with grandmother and Tanaka. Their compassion comforted me in more ways than I could imagine.
After a while, however, the labor silenced me.
Rippling waves of throbbing pain crushed my abdomen. Sweat poured down the sides of my face as I pounded the rocky floor beneath me.
I’d heard horrific stories of women enduring labor for hours and hours—even days! The mere thought of spending one more minute living with this agony was bad enough; I didn’t even want to consider the idea of suffering through days of this!
“Shhh…calm, child, remain calm.” My grandmother sat on one side of me and smoothed my damp hair away from my face. Tanaka was firmly planted on the other side of me, holding my hand. Both wore a strange expression, one that I couldn’t quite describe.
They looked…sad.
“Tanaka?” I exhaled sharply as I breathed out his name.
“Yes?” He seemed to force a smile.
“Tell me about my mother.” I stared up at him with pleading eyes. As much as I really wanted to know about her, I also wanted him to distract me from the pain.
Tears welled in his eyes as he began. “Oh, she was truly beautiful. Inside and out.” Nostalgia embraced his face, overtaking the distressed expression he wore only moments before. “She was truly a rare and perfect soul.”
Warmth like I’d never known possessed my heart. All the years of hating her for leaving me behind were washed away in an instant. He’d loved her deeply, it was evident.
I glanced over to Keanu who was guarding the tunnel and felt such gratitude. Even with all the awful experiences I’d had over the last few months, I was now glad they happened. Meeting Keanu, finding my dad and now giving birth to my baby, life somehow made sense.
Directing another question to Tanaka as I fought through another powerful contraction, I asked. “What…was my mother?”
His eyes immediately moved from my face to the floor. Taking in a deep breath, he began to explain.
“Your mother…told me about the prophecy.” My eyes widened both with interest and in response to a sharp contraction. “She told me that the earth is going through changes, big changes, along with its inhabitants.”
Confused, I pushed myself up onto my elbows. “Changes?”
Grandmother, who’d been busily tending to the needs of my laboring body, frowned when I sat up.
Ignoring her, I waited for him to explain.
“Yes, the prophecy states that a new age will be born…along with a new race of humans.”
Intrigued, I almost forgot I was in labor.
“I don’t understand.” Frustrated with both my body’s intense pain and his story, I glanced around the cave. Looking at the inside of the cavern, I felt strangely underwhelmed. I guess I’d expected the cave to be more like it was in my dreams.
This cave looked just like any other. No Roman numeral II painted on the walls and ceiling, just stark, rocky slabs with the occasional sharp protrusion.
“Cassia.” My father caught my attention. “There’s more.”
Nodding, I tried to focus my attention on him and away from my pain.
“Your mother…and you… are unique souls.”
“Unique?” My voice was coated in awe.
“Your mother said that she gives birth to her new body in every lifetime. Her soul then transfers to the newborn body…until the prophecy is complete.” Pausing, he let the information settle, then continued. “Once the prophecy is complete, the new humans will usher peace into the world.”
“How will we know the prophecy is complete?”
Shaking his head, he responded quietly. “I do not know.”
Digesting all this new information, I realized that his explanation was only creating more questions.
Sensing my confusion, he added. “All I know is that you, your mother and the ones that preceded her are the beginning of the prophecy. The star on your chest is the sign that the Hopi people had been waiting for…a sign that the new world is at hand.”
Sighing, the information swirled within my thoughts. Still enduring my labor, I turned to him and asked. “What makes us different? My mother and I, this star, my blood…what does it all mean? Are we…aliens?”
Caressing my face with his hand, he chuckled at my question. “No, you are not an alien. You are evolution. All beings must evolve, humans are no exception. You are the next step in human evolution.”
“So, are there others like me?” I grunted in pain after my question, but he continued none the less.
“No…not yet.” His answer was cryptic.
A million questions churned inside me, but before I could ask, a piercing shot tore through the cave. My ears rang as I tried to ascertain what was going on.
Chaos ensued as my grandmother screamed and backed against a far wall of the cave. Tanaka threw his upper torso over me, trying to shield me.
“Get down!” Keanu yelled, his voice filled with a mixture of fear and anger. “Someone’s in the tunnel!”
Peering over my father’s shoulder, I trembled as another shot resounded. The bullet sparked off the wall behind Keanu, narrowly missing his head.
His hands raised in a defensive stance, I heard yet another shot fire and saw Keanu fly backwards into the wall of the cave, blood spraying from his right shoulder.
“No!!” Screaming as horror filled me, I watched as Keanu slid to the floor, unconscious and bleeding profusely.
The sound of footsteps echoed around us as someone made their way through the tunnel of the cave.
A dark figure finally emerged from the passageway.
Inhaling sharply as I recognized the intruder, hatred consumed me instantly.
My eyes narrowed into slits and my voice was a low growl when I finally spoke through gritted teeth.
“Meyers.”
Meyers circled me, his gun drawn and pointed at my father who had pulled a knife from his boot and was poised to fight.
Glancing at Keanu’s unconscious body propped against the wall of the cave, I prayed for him to wake up and save us. I could tell he was still alive because his chest was still moving but with his wounds, I didn’t know if he was going to survive.
Following my gaze, Meyers’ commented on Keanu’s lifeless body. “Just thought he’d want to join his sister. Took care of her personally…if you know what I mean.” He sneered
“You bastard!” I screamed, clutching my belly in pain.
“Come on old man!” Meyers’ eyes were wild with exhilaration as he eyed Tanaka’s knife.
Tanaka and Meyers circled around me, waiting for the other to strike first. As they moved to the front of me, Meyers pointed the gun directly at my father and simply said. “Ugh, I’m bored of this.” He fired two quick shots into my father’s stomach and laughed as he watched him seize his stomach and fall to the ground.
“No!!!” I screamed and reached for him. My father glanced once at me, smiled and then I watched as the light faded from his eyes.
“Hello freak.” Meyers smirked as he eyed me up and down. “Hmmm, gained a little weight I see.”
“Fuck you!” I spat, reaching for a rock beside me. Finding one a little smaller than a baseball, I held it close to my side, waiting for the perfect moment to throw it at his face.
“Thank you for screaming earlier, by the way.” He snickered. “I never would have found you otherwise.”
Disgust poisoned me as I looked at his face and realized that the baby could be his. I didn’t want to think less of her, but it was difficult as I looked into the eyes of my assailant. Memories of his body pressed to mine as I was shackled to the cot flooded back into my thoughts. Bile rose in my throat with the idea of his hands on me…of him inside me.
An overwhelmingly painful contraction suddenly took me by surprise and I cried out, clutching my belly with one hand and squeezing the rock hard with the other. An intense pressure unlike any I’d ever known seized my lower half.
