Eliza

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Dozens of people had suddenly appeared in a sprawling valley covered in trees, with cliffs on the east and west side. The first ten minutes were filled with confusion as people tried to figure out what was going on. Then these strange little men with spears, clubs and hatchets showed up. Soon after, the first person had died. It was a teenage boy, Eliza thought his name was Justin. After that it was pure chaos. A second person died, then a third. That’s when Theo showed up with his gun.

“If y’all want to survive, y'all should listen close!”

Eliza snapped back to reality.

The speaker was a well-groomed man in a police uniform. That was Theo. With the help of several others, he had chased off the band of “goblins”. That’s what others had begun calling them, but Eliza refused. Goblins were not real. This was not Lord of the Rings. They were surely in some isolated corner of the world, and the “goblins” were simply a tribe of savage people. As for how they all got here, she had no explanation for that.

“We need to work together if we wanna stay alive. If anyone’s got any food or water on them, hand it over. We need to pool together and ration our resources.”

Between Theo taking the lead when fighting off the attackers, and the gun on his hip - many people had already begun looking at him as their leader. And he seemed quite pleased to take on the role. A lot of people were relieved to have someone else call the shots, desperate for someone to make sense of what was happening. However, not everybody was happy about it. A young British man with a thick accent spoke up.

“Fuck off mate. Why should we listen to you? Just cause you got a gun?” the tattooed man said. Eliza thought his name was Richard. He spat on the floor in front of Theo, grabbing a chocolate bar that someone was about to hand over. He unwrapped it and began eating it in front of him, a smug expression on his face.

A deafening crack split the air, and Richard staggered, a gaping hole blown through his chest. His eyes widened in shock as he swayed before crumpling to the ground.

For a moment, silence reigned. Everyone stood motionless, caught like deer in headlights. Then our eyes turned to Theo—his arm still outstretched, smoke curling from the end of his revolver. As people recovered from their shock, many looked disturbed. A girl with dyed pink hair and a septum piercing rushed over to Richard, bending down to check his pulse. After a moment she looked up at Theo with disgust.

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“What the fuck? You just murdered the guy!” she screamed. The group was stunned. Theo simply clenched his jaw in response.

“Th-this.. Th-that was wrong!” stammered a fat middle-aged man with glasses.

“Y’all got a problem with it?” snapped Theo, turning his gun towards them. Nobody spoke up.

After a moment, he took a deep breath before continuing.

“Look around. If y'all hadn’t noticed, we ain’t in America anymore. If you ask me, we ain’t even on Earth! Yes, I said it. You see those “goblins” that killed those boys earlier? They mean business. And who knows what else we might see around the corner. If we don’t get busy and start working together, we all die. You understand me?!”

As he spoke, a man had pushed through the crowd to stand protectively between Theo and the protestors. He wore a reverend’s collar, identifying him as a priest. He had a grim expression on his face as he lifted his arms in a calming manner.

“Let’s take it easy here... Theo, was it? I’m Steve. You didn’t have to kill that man. And you know it.”

“A ship can only have one Captain. And that fella meant trouble.” Theo responded stubbornly.

“What if I think you mean trouble?” countered the priest evenly, looking Theo dead in the eye.

In response, Theo lifted his gun and pointed it squarely at the priest’s chest. His jaw clenched as he hesitated, wondering if he could get away with eliminating the pastor. He looked around at the crowd, many holding their breath with dread on their faces. He slowly lowered his gun. He looked around at the crowd until he spotted Eliza, a glint gradually appearing in his eye.

“You. What’s your name?” Theo demanded, waving his gun in her general direction but keeping it pointed halfway towards the ground.

Eliza was shocked to be addressed directly. She had been doing her best not to draw attention to herself. She took a deep breath.

“I- I’m Eliza.” she said, stepping forward. Theo examined her, nodding.

“Good. Eliza, collect the food and water from all the good folk here. If any of them give you trouble, you let me know. The rest of you, make yourselves useful. You, you and you. You’re our scouts, go explore the area and look for food and water. Don’t go too far, report back what you find…”

Theo began barking out commands, and after a glance down at Richard’s body, everyone obeyed. Only the priest bent down to pray over the corpse, saying he planned to bury it like he had the others. Theo sneered but only grunted in response, ignoring him. Eliza’s hands quivered as she went around the crowd and accepted offerings from everyone. She couldn’t stop thinking about how Theo had killed Richard. As she moved, she could feel Theo’s eyes on her back, and it sent chills down her spine.