After Earth

Chapter 14: I See A Monster

        He leaped, which was far for a generally normal person. But none of us were normal, and no one was afraid. Was I supposed to be? My son was in danger, and yet I had this feeling that evoked some sort of happiness in me. Iran up to him quickly without a missing breath, but I didn't open my mouth because he was breathing out foggy breath.
     No. My son is not the answer, Kai.
     Kaiglanr stopped in his tracks and stopped me with his hand around my neck. Normally, a person would struggle or act on their last breaths while clawing at their attackers hands. All I did was glare.
     "I am similar to you," he growled. "I killed my husband, though I did it for something other than adultery. Only Tankeris can call me that!"
     He slammed me against the asphalt, which should have hurt. It didn't. Kaiglanr held me there for some time before letting go.
     "I see a monster," he whispered.
     "Hiding in this neck of the woods," I replied.
     "I see a monster. And he refuses to give me his son."
     "Hey, that's not how-"
     Kaiglanr leaped again, and he slammed everyone on the ground before entering the plane and grabbing Acki. I saw his eyes, I saw his fear. I started running towards them, but it wasn't enough.
     "Tayas Votipae," Kaiglanr darkened. "It's over."
     Acki reached out and the fear died. Along with his body. The snapped neck was quick, the life in my son's eyes as brittle as the night my wife died. Quick. Painless. I dropped to my knees, and stared at my reflection in the black blood puddle from the infected.
     "The white soul."
     I looked up again, watching Kaiglanr toss my son and then grab the white, permanent looking glow in his hand. He held it in its glory with a face of pride. Was murder that easy? Was killing an innocent such a mindless thing? I knew the answer deep inside, but I wasn't ready to face that sort of dilemma. Instead, I ignored Kaiglanr and grabbed Acki from the cold, empty ground. Kaiglanr was going to say something, I knew, but my arms felt eh empty warmth of Acki against my chest. It would have to be enough.
     "Huh. That's strange," Kaiglanr spoke. "Have you not transformed?"
     "What?" I spat.
     Orgeti stood between us. "He means into an infected. Since you have the virus, a mental push into more insanity will force you to transform into a monster. That's why it's weird that you haven't since you're holding Acki's body."
     Kagre crossed her arms, shivering some at the cold. "We should have prepared for this. Acki didn't have to die, Kaiglanr. There had to be-"
     "What's done is done," I snapped. I felt warmth crawl from my eyes to my chin.
     It had been a long time since I cried. Back then...
     "We have to go! They're closing in!" Basha yelled.
     I saw the wave of monsters slowly approaching, and everyone was quickly running towards the plane. I had to go. But something was on my mind. Kaiglanr began to run in a different direction with the one thing he believed could save humanity, and I watched him with Acki in my arms.
     "Nasekin, you might have to stabilize him again," I heard Tores. "He looks sick."
     Kaiglanr had been cornered, slamming his back against a park bench not too far from here. I wanted to ignore it. I even got and followed everyone else onto the plane with Acki's body in my arms. Nashi came up to me, trying to explain how Kaiglanr pinned everyone to their seats as he stole Acki away. She felt sorry , and I knew she was attempting to force me to accept it with her expanding of her mind ability, but it wouldn't work. Kaiglanr popped into my head again.
Suddenly, I blacked out, feeling the cold of my own skin take over the shape of what I could only  assume to be my conscious.
     "Ah, Tayas, was it?"
     I stared down at the figures that began to appear in the dark. A doctor, and a younger me.
     "Y-yeah," younger me stuttered. "That's me."
     "Your son is healthy and can leave in two days time," the doctor answered. "Your wife, on the other hand continues to worsen."
     Right. I remembered this.
     "What can I do?" I mouthed at eh memory where my expression had gone grim with the sudden, yet known news.
     "We can perform the surgery. It'll do damage to her. Her emotions will seem dull, she might try starting arguments, and she may forget things about you or her family. But she'll live."
     "Acki can't live without a mother."
     "I understand that this is a weight you're carrying. I, too, had a family member succumb to this, but she was conscious to tell us to pull the plug."
     "She's my wife, Doctor Lantilik." I watched myself stand there with my fists clenched at the idea of being without her. Which, even now, I felt that same anger and emptiness. "I have to keep her alive. I have to-"
     The doctor put a hand on my (his) shoulder. "We'll do what we can."
     How had I not realized it? This was before the world had turned chaotic and full of infected, but Rentie had the early version of whatever the blackened void of that monster became. As far as I knew, Arizona, D.C, and a few scattered states were the only ones that allowed such a surgery. It changed people, the way they thought and processed.
     "Tayas!"
     I snapped back to the plane, and I pushed Nasekin off of me. I had to save Kaiglanr.
     "Tayas, where are you-"
     I stared at Nashi. "I have to go. I'll be right back."
     "Wait!"
     I ran out of the plane and through the crowd of infected. My hands and my arms were beginning to grow rapidly black with infection, but I had no desire to care about that. Why did I want to save Kaiglanr knowing he took the life from Acki's eyes without hesitating to? I knew in my heard I should have been angry. I should have left him there. Something in my body, the strange instinct that also threatened me when Rentie was dying, was telling me to save him.
     "Tayas, are you sure about this?"
     Rentie stood there with her arms crossed in front of me. I felt the darkness at my throat now. It was taking me over, but I had to persist.
     "More than anything," I gasped, pushing through her.
     She appeared again, only this time she loosened her stance. "Do you think there's a way to save Acki?"
     I saw Kaiglanr crouching down with the white soul against his chest. The darkness took over my face entirely. A monster, but I was conscious.
​​​​​​​     "I will do what I can," I replied.