The Participants (7 page)

“You care about them too much,” Elza
said.

“I'm sure the Creator cares too. He made
them, after all.”

They watched in silence from on top of the
rock for most of the day. Elza thought the distance weakened their
observations, but at least the contamination caused by Hess was
limited. The tribe was lazy after the previous night's ritual. Men
lounged about, receiving food from their women.

When Hess cooked bread, the other women
laughed. Elza positioned herself to overhear their conversation.
“Hess traded Dalana for that one. She doesn't even cook for him.
Chase says Hess grows weak. He wants to challenge Kallig.”

Hess contaminates
everything I observe here,
Elza thought.
Still, she couldn't help but be fascinated by the
circumstances.
I'll stay until they kill
Kallig. Then I'll leave this tribe.

The remainder of that day was uneventful.
Hess completed his length of rope and used it to replace a worn one
on his tent. Elza studied the elaborate construction of the
shelter. It had a boxy frame of poles bound together with rope.
Rushes padded the floor. Deer hides draped over the frame, then
tucked under where they met the ground. Inside, heavy rocks held
the hides tight, sealing the tent against drafts. The design was
unique in her experience.

She slept soundly for a second night, then
followed Hess through the woods while he attempted to hunt. “Chase
is planning to kill Kallig,” she said.

“Kallig is the father of Chase.”

“They don't seem to like each other very
much.”

“That's because Kallig killed the uncle who
raised him. Kallig knows how the tribe works. The same thing he did
when he was young will be done to him.”

“I have this idea,” Elza said, “that groups
of people are a system. Like how mountains have different kinds of
trees than valleys.” She struggled to find words to explain the
concept. “You know, like how you can predict the moon and the
tides.”

“What are tides?”

“If you spent less time in one place, you
would know about the sea.”

“I know about the sea. It is a large lake,”
Hess said.

“Bigger than any lake. It has so much water
that the moon affects it.”

Hess laughed. “Is that what the people told
you?”

“No,” she said. “I reasoned it myself. The
moon pulls on water like the ground pulls on us.”

“I never saw the moon pull the water.”

“Because you never move somewhere new.”

“I have been all over the world. The place
where I was born became so cold that water turned hard and fell to
the ground. No one around here has ever heard of such a thing.”

“I've heard about snow. But it's not real.
The tides are.”

Hess laughed. “Walk north as far as you can,
Elza. When the first snow comes, you will know that I've traveled
more than you ever claimed.”

“And you can try finding the end of the
world,” Elza said.

“Walk north, Elza. You lose nothing if I am
wrong.”

She stumbled when stepping from one rock to
another and landed in the stream. Hess sighed. “We might as well
return to camp. The men will think I've gone simple-minded. First I
trade Dalana for you and now I fail at hunting.”

Elza ignored his hand and extracted herself
from the stream. “You spend too much time learning skills. You
should be observing.”

“Let's get you back to the tent.”

“Your tent is too fancy. It draws attention
to you,” she said.

“You'll wish you had a tent like mine when
you learn that snow is real.”

They trudged through the
woods back the way they had come. The fact that Hess returned
without success did draw attention.
Of
course he's the best hunter of the tribe. He probably makes the
best rope, too! The only thing he can't do right is the one thing
he should be doing.

Before they reached their tent, one of the
men, Chase, called out to them. “Are you afraid to hurt a deer now,
Hess? I think your man parts fell off when you got your new
woman!”

This is the first time a
man other than Kallig has insulted Hess since I've been here. Chase
is announcing his intentions.
Elza glanced
to Hess, curious how he would react. Hess shook his head. “The
challenge will come today or tomorrow,” he whispered.

Inside the tent, Elza wrapped herself in the
bedding while Hess hung her pants to dry. “Why do you care if
someone challenges Kallig?” Her question grew in volume with every
word. “That man is a monster! He deserves to die the same as his
victims!”

“I know!” Hess turned his back to her. “I .
. . took care of Kallig for a year when he was just a child, until
his uncle took offense at an outsider raising his blood.”

“Why
?”

“He was a child, Elza.”

“Children learn from the
people who raise them!”
Though Hess didn't
make much of an impact on Kallig. Still, this guilt should be
exploited.

“You know the part that bothers me? I made
things worse. Kallig murdered his uncle and became the most brutal
leader in the history of the tribe.”

Elza collapsed back into her covers. “For a
moment there, I thought there might be hope for you.”

He forced a laugh. “If there's one thing I
know for sure, it's that the two of us will never agree on
anything.”

“You're not one of them. They're not even
real, Hess.”

“Real enough.” Hess settled into his
blankets, face away from her.

They didn't speak again until the following
morning. Elza woke hungry from missing dinner and shook him awake.
“I want breakfast,” she said.

“My woman used to bring me breakfast. Now I
bring my woman breakfast.”

“I'm not your woman. I'm an Observer.”

“By the tradition of the tribe, you're my
woman.”

“I am not your woman.”

“I'm pretty sure you are.”

“I want breakfast.”

“You know where the fires are.”

“I'm not going out there by myself.”

Hess smiled without opening his eyes. “Never
thought you'd admit that.”

“If I presented a convenient target now it
would be interfering,” she said.

“Well, we can't let that happen.” Hess
rolled out of his cocoon of furs. The camp was eerily silent for
midmorning as they walked to the fires. None of the men had left to
hunt. Everyone was waiting for something to happen.

Their appearance was the catalyst.

Kallig called to them. “Cook food for your
woman, coward!”

“Quiet, old man!” Chase stood, spear in
hand.

Kallig had his spear ready. Something in his
stance told Elza that the man had known this challenge was coming.
He knew his time was at an end – either today or some day soon.

The two combatants approached each other,
crouched with spears held in one hand by the ear, and proceeded to
shout insults. Elza watched the encounter, analyzing their bravado,
trying to determine how much of the show was for their audience and
how much was for themselves.

When it seemed like no real conflict would
happen, Chase charged straight at the older man. Kallig threw his
spear and missed by a hair. Then Chase drove his spear home. Kallig
turned the fire-hardened tip aside with his ribs, then roared in
rage and punched Chase.

Chase reversed the motion of his spear and
slammed the butt into Kallig's face. Kallig shook off the strike
and tackled Chase. Only when the maneuver was complete did it
become obvious that Chase had gotten his spear tip in place so that
Kallig's lunge drove the point into his soft abdomen.

The younger man rolled free and punched the
air in exultation. Kallig clutched at the spear impaling him. “I am
the strongest man,” Chase roared. He reached down and pulled his
spear free. Kallig groaned. “I kill you, old man!”

And then Hess was there. “Stop!”

Chase turned to face the new threat, raising
his spear again. “I don't fear you, Hess! I am in charge now!”

Elza shook her head,
mouthing the word
no
at Hess. This was bad. So very, very bad. Worse than she ever
imagined.

Hess kicked Kallig's spear into the air and
caught it. Standing upright, spear held casually, Hess bared his
chest. “You throw first, Chase.” The larger man backed away two
quick steps and kicked at the vegetation in a fit. “This isn't
fair! You never challenged Kallig!”

I might as well get
involved. Nothing I do can make this situation any worse.
Her voice projected in the expectant quiet.
“Hess, even you have to admit this is wrong. You can't stay with
this tribe. We need to leave today.
Now
.”

Hess looked down at the wounded Kallig.
“We'll wait until Kallig can travel.”

“He can't come with us,” she said.

“No,” Kallig growled. “I
don't need you to save me, coward. I don't fear death. I am a
man!
This
is how
a man dies, coward! Show him, Chase! Show the coward how men live
and die!”

Chase hefted his spear, then hesitated.

“Get out of his way,” Elza said. The moment
Hess stood aside, Chase moved in for the kill, driving his spear
into Kallig, pulling it free and stabbing in rapid succession,
leaving a bloody, gasping mess of a man.

Elza seized the arm of Hess. “We're leaving
now.” He didn't resist. While Kallig died a violent death, they
prepared two travel packs. “You know that was wrong,” she said to
him again and again.

Finally, Hess snapped. “I know!”

“You can't participate.”

“What's stopping me?” Hess hefted his spear.
“The Creator made sure we knew our duty, but He never bound us. I
can act however I wish until the day the sky opens. Then the
Creator can unmake me if I am unfit to observe. But until then,
what stops me? What stops me from destroying this tribe? What stops
me from forming one that works the way it should? What stops me,
Elza?”

She took the spear from his hands. “I stop
you, Hess.”

“How can you be sure that I'm wrong? Do you
think the Creator would do nothing if He were here?”

“She would never be here, Hess. The Creator
creates. We observe. When this world ends, the Creator will create
again and we will observe again.”

Hess lifted his pack and settled it on his
shoulders. “Maybe. Maybe not. The Creator might not want me in His
flawed creations.”

“We'll leave that decision to Her. Until
then, you're an Observer. Now walk.”

“Do you prefer a particular direction,
woman?”

“A
way from here.”

“North it is.”

Flames licked the soles of his bare feet. The
pain it brought struck in waves, alternating between excruciating
and unbearable. Zack struggled against the duct tape binding his
legs in place to the metallic frame, but his struggles did no good.
His screams were equally futile. He continued both
anyway.

The heating ring of a water heater provided
the fire. In a twisted way, he appreciated the technical skill
necessary to construct the torture device. The woman named Erik had
converted the ring to run on propane, which burned hotter than
natural gas. She had welded a heavy-duty weight bench to the fire
ring and braced everything with steel bars. The roll of duct tape
trapping him in place held him better than rope.

Erik watched him throughout like a master
technician at her craft. She leaned forward to apply the welding
torch in her hands to his big toe, causing the nail to snap in half
from the incredible heat. The pain struck a split-second later,
flaring out to consume his entire leg, so intense Zack wouldn't
have known it originated in his toe if he hadn't seen it.

“Remember I promised you something special,
Hess? It should be here soon. You haven't forgotten that we took
Elza first, have you?” Erik tightened the knob on the propane tank,
killing the flames. She waited until his flesh returned to perfect
health. “I will torture Elza for a long time after you are buried.
I will twist her mind until she hates you. The cute little love
story ends in tragedy, Hess.”

“I'm not Hess.” Zack's voice broke.

“You wish you weren't.” Erik took out her
phone and began to type. “Every few Iterations the Creator comes up
with something that just blows my mind. I thought the texting craze
was ridiculous at first, but now I'm hooked. You want to ask a
question but don't want to get sucked into a conversation? Send a
text. If we go back to the stone age next Iteration, I don't know
how I'll deal.”

A bleep came from her phone. “They're
bringing her out, lover-boy.”

Zack remained silent. With
a detached rationality, he knew he could not escape. The other
Observers had every advantage – superior numbers, lifetimes of
skills, weapons,
mobility
. Convincing them he was not
the renegade Observer they sought seemed the only way out of the
situation, but they responded to his protests with anger when they
responded at all. Bearing their punishments until they buried him
alive was the only other option.

The thought of being trapped in the dark for
years, possibly centuries, sent a chill to his core. He didn't
think he could survive such a thing. Yet, deep down, he wondered if
he deserved what they did. He had given seven million dollars to
charity. He had married a woman. He had forced a man to murder him
and landed on the national news. It was a long list for just five
years of life. The Creator might be best served with Zack interred
in an unmarked grave.

Why would He create someone like me?

The barn door squealed as it opened. The
black man called Drake and the man called Ingrid dragged Bridgette
into the barn before securing the door once more. Bridgette moved
forward in a daze, arms bound behind her back.