by Keary Taylor
“Well, that couldn’t have been easier,” West said as he stood from our hiding spot.
“Hey, you won’t be complaining when your stomach is full tonight,” I shot back as I walked forward and pulled the arrow out of the bird. I wiped it clean on a mossy tree trunk.
“Well it isn’t a bear,” he joked as he handed me a length of rope.
I just rolled my eyes at him as we tied it by its legs to the back of my pack. We set out again on a trail heading south without another word.
Being so far away from Eden, we didn’t try for anything bigger than birds and rabbits. As we felt the temperature drop slightly as the sun started to think about going down, we took a break on a rock outcropping that overlooked a valley.
I closed my eyes and breathed the summer scented air in. “I almost wish I could just stay out here for a few nights, away from everything.”
“Why don’t you?” West asked as he leaned back, propping himself up on his elbows.
“You know why. I have jobs, duties. They need me.” I took a sigh. “I just wish…”
“That you could have a break,” he said. It wasn’t a question. He knew he’d filled in the blank.
“Yeah,” I said as I let my breath out, opening my eyes to the view before me. “It’s all just so…”
“Exhausting?” This time he didn’t seem so sure.
“I guess,” I said as I looked down at my hands in my lap. The hand that had been eaten away from the barbs was covered in more rippled scar tissue. “It’s a lot of pressure I suppose. Not that I’ve really known any different.”
“You’re pretty amazing,” he said after a few moments of quiet. “You know that?”
“Just ‘cause your grandfather made me that way.”
“No, you’re amazing. Eve. The human part of you. You’ll never stop fighting for them. You always put them before yourself.”
And he was right. As much as I liked being with West, as good and alive as he made me feel, I would keep him pushed away so something like the incident with Graye would never happen again.
“They may be all that’s left,” I said quietly. “I’ve got to keep them alive. We’re already an endangered species.”
“Just don’t forget who you are in the process,” he said as he looked out over the trees.
“This is who I am. I’ve never been anyone else.”
“Well, maybe you need to find something that’s just for you.”
I considered this. What else was there to do besides what I already was doing? What else was I passionate about? As I glanced back over at West, a weird feeling settled into my stomach. I wanted to ponder that maybe West or Avian could be what was just for me, but I couldn’t. I’d already decided that. That was too dangerous. “Maybe,” was all I could say in an attempt to steer my thoughts in a different direction. “We’d better get going. I’ve got night watch tonight.”
“You mean every night?” he said as we stood and started down a deer trail.
“Every night,” I agreed with him.
“No one will do a better job.”
“Exactly.”
I couldn’t look at Avian for the next five days. I knew if I did I would explode on him, and there was a part of me that was human enough to not want to do that.
Eden got a big surprise that fifth day though. Graye and Bill returned. In a truck and a flatbed trailer. Full of non-perishables, clothing, shoes, tents, and other supplies.
We came running out of our tents in the early hours of the morning, alarmed by the noise the truck created. It was a sound a lot of people couldn’t remember hearing and for some of us, a sound we had never heard outside of the city. Half of us came running out with guns, ready to mow down a Hunter on an ATV. Graye had jumped out, arms waving.
We all pitched in, helping to unload the supplies, shipping off the clothing and shoes to Victoria, sending the food to the kitchen help, and sorting everything else out where it needed to go. Once all the work was done, the two of them pulled Gabriel, Avian, and I into a tent.
“Something is happening out there,” Graye said. It was only then that I noticed the slightly panicked look in his eyes. “Hunters were coming out of everywhere. I don’t know, I mean, maybe they were just being more aggressive. We had to take the truck, just to help keep them off of us!”
“Slow down, Graye,” Gabriel said, holding a hand up to him. “Were there actually more Hunters? We thought there were getting to be fewer of them.”
“I don’t know. Maybe. They were just everywhere. We couldn’t seem to hide from them.”
“They’re getting more aggressive,” Bill said, his voice low. “We used most of our ammo keeping them off of us.”
“We have four bullets left!” Graye said with a fearful sounding chuckle. “It’s a good thing we got the truck to start or we wouldn’t have gotten out of there.”
“If they’re getting so much more aggressive, is it going to be possible to go back again?” Avian asked, keeping his voice down.
Neither of them said anything for a moment. They exchanged looks and I knew their answer before either spoke.
“If it keeps going like this, there’s no way,” Bill answered.
“I don’t know how we made it out of there, much less with all the supplies we got,” Graye said as he rubbed his hands together.
“Do we move again?” I asked as I looked at Gabriel.
“It’s likely they’re getting more aggressive everywhere,” Avian said when Gabriel seemed at a loss for an answer. “West said it’s designed to spread. There isn’t much of any one left to spread it to. It’s desperate. Any other cities will probably be the same way. And besides, we have the gardens here. We’d be smarter to stay put.”
I swallowed hard as another thought occurred to me. If the Hunters were getting so desperate, they were likely to keep pressing further and further into the country and outskirts looking for what was left of the human race.
Something within told me our dangerous world would soon become much more dangerous.
Gabriel pursed his lips and gave a small nod. “That’s it then. No more going back into the city. We can’t afford to lose anyone else. We should be alright, the gardens are doing just fine, and we even have a little bit of the stores from last year left over.”
I felt an itch inside of me as we disbanded. It felt like we needed to do something. I didn’t like the feeling that we were just sitting and waiting around to be attacked. But what were we supposed to do? There were billions of Fallen out there. How were we supposed to take a stand against them?
SEVENTEEN
I woke up the next afternoon with a plan.
They were going for an all or nothing wipe out. The Fallen wanted to take us all. We had to fight back. There had always been a part of me that remembered they were all human, but we all knew being infected made you as good as dead. You didn’t come back after you were infected. We were going to have to use the same approach they were using themselves.
We had to get rid of them all.
“Avian?” I called before I even entered the medical tent. I found him washing out a handful of bloody rags in a basin of sharp smelling water. I swallowed hard, knowing we wouldn’t be able to go after more bleach. Just one more thing that had become so precious. “What happened?” I asked.
“Brady,” he said with a sigh. “He fell out of a tree and split his forehead open. I stitched it up.”
“Is he okay?” I was surprised at the small pain that formed in my chest.
“He’ll have a nice scar all his life, but he’ll be okay.” Avian wrung out a rag and set it out to dry on the table. He looked up at me expectantly, waiting for me to say whatever I found important enough to say to break my silent treatment toward him.
I paced around the tent, trying to gather my thoughts into a question, or just a statement, or something.
“The CDU, it shorts out anything cybernetic,” I said as I continued to pace.
Avian paused, as if qu
estioning what was going through my mind. “Yes.”
“There’s got to be designs for it somewhere,” I said as I rubbed my cheek, continuing to pace. “If we could get those designs we could figure out a way to make it bigger. There’s got to be a way to make a pulse that would destroy anything cybernetic within a certain range. Someone has to have designed something like this when everything started.”
Avian turned to face me, his face suddenly tired looking. “It’s not that simple, Eve. For starters, where would we even look for plans like that? We wouldn’t even know where to start. And then there’s the matter of getting into the city. It might be possible if we could have free reign of the right city for about a week, but that’s not going to happen.
“And then there’s the materials to even build it. And none of us here would know how to build it. None of us has the right know-how.”
I stopped my pacing and stared at Avian, feeling hollow again. “What are we supposed to do then? Just wait here for them to come get us? What happens when a dozen Hunters come? Thirty, forty, or fifty of them? I can’t fight them all off. We can’t fight them!”
Avian took a step toward me and placed his hands on my arms. “Calm down, Eve. Take a deep breath.”
I then realized my breaths had been coming in short, shallow gasps. My head was spinning and my heart was pounding. “What’s wrong with me?” Black spots were forming on the edges of my vision.
“Breathe, Eve,” Avian said as he placed his hands on my cheeks, looking into my eyes. I forced myself to focus on the intense blueness of his as I took deep breaths in and out. Slowly, the dizziness in my head ebbed away. “Better?”
I bit my lower lip, closed my eyes, and nodded my head. “Something’s wrong with me. Maybe I’m sick.”
Avian chuckled. “You’re not sick. It’s just emotion. It’s normal.”
“I don’t like it,” I said. Not even realizing what I was doing, I leaned into Avian’s chest and wrapped my arms around his waist. His arms came around my shoulders, his chin resting on the top of my head. It didn’t take long for my heartbeat to match the rhythm of Avian’s. I wanted to stay there forever and just forget everything that felt so out of control. Everything was safe here.
“Why did you tell Gabriel to send the raid without me?” And just like that, I had broken the peace I had found.
He didn’t say anything for a minute. He pressed his lips to the top of my head before he spoke. “Because I didn’t think I’d survive the few days of not knowing what was happening to you.”
I didn’t say anything in response. My insides were pulling me everywhere. Part of me wanted to yell at Avian and tell him he should know I could take care of myself. Another part of me felt all soft and mushy. That part felt weird. I buried my face in Avian’s chest, breathing his scent in.
“We won’t ever give up, Eve,” he said quietly in my ear. “I’ll never give up. As long as you’re still here, I’ll keep fighting ‘til they destroy my system.”
I pressed my cheek harder to his chest, listening to his heart thump. “I won’t either. Until they blow me up or something.”
He gave a chuckle, sending crazy vibrations through his chest.
“I need to go talk to West,” I said, taking a step away, breaking the bubble of comfort. “I have to look through that notebook. There were all kinds of notes in it. Maybe there will be something that will help us figure out a way to win this.”
Avian’s face fell at the mention of West, but he made a good effort to give a small smile. “It couldn’t hurt.”
My eyes met his again and not thinking about what I was doing, I placed my hand on his cheek, feeling stubble forming there already. My eyes searched his, wanting to give him promises, not even knowing what they meant. Wanting to give promises I knew I would never be able to keep.
And so I didn’t say anything. I simply stepped outside of the tent into the blinding light of mid-summer.
Summer had a way of bringing everyone in Eden to life. Everyone bustled around, going about their duties with a smile on their face. In the summer people seemed to feel safer, knowing there was plenty of food and that we wouldn’t freeze to death. The excitement and contentment in the air was almost electric.
I understood then why people kept secrets so often. What if I were to suddenly announce to everyone that we could no longer go on raids? That we could expect at any time to have the Fallen come down on us? It was better sometimes not to know.
I’d still rather know though.
Was this the conflict of right and wrong I had heard so much about?
I found West by the lake. He stood in only a pair of pants, washing out the few clothes he possessed. He looked up at me, his shaggy hair flopping across his forehead as he did.
“I want to look at that notebook again,” I said, coming to a stop ten feet away from him, stuffing my hands in my pockets.
“Well, hi, Eve. I’m doing great this beautiful afternoon. How are you?” he said with a chuckle.
“Great,” I said shortly. “I’d like to look at the notebook again.”
His expression stiffened as he looked back at me. I tried to decipher what was going through his head. He looked uncomfortable, but I couldn’t be sure. “Why?”
“Does it matter?”
“Kinda’.”
“I think I have a right to look at it as much as I like, considering most of it is about me,” I said, feeling an itch of annoyance build in my chest.
“Only about a third of it,” he said sarcastically as he stepped out of the water, wringing a shirt out.
“Why does everything have to turn into a joke with you?” I asked, my tone sharp.
“Geesh, Eve,” he said as he narrowed his eyes at me. “Wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?”
I clenched my teeth together. I fought back the urge to clamp my hands around his neck. My eyes dropped from his eyes, to the pile of his stuff at the base of a tree. I saw it there, lying next to his pack. Without hesitating, I walked over to it and grabbed it. I started heading back in the direction of my tent.
“Hey! Eve!” he yelled as he started after me. “What do you think you are doing?”
He grabbed my arm, pulling me around to face him.
Before I even realized what I was doing, I found my left hand wrapped around his throat. For half a second, everything flashed black.
“Eve! Stop it! What are you doing?” I heard Sarah’s screams from behind me. I had dropped my hand before she even got to us. West started coughing violently and dropped to his hands and knees.
My eyes grew wide as I took two steps away from him. My mouth opened and closed a few times before I found any words to form. “I’m… I’m sorry. I…” I couldn’t seem to find anything else to say as I turned and jogged toward my tent, notebook in hand.
I sank onto my cot, breathing hard. What had I just done? I didn’t even remember making the decision to do what I did. I didn’t think I was even that worked up over his reluctance.
I pressed my hands over my eyes, trying to calm myself. My chest was hammering again.
Three minutes later the flap of my tent was pushed aside.
“You attacked West?” Avian asked, his voice stiff.
“I’m sorry, Avian! I don’t know what happened. It’s almost like I blacked out or something.” I couldn’t even look up into his face.
He didn’t say anything, just stood in front of me. That’s when I actually felt scared about what had happened. Why wouldn’t he say anything?
“Let’s take a look at that notebook,” he said quietly as he sat beside me. I closed my eyes again and leaned into him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave me a tight squeeze. I took several deep, long breaths. Why, when I was with Avian, did everything seem like it might be okay?
I sat back up, feeling slightly better, and opened the notebook.
“All this is about you?” Avian asked as we started flipping through tattered pages.
“Just
these ones,” I said as I pinched a bunch of pages together.
“That’s so weird,” he mused. “I can’t even imagine how it was for you to read it all.”
“Weird,” I breathed. Avian chuckled.
We turned to the pages that came after all the entries about me. I didn’t understand what most of it meant, just that it was the notes about the evolution of the technology that was a part of me and how it changed into the infection.
My eyes were glued to the page as we came upon one entry.
Something has gone wrong. It is spreading. Lab assistant Kelly Strong, who received a hearing implant, has been complaining about uncontrollable movement in her left leg. Other reports have been coming in from other patients as well.
Eve’s technology wasn’t the only to evolve.
We’ve made a terrible mistake.
“They should have stopped it right then,” I said as we turned the page.
“They thought they could control it,” Avian said quietly.
We continued to flip through pages, reading about the horrors that took place in the facility used to do the procedures. The doctors started Falling, one by one.
“Hang on a second,” Avian said, turning a page back.
“What?”
He didn’t say anything as he brought the notebook up closer to his face. There was a drawing on the page, an octagonal shaped thing, with other crazy drawings inside of it. Hurried notes were scribbled all around it. None of it made sense to me.
Avian flipped to another page. This one had more drawings. These looked more detailed, like maybe they were the things inside the octagon. Tiny writing was inside of the drawings, so small I had to look very closely to read it.
“What is it?” I asked, looking at Avian.
His nose was only about an inch away from the pages, his eyes squinting. “I don’t even know what half of this stuff is. They’re materials. Reactive elements. I think this is it.”
“What we need to destroy it?”
“I’d guess,” he said as he shook his head. “I didn’t think it was this complicated. I had always assumed it was just some kind of electrical pulse but this is far more complex. I never studied engineering or that kind of thing much so I don’t really understand it all. But this is more involved than I had thought it would be.”