The Viterals

Chapter 11: A Birth

Yumin watched the sun sink behind the forest's horizon and scatter its light throughout. The sensation was diffused. When he looked across the canyon and thought about his baby sister he recognized his fear. He needed to get to Bambi before they did—before they caused any more horrible atrocities. Durridge dying, blood seeping through his teeth—it jostled Yumin's memory. The Viterals had gone too far and now they were after his family. There was nothing more important than his family right now.

"Hey! I think there's something wrong with him!"

Yumin spun around and noticed Isaque standing above Zakana, who lay on the ground gyrating.

Yumin hightailed it to his cousin, kneeled over him, out of breath. He had never seen this before but he knew about it. He had heard about Zakana's episodes.

"Zak—ahhh—Zach!" Yumin called out, catching his mistake mid-sentence. He didn't know about Lyres' motives yet so he knew not give away any information that might hurt him later.

Lyres joined the group. "What's wrong with him? Why's he shaking like that?"

Yumin turned to Isaque and saw the horrified expression on his face. "What happened? What did you say to him?"

Isaque' eyes grew wide. "I didn't say anything! He just . . . started going crazy!"

Yumin slid his hand underneath Zakana's head as he shook more violently. His eyes were not open, but they weren't closed either. They were in a strange limbo of paralysis. The boy had said something to Zakana or Zakana had seen something. That always triggered it.

"Zach! Snap out of it!"

"Yumin, we should get him to a hospital," Isaque said.

"No. He's fine. He'll come out of it."

"Has it happened before?" Lyres asked.

"No . . ."

"Then how do you know he'll snap out of it?"

The truth was that Yumin hadn't seen it before but he knew his cousin and he knew he'd come out of it. But he couldn't reveal all those things to these guys. He didn't know Isaque but he remembered Lyres' snakelike ways. He remembered the old days.

Something began gurgling from Zakana's mouth and Yumin heard a sound in his cousin's belly.

"He's foaming, Yumin! Give him something!"

Yumin considered the medicines he had but they wouldn't work on this situation. It was merely an episode, a hallucination that needed to run its course. Silently, Yumin prayed it would end soon. Now that he saw Zakana in this state, his heart softened. The sun was going down and Bambi was getting further away, but Yumin needed to be with his cousin now. Like many times before, he imagined what it had been like for Zakana to see his younger brother erased from the world.

"Come on, Zee . . ." Yumin whispered.

Before he could wonder how long it would last, Zakana's body convoluted itself one last time and grew silent with a withering halt. His eyes limped open. He pushed his face to the ground and vomited.

"Zach!" Yumin said, relieved. "Are you all right?"

Zakana looked at Yumin as he held his head up. Slowly, there was recognition. The memories would come back. Zakana needed to connect the reasons as to why he was being called Zach. He couldn't blow their cover.

A meaningful exchange passed between Zakana and Isaque when their eyes met, but neither of them said a word. That made it weirder. Something had definitely happened and when Yumin had Zakana alone, he would have to ask him what it was. That might help control the episodes. They would only slow them down.