Godsend

My Enchantress

May 15th, 2015

I never really thought about what evil truly was before the Godsends arrived; what it could look like, the forms that it took. Most people think of evil as a devil, or some sort of demonic presence, buts its not, it never has been. Evil has been, and always will be, people. Men, women, children. It has no age, it has no conscience.

The hunters began going door to door, like some sort of gestapo regime, like they had a right to search houses in the first place. Lisa and I did our best to find a suitable hiding spot for James, but our apartment was too small to effectively hide him anywhere. We could look out our living room window and see them executing Godsends in the streets. They claim to be attempting to stabilize the population, for the greater good, but what is the point of living if you absolve your humanity to do so?

"What do we do when they get here?" I asked James, hoping he would have the answers, hoping he would pull through like he always does.

"I can either go with them, or we fight. That's pretty much all we can do. We can't leave the city, we'd never make it, and there's nowhere to hide, so this is it." Even through his determined words, I could feel the fear behind them; he didn't want to die, I didn't want him to die either.

We could hear them getting closer, knocking on the neighbors doors downstairs, barking orders, telling them to come out with their hands up. From what we could see from where we were, there were four of them, all men. They didn't appear to have guns, but we knew they were deadly nonetheless. I looked to Lisa, I wanted to see her smile. I knew she wouldn't, but I just wanted to envision it, capture that moment in my mind, have her enchant me one last time with contented glee. Her verdant-green eyes weighed heavily on me, I don't know if she expected me to say something, but I know I should have.

The three of us grabbed whatever we could to defend ourselves; James and I were armed with steel re-bar pieces we had broken off of an old piece of concrete after the attack on the food bank. Lisa had a small pink pocket knife that she had gotten from her apartment when she moved in with us. We weren't sure what to do, we didn't have a plan of action, we didn't know how to fight. 

I wondered if there was enough time to sing one last song, all three of us, together, just one more. A jaunty tune to make us laugh, a somber tune to make us think, a musical number to dance like idiots to.

They were one door away, rifling through Lisa's place, tearing apart her old life. I tensed my fingers around my re-bar piece, holding it tightly. I looked to James, he and I were in the same stance; ready but reluctant to do what we were about to do. His eyes glistened with tears, he was scared. 

A moment after slamming Lisa's apartment door, the hunters began banging on ours.

"Open up," one of them yelled, "we need to sweep your apartment." 

"There's nothing here for you, please go away." James yelled through the door, his voiced cracked slightly with panic.

"It's mandatory, now open the door!" The man began banging on the door, causing us all to flinch.

"You have no right!" Lisa screamed at the top of her lungs as the door swung open.

The man had kicked the door in, invading our home. As he bolted into the room, brandishing a Bowie knife, James swung his re-bar at the man, connecting with the side of his head. As the man stumbled to the ground, two more men entered the apartment. One of them immediately tackled James, and the other came straight for me. I swung my re-bar but missed, catching nothing but air as the man dug the end of a hammer into my forearm. I could feel the metal grinding against my bone, agony creeping into my brain.

Before my attacker could remove his hammer from my arm, I could see Lisa jump on top of him from behind, pushing and pulling her knife into various parts of the man's back. He screamed out in pain, letting go of his hammer, attempting to shake Lisa off of him, but it was no use; she was a feral animal. I quickly looked over to James to make sure he was okay, only to see the man who had tackled him was on top of him, repeatedly punching him in the face. 

Without hesitation, i swung my re-bar at the man's head, feeling the metal vibrate in my hands as it connected. The man's body fell to the floor, freeing James; whose face was a pulpy mess. I panned around the room, looking at the carnage that was caused, when I saw one more hunter standing in the doorway, a metal baseball bat in hand. Before I could stand up to face him, Lisa was careening across the room, her knife held high.

But before she could reach the man with the bat, Lisa was pulled to the ground by the first man who had been hit with re-bar. I stood up and prepared to swing my re-bar at him, but before I could, I felt metal pressing hard against my skull; the man with the bat had struck me hard on the side of my head. I stumbled back, unable to keep control of my bodily functions. 

In my dizzied state, I could see Lisa struggling to get away from the man on the ground, while James pushed the other over the railing outside. I tried my best to get up, to help her, to save her; but I couldn't. I couldn't get to her fast enough. 

As I stood up and grabbed my re-bar, struggling to keep my balance, I could see the man's knife enter Lisa's stomach, causing her to squeal with pain. I swung as hard as I could, cracking the man in the head once more, but it wasn't fast enough. I pushed his limp body off of Lisa and fell down next to her.

James staggered back inside to see Lisa on the ground, life pouring out of her; he joined me on the floor. Lisa held her stomach tightly, trying to stop the bleeding, but it was no use, the cut was too wide. Her eyes darted between James and I, small tears droplets forming in the corners of her eyes. I held her hand tightly, feeling her pulse ebb through her fingers. James took the knife out of her other hand, held it tightly, and began faintly singing a song that Lisa had taught us.

Your silken lashes

fall on your cheeks

You're drifting asleep

Drifting away from me

We were together, and that's what mattered.