The Beginning
Copyright © 2001
 by
 Scott Wanex

It was comfortably cool.  After the heat of the day, that was welcome.  She loved the heat of the sun but the cool of the desert evening was nice.  The glow of the dimly lit terminal reflected on her sun darkened cheeks and make her almost white hair shimmer.  She used a pointed stick to select from the touch sensitive screen rather than lean forward.  She didn't think about the incongruity of a young woman living in the badlands, dressed in hand sewn animal skins, operating a sophisticated terminal that tied into the global network.

She was sipping a synth-ale and, from the end of a foot long knife, she was eating roast lizard, that she'd killed with a round stone launched from a sling, earlier that day.  A bit of grease ran down her bare chest.  She absentmindedly wiped it off with one finger and licked her finger clean.  For an uneducated, wild, mutie, she was remarkably well informed about world events.  She'd passed as normal until she was fourteen then her world had ended.  It had all started with voice message on her pager.  No, it had started a week before that but she didn't know it.

In high school, there was periodic random testing.  A blood sample would be taken and usually forgotten.  Sometimes diseases would be found, sometimes illegal drug use would be detected and there would punishment and sometimes a student would not show up for class anymore.  When that happened, you just didn't talk about it.  Lecia had never known anyone who had vanished, but she'd heard of it.  Never did she ever dream that she could or would ever be one of the missing students.

Her pager had vibrated.  She was between classes so she quickly turned off the signal and pressed the small device to her jaw bone so she could get the message by bone convection audio.  She heard her mother's tiny voice, and even by bone convection, she could hear the panic in her voice.  Her brow wrinkled and she felt total confusion.  Why should she leave school in the middle of the day?  Why was she not to tell anyone she was leaving?  Why was she to take a shuttle and then walk so far?  Lecia was confused but that very confusion insured her immediate compliance.

She was tired and more than a little scared.  She'd followed the instructions on her VM and they were taking her through a ruined section of the city.  This section was really ruined!  Nothing living, not even a rat was to be seen.  This must be a high rad area and she wondered if she was being cooked, but that was stupid.  Her mother would not tell her to be here if she was in danger!  She was really scared now and she was working hard not to cry when a tall man stepped out of an alley and blocked her way.

"I'm your guide.  This way, Miss," he said and walked back into the alley without even looking back to see if she was following.  She was!  As scared as she was, this stranger was a welcome sight and she trotted to catch up with him.

"Hey, wait a minute," she called.

The man spun towards her.  "If you want to stay alive, be quiet," he offered in a rasping whisper.  He turned and continued into the alley.  Lecia felt thrill of fear, but what could she do?  They navigated a labyrinth of alleys and finally emerged into a semi open warehouse where a small flitter craft could be seen.  He punched the remote and the front and rear gull wings opened.  "Get in back," he said softly.

"I..."

He had gotten in and the gull wings were silently closing.  Lecia scrambled towards the closing wing and it bumped her and quickly reopened.  She scrambled into the back seat of the vehicle.  They rolled into the open and accelerated sharply but only followed the streets, not gaining any altitude.  They quickly reached the edge of the city and entered the badlands that surrounded all cities.  He piloted the craft high enough to clear ground obstacles but not high enough to attract attention as an aircraft, she figured.  They were clearly trying to avoid attracting attention.  The flight was fast, low and scary.  Lecia was tightly gripping the rear seat hand holds almost frozen with terror when they began decelerating and she could see her fathers land rover in the distance.  She heard a low curse from the front and saw two black and white police flitters streaking towards the rover.  The rover braked and began a hard turn when twin streaks of fire reached from the sky to the ground.  Her father's rover erupted into a flaming mass of rubble that would never move again.

The shock of what she'd just seen coursed through her body and she felt an emptiness, a void of blackness, that could never be filled.  Tears came to her eyes and her throat felt swollen, but the sharp bank of the flitter she was in, tossed her painfully to left.  She felt herself thrown back against the seat from violent acceleration.  She'd never felt such power before.  There was a sharp lurch and an explosion to her right.  A gash appeared in the canopy above her head.  They were diving, climbing and violently twisting.  The wind rushing through the gash was hurricane roar that was whipping her hair into her eyes with blinding force while multiple explosions tracked their progress..  The small craft seemed to stand on it's tail and claw skyward.  Air rushed from her small area and frost formed on the hand rails.  She was freezing and suffocating.  Black spots formed before her eyes and she slid limply to the seat, unconscious, her last thoughts of watching her father die.

Her head hurt.  It felt like the top of her skull had been torn off.  Something warm and slimy was on her breasts and there was a tearing pain between her legs.  She groaned and opened her eyes and stared into the face of the man.  He was the pain between her legs. His hot mouth had been the warm slimy sensation at her breast.  Consciousness and thought slowly returned and she finally realized that she was being raped.  She started to scream but he showed her a huge knife and an evil grin.  She froze, said and did nothing.  He pawed and fondled her and finally he tensed.  She felt a hot warmth inside of her and suppressed the urge to vomit.  She closed her eyes and wanted to die but thinking about what that knife would feel like ripping her throat open make her whimper with pure terror.

The man had stood and fastened his trousers.  He pulled her out of the damaged flitter and sat her on the ground.  He reached in and removed a pack and tossed it next to her.  "Paid for and delivered." he said.  He got into the flitter and prepared to take off.  "Look, I'm sorry about your parents, but I've done what I was paid to do.  Even if you are a mutie, you're a cute kid. Good luck."  The desert grit blown by his departure stung her body and caused her to shield her face.

The sun was setting and she hurt.  She'd wiped his slime from her body and straightened her clothes.  She lie on the hard ground, using the pack as a pillow.  Sleep claimed her sobbing form.  "What did he mean, even if I am a mutie," she wondered as thought faded.

Lecia awakened, shivering.  She'd never been so cold in her life.  She huddled next to the boulder in the darkness.  Fumbling for the pack, she opened it felt in it, hoping to be able identify something warm by touch.  She felt a softness and pulled it out.  Yes!  It was a jacket.  She quickly shrugged it on and hugged herself, trying to conserve body warmth and fight the chill of the night desert.  It helped.  A little, but she was so cold!  A scuffling noise caused her to hesitate.  There was something in the darkness and it was coming towards her.  Shivering, she tried to remember what could be in the desert.  Her mind raced but she'd not even considered the possibility of what was revealed as a dim form facing her.  The moonlight revealed the short powerful form of a Garg.

A Garg!  One of the more hideous forms of mutation possible.  Rumors and legends suggested that the Garg was the result of genetic engineering that was in progress when the strike occurred.  Due to their physical deformities they could never approach a city, but even though they appeared animal like, and could not clearly speak, some of them were remarkably intelligent, and colonies of them survived in the badlands.  They had been hunted to virtual extinction and considered almost a myth, but one was approaching her.  She could see that they really did have fangs and the power of the misshapen body was clearly evident.  She whimpered briefly considering that the knife would have been an easier death.

The Garg approached her and squatted.   She frantically tried to vanish into the boulder that was at her back but it made no attempt to harm her.  It reached into a pouch at it's waist and remove an object and held it out in one hand to her.  She looked at object and into piercing yellow eyes.  She looked back at the object and realized it was a fur.  A fur that could be used as a blanket.  She reached forward, snatched it and wrapped the warm fur about her body.  Oh, it was warm.  She clutched her self and pulled the warm fur over her head and breathed into it to warm herself with her breath.  A few moments passed and she began to feel warmer.  Her shivering slowed and she began to think more clearly.

The Garg stood and grunted.  She stared at the large being.  It grunted again, holding out a hand towards her.  She realized that it wanted her to come with it.  What could she do?  She figured her death was almost certain and painful if she tried to run or even stay alone, here, in the desert.  Without the fur the Garg had given her, she may have been dead of hypothermia before morning.  She took a deep breath and held out her hand.  A strong grip gently helped her to her feet and a grimace she sincerely hoped was a smile greeted her.

It seemed that they walked and walked and walked.  Her body ached, she'd been raped and seen her parents killed.  She was in semi-shock.  The world started spinning on her and she saw the ground rushing towards her face.  She felt herself caught and gently lifted.  Again, consciousness faded and she knew nothing.

The smell of breakfast slowly penetrated her consciousness.  Mum must be making her breakfast.  She snuggled into the warm fur dreamily awaiting a summons to eat.  Fire, fear, pain and emptiness filled her mind.  Her eyes snapped open took in the sight of a dimness that opened onto a harsh light.  The hideous being squatting beside the low pallet on which she lie actually was holding a plate of delicious smelling food and making the grimace she'd correctly assumed to be a smile.  She painfully raised herself to a sitting position and reflexively took the plate.  The aroma assailed her nostrils and the grumbling of her stomach reminded her that the last time she'd had food was a distant memory.

The mass on the plate looked like steak and eggs.  She picked up the spork (a combination spoon and fork) and tasted.  "Oh my," she thought.  "This good!"  She chewed.  "This is delicious!  This did not come out of a protein tank."  She stabbed at the "steak" with the spork and it tenderly separated.  She chewed and closed her eyes, savoring the rich flavor.  It was not steak but it was very, very good.  There was a tang of a pepper sauce and she'd not had something this rich and flavorful in her life.  She quickly finished the food on the plate, and smiling in thanks, returned the plate to her host.

In return, she was handed a piece of paper.  She looked at it and felt tears fill her eyes.  "My Darling, If you are reading this, I am dead...." it began.

The letter had been remarkably brief and to the point.  It told her that she was a genetic "sport" and could not live in society.  Tulf, the Garg facing her, was friend of her father's and would lead her to what was going to become her new life.  It told her to trust him and assured her, that as time went on, she would learn more.  She dropped the letter to her lap and tried to think what all this meant.

Tulf took the letter and gently put in the pack she'd been carrying.  He handed her some hiking clothing and said, "Put on.  You dreff now. We go."  He smile a Garg smile and left her alone in small cave, to give her privacy to dress, she guessed.

She quickly removed yesterdays bloody and tattered school clothing.  She grimaced and dropped them to the cave floor.  Slipping into the clean and comfortable new clothing was almost like a rebirth.  With a belly full of nourishing food, sleep and clean clothes, she almost felt optimistic.  She picked up the pack and stepped into the morning sunlight where Tulf waited for her.  He took the pack from her, opened and began removing some items.  We wrapped a web belt about her waist and fastened it.  He tapped the large knife hanging from the left side and then the canteen of water over her right hip.  "Nefer fo'get," he said.  "NEFER!"

Lecia suddenly realized the shape of his mouth, tongue and fangs was altering the sounds he was speaking.  Some sounds, he just couldn't make.  It was like he had a speech impediment.  As long as he spoke slowly it was difficult, but not impossible, to understand.  She felt sheepish about what she had been thinking.  She nodded.  "Ok," she said.  "I'll never forget."

Tulf smiled and shrugged on her pack.  "We go befo' too hot."

She nodded and followed him.  He was not much taller than she.  At 5'7" she was tall for a 14 year old girl but she only weighed 110 pounds.  Tulf must weigh 240 or more.  His legs were slightly bowed and thick as tree trunks.  His waist was surprisingly narrow but his chest and shoulders were massive.  His visible skin was hairless and burned almost black by wind, sand and sun.  His huge arms, semi-stooped posture and animal like face with large protruding fangs, made him a horror figure of fantasy.

Lecia turned the warming synth-ale up and drained the can.  She sighed and touched the disconnect on the terminal and watched the screen go dark.  She sighed again and wiped the tear from her cheek.  She hadn't thought about that day for a long time.  "Wonder what brought that to my mind," she sadly mused.  Standing, she shed her clothes and sat on her sleeping pad.  Anther sigh, and she lie back and let sleep take her.

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