by Line, Al K.
TENT
Long after they heard Aiden begin snoring, and they were tucked up in their own sleeping bags — they had zipped them together to make a cozy double bed for themselves in their tiny tent — Edsel and Lash talked late into the night about the reality of their situation, as opposed to the conjecture it had all been before they actually arrived. Finally Lash fell asleep, tired from so many new experiences.
Edsel snuggled up tight to her, loving the feel of their naked skin against each other, still marveling at his luck even after so many years together.
Lash mumbled in her sleep, shifting position slightly, and Edsel held her tighter, never wanting to let her go. Never.
Before she'd fallen asleep they had talked about what was best, about what the future held, but in the end it seemed like they both agreed it was simply too soon to tell exactly what they should do — it was best to wait a while and then make a decision.
One thing was clear — Aiden was not keen on going back to the safety and quiet of the island. There was going to have to be some serious decision making to be done at some point, but they both agreed they could hold off for a while, see what happened, and try to live in the moment, enjoying their adventure while they could, keeping their fingers crossed that nothing bad happened.
What else could they do? They certainly couldn't stop Aiden from wanting to do things; it was natural, and they had been remiss to have kept him isolated for so long. It was no way to bring up a teenager, and now he was a man. A man that wanted to experience life firsthand.
Lash shifted in her sleep again, pushing her bottom out into Edsel's crotch.
I wonder if she'll mind if I wake her up?
CLIMB
About a week after their return to what he couldn't help now thinking of as home, almost like he'd been living in a foreign country on the island, Edsel announced that he was going to take a day to himself. Lash stared at him like she knew what he was up to, although Edsel was sure she didn't.
Aiden didn't care, he was happy to spend time with Michael — they were getting very close. Edsel wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but left them to it when they went off together.
As he cycled away from the apartment block, Edsel felt his smile getting broader. A feeling of liberation took hold of him like he'd been a caged animal just now given his freedom. He cycled hard, weaving through the town as fast as the streets would allow, heading inland, away from the ocean, from his family, from his responsibilities.
Edsel headed into the countryside; Edsel was going climbing.
~~~
Halfway up the craggy peak, Edsel knew he had made a very bad decision. As he hung by his fingertips, stripped to the waist and as alone as a man could possibly be, he realized that he would be lucky to escape with his life.
He should have stopped the minute he put his hand to the rock — there was no affinity with the hard surface, there was no Flow. But he'd forged ahead, convincing himself that he would find his groove, find the inner connection that made him one with the rock.
It never came.
I'm going to die because I'm an idiot. I should have been grateful for everything that I have, but I told myself I needed the climbing. Maybe I did. I'm an adrenaline junkie.
Edsel calmed himself, got his body back under control and cleared his mind of all thoughts.
Just the rock, just the rock. Move.
He swung an arm up, nearly missed the tiny pocket in the rock that was all that stood between him and his death. He got it though, and ever so slowly continued his climb to the top.
When he made it he lay on the scrub grass, panting and cursing his own stupidity. He had thought that the climb would be just what he needed to clear his head, give him some clarity after the confusion of emotions that had hit him since coming home. It had done the opposite, making him question more about himself than he ever had in the past.
It was obvious to him now that he didn't climb purely to feel the connection, and for a little alone time to commune with nature, it was because he was an addict; he needed his fix of danger. It was a rude awakening to come to terms with the fact that he had always been this way — it explained a lot.
Why would he have lived in large cities when he could have been safe somewhere else? The risk factor of course. That and the stark reality was that he enjoyed such environments. He had been living a lie for years now, removed from all that man had accomplished, trying to convince himself that all he needed was his family. In one sense that was true, but there was no getting away from the fact that he also loved the chaos as much as he did the calm, the peace and quiet. He'd climbed so he could stay in the countryside and keep his family safe; his adrenaline fix so he could keep their lives going in such a subdued manner.
Now it was a revelation just how addicted he was to the urban sprawl, the reminder of what once was. The opportunity to explore and have adventures, and yes, the risk of danger was exciting. He perversely enjoyed it.
That's why we can't stay, why I tried so hard to keep us away from this. If we live here then I will get us all sucked back into something, risk our future together.
It was a conundrum, Edsel understood that. On the one hand he had come to know himself better, and now realized just why he'd done the things he had, but it meant that he would have to try to convince Aiden that it was for the best. He knew that Lash was happy away from it all, but Aiden was clearly reveling in the life they were leading at the moment — it was going to take a lot of convincing to get him to want to return to a life where he only spoke to two other people and had no chance of meeting others of his age, or any age, and there was definitely no chance of the poor guy ever getting to discover the wonder that was the naked female body. Edsel couldn't believe he hadn't given the needs of the young man more than just passing consideration for all these years.
Poor guy, no wonder he's enjoying himself so much. God knows how he would handle meeting an actual genuine girl that showed an interest in him. How can I make that happen? Where would we find a girl for Aiden? Maybe that would convince him to come with us and stay safe, before harm comes to him. Even if we try to stay out of trouble here something will happen eventually, it always does.
Edsel suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, realization dawning.
Shit. I've got to get down off this bloody mountain.
~~~
Hours later, Edsel made it back to the apartment, where a worried Lash was pacing about, looking like she was going to kill him, hug him, or both, as she caught sight of him staggering through the door.
"I know, I know. No more rock climbing, I promise. Sorry," he said sheepishly, feeling immensely pleased when Lash did the hugging part but not the killing bit.
"I was worried sick. You went climbing didn't you? What is wrong with you?" Lash slapped him hard on the back, then punched him on the shoulder too.
"Ow! Careful, my muscles are killing me,"
"Oh, is poor little Edsel feeling an ickle bit tired from his big, oh-so-manly day out? Well, tough. You deserve worse."
"You're right, and I'm sorry. I'm never going to do it again. Listen, we need to talk. We need to see if we can't do something to convince Aiden to come back to the island with us. I'm no good here, trouble follows me around like a ball and chain. I keep expecting somebody to jump out from behind a bush with a tattoo machine and start waving it about."
"What's brought this on? You know I want to go back; I like it there. But Aiden isn't going to want to. Him and Michael are off out again; I've given up trying to stop him."
"I think we need to find him a nice girl. If we could convince him that it would be best for him to have a family away from this madness, then I think it would work if the girl was willing. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise he's never going to want to come back, so we'll have to stay as well."
"Yup, that about sums it up. Look, I realized something today when I was, um, climbing," Edsel took a step back just in case he got another punch.
"I realized that I do like it here, that I like being slightly edgy, and that's not good. But I also came to understand that I love you and Aiden more, that I want more than anything in this world for the two of you to be safe and happy, so we need to find a way to convince him to come back with us. If you still want to that is?"
She does, I'm sure she does. She loves it there.
"Oh Edsel, I do love you so much you know?" Lash hugged him tightly, making everything right in the world with that one simple gesture. "I love what you're willing to sacrifice for us; it means more than you could ever know. I'm just amazed it's taken you so long to realize this about yourself though. You do love it here. You like the craziness, and you like the excitement. I've always known that, and this is the reason why I love you more than anything — knowing what you gave up for us. Sure, you convinced yourself it was what you wanted, but I could see it, you were just like Aiden but trying to hide it. You wanted some adventures too. It's who you are."
Damn. Seems like everyone knows me better than I know myself.
"I will do anything to keep you both safe, you know that. I don't need anything apart from you and Aiden, so let's try our best to keep this family together, all right?"
"All right."
God I love this woman. I really don't deserve her. I knew I was flawed, but not quite this flawed.
SEARCH
"Any more sunbathing and you'll be as dark as some of my Ink Michael," quipped Edsel, as Michael turned down the offer to go with them on their latest trip.
"Well, I don't think that is going to happen, but I do enjoy the sun. In this climate you have to make the most of it while you can. Soon enough it will be autumn and I will be on the road again, the lonely traveler wandering the country, watching the leaves fall from the trees and the creatures foraging for food before the winter settles in."
"Very poetic. But if you're sure?" Michael nodded in reply and said a quick goodbye, before heading up to the roof for another day in his deck chair.
Aiden was excited as usual, keen to go off and explore, although he didn't know the purpose of their next foray out into the towns and villages that dotted the west coast of England.
Best he doesn't. I can't very well tell him we're just going off to find him a girlfriend and then he has to come home with us to the island. He'd have a fit.
They were going to make a more extended trip this time, planning on being away for a few weeks. They would travel by car, bicycles on the roof like a family just off for a little vacation, a sight all too familiar once, now a real curiosity for anybody that spotted them.
Edsel was nervous, knowing the longer they were away, the higher the risk and the greater the chance that they would come up on the radar of The Eventuals. So far they hadn't seen any, and Edsel wanted to keep it that way. His skin began to prickle every time he thought about them, what they had done, taken away from him and left him with.
If they stuck to small towns and villages, and explored the countryside for signs of life, then the chances were low of encountering them. It was the old cities where they congregated, their numbers not large enough because of the ever-dwindling population for them to have a foothold in each once-populated part of the entire country.
Edsel tried to open his mind up through his limited skills in The Noise, seeking out hints of life, but he felt like a child moved up a class when really he should have been held back an extra year — he just wasn't that good at it, yet he knew that if he asked Aiden to be on the hunt for girls he wasn't going to be very popular. Or was he? Maybe that was exactly how he should handle the situation? Tell Aiden straight that he should be scouting for girls to meet, doing all he could to seek out the presence of others as he was much better at it than he or Lash was.
"Hey Aiden, you know we had that conversation about girls and that you would quite like to meet one, or, you know... um, more than just meet?"
Damn, I am not going to handle this well.
"Yes?" said Aiden, looking as wary as a pig in an abattoir.
"Well, how about trying to find people via The Noise? Can you tell how old people are if you find them?"
Aiden sighed, and Lash looked at him like he really shouldn't be bringing the subject up. Edsel just shrugged; it was too late now. "What do you think I've been doing since we got here? I've been doing everything I can to try to find people. There just aren't many around, or if there are then they have The Lethargy."
Wow! I got that wrong.
"Oh, okay, right. Yeah, good job then I suppose." Edsel turned to Lash and smiled a smug smile.
In your face!
Lash scowled back at him before turning in her seat. "So are there any people close by? How far does this thing work? Your radar?"
"It's not really like that. You two can do it a little so you know it's more a feeling, although not a feeling. It's hard to explain, more like you can see colors without really seeing them, read the signals like a page in a book, but sometimes the lines just look like squiggles and you can't make any sense of it all. Sorry, I'm not explaining this very well."
"Hey buddy, no problem. You're doing a better job of it than I could." Edsel glanced at Aiden in the rear-view mirror.
He's such a great lad now. We can't lose him.
"Thanks. But there's nobody about as far as I can tell."
"So let's keep on going then, it's not like we have a deadline."
They drove for days.
~~~
Travel was infuriating.
Every single road ended up being blocked eventually in one way or another, and the detours grew longer and longer the smaller the roads they tried to use. Edsel became increasingly frustrated, Lash got quiet — which was always a bad sign — and Aiden was clearly getting depressed.
Where is everybody? They can't all have gone.
It wasn't like the country was devoid of life, but unless you went into built-up areas where people clung to past lives as if waiting for them to return, then it was no easy task to uncover where Whole were trying to build a future for themselves, however tenuous.
After yet another dead end, the road blocked by a landslide where a steep cliff had collapsed because maintenance work had been abandoned, Edsel was about ready to give it all up and go back to the apartment just to give them all a break from each other. Then he had an idea.
We need high ground. Somewhere that gives us a view for miles and miles.
"Does anybody fancy a bit of a hike?"
Edsel turned to face Lash as he saw her fist clench out of his peripheral vision. "Whoa, hold on. I don't mean any rock climbing, I mean that I have an idea."
With a fist poised to give him a dead arm, Lash asked, "What idea?"
"If we go there," Edsel pointed at the high hills in the distance, "then maybe we will see signs of life. Fires, fields with crops, plowed land. Something. The higher we get the further we can see. It's a lovely clear day so we should get just about the best view possible. Waddya think? Aiden?"
"Sounds like a good idea to me, yeah. And I could do with some fresh air. No offense but it's getting a little stinky in here."
"Hey, it's not just me," protested Edsel.
"I never said it was. And thanks, it's a good idea. Let's do it."
He's looking perkier already.
"Okay," said Lash. "Let's go hiking."
A few miles further on, and after more detours, the car died on them. Fuel was always a problem, as were simple maintenance issues caused by vehicles standing idle for so many years. Batteries wouldn't keep their charge, some vehicles never even started, or if they did then there was no fuel readily available. With lessons learned Edsel always tried to take as much with them as possible, but more often than not they swapped vehicles if they felt the car begin to show signs of mechanical problems in any way. Edsel got out and topped up the tank with the last can that was full, and then they were off again.
I need to come up with a better plan for long trips. We need a tanker, not jerry cans of fuel.
More twists and turns, and a couple of arguments about which way to go, saw them finally arrive in a large open space at the foot of the hills, where a large number of vehicles were parked — day-trippers that never made it back, those that had the same idea as Edsel, or hikers just wandering off into the countryside, knowing it would be their last ever day of hiking.
"Right, let's get our gear and go take a walk."
VIEW
The rolling hills still had good footpaths, if a little overgrown, so the going was relatively easy. What Edsel wasn't ready for was just how many bodies littered their way. He'd always thought that most people died of The Lethargy in their own homes, or at least close by, so it came as somewhat of a revelation. It was not a jolly jaunt in the countryside for him and his family.
"Why are there so many dead people here? It doesn't make sense," said Lash, turning away from the sight of yet another corpse, bones scattered in all directions, long ago ripped apart by the creatures that made the hills their homes.
"I thought it was just people coming to places they loved, you know, for the last time. Maybe doing what we're doing, searching for signs of life, but this is getting ridiculous."
Something isn't right here.
"Anyone else getting a bad feeling about this?" Aiden nudged a bone with his foot, kicking it out of the path. It clattered as it came to a stop against a rock, shining bright in the crisp clear air.
"I know I am," said Lash, shivering despite wearing more clothes than Edsel was accustomed to seeing her in.
"So, do we carry on or go back? What do you think could have caused this?"
"Cannibals," said Aiden.
"Shut up, don't be daft. Nobody would do that, would they?" Lash looked around nervously, as if expecting a savage in a loincloth brandishing a club to jump out at them from behind a rock.
"I doubt it very much, and it still wouldn't explain why so many people are up here. They must have come up for some reason, before whatever happened to them actually happened."