Awakening the Mare (Fall of Man Book 1) (8 page)

“Is everything this good?” I asked. “Is this
how you eat?”

Marie smiled. “Not everything is that tasty,
but food is important. There’s a woman who has a garden of spices
that makes all the world of difference in flavor.”

“What is this chunky stuff?”

Marie answered. “Meat.”

I panicked and nearly choked. “Please, tell
me it is not human meat!”

“Oh my God!” Tanner burst into some sort of
high pitched hyena style laughing and stood from the table.

“I beg your pardon?” Snake snipped.

Marie laid her hand on mine. “Vala, why would
you ask that? Of course it’s not human flesh.”

“We are told that the only meat you have is
what you get from your dead.”

“Dude, seriously,” Tanner sat back down.
“They lied to you. You guys are the only ones with livestock.”

“It took a while to get things going again,”
Snake said, “and it’s not back. Not nearly to where it was, but
fifteen years is a lot of time. We didn’t wither and die, we grew
like the Sybaris grew. We have cows and pigs, chickens too.”

Assured that I wasn’t eating another person,
I returned to enjoying my meal. I decided to keep my mouth closed
and not say much more. I was so out of my element, and realized how
much I didn’t know about life outside of the Esperanza Straits.

I was glad I at least knew my history and was
grateful for the Janie girl and her time capsule from 1988.

Tanner informed me that we would leave for
Angeles City after sunrise once it was bright enough. I remembered
the Savage Sybaris, but I didn’t recall knowing that they only came
out at night. Then again, I was so young. It made me wonder how
people slept, knowing the Savages were lurking and waiting to
attack.

Angeles City was always a goal for me. I knew
there were people and there was talk that the revolution was
starting there. Now it was close and each moment that passed, I
grew more nervous. I truly never thought beyond going there. It was
my assumption that the people of Angeles City were no different
than Runners or Nomads. However, I had a feeling that wasn’t going
to be the case.

Thinking about my morning journey made it
difficult for me to sleep. Not only that, but as I expected, it was
hot in Fred’s Bait Shop... stifling hot. What little air that was
in the room was thick and stale. Breathing was difficult and my
irritation over the heat magnified the pain in my arm. I swore I
felt every beat of my heart as it throbbed around my injury
site.

The new clothes Marie gave me were lighter,
but didn’t help. I wanted my sleeping dress. That was long and
thin, and allowed for me to feel cool on a heated night.

The heat didn’t seem to faze Snake, Marie, or
Tanner. They were fast asleep. After taking a sip of my water, I
poured a little in my hand and splashed it on my face, running my
damp hand over my neck.

Then I remembered the air pipe. I stood from
my mat and walked over toward the kitchen area. The pipe extended
down and the opening was about the circumference of a hand sized
ball. Positioning myself under it, I hoped to catch some air. Even
a little.

Head tilted back, with my face directly under
it, I could feel a smidgeon of relief. And as if that pipe were a
scope to the sky, I could see the stars. So many of them. Just as I
believed I found my relief moment, the stars disappeared and the
view went black.

Only for a moment.

The black was replaced by an eerie green eye
that peered down at me through the pipe.

Sybaris
!

I gasped and within seconds, the Savage went
nuts.

An eruption of noise took over the shop
beginning with the sound of thumping. Like large stones rained upon
the roof.

Thump-thump-thump

The thumping turned to pounding. How many of
them were up there? They screamed loudly, sounding so much like
demonic pigs.

I looked around the room to see Tanner,
Snake, and Marie were still sleeping. Was I dreaming? Was this
actually happening? How could they sleep though it all?

The pipe shook violently and the Savage
Sybaris screamed through the opening, as if warning me he was
coming to get me. The entire building seemed to vibrate, and it was
so loud it was deafening.

“Tanner,” I called out. “Tanner!”

The pipe moved violently, and thick slimy
saliva oozed down the pipe and landed on the floor.

“Tanner!”

“What?” he replied groggily.

“Is this happening or am I dreaming?”

He sat up, rubbing his face. “You’re not
dreaming.”

“Look at this pipe, Tanner. Look.” I motioned
upwards to the shaking pipe.

With a groan, Tanner stood. He walked to the
table and lifted an object that looked like a gun. I knew it wasn’t
a gun, though, it had a longer front. Tanner placed a short arrow
in the front barrel of the weapon, pulled a switch back on top, and
walked over to the pipe.

“He’s going to rip it from the roof,” I
said.

“No he’s not.” Tanner looked up. “Man, he’s
relentless.”

A line of ooze dripped onto his face. After
swiping his hand over his cheek, Tanner calmly aimed into the pipe
and fired the weapon. The arrow shot fast from the barrel and
straight up the pipe.

The Sybaris screamed and I heard the deadened
thump.

The pipe stopped moving and instead of
saliva, a thick black liquid dripped to the floor.

My hand shot to my mouth, the odor was foul
and rotten.

“Gross.” Tanner moved to a cabinet in the
kitchen, reached in, and grabbed a canister. After lifting the lid,
he sprinkled some sand like substance on the floor. “Don’t touch
it.” Placing the cap back on the canister, he didn’t return it to
the cabinet, he set it on the counter.

Whatever he sprinkled on the black stuff took
the edge off the smell.

“He’s not getting in,” Tanner said
confidently. As if what he had done was nothing, he walked back
over to the table, laid down the weapon, and returned to his
sleeping mat.

Even though he hit one of them, the noise on
the roof continued. Just as loud and just as strong.

“What about the rest of them?” I asked. “We
are being attacked.”

“No we’re not.”

“Then what do you call it?”

Tanner lay down. “Normal.” He closed his
eyes. “Try to sleep. You’ll get used to it.”

I was astonished and shocked at his reaction
and attitude about the situation. My question of ‘how could they
sleep’ was answered right there and then by Tanner. They were used
to it.

They were used to the noise, the heat,
everything. To them, this was normal.

I had to wonder if I would ever be able to
get used to it. As I listened to the savage beasts try diligently
to rip through the structure to get to us, I doubted it.

I did know one thing for sure, I wasn’t going
to be able to sleep.

My body finally succumbed to exhaustion and
at some point I fell asleep. Not for long though. The ‘squeak’ of
the metal shutters and the entrance of bright sunlight into the
shop awakened me.

“Morning,” Marie said. “How did you
sleep?”

“Not much. Well when I did. Thank you.”

“How are you feeling? How’s the arm?”

“Sore, but I feel fine.” I rose to a sitting
position and was beginning to stretch when my attention was drawn
to Snake, who was in the kitchen area.

“What the heck?” He kicked his foot about the
floor. “How did we get Sybie blood on the floor?”

“Me,” Tanner answered. “I had to shoot one
last night. He was pulling at the pipe pretty bad.”

“Wow, I didn’t even hear it,” Snake said.

“Me neither,” added Marie.

I made my way to the table where they were
seated. “It was hard for me to sleep with the Sybaris above us.” I
pulled out a chair and sat.

“You’ll get used to it,” Marie told me. “As
long as you are in a safe place, don’t give it a second
thought.”

“It was scary for me. I haven’t been around
them in quite some time.” I accepted the bowl of food she presented
me and this time I recognized it. Toasted oats and nuts mixed with
dried fruit. It was sweet and delicious. It was my second day with
my new companions, and I vowed inwardly that I was going to listen
and be smart. Try to decipher what they said instead of speaking up
and sounding so confused and out of place.

We finished our meal, grabbed what little
belongings there were, and headed out. I carried my own bag,
despite Tanner’s offer of help.

I walked out of the shop behind the men and
as I stepped on the porch, Snake said, “There he is. Grab your
arrow so it don’t go to waste.”

It wasn’t immediately obvious what he was
talking about, though once Marie and Snake moved to clear the
hidden car, I saw what Snake was talking about.

The Savage Sybaris lay on the ground, a thin
line of smoke rising from his smoldering carcass. What remained of
it was barely recognizable. It was nothing more than a burnt,
shriveled mess. What looked to be a hand, burned as well, extended
upward.

Tanner walked over to it and pulled out his
arrow, wiped it on the side of his pants, and placed it in the
bag.

We loaded into the car and set forth for
Angeles City. My stomach fluttered in nervousness about the
journey. I had so many questions about the citizens of Angeles, and
the revolution.

Marie told me she would love to tell me, but
their leader always liked to be the one to fill in newcomers,
especially those who had little knowledge of the world beyond the
Sybaris.

“Besides,” Marie said, “there are the
Archives of History and you really want to see it instead of just
hearing it.”

I understood and was anxious. There was a lot
to learn, and I would. I was smart.

“Tell me about your family,” Marie said as we
sat in the back together. “Are you worried about them?”

I nodded. “Yes, more so that they are scared
for me. I don’t think they will be harmed. They weren’t the ones
who did wrong.”

“Do you have a mother, father, brothers,
sisters??”

“I have a mother. I never knew my father. She
married not long after we got to Akana, but he died from illness. I
have a little sister who is five and I had a brother… once.”

“He passed away as well?”

“He was our rite of passage into Akana. He
was just a few days old.”

Marie tried to hide her shocked reaction to
what I said. She inhaled deeply, glanced away for a moment, then
looked at me and clenched my hand. “I’m sorry. Do you remember it
happening?”

“I was there when the gatekeepers accepted
her gift.” I lowered my head. Just the thought of it made me sick
and angry.

“Again, I’m sorry.”

Marie breathed out loudly. “Okay, change of
subject. You seem like a nice girl. What on Earth could you have
done so wrong that you had to flee for your life?”

“It was the monthly ceremony when the
Civilized ones come and choose. They smell as it is, and one
breathed too closely to me and—”

“The civilized ones smell?”

“Not rotten like the Savages, more musky.” I
shrugged. It was then I noticed Snake looked back at us, and Marie
and he locked into a stare.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“No. No. Continue,” Marie told me.

“Well, her odor made me sick and when she
grabbed hold of my arm to choose me, I vomited on her. She always
had a distaste for me and I suppose it was the final straw. She
ordered her henchmen to get me, so I ran.”

Marie laughed. “I’m sorry, that is funny. She
must have really been mad about it.”

“That and it burned her, she screamed.”

“Holy cow,” Snake blurted. “You burned her
and you smell them?”

“Yes. I’ve always been different. Nito—that
is her name, the one that hates me— she called me Mare.”

Softly, almost a whisper, Marie asked me,
“Mare? She referred to you as a Mare?”

“Yes,” I answered, then was hit with instant
fear that I had said the wrong thing. “Please tell me I won’t be
shunned in Angeles City.”

“No. No. Oh, Vala, more than you realize, you
are not only welcome in Angels City…” she gently rubbed my hand,
“you are needed there.”

What I remembered of my journey away from
Angeles City was still vivid in my mind. I embedded it there so I’d
always remember. I recalled roads that were empty, barren towns,
remnants of civilization. The streets and sidewalks were cracked
with growing weeds and grass and no one used cars. People moved in
groups, pushing carts, some huddled under tents to keep them cool
from the sun.

I recalled Angeles City being a huge place
that was spread out. The main part was concrete and buildings that
extended high into the sky. Many of the structures had seen their
fair share of man’s last stand and were damaged and broken, some
burnt. The city itself was void of life, with the exception of
people that were no more than nomads.

My return to Angeles City was quite
different, and not at all what I expected.

Once we had left the deserted area, we took
one road, more of a path, really. Only a hint of the former road
could be seen here and there. Trees and grass grew high and any
semblance of structures that remained were buried and hidden
beneath the deep foliage.

It had gone from dusty and barren to green
and full of life.

Angeles City was still there, and from a
distance, I could see the skyline peeking through the new forest.
My hopes for a gleaming new city were diminished. The buildings
were worse. They were jagged and damaged, resembling rotting and
broken teeth trying to take a bite of the sky. That was from a
distance.

It was disheartening to think with all the
green around them, people still lived in the ruins of the past.