Chapter 21. The Fire
After their eventful night alone, Shikha and Mog were happy to be as one family again with their daughter. Fown seemed a tad reluctant to see her leave so sudden though he tried his best not to show it.
"Little pest." He groaned before lumbering his way off to work. Fere waved at little Favul and asked them to come soon for more visits.
"I am sure she's happy to not have to sniff that disgusting Fown anymore." Mog snuffled loudly.
"I did noticed he smelled better. I think Fere finally convinced him to bathe." Shikha giggled, trying to hold onto their scrambling daughter.
"Or maybe my cute Favul did eh? You tell that stinker to take a bathe? He needed it being so nasty." He bent down and cleaned her face again. Favul pulled at his hair and tried to eat it. Mog kissed them both before going to work as well.
Shikha herself went back over to see Fere and her breeding Eloi. The old female was checking out the pregnant females to see if any were close into labor.
"How's that one female?" She placed her daughter down to crawl about.
"Oh she's doing fine. I put her in her own area since I just feel bad putting such an intelligent creature back with the others like I don't care." Fere kept an eye on Shandow, who just couldn't keep his hands off of Katie.
"Oh boy. It's a good thing I gave him a good smack for touching me like that. He's smart enough to know better to leave me alone always after that." Shikha sneered at him.
Katie finally had enough of this and decided to teach Shandow a lesson. She climbed up on top of the gate that guarded her and yanked him over. She slammed him down on the ground and held him there.
"You are weak and a naïve stupid creature. Hell a cow has a more delightful personality then you will ever show!" She barked. Shandow only stared at her with a ghastly frown across his face.
"So you do know fear I can see. Just have to have the shit knocked out of you. Stupid numb bastard. Keep touching me and I will make sure you are no longer available for stud service. I don't care how valuable you are." She clenched his shirt between her fists.
Shandow wanted to say something but there were no Eloi words that could fit close enough.
"I wish for once you could just shove me back you know? Hurt me! Kick me! Bite me! Perhaps then you could turn me on. I want a strong male! Not some weak coward!" She tugged at him. "Fight me!"
Fere pulled her off and pushed Shandow out. "You should know that it's not his fault." She responded in her own language. From the situation and the little she could understand of their tongue she came to a conclusion of what she said.
"Of course not! It's your fault for making him so stupid. You have taken everything out of them. Being dumb maybe one thing but no empathy at all. I feel so alone." She yelled in English. A language none of them could understand.
Fere locked the gate back behind her as Katie repeated as much as she could in Eloi.
"Sampico feine dwe tu fwano! So fwano!"
Shandow straightened out his shirt and stared back at Katie with his deep, blue eyes. Now for a moment they didn't seem so lifeless. This single female was the most strangest creature he had ever met in his years. In the very back of his empty head he felt a unique stir inside that drawn him to her. That fire in her eyes and in her voice. The many things she talked about that were beyond his reach.
Katie was hurting badly inside. She did not know what to do or what to be. She wanted to love this handsome male who on the outside seemed perfect in so many ways. Why did he have to be so dumb? If only he wanted me and me alone I would forgive him!
"I am not an Eloi or a Morlock." She fell back against the bedding.
"Eloi." Shandow answered her, trying to communicate with her again. "You Eloi."
"Eloi cannot do the things I do." She turned away from him. "Except that one female. I wonder how she can be so articulate and smart."
"She comes from another colony's Eloi. They are smarter but only if you unleash it. They are very much suppressed like most Eloi I know of. In Shandow's case he was really bred to be very stupid." Fere felt sorry for the out-of-place female and even more for Shandow.
"Where does she come from? I only know of the White Sphinx Eloi but none else. Which I am half of."
"Well they are the smartest I know of but Shikha comes from the ones that Mog and Fown colony raised. They were quite dumb but I suppose they had a few that shown some sort of intelligence. Besides Shikha was heavily taught everything she knows. I do not teach any Eloi of such things. It is dangerous." Fere lectured.
"I don't like seeing them so stupid. It's worse then the ones I used to hang out with. Looking at these they seem far superior." Katie laid limp on her belly.
"No want to be close?" Shandow asked in a much quieter tone as if he was expecting her to shriek at him again.
"No I don't want to be around you. You are stupid don't you understand?" She answered without any heart to his feelings.
"No I don't." He got up and went away, probably to hang out with the rest of the Eloi's.
Katie had a love-hate feeling for him. Maybe if she just let herself in to him she would feel better? She didn't feel ready for that sort of commitment. With Shadow it was a different story. He was as smart or really smarter then she was. She could relate to him and adored him for his funny antics.
Her little love spell with him happened on top of the bathroom counter in her house. Before that was much subtle foreplay. The courtship rituals of both Eloi and Morlock mixed together in a swirl of fondling and nipping. There had always been brief courting clues going on between them for some time. Strangely enough the both of them never pair-bonded. They only resumed on with their typical playful friendship. It was a rare hit-and-miss chance with Mother Nature unlike with Shikha and Mog. It was just not meant to be.
"Maybe I should never find a lover." Katie hid her face to cry alone. She very much wanted to be with another Eloi. She wished so much she was as stupid as they were. Then she would just love forever in a carefree way.
Suddenly the Eloi around them began to grow restless. Something unfamiliar was seeping into the cracks and corners of the caves. BlackStone suddenly burst through the entrance and screeched.
"Fire! Fire is coming this way fast!" His voice was cracking from the smoke that started to seer his throat.
Fere jumped up and grabbed him. "How?!"
"There was a small cave in that set it off. This never happened before! It is coming fast and you must get out now! Let loose the Eloi and take as many as you can! The sun is still setting but it is better to go out now then be killed here!" He rushed back out to help others.
Fere rushed through all the cages and opened them out. With a long whip and a fierce attitude she smacked it hard against their shins to set them on the mood to run.
Mog scrambled off to his family, being chased by the flames himself. Shikha had already picked up the acrid stench and waited for him to come.
"Run Shikha!" He grabbed her hand and they both took off to the surface. The flames started to encircle the areas around them. Right before them was just a small entrance that several Morlocks were squeezing themselves through.
Shikha had just gotten through with their daughter as the flames flickered higher. Mog stopped short, the flames blinding him. He raised his head and roared loudly. Favul screamed, hiding her face underneath her mother's chin.
"You must jump Mog!" She cried as the burning heat swarmed.
Mog wheeled around and did his best to lunge over the fire. His hair caught on fire and he spun around crazy as he tried to put out the biting flames. He stumbled into a watering hole by luck.
They both managed to reach the top just as a huge swarm of Morlocks tried to get in the way. Shikha was fine and so was Favul but Mog suffered a few burns. His leg hair was halfway burnt off. He winced and licked them. The heat from his tongue did not help at all. The awful pain made him forget of the outside light for a moment. His eyes closed shut as the red sun began to set.
"Are we even outside?" He coughed.
"Yes now lets get out of here before there are any explosions." She led him away to find a shadier spot as the others of the colony ran around in circles, confused and blind.
The pair nested under a tree. Mog had his head planted into Shikha's lap to keep his eyes from watering. Favul was bawling loudly, her pants wet from the sudden fright.
"It's okay my little girl." Mog tried to sound cheerful. "See? Daddy's all fine and smiling."
In fact he was scared shitless and petrified. Those not so distant memories of the past swamped his mind just as fast as those flames did in the caves. That same burning stench. Those Morlocks wailing in the unforgiving flames. Right now parents and children are probably burning alive. He winced and tried to block out those evil thoughts.
Fere and Fown came out only a few seconds later from a different exit with as many Eloi as possible. Katie had grabbed Shandow by his belt and jerked him all the way out to the opening. He collapsed on the ground in a shaking mess.
"Come on Shandow you must keep going." She pulled on his belt again. He was like trying to lead a stubborn mule across a flimsy bridge.
"N-no. T-too much." He could barely speak.
"Show this female how strong you are Shandow and maybe someday we mate?" She tried to entice him.
Shandow set his feet firm and shook his head vigorously. She went behind him and picked him back up by his armpits.
"Go on you stupid ingrate! Before I fix my foot in your ass!" She grabbed him by the belt again and led him off towards Mog and Shikha. Fere was headed in the same direction, following their smell since sight was useless now.
"Where are we to go now?" Fere sobbed, holding onto Fown now. Her partner tried his best to appear brave.
"We will have to move on. This place will blow up sooner if not now if we don't keep moving!" He followed the smell of the forest and ventured into there. "We need to just run!"
All the remaining Morlocks and Eloi fled for their lives away from the area. Soon a low rumble could be heard bubbling to the surface from below. The machinery exploded, sending cascades of rock down from the ceiling. Centuries old caverns and homes fell to ruins. Fere had hoped this wasn't going to happen. Yes sometimes something catches on fire but they were able to put it out.
Now there were hundreds of Morlocks stranded out in the open world. There were no caves within a good distance and the other neighboring colonies would not allow this many to enter. Surely they would kill them.
"We have to just keep moving on. At the very least we should be thankful this happened when the sun sets." Fown said, his voice lowered itself dramatically as he reached the end of the sentence. The last thing anybody wants to hear is that they should be thankful.
The great walk began. The colony stuck to the mountains, trying to find any abandoned cave systems for themselves. Suddenly a strange vehicle came over the hill.
"There! There are the Eloi! Hurry up and help them!" Yelled the man. The vehicle spun around, knocking a few Morlocks clear off their feet and into the dirt lifeless.
The Eloi grouped together, baying out in their high voices at this strange device. It was some type of a truck. A man hopped out and started to pick some up and placed them inside it.
"Our Eloi!" Fere growled. "Leave them alone!"
Fown grabbed her around the waist. "Time Traveler." He snorted. "He did this to us. This was no accident!"
The Morlocks, being too shaken with fear, didn't want to fight. They only darted off into the darkened woods for their own safety. Katie and Shandow were caught among the other Eloi.
Shikha was not seen under the tree as Mog shielded her from his sight. His heart burned fiercely. It felt like somebody stuck a hot poker against his gentle heart. Now he wanted to slaughter the Time Traveler in everyway possible.
The Eloi inside the car jolted around with the crazed Eloi huddled together. Some keeled over from sudden heart attacks. All this was more then their minds could take. Shandow was very close himself. His eyes closed and he shivered violently. Katie, feeling sorry for him, held him close to her. For once in her life she felt hatred towards her father. Why couldn't he just talk to the Morlocks? Why such brutal actions?
"You will be fine with me Shandow." She coaxed him, brushing his fair head. His breathing was still strong. She hoped he wouldn't suddenly die. That would just break her inside.
"Oh I am glad you two are safe." Fere found the pair. "Is your child alright as well?" She noticed Mog's burns.
"Yes she's fine." Mog limped. "I say we head out as far away as possible from that damned evil monster."
Fown dragged his heels. "I just want to go back and strangle him myself. I want to kill his whole family."
"We would be no better then him." Fere felt her eyes starting to dry. She had cried enough.
"I don't give a flipping fuck. I hate him!" Fown roared in response. His mate took a misstep and yelped. Fown flattened his hair, he didn't mean to direct that at her. He came close and took her hand.
"Even if we find another home nearby we should just keep going on." Mog went on.
"He will keep coming like the fire does till all of us are wiped out. This cannot be. This is one damn man! We can all get together and bring him down!" Fown protested.
"My poor Shandow is gone too. Loaded up in that strange machine and taken away." Fere felt a fresh wave of tears.
"Not to mention we won't have much food." Fown groaned in sorrow. "We will starve!"
"Try and be optimistic alright? That is what we need right now." Mog snuffed at Fown. "We have to just do what we can do best."
"Good luck with that boy." Fown looked down at Mog as a silly child.
"No fighting!" Fere snapped at them both. "Where is BlackStone?" She had noticed that he was not with the group. "BlackStone?!"