James Scotson - Planets Falling

“Hello Amy. I see that you’ve learned how to control my children.” It’s Thresh, although it’s not her voice. Rather, it is an impression of her thoughts wrapping itself around the non-me. “Instead of forcing them, you need to learn to talk with them. Like the creatures you’ve known in the forest your whole life. They know so much. It’s unfair for you to treat them like blunt weapons.”

“Thresh, you unholy wench.” Apparently I can talk back in this airless, lightless space. “What choice do I have when you attack and kill us? I want my child, now. Or I swear I’ll take a grub, hunt you down, and crush you slowly.”

Thresh laughs. Or more accurately it is an echo of a laugh formed in her warped mind. “You won’t be bothering the grubs anymore, Amy. They’ve discovered your trick and are guarding themselves now. You’ve nowhere to go.”

“I have many more tricks in my bag, Thresh. Watch yourself. I will kill you. That’s a promise.” I’m retreating now, falling down a black tunnel. I open my eyes and am slumped on Phineus, lashed to his saddle. We’re galloping through the woods, each impact of his hooves creating a burst of pain in my leg. I lift my head and see the others around me. Theo and Silius are flanking me, guiding Phineus.

“Sprouter, what the hell happened back there?”

“Theo, this doesn’t seem the best time for a long explanation. Where are we heading?”

“South, as far away from that camp as possible.”

“Do you think Eliza’s okay?”

“From what I know, that woman, Thresh, can’t afford to do anything to her. Between you murmuring in your sleep and what Bets told me, I’d wager that you and Eliza are pretty damn special to her.”

The horses slow. Theo looks toward me sympathetically. “Can you handle this pace for a while? We need to make more distance before morning. Bets learned that the monsters — grubs — can’t move well during daylight.”

I nod my head uncertainly. Samuel trots up beside me. “Welcome back Amy. Why’d you want us to knock you out? That seemed stupid until one of the grubs turned on its own. I’d reckon you got something to do with that?”

“Yes, Samuel. I did. I’ll explain later.”

We finally settle in a sheltered spot at the crest of a subtle hill when the sun is high above the trees. We’re much further south and near the ocean. Gulls soar overhead and the air’s muggy. English and Bets head into the woods to search for breakfast. Samuel’s in the mood for fish and has fashioned a pole. Theo lifts me off of Phineus and gently sets my bruised, broken body into a bed of soft moss under a huge, gnarled willow tree.

“Theo, find some pussy willow. There should be some growing near the stream where Samuel’s fishing. Strip the bark and steep it in hot water. That’ll help me get through some of this pain.”

Theo returns about an hour later with a steaming cup. I sip it and the pain dulls somewhat — enough to allow me to think clearly. “Theo, how far are we from the vessel?”

He pulls out his tablet. A brilliant image of the landscape pops up, even in the bright daylight. “If I read this correctly, I’d suspect that we’re about a two-day ride away.”

“Well, we need to get going.” I try to lift myself up.

Theo chuckles. “You ain’t going nowhere for a while. You’re broken up.”

“Theo, I’ve got a bad feeling about Bets — I’m unsure we can trust her.”

“What’re you talking about Sprouter? Bets did her share of killing last night.”

“Don’t you think she escaped a bit too easily?”

“Bets is one tough girl. She’s on our side.”

“Correction, Theo. She’s on your side, not mine.”

Theo doesn’t argue. “Amy, will you tell me what’s going on? Why’d you ask me to knock you out? The others think you possessed that grub and saved us. Is that true?”

“Well, yes. I have no idea how I did it. But I only seem to be able to do it when I’m out cold. That wanked woman, Thresh, can do it too. And she’s better at it than me. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to pull it off again. Thresh’s figured out that I’m able to do it.”

Theo whistles. “I knew you were special. But that’s damn near crazy. What other surprises have you in store Amy Marksman?”

“I’d like to know Theo.”

Samuel returns with three enormous trout on a stringer. He’s giddy as they sizzle on the fire. Bets and English return with a sack full of freshly picked oranges from a nearby grove. For the first time in ages, I’m genuinely hungry.

“Well, good to see you Missus Marksman.” English sounds genuinely happy to see me up.

“English, thanks for saving my ass once again. You too Bets and Samuel. I really appreciate all you’re doing. Believe me, after what we’ve just experienced, we’ve got an uphill battle.”

Theo hands me a peeled orange. He remarks, “Once we find the others at the spaceship, we’ll have an advantage over Thresh and her goons. I hope we can find some towns that haven’t been destroyed. Or other folks wandering the woods like us who want to fight this evil.”

English squeezes a couple of oranges over his cup. Clean, crisp citrus bursts into the air. “What exactly are we up against, Amy and Bets? You met this Thresh. Other than being completely wanked, what’s her goal?”

The juice of the orange is lightning in my veins. Energy surges to my head. “She’s very powerful and completely dangerous. The fog that destroyed Flip’s village and almost killed you, English, is the same stuff that’s making the grubs. Best I can tell, the mist drifted down out of the mountains and landed in Thresh’s village. She discovered that she could control it and bend it to her will. She may have been responsible for the dead rising in Flip’s village.”

English looks at me warily. “Something’s telling me that you and Thresh got some things in common?”

“Yes, English. I seem to be cut from the same cloth as that crazy woman. Gods help me. You all need to know that my ability as garden tender has always been more than growing things.” I stop to consider how much I should tell them. “All my life, I’ve seen — things. People, unlike us, in the woods around home. They’ve helped us. There were times we’d have starved during winter if it wasn’t for them.”

“You’re telling me that you’ve seen grubs all your life?” Bets hisses.

“No, not at all. They were little green people. Nevermind.”

“Oh, this is intriguing,” Bets says. “Do continue Marksman.”

Samuel jumps to my assistance. “Bets, Amy here’s got a special gift and it’d be best if we respect it. She saved us back there. I don’t know how, but she did. Thresh’s gonna kill us and lots more people if we let her. Amy’s the key.”

“Well, thank you Samuel, although I hope that all the pressure isn’t just on me. My mother, grandmother, and other Marksman women back to the beginning have had this gift — or curse, depending on the way you look at it. It hasn’t helped any of us much lately. The grubs might come from the same place as the green ones. I don’t know. The way that I learned to communicate with the little people seems to work similarly as getting into the grubs’ heads. I also can talk with Thresh in there.”

“What do you mean by in there?” English asks.

“Right before I woke up, it was like I was dreaming, but Thresh was there, telling me that she’s going to stop us.”

“She’s going to be sorely disappointed,” Bets comments.

“I hope so.” I take a bite of orange and consider whether I should tell them about the god Fromer. A voice deep inside my skull says no.

Theo hands me another piece of fruit. “Amy, these little ones from the woods at home. Are they around now?”