War Child by Evelyn J. Steward (reading eggs books .TXT) 📕

War Child

The war was over! Finally!
One day they were fighting for their lives, the next day the enemy had vanished. Those that were able, are of the inner space.
Sandar triggered the mechanism. A bolt of fire hit Jace dead centre as his skin split further. Jace screamed and his arms flailed the air.
"What are you doing?" cried Jinnit, still not able to accept what was happening.
"I'm killing it, Jinnit."
"But it was one of you," she intoned. "Please don't kill it."
"No Jinnit! It is one of the enemy."
Hunta creased his eyes at Sandar. "How did you know to come?"
"There are hundreds of them, all over. They couldn't fight us any more.–

The war was over! Finally!
One day they were fighting for their lives, the next day the enemy had vanished. Those that were able, barely sported a grin. They didn't believe it. Most drifted back to the rubble they called homes.
Hunta had not stayed to congratulate the others. He went searching for food and something to burn, no one dared show light whilst enemy fire rained but now they could cook food openly and not worry.
The larger buildings had been the first to succumb to enemy fire. Then, one by one inevitably, all the others splintered like kindling. Every city contained huge mounds of rubble encrusted with dust and debris from blasted stone and mortar. Like termite mounds of immense size. Projections of steel girders and metal sheets stuck out of the mounds like hat pins, all twisted into strange shapes like some surreal sculpture.
Hunta had first met Jinnit when he leapt into a foxhole he thought empty. She was a fighter then herself and almost sliced him through, until she recognised him as a defender. War was not the time to make friends, or find love. But they did and joined forces in more ways than one. They tried not to breed, but it happened. Hunta used his skills to safekeep them and feed them both. Then the little ones came and he hunted more. Hunta was a scavenger by nature and had found usable items and was able to cover his tracks so that his caches remained safe from any marauders.
After making sure no one was watching, he collected enough food for a few days. Then he heard a sound. Clawing his way through a mound of debris, he rescued a crying infant. Ordinarily the infant would have been left to the fortunes of fate, but that was during the war when food was hard to find and none could be spared for sucklings that may never reach childhood. But now his humanity cried inside him "rescue it."
Jinnit was pleased with the food haul but disappointed in the squalling bundle. "Where will we find milk?" she upbraided.
"I located some powdered milk. There's more where that came from."
"Hmm!" was Jinnit's reply. "Our own children could use some of that. How much more is there?"
"Enough."
"Suppose someone else finds it?"
"Don't worry! Others that hid here have moved south where it is warmer and less damaged." He said it to placate her. Jinnit believed him .
"Any water?"
"In the sack. Wood too."
Jinnit boiled water and made up the milk solution. She fed their three first but left enough for the infant.
A year went by. No one moved back and their supplies, though dwindling, were safe from predation. The infant had grown but was constantly hungry. It grabbed food from the youngest who finally weakened and died. Jinnit was sad but no one bred much during the war. She pulled Hunta close to her and hugged him tight. Loved him to show she cared. He was short on passion these days; spent that kind of energy on ranging further to find more reserves of food and fuel. They could always have another child when supplies increased.
Hunta often went short to feed the others. He also sought to find caches of food on the fringes of the city half a day away from their living space. These forays brought him into contact with marauding creatures more often than not. His weapon still functioned but ammunition pouches were difficult to acquire. He spent all the daylight time foraging, often heading for home in the dark. Not the best time to be abroad.
The infant grew fast and Sandar, their eldest, went away in search of food and a habitable place to grow up. Hunta tried to stop him, but the lad's mind was made up. He had matured greatly and it would ease Hunta and Jinnit's burden. There was great sadness at the departure, but it was for the best Hunta agreed.
That left only Manto who shrieked every time the infant came near her. She grew thinner, then became emaciated and eventually lost the will to fight for her life.
Four years passed.
The infant, which Jinnit had decided to name after all, was called Jace. Jace grew and expanded, demanding more and more. One day Hunta announced the supplies were all gone, used up. They would have to leave and take their chances. Jace refused to go. He was strong and tall and boarded up the entry.
Three days went by and the water was almost finished. Jace had grown huge and eyed both Hunta and Jinnit in a predatory manner.
Suddenly someone pounded on the door. "It's me, Sandar. We are coming to get you." But as Sandar and his two companions smashed at the wood, Jace quivered, grew rounder, then his skin split from head to toe, all the way down the centre of his rotund body.
Sandar broke through holding a heavy weapon aloft. "Get out!" he barked. His companions dragged Hunta and Jinnit through the opening and clear. “They knew they could not win in the end so they bred and left their offspring to kill us in their own way."
Jace was changing, evolving, but also dying. It was a monster, like those they fought in the war Its human skin had peeled back revealing a pale grey shape that took on the form of a chrysalis.
"Urgh!" shouted Jinnit who watched as Jace's inner skin darkened to a dull grey and started to harden. She finally believed.
"We must go in search," Sandar told them. "There will be others, but there are enough of us still. We must kill every one we can find." Hunta took his son's hand and stood up. "We will help you Sandar. After all, we were both fighters."

© Copyright Evelyn J. Steward. August, 2002.
Words 1062

Publication Date: 02-18-2011

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