The GOD Box Read Free Page A

and with relentless scrutiny, Gabe was trying to make some sense of the time period they were in. Looking at the lack of preparation, of water containers, of weapons, of lighting… this was bound to be… different. It was too dark to see the details of their clothing, but it looked like the woman had a cotton shirt and the man was shirtless. They were young, too, the youngest group yet to find them. Though young, they seemed firm in their gaze, but hesitant about the matter at hand – understandably. With a loud huff Gabe said a disappointed, “hello”. He hated this cave, and he hated Jonathan, and he hated these two children.
    “…hey…” was the response, one after the other. Jonathan participated by a raised eyebrow and a frown. That was as good a greeting as ever for him.
    Jonathan did the same observations, but more quickly, less thoroughly, and then was looking to Gabe for some kind of out so that they could go and discuss what happened last time. Gabe saw this and already knew why they needed to discuss, now that Jonathan was feeling up to it. His memories were vivid of the previous time, unfortunately. Last time they were killed so quickly… they didn’t have time to organize... This made the anticipation of what they were up against more difficult to deal with. Hmmph . Gabe considered whether or not to discuss for a moment… and then, mostly out of spite, soldiered on in his observations.
    These kids were the age of his college students. Twenties or so. To Jonathan they just looked like snot-nosed kids who probably had little to no reading skills , considering the pattern of de-evolution they’ve been seeing each time. Gabe always told Jonathan that he was a terrible judge of character, and terrible at reading people in general. Gabe knew that Jonathan was okay being a social imbecile because that wasn’t why he was here, and it wasn’t why he was famous, and it wasn’t why he was rich – blah, blah, blah.
    But , thought Gabe, it was why he was lonely. Not that he could talk. Gabe was the mind reader and the, albeit, forced, friend. Ironically, when people tried to form personal relationships with Gabe he closed off the harder they tried. Jonathan at least had a soul that a few people had managed to touch if you can get past the frown, the drugs and the blunt, insulting, impatience.
    “My name is Gabe.” He said placidly again and shook their cold, soggy hands. This visibly irritated Jonathan, to have ignored his silent plea for discussion first. This was not the smartest thing to do from the get-go, but, Gabe didn’t care at the moment. He was sure Jonathan deserved it for something. They would just have to talk privately later. Gabe considered it was Jonathan’s fault for not wanting to talk earlier, even if he was insufferably claustrophobic. Jonathan introduced himself also, because he had decided that everyone should know who he is. The two strangers didn’t seem to want to give names just yet.
    How could Gabe get them to trust them, without them realizing he was trying so obviously that they mistrusted him? Such a dilemma; he hadn’t practiced these skills in years, maybe in centuries for all he knew.
    The two looked at each other, and the woman said to the man,
    “Is this what you expected? ‘cause… uh… this isn’t what I expected.” She said, humorously, but lacking the expected expression.
    “Yeah… the word project didn’t really sound like, two old men, to me. But, you know… words…” The man shrugged and looked back at the two old men quizzically and with a slight frown.
    He reached out his hand and again shook their hands, “My name’s Dane.”
    The woman then introduced herself , following suit. Her name was May. Then, she turn to Dane again, “Yeah, I was thinking like a library…”
    “Or maybe some tried and true instruction manual…”
    They considered their thoughts for a moment, then they stared back at Gabe and Jonathan, with fixed and almost fierce