Flashback

-Ila-

The pain I felt in my belly was excruciating. I tried to open my eyes but they felt so heavy and my head felt so hot.

"You are alright now Ila." I heard a woman say gently. "You are safe now."

I let out a moan as she unwound my bandages to check on my injury. I kept replaying what happened over and over again in my head. My mother and aunts were cooking, my father and uncles were laughing and my cousins and I were playing when we all heard the shouts. The men went to arm themselves while the women tried to usher us kids into a tent but it was useless, the raiders were already here. They came at us in groups and the last thing I remembered was one of them touching me before he ran is knife across my belly. When I finally came to I could hear voices, a man, a woman, and a young boy. I let out a moan of pain to let them know I was there and within seconds I felt a small hand take mine. I opened my eyes and saw a boy, maybe nine or ten years old, staring at me. He had brown hair and beautiful brown-green eyes. Once his mother came over she began to examine my wound. I could not see it but by the look on her face I could tell it was not good. The boy, Shem his mother said, squeezed my hand comfortingly.

I suppose I had passed out because the next thing I knew I was being thrust into Shem's arms and he began to run. Shem's mother screamed and next thing we all knew we were being thrown into a pit by giant rock monsters. Shem put me down and his mother checked my bandages and gave me some water.

"Who are you?" I asked her hoarsely.

"My name is Naameh." She told me.

"Why help?" I whispered.

"Not all people are bad. My husband and I are not the type to leave a child for dead." She replied. "Close your eyes and try to sleep. Everything will be alright."

When I woke again, hours after Noah sang me to sleep; we were no longer in pit. My head felt lighter and cooler and although my stomach still ached, the pain was not as bad as it was before. I saw a cup of water next the bedroll I was lying on and drank it greedily. Outside the tent I could hear noises so I stood up and with all the strength I could muster, I limped over to the tent opening. There I saw Noah and Shem. Noah was saying something to the Watcher, Og. Shem and his father were bundled up and had a pack with them, they must be going to the mountain, I thought to myself. Right before they walked away Shem turned his head and looked at me. He smiled kindly and gave me a wave before he turned around and ran to catch up to his father.

S S S S S S S S

-Ila-

I was exhausted! My back hurt, my ankles were twice their normal size, and I had been having false labor more frequently. The raft was complete but Shem did not want us to leave until the last possible second. Now that he was done helping Shem, Ham had completely retreated back to the reptile deck and we rarely ever saw him. It hurt everyone, especially Mother, but we all knew that pushing Ham would only make matters worse.

To be completely honest, I was terrified to leave. I love Shem and I trust him with my life, but having only him to help me give birth was scary. I wanted Mother to be there, to hold me and tell it will be alright, the way she does when I have the false labor, but I knew that we cannot stay. I mentioned the possibility of Mother coming with us to Shem, but we both know she would never leave Ham and Japheth and our raft would not be able to accommodate all of us.

"Put your hand right here." I told Japheth.

"What is that?" He asked me.

"That is a foot." I told him.

I was sitting in the Hearth with Japheth, keeping him company while Mother and Shem were talking. I did not know what it was about and I did not feel it was right to ask.

"Is there anything to eat?" I heard.

I turned around and saw Ham. He looked thinner and gaunter. He looked terrible to be honest.

"Let me get you some soup." I told him.

I went over to the furnace and ladled some soup into a bowl. After I handed it to Ham, who ate it hungrily, I began to wipe his face with a damp cloth.

"I know you are upset Ham but there is no excuse for not taking care of yourself." I scolded him.

"Sorry." He mumbled as he gnawed on a piece of bread.

I shook my head as I continued to clean him off. Once I was content with how he looked, I poured him some water and refilled his soup bowl. Ham thanked me and snatched the items from my hand.

"Ham when was the last time you ate?" I asked him.

"A few days. It is fine Ila, I was not hungry." He replied.

"And here I thought brooding all day worked up a healthy appetite." I said sarcastically.

Ham let out a snort while Japheth just looked at us curiously. I gave him some herbs to crush while I went over to Ham.

"Tell me what bothers you." I said to him quietly.

"I am fine, truly." He replied. "How are you?"

"Worried, but I have never been happier." I told him.

"That is not what I meant." He said.

I let out a deep sigh, "Truthfully, I feel awful. I always thought that carrying a child would be a blessing, which it is, but it is nothing but pain and sorrow."

"Is that my brother I see?" I heard Shem say as he took a seat next to me. "How long has it been?"

"That is enough." I told him, swatting at his chest. "Maybe the reason he does not want to be here is your terrible humor."

"Or maybe it is your constant whining about how terrible your husband is." He shot back, kissing me.

"I am going to go for a walk. Japheth, why don't you come with me?" Ham said.

Japheth got up eagerly and the two left Shem, Mother, and I alone in the Hearth.

"Did Ham tell you what is bothering him?" Mother asked me quietly after a few moments of silence.

"No." I told her. "I did not ask either. I did not want to upset him."

"Maybe he just wants to be alone." Shem said bitterly.

I gave him a strange look and when I looked into his eyes, I could tell there was something he was not telling me. I did not want to ask in front of Mother so I just let it go and went back to crushing herbs.

S S S S S S S S

Flashback

-Shem-

We were crossing what Father said was a tzohar mine when we saw them. There was a caravan and it was surrounded by bodies; dead bodies. The smell was retched and some of them seemed as young as I was.

Mother and Father were talking when we all heard a moan of pain from amongst the bodies. Father and I went to look in different direction, and on the other side of the caravan, propped up against rubble, was a young girl. I ran over to her and called for Mother and Father. Taking the girls hand in mine, I looked her in the eyes and told her she was going to be alright. The girl looked a year or two younger than me, probably seven or eight, and she had long blonde hair and dark eyes.

Mother ran over to us and began to examine the girl as I held her hand. Mother removed the cloth the girl had been covering her belly with and we could see that she had been cut from her left hip to her bellybutton. As Mother cleaned the wound and began to stitch it back together, I tried to keep the girl, Ila she said her name was, calm. Mother had said that she had lost an extreme amount of blood and by the look on her face it did not look like Ila would make it.

Mother had just finished bandaging Ila's wound when Father rushed over and told us to run. I looked over the ridge and saw a band of raiders coming towards us. Ila had passed out so Father scooped her up while I grabbed Ham's hand and began to run. I was tired and my chest had begun to ache but I did not stop running, even when we crossed into the charred land. It was there that Father yelled at me to stop, and when I did he shoved Ila into my arms. She let out a moan of pain but thankfully did not wake up. I ran with her until I caught up to Mother and Ham but then we all came to a stop. Behind Father rose a ginormous rock monster. Ham and I screamed while Mother yelled for Father to warn him but it was too late. The monster had swung one of its many arms and hit Father in the head, knocking him out. Dragging Father by the leg, it grabbed the rest of us with another hand and trapped us in a deep pit where we were to be kept prisoner.

I put Ila down where it seemed soft and went to set up a tent with Ham while Mother checked on Father and fed baby Japheth. Ila let out a cry so Mother and I ran to check on her. She had woken up and was covered in sweat. Mother said she had a fever so I gave her a little water and then took Japheth from Mother so she could change Ila's bloodstained bandages and try to cool her.

It was not long after that that Father woke up. When he did he tried to convince the rock me, Watchers Mother told us, to free us but they would not budge. Night came soon and as scared as I was, exhaustion took over and I fell right to sleep. Not long after I felt someone shaking me and opened my eyes to see Mother standing over me, Japheth slung to her chest.

"Wake up Shem, it is time for us to leave." She said.

I got up sleepy and once we were all packed one of the Watchers picked us up and took us all out of the pit. Once we were out we followed him quickly so we would not be caught. He told us about how the Watchers came down to our world and how they helped Adam and Eve.

It was a long walk, but finally we spotted Grandfather's mountain. Father told us that our great-grandfather, Methuselah, was the oldest man alive and that the creator was sending us to him for help. After camp was set up Father came to me and told me that I was to accompany him up the mountain. Part of me wanted to stay with Ila and make sure she was alright, but Mother told me that her fever had broken and she was doing much better, so I left with Father to climb the mountain and meet Grandfather.

S S S S S S S S

-Shem-

Mother still did not want us to go, but she knew we were no matter what she said, so she decided that it was best to teach me how to deliver a baby. It was not very hard, all you have to do is wait until the shoulders are out and then you can pull it out. She told me to check that the cord is not around its neck and if it is to just unravel it. The fact that I would have to deliver my child and care for Ila by myself was terrifying. If something were to happen I would be alone and without help. Ila was scared too but she told me that she trusted me. Mother said that women's bodies know what to do and Ila just has to listen to hers.

"Shem, did you hear me?" Mother asked me.

"Sorry, what?" I replied.

"I said that maybe you should ask Ham to go with you." She explained.

The second before she was drilling Ila on what Ham was talking to her about and now she was trying to get him to leave.

"I do not think that is a wise idea. Ham wanted a wife and a family and he was denied that. Being alone with Shem and I and a baby will only make him more bitter." Ila said.

I loved Ila's levelheadedness. She was the one person who could stay calm and unbiased in a conversation.

"Well I think that he just wants off of this ark." Mother stated.

"We all do." I replied.

Mother got up in a huff and walked away, muttering words I could not hear. I could not help but let out a little chuckle, which awarded me a death glare from Ila.

"She is your mother Shem; the least you can do is be kind to her now. She does not want to let you go." She said.

"Ila, my love," I said taking her hands in mine and staring into her eyes, "I am a grown man, about to have a child of my own. Mother is going to have to accept that and if she cannot then it is her problem, not mine or yours."

She let out a sigh and leaned forward until her forehead was touching mine. I kissed her nose and we stayed like this for a few moments before she went back to crushing and sorting herbs.

"I am going to find Ham and Japheth." I told her.

Getting up, I kissed the top of her head and ventured up to the roof of the ark, where I found my brothers throwing rocks into the sea.

"The bigger the rock is, the bigger splash it will make!" Japheth explained excitedly.

"Really? Show me." I told him.

He found a big rock from the pile in between him and Ham and dropped it into the water. It was a light rock, since he could lift it with no problem, probably a lava rock, so the splash it made was mostly from the drop.

"Look Japheth, you see this rock? It is smaller than the rock you just dropped, but it is denser. The size of the rock will not affect the splash as much as the weight will." I told him.

I took the smaller rock and dropped it into the water. Proving what I had said, it made a bigger splash with more rings around it.

"But," I heard Ila say from behind me, "if it is a tiny rock, no matter how heavy it is it will not make a big splash, it will just sink."

"You should not be climbing up the stairs." I told her.

She glared at me harshly before taking a dense pebble and dropping it in. The pebble did not indeed make a splash, it just merely sank.

So this is a looonnnggg one! Please let me know what you think!