The Daughter of Doctor Moreau(74)
“Cachito and Lupe didn’t know, either, so how could anyone understand what he’d done?”
Carlota looked at her father’s face, trying to recall the features they shared. But he seemed to have transformed during the night, and she could see little of him in herself. She stood up. “Thanks for watching over my father. I’ll come back in a bit and take your place.”
Carlota changed quickly into a day dress and brushed her hair with firm strokes. Her father had always asked her to be meek and sweet. He hadn’t prepared her to make difficult decisions or deal with strife. But she had many issues to consider now and could not back down. When she was ready, she fetched Montgomery, and together they walked to the area with the workers’ huts, where Cachito and Lupe and the others were waiting for them.
They’d all gathered outside as they did when her father administered their medication. The old ones and the younger hybrids, the small, scrawny ones and the great lumbering creatures. Most of them were sitting, like they might have been around the bonfire, and all of them looked solemn and a few outright frightened under the blazing blue sky. Twenty-nine pairs of eyes fixed on Carlota.
When the hybrids gathered, it was the doctor who spoke. Carlota did not address the congregation. She felt shy standing before them, aware she did not possess her father’s voice, which was a clap of thunder.
“I’m sure Lupe and Cachito have told you what happened last night and the ramifications of it,” she began, because they were all looking at her. “Suffice to say my father has fallen ill, and what’s worse the owner of Yaxaktun intends to take us from this land.”
The hybrids whispered and stared at her.
She took a deep breath. “Several options have been proposed between us. The others will speak of that. For myself, I do not wish any violence, nor to flee, though we might, seeing as my father’s treatments were a sham. I hope that we may reason with the Lizaldes. They might not be as intractable as we think.”
She thought again of Eduardo’s face and his look of disgust, but she didn’t care if he helped her out of pity and did not turn with love to her ever again. Though such desertion would hurt, she’d gladly suffer the breaking of her heart if it meant the salvation of Yaxaktun.
She did not dare to consider that he cared for her still, though a small spark burned inside her mind, hoping and yearning. She wished to snuff it and couldn’t bring herself to do it yet.
“Carlota thinks we may negotiate, but it’s mighty difficult to speak when men carry rifles,” Lupe said, wiping her palms against her skirt and standing up. “I’ve heard these gentlemen talking. They’ll have no qualms in putting a bullet in our chest. Ramona knows a path through the jungle that can lead us away, to a place where Juan Cumux and his men live. We can hide there.”
“And should they follow?” Carlota asked. “Should they hunt you down?”
“Better than to sit here and wait for them, don’t you think?”
“Is this place far? Would we have to walk many days?” one of the hybrids asked. Her furry face and tusks resembled those of a boar. It was Paquita, one of the youngest ones, and she spoke in a voice as thin as a reed.
“Yes,” Lupe said. “But all journeys end.”
“Where would this one end exactly?” asked Estrella. “And what will the humans do, if they should see us on the road?”
“Roast us in a pit,” piped La Pinta and yelped.
The faces of the hybrids were grim. Old Aj Kaab picked at his large fangs with a twig and smacked his lips. “What say you, Mr. Laughton? You are quiet this morning.”
Montgomery was standing with his arms crossed, looking at the ground. She stared at him, fearing he’d talk again about taking up arms and slaughtering men.
“I had thought to propose that we ambush and kill them,” he said, and she felt her breath hot against her fingertips as she pressed her hand against her mouth. “But it’s not right to ask you to risk yourselves and engage in such violence. Lupe is correct, it might be best to escape while it’s possible. We can gather supplies, grab whatever can be taken. With luck, Ramona might be able to ensure safe passage for everyone through macehual territory, since she knows Cumux’s men. Should we vote on it?”
“I don’t think there’s much to vote on,” Peek’ said, scratching his long tapir’s snout with a sharp nail. “Only a fool would stay here.”
“Skinny coward,” Aj Kaab said, his voice was almost a grumble. “I’ll face them if the others won’t.”
“And be roasted in a pit,” La Pinta said, repeating the grim picture and letting out another yelp.
“What do you say, K’an?” Lupe asked.
The hybrid shook her long yellow mane and slapped her long arms against her thighs. “I say Aj Kaab is too lazy to make a run for it, but I’m ready for a sprint.”
Some of the hybrids chuckled. Lupe asked for a show of hands. The consensus was clear: they’d leave. Cachito began telling the others to gather their belongings. Lupe and Montgomery stood next to Carlota as they watched the hybrids shuffle into their huts, looking for sacks and clothes and whatever they could find.
“I have jewelry you must take, Lupe,” Carlota said. “Most of what my father gave me was paste jewelry and colored glass, but there’s my fan with the ivory handle, and maybe Aj Kaab can carry some of the silver. He’s slow, but strong. You’ll need money.”