by Keary Taylor
“Rider,” Vee said, her brows drawing together slightly. “Eve asked about that name when we were driving back here.
Royce nodded, his eyes serious and sad. He held up the picture in his hand and extended it out to Vee. She took it gently.
“That is my brother Rider, just before he graduated college,” Royce said. “And that was his girlfriend, Emma. Your mother.”
Vee’s eyes studied the picture for a long time and she didn’t say anything. I knew how smart Vee was, how things just seemed to click for her.
But this was a matter of family and emotion. And those things were far from her.
“Vee,” I said. Her eyes darted to me. “That means Royce is your uncle. You’re family. Blood family.”
Again, her brows drew slightly closer together and she held my gaze for a moment.
Royce took one hesitant step toward Vee. I looked over to him to see a single tear clinging to his eyelashes.
“Vee,” he said, his voice hoarse. “This means you are my niece.”
He tentatively crossed the space between them and even more carefully pulled Vee into a hug.
She didn’t hug him back, not right away. She stood there stiff and awkward for a long moment.
But then her fingers curled tightly around the picture and she drew her arms up and behind Royce’s back.
Her eyes slid closed and they stood like that for a long time.
Well how about that? Eve had had family all along.
THE END AND BEGINNING
PART TEN
--AVIAN--
I took firearms with me, my clothing, basic toiletries, two days’ worth of food. And Bill.
He didn’t need to tell me that he couldn’t stay in the city either. Bill and Eve had shared a connection from the moment she found him spying on Eden in the woods when she was just a girl. They’d been a team for years.
He and I rode out to the lake in silence that was, in a way, comforting.
The two of us worked quietly that day. He took his things into the house next to mine. It wasn’t far away, but enough distance that we would have privacy from one another. We spent a few hours apart. I put all of my clothes in the empty closet and in the empty dressers.
Settling into a new house. The movements felt so normal and so foreign.
When I’d put my things away, I went outside to find Bill already chopping wood with an axe he’d found. I helped him stack the wood, a pile on my porch and a pile on his. By then the sky had grown dark.
We went our separate ways for the night.
I was resigned that I would have dreams about Eve every night until I could dream no longer.
Thankfully, the ones I had that night were not of the torturous sort.
I dreamt of the night I had given her the necklace I had carved. The black stone wings. How we’d watched Eden that night, just the two of us in the dark, the stars twinkling above us.
It was the first time I’d attempted to show her how much I cared about her. Before West showed up with his notebook full of truth. Before Eve knew what she was. Before the world spiraled out of control.
The following day Bill and I chopped more wood. We stacked it.
Bill went hunting while I made a list of more things we would need.
Medical supplies.
Matches.
Water containers.
And so many other things.
Bill came back with two foxes. We cooked them in the open fireplace at his house and ate a silent meal.
On our third day since moving out of New Eden, Bill and I decided to head back into the city for the provisions we needed. He added a few items to our list I hadn’t thought about.
We parked in front of the hospital instead of pulling into the underground garage.
There were people going in and out of the hospital, moving things out. We’d started to set up so many homes before Eve had been taken. Before she had returned. Before the Beacon had gone off. Before she’d contained an entire army in the desert. Before we returned to NovaTor.
Before she died ten days ago.
This was going to be my life from now on: separated into before and after.
Bill and I climbed out of the car and walked into the hospital. Two women gave me sad, compassionate looks as they carried boxes outside.
“Avian.”
I turned to see Lin sitting in a chair in the lobby. It looked like she had been watching everyone as they moved.
“Hi,” I said, trying to manage a smile as she walked over to me. Bill disappeared down a hall.
“Hey.”
“Have you already finished moving out?” I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets.
She shook her head. “You know, I grew up here in Los Angeles, among millions of people. But after everything we’ve been through the last six years, I can’t bring myself to go back out there. It scares me too much. I know they’re dead, this time they won’t be coming back. But I just can’t do it.”
I nodded my head. It was understandable.
“Which is why I wanted to ask if Tristan and I could move out of the city, with you?” she said with an uncertain look on her face.
This took me by surprise. “Really?” I asked. “I mean, it isn’t really the most cheerful place to be right now.”
She nodded her head. “I understand that,” she replied. “But, I don’t know, it would be nice to still be near Eve, in some form. And the lake seems like a good place for…a new beginning.”
I looked to my left as Tristan stepped into the lobby. He crossed to us and put an arm over Lin’s shoulders. “I’m guessing she just asked about moving out with you?”
“She did.”
“If it’s an intrusion, that’s totally understandable,” he said. “I know you’re going to need some time, but, well, we want to be there to support. I think it could be a good way for some of us to move on with life. Start our own new society.”
They looked at me expectantly, hope in their faces.
“I’d be happy to have you,” I finally said, trying to smile.
“Really?” Lin asked, a hopeful, appreciative smile spreading on her face.
“Really,” I said, this time actually managing a genuine one.
Lin leapt at me, crushing me in a huge hug. “We’re all going to be okay,” she said quietly. “We’ll keep living and moving on. It’s what Eve would have wanted.”
“Yeah,” I said. My throat felt tight.
A shrill wail sounded through the lobby and Lin released me.
“Poor Creed,” Lin said as she returned to Tristan’s side. “No one has been able to calm her down since the funeral.”
“Is she okay?” I asked, my brows furrowing.
“Dr. Sun can’t find anything wrong with her,” Lin said, concern in her eyes. “She seems perfectly healthy, especially all things considered. But she’s just upset, all the time.”
I nodded, knowing exactly what was wrong. She knew Eve was gone too.
“I’m going to go check on her,” I said, taking a step toward the medical wing. “You two get packed. We’ll head out in the morning. Bring clothes, supplies for your house, food to last a while.”
They both nodded and I set off down the hall.
Creed cried and screamed the whole walk to the medical wing. I stepped in her room and found Dr. Sun and another woman inside, frantically checking her.
“Oh, Avian!” Dr. Sun jumped violently when she saw me, placing her hand over her heart. “You scared me!”
“Sorry,” I apologized. “Is Creed okay?”
Dr. Sun gave a heavy sigh. “Yes, as far as I can tell. She’s not even colicky, and she’s been taking a bottle on her own. I don’t know why she’s so upset all the time.”
“May I?” I asked, holding my hands out toward her.
The woman who’d been frantically bouncing her up and down quickly handed her over.
Creed furiously kicked her tiny legs and arms for a moment, giving uncomfortable grunts. But
I placed my hand on her cheek and guided her head to my chest, softly rocking back and forth. I wrapped a blanket over her back and tucked it around her sides.
It took her a moment, but she slowly calmed, and a minute later, her eyes slid closed and she started breathing evenly.
Dr. Sun smiled and shook her head. “Amazing,” she said. “She’s been screaming for three days straight, and you get her to calm down instantly. Poor thing must be exhausted. She’s slept very little.”
I swayed side to side slowly, letting my lips rest against the top of her head. Holding her, it brought a stillness to my heart I hadn’t felt since before the Nova went off.
“Avian,” Dr. Sun said, a question in her voice. “We have not found a family for Creed yet. I know you’ve suffered a terrible loss, but…would you consider…?”
She knew what she was asking but didn’t quite have the guts to finish asking it. It was a heavy question, one that didn’t ask for a light answer.
“Yes,” I said, after only a moment’s hesitation. “I’ll do it.”
I’d only occasionally entertained thoughts of being a father before. Yes, I was twenty-six now and that was indeed an appropriate age to become a father, but I was raised in a very traditional family who had done things in the traditional order. Becoming a father was something that would come after the wife and other things did.
I’d gotten close.
But I’d lost the person I loved more than breathing and that was going to leave a very large gaping hole in my soul. But holding Creed, breathing in her faint baby scent, feeling her tiny cybernetic infused heart beat against my chest, that repaired the hole just a little bit.
I wasn’t quite ready to join the others for dinner that night. Instead, I ate it in my room while Creed slept in the portable crib at my side. I looked up when the door was pushed open.
“May I come in?” Gabriel asked, hesitating in the doorway.
“Of course,” I said, setting my plate aside.
Creed gave a soft coo, turned her head to the other side, and went back to sleep.
“I’m really glad to hear you’re adopting the child,” Gabriel said, sitting on my bed. “It seems fitting.”
I just nodded, brushing crumbs off my hands. “How is the rehoming continuing?”
“Well,” he said. “About sixty percent of the residents have been moved into new homes. We’re moving forward with the regulation store. Terriff is getting set up for planting next week.” It was impressive Terriff was still alive. He was Gabriel’s father-in-law, mute, half blind, but a master gardener.
“It has started to get warmer,” I mused. We would need gardening equipment and seeds outside the city. We would need to start planting our own garden soon.
Gabriel sighed, leaning back on his forearms. “I will admit, I’m not exactly looking forward to setting up the new garden. Do you remember how much work it was the first time?”
I chuckled and nodded. “It took us over a month just to get the fence up. It had taken us weeks to till the ground by hand.”
Gabriel laughed too, his chest bouncing up and down. “Do you remember how angry Eve would get every night when we had to take a few hours to sleep?”
This drew a smile from me as I recalled. “She would have stayed up all night, every night, if we would have let her. She was a stubborn, determined little thing, wasn’t she? Right from the beginning.”
“That she was,” Gabriel said. His eyes rose to the ceiling and his stance relaxed further. “I still can’t quite believe she’s gone. I never thought that would be possible. To be honest, I often wondered if she’d live forever, considering what her insides were made of.”
That was something I had pondered as well. Now we’d never know.
“Have we gotten any more reports from the outside?” I asked, needing to change the subject.
Gabriel sat forward, rubbing his hands together. “Our teams got out as far as Chicago, not that there is anything left of the city, before the radios lost contact. But as far as they’ve seen, they’re all dead.”
“Have they found any survivors?” I asked.
Gabriel shook his head, pressing his lips together into a thin line and they disappeared into his thick beard. “None.”
“We probably are the last human colony out there,” I said, leaning forward as well. “Aren’t we?”
Gabriel stood. “Impossible to tell, at least any time soon. But it seems likely.”
I nodded, my eyes falling to Creed’s sleeping form in the crib.
Gabriel crossed to the door and hesitated with his hand on the knob. “Don’t be surprised if more people end up wanting to move out of the city with you. Even with all it stood for, New Eden holds a lot of bad memories for quite a few people. A fresh start is an appealing interest for a lot of people.”
“What about you, Gabriel?” I asked. “Will you be leaving the city?”
“Not any time soon. For now, I’m needed here.”
We did still have our duties. Even when the apocalypse was over.
THE END AND BEGINNING
PART ELEVEN
--WEST--
The fog was starting to burn off by the time I got out of the shower. The power wasn’t running in our building yet, but the water was. Even if it was freezing cold. I dressed silently so I wouldn’t wake Vee. She slept peacefully, buried under a mountain of blankets.
I left Vee a note and walked the seven blocks back to the hospital. I entered through the front doors and listened for any signs of life. It was dead silent.
Figuring the only place I might find anyone awake was the dining area, I headed in that direction.
The area was completely devoid of life, except for one figure.
He sat at a table, his arms crossed on it, his eyes pressed into them. He looked exhausted, beaten.
“Avian,” I said.
His head jerked up and he looked at me with bloodshot eyes. “Hey,” he said.
I pulled out one of the seats at the table and dropped into it. I was still limping pretty bad from the damage done the day the Nova went off.
“I hear you have a daughter now,” I said, raising an eyebrow at him.
A small smile pulled at the corner of Avian’s mouth. “Yeah,” he said, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Leah offered to watch her for a while so I could get some food gathered for the next few days.”
“So it’s true,” I said, feeling my chest tighten. “You’re leaving New Eden permanently.”
Avian met my eyes. There was weight behind them, tired and broken. “I can’t stay here.”
I nodded.
A long moment stretched between us, filled with silence and history.
“I want you to know that I’m glad you and Eve smoothed things out before…” he stumbled on his words. I had yet to hear him vocalize that Eve was dead. “She hated how things got between the two of you. And I’m sorry for how I was back then.”
“Hey,” I said, looking away uncomfortably. “It doesn’t really matter now. It’s in the past. It’s time to move forward.
“Yeah,” Avian said, emotion creeping into his voice.
Leah, Gabriel’s wife, stepped into the dining hall, bearing a fussy Creed.
“I think she’s tired,” Leah said, handing the baby off to Avian. She was wrapped in a fuzzy blanket and wearing a bright red jacket. It was so tiny I smiled.
“Thanks, Leah,” Avian said with a smile as the plump woman shuffled off. Avian held Creed cradled in his arms and softly swayed from side to side.
“This is a really brave thing you’re doing,” I said, surprising even myself with my words. “Deciding to raise a kid by yourself after everything you’ve lost.”
Avian glanced up at me once before looking back down at Creed. Her eyes fluttered open and closed. “I think at this point I needed a gain. She’s a big one.”
The clock on the wall drew Avian’s attention. “Well,” he said with a sigh. “It’s time for us to go.”
/> I nodded and moved out of the way. Avian started down the hall. I placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
“I’m never going to stop missing her and I’ll never forget her,” I said. “I promise.”
Moisture rimmed Avian’s eyes when he met mine. He pressed his lips together into a tight line and gave a small nod. “Thanks,” he said.
And then I watched him retreat down the hall.
I could feel her slipping away then. Eve. Until that point, I hadn’t realized how much of her lingered around Avian at all times. They really were two pieces of one weird, but puzzle-like person.
With Avian gone, the last traces of Eve would leave with him.
“Goodbye,” I whispered.
And I finally let that last grip I had on Eve, go.
THE BEGINNING AND END
PART TWELVE
--AVIAN--
I tried not to bump Creed as I lifted the bags containing her things into the back of the truck. She wouldn’t let me put her down ever since Leah handed her back to me so I’d been packing her around everywhere on my chest in a baby carrier someone had scrounged up for me.
In the later morning, I’d gone on a major shopping—or rather looting—spree at a baby store. Thankfully Victoria had come along and instructed me in all the things I was going to need.
A crib. Clothes. Blankets. Diapers. Bottles. So many things.
I didn’t mind the chaotic nature of it all. It was something that gave me focus. That kept my hands and my mind busy. I needed something to work towards, and everything that was before me would provide for an occupied mind.
I finished loading the last of our things into the truck. Creed and I would be fully stocked for at least two weeks before we would have to return for more supplies.
“Are you about ready?” I asked. I turned to where Lin and Tristan were loading up their own car. Tristan managed to slam the trunk closed. The back seat was fully loaded as well.
“I think so,” Lin said. She pulled a list from her back pocket and ran over it one more time.
“Think carefully,” I said. “We’re going to be lucky if we get all the way there before the vehicles die on us. All fuel is pretty corroded by now. We may even want to look for some horses until Dr. Beeson’s team gets more solar vehicles up and going.”