I walked through the little community, it seemed nice on the surface at least. People milled about doing little chores or chatting. Although it seemed at least some of them were not happy to see me here. They all wore strange looking robes or brightly colored clothes, it seemed that they did make everything here. The houses looked sturdy and kinda comfortable, with the soothing music in the background I could see why some people would want to stay all the way out here.
The soothing music stopped when I walked past a little orchestra thing. It was like a bandshell, except it was inlaid into the ground to allow the music to come up and around rather than in a single direction. The few instruments that I could get a clear look at were shaped so naturally but with a strange alien look. Like they had been grown rather than crafted, the turns were smooth and loose, while the holes looked more like knots on a tree than drilled holes.
I continued on my way, getting ever closer to the massive tree that despite its size and large canopy still let an impressive amount of light in. I approached the tree to see a small group of people sitting, legs crossed and palms resting on their laps, seemingly meditating. I tried to be quiet but as I got within fifty feet of the small gathering they all turned up to look at me. The way they all stared at me with the same locked gaze and unblinking teal eyes made a small shiver run up my back.
“Hi, I am officer Sophia Garcia. I was looking for…”
“We know. Veronica will be here in a minute.”
I sat there as they all continued to stare at me, the one that spoke to me stood up, she was a tall woman. Her skin was a mild tan, most likely Indian or possibly Middle Eastern. She looked like she could have been a few months pregnant, the small bump of her belly contradicted the lean arms and muscled legs. After a few moments they all continued their silent meditation, as a young girl came walking out from behind the tree. She looked calm until she saw me, she held her arms close to her stomach and looked in every direction but mine.
Veronica looked young for her age, skinny and weak. I wanted to believe that she got it from her mother, but the more likely scenario was neglect and malnutrition. Her hair was thin and frayed, even braided into a single long fishtail. The black offset her extremely pale white skin, she wore the same long colorful robes as the rest of the community. It flowed softly as she walked before coming to a stop as she stood next to the pregnant woman.
“Hello, Veronica. I am Sophia, I am here on behalf of your father. He is worried about you and…”
“I am not going back.”
“That is fine, but if we can step away from everyone and talk for a moment.”
“No. We can talk here.” She huddled behind the tall woman who stood with a strong stance. It was obvious Veronica was scared and nervous, I just really hoped that was because her dad was an asshole. But on the off chance she just got into a worse situation with a bunch of lunatics I didn’t want to take the chance.
“Very well, if you want…”
“Nikhila.”
“If you want Nikhila to come we can but I would like it if you can talk freely. I just want to make sure that you are safe here.”
Veronica looked up at her new mother figure, she smiled down at the young girl with a reassuring gaze of love. She took a shuddering breath, letting go of her arm and slowly walked towards me. We strolled around to the other side of the tree, sitting on a couple of wooden benches and staring at the people of this little society moving and flowing around each other.
“I know that this has been hard on you and even if I haven’t been in your situation. I do know what it is like to be in a shitty situation that you can’t control. It sucks and you feel powerless, you want to hide. But hiding never helps anyone, it just gets innocent people hurt.”
“I tried to get help, I tried to stand strong and push back. You know what it got me? This.” She lifted her shirt to show a large scar that extended from near her belly button all the way back to near her spine. The cut was jagged and the scar wasn’t clean, but it seemed to heal, which meant someone trained took care of the wound.
“I am sorry, but…”
“But nothing, I went to the police. But they did nothing. YOU ALL DID NOTHING.”
“Your father is friends with the captain, people don’t want to upset a man with that much sway.”
“No you are all just afraid, afraid of some pathetic, no good, piece of shit. I am not leaving to be used again.”
She was right about what would happen, if the captain didn’t want someone punished then it wouldn’t happen. He had been there for long enough that it would take more than a little bad press to get him out. But the problem was that her staying here would only bring Don’s petty pride onto these people. He would come with just enough excuses and no information and shoot anyone who protested. This place had a bad enough reputation in town and barely ever left that it wouldn’t be that hard to cover up.
“That’s true, but do you want to get these people hurt simply because you are afraid of your father? I mean, Nikhila is pregnant, do you really want to risk that baby’s life. If your father wants to, he will get Don to bring S.W.A.T. and people could get hurt. Is that what you want?”
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“No. But, I don’t know what else to do.”
She brought her knees up and curled into a little ball. She looked at me, and I could almost see the sparkle in her eyes go out. The teal flecks fading into the back before letting her head dip and the tears fall. It was natural to be afraid of a violent man when no one else would stand up for you. But putting others in front of you to let them suffer was not going to help.
“I have some money saved up, you can take it and get a plane across the country, maybe go north. I should be getting a promotion to New York detective, so if you head there get yourself set up. I will do what I can to help, but letting these people suffer because you are afraid just makes you weak.”
We sat there for a while as she contemplated what to do, it was mostly crying and sniffling. But eventually she saw it my way, it was better for everyone if we both left and started new somewhere else. It would be hard but at least we would both be away from the idiots that thought the world revolved around them.
“Good, then let’s go. You can get your things and I will drop you off at the airport.”
We walked out of the little town to see everyone standing there, all staring back with the same teal eyes. Except for Dom and Justin who were both wearing a smug look like they had just won a bet. Everyone else looked sad and disappointed, John and Niki especially, it seemed they had taken a liking to Veronica. Veronica pulled away from my grip on her shoulder and ran to hug them.
They stayed there for a while, just holding each other. The emotions ran through their faces like a silent conversation, before the tears started to stream down all their faces. A quiet whisper broke the silence, Veronica spoke through tears and snot.
“I don’t want to go.”
“Then you do not have too.”
John broke from the three to turn to the rest of us. Speaking in a low but commanding voice as he announced her decision.
“If she does not want to go, no matter how many men you bring to try to take her. We will protect her, so leave now while you still have whatever is left of your pride.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are, I said she is coming back so I am taking her back.”
Dominick pushed past John which amounted to him just walking around the hulking mass of man. Before attempting to pull Veronica from Niki’s grasp, she stepped in front of Veronica to block his attempts. So like any arrogant white man, he tried to force a woman to do something she didn’t want to. While it would have been nice to see a pregnant woman beat the shit out of him, John got the jump on her.
He grabbed his arm and with an effort that looked closer to wringing a towel he twisted in the wrong direction. A sharp crack that reverberated through the trees was only quieted by the scream that made me cover my ears.
When the pitiful cry of pain slowly ebbed away, I turned to look at the mangled remains of what I didn’t want to believe was someone’s arm moments ago. The broken bone peaked out from mangled ropes of flesh and other viscera. Blood spilled down the mangled bits of flesh and bones, drenching his white shirt.
“Leave, now before you do something that stupid again.”
“Ahhh, God fucking dammit. Shit, shoot this fucker.”
Justin pulled out his gun to aim it at the large man again, and truthfully I was kinda surprised the human race made it this far with idiots like these two pissing in the gene pool. There was a mild standoff, as John and Justin waited for the other to back down.
John was the first to make a move, grabbing the large ax at his side and taking a few decisive steps forward. Justin may have acted tough but when push came to shove the guy was probably going to crap his pants. So after a few more steps from John and a shaking arm from Justin, it seemed like it was going to be over. But as soon as John turned his back, ready to put the whole mess behind us, Justin got cocky and let off a couple of shots into his back.
“What the fuck is your problem.”
“What? He is holding a child captive, threatened a police officer, and broke an innocent man’s arm.” He turned to me with a cheap ass smile on his face, as if he just put down a dangerous animal. Like I should be proud of him shooting a man in the back for trying to protect a child. I was about to yell again, but the shadow that John cast never disappeared, there was no thud as his body hit the ground. I looked over to see him still standing there, stunned, or shocked, or in just plain disbelief.
“Why can’t you humans ever leave us alone.”
“What the…”
With a single swing backward, a flash of white matter flew past my face. Before coming back in an instant except this time it was red, a few drops of something warm hit my cheek. I turned to see both Justin and Dom laying on the ground covered in blood and apparently missing their heads.
“Leave, I do not need you filling Veronica’s head with your own doubts and fears. Tell your captain that they were mauled or some such thing, as their bodies will be gone by the time you can get someone back here. If you do not wish for this to happen again, then see to it that we are not disturbed again.”
I looked over to see John’s hand, a massive blade of bone and blood slowly revert to his normal looking hand. I took a few steps back tripping over a massive root that had seemingly crawled its way through the ground to poke out of the grass. I fell on my ass, turning to see the root cover the bodies with the same strange teal moss that had spread through the rest of the camp.
“I, I, uhh, I…”
“Go, you humans would much rather suffer alone than fight together. It is why you are weak, it is also why your people will die and hopefully one day be nothing but an old lesson for our future.”
***
She ran, she stumbled and then she ran some more. I wasn’t sure why she was so scared of seeing cruel men lay dead on the floor. It was not nice to watch animals die, but when those animals do bad things when they know that they are bad. When they know that hurting others gains them nothing, I just couldn’t understand how the world lets them live on.
“I am sorry that you had to see that. The deaths of these creatures is never nice, many of them may change if they are taught. But sometimes it is not worth the cost to save their life, especially if it means it is the cost of others.”
“It is okay John, I am sorry that my being here brought them.” I pulled away from Niki, who still had her arms wrapped around me. It was an awful feeling to force John to do something he hated so much, but seeing the slow destruction of my father’s corpse. It also made me happy that the man would never hurt another person again. That just because someone wounded his pride that he felt he had reason to punish others.
“It is alright Veronica. It is not pleasant, but we have all accepted that for our kind to live in harmony, some blood must be shed. Fortunately it is mostly the blood of the prideful and greedy, those who hurt and kill others for petty gains.”
We stayed for only a moment, as the bodies were absorbed into the earth and turned into nutrients for the Mother Tree. The sadness that Myc felt washed through my bond, the death of a creature was sad. Many of the humans could be saved, if they were bonded and taught, they could learn and grow, old mistakes forgiven. But how many lives could you risk to save a single person, would it be worth losing John, or Niki, or even the baby if it was all to save my father.
I didn’t think so, but that was more of my own feelings for the man rather than actual logic or reason. However, the choice may come one day and I would have to live with whatever consequences I chose. It wasn’t a pleasant thought but being here, knowing that I had a family to support me. To teach me and let me learn from their mistakes was more than enough for me.
I held onto Niki as she continued to console me, it was nice to have someone to love you and hold you. She brushed her hand through my hair and tucked the few unruly pieces behind my ear. It made everything seem unimportant and distant, I wanted to cry and smile at the same time. I brought my hand around to put it on her belly, letting Myc push the bond between me and the baby. Feeling it slowly growing, warm and protected, waiting to be a part of the world we were trying to build.
“I will help protect you, both of you.”