Author Games: Brave New World

Task Six Entries: Parthenos

Natalia "Olive" Amber

She had never made friends with any of the others on the mission. Before the fact had made her a bit sad deep inside. Now it made her relieved in a guilty way.

Because any and all of the others could be dead.

Olive huddled up in a ball. The only building with any structure was Thalita's, and lucky for her, she had happened to be here when the world had gone crazy. She had heard the screams outside of her peers, seen the blood through the glass in Thalita's door. After that she had retreated to the closet like a coward.

She was a coward. The worst kind of wimp. If she was worth anything as a human being, Olive would have gotten out of the closet and helped those that had screamed. She would get out now and try to help those who were left. But Olive wouldn't do either of those things, proving what her parents must have already known: she was a horrible excuse for a human being.

Olive burrowed her head in the space between her knees. She had to hope that someone was coming to put things in order, but that wasn't necessarily true. Eden and Parthenos were relatively far apart, and there were no police force in Parthenos to protect the people.

When the ripple came through the floor, Olive almost believed it was an earthquake (or perhaps danuquake), but the flash of images and emotions would argue otherwise. This was a message from Aminee. Olive tried to focus on the flashing images. Aminee was outside. There was a human, one of the sick ones, with blood running everywhere, and it was cornering her, and she was so scared-

Olive was on her feet and running through the door before she knew what she was doing. The door out of Thalita's research facility gave way with a loud creak. She jumped off the platform, avoiding the three steps to the ground.

"Aminee?" She called.

Aminee must have come to see Olive. There was no other explanation. She wouldn't have come to the colony for any other reason.

There. Aminee was cornered against the wall of one of the half started structures in the colony, and quickly closing in on her was one of the sick patients.

Olive raced forward. She wouldn't let Aminee be hurt by one of them. They were clearly all out of their minds. Olive hadn't the slightest idea how the illness had begun or was caught, but she wouldn't let it be passed on to Aminee.

"Stay back!" Olive yelled. The bloody colonist turned away from Aminee to look at her. She recognized the ill emaciated figure of Anna. For a woman at the cusp of being on the older side, she had been well looking, but her well off looks were now all marred by illness and blood. Olive felt a stab of pity for her, but her concern for Aminee was greater.

She held out her hand. "Aminee," she hissed, "come on."

Anna stumbled, but her knees fell beneath her. Aminee took advantage of the moment to rush over to Olive. She threw herself into Olive's arms.

"There, there." Olive patted Aminee's back in an awkward sort of hug. Over Aminee's shoulder, she saw Anna splutter and collapse completely. Anna convulsed briefly, then stopped entirely.

This was Olive's fault, she thought. If only she hadn't been so much of a horrible coward, she could have helped Anna before she fell ill. Perhaps Anna, and so many unknown others, would not be dead right now if Olive had been able to think of anyone beside herself.

A vibration touched the soles of Olive's feet, a one word message from Aminee. Hero.

Olive shook her head. "I'm no hero." She wasn't. Not by anyone's definition. She was a coward.