The Old World

6

"Without thought or hesitation, my instinct lashed out. I ran as fast as I could to the bloody kit, disregarding any in my way, including an elderly woman who fell to her back as I pushed past. I dropped to my knees and dug into the bag frantically. It was Phillip's, I could tell by the numbers. Inside was everything except the flare gun and its bullets.

"In that very instant the weight of the world fell upon me. My back felt as if a block of cinder had fallen on top and shattered it to pieces. My hands started shaking and so too my feet. It was all in my head, no real pain, the feeling of it was a mirage. It was not just the fact of my dead companion, my dead crewmate. It was the realization that I had no choice but to get acquainted with this strange new land. I do admit that the desserts, forest, and mountains; and all the creatures were a mighty sight. But to stay was not an option, neither was never seeing a human that wasn't a naked specimen like the people of the village. My breaths stuttered and chopped as I rose to my feet and turned. I had caused a very stimulating scene.

"I had found myself thrashing and shouting at the people. They soon circled me and their faces told a story of anger and seriousness. I was in no mood for fear of these primitive cavemen. I held my gun and spun a full circle, making sure that not a single man moved an inch. 'Where are they!' I shouted.

"At that moment, I was burning with sweat and anger. I found myself pulling and tearing my hair and losing focus on the world around me. I could hear the shaman telling people that it was alright and to remain calm while I simply let my fury out. I would sooner show my anger sinfully and pridefully just to prove my point, and so like an angry and spoiled child, I ran forward with either tears or sweat in my eyes and shoved a young woman to the ground. The men stepped ahead of me faster than I hoped, and so I grabbed and pulled the Brownhair woman to me.

"Slowly I shuffled back with the gun to her head. She did not shout or cry like the others or even me in my drunken state, she was very calm for the circumstances. 'Where am I? Where are my crewmates?' I asked.

The primitives refused to answer. I saw the Brownhair woman's brother with a sorrowful look of betrayal in his eyes as they met mine.

"'Then I'll leave! I will go and never come back to this village. You people will fend for yourselves. You will be absorbed soon enough by our colonies of modernity.'

"Of course nothing I said held value, they could not understand. But I had given them my point, my angered voice, and it was good enough for me. I shoved the woman to the ground and she shouted as her hands caught the dirt. She glanced back at me with her brown eyes and hair dangling in a mess. I felt no remorse for any of my actions, these were irrelevant people in my mission.

"I ran through the village knocking over pots, hides, tools, and all things alike in the dark moonlit night. The people did not follow, and I was alone again soon, descending the plateau through a gentle slope valley on the east edge. Forest surrounded me, and had I not been in such a mad state I would have surely turned back in absolute primal fear. But I was confident in myself. I was sure that I was to run the three days back to the beach in the west, across the desert, across the wasteland. I cared not then in the short-run, I wanted to be with my colony, with people I could understand and converse with fairly.

"My sprint was so long and arduous that I soon felt my legs shake and even in my full control I could not stop them. I had run well over two miles in a curve around the mountain, ripping through shrubs and trees alike. But I was halted in my tracks when in a moonlit opening I heard a terrible roar.

"Not like the roar of the dragon, rather that of a beast of fur and four legs. I could tell right away it was either a bear or a mountain lion. Alas, it was indeed a lion, but not just any large cat. This beast ruffled through the wood and underbrush just ten yards ahead of me, and soon I saw its glowing fiery eyes, like a window to hell.

"I still held my flare gun, but at first I only froze. The lion was rather curious and slowly approached, revealing itself most abominably. The beast was huge. It snarled almost like a rotten smile in mockery to my obvious sign of fear. The beast was larger than a lion of Africa, and had no mane, but rather an ugly coat of patchy hair spotted everywhere throughout its body.

"Acting quickly and coming down from my vexed adrenaline rush, I shot my last flare at the beast. I did not even so much as look if I had hit it, for I immediately turned and ran after my shot. It was certainly not wise to run from such a beast, but perhaps my gun had frightened it enough.

"I cannot recall much of the incident that night, as the red burning fires of rage that consumed me seemed to have halted my clear thinking. Things worked themselves out from there, as I soon awoke the next morning to the sweet and gentle calls of a morning dove.

"My hair was so matted and tangled, and dried sweat and oil stained my deeply tanned skin and released a foulest odor. I did not think about the night prior until I saw the Brownhair Woman watching me from behind a tanning hide.

"I've come to accept that the woman captivated me almost in an orphic way. When I first had seen her I was startled at how such beauty could survive in a hard world such as this where physical brawn and work was required over looks and cunning. And the way she watched and stared at me only increased my curiosity. Perhaps, I wondered then, if I did return to my colony, I would like to bring her with me. I would say the same for the entire village, whom I had subconsciously come to love. But she would personally be my priority above the rest.

"But her stare this morning saddened me. I had hurt her the night before and I promised myself that I would apologize to her sometime when I was ready.

"I was deeply ashamed then of my actions that night as I rose to the morning, but it was nothing I could control. I still demanded answers, and I was still disheartened to the idea that the glorious civilization of earth that humanity had worked so long for had been toppled to flint and rocks.

"I paced around the shaman's tent asking myself aloud, 'Well alright. Just as Phillip had said, we're here to stay. No going back.' The only problem was that I was back home. But of course, it had been roughly anywhere from one thousand to ten thousand years later. Complete time travel. Hard for mere humans even of our space-age to grasp.

"And perhaps it was just that. Perhaps many years after our departure the machines had truly replaced us. I found that theory hard to believe at first, however, since if that were the case, I would say it was more likely a utopia could be reached. Machines could colonize the galaxy far more efficiently than we, and in that case, how could they leave the earth a desolate and tribal stone age like this? How could any of it have happened?

"The only question I could safely answer that day was that it would be nearly impossible to return to the beach alone. And three days of walking would require food and supplies, which by now, I would need to acquire the old-fashioned way. But perhaps there were things I could show the people. And in return, they could help me get there.

"Beginning with the Shaman was my obvious first step. I had spoken with him on many occasions throughout the day. He spoke in riddles, and very slow and cryptic, but in time I grew accustomed to it. Thankfully, I made ground with him, and I had the first conversation with anyone in the village which truly aided my mission.

"When I spoke to the shaman of my friends and their disappearance, and my story of how I came from the west near the sea, he understood and followed it perfectly. When I asked how Phillip's bag had managed its way to this village, we soon interviewed and asked the hunters. One such hunter came to us and said the kit was traded with a neighboring clan in the east.

"These so-called neighbors, I would soon learn, were the people of the river, who fished and traded, but also killed and raided the mountain village. If I wanted to find Phillip and Zoey, whether they be dead or alive, I would have to begin by meeting these neighbors.

"However, the shaman spoke up against it when I mentioned it. The river clan was highly violent and an ancient enemy to the village. For me to go there, I would be seen as a traitor.

"I made little progress after that short burst of discovery, and instead, the shaman arranged a mysterious vacation for the two of us.