Chester (Part Four)

“Joseph!” Eve shook me awake, while hiding my mortal wound from the others, as I came back to life with a deep gasp of air. “When were they here?  I am going to rip that old woman apart!”  She growled.

Our men struggled to lift Chester to his bed, attempting to gently put him in place. Eve and I saw that he was alive but unconscious, wheezing with every breath.  She had a furious expression on her face with tears of sorrow in her eyes that made her look like an insane woman on the edge --- because of what they did to Chester, not to me.  He was innocent and regrettably he was as helpless as a child. She loved him and this made revenge her only purpose --- there was little I could do to slow her emotional eruptions down.  When in this state of mind she couldn’t eat, sleep or function normally until her goal for vengeance was accomplished.

“Chester doesn’t sound like he will make it through the night.” I said, while removing my bloodied under garments. “Go check on him and I’ll clean myself.”  I knew this would distract Eve from any retaliation while I thought of a sensible plan of action.  Chester should be our main concern at this moment, nothing else should distract us from the decisions we will have to make.

Eve had a wet cloth in her hand, gently wiping away the blood from Chester’s face as he lay struggling to stay alive on his bed.  Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she calmly set her gaze at the young man, tuning out the surrounding activity in the large room.  I sent our men to watch the front of the house and told them not to disturb us.  When the room had emptied, Eve and I conversed about our next course of action.

“I know what you are thinking”, I said, “there’s already five of us walking the earth and we just left Leneeca only two years ago.  Will we turn everyone we feel sorry for into an indestructible immortal?”  I moved to her side and looked down at Chester fighting to breath, gasping to stay alive. “We have to decide, right now.”

Eve looked at me and shook her head in indecision. “I don’t know.  I have been struggling with the idea of this gift we have.  Is it a gift or a curse, Joseph?  Is long life good?  Only you can answer that right now.  You were six thousand years old when I met you.  Should we be the ones to decide who dies and who lives forever?”

I looked down at Chester and pulled the clay jar from my hidden pocket.  The jar has been with me about seven thousand years . . . . I tried to put the potion in better containers, but it would turn gray and evaporate in seconds.  The peculiar thing about the concoction is that it never runs out or runs low.  I’ve dropped the container and watched it shatter, but the liquid inside fixed it and replenished itself.  I don’t know what fell from the heavens, but it a creature all on its own.  I pulled the stopper out from the jar’s opening, lifted Chester and poured it into his mouth.  He coughed and swallowed and let out a deep moan.  His gasping for air stopped and he sounded like he was falling into a healthy sleep.  Eve watched as I did this and a smile started slowly spreading across her lips.

“This will either kill him or save him.  He has a good heart and a giving and loving spirit.  He deserve to live another day.” I said laying him back down to rest as his skin began to sweat and steam.

Eve looked up with an approving expression and said, “And then there were six.”

(To Be Continued . . . .)

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