Eden (19 page)

I couldn’t always avoid
everyone though.  There were too few of us left for
that. 

Everyone short of two
people on scouting duty were gathered together for a light
dinner.  We had been trying to be careful lately with our
provisions.  We were in the lull of time between the leftovers
of last year’s harvest and this year’s pickings.  The light
was just starting to fade behind the mountain, the sky a mix of
orange and purple.

Some of us peeled off,
settling into our nightly activities.  I found myself with my
eyes glued to the fire, watching as the flames danced in the night
air.  Gabriel, Bill, Graye, Avian, and a mix of others stayed
as well.  We were all quiet, lost in thoughts of mixed
memories and fears, the flow of all our lives.  The same thing
ran through our minds though.  Life, our world, what was going
to happen to it.

“
I can’t believe how fast
it happened,” Gabriel said suddenly as he stared into the flames,
seated only a few feet away from me.  “Civilization took
thousands of years to build up to where we were.  And it was
destroyed in just four months.”

None of us said anything
for a while, each reminiscing on how we had gotten here.  I
didn’t have much to reminisce on.  My life started when
everything ended for the rest of them.

“
My aunt was one of the
first to get the technology,” Bill surprised me when he spoke
up.  Bill usually wasn’t one for many words.  “She’d been
waiting for four years for a new heart.  All the money in the
world at her disposal and it couldn’t buy her a new organ. 
Until the infection was created.  The week after the
technology was approved, her husband had her transported to the
facility and she was fine the next month.  Cured.  Until
she choked the life out of Uncle Rich twelve weeks after the
operation.”

A log popped in the fire,
sending a billow of red hot ash into the darkening sky.

“
Fifteen hundred had the
implants.  Fifteen hundred was all it took to wipe out six
billion and a half,” Avian said.  I glanced up at him,
watching as the flames danced in his eyes.  They were always
so serious.  I wondered how they would look if none of this
had ever happened.

“
Everything collapsed so
quickly,” Gabriel said quietly.  “The entire senate was gone
within two weeks, the rest of the government within a week of
that.  All the Army, Navy, and Marines couldn’t fight it
off.  All the weapons and technology we did have and they
couldn’t destroy this.  And then there was the war.  They
waited too long.”

“
It was so fast,” I
said.  Eyes jumped to my face as I said it.  I supposed I
should have felt embarrassed for speaking up, considering I didn’t
understand what they were talking about.  I hadn’t been a part
of that world.  I’d just been the means to creating their
hell.

As the eyes dropped away
from my face, I glanced around at all of them.  Gabriel looked
so sad and I felt a twinge of pain for him.  He’d been in the
normal world the longest.  How things used to be had been so
engrained in him.  The world was nothing how it used to
be.  My eyes moved to Bill.  Bill had very little family
as far as I knew.  He’d never been married, never had any
children even though he had to be in his early forties.  I
didn’t think he had even had any parents left.  I sensed that
in a way, he almost liked this way of living.  Because even
though everything was so complicated, life was simpler now. 
You didn’t have to worry about having a nice car, a job, or
whatever else people used to worry about.  You just had to
survive.  Bill was good at that.

Graye sat silent, staring
into the fire, just like the rest of us.  He was a person I
could never fully figure out.  There was a history to him that
he never talked about, that he kept locked up and buried in a deep
place.  I knew he had been married before, had a
daughter.  How had he escaped the infection?  Had he had
to leave them and get to a safe place?  Somehow I didn’t think
he could just up and leave them.  Out of everyone in our
circle, I had a feeling he was the one who had been hurt the
most.  He was the most angry at our Fallen world.

“
Did you ever run into any
marauders?” Gabriel asked Bill, nothing more than a small glance in
his direction.

“
Just once,” he answered
as he cleared his throat.  “I walked a long ways.  There
were two of them in a truck, scavenging for food.  They had
guns but they were desperate.”

“
What happened?” I asked
through the dark.

“
I walked away with what I
had walked into there with.”  He left it at that.  I knew
what that meant.  Bill would fight till he had no fight left
in him. 

“
They killed each other
off pretty quick,” Gabriel said, not directing his recollections at
anyone.  “They fought over food, open territory. 
Eventually there was no one left who would fight them over
it.”

The stars winked into view
overhead, burning with intensity.  I was going to have to head
up to my post soon.

“
How did any of us survive
it?” Avian said as he rubbed two fingers over his lips.

No one answered for a
while.  The sky was now almost pitch dark as I stood, pulling
my pack tight around my shoulders.  “You were smart. 
That’s how.”

I walked away from them,
feeling one pair of eyes watching me as I left.

The trees started chirping
with life as the sun started spreading its rays.  I stretched
my legs, shaking my body awake.  It was harder than I expected
to switch my internal clock to a nocturnal sleeping
pattern.

I heard boots on the
ladder and poked my head over the ledge of the watchtower. 
Sarah looked up at me with dark circled eyes.  I gave her a
hand and pulled her up over the edge.  She half tripped as she
got to the top.  I caught her and helped ease her down to the
rough bench.

“
You alright?” I asked as
I looked at her closely.

“
Yes,” she said with a
small chuckle.  “I just didn’t sleep well last night.” 
She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment.

I looked at her closely,
taking in every detail of her.  Her eyes were dark.  I
guessed she hadn’t been sleeping well for a while now.  She
looked like she had lost a little weight lately as well.

“
Are you feeling
okay?  You don’t look so good.”

She gave a laugh, her eyes
opening again.  They looked tired.  “You could try being
a little more tactful.”

“
Blame it on the robot in
me,” I said with a little bite in my voice.  She just smiled
up at me and patted the space next to her.  I sat and watched
as the sun continued to creep up into the sky.

“
So are you?” I
asked.  “Feeling okay?”

“
I’m fine,” she said
quietly.  It didn’t fully feel like the truth.  “I just
had a seizure this morning.  Woke me up.”

I didn’t feel scared
often, but this shook me.  There was nothing I could do about
the seizures, there was no battle I could fight, I could never be
strong enough.  It wouldn’t matter.  “How many a
day?”

“
It depends.  Some
days it’s only one.  Others it’s five or six.”

I just shook my head as I
looked down into my lap. 

“
I’m fine.”  It felt
like she was saying it more to herself than to me.  “So how
are things going with West?  Better than with
Avian?”

I shook my head, my eyes
falling to the boards at my feet.  “Feelings are too
complicated.  How is anyone supposed to deal with it? 
They just make you crazy.”

“
Crazy sounds like a good
description,” she laughed.

“
Sarah?”  I heard the
call from the ground beneath us.  Avian.

She sighed.  “He will
hardly let me out of his sight these days.”

I didn’t blame him. 
He was scared too.

“
Coming!” she yelled and
headed down the ladder.  “Hang in there, Eve.  You’ll
figure it out eventually.” 

I looked over the edge as
she went down.  Avian’s eyes met mine and he gave me a sad
half smile.  I wasn’t sure if I managed to return it.  It
felt like a crack split down my chest.

I waited a few minutes
before I climbed down, Tuck, the day watchman, coming to replace
me.  As I walked toward the kitchen area, I realized I was
being followed.  I turned to see the child following
me.

“
Can I help you?” I said
awkwardly.  I had never been around a child before.  How
did you talk to one?

He just stared at me with
his big green eyes.

“
Where’s your mother?” I
asked as I stopped walking and turned fully toward him.  He
stopped suddenly, nearly tripping over himself.  It only now
struck me how odd it was that Victoria was actually his
mother.  She was so young.

“
She’s working,” he
said.

I nodded, still unsure how
to interact with Brady.  I remembered Victoria had been
assigned as seamstress.  In fact, I should go to see her
soon.  I was in dire need of some new clothing.

“
Does she know you’re
wandering around?” I asked.

He shook his
head.

“
Maybe you should go back
to her.”  I was squirming by now, itching to get away from a
situation I didn’t know how to handle.

“
Can you teach me how to
use this?”  I hadn’t realized he was holding anything until he
held up the slingshot.  “He told me you could teach me.” 
I looked as he pointed, my eyes catching with West’s.  He gave
me an almost smug smile.  I just shook my head at him and
turned back to Brady.

“
You think you’re big
enough to handle that thing?”

He gave a very
enthusiastic nod.

“
Come on,” I said as I
glanced back at West, giving him the smug smile this time. 
“I’ll give you a few pointers.” 

I thought the smile was
going to crack Brady’s face as we walked away from the growing
crowd.

We walked down to the
lake’s edge and stopped at a spot with round stones large enough to
use.

“
Here,” I said as I picked
up a medium sized one and handed it to him.  “Show me what
you’ve got.”

Brady pursed his lips
together and placed the stone in the sling.  He closed one eye
and pulled it back.  Just before he released it, he squeezed
his eyes closed.  It flew about five feet before it splashed
in the water.

“
Hmm,” I said as I looked
everything over.  “Try this and keep your eyes open this
time.”

I adjusted his hands,
showing how to properly hold the sling.  I showed him how to
aim it, told him all the tricks I could think of for better
accuracy.  He was making every target I gave him within an
hour.

“
How old are you Brady?” I
asked as I watched him hit a tree fifteen feet away.

“
Four and a half,” he
answered as he bent and picked up another stone.

“
Brady!” Victoria’s
frantic voice floated over the tents at our backs.  “I’ve been
looking all over for you!”

She rushed over and
grabbed onto one of his arms.  “I’m sorry if he’s been
bothering you, Eve.  I thought he was with Leah.  I’ve
been working all morning.”

“
No, he’s been fine. 
I’ve just been teaching him how to use the slingshot.  He’s
pretty good actually,” I said with a smile.  That brought the
smile back to Brady’s face.

“
Well, thank you,” she
said as she looked down at him.

“
Actually, do you have
some time?  I could really use a few new shirts.  Mine
are getting a little worn.”

“
Ya, sure,” she said with
a grin and a nod.  “Come on.  I’ll measure you right
now.”

I returned her smile and
followed her. 

Why did my face feel so
hollow lately?

SIXTEEN

Sleep came all too easily
when I finally managed to get into bed.  When I woke up that
evening though, I felt ready to explode.

“
What do you mean they
went without me?!” I demanded of Gabriel.  “Bill and
Graye
don’t go
on
raids without me!”

“
They left just before
mid-day.  We weren’t sure where you were.  Supplies are
low.  They had to go.”  Gabriel wouldn’t meet my eyes as
he spoke to me.

“
You’re lying to me,” I
said as I crossed my arms over my chest.  “Of course you knew
where to find me.  I was the same place I always am this time
of day.  How could you let them go on a raid without
me?!”

“
Calm down, Eve,” Gabriel
said in a low voice.  He glanced around to make sure no one
was listening to our argument.  Or rather, my
explosion.

“
Clam down?!  They
could get killed out there without me!  Worse, infected! 
How could you let them go without me?”

Gabriel gave a sigh, again
looking around.  “Avian asked that they go without
you.”

“
What?!” I bellowed. 
“Avian… and you listened to him?  You know I’m the best one
for the job!”