Light, Glorious Light

Sheltered

"Sometimes I fear you boys got your father's brains.  You can't steal an armpad without it blowing up in your face.  Be useful and wash this one's head."

Ish grunted as he moved past.  He came back carrying a bucket.  He took hold of Akiva's head.  Panic surged through her veins as his fingers plays across the bristly top of her head.  Gone was her cloud of thick curls.  These people had cut her hair.  She looked up into his face, a younger and harder version of his mother's.  One eye was swollen shut, and his nose curved at an unnatural angle.  He flashed her a brown toothed grin and dumped a small bucket of cold water on her face.

Akiva gasped and sputtered as he leisurely ran his hands over her freshly shaven scalp.  He rubbed those hands up and down her face, massaging her cheeks and squeezing her nose.   Ish ran his fingers over her lips and eyelids.

"These ladies are from Phalanx, despite their clothes and tattoos."

"Ma, I never tasted Phalanx flesh before!"

"There's a first time for everything, my dear boy."

The two laughed and Akiva's heart sank.  The light flickered.  Sarai wheeled over a cart full of sharp metal tools.  She smiled as she ran her hand down Akiva's side.  She pinched the girl's hips.

"Phalanx feeds you well.  Where's your meat, girl?"

"Don't do this, please."

Akiva thought of Maira and Foxy.  She didn't know what happened to them, whether they were alive or dead.  She was suddenly back in that dark tunnel.  There'd been a second man who joined the first, smaller but clearly related.  Something in that man's eyes had set off alarms in her mind.  Akiva'd signaled to May, but it was too late.  The smaller man grabbed Foxy, and something hit Akiva in the back of head.  Akiva suddenly knew who these people were.  The southern waste was home to a number of families known for cannibalism.  Mother Bavda called them The Chews.

Adrenaline flooded her system and Akiva railed against the straps holding her down.  She pulled, twisted, tossed, but only managed to tire herself out.  Ish and his mother watched in amusement.

"Settle down or we'll drown ya first... I like the added flavor your fear gives the meat, but I ain't in the mood to be wrestling."

The light flickered and went out.
"Ish!  This is why you and your brothers have to keep the day panels clean!  Go get Sebby!"

"But, Ma i-"

"Go get your brother!"

Ish fumbled his way out of the dark room.  Sarai cursed her dimwitted husband and her simple children.  Akiva could feel the woman hovering over her, smell her perspiration, her breath.  The woman played with the lamp but the power was still out.  Akiva closed her eyes and began the Song of Thanks and Praise to The Great Mother to calm her frazzled nerves... and to mask the sound of her working her wrist against the straps.  The song filled the darkness and her heart.

"What's this now, girl?"

Akiva stopped, tenseing in fear of the knife.

"No, keep going.  It's pretty."

Akiva resumed her song with renewed vigor, and continued to work her wrist free.  Her skin scraped raw, she kept her voice level through the pain.

The lights came back on a second before the door to the room banged open.

"Sebby, what the heck is going on?  I told you boys to clean those panels!"

"The panels were cleaned this morning, Ma," said a new voice.  His was deeper than Ish's.