Out in the Open
by Ron Sanders
Nothing like hunt thrill.
Nothing.
When Cerebral run Normal run faster.
Simple math.
When Cerry get all talky want make deal, Normy get all angry want make kill.
Easy reason.
I know this. All Norm know this.
But I know better.
I see light in Cerry eye show fearblaze. I cut out eye happy. No hesitate. No oh-me-so-sorry Cerry. I strong Norm. I tough. I on Way Up. All other Norm see this. Know this. Fear me. I know this. I know.
I knowIknow.
* * *
Gool knowIknow. He sit. He watch. He wait. He think I go soft right here in cave. He think I panic at kill. He think I turn find him all-teeth-gory-eye. He think I run. He think he more on way up than me. He think all he have do is wait. And so all he can do is wait. Because Gool afraid face me. He know. Gool know some day I eat his face alive. He know some day I taste his blood run sweet. Then I feelgoodfeelgood.
Gool watch me now. Gool watch me walk tall out cave at front all Norm. He know his place behind me with average Norm. Gool know I kill more Cerry at yesterday hunt than all Norm. So he worry. All Norm cross field. Gool know I watch him back. He see me laugh harder! Jump higher! Scream louder! Gool hear Norm scream response so Gool know he must echo or be suspicioned. But Gool voice catch in throat. He know I on way up. So he snarl. But not at me. At self. At Gool.
All Norm excite behind me. All Norm know yesterday big hunt day. Norm almost find Cerry camp deep in wood. Because of me. Because I smart. Because I follow clue. I on way up, I try harder. I remember. Norm know this. Now Norm follow me. Gool know this. Gool try sidetrack Norm. I see more clue now. Broke branch. Flat patch. Cloth piece. Cerry try cover, but Cerry not smart. I whoop. I whistle. All Norm talk excite. I break into run. Run like leader! Run like king!
Norm cry out. I stop. I raise arms. All Norm stop. I see crowd of Cerry hide in trees. I scream happyhappy. Norm scream response.
One Cerry walk out from rest. Cerry hold white rag over head. Now he wave rag slow. All Norm crouch. Ready for kill. Cerry walk in fear. Come very close. I stand tall. All Norm growl.
This it! I make king-bid. I show all Norm I leader!
I leap on Cerry. Grab throat in both hands. I squeeze! Feelgoodfeelgood. Cerry gasp very hard. But I hear his filthy Cerry-talk.
“Please, before you kill me, listen for only a minute. The destructive effects of M117 were entirely accidental and are completely reversible. Your mind — the minds of all Normals — are perfectly healthy. There is a chemical block; a simple focal screen located, in a virtual sense, somewhere in the mid-brain. It obstructs the evolved aspects of abstract consciousness; those aspects are overridden by the baser, deeper functions of primitivity, but they are present and functioning in real time. They’re just obscured.”
I make grip more tight on skinny Cerrythroat. “I ‘obscure’ you!”
“Yes! But precedent to that act, I beg you, ingest this capsule.” He hold up funnypill. Green. Red. But not pretty greenred. Ugly. Ugly like Cerry. “We have been diligently working on this problem. The Block is fluid. The biochemical reversion, from your present state back to the original, unadulterated state, is absolutely effective, and it is permanent. Your recovery should begin almost immediately. You... all of you... all of us... can be saved.”
“But not” — I squeeze tighter — “not you!”
“Swallow the capsule!”
Cerry fading; I feel it.
“It good!” he croak. “It make you happyhappy! Make you feelgoodfeelgood!”
I stare in suspicionness. But not let up on squeeze. “Make me feelgoodfeelgood?”
“Yes! Oh, for the love of — take the capsule! Make happyhappy!”
Cerry go purple. Blood show in spit. Happy purple. I squeeze all more tight. Tighter. Tighter-tight. Tightest-tight! And I see redred. And I go crazygood. And I look up.
All Norm watch. Watch careful. They know. They knowIknow. Gool watch close. He knowIknow. This my time. I show tough. I look past Gool. I look all around. I shout: “I make happyhappy! I go sickychew! I go Norm on Cerry!” And I bite Cerry nose. Twist in teeth. Feel flesh come off happygood.
“Oh dear God!” Cerry scream. “I — take the gack — mother of mercy, please kill me, please do it, please, please take the caps—”
And Cerry shriek like woman. I scoop out eyes. I smash head on rock. Over. Overover. Overoverover. Smash blood happyhappy. Kill Cerry. I stand up with nose in mouth to smile. I look on Gool. Gool look back with jealousfrown. All Norm know I king.
They know. I know.
They knowIknow.
* * *
Gool quiet now. Gool sit on rock by cave front. Gool pretend he not care. But too late. All Norm dance around me! They know! They know! They knowIknow! I show no fear! I king all Norm! I turn to Gool. I laugh. All Norm turn. All Norm laugh! It feelgoodfeelgood. And Gool hang head.
I chew Cerry face all up. I spit Cerry face at Gool feet. I laugh. I hold up Cerry uglypill. All Norm know I not afraid. I show them! I show Gool! I show all Norm! I hold up pill. I open mouth wide. I laugh as I swallow. They know I up, I all the way up! I king, I king, I king! They know. They know. TheyknowIknow!
* * *
Gool pretend sleep. But he watch me close. Very dark in cave. No moon tonight. No Norm see me kill. No Norm see me make happyhappy. No matter. Gool scream when teeth find throat. Norm will hear, Norm will know. Then I eat Gool heart. Then I smash Gool brain. He very still now. He feel my footstep. One eye gleam in dark and he freeze. I bend over Gool, I show kingfang.
Dizzy. Dizzy. Cave go dark. Stomach kick. I sick. Back off. No Norm must see me weak. Gool must not see, Gool must not know! Sick. Back off. Lie down. Rest. Pill... pill! Poisonpill! Cerry trick me! Sick! Sick! Rest. Die. Throw up. No. Sleep. Dizzy. Black. Sleep. Sleep.
Sleep.
* * *
Cave bright. Light hurt eyes. I close eyes, I listen. Gool talking all Norm. He sounds more aggressive than yesterday. He see me sick. He know I down. I can’t let him see me weak; must not makepuke or showcry. I’ve got to sit up, make laugh maybe, show all Norm I only play sick so they’ll stop listening to Gool. My stomach. The sickness passes when I sit up. Now all Norm look hard; I laugh, must laugh, must look nonchalant. They’re all just staring, Gool hardest. Smile back at Gool! Smile! Laugh! Show happyhappy. Stand up; you can do it. Avoid daylight; you’ll swoon.
They’re still watching me. I can feel it. Breathe deep. Slow. Monitor your respiration. Act feelgoodfeelgood. That smell... oh, God. Rotten meat. Remain upright. Gool stand up, Gool narrow eyes. Gool look for support from all Norm. My stomach! I’ll heave. No! Don’t show sickysick. Get out of here, fast.
Daylight. The field! Run like hell. They’re chasing me; all Norm run hard. Gool first, on way up. Christ, faster! They’re catching me. The camp, the Cerebral’s camp. They’ll take me in, they’ve got to. I remember, I leader, I smartest. Faster! Run! I feel all Norm breath. There! That’s the killing field. Go, man, just go! Through the trees. My ankle — ignore it. Run! Make faster-fast.
Farther, deeper. I lose all Norm, but they find me. Run harder, push deeper. Show tough. I can outrun them, I can out-think them. Deeper, faster. Sprint, man. Go!
A fort of some kind. Run! Log walls and rickety sentry stations. A wood door cracking open. Help! Men peering out. Call to them! “Help!” Scream, damn it! “For the love of God man, let me in!”
Confusion. Hesitancy. “Help!” Hit the door running, “Help!” I’m in. Hit the dirt.
A face leaning over me, the expression distraught. “Get him to the circle and find some restraints!”
Another voice, nearby: “He was speaking rationally! Did you hear him? That was straight English!”
“I don’t give a damn. He’s a savage.”
My wind is coming back. “No... I’m free...”
A new face, and an elderly man’s voice: “I recognize him — I think. Yesterday. The one who murdered Michael. He gave him the pill.”
“Yes,” I manage, and sit up.
“He’s curing!” someone cries. “He’s brought us all the proof we need. Get Daniel.”
A hammering and hooting outside. The elderly man looks up darkly. “He’s brought us our extermination.” He helps me to my feet. “Come, son. Follow me inside.” The ruckus picks up as I limp along beside him. “They’ll breach the barrier soon,” he pants. “We don’t have much time.”
I clutch his arm. “Don’t you have any weapons? We are... they are just flesh and blood. And teeth, watch the teeth.”
“Oh, no,” he laments, as we pitch into a dark little room and fall round a homemade table against the wall. “All technology went down with the cities. Those of us bearing weapons soon found our ammunition expended in the hunt to survive. We’ve had to rough it, I’m afraid. Our spare energy has gone exclusively into researching a cure for that damnable M117 mistake.”
He smiles wanly, as though I’m still too far gone to appreciate the irony: “So much for the chemical engineering of intellectual growth spurts.” He raises his eyes at a scream outside. “There is no information you can give us? To stop them?”
I wag my head. “They won’t stop. They’re a wandering tribe, living cave to cave. Their whole mentality revolves around butchering Cerebrals. This moment is a long time coming.”
And he smiles, and he leans over, and he holds my stinking head against his chest. “No matter. The cure is effective. Daniel has a small escape door readied, and he is very fast and very clever. There are many more outposts like ours, and he will inform them of the cure so that civilized man may take back what is lost.” And he calls out, incredibly, “Bless science! Once again we have triumphed over the dark!”
Shouts and screams. A great commotion outside. A shape eclipses the doorway and I look up to see the looming form of Gool.
And the old man pulls back my face and kisses my hair. “Sleep now, son,” he breathes, “as sleep we must. Close your eyes and think of all that science has accomplished.” His tremulous voice is all but smothered in Gool’s victory snarl. His fingers tighten and he whispers, “Oh dear Jesus, forgive our pride. God have mercy on us all.”
Copyright © 2017 by Ron Sanders
