Covenant: Exodus

Chapter 17

Erich just stared at Paulus, his mouth opening and closing slightly, as though he were trying to say something but had forgotten exactly how to speak. Paulus allowed his old friend time to gather his thoughts and simply stood silently, looking out into the jungle beyond the giant glass dome. "My son..." Erich finally stammered, "my son...what are you talking about Paulus?"

"I am talking about the child that you and Gema conceived, my nephew, Isaiah. He truly is the most amazing child, and it is he..."

"You mean to tell me that I have a son," Erich blurted out loudly, angrily, "and none of you bothered to come and tell me! No one thought that I deserved to know that I had a son with the woman that I love more than life itself?!"

Erich began to pace now, back and forth, in front of the pool, rubbing his hands through his hair and shaking his head. He was muttering to himself under his breath, although Paulus wasn't able to hear what he was saying. "Erich you must understand, we could not risk his or our own lives to come and find you. Our entire village was murdered to find information that no one there even had, we knew that these monsters would hurt him and so we could not come and tell you. Believe me, it was not a decision that sat well with Gema. Up until Malik and his men came to the village, the day that Unta found Gema and I, we believed that you had died in the jungle. Gema had no choice but to raise Isaiah on her own, and then we found out that you were still alive, and Gema could not wait to find you. She wanted you to be a part of his life, of her life, but Unta would not allow it. He told Gema that if we sought you out it would mean that Isaiah's life and hers would be forfeit, he said that no one must know of him..."

Erich felt an unbelievable battle of emotions raging inside of him. Excitement at the idea that he and Gema had a child, betrayal that he wasn't told, anger that he had lost so many years of the boy's childhood...Erich stared at Paulus, weighing each word carefully because he knew the answer to this question would decide his fate, "And what made now any different, why could you come and tell me now?" he demanded.

"Because now," Paulus whispered, "it was too dangerous not to find you."

Erich walked back towards the pool and gazed down into the glass-like surface, it was as if he were looking into a window to another world. The reflection was so pure, and the water was so still that it seemed as though he could jump into this world and leave all of these newfound troubles behind, and so he stared...but he knew that he could not leave. He could not leave Gema behind, could not leave his son behind. His son. The words ran through his mind over and over, bringing with them such profound joy, and somehow, in the midst of the chaos that his life had become in the past three hours, the words brought him peace. His son. Erich turned and walked over to Paulus, embracing him roughly. Paulus embraced Erich back and the walls that they had both built around themselves crumbled.

A tear escaped Erich's eye, and he began to laugh a hearty, life-affirming laugh. Erich took a deep breath and said to Paulus with a smile, "Take me to him, I want to meet him...I need to meet my s..." before Erich could finish the sentence there was a strange popping sound from above and the lights in the garden went dark. Erich heard a series of pops and clunks as lights, pumps, AC units, air filtration, irrigation systems, electrified fences for the animal exhibits, and many other electrical systems all began to shut down.

It was still daylight outside of the dome, although the storm clouds had yet to dissipate so the light that came in from the outside was feeble. Erich and Paulus looked at each other and then around the exhibit, "The power goes out a lot with all of the storms, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Erich said, although he didn't sound entirely confident, "I'm sure the backup power will be on any second," and with another soft clunk and whir the emergency generators turned on and soft red lights began to turn on throughout the exhibit. "See..." Erich said with a small smile, "Now take me to my..." but he was cut off again, this time by the clear sound of gunfire erupting in the hallway outside of the garden. "That sounded like gunshots," Erich said, surprise filling his voice.