Genesis

Brilliant green flashes across the sky over Callan’s head as he made his way through what can only be described as what were once woods between his home and the closest water source. He dreaded making this trek as it exposed him to the dust that shredded his lungs despite the mask worn around his airway. All the trees were dead and barren, providing no shelter from the dusty wind. Breathing felt like glass shards disintegrating his esophagus, but water was a necessity. He wished it would rain soon so he could gather the run-off instead of making this haul. The only good part was the shine of those neon flashes that lit his way, allowing him to conserve the batteries in his flashlight. His mother had come to enjoy the lights as it reminded her of what she referred to as “the Northern Lights”. Callan was starting to hate the color green.

His whole life, this was the routine. What for? He would die an early death anyways, just like his father, who made this excursion before him. He would end up weak, unable to breathe, and coughing up blood from the dust, just like his father. In his father’s youth, it would have been diagnosed as a cancer or emphysema. In Callan’s lifetime, there were little similarities in terms of health care to diagnose, let alone treat, the diseases caused by the ways of the new world. Therefore, Callan accepted his fate of a hard life just trying to survive followed by early death. This was not living. Not like in the books Callan’s mother read to him as a child. Books she had managed to collect and cling to after everything went dark.

Lucie laid next to a tiny baby, just staring at his angelic face. They had been expecting a girl and had not prepared for a boy at all, including a name. She fixated on his face, hoping a name would jump into her head that would fit the person she had given life to just a couple hours before. Her husband burst into the room.

“We need to go.” There was such an urgency in his voice, fear even.

“We can’t. We haven’t been discharged. They won’t let us leave,” she argued.

Silas spoke over her objections. “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters anymore. We need to go.”

He helped her gather their belongings and rushed her outside. People were scurrying everywhere and despite it being noon, the sky was dark as night with storm clouds and flashes of a bright green.

“What’s going on?” whispered Lucie as her new son slept in her arms.

Silas looked at her with terror in his sea blue eyes. “The end of the world.”

Lucie lost her breath as she looked down at her tiny human. What kind of world would be left for him? What would happen to them? What was happening? Why was it happening? She had so many questions, but none of them would be answered. Lucie refocused her thoughts to a name for the sweet babe that depended on her now.

“Callan.”

Silas looked at Lucie confused.

“For the baby. Look around us. If this is the end, we will need to fight to protect ourselves and him. Callan. It means 'Battle'. He will be our reason to keep fighting.”

Her husband smiled fragilely at her, “It’s appropriate. It’s strong. I like it. Callan.”

Lucie moved the baby up to her chest to hold him tighter. “Callan.”

Callan was almost to the river when he heard movement over the wind. He quickly found camouflage among the dead trees and shrubbery along his path. He maintained vision to the path to assess his situation, placing his hand on the pistol his father left to him that was attached to his waist. That’s when he saw her. Long, straight, black hair curtaining over her shoulders, framing her face. Her eyes visible over the mask she wore to protect her face from the dust. Her eyes greener than the lights in the sky, which only made the life in them dance. Even without the sunshine, her skin looked tanned and smooth. Callan had rarely seen other people outside of his parents. The world was very much an ‘every man for himself’ environment since the day he was born and they avoided the unwanted company. He drank in her beauty as he watched her slowly traveling down the same path he had just been on. Callan realized she was moving so slowly because she had a child in tow. Grasping hands, a small version of herself was walking along side of her, but with shorter stride. His heart pounded in his chest when his eyes caught the glitter of a golden heart-shaped locket around the child’s neck. He found her.

He hadn’t been looking, but he found her. This was the girl his mother told him about. He always believed she was a figment of his mother’s increasing insanity, but here she was. When he was a teenager, Callan’s mother had a dream about a young girl with dark hair and green eyes with the gold, heart-shaped locket that was going to save the world. His mother was very certain and convinced that the dream wasn’t just a dream, but a premonition from God himself. She made his father promise to look every time he made this trip for the water. His father promised, but never truly tried. Callan and his father heard about the dream for years. She drew pictures of the locket over and over, the same one sparkling in the glow from the sky. Callan would recognize it anywhere.

He couldn’t let her disappear. Maybe there was more to his mother’s dream than he had ever believed there would be. He stepped out onto the path behind them as they passed by.

“Hello.”

Both of them jumped as they spun around to face him, a gun appearing in the woman’s hand that he hadn’t noticed in her possession before.

“What do you want? We have nothing,” she spat at him.

“I just want to talk to you. I need to know who you are.”

She looked at him with hatred. “Absolutely not. You are a stranger and have no business with us.”

Callan glanced at the child now trying to hide herself behind the holder of the gun. “Maybe not with you, but I do with her.”

The woman tightened her grip on the child. “She’s a child. Leave her be.”

He looked back into the woman’s eyes; anger and fear replacing the dancing life he saw moments before. “I know you have no reason to trust me. This isn’t a situation I thought I’d ever be a part of myself. It sounds crazy, but my mother has been dreaming about this child wearing that locket for years. She believes this child will save the world and return us to what was.”

“She. Is. A. Child,” the woman repeated, “She can save no one.”

Callan took a step forward “Look, I understand how insane it sounds. I don’t know how she will be able to, but my mother can explain it if you will see her instead?”

“No. You need to leave. You need to leave us alone.” The woman continued to keep the gun pointed at Callan, but finger off the trigger.

Callan took another step forward. “If I can guess her name, will you come to see my mother?”

The woman with the emerald eyes looked down at the child and back up with the gun still pointed at Callan. Her body relaxed a bit, almost in an over confident, smug way. “Sure. There’s no way you’ll ever guess.”

Callan smiled. He kneeled to the child’s level, removed his mask, and looked in her eyes, “Is your name Genesis?”.

The child looked up at the woman with wide eyes. “Mama, how does he know my name?”

The woman glared at Callan. “How long have you been following us? There’s no way you’d know that unless you’ve been following us.”

He pleaded with her. “I haven’t. I swear it’s from my mother’s dream. Please. I don’t know how much time she has left, and she will only reveal how Genesis can save the world to her. Please just humor an old woman.”

The mother pulled Genesis close to her to shield her from Callan. “How do we know you won’t hurt us?”

Callan shrugged, “You don’t. But if we have any shot at returning order to the world, we need her,” he pointed at the child.

“I get to keep my gun. No one touches her. We leave right after we hear what your mother has to say.”

Callan nodded his head. “I’m okay with that. We have no intentions of hurting you or Genesis. I’m surprised to even see she exists. It’s about a three hour walk from this point, but we need water before we can head back.”

The emerald-eyed woman agreed, “My name is Naomi. I figured if you know her name, you should know mine as well. I am her mother.”

Callan held out his hand as taught by his father to greet new people, “Callan. It’s nice to meet you Naomi and Genesis.”

Callan led Naomi and Genesis to the river and gathered what he needed before explaining which way to take back to his home where his mother waited for him. After three hours, Callan stopped walking and turned back towards Naomi. “My mother may seem a bit odd. Please just listen to her. She’ll just get upset and harder to understand. My father called it dementia before he passed, but she’s been talking about your daughter long before this set in.”

Naomi nodded and Callan could see the pity, yet a sense of familiarity in her facial expression. Callan knocked three times on different parts of the door before entering and calling out to his mother. “So that she knows it’s me opening the door and doesn’t shoot. We’ve had intruders in the past looking for food and other supplies,” he explained. Callan turned back to the room in front of them. “Mom? I’ve brought someone with me. Someone you’ve been waiting so long to meet.”

A woman with wild gray hair poked her head carefully and curiously around the corner from the next room. She looked Naomi up and down and then took notice of Genesis standing slightly behind her. The woman’s eyes stopped and widened when she reached the heart-shaped locked around the small girl’s neck. A wide, toothy smile appeared. “It’s you!” The woman looked at Callan and reached out to hug him. “I told you! I told your father! You two never believed me! I told you she was real! Our salvation! Our new beginning!”

Callan placed his hands on the woman’s shoulders. “Mom, this is Naomi and Genesis. You were right about the girl and the locket. I’ve convinced Naomi to let you talk to Genesis about your dream. Let’s go sit.”

The woman nodded furiously and gestured to Genesis. “Come child. I have so much to tell you! We have so much to plan! My name is Lucie.”

Genesis clutched her mother with her left hand as Lucie led her to a sitting area with her right. Lucie had a smile on her face. “I’ve been waiting for this for years. You are going to save us all, beautiful girl.”