Keeping Me From Getting to You

On any given day, if you look back exactly one year, you’ll most likely go through a range of emotions all at once. One of these will no doubt be that of surprise at how much has changed. On the night of April 13th, Eli felt this more strongly than ever before as his mind drifted back. He couldn’t know for certain what he was doing a year ago that day, but he could guess that it was absolutely nothing.

Back then, the only signs of the coming disaster were the increasingly frequent murders around the world in connection to an organization called Omega’s Offspring. They weren’t shy about it either, since for months they spread their propaganda to instill fear. They spoke of their master, The All-Seeing, who demanded sacrifice if He was to reign over our world. Although people were afraid of the Offspring, naturally nobody believed their ridiculous gospel, and so nobody was prepared when they succeeded. Thinking of the horrors he had experienced since then, it’s no surprise that the voice across the table startled Eli so much when she spoke.

“Sorry for the delay. Are your eyes covered?”

Although her voice was stoic, Eli sensed a twinge of compassion in it. After all, why would she be in her line of work if there wasn’t? Eli would probably have been able to see her face if he looked hard enough through the black cloth, but he dared not even try.

“Ya they are… I’m here because—”

“You don’t need to explain, who is it?” She urged him forward in the conversation, and Eli remembered the danger they were in.

“It’s my sister, her name is Allison Beck, and she’ll be eleven now. She was taken to Parksville.” Eli said, but he was met with silence.

“That won’t be easy.” The voice finally said.

“I understand that, and I already have your payment lined up.”

“It’s not just that,” she said, “Parksville’s a Sacrifice Camp. There’s a good chance she’s already dead, and if she isn’t, I still can’t guarantee her rescue.”

“I know that, but it doesn’t change anything.” Despite the blatant fear in Eli’s voice, an undeniable hope lingered in every word.

“Fair enough. Once I receive payment, I’ll wait three days then head for Parksville.” she said.

“Three days? You just said she might be dead already, why do you have to wait that long?” Eli whispered loudly. The response was silence again, but this time he knew she had indeed left. Very carefully, he got up and snuck back to his bunk. Once he was in bed, and was sure he hadn’t been seen, he removed his blindfold and went to sleep.

It seemed like only a second later that the morning bell startled Eli awake. Opening his eyes, he felt the now familiar twinge at their back, knowing that The All-Seeing was now watching through them. After getting ready for the day’s work, he stepped out of his tent and looked around the camp, feeling the same longing as the night before. Pain was at every turn, in large part from the former civilians, forced into often futile labor. Of course it was almost no different for the Offspring who, although in positions of power, still seemed bound to lives of miserable servitude themselves.

After a couple hours of loading cargo onto the delivery vehicles, he climbed into his truck and drove up to the gate for inspection. It wasn’t until that very second that Eli understood how difficult it is to “act normal”. The guard approached the window and asked his regular questions; what delivery this was, where it was going, and whether there was anything hidden inside. While the only thing hidden at this point was Eli’s anxiety, he still felt like he was failing at it. The guard’s face didn’t help, since like all the Offspring, his eyes were lidless and bloodshot. Eli answered the questions and the guard stood still, silently evaluating the conversation. The young boy couldn’t begin to guess where to look in order to seem less suspicious. From the road, to the guard, to the steering wheel, his eyes shifted and his heart beat faster at the thought of Him noticing. After an eternity, the guard waved at his comrades and they let Eli through.

The three hour drive to the next camp was one that Eli had made countless times. The scenery always elicited mixed emotions, as it was both beautiful and eerie. Most depictions of life after the end of the world had portrayed a barren wasteland, or a crumbling metropolis, taken back by nature. However, everything had happened so abruptly that whenever he passed a farm or small town, it looked like people could still be living there. He soon found himself driving through the wetlands, and he gripped the steering wheel tighter. On either side of the highway was a vast swamp, and if he looked east, he knew he would see his secret destination in the distance. It wasn’t the right time, so Eli resisted this urge and kept driving.

Once at the other camp, he parked so the workers could unload his cargo. When he had made his first delivery there, he figured he would either find a bunch of people who were worse off than him, or that the grass was in fact greener. What he didn’t expect was how demoralizing it would be when he discovered that it was exactly the same. There was nothing better to hope for, nor anything so bad as to make him grateful for his situation, just cruel monotony. Once the workers finished, Eli was free to leave and he set out as the sun dipped low.

By the time he came back to the wetlands, the sky was dark. From his many previous deliveries, he knew exactly where to park and in which direction to walk, but he would need to be quick. Suddenly, he passed a broken highway sign, and he waited four seconds before stopping the vehicle and immediately shutting his eyes. Within moments, he wrapped a blindfold around his head and jumped out. Bounding forward, his legs hit the water and the soft sludge underneath, but he kept going. There was no time to pause, they would be coming.

He had been planning for weeks, but had never travelled this way before, and so he had no clear idea of how long he would have to run for. After what he guessed must have been just over half an hour, his path began to slope upwards, and he started climbing onto dry land. His hands reached out to feel his way forward, and it wasn’t long until they landed on a wall of old, splintered wood, which he realized was the feeling of true joy. As he felt around a bit more, he confirmed that he had arrived at the church.

Eli didn’t know what church this was, but that didn’t diminish the salvation it held for him. Tracing the wall, he walked to the front of the building and entered. The creaking floorboards and musty smell immediately brought him back to that night. The moment when, after he and his sister took refuge here, the roof was torn off and his sister carried away by an unspeakable monster. The Offspring took Eli shortly after, but the last thing he saw was Allison’s locket, a golden heart, hanging from a cross beam.

Eli hoped the locket would still be there, so taking his blindfold off, he prepared to look for a split second. After standing in what he guessed was the center of the room, he faced up and his eyelids opened, quickly shutting afterwards. It was like a snapshot that he could only examine for a few seconds before it faded. He realized though, that he had been too quick and was only able to note that the moon was now shining brighter.

Again he took a snapshot, and as soon as he did, he almost cried out in joy. Perhaps someone was helping him in that old place of worship, or perhaps it was just luck that the moon shone just right onto a dangling, golden heart. From what Eli could tell, the locket hung about two stories above him at the back of the church. He considered throwing something to loosen it, but he couldn’t be accurate with such limited sight. Remembering that he did see various furniture around, as well as wooden planks either missing or sticking out of the wall, he resolved to climb.

Going to the wall, he felt for something to grab ahold of, and soon grasped onto a sconce. Stepping on a chair, he began his ascent, constantly debating whether to be quick or careful. Keeping his eyes closed was no easy feat as he reached for holds that might not have been there. He guessed he was about halfway up when the window pane under his foot suddenly broke, sending him falling to the ground.

After getting up and cursing himself for getting turned around, he begrudgingly opened his eyes for another moment before starting his climb again. Not only was his own blindness against him, but he was growing more exhausted with each step. Just when he thought he couldn’t climb any more, his head hit something hard above him. He reached up and, to his relief, grabbed onto the wooden beam. Holding tightly, he used his other hand to follow along to the end, hoping to feel the locket’s cold chain.

Suddenly he heard a commotion outside, which quickly formed into angry voices getting closer. Whatever luck Eli had seemed to be running out as he fell fast and hard, hitting the rotten, wooden floor with his shoulder first. He stifled a scream, but immediately felt a spark of joy as something small and heavy dropped nearby. Grasping for it, he picked it up and felt the smooth edges of a heart, before holding it to his own, but he couldn’t celebrate.

Eli oriented himself as best he could to face the way back and quickly found a broken window, climbing out without hesitation. A sharp sting filled his arm and he knew he had sliced it open, but he didn’t care. As quietly as possible, he ran forward and hit the swamp water. He couldn’t be sure that he was heading towards the highway, but there was no other option. In his current state, he found himself tripping into the muck more and more, each time eating away at his energy. A few of these falls caused him to involuntarily open his eyes, so he tried to keep his gaze downwards as much as possible.

As his feet felt another upward slope, he sighed with relief and climbed to victory. Within moments, Eli felt pavement beneath his feet. Opening his eyes once more, he peered through the darkness and found his truck only a little ways down the road. He closed them again and ran to it, his legs threatening to collapse. As he reached the door, the angry voices returned, approaching quickly. Far worse though, the sound of large wings came from above. Eli opened the door and stuffed the locket under the front seat just as he felt the searing pain of three large claws piercing his back. His body spasmed as he was torn from the truck and pinned to the ground. He soon heard the large group surrounding him, and he knew it was over.

“There! The beast’s got him,” yelled one of the Offspring. Eli looked and saw the crowd around him, with one of them crouching beside him.

“You should all realize by now, nowhere is safe from our eyes,” the man said in his ear before barking an order.

“Leave him to the beast! Take the truck back to the camp.”

This was the last thing Eli heard, and as his vision faded, he smiled.