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A black scowl on his face, Benny moved down the path with the
hair on the back of his neck prickling. It shivered once. He froze, his gaze
making a slow sweep of the forest and up, into the branches.
The sun was setting and he frowned. This was the quiet place.
The dalonega throne, a round dais of gold, reflected the radiance of the Tsi:ge:Yu:i, God.
Slivers of ice grew in his stomach to scratch at the scars of
ulcers Cindy VanTur and the Manse put in his belly.
“Too much,” he said, the words muttered and creaking from
the pain in his throat. “Too freekin much.”
Shadows grew in a land that never knew them. They lengthened
and thickened. Somewhere, a mountain lion screamed. It shrieked with the memory
of the little girl that drove the first mountain lion insane.
A grin twitched at his mouth. It died.
He broke into a cold sweat, and ran.
A hole. Any hole or pool of water where he could find Sue’s
place. Slide in and back into his body. Geez-us, but something was going on here,
and he was a malaca if he stopped to see.
Screaming his name, black shapes swooped out of the sky.
Wya:ki, Wya:ki! Grey Wolf
Person.
“Get away from me,” he shouted, his boots pounding on the
black loam of the trail. “Get the freek away from me.”
We die, beloved-man. All
the world is dying.
One of them crashed through the branches, and Benny leaped it. A
woman. Jesus. A woman stared at him, her eyes golden brown and weeping as they
dulled in death.
Children rained down screaming. They shrieked, pleading with
him to catch them. A man so old his hair was pure white, his face a mass of
wrinkles.
Help us. Return to the
Love of Creator.
A tree crumbled. Rotting wood crashed to the earth. The boles
of trees sighed and fell to dust. A branch three feet thick rammed into the path,
and he leaped it, racing away from the destruction, screaming curses at the Sun
Father for doing this.
I do it not.
Benny stumbled, sprawling over the ground. A tree ripped
through the dying branches over his body. It stopped inches from his eyes.
Trembling, he waited. The log was gray with lichens and tiny
things that fed on it.
I do it not. Silence.
You, Grey Wolf Person. Look into the world
and see what future there is.
“Come on, kid.”
A dark face showed under the tree.
“Beat it. I don’t want anything to do with you.”
The tree sagged till the lichens touched Benny’s nose.
“Please, Grey Wolf.” There was a deep compassion and
understanding in that voice.
“Benny?” It was Anna, Benny’s mother. She was weeping.
“Kid, please.”
“Mom? Don’t. It hurts too much.”
Then Sue whispered his name. Benny choked. Tears ran down his
face.
“Let me die,” she said. “Please . . . I don’t want to
live like this.”
“No, Sue.”
Benny shot out from under the tree. Behind him, it sagged to
the ground and fell to dust.
A man wearing only a loincloth and wolf hide robe stood next to
Anna.
“Sun Wolf.” Benny nostrils flared. “Where’s Sue?”
“Asleep,” the Sun Wolf said. “Dreaming. Praying. Wishing
she were dead because a darkened sun torments her with the fear of losing
you.”
Fists clenched, Benny advanced a step. “She’s not going to
lose me.”
Anna jumped between them. Sun Wolf gave Benny a weary smile.
“Kid, the Project wants you. VanTur’s boys aren’t all
that far from the house. Sue’s faith matches yours, but she’s untrained. They
get her, and she’ll be a brood mare. Sacred power follows the mother, eh?”
“What am I supposed to do?” Benny cried. “What the hell
can I do?”
“Come home,” Sun Wolf said, his shoulders giving a small
shrug. To Anna, he said, “Sis, go back to the house and get ready. Go to
Philly, the city of brotherly nazi lovin’, and wait.”
Anna threw her arms around the Sun Wolf, and he held her for a
moment.
The cape whined, the eyes a white gold of joy.
“Go on.”
Sun Wolf smiled and let Anna slip away, into the earth. All
around them the land was shadowed, the earth hard rock and dead sand. Trees were
fallen, cracked open and dead. Skeletons crumbled to nothing, and a super-hot
wind dragged the dust into a maelstrom of hate.
Sun Wolf held his arms away from his sides.
“You like this? This is the future. Sue will soon hold the
key. She’ll be ready, if you’ll help. If not, then she is going to wind up
right where you found her, dying, her spirit damaged and soul dead. Evil
continues to grow. Through the Party it feeds on her and all those that need
her.”
Face twisted in a snarl, Benny said, “What can I do? I’m
only one guy trying to survive.”
The wolf’s head on the cape snorted. Sun Wolf sighed.
“You already know. Your mother and Granddad Waya taught you
the beginnings. Eagle Mother and I tried to continue the sacred way with you.”
“But this is your mess. You can fix it with a word.”
“But, it isn’t mine. The Earth was given to humanity. All
the sacred spirits saw to it you’d survive and thrive. You made the mess. Now
you have to gather the people, the warrior people, and make war. I can do
nothing,” he cried. “The power was given to the people, and I can’t do
anything unless they ask. I will do nothing,” he said, his words dropping low
and bitter. “Paradise. They were handed paradise, and they bowed to the
darkness and ruined it. Now Sun Father wants to renew the world in a Cleansing,
but can’t so long as our own people fight us.”
He turned away. “Go back, Grey Wolf. Go back and remember
just who is your God or watch your world die.”
Benny dropped through the ruined earth and fell into his body.
His eyes shot open, and he wheezed a breath of air. Next to him, Sue’s tear-wet
cheeks trembled into a smile.
“Oh, God,” Benny whispered, staring at her.
“Please, let us alone.”
©2004 StoriesByEmail.com
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