Eden Book 1 (Eden Series)

by David Holley

  “Who’s Randall?” Atua whispers.

  “He’s an old family friend and the reason we came to New Zealand,” Evelyn answers, her voice distant. She looks out the window, her mind spinning in overdrive.

  “If you are forced to go there, it is imperative that you avoid going through Shetland at all costs and take the path less traveled to Wakefield. Do you remember where Randall’s house is?”

  Evelyn snaps to and nods. “Yes, I do.” She looks at Atua. “It’s actually just outside of Wakefield.”

  “But… this is just a precaution right?” Atua asks, his eyes probing.

  Noah gives him a reassuring pat on his shoulder. “Of course it is.”

  Mia hangs on their every word. Something is clearly off — or at least, that’s what her gut tells her. And based on the worried expressions that most of the others carry she is not the only one who thinks so. In fact, the only one who doesn’t look concerned is the hideous Maaka, who stares at her and blows huge smoke rings in her direction. She gives him a cold look of disgust and walks over to Hiroshi, who is zipping his jacket and getting himself ready to go back out into the volcanic ruin.

  “Can I please have the binoculars?”

  Hiroshi pulls them from his jacket pocket and hands them to her.

  “Thank you.” She aims the binoculars toward Shetland proper and feels immediately underwhelmed. It’s a one-goat town, and that’s only because the horse already left. It was a phrase coined by her father, whom she misses dearly. The town is asleep, even as it burns — or better put, dead. There is no sign of life, and certainly no glimmer of rescue. She pans to a far corner of the town and practically jumps out of her skin, shrieking so loud that everyone in the room jumps, herself included. The binoculars crash to the hardwood floor.

  “For God’s sake. Are you alright?” Noah’s royal blue eyes glow against his blackened face.

  “I’m sorry, I… I hope I didn’t break them.” She backs slowly toward the door, looking as if she’s seen a ghost.

  Hiroshi hands Noah the binoculars off the floor after a cursory inspection. “Don’t worry about that. Did you see something out there?” He looks back toward the town, the binoculars none the worse for wear. He sees nothing. When Noah turns back to Mia, she has already left the room.

  “That is one strange pussycat,” concludes Maaka, snuffing his cigarette against the stained yellow wall before strolling away, presumably to find Pango.

  “I’ll go check on her,” Evelyn says quietly.

  Noah gives one water-filled backpack to Atua. “I’m leaving this with you. It’s got almost seven liters of water left in the bladder and I’m holding you responsible for rationing it.” He turns to face Hiroshi. “Meet me downstairs in five minutes.”

  When Evelyn finds Mia, she is staring out the window of a second-floor bedroom at a vast open field of dingy, grey deadlands. The occasional cluster of trees appears lifeless, burned and haunted. “Mia, are you alright?” Evelyn whispers, trying not to startle her.

  Mia rolls her eyes; she has grown so tired of that question. “Yes. I’m sorry if I scared everyone. I’m fine.” She turns to Evelyn who has left the door open a crack, to spy down the hallway. “I’m afraid I have to go into town with Noah and that asshole Maaka.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Evelyn says uneasily. “I don’t have a good feeling about any of this.”

  “Neither do I,” Mia snaps. “But unfortunately I have no choice… I saw her.”

  “So when you say her,” Evelyn begins slowly, “you really mean… you… right?”

  “As crazy as that sounds, yes.”

  “Oh dear,” Evelyn sighs. She looks around the room nervously. “Is she with us now?”

  Mia laughs weakly. “No she’s not here. She’s waiting for me. Out there.”

  “I see.” Evelyn looks relieved, and nods at a person standing just outside the door to come in.

  Noah enters and looks grimly at Mia as he shuts the door. “Did you have a vision?”

  “I wish,” she jests. “No, I saw my friend.” She sighs.

  “Ah... of course.” He glances at Evelyn for a split second before whipping back to Mia. “In the town?”

  “Yeah. That was weird, actually.” Her eyes widen. “It’s never happened like that before, and why I jumped when I saw her. I mean me.”

  “I can imagine,” Noah says, even though he can’t. “Well, I guess that means you’re coming too, then.”

  Evelyn tugs at Noah’s arm. “Have you gone mad? She’s not going anywhere. Certainly not with you! We have no idea what’s going on out there. This stinks on ice!”

  “I understand your position, Eve. Really I do. But, please listen to me. We can’t keep her from going out there. By doing so she may be endangering her life, but by not doing so she may be doing more harm. Do you understand? She has to go.”

  “He’s right. I have to go.”

  Evelyn shakes her head in protest. “...I still think this is a horrible idea,” she says, even as she surrenders.

  “Agreed. But we need to know what has happened here. It may not matter what lies in Wakefield if it’s anything like this. At the very least we can ransack what’s left out there and bring it back here, for the push to Randall’s.”

  “Well I’m glad that’s settled,” Evelyn snaps.

  “Mia will need to sneak out after we leave and then meet us before we enter the town. That way we will have no choice but to take you with us. You can manage that right?”

  “Yeah, I can do that.”

  “Mia, I need to speak to Noah privately. Besides, you should make yourself visible for the others before you scurry off.”

  Mia leaves the room, and Eve holds her tongue until she hears her walking down the steps. “I can’t support this, Noah. I have a bad feeling about all of this. If anything happens to that girl, I will never forgive you, I swear it!” Her voice is nothing more than a hushed whisper but it cuts through the air like a rapier.

  “I will protect her,” Noah promises. “And I won’t lie to you. I don’t like the look of that town one bit. But we have no food and not enough water and if we can just get to Randall’s, we will all be safe. It may be the safest place in the world right now. I have to get moving. But promise me, Eve, if we’re not back in five hours, you know what you must do. Do not wait for us under any circumstances. Are we clear?”

  “As mud.” She wipes the pad of her thumb across his forehead and shows him the results. He offers a weak smile, and then she leans in for a long kiss goodbye.

  *************

  “What exactly was that little prank all about? I’ll have you know you scared the living shit out of me.” Mia speaks aloud to seemingly no one as she walks alone across an endless wasteland of whirling dust, her outer shell caked in grey flaky ash.

  “Why are you asking me?” she asks herself, sounding defensive. “You put me there.”

  Mia comes to a dead stop on the road, a path of freshly plowed ash in front of her. She can’t see Noah and the others, but she knows they’re out there, moving invisibly against the drab landscape that confuses the senses. Her fur-lined hood, once a magnificent white, is now matted and singed. Underneath, her entire neck and head are wrapped hijab-style so that only her eyes are free. But even they are covered with Max’s wraparound sunglasses.

  “What the actual fuck are you talking about?” she asks herself, dumbfounded.

  The other Mia shakes her head in frustration. “Never mind. Just follow me.”

  *************

  Back at the farmhouse, Max stands at a first-floor window, staring at the barn and silo, which consume most of the view. In the next room over, Sarah and Josette are getting cozy near a fire that Patrick has built. With help from Jacob, they have gathered plenty of dead timber from outside to stock the numerous fireplaces that are located throughout the drafty abandoned home. On the top floor, away from the others, Atua tends to Kaewa who is distraught over the fires raging in She
tland. He tries his best to calm her fears in regards to her sister Tania, but with little success.

  Max rubs his growling stomach and tries to count how many hours it has been since his last meal. He soon gives up trying to think about it, finding it difficult to concentrate on anything. I wonder where Mia is?

  “Is that your stomach making that racket?” asks Evelyn.

  “You can hear that?” he asks, astonished. “I’m afraid so.”

  “You poor fellow. Well, Noah promised to bring food when he returns.”

  “The sooner the better,” Max says, his smile warming up the room.

  “Agreed. Will you help me with something?”

  “Of course.”

  “Splendid. Come with me.”

  Evelyn leads Max out of the room, through the kitchen, out the backdoor and onto the porch. The ash storm had stopped a couple of hours ago, but the occasional breeze kicks up waves of dust that whip through the grey pastures to expose pockets of green grass as well as to form wide drifts of accumulated ash, over two meters deep in some areas.

  “Why are we outside?” he asks.

  “I need to speak to you away from the others. You should know, before you become alarmed, that Mia is with Noah. She apparently had to go with him into town.”

  Max laughs humorlessly. “Of course she did. What else is new?” He looks away from her, obviously annoyed.

  “Max, I realize this is terribly hard for you to accept. I too have struggled to wrap my mind around what your sister can do. As much as I protested her leaving with Noah, I have to admit there is something to it, something that may be beyond our realm of understanding. And just because I don’t understand what’s happening, I can’t blindly ignore the facts.”

  Max rolls his eyes. “No offense Evelyn but I do understand what’s happening. At first I wasn’t sure what to think, and I actually felt pity for her. So much so that I was convinced she tried to kill herself the other day because she felt guilty about what happened. But then it hit me. She knows exactly what’s been happening this whole time. We’re all just pawns in her little game.”

  “Oh Max,” Evelyn sighs. “That’s not what’s going on...”

  “Isn’t it?” He interrupts. “I’ve known my sister my whole life. And believe me, I have no idea who she is now. This is not the Mia I have ever known. She has friends now. Friends!” He laughs at the thought. “Did you know that she has never had a friend before? Well, except for me I guess. She was practically a shut-in before we crashed here. Something’s rotten, this... this impersonator has been playing all of us for fools.”

  Evelyn wraps her arms tightly around herself, as a chill goes through her. She frowns as she contemplates his words. “I hope you’re wrong about that, Max.”

  Luna and Alice interrupt the discussion as they emerge onto the porch, dressed in their soot-stained outer clothes.

  “Where on earth are you two going?” asks Evelyn.

  “We are going to check out the barn and see if there’s anything of use in there. We’re too hungry to sleep and too bored to just sit there,” Luna says.

  “I’ll come with you,” Max volunteers, following Luna and Alice down the steps.

  “Don’t venture too far from the house. It will be dark soon,” Evelyn warns.

  *************

  Noah and his companions have reached the perimeter of the ghost town. And even at this close proximity, nothing new has revealed itself. Shetland is an old industrial town, built in the early 1900s. From this vantage, about a hundred meters from the outskirts, he can make out some of the chaos that has unfolded. Cars are strewn in every direction, some with doors hanging open, apparently abandoned. They are the source of some of the smaller fires, along with a few rows of houses.

  “What the hell happened here?” Noah mutters under his breath, trying to piece it all together. The mantle of ash obscuring the details doesn’t help. He lowers his binoculars and looks wide left and then right and then sweeps behind him. Where is she?

  “What are you waiting for?” Maaka demands. “The station’s this way.”

  Noah stalls a little longer and raises his binoculars. “Just erring on the side of caution.”

  *************

  “Where are you taking us? We were supposed to meet up with Noah before we got into town,” pleads Mia.

  “Plans have changed,” the other Mia informs her.

  “What do you mean? Does he know that?”

  “Look, he’ll figure it out. Now pay attention and do exactly as I do. Do not stray or improvise. You got me?” Her tone is deadly serious.

  “What?”

  “Do you understand?” She drawls in the condescending tone she often uses to annoy her brother. Being on the receiving end of it now only fills her with guilt.

  “Whatever!” she snaps.

  “Shhh.” The other Mia puts her index finger to her lips. “Be quiet.”

  She crouches low before springing off like a cat in the night. They move quickly through the outskirts of town, her leader remarkably deft. Mia follows just behind, mimicking one maneuver after the other. They snake through a maze of cars — some smoking, others covered in ash — and periodically hide behind a few of them until they reach the intended target. In the middle of the road, a trailer-truck is parked diagonally across an intersection, blocking both lanes. A pile of cars are pinned behind the big rig, suggesting a thwarted attempt to flee the town by car. The truck acts as a roadblock. Mia runs to the cab of the truck and opens the door, already ajar, to allow her shadow self to enter it before her. When she clambers up to the driver seat, Mia is greeted by her double, already resting comfortably in the passenger seat. She smiles coyly back at her startled reflection.

  “Holy shit! I hate when you do that!” says Mia.

  The other Mia shakes her head. “I know, and it never gets old.”

  “Why are we in here?” she asks, looking around the cabin.

  Her double smiles wickedly before kicking the glove compartment, causing the door to drop open and reveal its contents. “That’s why,” she answers.

  Mia leans over to look into the glove box and doesn’t like what she sees. In it rests a nickel-plated pistol with a black grip and trigger. “What am I supposed to do with that?” she asks, not really wanting to hear the answer.

  “You’re gonna have to kill yourself,” she deadpans.

  “What?”

  “I’m teasing you. God, you’re so uptight!”

  “Uptight?” She rolls her eyes and takes a deep breath, squeezing the steering wheel as hard as she can. “Just tell me what the fuck you want me to do.”

  *************

  Noah hunkers against a broken divide, whether it’s a half wall or something else, it’s impossible to tell under the heap of volcanic ash. He’s just meters from the police station and hasn’t moved in twenty minutes; the others are hidden in the alley, their backs pressed against the wall. He surveys the back of the three-story rectangular building, surrounded by a tall steel fence topped with spiraling razor wire.

  “What the fuck, are we waiting for? It’s right there!” complains Maaka — loudly. He shakes his black head, sending a small avalanche of ash cascading down his wiry beard.

  “Quiet!” Noah orders. “Do not move or I swear to Christ, Maaka, I will break your fucking leg! I have to make certain we’re not walking into a world of shit.”

  Noah senses something is out there, but he can’t even begin to know what. The town and its buildings truly appear abandoned. Nothing has stirred, not even a cat passing by a window. But he can’t escape the feeling that they are being watched — and have been from the moment they entered the burning town.

  Maaka scowls, glaring at the source of his undiluted disdain. The good shepherd protecting his flock all the while forgetting the bleeding obvious. He looks to the black sky, strobed by lightning and roiling with anger. He ponders the death of his ancestral home.

  “The world of shit is already here, Captain
Cautious,” he mutters bitterly.

  *************

  “Are you fucking crazy?” Mia pulls off her sunglasses to look herself in the eye.

  “I dunno, are you?” her shadow replies, reveling in the banter.

  “Let me get this straight… you want me to hand that gun over to Maaka! Maaka? He’s a fucking psychopath!” She uses her dirty black index finger to drive the point home.

  She reclines in the passenger seat and drapes her long legs across the dash. Her clothing is crisp, clean, and immaculate. The white fur hood that frames her pristine face glows in their drab surroundings, as the two sit across from each other, a stark contrast of black and white.

  “Exactly.”

  Mia looks at her superior with equal parts envy and contempt. “I fucking hate you.”

  *************

  Max pulls open the creaky barn door, unleashing a slab of collected ash that rains down on him like a burst bag of flour. “Fuck!”

  Luna and Alice brush him off in a series of pats and swipes, laughing at him in the process, which causes Max to laugh too. Armed only with flashlights, Max and Luna cautiously peer inside to find an empty shell with a few random tools still hanging on the walls. A rusted machete hangs by a leather strap, and a pickaxe old as the barn itself rests next to it. On a cobweb-infested windowsill, a long black screwdriver sits next to a single dusty light bulb. Max claws his way through the webbing for the bulb, shaking it next to his ear to hear the jangling of broken filament inside. He leaves the bulb where he found it and shines his light on the floor. The base is composed of dirt and sand and matted straw, and the building smells of a musty combination of shit and dry rot. As Max angles his light toward the ceiling, he notices a second floor with no discernible way to up to it. He walks to the opposite end of the barn and pushes open the other set of doors, letting in what little daylight remains. Just beyond is the old weathered silo. It’s a rickety tower covered in equal parts whitewash and orange rust, standing a hundred paces from the barn. The sounds of muffled banter arouse his curiosity, and he turns around to see what Luna and Alice have discovered. Max sees them in the corner hovering over an old wooden crate. They drag it to the middle of the floor and eagerly start picking through it.