The earth shook so violently that Cash and the others had to brace themselves against rocks and each other to avoid being thrown to the ground. She heard, in the background, cheering and whistling from the pursuing mob. After a long moment, the earthquake subsided enough for them to move again, and she looked around for a defensive position. Not far above them was an outcrop and a cluster of fallen boulders that they could take cover behind. It wasn’t great, but it was the best they were going to get.
“Up there. That outcrop.”
They turned and angled toward it, running and gasping for breath. Cash stumbled. Her strength was ebbing fast, and she struggled to suck in enough oxygen to keep going. Below, the lights were spreading out in the mob’s apparent flanking maneuver to trap them.
Romanski reached the outcrop first. Cash heard a burst of gunfire from below, and rounds snicked up around her as she threw herself behind the protection of the rocks. A moment later, Karman came sprawling in with Colcord and Reno. They huddled behind the boulders. As a defensive redoubt, it was not what she had hoped, but they were out of time, and it would have to do.
“Collect stones,” she whispered.
They began scouring the area, grabbing and piling up rocks. It was pathetic, but it was all they had. They were totally screwed.
Through a narrow gap in the boulders, Cash could see the Neanderthals spreading out on the slopes below the outcrop. Most of them were dressed in preppy outdoor clothing, with Nike athletic shoes, some carrying burning torches, others with flashlights. Many had spears, and one, the leader with the braid, toted an assault rifle.
The leader came to a halt at the bottom of the outcrop below them, an enigmatic smile spreading across his odd-looking face, no longer covered by a mask. Instead of the homemade camo outfit, he was wearing a button-down shirt, a down Patagonia jacket, and cargo pants. His face was so pale it almost glowed in the moonlight, his white-blond braid descending to his waist. There was nothing “primitive” about him, not in the alertness in the eyes, in his charisma, or in the smile playing about his lips. He was all too human.
The others were dressed in similarly neat clothes, some with long hair, braided or loose, others with shorter cuts. It appeared this was the same group she had seen around the bonfire in the mine—around twenty men, women, and children.
The leader raised the assault rifle and pointed it at them, casually spraying fire, the rounds smacking and zinging off the boulder they were huddled behind, showering them with chips.
The firing stopped, and the man said, “Greetings, Sapiens!” his strange whistling voice cutting through the thin air.
The other Neanderthals had moved up the slope on either side of the outcrop, and now Cash and her group were essentially surrounded.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” the leader sang, imitating the warbling voice of Glinda, the good witch from The Wizard of Oz.
“We’re not gonna stand up to be mowed down,” Cash called out. She tried to think of how to engage him. “Can we talk? We mean you no harm.”
The leader’s head tilted back, and he let out a thin, whistling laugh. “You mean us no harm! Now that’s a really funny joke!”
Cash glanced over at Karman. His face was covered with sweat, his eyes glittering strangely.
The leader went on, “I see you’ve been gathering rocks to throw at us. Really? Rocks? What are you, a bunch of dumb Neanders?”
He and the Neanders all laughed uproariously. He was clearly enjoying himself.
“Dr. Karman! You remember me?”
“Of course I do,” said Karman weakly. “How are you, Joey?”
“You read me pirate stories. Walking the plank, keelhauling, all that good stuff. And then later you taught me Shakespeare, remember? And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no. I have not seen you in a long time, Dr. Karman. Come out. I want to have a look. For old times.”
Karman didn’t move.
“Afraid?”
“Yes, to be frank.”
“I won’t shoot you. Promise.”
Karman was shaking.
Suddenly, Joey fired his weapon again, three rapid shots, the bullets smacking the rock, whining off into the dark. “Stand up. Now.”
Cash looked at Karman and shook her head. He was going to be shot.
Karman started to rise.
“Don’t,” Cash said.
“I have to.”
He stood up, his legs shaking.
“The good doctor!”
Karman said nothing. At any moment, Cash expected a burst of gunfire to cut him down. But it didn’t come.
The leader turned to the group. “Who’s your daddy? Karman is your daddy!”
This was going from bad to worse. None of them were going to get out of there alive. She tried to drive out of her mind not only the thought of dying but what they might do to her body afterward.
Karman spoke. “All right, Joey. Easy now.”
“Sure, it’s all right,” said Joey sarcastically.
“I want you to think about something.”
“Of course! Here comes the lecture!”
Karman stepped around the boulder and began walking slowly around the outcrop and down toward the man. “Not a lecture but a thought.”
“What thought?”
“We kept many secrets from you.”
This caused a brief silence. Joey frowned.
Karman quickly went on, “They were very careful with how you were raised—with what knowledge you were allowed to have. They allowed you to learn only so much—and no more. They were afraid of what you might become when you grew up. They shut off your education just before critical mass. But you! You all were too clever for them—especially you, Joey. You filled in some of the gaps and figured out things that made you angry. And rightly so. I was not part of throttling down your education. I argued that you should be taught your heritage and learn to be proud of it. I was on your side. Always.”
“All lies. You’re just another Sapiens.”
“No, I’m not. I’m your friend, and I think most of you know that. There is still much I can teach you.” He took a deep breath. “Do you remember the story of Adam and Eve and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?”
Joey stared.
“God created Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden. They were told they were free to do whatever they wished, except to eat the apple of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But … they picked and ate it. They couldn’t help themselves. They ate the apple.”
A silence had fallen over the group.
“That choice has now come to you. I am offering you the apple from that tree. Will you take it?” Karman took a step toward Joey, his hand outstretched.
At this, Joey laughed—but it had a note of uncertainty in it. He raised his rifle and pointed it at Karman. “Keep your apple.”
Here it comes, thought Cash.
Karman said, “Take the apple and eat of it. Ye shall be as gods, remember? Learn the secrets of being human.”
Joey’s sarcastic laugh cut through the night air. “You’ve got it all wrong. You actually think we want to be like you? You Sapiens, with your bleak and apocalyptic history? What a grim and self-loathing species you are! Look at what you worship as progress. The agricultural revolution turned you from free wanderers into slaves to the land. The Industrial Revolution robbed you of your souls and made you cruel. And the IT revolution gave you loneliness, hatred, and misery. What’s next for Sapiens in the glorious march of progress?”
A murmur of approval rose among the Neanders, like a congregation responding to a preacher.
“You’re the species of the apocalypse. You exterminated us, and you’re doing the same to thousands of other species. You’ve mortally wounded the earth. You didn’t just eat the apple; you destroyed the garden. And yet you go on and on, consumed with greed, addicted to comfort, soft and degenerate as grubs. You think we want to be like you?
His whispery voice had taken on the cadence of a preacher, generating sharp murmurs and expostulations of approval from the crowd. Some began to raise their hands in a fluttering motion to the sky.
“You speak of eating the apple? No! We’re starting over with God. We’re going back to His garden. We’re returning to His wilderness. We’re rewilding ourselves, and we’re going to start anew, in harmony with His creation.”
Harmony, murmured the crowd, swaying. Harmony.
Karman didn’t respond at once. He stood a little unsteadily on the slope as Joey raised the weapon and aimed it at him. “We have our God, Doctor. Time to pray to yours.”
“No,” said Karman. “No. Please don’t.”
Joey aimed slowly, his eye on the scope.
“Joey,” said Karman, shifting his tone into something soft and cajoling. “Wait. I can tell you where we found the DNA that made you.”
At this, Joey became still.
“You want to learn it? If you kill me, you’ll never know.”
A long silence. Joey continued aiming the weapon but did not fire. The others fell silent.
“Your DNA came from a burial found in a cave in France—a cave with beautiful paintings in it. Those bones were the remains of a Neanderthal man, one of the last of his kind. We used to think those paintings were done by Sapiens. No longer. Now we know Neanderthals created the oldest of those paintings and the bones in the cave belonged to one of those artists. We extracted DNA from the skull—drilling out bone powder from the cochlea, to be exact—and with that DNA we made you. That person buried in the cave, that artist, is you.”
The weapon faltered. Joey wobbled on his feet. He seemed completely unnerved by this.
“Do you remember the pictures you drew as a child, which I framed? They were remarkable.” Karman looked around at the others. “And all of you? I have your stories too. I can teach you what was withheld for so long—your patrimony. Your origins. Who you are. Each one of you.”
Nobody moved.
“You mentioned those pirate stories I used to read to you,” said Karman. “Remember what they did when they captured a ship? They invited the sailors to join them. If they did, they had to sign the articles and swear to become a pirate. If they didn’t, they had to walk the plank and die. I’ll sign the articles.”
More silence.
“What I’m saying is, I’ll join you. I understand you. I believe in you. I was the one who always protected you against the Sapiens.” He took a deep breath. “I created you, each one of you, from dust. Literally. Each one of you came from dust drilled from secret pockets of DNA trapped in ancient bones.”
There was a confused murmuring from the group. They had dropped their hands. They were uncertain, nervous.
“The Sapiens are coming to get you. It will be awful what they’ll do to you. Very soon now, their helicopters will be arriving in the valley, and heavily armed men will be coming up here in force to capture you and return you to bondage. You need to escape.”
Joey’s face twisted with emotion.
“Above us,” said Karman, raising his voice and pointing, “among those mountain peaks is a hidden pass out of this valley. It goes into a vast, uninhabited wilderness. Beyond that pass, there lies your promised land. No Sapiens live there—it’s all for you. I know the way. I will lead you. But we’ve got to hurry, because they’re coming. I will lead you to the promised land. I will share your destiny—if you’ll accept me. The decision is yours to make—now.”
Joey stared at him and finally, after a long moment, nodded sharply. “Yes,” he said. “We accept.”
A murmuring of approval came from the congregation. Accept. We accept.
“I must ask for something in return,” said Karman. “You will let these people go.”
“No,” Joey said.
“Joey? Let these people go. Empathy, remember? You need to practice it. You all do.”
“No.”
“It’s the price of my cooperation.”
Joey said nothing. The others looked uncertain, agitated, looking to Karman and then to Joey.
“Empathy,” Karman said. “Compassion. Practice it. Let them walk away. They had nothing to do with how you were abused and misled.”
Joey paused and then brusquely turned to Cash and the group. He waved his rifle. “Go!”
Nobody moved.
“You’re going to have to lay down the rifle before they’ll come out,” Karman said.
Joey laid the rifle on the ground.
Cash was the first to stand up, then the others.
“Go,” said Joey. “Get out!”
Cash began to edge out of the rocky outcrop, the others following. They walked around the outcrop and downhill, toward the line of Neanders. The line opened up to let them pass through, the Neanders glaring at them with fierce expressions as they passed by.
They continued past them, walking fast down the steep slope, trying to keep from stumbling. Nobody said a word—they just kept moving, not daring to look back, leaving the Neanders behind. Cash picked up the pace, angling away from the Jackman Mine entrance, from which smoke and fire were still pouring. She felt numb. Far down the valley, she could see the lodge continuing to burn, along with the movie town. And then, she heard the distant throb of helicopters and could see their blinking lights coming up the valley.
The rescue had finally begun.
Half an hour later, when they reached the tree line, Cash stopped, and they regrouped, recovering their breaths. She finally turned and looked up at the mountainsides. Far above, along a snowy ridgeline, framed against the stars, she could see a wavering band of lights moving northward toward the pass—and into the great wilderness beyond.