Ezekiel's Eye

The small child held his arms up and beamed at the woman. Bright sunshine lit up his features as he waited for that glorious moment when she would lift him high and hold him close. His plump backside bounced expectantly on the soft green grass and his adoring gaze never left the face of the woman who stood two metres away.

He waited.

The woman was smiling down at the child as quiet tears fell from her eyes. Her breathing was deep and overly controlled. Her face was frozen with eyes locked onto the adoring face of the child, whose arms were still outstretched. Even as his excited bouncing slowed and his beaming face transformed into a wide mouthed and angry frenzy of tears and anguish, the woman’s straining smile persisted. His distressed shrieking underscored her betrayal.

Soon the woman was forced to stretch and twist her body to keep the child in sight, and her deranged smile was rendered into a grimace of horror and grief as their vision of each other was finally blocked by the herder that was circling him. She recoiled slightly as it turned towards her and hissed, baring cat-like teeth.

Isaac began shepherding the woman by degrees to a safe distance, circling her and determining her path without breaching her 2-metre perimeter.  She heard only the child’s wails, and as his panicked screams intensified, she knew his first day of herder school had begun.

Isaac gave her a low warning growl as her path threatened to diverge from the one determined by him, so she corrected her course and felt the remote pressure from the herder ease as she allowed herself to be walked back to her apartment.

The man standing beneath the tree watched until his own herder circled to stand in front of him, blocking his view. He eventually turned and walked out of the sunshine and into the interior gloom of the Multiversity. Ezekiel circled him as he walked, and he was discomfited by the familiar strong pressure of the herder remotely forcing him to walk towards the door of his office. When he reached the door, he pressed his forehead against its cold surface and his shoulders sagged.

The man sensed Ezekiel’s aggravation as it paced behind him. Then the herder stopped, and the man listened as it backed away. He waited until he felt Ezekiel’s crook grab his waist and then braced as the herder pulled him firmly backwards until there was a gap of exactly two metres between him and the door. Ezekiel started badgering the man with constant yapping and aggressive high-pitched whining. The herder pawed the floor, scratching the linoleum that bore the marks of countless standoffs between this human and his herder.

The man breathed deeply and turned to face Ezekiel, who crouched down and whipped his long tail aggressively back and forth.

“I’m going into my office now.” The man said.

“I will be alone in there.” 

Ezekiel bared his teeth and his tail whipped again.

“You don’t need to be in there with me.” 

Ezekiel leant forward and yapped and started scratching the linoleum in front of him again.

“Stay here!”

The herder’s crook stretched towards him again, this time angling itself to grab the man around the back of his head.

“You are contravening your distancing rules. Stand down!”

The large beast lowered his crook, let out a defeated whine and slumped to the linoleum. The man turned, pushed the door open and quickly walked through, listening as it clicked shut behind him.

Moss turned to the closed door and pressed his palm firmly against the centre panel. The door flickered and disappeared, and Moss was face to face with his herder, who was still crouching and alert. Ezekiel stared impassively into Moss’s face as his long black tail waved languidly in the air behind him. Finally, the herder’s head lowered and rested on outstretched forearms, and his crook retracted slowly into his chest. Moss waited, and when no more movement came from the herder, he twisted his palm and the image of Ezekiel flickered and was replaced with the solid door once more.

Moss walked directly to the platform in the centre of the room, undressed and moved to the large blue X marked on the floor. He felt himself rising until he hovered half a metre above the floor, then held up his palm and watched the small screen expand around him, until it surrounded him like a blue cloak, coolly glowing in the dimness of the office. He pulled his arm back in silent instruction and felt the screen contracting around him like shrink wrap until it came into seamless contact with his body. He shivered, but worked at suppressing the initial panic that always found him when his face was fully enveloped in the artificial skin. He waited a few seconds, exhaled as much air as he could and then felt the intense pressure of that final fit that ensured every millimetre of his body came into contact with the gently glowing blue suit.

Moss dropped slowly back onto the blue cross and began to gently stretch his limbs and twist his head in slow circles. He squatted and bounced on his haunches and then lay face down and began a series of push ups. Finally, he sat up, crossed his legs in front of him and lowered his head to his chest.

The sight of the new herder physically separating his son, Levi, from his Mother for the first time that morning had prompted long held memories of his own herder, and he waded through them as he sat and waited for the operation to begin.

He remembered pressing his face against warm glass as a young child and waiting for his Mother’s return. He could feel that anticipation all over again, and the deep love that mingled with wretched fear in his stomach.

The recollection soured completely when he remembered first catching sight of his Mother.  Ezekiel’s crook had arced unseen around his middle during his windowsill vigil and dragged him away from the glass until there was enough room for the herder to circle him. A perfect two metre boundary had been maintained around Moss ever since, and had never been breached.

Moss’s hatred was fully realised two years later during the most recent attempt by the resistance to liberate humans from the suffocating isolation policed by the herders.  The insurgents had armed themselves with the goal of killing every herder to achieve liberation. But more humans had died than herders during the uprising because of the overwhelming viciousness, cunning and speed of the engineered animals, who easily overpowered the humans armed only with outdated and unreliable weapons.

Moss’s Mother had been one of the leaders of the failed uprising, and his final memory of her inevitably came to him.  Ezekiel had used his hook to drag her closer to him and she fought wildly until his powerful jaw finally clamped down on her neck. He shook her into lifeless submission in front of Moss’s seven-year-old self, like a tiger carelessly shaking the life out of a monkey.

The warped reality of human isolation enforced by the Regime’s herders was restored, and became even more brutal and repressive under the pretense of keeping the Plebeians safe. Raids were conducted across the country. Weapons were seized and all suspected insurgents were removed for permanent lockdown.

Grief had taken root in Moss’s soul and became his lifelong companion, priming him to rid his life and humankind of the malevolent presence of the herders.

Moss’s ears buzzed with the noise of others coming online and his memories gave way to the occasional grunt and snap being received by his suit. Kitty’s voice cut through the background and gave the now familiar greeting.

“Good morning Foxes.”

His senses were alive to the cues coming from his suit telling him that all the foxes were now online, and Kitty spoke again.

“It’s time to separate the herders from the flock.”

Moss sensed the acknowledgment of every fox and a frisson of fear and excitement passed through him.

Kitty cut through his emotions with the direction they were all waiting for.

“Now go.”

Moss sensed each fox leaving the online platform, and the memory of Kitty being shepherded away from their son that morning fired him to his feet. He knew Kitty would waste no time returning to the scene of the lesson, and he had to be there to help her rescue their son from the suffocating keep of their newest herder.

Moss strapped belts firmly around each of his upper arms and onto both thighs before he walked to the door and activated its screen again. Ezekiel was still lying in wait for him, his attention concentrated on the closed door. Moss activated the screen facing the herder, who cocked his head, frowning at the dimly glowing figure standing on the other side of the door which, to all appearances, had just opened.

Moss took a step back as Ezekiel stood and moved forward. He stepped back again, and the herder followed with another menacing step towards the door. Ezekiel craned to see beyond the blue light and into the office, obviously searching for his charge, Moss.

Moss watched as the herder’s head reeled suddenly back into his body when it collided with the unseen door. Ezekiel shook his huge black head and Moss heard the guttural warning groans he had come to know so well.  Enraged, Ezekiel readied himself for an almighty onslaught against the invisible barrier.  Moss triggered his suit and was transformed into a blazing icy blue light that pierced every corner of the office and radiated into the hall, blinding Ezekiel.

Just as he launched his assault, Moss opened the door.

Ezekiel charged blindly over the threshold, his momentum not halted by the expected resistance of the door. Moss sidestepped the herder as it crashed past him in a bewildered daze and collided at speed with the unyielding podium.  The herder struggled to stand on his broken front limbs and snarled sightlessly into the overwhelming blue light that saturated the space around him. Blood leaked from his eyes, and the light illuminated it to form incandescent magenta pools as it dripped onto the smooth floor. He shook his pained head and piteously wailed as the light ceaselessly forced its way through his eyes and into every fibre of his body. Breaking him down slowly and painfully from within.

Moss stood over the herder until he sensed its furious resistance had given way to a painful and final death.

He reset his suit and became a benign blue glow again to survey the bloody wreck of Ezekiel, whose lifeless body was still breaking down in a prolonged reaction to exposure to the deadly blue light. He switched the communication network back on and instantly felt the elation of his fellow Foxes as they confirmed the suits were working and more and more of them were being liberated from their herders. His work over the past three decades was being vindicated and the Foxes were winning.

He trembled slightly when he remembered the genesis of this success resided in his Mother’s final act. He had watched as she resisted the pull of Ezekiel’s crook and scratched wildly at his face, clawing at his left eye, until her fist finally sank into the socket and wrenched the black and yellow orb from its bed. She twisted it free from its strong sinewy anchor and looked over to her son before pitching the bloody ball to him.   Moss never knew the significance of his mother’s action at the time, but he knew enough to quickly conceal the herder’s eye under his clothes while Ezekiel’s rage increased into the painful frenzy that ended his Mothers’ life.

Ezekiel was given a new eye and returned to shepherd Moss in a sadistic ploy by the Regime to ensure the traumatised child would remain fearful and submissive and not take on the revolutionary mantle vacated by his Mother. The eye was preserved along with all the other herder body parts that had been secretly collected over the past century and studied for any weaknesses. Moss had never forgotten and in time had joined the resistance. 

It had just been discovered that blue light accelerated the degeneration of the herder’s cells, but nobody had yet worked out how to get that light inside the herder’s bodies where it would do the most damage. Until Ezekiel’s eye was obtained by the resistance. The eyes of the herders were light sinks that absorbed white light during the day and used it to enhance their vision at night. Moss developed the light suits over the next decades, fashioning them into both a disguise, and a weapon that dramatically accelerated the effects of the fatal blue light.

Moss shook off the memories and left the office, quickly making his way back to the scene of Levi’s separation from Kitty that morning.  He could hear the raucous growls of the herder above the terrified screams of his son when he reached the tree. Levi was almost completely concealed in the herder’s back pouch, but Moss could see the child was struggling to free himself and make his way to his mother, who was held in the herder’s crook. 

Kitty’s suit was ripped, and its icy blue fabric was cut through with ribbons of bleeding flesh that wrapped around her thrashing body. The failing light of her suit was diluted by the sun and was having no apparent effect on the herder. Moss could see her struggling to get a grip on one of the darts that were held in the belts around her limbs, as the herder’s crook swung her violently towards his massive head.

Moss sprinted down the hill, bellowing as he went to distract the herder. He transformed himself again into a blazing blue light and the herder looked up and directly at him as he charged desperately towards to the battle. The herder narrowed his eyes and opened his jaws wide in a ferocious roar, silencing Levi’s hysterical screams with the terrifying racket. 

The herder lost interest in Moss, and turned its huge black face towards Kitty, locking his yellow eyes onto hers. Moss heard Kitty’s howl and watched as she whipped both arms back to activate the darts before pitching them into the depths of the herder’s eyes. The herder shrieked as the intense blue lights pierced his irises and buried themselves in the flesh behind his skull.

Moss hacked at the ropey crook that still held Kitty tight, even as the herder wailed and stumbled while the blue lights demolished him from within. Levi had fallen from the herder’s back and scrambled towards his mother as she shook the newly slackened crook from her body. Moss watched out for more herders as she lifted the small child and held him close to her chest. Kitty’s face fell forward onto the sweaty crown of Levi’s head and she shushed him gently while swaying in the familiar soothing rhythm.

“We have to go now, Kitty.” Moss said as he switched his communications back on and was brought up to date by the Foxes who were already connected.  It was clear that the resistance had been more successful at separating the herders from the Plebeians than they’d expected. Many of the Foxes had been joined in their fight for liberation by some of the newly freed Plebs, but as expected, most of them had forgone this chance at tough liberation out of fear and conditioning. Thousands of Plebs returned alone to their homes to wait for the arrival of new herders that would soon be sent by the Regime.

“We’ve won this battle, but the Regime is striking back.”

Kitty nodded and tied Levi to her front with his blanket. The child was exhausted, and he clung desperately to his mother as he she fed him.

The couple trudged warily back up the incline towards the tree, listening in the eerie silence that surrounded them for the inevitable return of the herders.

Their suits had lost power and become dull ashen sheaths that blended into the post twilight grey that enveloped them. They listened for any noises that might betray the return of the stealthy and deadly herders as they scratched around in the earth at the base of the tree.  The loose dirt and small stones were brushed and thrown aside to reveal a small opening, and Moss held his arms out to Kitty, who reluctantly removed Levi from her breast and handed the now sleeping child to his father. 

Kitty crawled through the roots to a space where the tunnel broadened a few feet from the entry, and then turned and held her arms out for the sleeping child. She whispered loudly “Moss, hand Levi to me now.” But instead of her sleeping child, the head of a herder filled the small tunnel in front of her. She could hear Moss screaming at her to shut down the entry, and beyond him the screams of Levi were fading and soon silent.

Instinctively Kitty moved toward the entry, but Moss’s voice cut through her actions. “Levi is alive.”

Kitty dropped her head and kicked out at the herder, who was struggling against the constricting roots. She scrabbled through the loose dirt with her hands and found the concealed switch just as she heard the strangled scream of Moss. “Now, Kitty. Do it now!”

She slammed her hand down hard and the sound of Moss’s dying screams were instantly cut off, while the detached head of the herder rolled away from the now darkened entrance to land at her feet. 

She reached down and lifted the gaping head.  Holding it to her face, she spat the words,

“You won’t see me coming next time.”