Eden (31 page)

Hiroshi turns to Maaka and shrugs. “She does that.”

Mia leads them to a building adjacent to the police station. It’s a run-down eight-story redbrick structure, clearly the tallest building in the sleeping hamlet. She guides them to the fire escape layered with inches of fallout; the bottom of the ladder is barely within a leap’s grasp.

“Well done,” Noah tells Mia. “I’ll take it from here.”

He jumps up and snares the ladder, pulling it to the ground and begins to climb with the others falling in line behind him. As they zigzag from floor to floor, Noah peers into dark windows in search of any sign of activity. The building seems as vacant as the rest of the town. When he gets to the top floor, he climbs a short ladder up to the roof, where he lends a hand to Hiroshi, Maaka, Pango, and Mia in turn until everyone stands on top of the building. With the light fading fast, Noah glances at his watch and sees that they have just over two hours to make it back to the farmhouse before his
self-imposed
deadline expires. He plows across the knee-deep ash that has accumulated on the roof until he reaches the far side of the building, where he leans over to inspect the roof of the police station next door. It is flat and rectangular with a pilothouse that rests in the middle of the building.

“Perfect,” he murmurs.

Using the climbing rope from his backpack, he ties one end to a steel girder, wrapping it around several times, before throwing the remainder down to the police station’s roof. The line unravels until it plops onto a salt-and-pepper blanket of soft powdery ash, leaving a silhouette of bundled coil on the rooftop of the station house. Noah provides a quick tutorial on climbing down properly and demonstrates as the others peer over the ledge, watching his every move. After landing on the roof, he is followed by the daring Mia, the uncertain Hiroshi, Maaka the brave, and finally, Pango the reluctant, who takes several pauses, as he lowers himself down.

“He’s afraid of heights,” Maaka informs the others.

While the others watch Pango battle his demons, Noah switches gears and begins picking the lock of the pilothouse door, but after two failed attempts he decides to get in the old-fashioned way: a single powerful kick breaches the stronghold. The crew furtively descends to the third floor of the police station. It is deserted and dark, but as Maaka reaches for the light switch, Noah blocks his hand.

“Don’t,” he whispers, placing his finger to his lips for silence.

Noah points for the others to gather in a conference room while he inspects every turn and corner on the third floor until he is certain the area is secure. When he returns to the conference room he begins to give instructions.

“Hiroshi, I want you to come with me,” he whispers. “I’ll tell you what I want you to do. The rest of you, wait here and if you hear any trouble, go back to the roof and, if you must, climb back up to the next building.”

“Do
what
?” questions Pango.

Noah pulls Mia aside. “Make sure these guys don’t do anything stupid. And if you need me for any reason, just holler.” He parts with his usual wink.

She watches Hiroshi and Noah descend down the stairwell. The echoes of their footsteps ring across the hall.

“So exactly how the fuck did you end up here, skirt?” Maaka’s growl cuts through the silence.

Mia whips around, pulling the pistol from the small of her back and raises it above her shoulder the barrel pointed upward. Her left arm extends straight out, the palm of her hand held flat. She lowers it ever so slowly, all the while saying, “It’s okay…. It’s okay.”

“Blimey!” Maaka’s eyes are wild with unexpected worry. He raises both arms in surrender, though Pango looks ready to pounce.

“Call off your dog,” Mia orders, her eyes fixed on the snarling giant, the barrel of her pistol still pointed skyward.

“Hold your place, Panger,” Maaka orders. He looks back at Mia. “Now, what’s on your mind, kid?”

With the threat of Pango averted, she begins to direct Maaka in a clear, calm voice. “I’m going to give you this gun, and you — and only you — will go downstairs to the ground floor. Hang back and make certain that you are not discovered. When you get to the bottom, you will know what to do.”

And with that, she hands him the pistol.

Utterly flabbergasted, Maaka shoots a look at Pango, who beams back at him nodding and smiling wide, his lips curled in a horrific portrait of eyes and teeth.

Maaka inspects the silver Beretta, releasing the magazine to find that it’s fully loaded. He rams the clip back into the handle, saying, “You’re an odd one, no doubt; but I like your style. I may have underestimated you.”

Mia rolls her eyes. “You have no idea.”

*************

Luna looks up from her found treasure of moldy books and various odds and ends, realizing Max is no longer in the barn. She stands up and walks toward the bay doors left open by her missing explorer. When she gets to the edge of the barn, she sees his trail of footprints leading out — far beyond the reaches of her vision, into the great, grey nothingness beyond.

“Oh no,” she blurts in a heavy whisper. She turns to Alice. “Go back to the house and tell Evelyn that Max has wandered off.”

“What?” Alice asks, vaguely nonplussed, flipping through a yellowed paperback book.

“You heard me, GO!” Luna commands, her voice booming so loudly that young Alice loses the balance of her crouch and falls over, the book flying up in the air. She picks herself up and runs with reckless abandon toward the farmhouse. Luna turns back to the trail of footsteps and begins to follow them. She shudders, as a cold rush of fear passes through her. She realizes how scared she is and, worse, how alone.

*************

Noah and Hiroshi have gone through the second level of the police station with no incident and now they inspect the ground floor. While it’s obvious that whatever happened here was sudden, it’s still not the least bit clear what led to the abandonment of the entire town. The chaos that continues outside the station belies the calm inside. Beyond the miscellaneous papers and folders fallen on the floor and a chair that has been knocked off its legs, there are no signs of struggle or foul play, or anything for that matter to suggest that something beyond a sudden evacuation had occurred.

Hiroshi watches Noah’s blind side as he inspects the ground floor, carefully slinking through corridors until he comes full circle. He gives Hiroshi the all-clear sign and points to a room that has a blue sign mounted on the wall next to the door that reads DISPATCH. Once inside, Noah turns on the satellite radio. It hums, but no discernible chatter or activity break through, possibly due to the volcanic fallout. Noah reaches for the dial to switch it to local broadband, but before he can, the
schwuht chht!
of a pump action shotgun announces itself to the room.

“Freeze right there, mate,” a low voice orders.

Noah and Hiroshi freeze in place. “My name is Noah Lockheart and the man next to me is Hiroshi Saito. We are the survivors of the Phoenix Shuttle Flight 316 to Auckland that crashed nine days ago.”

“Flight 316?” the man questions incredulously. “How can that be?”

But before Noah can answer, the man with the shotgun finds a pistol placed squarely against his skull. “Well… looky here, if it’s not the Sheriff of Shitland. This is a queer turn of events, eh?”

Chapter 21

With what light is left rapidly waning, Max follows the trail of hurried footsteps into a patch of forest. The steady trickle of blood alongside the tracks makes the trail easier to follow. It’s not a lot of blood, but certainly enough to indicate that the naked woman is injured. He shines his flashlight on the path, even darker under the cover of trees, until he loses the trail completely.

“Goddamn it!” he curses, as he does an about-face and backtracks for a short while.

But the trail has turned cold. Suddenly, he remembers Evelyn’s admonition, which he had completely disregarded, and decides to beat it back to the farmhouse. But just as he starts to flee the scene, the sound of cracking twigs causes him to look behind him once more. He shines his light in the direction of the noise and bobs his head to see through the tangle of tree limbs and brush to discern its source.

A shadowy figure stirs in the distance.
Is it her?
He can’t be certain. Without giving another thought to Evelyn, he gives chase once again, heading deeper into the dark woods.

*************

Sitting in the dark on the top floor of the police station, Mia waits for the men to return. They have been gone for what seems to be a long while, and the anticipation is starting to get the better of her. “What are they doing down there?” she asks.

Her question is not actually intended for Pango, but he responds anyway. “What, you don't know?” He stares out the long rectangular window in front of him.

“How would I know?” she asks, annoyed. She straightens herself in the chair that she had placed in the opposite corner, as far away as she could possibly sit from him while still being in the same room.

“I dunno, I heard some people talking….” he mumbles.

“What? I can’t hear you,” she snaps. “And why are you wearing sunglasses in the dark?”

The giant raises his glasses and rest them on top of his soot stained dome, flashing her a wide smile that only his mother could appreciate. The whites of his eyes glow against the black ink that adorns his face in a series of shapes and lines that give him the look of a demon.

“This is better, eh?”

Mia looks slightly nauseated and wishes she had kept her mouth shut. “That tattoo on your face.... Why would you do that to yourself?”

Pango frowns. “This is my Tā moko, not just a tattoo, and it is the way of my people. Something you Pākehā, wouldn’t understand.” His reply is curt and full of vitriol.

They sit in dark silence for a long while. Pango continues to watch out the window whil
e Mia buries her head behind her knees.

“I’m not a dog,” Pango says finally. His bass voice hangs melancholy in the room.

Mia winces as a sharp pang of guilt stabs her conscience.
I’m a monster
she thinks to herself. “I’m sorry if I offended your heritage and I regret calling you a dog. It was a heat of the moment kind of thing, you know? I didn’t mean anything by it, honestly.” She shakes her head as she recalls the earlier fracas with the gun. She’s convinced she’s lost her mind.

He looks down at the street below. “It’s okay. I’ve been called worse.” His broad obsidian arms glisten with sweat, muddying the caked ash. “You know what’s strange? My body tells me it’s spring, but my eyes think it’s winter.”

Mia nods in agreement, but suddenly freezes. A cold bead of sweat trickles down the middle of her back. She walks to the window, stationing herself to the right of the massive fisherman. An empty ping rings through her hollow stomach as she watches the big flakey ashes that have begun to fall again… like… snow. The overcast sky is an unforgiving cold grey, touched with pale violet highlights.

She whispers faintly, “Oh my God… Max.”

*************

The man lowers his shotgun. “Maaka.” He says bitterly. “It’s
Inspector
Harris
to you. And what did I tell you the last time I saw your face around here?”

Maaka laughs. “Come on sheriff, seems like you’re in no position to threaten me.” He presses the pistol harder against the man’s temple. “Are you?”

Noah has swiveled around in his chair and, when he sees the pistol, stands quickly. “Maaka, lower your weapon,” he orders.

Maaka’s smile sours into a scowl. “And you’re in no position to be ordering me around, Captain Braveheart. Or haven’t you heard? There’s a new sheriff in town.”

Noah unfastens the sheath of his hunting knife and makes sure Maaka sees him do it. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll challenge your pistol to my knife and we’ll see who’s in charge after the dust settles.”

Maaka’s focus is no longer on the inspector and now rests squarely on Noah. He considers his chances, but apparently he doesn’t like the odds, because he lowers his pistol.

“No need to get your knickers dirty… I was just horsing around. The inspector and I go way back. Don’t we Mason?” He slaps the policeman’s back so hard that it echoes in the hallway.

The inspector is not amused. “None of my
mates
call me Mason.”

He quickly steps inside the dispatch room, putting distance between himself and Maaka. The officer is barrel-chested and thick, but of average height. He’s dressed casually in jeans and a long sleeve black snap shirt with mother of pearl buttons. His thin oily black hair has long streaks of silver running through it and he appears to be in his early fifties. He has deep-set hazel eyes and a thick black mustache that hangs over his top lip.

“You keep interesting company,” he tells Noah. “What’s your name again?”

“I’m Noah Lockheart and this is Hiroshi Saito.” They share quick handshakes.