Hatchet Logic: Part 3

Flash Fiction #44

Trevor sat on a tree stump, staring into the dwindling fire, shrinking flames licking wood, white with ash. He lost count of how many times they had fled from the blob, only to end up back in the forest, where they had first found the hatchet.

Penny held up the crude weapon, inspecting it in the moonlight.

“So, you’re saying we did this before? Doesn’t look like much. What’s so special about it?” asked Penny.

“I already told you; it’s the key. The blade is made from stellar steel, and we will use it to escape this invasion,” Trevor sighed. Or… we can just wait here.” He shrugged.

“Don’t be daft. We’re going to die if we stay here. What about this Warden guy? He will help. That’s what you said, so come on!” Penny scolded, thrust the hatchet into his lap and started to walk in the wrong direction.

Trevor shook his head and slowly got up. “It’s this way.”

When they reached the warden’s hut, Trevor stopped. Each time, they had found the hut empty, but now, voices whispered inside, voices Trevor instantly recognised as their own.

They perched outside the window, peeking at their identical twins, exhausted and about to pass out.

“This must be the first time we came here, an echo of the first loop?” Trevor whispered to himself.

“Who are those two? They can’t be us, because… because we are us and they are not!” Penny threw the door open, barged inside, and was about to give the imposters an earful of her profane eloquence, but the hut was empty. “What the hell?”

Trevor entered, and they were back at the Needle.

“Uh… I think I’m going to be sick…”, Penny retched.

“Yes, spatial-temporal displacement is hard on the stomach. Sorry about that,” said a voice behind them.

“Ezekiel?” Trevor turned to face the old warden.

“Did you find it? Did you change it? Did you accept it?” Ezekiel said with haste, grabbing Trevor by the shoulders, urgency in his eyes.

“Did I what? Let go of me!” Trevor winced free and fell backwards into darkness. When he woke, he was lying in a red velvet bed with Penny beside him. From somewhere far away, Ezekiel’s voice echoed through space and time. Accept it…

They both sat up, staring at each other when the screens around them came to live, showing countless versions of themselves at various stages of their journey, making out in their car, running from the red menace, finding the hatchet, meeting the warden, fleeing from the spreading blob, racing across the land, from city to city, until their last stand on top of the Needle and now, watching themselves, lying in bed, looking up at a screen, infinitely.

“Penny…” Trevor’s hand searched for hers.

Penny was already up, wearing a blue jumpsuit uniform, hatchet in hand, looking for an exit.

“It’s over. There’s no way out. This… this is it. Forever.” Trevor muttered in resignation.

“I’ll be damned if I get done in by some red goo. No way. We’re getting out of here. Get up!” ordered Penny.

“We just have to accept it, Penny. Then it will end.”

“Accept this!” Penny hit the nearest screen with the hatchet. Sparks flew. She trashed all the screens one by one, until the room was filled with smoke and broken rays of light painted over Penny as she fell on her knees, holding the hatchet out in front of her.

“Feeling better?” Trevor said, now beside her, gently taking the hatchet out of her hand and helping her up.

“Where is that warden?” Penny spat.

Trevor tried to hold her, but she pushed him away.

“Show yourself! Let’s bury the hatchet,” shouted Penny.

Ezekiel’s fragmented face appeared on all the broken screens, staring down at them like some mad god.

“Accept it.” Ezekiel’s voice filled their minds.

The voice grew louder and louder, and an ever-increasing high-pitched whine slowly drowned out the voice. Still, it increased, reverberating violently inside their tympanic membranes.

At its culmination, all screens flashed, displaying a fragmented Earth, tainted red. Then, it exploded. An entire planet disintegrated into tiny bits of rubble in the blink of an eye. The screens went dark once more, and in the silence that followed, two words echoed faintly, lingering in the vacuum that stretched before them.

They stared with incredulity as it dawned on them that they were no longer on earth. Earth was gone, destroyed. Accept it.

A certain calm came over them as the vastness of what had transpired penetrated their synapses and gave way to what can only be described as utter despair and disbelief. A great emptiness spread inside them, preventing any particular thought or impulse, a near catatonic state in which they stood in silence as the room around them dissolved, ultimately revealing their actual location.

“Welcome aboard the Exodus!” boomed a voice behind them. Ezekiel spread his arms, or what passed as arms amongst his species, gnarly sticks that looked like oily branches covered in moss.

Their brains tried to process Ezekiel’s true form, but the intricate organism escaped any definition. So they saw only a tangled mess of mossy limbs, a body made from vines and wood. Instead of a head, there was a hint of a human face, the face they remembered, projected by what seemed to be coming from inside the thing itself.

When Ezekiel approached, they could hear leaves rustling along the floor, and the scent of pine trees filled their nostrils. It all lasted but a moment, and then Ezekiel stood before them as they knew him.

Seeing their blank stares out the viewscreen at the floating rubble, Ezekiel nodded.

“I am sorry, but there was nothing we could do. No amount of loops can remedy this. We tried. Yes, Trevor, you did your best, as did all the Trevors before you. And Penny, of course, you too,” said Ezekiel with a smile.

They looked around them and, for the first time, realised that they were not alone. On both sides, rows and rows of stasis pods stretched as far as the eye could see, holding hundreds, thousands of others, children, men, and women.

“Are you going to eat us?” was all Penny could say; it seemed a plausible assumption to her, given the circumstances.

“Eat you? Good lord, no. We are peaceful photosynthetic organisms. We do not eat people,” explained Ezekiel.

“Peaceful? You destroyed our planet,” said Trevor in a shrill voice.

“Regrettably so. We saved many, though, and, given the right guidance, you can start over on your new home. Who knows, in a few generations, all this will have passed into obscurity and you will once more live out your short lives in blissful harmony,” Ezekiel pointed at the viewscreen that showed an exoplanet, orbiting a star, much like Earth.

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As March passed, I fell ill and had more time to consider the lilies. I remain mostly absent from Substack, busying myself with editing the final draft of Carter, revising Draft One of Spherean and a “filmy” project, telling AI to program a web app to catalogue movies and TV series, a new project, which I shall share in due time. Here’s a sneak peek.

filmy – coming to a browser near you…

More on “filmy” in a future post.

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