Signs Of Humanity Chapter 11 - Sign 1
Jericho found himself floating in darkness, all around him was an endless sea of black. He didn't feel panicked like he thought he would, rather a feeling of anger, concern and annoyance flowed over him. Strange he thought for a moment when his vision began to clear "where am I". The world was beginning to fade in around him twisting and turning into a clear vision of an outstretched arm.
The arm was big and muscular and covered in patches of cloth, slowly sucking up blood from the wounds they were covering. Jericho also noticed his own arms were stretched out wrapping gauze around them to hold them in place. His arms were moving as if they had a mind of their own unwilling to listen to his commands.
"What am I doing" he tried to say but he found he could not get the words out. The arm floated before him in a room of swirling colours but as the space around him began to take soiled shape, he noticed he had seen this arm before. "This is Dad's arm."
Suddenly the world snapped into focus he was sitting in his old home, the one he grew up in, one he hadn't seen in decades. Before him sat a man large and stocky, shaved head and covered in bandages and... was he pouting?
Suddenly his arm reached out again to grab his father's other arm while he spoke in a voice he hadn't heard in so long.
"Come on now let me finish the other one.”
His father turned his head towards him "Only if you stop lecturing me.”
"Absolutely not. Now give me your arm" he barked back in that same soothing voice, well soothing but wildly irritated in this case. He almost tried to laugh. His parents had such a funny way of talking to each other.
Jericho gathered this must be another one of his mother's memories, one where his father must have stepped into some kind of danger yet again and now, he was relying on his mother to patch him up. He decided instead of fighting the pull of the memory and waking up he might as well rest for a second and let this one play out.
"I don't know why you thought you needed to step in. You always do this and for what? You are all battered and bruised, even bleeding this time" his mother snapped at his father.
"I had to this time, those three were going to be eaten by a Vile, was I meant to let it happen?"
"No, I... I don't know... why did it need to be you? and for them? They aren't even from our village, not only that but they have been kicking up a stink since they have been here. When they finally leave you go and bring them back". She punctuated her sentence by tying off the last of the bandages a bit too tight causing his father to wince.
He reached out to grab his mother's hand but she pulled away "Jean, honey, I know I stress you out when I do this but please understand, I couldn't let them just die. When I saw them leave the bar last night, I overheard them saying they are leaving tonight, I just wanted to make sure that they got somewhere safe, you know what the roads are like at night, not everyone can handle them".
His mother reached for his father's hand, which he gladly took "Rob, I know you, I wouldn't be with you if you weren't the man you are, but could you limit yourself to just the people we know? You don't have to throw yourself in front of every random stranger".
His father squeezed her hand, "Sorry I can't, I just..." he sighed trying to find the right words to describe his feelings to his wife, finally landing on. "We live in such a harsh world, we all have to lie, cheat and do things we thought we could never do the day before just to survive. But for me, it's not just about surviving it's also about being able to live with myself."
His mother giggled a little, but Jericho could feel she wasn't making fun of his father, rather the feeling of pride washed over him. "You are still that naïve boy I knew growing up aren't you."
His father looked annoyed for a second but, eventually smiled warmly at his mother. But something felt odd to Jericho suddenly a feeling of deja vu washed over him. That's when a flash of blue caught his eye in the corner of his mother's sight.
As he noticed so did his mother, her eyes darted over to a doorway, he could see a small boy with blue hair running out of the room, "I don't remember being that small" he thought to himself.
His mother sighed as she stood up "Jericho's awake, I'll go put him back to bed, you lay down."
"Thanks, Jean, tell him I said goodnight" his dad responded as he dragged himself to the musty lounge chair in the other room.
"Blue Jay, come on you should be asleep." was the last thing he heard from his mother as the scene began to fade away. Jericho was once again in the black void. His heart was burning in his chest, he felt again the pain of losing his parents, and the isolation now of the void was crushing him, who did he even have left?
Suddenly the same sing-song voice called out to him waking him up from his sleep.
"Blue Jay, it’s time to wake up."
Jericho's eyes shot open as the memory of what happened before he lost consciousness flowed back into his mind. He jumped to his feet and took in the world around him, scanning the room for those that attacked him.
But there was nothing, he was in a small semi-spherical room, with large pod-shaped chairs built into the walls surrounding him. The room was lit by a large round window with a control panel sitting underneath it as he approached the controls, the door behind him slammed open. The sound startled Jericho causing him to spin around to confront his captor. At the sight of the bulging wall of Flesh that was Golem Jericho's hopes of escape faded away. His body was heavy, he could barely stand against the exhaustion the parasite in his blood were sapping his strength, He could barely fight a normal human in this state let alone a Gen X.
"This is yours, take it and leave" Golem moaned as he tossed Jericho's bag to the floor.
"What? You? Why?" Jericho confused scrambled for his bag trying to make sense of what was going on.
"This is an escape pod, set to take you back to the mainland of Australia, you are not welcome in this holy land anymore, as you bring us destruction". Golem barked at Jericho.
"I don't understand, why are you just letting me go? Won't Olsen... Mother Tree punish you?"
In what seemed like exhaustion the hulking creature addressed Jericho "Need I explain everything to you? Can't you just be thankful and leave?"
Jericho didn't answer he only stared at Golem, waiting to see what it would do.
"Very well if I must, you, your body will, if I allow you to stay here, be used in a campaign to leave this promised land. Mother will place follower Marcus’ mind into your body and send him to attack the heavens opening a way to the mainland with the other followers. By sending you away I prevent that plan."
"Why not kill me..." Jericho stopped himself, maybe this flesh monster hadn't considered that plan.
"Killing you would not have, worked for my plan. For one, followers here are capable of mending your body, making your death only a small speed bump. For another mother would be able to tell that I was the one that tried to stop her plan and would kill me before I could complete my own." The creature continued. "Now you should leave"
"Not without Lilith, once she is here, I will go, ok?" Jericho breathed a sigh of relief maybe things are going to work out.
"No, the girl cannot go with you, she is with Mother now I could not retrieve her without Mother killing me. Besides, having Mother take her body is what I want." As quick as Jericho's hopes had come to be Golem had dashed them.
This had to be some kind of trick from Olsen this didn't make sense "How... How can you even make plans against Mother? Isn't she always in your mind?"
"My body runs rampant with any small amount of damage healing itself with miss matching parts, some of those parts are brain cells that Olsen can't account for. They aren’t complex but they allow me to hide small memories and thoughts inside. Is that all you wanted to know? Is your curiosity satiated? Can you leave now?" Golem answered to Jericho's surprise, was it that easy to get information from this thing? Did it not know how to lie?
He needed more time to think, and energy Jericho began to dig around in his bag to see what he had to work with "What is your plan by the way? Tell me that and I will leave."
The face on Golem’s chest scrunched up with a frown, but relaxed "Very well, I plan to let Mother take the body of the girl, once that is done, I will destroy Mother's old body and kill Marcus, Mother will have the new body she desires but will be unable to leave this place. We can stay here forever in this paradise."
Jericho’s eyes widened as he realised what Golem's plan meant for Lilith "Wait, if you do that... then Lilith will die in the Tree's body."
Golem spoke coldly and directly "That is irrelevant, she will give her life for the betterment of us all. Now leave.
Jericho's head dropped to the floor, under his breath he muttered "It's not just about surviving..."