Chapter 29

All at once, there was a terrible, gut-wrenching blast of sound.  Some animal with incredible lungs let loose a horrible trumpeting noise.  Eve instinctively jumped to her feet in alarm and rushed to the entrance of their home to see what was happening.  Her children, exhausted from hunger and all the crying they had done, simply rolled off of her and onto the ground, drifting back off to sleep inside the blankets in what was now "The Children's Room".  It was no longer only Cain and Abel's Room.

Eve had never felt threatened by an animal before, but whatever had made that noise had instantly stabbed her through with bone-chilling terror.  Runt was also alarmed, for he was barking endlessly at the night; facing off towards the northeast.  The gorilla patriarch was next to her, also looking around in bewilderment.  The horse whinnied and stamped his foot while the sheep huddled closer together with the cattle.

She saw nothing in the darkness.  What on Earth was that? she wondered.  For several moments, everything was silent.  Even the insects were eerily quiet.  She heard literally nothing but the wind and the barking dog.  It only increased her anxiety.

Slowly, Eve began to creep out from the safety of her home to get a better look at her surroundings.  Why is nothing making noise? she wondered as she stared around her in the moonlight.  As usual, there was a dense fog engulfing the countryside.  It acted like a blanket smothering the world.  Besides the few animals left in Salem and her family, it was as if all at once God had removed every living thing from the world.  

She went east to the edge of the mountain.  It was a sheer drop down into the Salem River Valley far below.  The Salem River was the main river that stretched north and south for as far as the eye could see along Salem’s eastern borders, at the foot of the mountains.  

The Salem River was the primary source of water for everything that lived nearby.  Every day, Eve would take her children and the animals, and they would make their way north.  They would follow the edge of the cliff for some time until they came to a small and winding path that led down the mountain and safely into the valley.  Eve had named this somewhat narrow pathway "the River Trail". 

Once at the river, Eve, her children, and the animals would drink their fill and bathe.  Then they would head upstream and collect some fresh water in large, hollowed-out tree stumps or in big stone basins that she and Adam had chiseled into the right shape.  Finally, they would head back up the River Trail with their collected water, usually carried on the backs of animals, so that they could use it throughout the remainder of the day.

It was at the end of the River Trail that Eve thought she saw movement.  She had crept up onto a boulder near the northeastern edge of the mountain so that she could have a better look.  Sure enough, she thought she saw what looked like several smaller creatures dancing with something much larger.  And then, all at once, the larger creature let out another trumpeting blast as it fell over into the fog that swirled around it.  The smaller ones seemed to scurry all over it as if in some sort of frenzy.  Everything vanished in the mists only moments later.

As she watched, the gorilla came up beside her, hovering over her protectively.  “What is it?” he asked her, his keen senses warning him of danger even though he had never been threatened by another creature.

“I don’t know,” said Eve, her voice strained with fear.  “But I have to find out.  What if... what if one of those animals down there knows where Adam is?  What if there’s some sort of danger to my children?  I need to...” she broke off, fear choking her.  After swallowing it down, she continued, “I need to know what it is.  I won’t just let it sneak up on... on my babies.”

The gorilla patriarch was immediately protective of his queen.  “Let me go down there and find out.  You should stay here.”

Eve knew that there was wisdom in this, but she was also both curious about what was happening and stubbornly proud.  “No animal would dare harm me or my family,” she told him, though she wanted it to sound much more confident than it did.  “Besides, Runt is here to warn of danger, and we still have plenty of other animals that can defend Salem.  You and I will go and investigate and demand to know what is going on from whoever is down there.”

Then without another word, Eve boldly and proudly stormed off towards the River Trail.  Something in her mind was warning her not to be so proud but to be cautious.  Now that her pride had been triggered, though, it overrode her fear.  It propelled her forward to handle this matter herself.  

I will show them that I am not the weaker sex! she thought with fierce pride. 

The gorilla, following close behind, barked orders at several other animals to keep watch and be ready for anything.

When Eve and the gorilla reached the end of the River Trail, down in the valley, both were immediately stunned and mortified by what they saw.  A Juggernaut lay on its side as if basking in the pale moonlight.  It was a younger one, not much older than eight months.  

That was all they could ascertain.  They simply couldn't make out too many details from where they were.  The fog was too thick, and the light from the moon did little to aid them.  It only created silhouettes.

In later times, people would refer to these animals as woolly mammoths.  However, because of their size, Adam had simply referred to them as Juggernauts.  Almost immediately after these elephants had been made, they had discovered that the lands around Eden were too hot for their shaggy hair.  Therefore, during the first summer, when things started to really heat up, the massive beasts had left to find cooler climates.  They were among the first animals to depart from the land, leaving even before the Fall.

However, when the Cataclysm occurred, because the world had shifted so dramatically, those lands that they had migrated to became unbearably cold even for them.  Some of their kind had been frozen in blocks of ice when the world shifted dramatically and brought a sudden Ice Age upon them.  And so, many Juggernauts migrated south for the winter, back to Eden and the lands surrounding Salem.  This they now did every winter.

So their appearance in those lands was common because they often returned to Eden and the surrounding lands to escape the frigid north.  Seeing a Juggernaut, therefore, was not a surprise.  It was the fact that the Juggernaut youth had been horribly, viciously torn to pieces that shook Eve and the gorilla to the core when they finally came within range to determine what had happened.  

Neither Eve nor the gorilla had ever, in their six years of life, seen something torn apart like this.  They had never looked upon exposed innards.  Even when God had sacrificed the first animal to provide them with clothes, God had done the act with precision and care.  He had been more like a surgeon performing his duty.  The animal was killed quickly and mercifully.  He had skinned it with sorrow in His heart and He had done it quickly and efficiently.  Each cut was perfect, and He had never exposed the guts of the beast; though seeing it skinned was horrifying enough.

This was the opposite.  Even in the dim light of the moon, Eve could see that it was as if many sharp, jagged objects had dug into the Juggernaut’s sides.  The culprits had rent the mighty elephant apart by sheer force.  

It was then obvious, as Eve stood there with a twisted curiosity, that something had not only torn the insides out, but they also TOOK a bulk of the insides out.  Veins were jaggedly torn.  Organs were missing, or so Eve presumed they were missing.  Since she had never seen the insides of a creature, she had no idea what belonged in it.  However, it seemed to her that whatever had done this had removed a lot of the elephant’s guts.  It had ripped them out and had DONE something with them.  She could not comprehend what.

Eve stared for a long time at it.  She could not look away.  The image was forever embedded into her mind.  She would never forget it.  There was a terrified look imprinted on the Juggernaut’s face.  It told the story that something completely evil and vile had done this.  The dead beast had tried to escape, and to fight back, but it lost.  

Eve then found footprints near the buttocks of the elephant.  The footprints of the murderer!  No!  Murderers!  They were about half the size of the elephant's own prints.  They had long feet with three toes.  No wait!  They had maybe five.  There were slight impressions indicating that maybe two other toes existed but simply didn’t bear any weight.  The first toe had a small claw.   

“What made these prints,” Eve wondered aloud in disbelief as she crouched over them.  She squinted hard in the dark to try to continue to examine them.  She really needed more light to be sure about anything.  Fortunately, the moon was brighter that night.  Otherwise, she would have not even noticed them.  “I’ve never met an animal that made these kinds of prints.  It is almost like massive bird’s feet, but there’s something different about them.  Something... unnatural...”  

She then ran her forefinger along the edge of one of the prints.  She tried to cycle through all of the animals she had ever met from creation until that moment.  “Surely God made all animals so that their offspring would become diverse and be different from them,” she reasoned.  “There were seven types, or races, of each species and two of each race.  These seven races gave birth to offspring which then, in turn, mated with members from one of the other races.  In this way, new types were quickly created when one from each race combined their two types together.  So, many races of each species of animal sprang up quickly all around the world.  Certainly this could be a new breed of bird or...”

“Dragon!” Eve completed her thought after a moment.  “It reminds me of the Serpent’s footprints before he lost his legs.  The weird thing is, the dragon always half slithered and half walked wherever he went.  This thing is clearly walking on two legs just like a bird.  Could serpents have mated with birds?  I thought each species could only mate within its own species.”  She fell silent, contemplating everything further.

At the same time that she was investigating the footprints, Runt heard something moving behind him, and he spun around.  He was fully attuned to his surroundings.  When Eve and the gorilla patriarch had left, Runt had perched himself on the same boulder Eve had stood on to look down into the valley initially.  Nervous and worried, the dog had watched the entire time as the two descended down into the dark vale.

But the sound he now heard caused him to turn around and leave his perch.  He began to growl in the direction of the noise, and his growl was deep and ominous, even for a dog his size.  There was movement on the far side, nearer to where the sheep and cattle were, south of the Main House.  The dog slowly moved in that direction, watching and listening for anything.

Because of this, Runt did not detect the six creatures creeping out of hiding in the valley where Eve and the gorilla were.  If he had remained watching for a bit longer, he could have warned Eve and her protector of the impending ambush.

This was all according to the plan of the attackers.  Two of their kind had been sent to the opposite end of the mountain for just such a purpose.  They were to draw away any potential guardians so that Eve was either alone, or mostly alone.  

Besides, the monsters weren’t just after Eve.  They also wanted her children.  Their hope was that the two that were creeping into Salem at that moment might frighten the children out of hiding, thus exposing them to a swift attack and sudden demise.

In the valley, so intent was Eve on the footprint that she didn’t even notice the strange pack of two-legged beasts creeping up on her and her companion.  The gorilla, also, was paying more attention to her than to his surroundings, and so he didn’t detect them either.  

They were incredibly silent for their size.  About three meters in length, roughly the size of horses, the creatures had elongated snouts with very sharp teeth, stubby forearms with claws used for grasping, and spikes running down their backs.  

In the days prior to the Flood, they would be known as Shredder Dragons, for when they bit down on an enemy, their lower jaw would slide back and forth, shredding their victims to pieces.  In the Pre-Cataclysm days of the Earth, when Mankind would examine the fossilized bones of a few of these evil tyrants, they would be given the name Herrerasaurus.

The Shredder Dragons were quite intelligent and fierce, and they had but one mission.  They had been instructed very carefully to kill Adam and his family; in particular Eve and the children.  The pack of six had hurried into Eden and stealthily avoided detection by all.  They moved from shadow to shadow and darted from vegetation to vegetation to hide their movements.  They were patient and waited for all animal life to fall asleep or to depart from an area before they moved into it.  Finally, they had come to Eden and overheard that Adam had gone off alone.  He had no one with him.  He was vulnerable, but more importantly, so was his family.

So, they tracked a herd of Juggernauts to where they were grazing just north of Salem.  Timing their attack well, they darted out of hiding, startling the entire herd of elephants.  No creature in the world was familiar with being murdered by another, for violence was not yet a common practice even in the wild.  This meant that the elephants were terribly unprepared for such an assault.  

The youngest was easy prey.  The rest fled, caring only for themselves.  They had no idea that they had left their young behind.  The Shredder Dragons chased the youth all the way to the valley.  They did this purposely, for they knew that if they killed one of the elephants near Salem, it would make a tremendous amount of noise and thus lure Eve out.  They figured that her curiosity would be her downfall.  After all, from what they had been told, it was her curiosity and pride that had led her to sin in the Garden of Eden.  Her desire for knowledge had destroyed her life before, so they figured it would once again.

They finally surrounded the Juggernaut youth and tore him to pieces near the river.  Then they proceeded to eat his innards.  They did this to renew some of their strength, for they hadn't eaten in days.

Three of the dragons crept up on Eve from the south end of the valley while the other three crept from the north.  There was no way for Eve and the gorilla to escape.  All exits were cut off.  Besides this, each of the beasts was confident that they could easily outrun both of them.  So, even if Eve and the gorilla did manage to get through their perimeter, they had no doubt that they could catch them as they fled.  Eve was as good as dead, and the same was true for her children.

Their jaws salivated as each fantasized about being the one who would gain the prestige and honor for killing the Matriarch of Mankind.  Each wanted to be the one to deliver the actual death blow.  They had been told that the blood of Man was like the most exquisite delicacy, and the blood of the King and Queen of the Earth even more so.  They had been dreaming of this moment during their entire journey, each so pleased that they had been selected, above all others, to complete this very important mission.

Eve stood to her feet and turned back towards the torn up Juggernaut.  It was then that she saw one of them, and she froze in disbelief.  The dragons also froze for a moment, not expecting her sudden movement.  The gorilla, standing behind her, was still oblivious.  Most of the creatures were yet engulfed by fog.

And then, as swiftly as they had frozen in place, the Shredder Dragons pounced into action.  They had been training for months.  They had hunted smaller animals that were both fast and agile.  They had learned many things about how to work together as a team to bring down prey of just about every variety.  

They decided upon a favored tactic where their leader would lunge forward first.  It would perform a feint maneuver to draw their preys' attention.  Then, while the prey was distracted, two of the three from behind were supposed to rush forward and grab them.  They were then supposed to yank them off of their feet.  After that, they would pounce, pinning their foes down with their strong legs while they tore them apart with teeth and claws.  If either prey actually managed to escape, the remaining dragons would move to circle around them on all sides.

Eve, however, was no ordinary prey.  They had not anticipated her reaction.  Every creature they had encountered had instantly fled in terror.  Eve did not.  Her babies’ lives depended on her survival, and her motherly instincts overrode any fear and hesitation.  She became like a mother bear whose cubs are threatened.  As soon as the first one made a lunge for her, she reacted by dodging and lashing out.  

Back in the Garden of Eden, before the Fall, Eve had played many games with Adam and the animals.  These games usually involved some form of "Catch Me If You Can."  And so, even though Adam was the expert at avoidance, and he was even better at turning difficult odds to his favor, Eve had been his favorite opponent.  

Eve had enjoyed being chased by her husband, and she had learned very quickly how to escape from him and how to avoid his lunges and attempts to tackle her.  When Adam had enlisted the aid of animals, she had also learned a good deal about the tactics that they would employ.  She became so good at escaping that oftentimes she had to let Adam catch her just so that it would make him happy.  

Oh yes!  Eve had become quite good at predicting her opponent’s actions, and there were many times that she felt that she could have beaten Adam at his own game.  However, she had loved him so much that in the end she always rewarded him by allowing him to defeat her.

But these creatures were not Adam.  They were malicious monsters coming to kill her and her babies.  She didn’t need to be told this.  It was written on their faces, and her own instincts alerted her; along with angelic whisperings in her mind.

And so, those old skills came to her in a flash.  The first one lunged and snapped at the air to distract her.  She immediately sidestepped and twisted so that she was closer to it than any of them had expected.  This made it so that she could see all of her enemies easily as they came out of the mists and into the moonlight.  When the next one came at her to try to snag her and pull her to the ground, Eve lunged into its attack, ducking under the beast’s snapping jaws.  With intense force, giving it everything she had, she brought the back of her head up into the dragon’s lower jaw.

Adrenaline was pumping hard through her veins, combined with secret angelic intervention, and she was rewarded with a sound like the snapping of a dry twig.  Much to her surprise, she quickly discovered that violence like this was an extremely satisfying way to relieve some of the frustration and anger and pain that she had been feeling for years.  There was a sort of sick thrill that coursed through her as she hit the dragon’s jaw so hard, right at the joint, that the bone cracked and broke.  

As the creature continued to surge forward, Eve then twisted and rolled into the dragon’s feet, tripping it so that it stumbled and fell, smacking its jaw again and utterly dazing it.  At first, the rest of the serpents had no idea what had happened.  The gorilla, also, was stunned and unable to act, and so Eve’s actions had saved him.  The dragons were so shocked by what she had done that they had completely forgotten about her guardian.

For several moments, they had lost track of their prey.  None of them could see Eve until it was too late.  She came up next to one of the other two dragons, and she balled up her right fist and slammed it into the creature’s throat.  Her heart was pumping fast, and the thrill of battle was seizing her.  It was propelling her into continued action.  

The Shredder Dragon she punched spotted her at the last second, but it was too late.  The force of her strike damaged the creature’s windpipe, and it gagged and choked as it stumbled away from her.  Its head bobbed towards the ground as its little arms reached up instinctively to nurse the injury.  This threw it off balance, and it tripped and fell head first into its fallen comrade’s side.  The two were instantly a jumbled mass.

The third member of the trio that had tried to ambush her from behind then realized that its prey was far too close.  It tried to withdraw, but this only served to expose its right side.  Eve did not hesitate.  She seized the moment and dove head-first into its hip.  

She may have lost a lot of weight over the past five years from being malnourished, but she was still strong.  Carrying around three needy children all the time - not to mention the other manual labor that she did, meant that what Eve had was pure muscle.  When her head hit the dragon’s hip, it was as if the beast had been struck by a hammer.  The blow sent screaming pain up the beast's spine, and it toppled sideways.  When it hit the ground, it was between her and the last three dragons, so it acted almost as a low barrier.

The last three dragons then instinctively fell back to reevaluate the situation.  They had never witnessed anything like this, and they were still overwhelmed by surprise.  This gave Eve and the gorilla the upper hand.  

By this point, the gorilla had recovered from his shock, and he finally realized that they were in grave danger.  Reaching down, he grabbed a rock the size of his head.  Before the dragon Eve had tackled could even begin to recover, the gorilla brought the stone down with both hands as hard as he could, striking the exact same hip.  This popped the hip out of its socket, disabling his opponent instantly.  Then, without pause, he hurled the missile at the leader.  

The leader of the Shredder Dragons reacted more swiftly than the others, and it dodged out of the way.  This saved it from having its skull cracked open, but then it had no time to try to plan a new strategy of attack.  

As for its two companions, they lost their train of thought.  They only saw movement out of the corner of their eye from the gorilla, and they were sure the attack was coming at them.  And so, they reacted by splitting in two directions, completely dividing their unit.

With the first three that Eve had attacked crippled and fumbling over themselves to get back to their feet, and the other three divided, the Queen of the Earth had gained valuable time.  Her mind was quick, and she received divine inspiration once more.  In the twinkling of an eye, Eve took off running like a rabbit.  

She headed right for the carcass of the Juggernaut.  When she reached it, she dove onto its backside and rolled over it to the ground near its spine.  Then she sprinted for the head, aiming her trajectory for right between the young beast’s tusks.

The Shredder leader and its two companions immediately fell into predator mode.  They saw swift movement, and immediately their predator instincts kicked in.  To them, she was like a small rabbit fleeing for her life.  

The one closest to her bounded onto the Juggernaut and came down behind her while the other two hurried to cut her off from the other side.  Eve ran between the tusks just as the one behind her stretched out to snag her with its jaws.  She grabbed onto the tusk above her head and swung into the air just as the leader’s face came around to intercept her from the other side.

Both of Eve’s heels slammed right into the end of the dragon’s snout.  A geyser of blood spewed from its face as its head snapped backward so hard that it was looking in the opposite direction.  

This caused the leader’s body to tumble right under Eve, and so it slammed into her pursuer.  Both collided full force.  They hit the tusks, tripping on the lower and snapping the upper one right off from the sheer impact.

Eve rolled over the leader with broken tusk still in her hands.  Then she landed in a crouch just as the last dragon spotted her.  She knew from all the times she’d played with Adam that if she hesitated the creature would get her.  Therefore, she threw herself backward and braced the broken tusk into her shoulder with the sharp end aimed at her final enemy’s face.  

The last dragon’s mouth was wide open for the kill.  It didn’t see its death coming.  It thought Eve was merely fumbling about, and it assumed she was no longer a threat.  The tusk went right into its open jaws and tore out the back of its neck.  It bore down on her, digging the broken end of the tusk into her painfully.

Eve had just enough strength to twist and cause the dead dragon to fall sideways so that it wouldn't pin her under it.  Unfortunately, the tusk was torn from her hands, wedged into the beast's open jaws as it fell.

Panic then took hold of her, and she scrambled to her feet.  It was difficult to do, for she was slick with blood.  Nearby, the lead Shredder and its other companion were still struggling to recover, giving Eve the time she desperately needed.  She had only moments to make another decision.  Should she try to flee now or should she press the attack.

Again, angelic inspiration prompted her.  She dropped down to where the tusk was still sticking out of the dead dragon's mouth.  Then she yanked on it with everything she had.  It was slippery with blood and saliva, making it difficult to grip, but after only a few heart-pounding moments, the makeshift weapon dislodged from the still twitching corpse.

Then she turned to face the leader.  It had gotten to its feet, as had the one it had plowed into, but neither knew where she was or what had just happened to their companion.  They were disoriented and trying to get their bearings.

Eve noticed that they were standing side by side in such a way that if she aimed just right she could finish them both.  And so, she charged and rammed the point of the tusk into the leader's throat.  Once again, she braced the weapon with her right shoulder.  Because of this, she drove it in with all of her weight and momentum.  It tore through the leader's jugular and out the other side.  The leader then fell into its companion so that as the tip burst out of the one it pierced the other.

Savagely, using her rage and bitterness and pain and fear to fuel her, Eve let out a battle cry and continued to drive the tusk into both beasts.  She pinned them against the skull of the dead Juggernaut.  She did not stop until both stopped twitching.

Meanwhile, the original three attackers that she had left in a heap at the rear of the elephant had recovered.  This occurred just as Eve had taken off towards the head of the dead animal.  The gorilla patriarch noticed them, and he recognized that he should seize the opportunity to strike while they were still confused.  

With no weapon of any kind, the gorilla simply leapt on the first one and punched it in the eye.  This was the one that had a dislocated hip, and so the force of the blow easily knocked it off balance and to the ground again.  

The second, the one with the broken jaw, was grabbed by the throat a moment later.  Instinctively, and in desperation, the Shredder raked the gorilla's chest in self defense with his claws, but the gorilla ignored the pain.  He hardly felt it due to his savage state of mind.  With incredible strength, he jerked and yanked at the monster’s head until he soundly snapped its neck.  He then tossed the dragon to the ground as if it was a useless doll.

As for the last dragon, the one with the broken windpipe, it wheezed as it saw its fellows fall.  Unprepared for this sort of outcome, it merely stood there as the gorilla finished off the last of its companions.  Finally, as the enraged primate turned towards it, the serpent snapped out of his stupor.  

The gorilla patriarch rushed at it without pause.  The Shredder turned in fright, planning to run.  He leaped upon it before it could properly make its escape, and his feet slammed into its collar bone and knocked it over.  Then his fists pummeled the dragon’s head over and over again, as if he was violently beating a drum.  Several times, the Shredder tried to snap back at him, and it bit him and raked him to no avail.  The great ape did not relent.  Within moments, the skull of the dragon was shattered and its blood and brains were flying everywhere.

The crippled dragon with the smashed eye was now like a whooped puppy.  It also tried to get to its feet and run.  It should have just played dead, because if it had, the gorilla would not have noticed it.  Lost in a surge of bloodlust, the gorilla was not about to allow his enemy to escape.  

Beating his chest with bloody hands and letting out a battle cry that would cause even the hardest of hearts to feint, the gorilla attacked.  A moment later, he had turned this monster's face into a bloody mess as well, just as he had his last adversary.

Eve staggered away from the dead dragons, her whole body shaking from the stress and exertion.  Realization was now slamming into her.  I... I killed them, she thought wringing blood out of her hair.  They were... they were trying to kill me and... and I... I killed them... I... they're dead... I took life!

But if you hadn't, you'd be dead, a voice inside her head reasoned with her.  You did well, Eve.  Now you have to pull it together.  Your children.  They need you.  NOW!

Just then, Eve's mind registered distant barking and growling.  Her heart leapt into her throat.  "The children!" she cried hysterically.  This caught the gorilla's attention, and he looked over at her just in time to see her bolt for the River Trail.  Without needing an explanation, he pursued.