was standing on he
r tiptoes and pressing her forehead to the back of his neck. Both of her arms were around his middle now and he was rubbing them gently.

             
“I know, baby. I’m working on it.” He whispered back as his eyes scanned down below for a way through that wouldn’t al
ert them to our presence.

             
“I have an idea.” I whispered. Out of reflex, Brynna scowled at me but immediately, relaxed her face. Her anger at me had dissipated. There was just no time for it.

             
“What is it?” She asked.

             
“We need to create a diversion.”

             
“Alright. Let me through.” Elijah whispered but then, there was silence in the room below us. We all instantly dropped down to our knees to hide below the wall.

             
“On this night, we offer a sacrifice to the One God,” A man’s gravelly voice was saying, “The
All-Knowing, All-Seeing gift-bearer will receive our message of gratitude. He will receive the body and soul of this child who will not reveal her name.”

             
“Good girl, Penny…” Brynna whispered as she moved back and forth on her feet slightly, ready to sprin
g forward at any minute.

             
“Until we know of the child’s name, we cannot continue.”
             
“But He will strike us down!” A woman’s voice exclaimed frantically.

             
“The others will overtake us!”

             
Someone, perhaps the cave-idiot, stood up and spoke in a humble voice.

             
“Why are we speaking in the tongues of the Earth man?”

             
“Because we are not alone, Even. Three orphans of Earth have followed us. They are there.”

             
All of us looked at each other in horror.

             
“Can you not smell the poisonous air from their destroyed Orb t
hat clings to them?”

             
In response to his rude comment, there was an outpouring of laughter.

             
Brynna jumped up, her eyes ablaze. James followed her as she began to descend the stairs. Elijah clearly wanted to follow but his steely resolve from a moment earl
ier had vanished only to be replaced by useless fear. I stood because I was unafraid of those barbarians and all their ridiculous babble.

             
“So, your speech was rousing, as I am sure you know.” Brynna's voice carried around the opening, reflecting the autho
ritative tone back to me. Where she found the courage to be so forceful in such a terrifying situation, I didn’t know. If we survived, I would ask her in hopes of being able to emulate it someday.

             
“But you are lying to your sheep, sir. Yes,” She looked at
the many natives who were glaring at her, “I called you sheep. I want my sister.”

             
I took a step closer to James when I saw that some had allowed their eyes to turn over white and their fangs to shoot out. It was going to get real very quickly.

             
“Sister?
” Their leader asked.

             
“Yes. It is an English word meaning ‘female born to other children of the same parents, in relation to the other children.’ Sound familiar?” Her words were dripping with their usual sarcasm and condescension, but her body was trembli
ng with a fury that threatened to boil over at any moment.

             
“James...” I whispered, but he shushed me. After a moment, he reached back and put his arm around my shoulders and I immediately felt a little safer.

             
“Whatever Higher Power you are currently ges
ticulating for will have to wait.” Brynna continued. “I want her back
now
.”

             
Their leader took a step back upon meeting her eyes.

             
“But she is of Earth…” He was trying to retain his composure but it was escaping him. “I was told you are of Earth. It is tru
e that you are changing but how?!”

             
Her patience evaporated. Whatever fragile hold she had on her self-control slipped from her grasp. In a blink, she had lunged forward and tackled him backwards. His body was twisted backwards over a rock that rose from t
he ground. In her rage, James, Elijah and I found ours. It was beginning to become apparent that when one of us snapped over into animal-mode, the rest would quickly follow suit. It was like an infection that spread through the air between targets swiftly
and with no mercy.

             
I grabbed the first person nearest to me and threw him to the ground. I hissed in the man's face as I grasped his throat tightly.

             
“You are not of Earth! It is a lie! This is a lie told by the others!” The man who had led the ceremony e
xclaimed not in fear, but in fury of his own. “I cannot believe this. I cannot believe the One God would...”

             
“Bring her to me.” Brynna ordered furiously. “James!”

             
“What?!” James barked at her as his hands clamped even more tightly around a young man’s up
per arms. The boy, barely older than me, grimaced in pain.

             
“Whichever one you are holding, bring him.”

             
“No! James, no!” A woman erupted into a fit of tears that should have softened us. But I felt no sympathy for any of them. I allowed myself not to worr
y for even a second about preserving or ending their lives. There was one option: Kill or be killed. I knew it. We
all
knew it.

             
“You shut up!” I screamed at the woman as another of her kind held her tightly.

             
“Please, he is my only son! Mister James...”
The woman was attempting to fall onto her knees but her fellow cave-mates held her up. Her pleas for mercy would soon turn to Brynna, I was sure. My sister was the person ordering her only son to be taken from her, after all.

             
Brynna was unconcerned with t
he woman. Her eyes were fixated on the man she was holding to the rock. Her focus was only on keeping him alive long enough to learn Penny's location.

             
“Bring her to me or I will rip you and every last one of your people apart.” Brynna told the leader slow
ly and fiercely, as though he didn’t comprehend her words or was purposely disregarding how serious she was.

             
“Just kill him, Brynna!” Elijah shouted in beastly rage, “Stop playing with him and kill him! He took Penny!”

             
“I can see everything you see
except the reason.” Brynna whispered and I looked over at her to see that she wore a quizzical expression on her face. “I have seen faint pictures of all things. But this…”

             
“You do see all things?” The man raised his head up, looking at her intently. She
snapped out of her reverie and pushed his head back down forcefully. He gave one weak exclamation of pain.

             
“Bring the girl!” He shouted into the dark corridor just off of the open space we were standing in. “Is she yours?”

             
“She is my sister. Weren’t you
listening?!” Brynna shot at him angrily before turning her eyes back to the corridor.
             

             
“How strange, the light in your heart for her .” He reached up and placed his hand on her chest. Instantly, James pulled the boy away from the wall by the back of his s
hirt and stormed over. But Brynna had already snapped the man's wrist clean in half. She looked intoxicated as he screamed in pain; there was a small smile on her lips and her eyes had closed. James grabbed his broken wrist and squeezed it hard. The bone s
hifted and a disgusting squishing sound could be heard. The man screamed again and they both laughed softly in response. I would have cringed at what they were doing but my blood-lust was shrieking in feverish desire to see the man tortured. I found myself
laughing along with them.

             
“I should snap your neck next.” All of his lighthearted amusement disappeared abruptly and his voice raised to a frighteningly loud shout, “You will not touch her!”

             
After his pain had subsided, the leader managed to say through
gritted teeth:

             
“And you are a Protector now…”

             
“Let us help you, please!” A woman whose fangs were glinting in the firelight pleaded with the leader breathlessly. Her eyes were fixed on James and Brynna; I saw in her the same strong, undeniable urge to f
ight that we were all experiencing currently.

             
“No!” The man shouted indignantly, “I do not need your help! Stay back!”

             
“Brynna!” Penny’s voice screamed as two men dragged her into the open space by her tiny arms.

             
A soft cry of relief escaped both Brynna
and myself as we ran forward to throw our arms around Penny. Our little sister's entire body was shaking with fear and cold and delicate cries were pouring from her.

             
Elijah charged one of the guards but stepped back upon seeing our sister. Physically, sh
e was perfectly fine, thank God. But there was a terror in her eyes that replaced the glow of youth we were so used to seeing in her.

             
“Hold on, baby girl.” Brynna instructed softly. Penny wrapped her arms and legs around Brynna's middle. Brynna shed her j
acket and maneuvered Penny into it. “
Shh... Shh...
you're alright, baby. I've got you.”

             
“This is your leader, ladies and gentlemen.” James pointed at the man who he had just released. “He has been attacked and injured by two people who were barely even tr
ying. If any of you try to follow us, you will see the full extent of what we can do!”

             
“If you take one of ours, it will mean that you wish to go to war!” Their leader called after us in warning, as though he was telling us that for our own good before we
made a terrible, life-threatening mistake.