We had a celebration that night; it was Old John’s birthday. He had just turned 70.

We started the party at five in the afternoon with a mouth watering feast of chicken, potatoes, corn, grits, bread, cheese, cold cuts, various fruits, and ten bottles of wine shared between us.

Looking at those around me I could tell that most had never eaten this well in their lives. With this in mind, I had my fill but did not pig out as to save the pigging for the others.

After dinner Mandy made us several pies, all the way from apple to pumpkin. There was even whipped cream on the top. Most of us were too full to even think about dessert, but we ate anyways, knowing that a meal like this would not come for a long time. Mandy told me that they saved up food for three months for this night.

After the food we went straight for the alcohol. Ales, rums, and wine were passed around from person to person. A large bonfire was lit at the far end of the cave, and a band had formed from a group with salvaged instruments; Charlie was playing the conga drums.

We danced and sang well into the night, making up the moves and words as we went along. We didn’t have sheet music or dance sheets; all we had was ourselves and our imagination.

As we all tired out, sweating the alcohol out of us as we danced the night away, we resided to the fire for tales, stories, and drunken discussion.

Charlie was the first to talk, a half empty gallon of rum in his hands.

“You know… I don’t think the worlds half bad.” He said.

“That’s because you’re drunk, Charlie.” Mandy said, garnering a chuckle from the others.

“He’s right, though.” I said bluntly, and everyone looked at me.

“I’ve been in a living hell for a long time. This here, what we all have, it’s something that hasn’t been seen in centuries. We need to know what we have and especially know that we could lose it at any second. If we forget, we’ll get too comfortable. If we worry about it too much, we’ll never enjoy it.”

“Fuck… Fucking A.” Charlie mumbled drunkenly, led by a humble applause from the rest of the villagers.

Charlie threw up approximately five minutes later. His projectile vomit almost put out the fire, a foul smelling steam rising up from the burning wood. Mandy brought him to bed, and in the meantime I had heard the villagers tell tales of who they called ‘The Great One’. I asked Valoria Kensington, a local farmer, who The Great One was.

“Well, that’s the crazy thing; we don’t know.” She said, tipsy and smiling. “He has been a man of myth for decades in The Angels communities. He’s the one who will save us from a life of eternal suffering. He has been prophesized to lead the mortals into rebellion and sacrifice his life for the good of mankind.”

As much as I’d like to tell the pretty Valoria Kensington that her story was nothing more than complete bullshit, I was drunk and feeling a little intrigued.

“Well, if he’s been prophesized to do this for decades why hasn’t he come yet?” I asked her.

“We believe that he has yet to be born. We hope it is soon, though.” She said much more seriously, garnering a murmur of concurrence from the others.

“I’d like to see that.” I said sarcastically.

“We all would.” Mandy said, stumbling back to the fire pit conversation and giving me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. I smiled and wiped my cheek with my sleeve. “Charlie’s been put to bed, he wanted me to say that he loves you all.”

Everyone awed at the sentiment, though some sarcastically. We went back to the conversation of The Great One, a myth that to my pleasant surprise had not fooled Mandy.

“It’s all a load of horse crap, if you ask me.” Mandy said, spilling some of her wine. “It was an old story created by ancient immortals in an attempt to keep us docile. As long as we expect The Great One we won’t bother starting the revolution ourselves. Its stories like The Great One and the amount of those who believe in it that got us where we are today, lost in a wasteland.”

Some murmured, no one wanted to offend the leader of their village. That would risk exile.

“You are too hateful, Amanda.” Said Old John calmly, taking off his paper cone hat with the words ‘birthday boy’ written down the front.

“You need hate to survive in this world.” Amanda retorted. Old John gave a smile, one of those smiles that only an old person can do, one of those smiles that reads ‘kid’s these days’.

“I’ve been living in this world 70 years and I’ve never had to use a hateful bone in my body. What’s your excuse?” Old John said smiling.

It was simple – Mandy had no excuse. She leaned back, contemplating the thought. In this time, Old John slowly stood up from his seat. It had not occurred to me until now but Old John hadn’t had a sip of liquor.

“If I leave this world tonight I want the world to know that there will be a tomorrow. Whether I’m there or not, and whether it’s a good tomorrow or a horrible one, it will always be there. I think that’s something that we should all cherish, young and old.” Old John said, staring at the ground. The drunken audience gave Old John a standing ovation as he smiled, raised his hand, and sat back down.

***

As the hours passed and the crowd around the fire had shrunk, Mandy and I looked at each other and knew it was time for bed. The only people around us were Valoria Kensington, who was sleeping, and Old John, who was staring into the fire.

“You two love birds go ahead on home. I’ll put out the fire.” Old John said, giving one last hearty smile and a humble nod. We gave our thanks and we began to walk for Mandy’s shed.

“This was an amazing night!” She said to me.

“I couldn’t agree more.” I said as I squeezed her hand, kissing her cheek, and walking back towards my own shack.

“Wait!” Mandy called. I turned around, only about five feet away from her.

“Would you like to spend the night with me?” She said, giving me the look.

“Not tonight, Mandy… Maybe some other time.” I said hopefully.

But that wasn’t enough for her; not tonight. Her face bled of disappointment, and with that she began to approach me.

“Why don’t you ever want to spend the night? Half a year, it’s been a whole six months since we’ve been seeing each other. You’ll kiss me and hold my hand, but you won’t sleep in the same bed. Don’t you love me?” She asked.

“I love you, Mandy, but you wouldn’t understand.” I told her. She put her hand on my cheek.

“I understand you. I might not know your past or even your name, but I know that I understand you. You’re a hardworking, smart, altruistic man. You have nothing to hide from me.” She said with all heart in her voice.

I know she meant no harm, but I know that she wouldn’t understand. It’s impossible for a mortal to love an immortal. I’ve seen it happen before, it leads to the mortal killing their immortal partner, or the mortal partner seeking Xenopram in order to become immortal too. Regardless, the relationship will end nonetheless. Immortal or not, everybody dies.

Then why would I lie to her? It’s a question I could only answer through my own cursed cowardice. I loved the idea of Mandy more than Mandy herself, and I could not trust her.

But then she grabbed my hand and began to lead me into her shack. There was only enough room for us both to sit on the bed, so I took a seat as she closed the door behind us. Immediately she jumped on top of me and began kissing me. The smell of alcohol reeked through her breath.

“Mandy, I can’t…” I said as she began unbuttoning my white dress shirt. She wouldn’t listen, unbuttoning the bottom and final button; she pulled my white dress shirt and black coat off at once. I couldn’t stop her; maybe I liked it more than I wanted too.

She stopped kissing me and stared down at the scars riddled across my chest.

“It’s nothing.” I said casually, leaning in for a kiss.

“No, it’s not.” She said, leaning back, looking at my scars more observantly. She jumped up off the bed and lit her candle, holding the flame closer to my chest. I lay there on the bed, awkward and half naked.

“These scars… There’s so many…” She said curiously. “Almost every inch of your body, there’s no way you got all these in one lifetime, you would have died.” She said in disbelief.

“Listen, don’t worry about it.” I said as the tears began welling up in her face.

“You’re immortal.” She said. I froze. I didn’t know what to say back, but after this long of loving her, I could not lie. I nodded. She jumped up, holding her mouth shut and dropping the candle on the dirt floor. She started to cry.

“You bastard…” She managed to get out through her broken voice. “You lied to me.”

I got up, holding my hand out.

“I didn’t lie to you.” I said, and then she slapped me hard across the face.

“Bullshit, you didn’t! You knew that this would never work but you led me on anyways! I… I thought I loved you!” She cried out. I tried to get my two cents in, but she continued.

“It all makes so much sense now. You don’t know your name and you said you’ve been wandering America for a long time. How old are you, really?” She asked accusingly.

“Err… I’d say somewhere near a millennium.” I told her. “I’ve been here since before America went to shit.”

“Oh, well isn’t that great!” She screamed, “You know what, you can go back to your bed!”

I had no choice; I wasn’t going to argue any further. In the back of my head I knew this was going to happen. I grabbed my coat and my white dress shirt and headed for the door.

I walked out, heading down the cavern hallway and towards my slightly larger shack. But I heard Mandy’s door open again and her footsteps as she came up behind me.

“In fact, you can pack your things tomorrow and find a new village!” She shouted.

“Now, why would you do that?” A voice said from behind us.

We turned around, and standing there in his trademark white robes was Solomon the Angel.

“What are you doing here so late?” I asked him.

“I came to wish Old John a happy birthday. I had saved him when he was a young boy just as I had saved you.” He said. “Now, Mandy, what is this about kicking The Mechanic out?”

“He’s immortal, Sol! We can’t have him here!” She shouted.

“What does that have to do with anything? This village was founded on the principle of mortal and immortal holding equal ground. I’m immortal; does that mean you can’t have me here?” He asked in his smooth and calming voice.

“He lied to us, Sol! He never told us what he really was!” She said, pointing at me, shaking her fist.

“That was his choice to disclose that information. He told me he was immortal.” He said.

“You… you knew? And you didn’t say anything?” She told him. He shrugged.

“You two were in love.”

She imploded. Her face turned bright red and her neck tensed up. Her intense eyes were no longer intense but completely fierce and violent.

“I can’t believe it.” She said.

And with that the gunshots rang out from the front of the cave, followed by confused murmurs and screaming from the wooden shacks around us. Solomon immediately drew his firearm and ran for the front. Mandy ran into her shack, and here I was like a sitting duck.

Valoria Kensington began sprinting towards me from the front of the cave, she was carrying two rifles. She ran up to me.

“Mechanic! Arm yourself, goddamn it!” She said, tossing me a rifle. Before I could catch it, Mandy’s hand swung by and she grabbed it herself. She pointed the rifle at me.

“Go.” She said.

“What the fuck?” Valoria said. “What the hell is going on?”

“We don’t need your help.” Mandy said to me, her eyes fueled with hatred. “You lied to us. You lied to me. I want you gone, and if you don’t go I will end your pathetic precious eternal life.”

Mandy wouldn’t let up; she just stood there with the gun pointed at me.

“Fuck this.” Valoria said, running to the gunshots and screaming. Smoke began pouring into the cave.

“I’ll kill you, I swear to god.” She said, tears running down her face. I turned around to walk down the back of the cave, but to my unpleasant surprise I saw several men dressed in all black holding fully automatic assault rifles charging straight for us. Their guns rattled off and bullets flew through our bodies. We slumped to the ground.

Mandy fell on top of me and I could feel her warm blood running onto my body. My left leg and my left leg only began flaring up. I ignored the pain and lied there motionless as I heard the EPoB take Mandy’s gun off the floor and continue towards the front of the cave.

I heard it all. I heard every person in that cave killed, I heard Charlie being beating to death in his sleep. I heard Old John get thrown into the smokey ashes of the bonfire and executed. I heard the agents rendezvous at the front of the cage and talk loudly of what to do with the corpses. When burning them became the most practical option in their minds, I tossed Mandy’s cold body off of me and ran deep into the pitch black cave. I ran so fast that I wasn’t even focused on if they had detected me or not. I didn’t care how much my leg stung as I put pressure on it. I just ran and ran and ran away.