Hearts Across the Divide

Showing Mercy

A woman ran as far as she could. Her chest heaving, her throat burning, bare feet were cut open by rocks and sticks as she ran for her life. She pressed her palm flat in a tree as an excruciating pain ran through her. She held her lip between her teeth, shredding the skin. She traveled her clammy hand down to her swollen belly. Another pain ran through her, this one causing her to hit the ground, her knees digging into the earth.

As she silently lay, gripping the soil into her fingers, she prayed. She prayed to whatever god, force, or higher being there was in this apologetic world. "Save my child." She whispered breathlessly. Her vision was dotted with blackness. 

The sun was setting, soon the cold night would fall upon the forest, and predictors would surely get to her before the crippling coldness. She was hopeless prey lying for the taking.

Her breath was wheezing, her eyes hooded, only a fraction of color tinting her face, sweat lined every inch of her skin. The trees rustled and she tried to move, she tried to pull her limbs up as a last resort for protection, but it was useless. The sun would set and she and the child would become one with the earth, never even getting the curl chance to fight in this world.

3 Apes were trailing the path, their village just down the river. The eldest, the male, and the leader, Wuka, stop in his tracks at the scent. He holds his long arm up. 'Wait'. He takes a whiff of the air once and huffs out in disgust, almost enough to make him puke.

He looks to his mate, their young son on her back. 'Blood. Close. Not ape.' The mother clings to her young in protection. She heard the stories of the humans. Vicious, vengeful, horrid mammals who were right to fear.

Wuka takes quiet steps forward, spear in hand ready to defend his family. He crosses a tree, the scent potent, he huffs before taking another step, only for his foot to trail over some cold, wet, squishy. Wuka slides back in defense, he holds his spear up and looks at the ground.

Indeed a human, but she posed no threat, for she could not even move a limb. Her chest rises and falls in a slow roll. Wuka stares at the state of this human, the sunset showing enough light to see where the blood is coming from. The human woman looked up with heavy eyes, "please." she spoke in a ghostly whisper. Her fingers twitched. "Please."

Wuka looks to his mate in fear. What was he to do? What was this human begging him for? Gemm clings to her son to her chest and takes a step closer to her mate. His weapon was still drawn at the suspect on the soil. At the sight, Gemm gasps in horror. This human, a female, lay helplessly in the dirt, blood soaking her clothes, blood soaking her legs, her swollen belly rolling with desperate life.

"Please."

Gemm forces the spear down. 'She is pregnant. Hurt badly.' Wuka stares at his mate with unknown solutions. He had the mind of a warrior, fighting in many battles over the years over territory, or invaders. He was ready to put the human of her misery.

Gemm had the heart of the earth. Saving and nurturing were her gifts. She stares at Wuka she shakes her head. He protested. 'Can not bring her. The village will fight.'  Gemm looks at the human with care, a softness in her gaze. "Please." The human words lose volume. "Save them."

That was all Gemm needed. Human or not. There was a life at state. A life that was a gift. A life that was to be cherished. A life worth living. As the sun sets, Gemm pulls the child from the near-lifeless womb. The human bows in Gemm's hands, screaming, and wailing into the burning sunset as it cascades against the trees. The human woman, the mother of the child watches with blurry eyes as her child, her daughter wails into the world. Her last wish granted, the human smiles softly as death envelopes her.

Gemm, now holding the child in shock, looks to her mate. His expression is unreadable. She looks at him, her voice strong, "I will not... leave baby... alone to die." Wuka stares at the human infant with a scrunched snout. It was ugly. a hairless, squishy, helpless, baby human. He glares at the child as if the defenseless being had caused the problem. It was human, they were known to cause nothing but trouble. "We protect for now... find human tribe tomorrow... release to them." Wuka turns away from his mate with a huff, making his way to the boat at the side of the river.