Fractured Eden

by Steven Gossington

  Stella sighed. “We found out what really happened.”

  “What?”

  “Brad tried to grab Preston’s gun, and it went off. He was trying to save his son.”

  Aaron whistled. “So that’s the way it was.”

  “I’ve been thinking about it, and if I’d been in his shoes, I might’ve done the same thing.”

  Rain pelted Aaron’s car as he drove home from work that Thursday afternoon. “A tornado watch is in effect for the following counties …,” a voice from the radio said.

  Aaron peered out his car windows at dark clouds hovering in the sky. He pulled into his garage and Red, his new dog, greeted him at the door, though with less than his usual exuberance. Aaron let him out in the bushes near the front door to do his business, which didn’t take long. Red shook his wet body and stayed glued to Aaron as they went up to the living room window. Aaron caught his breath. An enormous black cloud blanketed the sky across from his house.

  His eyes widened. Not far away, a funnel stretched from the cloud to the ground.

  Aaron jogged toward the bedroom. “Come on, Red. Let’s get in the bathtub.” He pulled a mattress off his bed and dragged it into the bathroom. I’ll take one more look.

  He ran to the living room and gasped. The tornado had at least doubled in width and seemed closer.

  Oh, man. This looks bad. Debris whirled around outside the funnel. It must be right over the town. I’ll bet people are videoing this monster.

  “Let’s get to cover.” He and Red ran back and settled into the bathtub, and Aaron yanked the mattress over the two of them.

  He hugged his shivering dog. “It’s okay, buddy. We’ll be all right.” Noise from the tornado was faint at first but soon swelled to a deafening howl.

  ****

  Grant Belkin stood with his cows at Aaron’s backyard fence. He pressed his hat against the top of his head and shielded his eyes from the rain as he watched the tornado swirl and blast its way toward Aaron’s house.

  When it reached the Benningham property across Aaron’s street, the twister hesitated and then veered west away from the Benningham mansion, avoiding Aaron’s neighborhood and carving a path straight into the Big Thicket.

  Chapter 49

  Aaron waited until the noise faded, then he and Red climbed out of the bathtub and hurried to the living room window. Aaron no longer heard the freight train sound of the tornado, and the rain had stopped. He walked around inside the house and out to the front yard, finding no damage to his house or property. He stepped into the street, looking both ways, and saw no sign of damage to the neighborhood trees or front yards of the four houses.

  “Stay, Red. You’re safe now,” Aaron said as he walked back through the house to the garage. Jumping into his car with his medical bag, he heard sirens of rescue vehicles in the distance.

  He called Rachel on his cell phone. “Did you hear about our tornado?” Aaron said.

  “I heard on the news about a tornado watch. Did you see one?”

  “Yes. A big one. It just missed my neighborhood, but it tore up the area near me. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. It’s just raining at my house.”

  “Good. I think the tornado is moving away from your area. I’m off to see if I can help the rescue folks. I’ll talk with you later.”

  Aaron drove away in a direction that was generally parallel with the swath of destruction left by the tornado. He first encountered an area covered with mountainous piles of debris.

  This used to be part of a neighborhood. I can’t see where the streets are.

  Aaron stopped his car in a clearing and walked among piles of wreckage where houses once stood. He joined two paramedics pulling and lifting splintered slabs of wood.

  “We heard a voice in there,” one of the men said, pointing at a mound of rubble. After several minutes of straining and lifting, the men exposed part of a bed, and they crouched and peered under it. Aaron saw two small wide eyes staring back at him.

  “It’s okay, little one. We’re here to help you.” They cleared a path and pulled the child out from under the bed. She was able to stand.

  “Are you all right?” one of the medics said, kneeling in front of her.

  She hugged a cloth doll. “Where’s my mommy?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll look for her.” He touched her shoulder. “What’s your name?”

  “Kaley.”

  “How old are you?”

  She held up three fingers.

  “We need to take you somewhere safe, okay?”

  Aaron watched as the paramedic carried the girl toward a nearby ambulance.

  Aaron heard a loud cry from another pile of debris about twenty yards away. “Help, help.”

  He walked toward the voice and spotted a familiar face running from another direction. “Daniel, is that you?”

  “Hi, Doc.” Daniel ran up to him. “I was visiting my brother in a neighborhood over there.” He pointed toward the setting sun. “We had no damage in there at all, but just look at this mess.”

  “I know. It looks like bombs went off around us.”

  They heard the voice again. “Help.”

  Aaron and Daniel strained at heavy fragments of brick wall and sheetrock. Sweat dripped from Aaron’s face. At one point, he stopped and stared at Daniel, who had a grin on his face.

  Daniel nodded. “This is what I live for, sir.” He dove back into the rubble and began to throw off slabs of wood.

  They grappled with one particular piece of marble and stucco. “It looks like part of a fireplace,” Daniel said. “It won’t budge.”

  “Let me help y’all with that,” a man said behind them.

  Aaron turned. “Buck Bogarty. Good. We need your muscles.”

  Buck toiled with Daniel and Aaron until they exposed a frightened young woman lying on her side under a sturdy wooden table.

  “Ma’am, can you stand up?” Buck said.

  “I can try.”

  “Why, you’re pregnant.”

  “Eight months.” She stood up, her eyes glazed over and she collapsed against Buck.

  “I’ll carry you out of here and get you to a hospital.” Buck laid her across his forearms. He hesitated and looked at Aaron.

  Aaron stretched out his hand to Buck’s shoulder. “We’re glad you’re here.”

  Buck nodded. “Thanks.” He stepped over debris and toward the flashing lights of an ambulance.

  “Doc, over there.” Daniel pointed to a mound of debris more than twenty yards away. “I heard something.”

  Aaron zigzagged with him toward a faint, moaning sound at one edge of the pile.

  As they cleared splintered wood away, a shoe appeared. Then they uncovered the legs, torso, and head of a man lying on the muddy ground. One of the larger pieces of wood wouldn’t budge.

  Aaron held up his hand. “Don’t try to move it.”

  A jagged shard was impaled through the man’s mid abdomen and stuck into something underneath him. He took shallow, rapid breaths.

  Daniel kneeled down close to him. “Jed, is that you?”

  Jed opened his eyes and stared, focusing on Daniel’s face. He managed a smile and a whisper. “Daniel … my old buddy.”

  “We’ve got to get you to a hospital. Hold on.”

  Jed tried in vain to lift his head. “Remember … our solemn oath?”

  “Sure I do.”

  “Well, you’ve done good.” He gasped for air. “You’re my soldier hero.”

  “Hold on. You’re not done yet.”

  “It’s okay, my friend … Remember the oath.” He breathed in, exhaled with a frothy sound, and his eyes closed. His chest stopped moving.

  Daniel shook Jed’s shoulders. “Wake up, Jed. You can’t die.”

  Aaron crouched and felt Jed’s neck for a carotid pulse, and then he turned to Daniel. “He had a bad injury. Too much internal bleeding. He’s gone.”

  Daniel withdrew his hands, sat back, and hung his head.

&nb
sp; “There’s nothing we could’ve done,” Aaron said.

  Daniel was still, gazing at Jed’s face.

  Aaron notified 911 of the location of the body.

  After several minutes, Daniel dried his eyes with a handkerchief and then crossed his arms. “I don’t know if I can handle all this.”

  Aaron walked with him to a nearby grove of trees, out of the tornado zone of destruction.

  “I’m sorry about your friend,” Aaron said.

  “We were part of a great group of guys. We were like brothers.”

  “All of you took an oath?”

  Daniel nodded. “ ‘Follow your dreams and live with courage, so you can die with dignity.’ ”

  “That’s a cool oath. Where did you find it?”

  “We made it up.” Daniel sobbed into his handkerchief.

  Aaron stood with him for a while.

  Daniel sighed. “We were a bunch of clueless teenagers. The oath just seemed right for us. I don’t remember which one of us thought of it first, but we worked on it and adopted it as our own. It was one of our better moments.”

  Aaron put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “You have a lot to offer. There’s good to be done.”

  “Jed didn’t deserve to die.”

  “No, but I’m glad he saw you before he passed.”

  Daniel nodded. “He was thinking of the oath.” He clenched his teeth and looked away into the trees, then he took several deep breaths and returned the handkerchief to his pocket.

  “Hey, can you guys help us over here?” a man shouted from near a bright spotlight inside the debris field.

  Daniel straightened his back and glanced toward the spotlighted area, then he turned to Aaron. “Let’s go, sir,” he said.

  Aaron smiled. He has that look in his eyes. That’s got to be good.

  He followed Daniel to join the paramedics.

  One hour later, Aaron and Daniel were searching along the debris field for any signs of people or animals.

  Buck walked up to them. “Hey, Doc, can I join you guys?”

  “Sure. It’s good to see you again,” Aaron said. “There’s plenty of work to be done out here.”

  As the three men lifted a heavy slab of wood, Aaron looked at Buck. “Is the pregnant lady okay?”

  “I think so.” Buck grinned. “She thanked me.”

  Aaron nodded. “That’s what it’s all about.”

  They continued their search in another pile of debris. Buck touched Daniel’s back. “You’re a soldier, right?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I think I want to be a soldier, too. Like you.”

  Daniel stood straight. “You’d make a good soldier. Let’s talk about it after we finish up here.”

  For the rest of the night, they toiled alongside the medics to clear rubble and search for the injured.

  At one point close to midnight, Daniel and Buck had marched away carrying patients to the ambulances. Aaron was alone at the edge of the forest, standing with his medical bag.

  “Hey, you.”

  Aaron shouted, stumbled back several steps, and splashed down on his buttocks. Race Taggett leaned against a tree nearby, his eyes glowing like hot coals.

  Aaron’s chest tightened. Oh, crap.

  “You must be in heaven, with all these moaning people around.”

  Aaron stood up, put a hand over his heart, and slowed his breathing. “Oh, this isn’t heaven.”

  Race grinned. “No, you’re right. It’s more like hell.”

  “Why do you dislike me?”

  Race spat on the ground. “That’s not it. Hospitals and doctors. They wouldn’t touch me. Nobody touches me.” He sneered at Aaron. “I’m a freak.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

  Race’s face contorted and he raised his hands toward Aaron. “Do you have any idea what it’s like? Nobody wanting to touch you?”

  Aaron stared at him. “I can’t even imagine how painful that must feel.”

  Race snorted and put his hands on his hips. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I found a way to get over all that.”

  “Look, there’s hope for you. Turn yourself in—”

  “Haven’t you figured it out? I only feel good when I’m killing, when I see the fear.” He smiled and looked past Aaron. “When I smell the fear.”

  Race spat again. “Otherwise, my life ain’t worth living.” Muscles bulged in Race’s forearms. He stepped forward and pointed at Aaron. “That’s why I’ve been watching you. At a time I choose, I’m going to hurt you.”

  Aaron’s heart pounded so hard that his chest hurt. “Why?”

  “Because you and me, we’re really the same. Only you’re good, and I’m bad.” He snickered. “So which one do you think will win?”

  “There doesn’t have to be a battle. You’re still young. You can try to do better.”

  “I knew you’d keep trying to help me, but can’t you see? So what if I’m a freak? I’m already better than everybody. I’ve always been better. I can beat anyone.”

  Race stepped away from the trees and looked off into the distance. “I could’ve been a hell of an athlete.”

  “I believe that,” Aaron said.

  For a few seconds, Race stood still, his head held high.

  He turned and leaned toward Aaron. “That’s all dead and gone. Now it’s you and me. I need to have you with me, so I have to beat you, and I will because I’m better than you. I’ll prove it, soon enough.” He laughed and vanished into the blackness.

  Aaron shivered so hard that his bones felt like they would break.

  He braced himself against a tree for a while until he stopped shaking, then he stumbled toward the lights and ambulances, seeking more uplifting company. Alongside Buck and Daniel, Aaron sweated and plugged away with the rescue folks until dawn.

  ****

  Before his clinic opened that morning, Aaron treated Buck and Daniel to breakfast at a local diner. Aaron sat across from them at the table.

  “You guys look beat,” Aaron said.

  Buck looked out of a window of the diner. “People died yesterday.”

  Daniel leaned toward Buck. “We did what we could.”

  They were silent for a while as they picked at eggs, bacon, and potatoes.

  Daniel turned to Buck. “So, you’re thinking about joining the military?”

  Buck nodded. “Sure am. I want to make somethin’ of myself.” He sipped steaming coffee. “What’s it like to be a soldier?”

  Daniel sighed. “It changes you.”

  “Yeah, I figured that. For the better, I hope.”

  Daniel hesitated and then gave Buck a faint nod. “Yes. Mostly for the better.”

  As they walked out of the restaurant, Daniel turned to Aaron. “Are you feeling okay?”

  Aaron sighed. “I’m just tired.” He waved them off. “I’ll stay around here a while.”

  He called Stella, Marley, Grant, and Rachel. Everyone was well and uninjured. He’d ask Stella and Juliana at the clinic to phone their patients and check on them.

  That night, Aaron jerked awake to the owl hooting outside. His fingers trembled, and he heard sharp buzzing in his ears. He recalled a dream about that final meeting in Connecticut when a sneering chief of staff with glinting eyes demanded that Aaron resign from the hospital.

  There’s going to be a showdown between Race and me, and I’ve got to stand tall.

  He got out of bed and roamed the house, ending up in his office desk chair, where he sat staring into space. He woke up several hours later, slumped in the chair, with Red’s head in his lap.

  Chapter 50

  Five days later, on his way home from work, Aaron spotted activity at the Taggett’s old house. As he approached the property, he saw a brown SUV parked out front and then a “sold” sign came into view. He drove to the cul-de-sac and parked near the dirt driveway.

  A woman walked around a corner of the house and stopped. Aaron stepped out and waved. “I’m a neighbor,” he shouted. H
e walked onto a lawn recently covered with soft green St. Augustine grass. They rendezvoused in the front yard and shook hands.

  “I’m Emily. We just moved in.”

  “I’m the family doctor in town. I haven’t been here long myself.”

  Emily smiled. “It’s good for us that a doctor is close by. It’s me, my husband, and two kids.”

  “Welcome, and I hope you’ll be comfortable here.”

  “They tell me you don’t get tornadoes that often around here. Is that right?”

  Aaron nodded. “That’s true. You probably heard about the big one that came through here recently.”

  “While I was driving around town, I saw some of the damaged areas.”

  “We’re not likely to have another one like that for a long time.”

  Aaron paced around his house later that evening. After a while, Red stopped following him. Aaron stopped and shook his head.

  Sometimes I can’t even hear because of the buzzing in my ears.

  Aaron’s arms and legs tingled as he crawled into bed for the night. Several hours later, his body jerked awake. He was breathing fast, and his skin dripped with sweat. He remembered fragments of a dream, a woman with shining white hair that flowed down her body and two other faces that floated before him.

  Mom and Dad.

  They screamed for help as a wild-eyed, scruffy man pumped bullets into their bodies. With a husky laugh and a contorted mouth, the man pulled his trigger, again and again.

  Aaron rolled out of bed and walked to his office. He picked up the framed photograph of his parents, and his eyes filled with tears as he stared at their happy faces.

  He looked toward the ceiling. “I’ve got to let go of this. Mom and Dad, help me let go of this.”

  Aaron plopped down in his desk chair. He put his hands over his ears to smother the buzzing sound, and he closed his eyes to cover up the wavy lines in his vision.

  Several minutes later, an idea popped into his head and his eyes flew open. He bolted to his bedroom and pulled on running clothes and shoes. Aaron heard Red barking, but he didn’t stop to pet him as he dashed out of the house, slamming the front door behind him. An owl hooted from a nearby tree.

  Aaron hurried along his street and soon passed by Marley Brighton’s house, turning right at the intersection. In a short while, he made it to the front door of his clinic and peered inside. He pounded several times on the door.