Third Wave: Bones of Eden

by Zaide Bishop

  “Unless they make a boat too.”

  Fox shook his head. “I don’t think they’re like us. I don’t think they think and feel. They’re like dogs or cows, but violent.”

  Sugar nodded absently. Fox was probably right. How else could they have done what they did? You didn’t go around killing people if you had empathy.

  “But then, do you think there is water and food on the islands?” Sugar asked.

  “Maybe. There’s lots of birds over there. Birds need water, and we know they taste good. Chicken. We can eat birds.”

  “I could live with that.” Bird meat, safety, a more contained space than this horrible beach and the world that went on forever and ever into the horizon.

  “Will you two go to sleep?” Johnny snapped. “You’re keeping everyone awake with your yapping.”

  Fox propped himself up to stick out his tongue, then flopped back down. Sugar grinned at him.

  “Well, you sure show—”

  Something snapped over Sugar’s shoulder, and he felt the weight before the pain. He didn’t understand, but he could see the dawning horror in Fox’s face, see him drawing breath to scream, but it happened in slow motion.

  The pain hit then, searing through Sugar as teeth as big as his thumb bit down through flesh. There was the immense pressure of jaws locking closed and the sudden jerk as he was dragged backward, pulled away from his brothers, away from the light and into the screaming, thrashing darkness...

  * * *

  The lion cubs were growing fast. Almost too fast for Charlie to keep up with them. They weren’t afraid anymore. Now when they saw her coming, basket of meat on her shoulder, they would run from the den caterwauling in greeting, and they loped down the path to meet her.

  She never tried to touch them, never got too close, but they knew each other now.

  She upended a basket of scraps—some raw, some cooked—onto the dirt and stepped back as the dog-sized creatures buried their noses in the offal, snarling and swiping at each other.

  Sugar whistled. “They sure are big now.”

  “Big enough to hunt on their own soon, I think. I’d like to trap some things. Bring them live prey to practice on. Birds with broken wings, things like that. We can’t keep feeding them forever.”

  He slid closer to her, putting his hand on the hard swell of her belly. “Soon we’ll be too busy.”

  She smiled. “Soon. Any day now.”

  She was due, and it seemed impossible that she could get any bigger anyway. It would be a relief to drop the weight. Walking tired her, and her back was aching. Her breasts had started to leak.

  Then the tribe would have two babies. Whiskey and Fox’s daughter, Raven, and... Charlie had no idea if her own child would be a male or female. Only that it would have plenty of kin to grow up with. Romeo, Foxtrot and Tango were looking fuller in the belly.

  With construction of the new village well underway, it was a busy time for everyone. They had a lot to do before they would be prepared to handle so many infants. Raven was a handful on her own.

  “Come on, we should go back.” Sugar slipped his hand into hers.

  “I don’t like to leave them alone.”

  “Stay too long, and they’ll start following us. I don’t think we can train them like dogs.”

  “Whiskey could.”

  “Maybe.” He tugged her hand, and she conceded, falling into step beside him. The warmth of his palm against hers sent a pleasant tingle up her arm. It hadn’t always been easy between them, but the hard times were finally past. She was safe with him. As long as he was there, everything would be okay.

  She slipped her hand out of his and traced the pattern of scars on his shoulder. Faded now, old, but still betraying how deep the wounds had been. He said he didn’t know what had dragged him out of the Elikai camp that night. He only remembered teeth and reflective eyes, a scaly body and immense strength.

  Even now, it was difficult to tell what had made the mark. Charlie knew the bite patterns of the predators on the archipelago, but the mainland went forever. Who knew how many creatures lived there? Animals from before that were created or brought back from the dead by scientists?

  “That tickles.” He smiled.

  “We should go back to the mainland.”

  His eyes widened. “What? No! We almost died last time. Those pigs...” He shuddered.

  “But we had to leave most of the books. We could go back with more people, better armed. We know where to go and what we’re looking for now. We can set up our own library in the caves where it’s always dry and we know they’ll be safe.”

  He shook his head. “No. Maybe when the village is built. Maybe when our baby is older. There is no way I am letting you go back before then.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Letting me?”

  He pulled her to a stop, turning her to face him. “Letting you,” he said firmly. “It’s my job to protect you. And if you don’t need me, then it’s my job to protect this one.”

  He laid his hand on her belly.

  “Okay,” she conceded, still amused. “But not because I need your permission.”

  He kissed her temple. “I appreciate it. We have plenty to do here anyway. Another week and the hall will be finished.”

  The hall was the first of Sugar’s major construction plans. At seven by sixteen feet, it was large enough that all of the tribe would be able to squeeze in together, as long as they didn’t mind sitting close. It had a pounded stone floor, a timber frame and mud-brick walls. Sufficient, Sugar insisted, to withstand a cyclone. At least, it would be when the walls were dry. The roof, perhaps less so. It would be made of thatch. If the storms got bad, the tribe would do as they always had when the cyclones came: they would retreat into the caves. Only now, they would have proper farmland to tend, be near the river and make proper pens for goats and pigs. Stability they would need if they were to rebuild their numbers and raise children.

  “It’s funny, how it turned out in the end,” Charlie mused.

  “All because of stolen canoes,” Sugar agreed.

  “But it’s over now, isn’t it?”

  “The bad parts.” He pulled her closer. “I prefer to think it’s finally begun.”

  * * *

  “Come with me, I’ve got something to show you.”

  William looked up, smiling when he saw Romeo watching him with one hand on her hip.

  India still hadn’t had time to properly establish the gardens in the new village, so William supplemented the tribe’s food by gathering what he could from the surrounding jungle. The basket he carried was half full, and he glanced down at it, wondering if he should refuse her just this once and finish what he’d started. He’d just spotted a bush covered with berries that were particular favorites of Sugar’s, and while he was fairly confident he knew where he was, this was a new area for him and there was every possibility he’d gotten turned around and would never find this place again.

  Then he looked back up at Romeo, and any possibility of him saying no disappeared with an almost audible snap. He’d longed for her for years, even before they’d discovered the truth about their separate tribes. Still, on a daily basis, he found himself wondering exactly what strange world he’d stepped into where Romeo, beautiful, fierce Romeo, wanted him. “Yeah, let me just—” He held up the basket to illustrate and tilted his head toward the village.

  She shook her head. “Just bring it.”

  Then she turned away from home, moving so quickly she almost vanished in the foliage. William fell into step behind her, happy to follow wherever she went. Her pace could generously be described as punishing, and he struggled to keep up with her, ducking and darting through the trees up the side of the mountain. Thankfully, they hadn’t been hiking for long before she pulled up short at a small clearing whe
re the trees that normally obscured any kind of orienting view broke to reveal a view of the islands. When it didn’t look like they were going any further, William placed the basket on a rock and sank himself against a nearby tree, closing his eyes and catching his breath.

  Romeo joined him, resting against his side. She was not quite on top of him but close enough, pressing her face into William’s chest, rising and falling with his breathing. He smiled and kissed the top of her head, deeply content as he looked out over the jungle, enjoying the view of the sprawling, verdant green giving way to aqua. Though, if Romeo had brought them here to appreciate the view, she was missing it, resting with her eyes closed as her breathing slowed.

  “Hey, don’t fall asleep,” he said, voice gentle. “You wanted to show me something, right?”

  She opened her eyes and leaned up to kiss him. He smiled, his lips curling against hers as he returned it. She nestled back against his chest, apparently not in any kind of hurry to tell him why she’d made him drop everything and follow her. Being in a hurry to do nothing was kind of her style.

  She’d get around to whatever she had brought him out here for eventually. Any moment he got to spend with Romeo was a moment well spent. He started to doze. Cicadas sawed. A small wren landed on the basket and flicked around his harvest, inspecting it from all sides.

  “I didn’t bleed last month,” Romeo said. William’s gaze snapped down to her, but she was transfixed by the panorama before them.

  William’s heart clenched. “What?”

  She sat up and turned toward him, a small, concerned frown on her face. “Last month. I didn’t bleed.” When he continued to stare at her, she looked away again. “I mean, I’m not sure or anything. It’s only been a month, and I’ve missed months before, but I’ve been eating well and I can’t think of any reason why...” She trailed off and looked back at him, expression unsure.

  William found his voice. “We’re having a baby?” A smile spread slowly across his face.

  Romeo relaxed slightly. “Maybe? Like I said, I’m not really sure. I should have waited until I knew for certain, but—Mmmph!”

  William interrupted her by capturing her lips in a kiss. A baby. Their baby. Romeo was still for a second before she returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down on top of her.

  “Are you excited?” she teased. “You seem excited.”

  He abandoned her lips, and he traced a hot trail along her jawline and down the smooth column of her neck, making her sigh and arch, pressing the length of her body against him. He gave a groan of pleasure, making her shiver against him.

  He continued downward, lips moving along her collarbone, pushing aside leather clothing to find the sensitive skin around her nipples. His tongue circled one before taking it in his mouth, his hand coming up to play with the other, rolling it between his fingers in a way that made her gasp and buck against him. Her hands traced random patterns across his back, hands reflexively clenching with the movements of his tongue and fingers.

  He resumed his path, kissing a line down and pausing at her belly, marveling at the smooth skin that would soon stretch and bloom. His child. Their child. He kissed her, and she flinched, twitching away from him.

  She stifled a giggle. “You’re tickling me.”

  He kissed her belly, smiling against her skin as she chuckled again, goose bumps forming on her skin where his breath touched warm flesh. Her hands came down to tangle in his hair, gently but insistently pushing him downward. He grinned and gave one last, lingering kiss on her stomach before acquiescing, traveling further downward, one hand pulling her skirt down and away as the other came up to splay possessively over her belly. Her hand found his, and their fingers intertwined as his lips found her shell at last.

  She let out a low moan, arching toward him as his tongue danced around her outer lips, teasing along the slit and dipping his tongue in to taste the wet heat inside. Romeo’s breath caught in her throat, and her fingers bunched in his hair as she directed him ever so slightly upward. Obligingly, he moved his attention, licking and suckling at her pearl, his tongue flicking against it in a pattern only he understood, drawing low, breathy sounds from her as he drew her closer and closer to her climax. Her hips thrust, beginning a slow, instinctive rhythm that sped up and became more desperate as William’s worship continued. Suddenly, she let out a half-strangled cry, abruptly cut off as her hands tightened almost painfully in his hair and her whole body grew rigid, every muscle taut before she shuddered and flopped bonelessly back onto the ground, her breath coming in deep, chest-heaving gasps.

  William looked up and grinned at the fuzzy expression on Romeo’s face. He still wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve being the cause of those expressions, or the sounds she made whilst in the throes of passion. Or how, after all those years of longing, she’d suddenly woken up and seen him the way he saw her. But here they were. And he never wanted things to change. She opened her eyes and smiled, drawing him upward and kissing him deeply, the taste of her still on his lips.

  His cock was trapped against her hip, stiff and aching, and as she moved against him even that small friction made him pull back from her, biting back a groan. Romeo’s hand wrapping around him, guiding him to her slick shell, was almost enough to undo him.

  He closed his eyes, trying to regain control of himself as he entered her and felt her warmth gripping him along his entire length. Her hand on his cheek made him open his eyes, and he found Romeo’s gaze fixed on him. He slowly withdrew and thrust back into her, drawing groans from both of them. Romeo’s hips rocked against him, and he answered, setting a rhythm as their bodies moved together. One of Romeo’s legs wrapped around him, drawing him impossibly deeper and closer to her as his thrusts became a little more desperate and erratic. Romeo’s soft pants were in his ear as her fingers dug into his spine, wanting him even closer, her inner walls clenching around him as she climaxed again. William came undone, his hips still pumping as he emptied himself inside her. Slowly, his movements came to a halt, and he sunk down on top of her, his warmth and bulk protecting her from the outside world as they lay, trying to catch their breath.

  Romeo recovered first, cupping William’s cheek and kissing him sweetly, bringing him around with soft caresses and words that meant nothing other than that they both knew: she was his, and he was hers, and everything was right with the world. He smiled and shifted, sliding out of her, his hand coming down once again to caress her stomach. “We’re having a baby,” he said again, his voice still filled with the same amount of wonder it had had when he’d first said it.

  “We’re maybe having a baby,” Romeo corrected, though her voice was all smooth edges with no sharpness to it. The sweat of their exertions made her skin shiny, and she radiated contentment. “We don’t know for sure yet.”

  William kissed her, his hand still firmly and protectively over her belly. He still didn’t deserve this. No one really deserved this much joy in one lifetime, let alone in this one moment. And yet here they were.

  * * *

  Zebra sat on a rocky shelf with a clear view east. Some days were too hazy to even see the distant shore, but he sat there anyway, watching the space he knew the mainland had to be.

  That was where Fifteen had gone. Across the channel to the shore, then east to the two-mile river. Inland from there was her village. A whole other tribe, Odds and Evens, who had been born in another Eden. Zebra didn’t care so much about them as the girl who had told him about them. It had been a month since he’d seen her, and still he felt as if she was right there, her lips touching his only moments earlier.

  It was hard to accept he could know someone for such a short time, then mourn them so much once they were gone. Several times he had packed a canoe and paddled to the channel. Sometimes he sat there all day, eddying in the current, waiting for that burst of bravery that would send him out past
the safety of the shallows into the deeper water, but it never came.

  He might not survive on the mainland long enough to reach her. She might not have survived her journey home. He might go all that way for nothing.

  He should have gone with her while he had the chance.

  There was the scrape of climbing hands and feet, and Dog settled beside him. He was momentarily surprised his brother was alone. These days it seemed he and Vaca were joined at the hip. You couldn’t slip into an abandoned cave or walk around a tree without stumbling into them fucking each other.

  “You can’t sit up here all day again. Sugar will completely lose it.”

  “I’ll come back when lunch is over.”

  “Lunch was over two hours ago.”

  Zebra glanced at him. “Really?”

  Dog sighed, petting his shoulder. “You have to make a choice. Stay or go. You can’t keep pining up here.”

  His heart sank. “Yeah, but—”

  “Hey, look at that.”

  “What?”

  Dog pointed east. Zebra’s heart leaped, and he scanned the far distant beach, knowing it was much too far for him to see a person, but hoping all the same.

  “Not there, idiot. Up,” Dog said.

  Zebra looked higher, into the clouds, then frowned. There was a shifting haze of colors in the sky. Achingly beautiful, shimmering like fog off the water. For a long moment, the two of them were transfixed.

  “What do you think it is?” Dog asked.

  Zebra frowned. It was beautiful, like a rainbow all bent out of shape, but it was giving him a funny feeling. A terrible feeling. He’d seen one before. Something about...culling livestock? No. The Elikai were the livestock. He remembered now, that day in Eden, the lesson about natural disasters.

  “Oh no...” he murmured.

  “What?”

  “It’s an earthquake.”

  Dog stared at him like he’d gone mad. “What?”

  “An earthquake. Those lights in the sky, sometimes they happen before an earthquake. Fifteen said something would destroy the islands. A super cell or a tsunami. We have to warn everyone. We have to go.”