Keepers of the Flame Read online

  “You OK, Doc?” Tye said.

  Doc almost jumped out of his skin. “You startled me.”

  “Sorry. What were you doing?” Tye asked.

  “Just straightening up,” Doc said. “What brings you here on this fine night? Are you feeling OK?” Doc walked past him and headed for the exit.

  “I’m fine. Just fine.” Tye wore his red polyester t-shirt and woven palm frond shorts. The shirt had darkened with time, and several small holes ran across the chest like he’d been shot with a machinegun.

  “Good. For a second I thought there might be something wrong with your teeth. I’m all for good dental hygiene, but you might want to give it a rest,” Doc said.

  Tye chuckled. He was constantly scraping his teeth with a sliver of bamboo and sand, and this coupled with the lack of sugar in his diet had left his old teeth in good condition. He’d been lucky. Bad cavities and more serious issues had one remedy: extraction. As if he’d just noticed the shard of bamboo in his mouth, he tossed it. “Just wanted to chat is all,” Tye said.

  “Sure, let’s walk.” Doc took the torch from its holder and the infirmary went black.

  Out in the Womb, a crowd sat before the Perpetual Flame, enraptured with Tara’s reading of the sacred text The Lord of the Rings. Water trickled into the stone basin, and the air carried the scent of basil and tomato vine.

  “Do you remember the other books on your shelf?” Tye said.

  Doc laughed. “I’ve thought about that a lot over the years. What would Respite be like if I’d grabbed Brave New World or The Art of War.”

  The Remembrance Wall loomed to their left as they walked to the water basin. Doc paused, looking at the wall of three hundred and sixty-four names. “Sometimes I wish this wasn’t here,” he said.

  “But it’s important we remember the people we’ve lost along the way,” Tye said.

  “For you maybe,” Doc said. He traced Rocco Sereggio’s name, then Helena, his wife. A section of the wall was labeled Angels, and it was reserved for infants. Doc stared at the names, all the lives cut short. “So many died young back then.”

  “I remember the baby boom after the dust settled. That must have been hard for you,” Tye said.

  Doc chuckled. “I delivered most of them. Then to see them die of problems I could have easily fixed with the right drugs and equipment. I just…”

  “I know. Don’t forget that’s why we both supported Sarah’s rules. Without drugs, birth control, medical equipment, power… what could you do?” Tye said.

  Doc said nothing.

  “I’ll tell you what you did. You saved the ones you could and Respite is alive now because of it,” Tye said.

  “This way,” Doc said. He nodded toward the crowd in the Womb. “Some folks got big ears.”

  They walked around the mountain to the livestock area that housed native boar and the ancestors of chickens and goats kept by the resort staff before The Day. The pens were on the opposite side of the mountain, away from the Womb to keep any unpleasant smells from invading the cooking area. Three chickens and a rooster had been caught in the early days and it had been a major fight to keep them alive. People were starving, and the promise of food down the road meant nothing. The goats had run off into the forest, and weren’t found for four years, the elusive shit sniffers.

  Tye and Doc passed the bamboo cages that lined the natural shelving of rock steps, and a line of sharpened tree branches made a fence around the area. Tye picked up the feed bowl and threw dried root to the chickens. The boar and goats huddled in their houses.

  “What’s on your mind, Tye? Not that I don’t appreciate your company, but…”

  Tye felt like he was falling, his stomach rising to meet his throat. “I wanted to say hi. Can’t a friend say hello to another?”

  Doc looked at him and said nothing.

  “I guess I’m a little nervous,” Tye said.

  Doc’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t speak.

  “You know, with everything I got going on,” Tye said. Was it possible Doc didn’t know he was pairing? “With the pairing ceremony and all.”

  “The betrothed doesn’t have to do anything. What’re you worried about?”

  Tye bit his gums and stared at his old friend, whose eyes finally widened with understanding.

  “You’re nervous about pairing with Haven?” Doc said.

  “Just pairing in general. Haven’s cool, it’s not her. I thought I might leave Respite one day, and she doesn’t want to leave. She loves it here,” Tye said.

  “Cold feet are common. You know this. It’s perfectly normal to feel the pressure of a lifetime commitment. In the old days you could break up if things didn’t work out,” Doc said.

  “I love Haven, so I’m trying to tell myself there’s no pressure,” Tye said.

  “But of course there’s pressure. She’ll want a baby next and there’s no guarantee you’ll get approval, let alone have a successful birth. No, you’re right to be scared shit. All I’m saying is take solace in the fact that everyone who has paired since the beginning of time felt the way you do. As for leaving the island, I think you can table that one unless you know something I don’t?”

  Something about the way Doc said that made Tye understand he was mining him for information. “Good point,” Tye said.

  “Want to continue this down at Old Days?” Doc said. “There’s a new…”

  A gunshot rang out in the stillness, its harsh crack foreign and unnatural.

  “Sounds like it came from the beach,” Tye said.

  Yelling and screaming filled the woods as Tye sprinted toward the rumble of voices. Leaves slapped at him, and the harsh breathing of Doc faded as he fell behind. Tye plunged out onto the beach, moonlight casting the scene in black and white.

  Sarah stood with her back to the ocean, pointing her Glock 19 at Ben Hasten, and Milly stood by her mother, crying. Ben loomed over Peter who lay in the sand. They all turned to look at Tye.

  “Are you bezoomny, Sarah? Put that gun down,” Tye said.

  “Stay out of this,” Ben said. His speech slurred, and he swayed back and forth, something dangling from his left hand.

  “You’ll calm down, now. What the hell is going on down here?” Tye said. Leaves rustled and tree branches snapped as Doc broke free of the foliage.

  “This is what’s going on,” Ben said. He held out an animal intestine condom that looked old.

  Tye almost laughed. Condoms made from animal skins or intestines were prized on Respite, and it wasn’t unheard of for these ancient birth control devices to be passed down from father to son. Respite’s unwritten rule was you could do this, but no more. This, but not that, and all of it felt like practice for when the real thing might be allowed someday in the distant future. Respite’s population rules were harsh because the island could only support so many people. Adults cheated, kids experimented, and the skin and innards of dead animals kept it all a secret and everything in balance.

  Ben held the nasty thing in front of Peter’s face. “Where did you get this?”

  “I stole it from you,” Peter said.

  For the briefest of instants, Ben looked at Sarah. “Don’t lie,” he said, but he’d lost all his bluster.

  “I’m not lying. You really want to do this now?” Peter said.

  Ben lashed out and backhanded Peter across the face and a thin splatter of blood sprayed black across the sand. Peter said, “That all you got old man?”

  Ben made an awkward attempt at a punch and Peter grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back, and drove him to the ground. “You’re the lying shit. Want to get into it now?”

  “Peter!” Milly yelled.

  Sarah turned to her daughter and let the Glock fall to her side. “Don’t defend him. You snuck down here to meet him? Where’s Curso?” Sarah said.

  Milly shrugged.

  Everyone took a breath.

  “So, we done here?” Tye said.

  “Who asked you to be here?” Ben said
. His eyes were streaked red, his old tattered shirt soaked through with sweat and berry wine drippings. Peter got off his father and Ben got to his feet.

  “The only gun on the island was fired. I have a right to know why,” Tye said. “Sarah?” Sarah looked around like a cornered animal, searching for support, but found none. “Did he intimidate you? Did he threaten Milly? Why did you fire your weapon and what were you shooting at?” Tye demanded.

  Sarah turned to her daughter. “You didn’t have much of a choice, did you? But did it have to be him?”

  “You will not ignore me, Sarah,” Tye said.

  “Rantic, why don’t you leave? You’re not even a fire guard,” Ben said.

  “Shut up, you drunk fool,” said Milly.

  “Sarah, why did you fire?” Doc asked.

  Sarah bowed her head and stared at her feet. Everyone knew she couldn’t ignore Doc Hampton. “To calm him down. I felt threatened. He’s drunk, and…” Sarah took Milly’s arm and stalked off into the jungle.

  Doc looked at Tye and then trailed after her.

  Peter watched them go and Ben used the opportunity to deliver a roundhouse punch to his son’s face. Peter rocked backward and sprawled in the sand, blood dripping from the red mound on his cheek.

  Tye sprang forward and tackled Ben and the two men wrestled on the beach. Tye got his legs around Ben and drove his head into the sand. Ben coughed and sputtered as he choked on sand, but Tye didn’t let him up.

  “Ben Hasten you’ve lost your shit if you think you can just hit people on this island. Let’s go. You’re spending the night in the hole.” Tye jerked Ben to his feet and shoved him toward the forest.

  “I forbid you to ever see that girl again,” Ben said.

  Peter said, “Shit don’t mean shit. And that shit is rich coming from you.”

  Tye stopped walking, pulled Ben to a stop, and turned him to face his son. “Say you’re sorry.”

  “Piss off, Rantic,” Ben said.

  Tye punched the back of his leg and Ben went to his knees.

  “You run around behind mom’s back with Milly’s ma and you think you can tell me what to do, old man? I’m a fire guard, and you’re nothing,” Peter said. He got up and got in his father’s face. “Get in the way of Milly and me again and I’ll kill you myself.”

  Tye pushed Ben onto the path and grabbed him by the back of the neck. “If you run, I’ll break a rib. Maybe two,” Tye said.

  “Yes, sir, Mr. Marshal. Except, who the hell gave you a badge, Rantic?”

  “Look, you want to be the island drunk and embarrass your wife and kids, that makes you a grade A ass. And this shit with Sarah. I—”

  “Shut up about Sarah. You don’t know shit,” Ben said.

  They’d arrived at the hole.

  Wherever people lived, there was the need for punishment, and separation from the herd was one of the strongest forms. Early on, Tye had been the jailor, and he’d dug the hole and constructed the bamboo grate that covered the top. Tye opened the grate and tossed Ben in. “What I know is you’re in there and I’m up here,” Tye said.

  “Who’s breaking the rules now?” Ben said. Then he threw up, spilling dark liquid across his cell.

  “I’m going to the Womb right now to report the situation. You better be nice or they’ll keep you in there a few days,” Tye said.

  “Screw you, Rantic,” Ben said.

  Tye closed the bamboo hatch and weighed it down with rocks.

  Back in the jungle, his nerves eased and his mind filled with worry over his pairing with Haven. Doc’s words echoed in his head. “She’ll want to have a baby.” Did he want a baby? Tye believed he did, but he also wanted to leave Respite. He wanted to see what had become of the world he’d left behind and discover what it could be again. Doc had also said that option wasn’t currently available, so until it was, what was the sense of putting off the rest of his life worrying about a situation that might never occur?

  The night deepened, waves crashed, and the night birds sang.

  Chapter Four

  Year 2063, Respite

  Milly Hendricks stared at her mother’s death-shrunken face and tried to remember the beauty and compassion that had once been there. This woman who had raised her as her own. A twinge of anger sent a spark of pain up her back, and betrayal washed over her. Truths are what people make them, and if Sarah wasn’t her mother, she didn’t know who was. That other person she left behind on The Day was from another life, another world, and Milly didn’t even remember what she looked like.

  It all made her want to leave Respite more. Her dress of woven palm fronts chafed and itched, and the flowers around the neckline made her sneeze. She’d done nothing as her mother lay dying, Doc’s anatomy and remedies volume one sitting in her lap describing old world magic called “pills” that could take her mother’s pain away. She should have at least tried to find these pills. She should have done something other than watch her die.

  Chief Fire Master Aragorn spoke the nonsense of the guard, and she heard gibberish. She was a fire guard, but she didn’t buy into most of the crap. She joined the service because her mother made her and Peter was doing it, and she had to be better than him.

  Old Doc Hampton did his best to make mom look presentable, but he didn’t have much to work with as her final days weren’t kind. She’d taken ill while doing a public reading of the sacred text The Songs of a Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke, a story with amazing similarities to their own.

  The sickness consumed her, and neither Doc Hampton nor his apprentice, Ren Pendaltine, could figure out for certain what ailed her, but Doc Hampton believed she’d had some form of cancer. Her illness moved too fast to be old age, and whispers of the plague spread across Respite. Had the disease finally found them? Doc didn’t think so, but Milly couldn’t shake the feeling that if they’d had some old world magic, her mother would still be alive. The urge to leave the island rose in her like it had since the day she’d climbed her first tree to get a better look at the horizon.

  Milly’s young son, Randy, stood beside her, picking his nose. Milly slapped his hand away. Little boys were so gross. Her husband, Curso, stood on her other side, his arm around her shoulders. His brown skin glistened with perspiration, and he focused on the ceremony, which she thought was a joke. She felt eyes on her and turned to see old man Hasten glaring at her as if he’d transferred all his rage from her mother to her. Why couldn’t it be his funeral? Why did it have to be Sarah?

  Peter wasted no time before telling her Respite’s dirtiest little secret; her mother had been having an affair with his father, Ben Hasten, since before The Day. Her stomach burned. The affair was a betrayal of her love as well as her father’s, and it burned her chest more than she wanted to admit.

  Milly searched for her father, Gary, the man who helped raise her, the pillar in her life that provided a stable presence in the whirlwind that was Sarah Hendricks. She would make sure he never knew of the betrayal. Maybe it was time to give Peter what he wanted, and they’d have a secret of their own? And she’d have more leverage.

  “So we gather here to commit Sarah Hendricks to the sea…”

  Her mother’s final words ran through Milly’s head over and over as they tipped her ceremonial raft into the sea. “Beneath the fire. Beneath the fire.” She’d shaken her mother. “What? What’s beneath the fire?” she’d screamed, but Staff Captain and former First Secretary of Respite Sarah Hendricks had passed into the next world.

  The sacred texts presented varied opinions on what death meant. More bezoomny shit. Milly bought none of it, and it was time everyone else saw things her way. The sacred texts were the random musings of people who lived in another age of the world where everything was provided for you. A bunch of goose turd.

  She stepped forward with her family in tow. Randy tossed a flower off the cliff and said, “Bye Grandma.” One by one the people of Respite paid their final respects to the woman who’d shaped their world. Doc Hampton, the children
of Rocco Sereggio, Peter and his family, and a bunch of young people, some of which Milly knew, and many she didn’t. Tye hugged her and whispered encouragement. Everyone threw their flowers, said their words, and would go back to their lives as though nothing had happened.

  When everyone had passed, Milly said thank you and the crowd dispersed. There would be a meal later in the Womb, but for now everyone trailed separate ways. Sarah’s remains floated out to sea, and Gary stood at the cliff’s edge watching it fade into the surf. Curso and Randy went down to the shoreline with Milly.

  Out on the blue water, pieces of the Oceanic Eco cast tall shadows across the beach. People scavenged within the fragments of the old ship as there were still treasures of the lost world therein for those brave enough to venture deep into the rusted metal. Shanties and tents lined the beach, and Milly made her way home to Citi. With the death of her mother, she inherited her place, a big double room on the east end out of the wind.

  Citi was a sprawling structure on the side of the mountain overlooking the ocean. All the windows were gone, and wooden shutters covered most of the openings. In many places, the old world molded stone was fractured and worn, and people cultivated herbs in the cracks.

  Citi was quiet, and she overheard an older woman speaking to a child. “See that there? I used to flip that little black switch and the room would fill with light.”

  “How?” the amazed child asked.

  “See that hole in the ceiling there? It used to have a round glass bulb, and when the switch was turned on it would light up.”

  “Like magic.”

  “Electric magic.”

  Her mother had been Citi’s founder and heart, and anything without a heart dies. She already felt the urgency and unease of her neighbors. Her mother had kept them calm and reminded them how lucky they were to be alive.

  Milly would teach them how to live.

  That night, Milly tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She drank some ginger tea and goats’ milk, and finally fell into a fitful sleep, tormented by dreams she didn’t understand. A child with long dark hair stood before her in the haze. The girl’s pupils were blue flecked with silver, her irises the orange-red of fire. “I’ll see you soon,” she said. The girl watched Milly, a smile spreading across her face, which was tan and free of blemishes. She looked in perfect health, and her white robe was clean and unworn.