Spirits of the Earth: The Complete Series: (A Post-Apocalyptic Series Box Set: Books 1-3) by Milo Fowler (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📕

Harris nudges me. “They see their mutations as part of a religious blessing from some higher power.”

I flash back to when I crash-landed out of the chopper. Hearing the voice of my daughter, followed by the voice of my wife. Gale-force winds thrashing those mutant creatures to death. Was that the intervention of a powerful spirit-being? Is that who this Gaia is?

“Only two of us remain.” Margo again makes eye contact with me in the rearview mirror, confirming that I’m listening. “There were more in Eden, many others, but our leader had them all exterminated—anyone who showed signs of being different. My friend and I, we are the last of them.”

“Your leader sounds like a real monster,” Lemuel says. “What’s his name?”

Again, Margo’s eyes focus on me. “Arthur Willard.”

Harris squeezes my arm but says nothing. Of course I recognize the name.

“Your friend—you don’t mean the flying man. He’s from Luther’s tribe, I think.”

She nods. “My friend’s name is Tucker. He is already there, where we’re headed.”

“Luther’s cave?” Disdain runs thick in Lemuel’s tone.

“Milton said you would be welcome—”

“I don’t doubt it.” A derisive laugh. “Luther has been trying to get our people to join him for months now. If I’m going there, I must truly be in exile.”

“You don’t like the guy,” Granger observes.

Lemuel turns to face him. “Luther and his people are infidels. They’re blessed with the same gifts and abilities as my people, yet they refuse to worship Gaia for all she’s done. Instead, they choose to follow a false god who doesn’t even show his face to his followers.”

“This is incredible,” Harris whispers, “to see this sort of religious fervor resurrect itself after a century of post-religious advancements throughout society worldwide. It’s as if they have gone back to the Dark Ages!”

I nod absently, tuning out the doctor well enough.

“You’ve seen this Gaia then?” Margo glances at Lemuel.

He pauses. “She appears only to Cain. Our chieftain among chieftains.” The phrase sounds bitter on his tongue. “He’s the mediator between us mortals and our divine mother.”

“Then how do you know she’s even real?” Granger voices the obvious question. “I mean, if your head honcho is the only guy seeing her, couldn’t he just be…I don’t know. Making her up to keep himself in charge?”

The kid frowns at his ignorance. “Gaia has blessed us with all that we have. We would not be able to live as we do without her. Besides, Victoria has told me that she senses our mother’s presence hovering over the earth. She knows Gaia’s light.”

Margo seems willing to accept that at face value, for the time being. “Did she tell Cain that these ambassadors from the United World would arrive?”

Interesting term: ambassadors. Not soldiers or scouts. The word she chose implies a mission of peace, which, in all honesty, was why we were sent here in the first place. We hadn’t counted on being blown out of the sky by heavily armed creatures suffering from massive deformities, or hunted by high-speed superhumans. First contact was our primary mission—as well as saving the future of humankind. But after all we’ve experienced, it’s painfully naïve to think that when we arrive in Eden, the transfer of the fetuses will be a peaceful transaction.

Lemuel lowers his voice, but it’s unclear why. “Cain said they were looking for trouble and that Gaia had used the goblyns to…shoot them down from the sky.”

“Goblyns—a fitting name for those creatures,” Harris comments. “The mythology here is fascinating!”

Granger chuckles again. “We didn’t come looking for any trouble, kid. But we sure as hell found it!”

“It found us, rather,” Sinclair corrects him.

“Your leader believes that Gaia is opposed to the UW presence here, and he has stirred up his people against them? All because a few well-armed mutants decided to fire a missile at their helicopter?” Margo frowns at the logic of it. Or lack thereof. “Couldn’t it be just as likely that the creatures were hungry and hunting for their next meal?”

“They’re always hungry,” Lemuel agrees. “But Gaia made them do it. Why wouldn’t she use them to serve her will? They are hers to do with as she pleases. As are we all.”

“She made them,” Margo clarifies.

“Of course. Just as she made us as we are.” He glances back at my team. “Those who have pure hearts are blessed with amazing abilities, while those with evil inside them are changed for the worse. We were transformed after All-Clear, but the goblyns were deformed.” He shrugs again. “Gaia moves in mysterious ways. They are not our own.”

Granger has paled noticeably. “Now let me get this straight…” He leans forward, gripping the back of Lemuel’s seat as Margo takes us through another patch of rugged terrain. “There’s a fifty-fifty chance here? We might end up like you two.” He gestures at Margo and the youth. “Or just as likely, we could turn into something like those freaks that shot us down?”

Lemuel nods. “Gaia alone decides your fate.”

“How-how long? Until I know?”

Sinclair scoffs, half to herself. “Don’t be a fool.” She reaches to draw Granger back into his seat, but he brushes her hand aside. More and more, they’re acting like an old married couple.

Lemuel looks Granger over. “Were you wearing a helmet like theirs until only recently? With your own air supply?”

Granger’s nod is a quick jerk.

“It may take a while, then. Perhaps weeks.”

Granger curses and falls back into his seat. “So I’m a freakin’ time bomb.”

“You don’t honestly believe any of this,” Sinclair says quietly to him. “It’s religious babble created to explain the inexplicable.” She faces Lemuel and speaks up, “Are there scientists among your people?”

He shakes his head. “We’re all from the labor sectors. But that was before my time. I was born in the bunker.”

“They allowed your mother to become pregnant?”

“She already was before we were sealed inside, the story goes. Cain said it would be all right, and nobody questioned him at the time. They still don’t.”

Margo’s eyes