Desolation

After several long minutes Darla regained her composure. Martha asked in a comforting tone, “Is it okay if we continue?” The questions went on: about her physical health, what talents or skills she had that could be beneficial to the group. It all made perfect sense; if you wanted the community to work together and survive, it had to rely on the strengths of all these disparate individuals.

Then, Martha’s questions became very personal. “Are you still a virgin?” Yet, Darla answered truthfully that she was. Although the query seemed strange and way out of line, she assumed at the time it was just some way to assess who might be sexually active and potentially prone toward pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease; either would affect their little community. The episode was forgotten, her emotional doors locked up once again, and she and Danny continued scavenging with their fellow community members.

On their tenth night with the group, their tent had a visitor. A man cleared his throat, and then said as if projecting from a stage, “The Teacher would like to talk to Ms. Darla King.”

Darla unzipped her tent opening and emerged like some mud-spider opening up its lair, making itself vulnerable to the predators outside or preparing to pounce on its prey. She felt like the former. “I’m sorry, who are you?” She knelt halfway out of the tent, attempting to straighten the mess of tangles that made up her hair and the larger mess of her thoughts still groggy from sleep.

“You have been granted the honor of an audience with the Teacher,” said a man whose face was so pale, in the light of the moon and the auroras above, he looked like a ghost. This image sent shivers through her body, which was hot and sticky from the swamp-like air in their tent. “He would like to talk to you about your place in this community. Not everyone is granted this honor, Ms. King, so I would recommend you not keep him waiting.” The man finished, his arms folded and his face impatient as if he was put out by her lack of excitement—or was it boredom from performing this duty? Darla couldn’t tell.

“Hang on, let me put on some clothes,” she replied. Without waiting for permission, she loudly zipped the tent flap in one quick motion, and proceeded to put on her shorts and change her shirt. She looked at Danny, expecting some comment from him, but he slept through this, being deep in REM sleep as he was. “At least one of us will sleep well tonight,” she said upon exiting, this time zipping the tent a little more quietly.

She was ushered through the throngs of people settled in everywhere and finally to the largest house in the small neighborhood of houses. She could see as she approached a multitude who sat or lay prone on the front lawn of the stately home, some sleeping, bodies intertwined in any case, most awake, waiting for what she didn’t know.

There was an electric murmur in the air as she and John, the palest man on the planet, walked by. They were praying. Another shiver took control of her body as she also understood that their prayers were probably for the man she was about to see. Fear started to wrap its spindly fingers around her mind, and wouldn’t let go. Why me? Did I do something wrong? All these people would have loved to meet with this Teacher-guy and yet I’m the one they fetched in the middle of the night? Cold crept outward from her gut.

They walked through a front door that seemed to open by itself from the inside, as if the house were expecting them. Once in, they began their ascent of its grand staircase. The entryway and candlelit living area were empty but for a couple of people wearing the same olive drab shirts and GA arm bands like John. They stared at her as she trudged upward with her escort. She was now shivering. Tripping on a step, Darla quickly corrected and regarded a young woman a few steps above, being led downstairs by another man with the same uniform. She looked upset, wiping tears from her eyes. When their paths crossed, Darla’s and the woman’s eyes locked and fear passed between them. That look screamed “Be very careful!”