Evelyn Earth Part 35

I needed to get back to Sebastian and tell him everything that I had learned. I knew that he would feel the same way about this as I did because as much power as we had within us and as much reverence as we held for the Earth we weren’t willing to begin a genocide of the human race. There were no two ways about it, if we started on the slippery slope of killing whoever was in our way then we would end up not caring about killing everyone. The fact that this was not only a possibility, but a probability made me shiver.

I relished the idea of being an Earth Warrior, but I didn’t want to lose my humanity in the process. I couldn’t just become a mindless destruction machine because the Mother had found me compatible with her ideals. It wasn’t who I was.

I stood up and brushed the chalk-like remnants of the rock from my fingers. All the boys were looking at me expectantly and I realised that they were counting on me to help them.

“I have to go and find my friends” I said pointlessly, they all stared back at me blank faced, waiting for me to do something, but it was bloody impossible to mime that out so I just turned and started walking away.

I heard loud exclamations and then a hand darted out and grabbed me by the arm. It’s hard to explain the instant rage that gripped me in that moment. It was like a hot flush that went all through my body and straight to my head. Luckily none of the boys saw my reaction and I was able to shake off the hand and get myself under control before turning around to face them.

Before I could say something in anger the boy who had grabbed me put his hands together in prayer position and began saying something frantically. I shook my head and tried to open my mouth again, but another boy joined the first and clapped his hands together. Why did they think I could do anything for them? For all they knew I was just a lone female who happened to be from this city.

“I can’t help you” I said loudly, drowning out their strange supplications, “I have to go.” As I turned to walk away once again I was expecting to see another hand come flying out to grab me, I was waiting for it, but it didn’t happen. I continued to walk until I noticed that they had fallen in behind me. I stopped and turned around. The first boy shrugged his shoulders and motioned for me to keep walking. It looked like I had gained an entourage.

As I continued to walk I bit the dry skin around my thumb nail. There was one sure fire way to get them off my back and that was to expose my darkness to them. If they saw that then they would surely run for the hills and leave me alone. On the other hand if I led them to Sebastian then he would be able to make a decision based on what he saw in front of him and not just off of what I had to say.

I spat out a piece of skin and ran my tongue over my teeth. Without toothpaste or basic hygiene they had begun to form a furry barrier that disgusted me.

The boys had begun to chat amongst themselves and every once in a while I would turn my head and catch glimpses of them smiling and joking with each other. They all looked scruffy and un-kept, but despite the bizarre situation they were in they still managed to look half happy.

One of the boys broke off from the group and came up to walk beside me.

“Eu sou o Manoel” he said pointing at his chest.

“Evelyn” I said blandly.

“Eh-veh-line” he pronounced slowly and then smiled. I smiled back. These boys were just innocent kids. I could only imagine the people they had left behind in Albert Park—700 innocent people thrust into a city that was about to be consumed by an idiot of an angel who clearly couldn’t do his job.

In the next ten minutes I had been introduced to the eight other boys, shaken hands with most of them and learned that three of the group were as young as fifteen. They were all best friends from the same village; Alvito and they were all on the same football team. I was laughing at one of the boy’s Luiz’s interpretation of a winery when a loud bang startled all of us. Some of the boys who had wandered ahead immediately moved back and formed a tight bunch together, with me in the middle.

“Hey stop squashing me” I said annoyed, but at the same time touched that they had moved to protect me from a loud noise. Manoel simply shook his head and continued staring straight ahead at something I couldn’t see.

“What is it?” I asked, shoving my way past two boys and coming up right behind him. Two men were making their way towards us, one with what looked like a shot gun in his hand.

“Move” I said quietly yet sternly to Manoel.

“Nao” he began to protest, but I placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He turned to look into my eyes and I could see the palpable fear that had built up within them. He was a country kid, bred on a winery with jolly old people and hard working mothers. Violence was not part of his everyday life and neither he nor any of the other kids knew how to deal with it. It was plain to see.

“Move” I repeated softly and he stepped aside to let me stand beside him.

“Hands in the air” one of the approaching men called out whilst the other cocked his shotgun at us. I looked behind me and raised my hands to make sure that they all understood what to do. One by one they lifted their palms to the sky.

“Looks like we found ourselves a pretty girl Jeff” said the weapon-less man.

“Looks like you’re right Jeff” answered the other man. Now either both their names were Jeff or it was some sort of code word they used between each other.

“A girl with so many guys, looks a bit suss don’t you think Jeff” another voice called out from behind us and I closed my eyes in exasperation.

“Sure does Jeff” called out another voice from above us. We were surrounded by scavengers called Jeff, which was exactly what I didn’t need to be dealing with right now.

I opened my eyes and looked up to search for the fourth voice. He was leaning out of a third floor window and hefting a rifle the size of a small child.

“This is how it’s going to work” said weapon-less Jeff, “you’re going to lead us to your pretty little hideout, we’re going to help ourselves to a few things and then we’ll be on our way, right Jeffs?”

“Right.”

“Yeah.”

“Mm.”

“We don’t have a hideout” I said.

“Did I fucking give you permission to talk!” yelled weapon-less Jeff. He was a middle-aged man with an angry red face and as he yelled I could see the spittle building up in the corners of his mouth and turning white, like foam.

I put down my hands and Manoel looked at me in alarm.

“We do not have a hideout” I repeated slowly, sounding out the syllables as if I were talking to a five year old, “we don’t have any possessions for you to rob. It’s just us” I spread my hands out wide to encompass the whole group.

“Just you is it, well we’re going to just have to settle for just fucking you aren’t we!” he lunged at me. Whilst I had been talking the darkness had crept its way throughout my whole body, just under the surface of my skin. I had allowed it free range within me and my blood throbbed with the aching energy it produced. I was ready for his move. I was waiting for him to act so that I could disintegrate him on the spot. What I hadn’t anticipated was Manoel stepping in front of me to block the attack.

Weapon-less Jeff’s face contorted in rage as he came into contact with my would-be rescuer. He unceremoniously elbowed Manoel in the face and shouldered him out of the way. The rest of the group exploded. One of the older boys rushed Jeff, but before he could get past me a loud pop resonated around us.

Wetness splattered my cheek as his body hit the floor making a sickening crunching sound. A wailing sound had begun behind me. Someone pushed me to the side in order to kneel over the dead boy.

“The next one of you cunts to fucking move gets it in the head” said one of the Jeff’s, I couldn’t even say which one; everything had turned into one big blur. Manoel was crying on the floor clutching at the other boys body, his own nose releasing blood in a steady flow down his chin. Weapon-less Jeff was kicking Luiz; who was making the uncontrollable wailing sound and the others had either dropped down to the floor or stood completely stark still—in shock.

I looked down at my fingers and realised that they had begun to turn black. My mind was working in slow-motion, but my body was reacting on its own.

I stepped forward and placed my hand on weapon-less Jeff’s back. His brown t-shirt was drenched in sweat from all the exertion of kicking Luiz and I could feel his heart beat; boom boom boomboom boom boom boomboom. I slid my hand in through his back, melting the muscles, the sinew, the bones of his spine, until I felt his heart in the palm of my hand. I squeezed it with all the strength and anger that I had within me and watched as the darkness spread through him like termites—eating his flesh and leaving nothing behind.