unami Sow

It looked like snow. The blanket of grey and white cascading out the car window. It reminded me of Kyoto, seven years prior, a trip with my late husband. We sat in a Ramen shop slurping as a dusting of snow danced down the small window. Covering the red shingled roofs. I can still taste the broth, the warm spoonfuls hitting the pit of my stomach. That was our last time traveling together before it happened. A jolt from the SUV shook me out of my japanese daydream. Except it wasn’t snow. Ash rain they called it. Every few days or so a precipitation of soot, debris and ash from a scorched landscape would rain down over us for hours painting the world gray, a daunting reminder of what we have done. I wish I had savored the Ramen more in that moment, food, my mouth starting salivating, the pangs of hunger in my side jutting as each minute passed. They called it a “revolutionary bio technology”. After the third world war, many of the natural ecosystems were destroyed, causing an imbalance of the prey and predator amongst nature and agriculture. An invasive species of insects thought to be endangered began to emaciate crops across the world. A group of scientists out of Europe created a synthetic soil that would neutralize the species. That was the plan at least. The trials were successful. Farm land was replaced by the nano bio tech soil one by one, after 7 years the soil had gone rogue. It became like an infectious disease it mutated, food wouldn’t grow and if it did it was poison. It spread to natural soil, it burned in the heat. Forest fires began to arise on marijuana farms that were attempting to salvage crops against government regulations. The entire west coast of America burned, it eventually made its way across the country “the great blaze”.

Famen. The bread basket of the world was now a graveyard. America was in famen, the world was starving. The search for fertile land became our mission. Millions died, Millions, people reverted to a savage like state. Primal, we were catapulted back to a time of hunter gatherer in a futuristic metroplex. America was cut off from the rest of the world. Those that survived the fires, looting and a third wave of invasions from countries thought to be allies, broke up into groups. Families were separated, the sick and weak were left behind, children abandoned. Many of the wild animals became rabid from starvation and deer eating the mutated produce infecting big game predators. Not all were affected by the biotechnology, some had a genetic resistance to it. The “God” gene. If we hunted them there was no telling if they were safe to eat from first glance. We had to slice them open and examine the organs which was a waste of time and resources. It was estimated only 23% of mammals were safe for consumption. Twenty three percent, in the entire world. The SUV bounced over rubble as we made our way south. The rumor mill was, somewhere near central america there was fertile soil. The rainforest remained intact and unaffected by the tainted earth. We had no proof; just faith and a shit ton of gasoline. The rainforest is the most bio diverse place on the planet, maybe just maybe the whole damn thing has the god gene. The Internet was wiped out, cell towers destroyed in the flames, satellites cast out of orbit, some crashing back down to earth. So we navigated south the old fashioned way, using maps, landmarks, and also my keen intuition, a sheer sense of “go that way!” which more often than not turned out to be correct. My “tribe” a very unlikely cast of souls, consisted of three modified Land Rovers of the greatest people I have ever met. Except for my late husband, he would have loved them. We called ourselves the Unami Tribe. All previously well traveled in hopes to taste the world again. They became my new family. Sean, who was driving, was not sympathetic to passengers for his aggressive off roading. He was our leader, our chief, our rock. An ex marine, he did 4 tours of WW3. He doesn't talk about it much but he wears it on his face, his eyes are like the desert. They burn with passion and pain. Deep carmel, with flecks of sage and gold when the light hits them. He was beautiful but he was broken, I think that’s what made him a leader. If he were to die on this mission, he sure as shit wasn’t scared to, as he would often say “ he’d die for us and if he died, he’d die bloody”. There were five of us, and me, a perfect six. I’m Eniko. Which Ironically means Deer. The innocent beings whom in their gluttonst grazing, created a genocide. They can’t be blamed entirely, it was a domino effect that led us here, more so, humanity attempting to play god. Six of us, three men and three women. Sean, Uriel and Dex. Me, Dhruti and the firey Athena. We paired off two to a car, we filled the rest of the space in the rovers with supplies and as much jerky we could muster for long hauls without camp.

“Thinkin of him again?” Sean said in a cool tone with his gaze fixed on the unpaved terrain as the Land Rover bobbed. “What gave it away?” I replied still freshly out of my reverie. “You're making the face, you go all blank like you're somewhere else.” Sean teased. In my mind I was somewhere else. Kyoto, with warm beef broth, real snow, the smell of jasmine tea and my husbands sandalwood cologne that I bought him at a gallery party in midtown. It was one of a kind, so I could smell him coming. It was home. I sunk deeper into this memory, it always stuck with me. As we were rosy cheek slurping our noodles a beautiful japanese young woman came to our table, she smiled and handed me her fortune cookie. As she bent over our table to give it to me, an ornate gold heart shaped locket fell out of her blouse, dangling over us. Revealing a single emerald at the top. Something about this locket dazzled me, like it was enchanted. This memory plays in my mind like slow motion. Then she was gone out the door as she giggled away. I cracked open the cookie, to read “ Your many quests will be fruitful.” with a bunch of random numbers underneath. I kept the fortune for years at our flat. Jameson, my late husband, pinned it on his bulletin. I can still smell him now, our place, our old life. “Have you ever been to Japan?” I asked Sean, he made a scrunching face towards me. “Never made it that far East kid, I could go for some damn rice though.” He sarcastically responded. “It’s beautiful there” I said simply. The ash rain began to clear, Sean had created a protective wax out of tree sap and other military concoctions so the vehicles would have visibility during our man made weather. “ I think we are getting close! I can feel it, what has it been now? Four hours since last camp?” I said to Sean in reassurance. Just as I did a glimpse of green made a cameo in the front windshield what looked like half a mile ahead. “You gotta be kidding me!” Sean rattled following with a loud “Woohoo” and fist pumping “We got green baby, sweet mother of mary we got green!” Sean exclaimed. He slammed on the horn wooing out the window and throwing his fists in the air to the cars behind us. Returning beeps and shouts were sent in acknowledgment from the other rovers that this was not just a mirage and they saw the promise of vegetation too. Dex was blasting an old country song screaming the lyrics out the window, he somehow managed to salvage an old Mp3 from the 2010’s so we at least had some music left, all oldies. We propelled forward Sean pressed harder on the gas speeding towards the greenery. We had vegetation left up north, but most of it inedible, infertile, false promises of nourishment. This looked different, it glowed with life. We drove clear south through Mexico, most of it scorched. Sean said we have to be approaching the Guatemalan territory, our goal destination, Costa Rica, the Gem of central America. Sean said if any place were to be saved, preserved, it had to be Costa Rica, that is being it wasn’t overtaken by a militia cartel.

Unami Tribe formed 2 years prior, at a refugee camp in Asheville at the old Biltmore estate. The camp was full of Alphas, survivors, ruthless and highly intelligent wanderers. It was Sean who said to go south, only six of us went, Unami, we aren’t sure what became of the Asheville refugees, they were running out of food and water and the fires were showing no sign of stopping when we journeyed south. Athena was my first friend there, she has auburn red hair, eyes like ice, and a temper that could melt steel. She became my sister, she is fire, I am earth. I am mixed, Asian, african, middle eastern, caucausion, a common thing now, Athena with her arien looks was a rarity. We drove further and embarked upon a lush jungle, the ash still following behind like a ghost haunting us of our catastrophic past. Sean made sure we drove along the coasts rather than inland, if we stay close to water we survive. He knew how to convert salt water into consumable water which is what sustained us. “Eighteen Kilometers south and we'll make camp on a beach if there’s clear flat sand.” Sean radioed the other cars of the plan. I haven’t seen so much green in months, I had hope again.

We found a clearing and began to set up camp for the night. Sean and Uriel harvested water. Athena and I made the fire, Dex and Dhruti surveyed the terrain for possible life. As we piled in the final logs we heard a loud shrill of terror in the distance. It was Dhruti, an Indian oil heiress turned refugee, sprinting towards us, her bronze skin shimmering in the lowering sun, her long jet black hair trailing behind her. Then two gun shots, and a cackling roar of an animal. Dex, an ex arms dealer, was almost as good of a marksman as Sean. Dhruti approached camp in a panic. “They’re everywhere!” She screamed, as we see Dex bolting back along the sand towards the tribe, gun in hand. “What is?” Athena inquired, “They looked like Jaguars, but they, they’re mutated, there were carcasses, human, animal, everywhere!” Dhruti stuttered through her breath. “We gotta get out of here!” Dex shouted! “Pack up, Pack up!” We have never been this far south. We didn’t know how the bio tech affected the species here, it wasn’t burned, so it had a longer time to marinate, change, breed. The vegetation looked viable, but like they say fools gold tricked many miners. Sean’s head hung low for a moment in disappointment, then began packing the supplies in a robotic fashion. “What happened?” I asked, “A big cat , I mean big, charged right at us, there was at least five of them lurking where the trees meet the beach, one lunged at Dhruti, I shot it square in the eyes, they were strong, they have been feasting on, well it looked like everything, we have to go further south.” Dex explained in horror of the scene. “We’ll have to camp in the rovers tonight. It’s almost sundown, it won’t be safe to drive with the headlights alerting predators, pair up pack up.” Sean commanded the group as we haphazardly loaded camp back into our vehicles.

The magnifying glass of sun through the window burned my cheek as I woke from the passenger seat. Stiff and unrested, we nibbled on jerky to hold us over. Uriel and Sean were already gassing up for the long day's journey. Uriel was quiet, an engineering genius, he could make a battery out of a leaf if you gave him enough time. He looked like that old famous actor, what was his name Johnny Dupp? He did those classic movies with the pirates back when they had theaters. He didn’t know he was quirkily handsome. We traveled south for days, we were able to camp two nights, but thus far it was looking nih. The most gruesome was when Sean stumbled upon a village, they starved or were poisoned or eaten, every single person,a fatality, it was just a pile of bones, he could see where they were trying to plant crops but failed. I was the seed keeper, I kept organic seed packets of different produce, in a satchel tied closely around my waist. In the hopes that we do find fertile soil, we can rebuild, re-grow. Maybe the natural soil would prevail over time, we didn’t know what would happen. It was my duty and it was sacred. I used to be a health and lifestyle blogger in Manhattan, before well, all of this, It was symbolic that I hold the seeds. I used to have an urban garden on our rooftop, we were totally eco sustainable. Weeks passed as we made our way through Honduras and Nicaragua, all bio tech mutations, the wild life was a completely new eco system on it’s own. We were assumed to be the only survivors passing through the territory. What seemed to be an Oasis was a desert jungle. As we approached the border of Costa Rica, a familiar but shocking sight, scorched earth. They looked like man made fires, it was done clear across as far as we could see. “See this?” Sean said as he slammed on his brakes and jumped out of the car, he kneeled down and rubbed the dirt between it’s fingers, it was cool. The mutated dirt would get scorching hot from friction, Sean looked up at me and smiled with a wink. He grabbed his radio still crouching near the tires, “I think this is it tribe, I think we made it, forward 100 kilometers.” The train of SUV’s rolled forward when we came to a clearing, and there it was, green. We all parked and got out of the vehicles, “We camp here tonight.” Sean bellowed while taking out his gun. Athena and I were leaning on one of the rovers when I heard a familiar sound. Wings flapping, a Macaw landed on the roof of the rover, calmly, squawking. Sean immediately raised his weapon, sniping the bird, a green feather landing by my boot. He grabbed his knife and cut the flesh, “It’s clean! It’s clean!” He shouted in relief. “They must have burned the borders to keep the mutated soil from spreading, they must have.” We found an abandoned village near what we presumed to be coastal Liberia. We camped there for weeks. All of the protein was clean. Sean gave me the clear to start seed trials. Dhruti Athena and I cultivated a plot of land outside of our camp. As I was digging, creating rows in the dirt. Something caught my eye, a shimmering beam from under the dirt, I took my bare hands and dug into the cool soil. A gold chain immersed, as I pulled the rest of the object from it’s grave I was overcome with bewilderment. It was the locket, the exact one the woman was wearing in Kyoto, the single emerald reflecting the light like a bat signal. Tears began to fill my eyes. This is where I will plant my first seed, and then I remembered what the fortune said. Could this be real? Could this be a sign from Jameson? I knew in my gut this was the land to begin planting right here under my feet this is where we would rebuild the world. I handed Dhruti and Athena each a packet of seeds and smiled, “Here.” I said “Right here.” They were both astonished by my confidence, I never showed them the locket. We danced and sang around the fire that night, Sean and I made love for the first time. We bathed in the ocean, screamed and cried, we were animalistic warriors, redeeming humanity, from what was once godless to authentic self, our true souls. Uriel fashioned a radio from things he found in his ventures outward, we sent a message to signal any other survivors that we were here. After 17 days, Sean and I went back to water the crops, we prayed and hoped the seeds would take, it was still a pile of dirt. As we surveyed the rows sprinkling with our cans, it was there right where I found the locket, a single sprout peaked through, the row was labeled “Corn” I took Seans hand and led him to the sprout. He dropped to his knees, a mourning sob from deep in his chest exhaled, I cradled his head in my hands holding it to my stomach and whispered to him as we both cried “Your many quests will be fruitful.”