Jake's Dilemma

“I-hate-you,” my brother wheezed, leaning against a large oak and heaving like a prized bull. I’d been forced to slow my pace twice now just so he could keep up. We were close to four miles from Locke’s Church, but still ridiculously behind schedule.

We should already be on the beach by now. This was going to be a problem. Kees was not the patient or forgiving type.

I was about to tell my brother we needed to get going when a series of coughs broke free from his chest, violently ripping from his throat and mouth. Crimson flecks glazed the Forrest floor. Lungs like tissue paper were just one of the many aliments the Cataclysm had blessed him with, along with all the others born during that horrible year.

I had told him not to come.

“Yeah, well…” I huffed, using the break to catch my own breath, “At least I got it, didn’t I?”

“We, Jake, we,” he corrected, wiping blood from his nose and mouth. “WEEE got it.”

Right… We.

“That’s what I said, ya dolt.”

He took a step next to me. “Ya think they’re okay?” he asked. “I mean, if they broke after all that…”

Huh. Now there’s a fun thought.

I gingerly pulled my handkerchief from my pocket, saying a small prayer before unwrapping it.

Two broken halves of a brass locket sat perched against the tarnished fabric, so rusted a gust of wind could threaten their very existent. One of the last metal objects left over from the Cataclysm.

Thank god!

“Still good, brother,” I said, carefully tucking the priceless treasures back in my pocket.

No one knew why some metals had been spare when those caustic clouds descended fifteen years ago, but the ones that did went from priceless to holy faster then it took society to eat itself. In a blink all metal on the planet had been wiped away, and billions of people died as buildings and cities got rendered right out from under their feel.

Churches quickly formed around these holy items, creating the bedrock for the new world order. A world order that put my brother and I squarely in the “trash” category, but all that was going to change. I just had to get that damn locket to Kees.

In the distance a hound brayed, and my eyes find my brothers.

“Ya nervous?” I asked.

“Na. You always find a way to get out of crap like this.”

I smirked. “Yea. I do, don’t I?”

And with that we were off again, jumping logs and ducking branches. The hounds were getting closer as we neared the edge of the forest.

We just had to make it to the canoe I stashed on the other end of the beach.

“Come on!” I called, racing onto the sand, my brother trailing and clutching his side. He must have caught his foot on something because he stumbled and fell. I cursed and ran back for him.

“Damn it, I told you not to come,” I growled, getting a shoulder under him.

“I didn’t… want… to be left… behind,” he stammered, spraying my face with blood.

“I would have sent for you, ya dolt! Kees said once I got the locket to his church upstate he’d send someone to collect you.” My brother’s body seized in a massive charley horse, and he pulled me down into the sand with him. I threw handful of it at him in frustration. “Provided I don’t get killed getting the damn thing out of here.”

The baying behind us redoubled. They were getting close.

“Come on,” I said, hauling him up. “Keep moving, or you’re puppy food.”

“Na,” he said, leaning hard on me as we ran up the beach to a canoe. “They’re always happy to see me. I was the one that fed’m, remember? That was my job.”

“Yup,” I grunted, all but carrying him now.

How could someone so sick be so heavy?

“And if Locke sets them on your trail they’ll ‘happily’ rip out your throat!”

I finally slammed my brother into the boat, frantically pushing it into open water. That’s when the first hound broke free of the thickets, thundering onto the beach.

My brother’s face blanched, staring behind me. “Faster, Jake! Faster would be better!”

“I told …you… not to… COME!!!”

My brother fumbled at something on his hip, his eyes shooting wide. Panicked I tried to dive into the canoe, loosing my footing before I jumped. I landed half in half out of the boat as a heavy weight landed on my back. I tried to protect my neck from canine teeth, but they never came. Confused, I picked my head up. The hound’s body slid off me and into the water, my brother’s bamboo shiv sticking out from the hounds floppy ear, buried to the hilt.

“You okay?” I asked, looking from the dead dog to my brother.

“Yup,” he said, breathing and bleeding heavily from his mouth. “Can we go now?”

More braying came from the forest, accompanied by hoof beats. Lots and lots of hoof beats.

I pulled the shiv from the dog and slid it into the back of my pants, then kicked off the beach, hopping into the canoe and paddling for all I was worth. By the time Locke and his crew hit the waters edge we were already out of bow range and on our way to Kees.

***

The man standing in front of us was bare-chested with a large metal key dangling from a cord around his neck. Unlike the locket, this key still looked whole and solid. He wore linen pants and no shoes.

“You’re late,” said Kees, crossing his arm, the key nestling in thick chest hair. “Did you get it?”

“Yeah,” I answered, pulling my handkerchief from my pocket. “I got it. I apologize for the delay.”

His priests wasted no time ushering us to the church when we landed. Now they had vanished on Kees’ orders, leaving just the three of us inside.

Kees carefully took the handkerchief and opened it.

“We have a deal then?” I asked, extending my hand.

Kees eyed the handkerchiefs content, then me.

“Not entirely.”

Ice water shot through my veins, and I looked to my brother. He was worse than I’d ever seen him. Blood had dried thick on his face. He gave me a weak shrug.

Kees tipped the handkerchief towards me. One piece of the locket was still intact, thank god, but the other? The other had been reduced to fine powder.

My mouth hung open, my brain frantically trying to find the right words that would keep my brother and I alive. Nothing came.

Finally Kees spoke. “It is not without value,” he said, gently blowing the powder to the floor. “But a change must be made. The original deal was two halves for two souls. Those souls would be granted safe passage in my lands. Those souls would be allowed to flourish and grow, unmolested and unhindered. But I do not have two halves, do I?”

He let that hang in the air as he pocketed the locket, walking past us to the doors of the church. “Something must be done.” He stood in the open doorway, his hands folded regally behind his back.

My brother looked at me, confused. “What… what does that mean, Jake?”

I took a breath and met my brother’s worried eyes with a warm smile.

“It means I have a decision to make, John,” I said. I walked to him, hugging him fiercely. “I love you,” I whispered. Then I slid the shiv between his ribs and up into his heart.

He didn’t suffer, I made sure of it. Not like he did in life. Just two deep inhalations, and then he was gone. I pulled the shiv from his back, slowly lowering him to the church floor. Kees said nothing as I walked past.

“He should have listened,” I said, descending the steps of the church, “I told him not to come.”