Finally, his mother spun around with such a monstrous snarl that Nikodemus thought he thought he was no longer looking upon his own mother but was instead looking upon a creature wearing her skin and clothes.

His mother grabbed his shoulders. He recoiled, trying to struggle out of his chair. “M-mom… you’re scaring me.”

She bared her teeth like a dog, gritting them, her eyes narrowing. “You should be scared. If you end up defending this tribe like your father does, you both will just become a another number—another statistic—and you’ll leave me alone just like my own father and brother did.”

Nikodemus shivered under her gaze. He could feel her nails sinking into his shoulders, but he was too frightened to move. He was forced to look into her blue eyes—eyes that were normally as warm as the sky on a summery day—that were now as cold and frigid as ice. “D-don’t worry mom. I know there are fewer and fewer men each day, but I’m sure there will be an uptick in the male population soon enough. Me and Carl won’t be helping dad out with the fighting for a long time, anyway.”

His mother’s eyes were teary, her hand shook on his shoulder. She took a deep breath, releasing his shoulder. She knelt next to him, saying quietly, “Nicky… the male population has only been going down for the past few years. There have been no upticks. I… I’m worried that soon, all the men will be gone. I’m sick of standing back and watching everyone I love die.”

Nikodemus gazed at his mother, finally recognizing what the problem truly was. She was just afraid of losing her boys. “Mom… if it makes you happy, I promise I will never help dad defend the ranch from raiding tribes.”

His mother gave him a wobbly smile. She embraced him. “Thank you, Nicky. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. My brother… he wanted to help our father defend our tribe when I was a child.” His mother took a shuddering breath. “So every night, he would stand watch with him. He had just turned fifteen, and was excited to be taking on more duties. I… I was twelve at the time. I wanted to help, but I was too scared—and too young. So my dad wouldn’t have let me help anyway. While I was safe and sound in bed, my brother was helping dad patrol the grounds. Suddenly, I heard this… horrendous squeal. I thought it might be a pig being slaughtered, as I had heard such things before in my tribe. But when I climbed out of bed and looked out my window, I saw something I would never forget; I saw a pack of… of monsters wearing human skin… ripping him apart!” his mother gasped, full-out crying. “Pieces of him were stuck in their teeth!”Nikodemus stared forward, overwhelmed by the story and unable to comprehend seeing such horror at his age. He listened to his mother weep for a few more seconds, and then he stood up. He needed to get away from his mother; she was upsetting him.

He began to go on his way when his mother seized his shoulders and spun him around to look her in the eyes. “You’re my good child; the one who uses his brain—the one who listens to me and his own good sense. That other boy is stupid; I hope he gets what he deserves.”

Nikodemus wrenched his shoulder away and backed away from his mother, unable to believe what he was hearing.

But then, for a reason he didn’t understand, his mother always spoke poorly of Carl when she got into her moods.

Regardless, Nikodemus fled the room and dashed outside to find his father. He found him feeding the camels with Carl. Nikodemus called, “Dad! Could you come here for a moment?”

His father stepped down from the corral fence where he was standing with Carl and jogged over to Nikodemus. “What is it?”

Nikodemus glanced up at his father and then at his feet. He whispered sadly, “It’s mom—she’s in one of her moods again.”

His father nodded and headed inside wordlessly. Nikodemus joined Carl on the fence, wondering what it was that his mother hated so much about his brother when she was in one of her moods. He stared at his brother silently for a time, crossing his arms on the top of the fence and then leaning his chin into them.

For a moment, he listened to the cicadas chirping ceaselessly as it brought him some amount of normalcy and peace.

Nikodemus thought of the reasons he might hate his brother so he could attempt to understand why his mother might. Carl was an incredibly energetic and cheerful kid; even Nikodemus was jealous of how blissfully ignorant he seemed to be of the world. Not only that, but Carl was incredibly strong for his age; he also happened to be a very good shot with a gun, where Nikodemus was an awful shot and very weak for his age. But Carl could also be highly emotional at times and could cry at the smallest things.

Maybe it’s a combination of annoyance and jealousy? Nikodemus thought to himself, scratching his head.

“Whatcha thinking about, Nicky?” Carl asked.

Nikodemus shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just thinking about mom.”

Carl immediately glanced away from his brother, wearing a concerned frown on his face. “She gets kinda weird sometimes, huh? Sometimes, I don’t think she likes me at all.”

Nikodemus quickly said, “Of course she likes you. Don’t be ridiculous.”

Carl’s eyes were glassy. “One time, when you were helping dad with repairs to the irrigation system and I was still in bed… I woke up to mom choking me.”

Nikodemus’ knuckles turned white on the fence. His eyes went wide. He whispered in disbelief, “What?”