Chapter 4
Irisa sat on the front steps of the law-keeper's office brushing her teeth when we pulled up, and she spit one last time, walked into the building, and slammed the door. She had spit toothpaste all over the steps, and I think she did it out of spite. It was the first time that I recall having toothpaste dripping down the steps of the Law Keeper's office. She poked her head out of the dim window with a grimace on her face. I couldn't tell if she was upset with me or if it was with Nolan. She looked angrier than usual, but I didn't know the reason. I never knew the reason for her brooding ways. It was a warmer than usual day, and the smell of fried food emanated from the Hollows. It was an uneasy ride back from the Badlands with Meh Yewll enraged over the idea of a deity existing. Her attitude about the entire situation was insane, and unbecoming of a person of her stature. She was the smartest person I knew, and I had never seen her act in such a manner.
"You should've killed that monster where it stood, Jeb!" Meh Yewll exclaimed, "This shit goes up the chain."
"What the hell, Doc?" Nolan asked.
"It's all fun and games until that little miscreant sets science back a thousand years," she said, "You'll see."
"I don't expect to live that long," I said.
"I know, right?" Jeb said. He laughed, but Meh Yewll didn't.
She didn't have any use for a god on any level because she was an Indogene, an individual who believed in science and facts over religion and faith. For such an intelligent being, she didn't mind taking the low road to prove a point. A ball of dust spiraled down the street, and I climbed out the back seat of the car, and stretched my legs a bit. The wind had picked up something awful, and the tiny particulars of dust beat against my face. Doc Meh Yewll complained that the boy would cause more trouble than the out-of-control terraforming itself, and he had to go for the good of the new world. I knew the Doc for several years, and this was the first time that I saw her vehemently nervous. She was adamant about taking out the boy, and I couldn't believe what I heard. She was the town's resident physician, and I never expected her harboring a malicious desire to destroy a precious life. She exited the car, walked towards the mayor's office, and Jeb kind of pretended he didn't notice her irascible behavior. She reiterated that some people-young and old-had to die for the good of the world, and Star, the little hybrid, was one of them.
Irisa gave me a cold stare when I walked through the door of the jail house, but I couldn't recall doing anything to upset her. She just looked my way with a kind of emptiness that I couldn't readily explain, but it made me wonder what was going through her mind. On some level, I felt that she didn't even notice me entering the room. I thought she'd be happy to see me, but that wasn't the case; it wasn't the case at all. She looked past me, and gave Jeb a razor-sharp stare that could slice bread. Immediately, I realized Irisa targeted Jeb and not me for all her woes because as soon as we entered the office, she tore into him for not taking her on the trek into the Badlands. Her orange hair looked wild and unkempt, and she looked like she had been crying. Even though I had crazy respect for the girl, I knew she wasn't raised by Irathient parents. Hair was a ritualistic practice that they took seriously. The braids represented a tradition that went back thousands of years before the Votans ever took flight for Earth.
"Why did you leave me here?" She asked.
"Somebody had to man the office," Jeb snapped, "So, thank you."
"Screw you, Nolan. Crack head bitch," she said.
"I screwed a crack head bitch once, and you never let me live it down," he said.
The reason I think he left her behind was because she wouldn't be able to handle the situation calmly. On some levels, I felt overwhelmed by the possibilities of Irzu walking the Badlands in a humanoid form. The idea of a god on Earth intrigued me. My Momma taught me so much about the Irathient deity that I somewhat believed the boy could've been the reincarnation of Irzu. When I think about the kid's grayish skin, large eyes, and Indogene mannerisms, I truly understood why my Momma took exception with me drawing pictures of Irzu. It wasn't my duty to imagine what form a deity chose to take. When a people made a false image of a god, it can corrupt the minds of the masses.
Irisa sat down in the far corner of the room, wrote in her diary, and didn't seem to notice that I existed. I'm not going to lie and say it didn't bother me that she can treat me like I was invisible, but it did. It bothered me a lot. I didn't expect her to fall into my arms like in some juvenile fairy tale, but I did want her to at least notice me. I watched her for a moment just to see if she'd look up at me at least one time; and the funny thing about the whole situation is, she did.
"Hi, Tommy," she said with a crooked smile.
Jeb sat behind his desk, and the phone rang as soon as his butt hit the chair. He said a curse, and then answered the phone. He said a few words, and then told me to follow him out the front gate because there had been a viscous hellbug attack that resulted in a death. Irisa, Nolan, and I took a short trek on the outskirts of Defiance, and we saw a horrific scene. I was in my roller and Nolan and Irisa was in theirs. I had seen Rynn and Sukar in town on my way out the front gate, and it felt good to see her. I nodded to her, and she nodded back, and it felt good to see her. I had been worried about her for a while, but she was with her father, so I knew she was protected. That meant a lot to me.
When we arrived on the scene of the mutilation, I saw a human body torn to pieces, and I didn't see anyway of determining if it was a male or a female. Blood was all over a large tree, and Nolan immediately noticed that the bones had been sucked cleaned. It was a typical hellbug attack, and when there was more than one, they'd easily tear a person into pieces. Irisa had said the man's penis was on the other side of the tree, and she didn't seem to have any empathy for the man. But when I saw the red Adidas sneakers, I knew exactly who the pile of meat was. It was Dalton Taggert, a thug who did a lot of shady business with several prominent people in Defiance. Clancy had a file on the man from when Defiance first formed as a community, but he never arrested the man.
There was a strong, musty smell permeating through the hot air, and I knew exactly what it was: hellbug pheromones. Irocuz and I used the pheromones to draw in hellbugs for a mass killing, and sell the meat to local vendors. We performed this task at least once a week. When Iroza wanted to cook a hellbug feast, I would find some hellbug pheromones, and spread them on a large rock, and within minutes, the buggers would descend upon the rock, and I would kill them.
"Let's head out guys," Nolan said, "This place isn't safe."
He was right about that. The pheromones were all over the place, and we didn't need to be anywhere in the area. I hopped into my roller, and drove back to the station. Nolan and Irisa were behind me. I had several bags of evidence with me, but there wasn't much left of the guy to bury. Unfortunately, I had a nagging itch on the back of my neck. Rynn was smart. She knew all about luring hellbugs in with pheromones, and when I pulled out Dalton's file, I quickly realized that he was a suspect in the death of Rynn's parents. I read through the file, and their killing had Dalton's signature all over it. I felt the file exposed Rynn and I needed to do something with it. Under no circumstance did I want to draw attention to her.
"What you got, Tommy?" Irisa asked. She was bouncing a rubber ball up against the wall.
"Oh. Nothing," I said, "Just doing some light reading."
Irisa stopped bouncing the ball, gave me a dirty look, and said, "You're probably lying."
I blurted out an uncomfortable laugh for some reason, and stuck the file into the back of the file cabinet. "You're not very nice."
"'Cause you have man whore behaviors," she said, "Like Nolan."
Nolan walked into the jail house, and said, "What about me?"
"You're a man whore," Irisa said.
"Well. Just as long as we're being honest," he said.
"I'm going to do a quick patrol of the area," I said.
"Okay," Nolan replied.
I walked into the Bazaar in the hopes that Rynn would be in the area. It didn't take me long to find her, and I walked up to her, grabbed her by the hand, and took her into the back of one of the clothing booths. The vendor had a plethora of clothing, and it was easy to lose oneself in the rear of the booth. She sat down on a stool, and gave me an ominous smile. Her hair was raggedy, and I wanted so badly to braid it. I placed my hands on her face, and kissed her long and hard. She looked down at the ground for a moment, as if she were ashame, and said, "It had to be done." She grabbed me by my legs, and pulled me close to her. She looked up at me. "Do you think less of me?"
I moved her hair out of her face, and said, "Nolan will solve this. He's going to find out."
"Let him," she said, "Just let me finish what I started, Tommy?"
"Why?" I asked.
"'Cause of my face, my parents, and my land," she said, "They stole my wealth and beauty in one evil swing."
"All you care about is revenge?" I asked.
"Don't cheapen what I'm doing?" She said, "Didn't an Old World Poet say 'The sweetest thing next to pussy is revenge?'" She rested her head on my stomach. "The greatest moment in my life was when you looked at my scarred face, kissed me, and said you loved me, Tommy. You made the ugliest girl in the Badlands feel like a princess."
"Rynn! You're not ugly," I said, "You're my wife."
"The best feeling next to you telling me how much you loved me was when that hellbug tore that evil bastard to bits," she said, "Don't take that from me, Tommy!"
"I'm going to lose you," I lamented.
"That's my only regret," she said, "If there was another way..."
"The only justice for us is the sword," I said. I hugged her tightly, and didn't want to let go. "Finish this, and run, Rynn. Run to Momma's house."
I backed out of the booth, and Rynn sat on the stool with watery eyes. I ran back into the booth, and hugged her one more time.
Later that night, we were called to the NeedWant, and another hellbug attack took place, and the poor bastard was eaten in front of Kenya. Blood splatter was all over the room, and a little had gotten on the Old World Felix The Cat clock. Kenya was overwhelmed by the hellbug attack, and as long as the monarch lived, the hellbugs would have a blood-lust.
"We have a killer in town, and their weapon is hellbugs," The doctor said, "I've never seen anything like this. What do you think, Tommy?"
"I don't know anything about this stuff," I said. I picked up a lot of the goo, and placed it into a plastic bag. I felt badly that I didn't feel anything for the man. He hurt my Rynn, and I wanted him dead. I was glad she found the men who killed her parents. They were disgusting people, and she was right about revenge: it was one of the greatest feelings in existence. It was cathartic.
It didn't take Nolan long to realize that Rynn was the culprit, and she went deep, down into the pit with the hellbugs, and I think she wanted to die. I don't know why she wanted to die, but I think she felt her revenge was complete. When Nolan put her in the jail cell, he and Irisa went home for the night. I had a few more hours on my shift before the night crew came into the jail, and Rynn sat in the back of the jail quietly. I gave her the prison suit, and she changed in front of me. Her legs were still smooth from when I shaved them the other day, and she watched me watching her.
"What will become of us?" I asked.
"It depends on he stars," she said, "I'll spend the rest of my life in prison, so..." I slid my cuff key over to her, and she said, "Tommy! No!"
"Now you want to be righteous?" I asked.
"It's about protecting the people you love," she said, "I'll die before I let you throw it all away."
"Isn't that my choice?"
"I"m older. Respect my wishes?" She said, "Respect my wishes, Tommy?"
I slid down the metal bars, and sat with my back to her. "Tell me you love me?"
"You know I love you," she said.
"Tell me the right way," I said.
"I love you," she said,
"Not like that, Rynn." She knew what I wanted.
"Shwei, ni inyee," she said, "Teetick, inyee presana." That translated to, "I love you. You know this."
She walked up to the bars, and I slid my hands through the bars. I grabbed her hands, and said, "Shwei, ni inyee. Volaskia." That translated to "I love you. Always."
"When the change of guard comes, you must go, Tommy," she said, "We already look suspicious."
"I know. Some people know about us," I said, "They won't tell, but ..."
"I don't want you to worry about me," she said.
I laughed. "I've worried about you from the first time I saw you."
She smiled.
***The next day***
I'm not sure what Meh Yewll told Amanda earlier in the week, but I didn't have a good feeling about it because she called Nolan into her office. He had a somber look on his face, and I was sure it was going to be a nasty meeting. I didn't feel well for a couple of reasons: Meh Yewll's willingness to kill a kid and Rynn's whereabouts. She kept me in the dark about her intentions, and that was okay. She wanted to protect me, but I didn't know if she was okay, and all I could think about was her safety. I pulled a picture of her out of my wallet, and stared at it for a long minute. It was a picture that I took of her next to Irocuz's old pond. She was wearing one of Iroza's old Spring Dresses. She was beautiful. She had a look of innocents on her face. I laughed. It was a good laugh.
"We need to go guys," Nolan said, "The Mayor isn't going to wait forever."
Irisa didn't stay in the jailhouse this time because she stated repeatedly that she wouldn't simply sit by while the men worked. So, Jeb told both of us to escort him to the Mayor's office.
"I'm tired of y'all leaving me behind," she said, "Don't make me have to say it!"
"Say what?" I said.
"Oh dear," Nolan replied.
"Girl power!" Irisa screamed.
She wedged herself between Jeb and I as we walked to Amanda's office, but she didn't have a clue about the situation. Honestly, I didn't have a full grasp of the problem until I walked into Amanda's office. She had some new leather furniture outside her office that looked so comfortable and plush that I wanted to kick off my shoes and take off my clothes, and relax in the nude. Somehow Datak Tarr supplied the town of Defiance with a lot of amenities since he became a member of the town's council. The first thing I noticed about Amanda's office was the aroma of some Irathient oils. It smelled like freshly cut grass, and made the entire room feel like spring time.
Amanda-about five-foot five inches-stood behind her desk with Meh Yewll standing beside her, and told us that the child had to die. The Doc stood a few inches taller than Amanda. She didn't say the kid had to die directly, but she used the word "cull." She said that all humanoids born without the act of conception had to be culled. I looked over at Jeb, and he didn't expect her to say anything like that by the confused expression on his face. He had a surprisingly stoic look on his face, and so did Irisa. Irisa shook her head in disagreement.
"I'm not killing a kid," Irisa snapped in an uproarious voice. She shoved a chair in front of the mayor's desk out of the way, and stood in front of Amanda's desk. "Why did I ever come to this?"
Jeb told Irisa to be quiet while he discussed this issue with the mayor in private. He pushed Irisa and me out of the room, and I didn't know what to say. I paced the lobby, and could barely stand the anxiety building inside of me. Suddenly, an image of the kid popped in my mind that felt real and urgent. I saw the kid standing in a white light, and he simply said, "Remember." Immediately, my mind went back to when I was on my trek in the Badlands to take the leap from a child into adulthood. I could smell the fresh air of the Badlands, and see the Volge warrior standing in front of me. He hovered over me with an angry scowl on his wretched face, and told me that I had a mission to protect the child.
"What the hell are you doing?" Irisa asked.
"Huh?"
"You know something, don't you?" She asked in a quizzical voice. Grabbing me by the hand, she asked, "What aren't you telling me?"
I looked her in the eyes, and said, "The terraforming has produced an anomaly."
"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked.
"There's a child claiming to be Irzu," I said in a soft voice.
She let go of my hand, and had a look of confusion on her face. "It's just a crazy person."
I smiled for a moment. "Meh Yewll doesn't think so."
She bit her nails, looked at me, and then said, "That's crazy talk, Tommy." She laughed for a moment. "Not about to kill a kid though. I know that much."
"Me either. God or not."
I wanted to ask her why she seemed so distant to me, but I didn't want to pry; I didn't want to seem pushy. I raked my fingers across the plush couch, and took a seat. It felt so comfortable when I sat down that I didn't want to get up for any reason. Irisa gave me a little grin, and then sat on my lap. She put her arms around me, and gave me a hug. I didn't expect her to be so playful, but it was enjoyable, at least for a moment.
"I thought a lot today," she said with a smile.
"'Bout what?"
"'Bout us, silly," she said with a grin on her face. "If you want to hang, date, chill...?"
"So, you're ready?" I asked.
She shook her head in an agreeable manner, and then said, "I thought about it a lot, and couldn't find any reason not to. There's Rynn, but. I mean everybody needs somebody special. Me, you, everybody."
Jeb walked out of the room, and said, "Y'all are on duty!" Irisa hopped off my lap, and Jeb had a disagreeable look on his face. He walked over to me, and said, "Keep that affectionate schtako off duty."
"Yes, sir," I said. I didn't mean any disrespect.
"Listen. I need you two to do a dangerous mission," he said with a stern look on his face.
"What's that?" Irisa asked.
"Did you tell her about the boy?" Jeb asked.
"Yeah," I said,
"Okay. I need you two to get the boy before a posse of Defiance citizens get there. We're gathering a posse this evening."
"Take him where?" I asked.
"I don't want to know," Jeb said, "But I know you got people. I don't want to know. Nobody can know."
"Okay," I said.
"And keep it professional until you're off the clock," he repeated several times. "Douche bags!"
We moved with stealthy movements through the city of Defiance, and commandeered a sturdy roller that could traverse the rough terrain, and outrun the malicious marauders. I packed it with my personal potech M-4 machine gun that Irocuz gave me when I was fourteen. I thought I was something special when he gave it to me after I killed two marauders trying to hijack another man's loot. I popped them in the chest with my po-tech pistol before they killed an innocent man trying to make a living for him and his daughter. It was funny to me how life happened so quickly in the Badlands that faces came and went at the speed of life. I remembered some, but not many. I didn't get a good look at the man I saved, but I felt good about it nonetheless. He went his way, and I kept pulling cabling out of the ark in the hopes the Indogenes would give me some good script for it. I considered the M-4 my best weapon because my father finally demonstrated a smidgen of love for me. I often thought he hated me because he wanted an Irathient boy, but Iroza didn't have the blessing of Irzu for babies. She always said that Ireena and I were the blessing, and she was happy with that. I would sit in my room and sometimes in the loft praying that Irza would make me into an Irathient boy, but that never happened. Sometimes I would pray so hard that my knees would bleed, and I thought the blood was a sign that Irzu loved me. I hated that I could never tell the story, and say, "The rifle was a representation of my father's love." My heart hurt with the way he treated me, and sometimes when I think about the good times, the bad times overshadowed it. I can't even tell the story of my first hellbug kill without mentioning that Irzu made me sleep outside in the freezing cold with no blanket or a tent on the same night. I stayed up in the loft, and covered myself in hay, and when Iroza had the chance, she brought me several blankets. I think I would have died that night without her. Her face was swollen because Irocuz beat her up, and I couldn't do anything about it. I was only eight.
Irisa grabbed a couple of jugs of water, strapped them to the car, and we took off for the Badlands. She had on her tiny shades, and wrote in her journal along the way. The terraforming had beaten the planet senseless, and nothing was the same anymore. Mountains existed where none had ever existed. The terraforming transformed much of the animal and plant life into new species, dangerous and unpredictable. Some human beings changed because of the planetary changes, and from the rumors that I heard, they live underground. Cancers were at an all time high, and the death rate was higher than any time in history.
The roller was an old, red roller with the top speed of eighty miles per hour. It was a durable machine, the kind of machine needed for the rough terrain. We packed the machine with a lot of fuel and food, and if we had to spend a stint in the Badlands, we had shelter. I programmed the vehicle's radio, and turned it to channel twelve, put in a special code, and waited for Rynn's voice. Irisa stepped away from the vehicle, and went to the bathroom in the woods. I didn't want Irisa to hear that I was in communications with her.
"Lil' Panther! Lil' Panther. This is Snow White," Rynn said.
"This is Lil' Panther. Over!" I said.
"Momma's up. Poppa's down," she said, "You're urgently needed."
"Give me a day, over," I said.
"A day? Poppa's urgent. Over," she said.
"Okay. I will be there tonight. Out."
"Out," she said.
It was imperative we beat the newly formed posse to the kid because they had every intention of killing the boy, and I couldn't let that happen. If I had to take the kid to my father's house, then I was willing to do that. His farm was approximately thirty miles from Defiance, deep into the Badlands with a large hellbug presence. It wasn't wise to traverse the area without having some tracking skills. I knew my father had fallen ill, but I didn't think he was on the verge of death. I had grown distant from Irocuz over the last few years because of the uniform, and bad childhood memories of his abuse. He hated the idea of me becoming a lawkeeper.
Jeb told me before we left that the order to kill the kid came from the Earth Republic, and that meant there was more to the story than we originally thought. I saw two Earth Republic vehicles moving at a slower rate, but in the same direction as me. I couldn't waste any time. I didn't expect the government to be involved in this situation, but if he had the powers of a god, then I understood their consternation over the child. The Earth Republic feared anything that might interrupt their ability to govern. They had more machinery to find the boy no matter where he hid, but nobody wanted to deal with the awesome power of the Volge. They were a warrior race with some of the best weapons and armament on the planet. What I didn't understand was how I was chosen to be one of the child's protectors. I thought the Volge Warrior I met in the wilderness was just a crazy guy, but now that I think back to those times, I was protecting Ireena, and trying to nurse her back to health. I had an epiphany at that very moment, and realized that I was the perfect person for the mission.
The last thing I wanted to do was kill a citizen of Defiance because of the Earth Republic. We raced through the Badlands, and it took a little over an hour to make it to the mud hut. It stood out in the middle of nowhere with two lawn chairs in the front yard.
When we approached the mud hut in the middle of nowhere, the boy and the Irathient were standing in front of their home. It was almost like they expected us. The Irathient warrior had a po-tech shotgun slung over his shoulder with a belt full of ammo. He was ready to go to war for the kid.
"We have to get you out of here," I said. The boy grabbed a small bag, threw it in back of the vehicle. "We have the Earth Republic about twenty minutes behind us."
"Let's go," he said, "We have to meet the Volge Warrior at Lake Eufala."
"You knew, didn't you?" Irisa asked. 'You knew we'd be here?"
"Just like you know things too, Irisa," he said.
The boy nodded at the Irathient warrior, and then the man set fire to the mud hut. It didn't take long for the small flat to go up in flames.