Never Too Late
Chapter 1: When You're Young
You give what you give cause they make you
Trapped inside a place that won't take you
And they want you to be what they make you
It's already over and done
When you're young
~ 3 Doors Down: When You're Young
That day. The day she watched her mother and older brothers die. She had been four at the time and yet, the memory still stuck to her even with her vicious attempts to forget it. Her only surviving sibling, Micheal, had tried to forget as well but even he couldn't forgive the children of Gatlin for their crimes.
The town of Gatlin, an isolated area surrounded by corn and home to Catholics. Her mother and three older brother were Catholic but she, Samantha, was not. It was not that she didn't believe that there was a god, she very much believed that there was a god and a heaven, but she couldn't stand the preachings and constant worshiping. Still, she was expected to join the Sunday gatherings, just like everyone else. She didn't mind it much, so long as she got to see her friends and childhood crush, Craig.
Then one day, a young boy named David appeared. Following that, Samantha began having odd nightmares about the adults being slaughtered, Craig and David being the leaders of this madness. Even then, Samantha thought nothing of the newcomer and continued on her way, she even allowed David into her life as close friend. That was when she realized that something was wrong; she was outside playing with her dog Betsy when she overheard her mother complain to her brothers about the corn.
"They say that this is the worst drought ever. How are we going to survive when we all we mainly eat is corn?" She heard her mother growl. "We should leave if this is what's to await us."
Samantha grew fearful at that; she loved Gatlin and definitely didn't want to leave her beloved friends. Luckily, her oldest brother, Joshua, convinced her mother against leaving.
"Think of Samantha and how attached she is to this place." he argued, "She'll be so devastated."
After that, Samantha saw what they were talking about. Glancing at the corn just outside the fence she saw that the corn was not healthy. Now that she knew what to look for she began to see that the corn was dying and dying fast.
"Do you see it Samantha?" Samantha jumped at the sound of David's meaningful voice.
"Don't scare me like that." She whined as the older darker haired boy came to her side. "See what?"
"Forgive me." He smiled and he ruffled her oddly colored brown hair. "See the corn? The death?"
She glanced back at the corn that resided beyond her backyard fence. Even a child of her tender age saw the failing harvest before her. "Why? Why is it failing David?"
His answer was simple, "The adults."
"Adults?" Samantha knew that David looked down upon adults, he saw them as the sinners who poisoned the minds of the young. But why would it be the adults' fault for the failing crop?
"He is not pleased with the adults." he said, "He wishes for the adults to be gone and for us, His children, to thrive. Can't you hear Him Samantha?" he glanced down at her and smiled, "I know He has spoken to you too."
Samantha also knew about David's other god, He Who Walks Behind The Rows. A god from the Old Testament that David had stated to not be a very forgiving god. "What do you mean?" That question was spoken in truth; Samantha wasn't sure what to he meant by speaking to her.
"You've been having nightmares haven't you?" he asked, though it sounded more like a statement. "You've never told anyone about them have you?"
She shook her head, "They're scary David, I want to forget them."
David chuckled, highly amused with her childish fears. "You shouldn't be afraid Samantha. Tell me, let me share the demons that plague your sleep."
Samantha nodded slowly and explained her dreams to David, who listened with interest and a smile. She noted the utter enjoyment that was drawn on his pale face; like he wanted to hear this. "Interesting." was all he said when she finished.
"Why?" curiosity was truly a childish trait she often displayed.
David smiled down at her and said softly, "My dear girl, these dreams are more than just fragments of sleep. These are predictions of our future, the future of Gatlin."
This made Samantha grow ill with worry, the future of Gatlin was without the adults that tended and cared for their children. How would they survive?
"Come to the tent tomorrow." David instructed, "We must inform the others of this wondrous news." With that he left her to be as she was before he arrived. But, one cannot simply returned to her previous actions with such talk rambling through her young mind. She wanted to warn her mother, wanted to call David out on his plans. Unfortunately, David would succeed in his deeds and Samantha would be there to watch it all.
The following morning was not what Samantha expected. She still attended Church like always, her mother would not let her leave to do David's bidding, but none of the other children were there. Not even Craig, whose strictly religious parents always attended and forced their less-than-perfect son to join against his will, came to the services. Knowing for sure that something was wrong and that things were going to soon become deadly, Samantha whispered her fears to her third older, Micheal.
"What are you talking about Sam?" he whispered back, trying to look annoyed but knew too well that his sister never talked during a preaching unless she had a good reason to.
"We're the only kids in church Micheal." she whispered, "Something's wrong!"
Micheal looked around without moving his head too much, he now noticed the problem of which his younger sister was fretting over. "Where is everyone?"
Their mother sent a glare toward the younger duo and they ceased their whisperings. Glancing toward the small brunette he mouthed the question again. She mouthed the others' whereabouts and even mentioned that she was suppose to join them. Micheal stared at his sister, he did not ever trust David since the dark haired boy frightened their mother with talk of sins and punishment. Even still the boy would play with Samantha and tell her things they deemed her too young to know. With this knowledge, and having joined one sermon of David's a week ago, Micheal knew that there was something dangerous laying in the late of the day.
The services ended, like normal, and they all headed to different shops and stores to spend some time with their families and friends. It was at a small cafe when Samantha saw her friends, Maria and Angel, sitting on two bar stools. They were whispering about something, probably about David's sermon that they attended. Their parents were scolding them for missing the services but they paid no heed to the elders. When Samantha sat alone in the booth her mother and siblings took for their early lunch did the two girls approach her.
"You didn't go." Maria accused, "Why?"
Samantha felt the hostility that emitted from her once loving friends and answered, "Mommy wouldn't let me out of her sight." That darkened Maria's scowl but Angel remained neutral.
Angel scooted next to her and whispered, "We have a message from Craig." Craig always had others relay messages to Samantha. Due to his parents religious ways, Craig was never allowed to be friends with Samantha, as she was a bastard child along with Micheal. "He wants to see you outside in the small shed."
"Right now?" Samantha knew better than to leave her family when they tell her to stay put but this was a time where her mother's rules no longer could serve as an excuse. "O-okay." Slipping from her seat, Samantha escaped through the back doors used by children like her and Craig. Once outside, it was only a short walk to the designated shed when she would see Craig.
"Hello?" she whispered as she entered the small and dark shed. "Craig?"
She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and whirled around to see the young Craig standing there, a small smile on his face. "Samantha, you came."
She nodded and replied, "I always come. Why did you want to see me?" She saw that there was a knife in his small hands. It was really a gardening tool but she knew what its intent would be. "Craig?"
"David has told us about your gift." he answered, taking a step toward her. "We were sad when you didn't show up but David insisted that since you're so young, your mom was probably dragging you to Church again."
"Craig?" She was hesitant and wanted to return to her mother.
"It's time Samantha." Craig cupped her cheek and smiled warmly, although that smile so warm made her feel so cold. "it's time we saved Gatlin from the blasphemous adults!"
With that, a loud and shrilling scream sounded from the cafe where her mother and brothers were. Though that wasn't her mother's scream, it still was enough for Samantha's body to give her a rush of adrenaline that got her to leave Craig and make her way to see the slaughtered woman in the cafe. The woman laying on the floor, eyes open with pain and disbelief, chest barely rising, and blood stained was Maria's young step-mother. Standing beside the dying woman, was Maria, drenched in blood and carrying a scythe also covered with the woman's blood.
First there was shock; a child just murdered an adult, her step-mother no less. Then there was disbelief; a child truly committed a murder right in front of everyone. Finally, with the smirk on Maria's blood stained face and the scream of another murdering child, did realization hit and the panic began to erupt. Adults were running everywhere, some tried hiding, some tried defending themselves, some tried escaping. There was only one thing they all had in common; they all died.
Samantha hid herself between a shelf and the backside of a booth, with all the raging she knew all she could do was hide and hope her family found her soon. She also covered her ears and closed her eyes, she did not want to see nor hear the horror that was unleashed before her.
"Samantha!" Peeking through her curtain of hair, her mother was crouched down reaching for her, "Let's go baby!" Crawling out to her mother, she was hoisted up into the loving arms that held her since birth. Samantha shoved her face into her mother's shoulder and kept her hands over her ears, a desperate attempt to ignored the death that was so sickeningly thick in the air.
"Ma'am!" Glancing over her small shoulder, Samantha saw Officer Richards waiting by the police car, "Hurry up before someone notices."
In the back seats were her brother who quickly took her from their mother as they climbed into the car. "Drive drive!" the younger two ordered while Joshua cradled Samantha, who was still not looking or listening to the carnage. Sadly, someone did notice what they were doing.
"Samantha!" the voice was Angel's and it alarmed the other children of her attempt of escaping them. Those who were not slaughtering an adult at the moment began throwing themselves and rocks at the car. It was apparent that they did not want Samantha to leave.
The car drove down the street, running over corpses of adults slaughtered by their young. There were still children gripping onto the speeding vehicle, some were trying to bust through the windows while the rest aimed for the windshields.
"Shit!" Joshua cursed, placing Samantha on the floor of the car. "Stay there Sam. Don't look!"
The door, which was unlocked, suddenly opened and a teenage boy lunged toward Joshua. Everyone screamed, Josh managed to throw that boy off but could not defend himself with another's surprise attack. It was so quick that all anyone noticed was that there was a knife in his throat and that he fell out of the car's open door.
"Josh!" Samantha cried, still sitting where Joshua had left her. Starting to cry, Samantha turned away and curled up into a small ball, refusing to listen to anyone she could hear.
"Close the door!" Officer Richards barked to the boys, "Lock your doors!" Angus, the middle son, reached over and forced the door closed, locking it as instructed. "Someone get the girl."
"Sam!" Angus pulled the little mouse into his arms and hugged her, "Shush Samantha, please stop."
Her only response was sobbing and shaking her head. Her nightmares, those horrid nightmares that plagued her since David's arrival, were true events. True hellishly evil events. Would any of them live to tell the tale? No. This nightmare was reserved for Gatlin and any fool stupid enough to venture out here.
A now fifteen year old Samantha, now renamed Ruth, laid in her bed, still to the naked and wandering eyes. She was plagued by memories and nightmares alike, none were ever forgiving or bearable. Her brother, Micheal, had turned eighteen last August and she would soon turn sixteen in that coming March. He had less than six months until he was to be sent to He Who Walks Behind The Rows, his lover, Abigail, was following him a week after. That would leave Ruth to care for herself and their twins, Lucas and Marcus, who were only three.
David was no longer their leader, he was sacrificed long ago, now they followed the orders of an nine year old named Isaac. Craig, now called Malachai and Issac's right hand man, still tried to keep contact with Samantha. Not through the means he use to do. He would follow her to the sermons held in the clearing, invite her for walks, have her stand by him in church but her old feelings for the now handsome man didn't rule over her shame toward him. He murdered adults, did the crime with a smile on his face, proudly still wielded the blade that stole the elders' lives. How does one forget such a thing? How does one forgive such a crime? How does one still love another despite his involvement?
"Craig..." she mumbled as she finally moved by rolling over onto her side. "Why Craig?" despite his new name, Ruth was prone to privately referring to Malachai as Craig still.
Tomorrow was her wedding, a day she was partially afraid of. It was obvious that Malachai cared for her, underneath that vicious reddish blonde who showed no Outlanders any mercy was a loving boy who now was free to display his affection toward Ruth. Didn't mean he was always wanted though. Even though she tried to forgive Malachai for what happened tweleve years ago the memories haunted her. He never seemed to care though, this was proven by the fact that Malachai had asked her to be his lover, presenting her with with a rose he cut from her old house. He knew her love for the overly used flower and used that to his advantage; she didn't give herself any choice other than to say yes.
I'm too young. She sighed and rolled onto her back again. Music was forbidden but she nor her brother ever cared; to them, some rules were meant to be broken. Softly humming an old tune her mother once sung to her, Ruth felt herself relaxing somewhat and drift into a what she hoped would be a dreamless sleep.
Micheal stood tall but not proud, the heated glared aimed for Isaac proved that. Standing beside Malachai, Ruth stood with Abigail and the twins. Despite the blonde's attempts to be proud she was sad and quite fearful. It was night, the sun was slowly disappearing but it was dark enough for Him to be waiting for His sacrifices.
Beside Micheal also stood another blonde girl, an overweight boy, and a dark boy who was a warrior like Malachai, not as loyal of course. They all had just turned nineteen, the Age of Favor, and soon they were going to enter the corn so that He could take them to whatever awaited them.
Isaac finished the speech he was babbling on about before allowing the four to enter the corn. They waited for a time before Isaac declared that it was time to leave. While leaving Malachai placed a hand over her belly.
"We'll be having a baby soon." he whispered into her ear, "And we'll be happy."
Ruth moaned as she felt her nephews pushing her in their way of waking her up. She normally would ignore them but that dream, definitely more of a nightmare than a dream, had her wanting to be awake.
"Wake up Auntie!" Lucas grinned, his messy dark brown hair uncombed unlike his brother, who's hair was blonde and neat. "Auntie wake up!"
"Alright alright!" Ruth pushed herself up and eyed the small boys. "What do you want?"
"It's almost time for the preaching remember?" they sat directly on top of her. They weren't exactly thrilled at the idea of their young aunt becoming the lover of Malachai, much less were they thrilled with her not telling their father and mother, but it at least that meant she wouldn't totally be Isaac's fortuneteller that much. Even though Isaac needed Micheal's permission to see the young brunette didn't mean he always asked for it. If anything, unless Ruth was with Malachai, Isaac just would find his way to where Ruth was and bother her until she gave him what he wanted.
"Right." she sighed, glad that Abigail was not the one to wake her. "Let me up so I can dress." The boys hurried out of her room as she pushed off the covers and made her way to her black dress. Unlike the other girls, who wore black or brown dresses with white aprons, Ruth only wore a pure black dress that was different from the others. Slightly more modern but she was able to wear it at least.
"Hurry up Ruth!" Abigail called from the other side of the door, "The morning preaching is in an hour." Ruth only sighed as she combed her brown hair, she did not want to go to the preaching as she knew what would be awaiting her. All she could do, however, was hope Michael didn't get mad at her for agreeing to be Malachai's lover.