The Eve (The Eden Trilogy) (21 page)

A laugh erupted from my throat.  “Yeah, I guess it should have been.  Was it really that bad between him and me?  I don’t remember more than a few snapshots.”

She started to smile before it broke off her lips.  She just nodded.  “West always liked to be the best at things and you always tried to show him how you were better.  He didn’t like that.  You didn’t like that he tried so hard.”

I looked out toward the tent, the one she and West had spent the night in.  He was disassembling it.

“It’s a little odd to be around you two and not have you fighting,” Vee added.

“It’s a recent development.”

“You’ll be by my side, won’t you?” she said, her change of mood instant.  “When we get back to your people?”

“Of course,” I said.  She didn’t know how to vocalize it, but I could imagine the idea of being around so many “normal” people after so long in isolation had to be overwhelming.  For a brief moment, I considered reaching out and giving her a reassuring squeeze on the arm or something.  But she was like me, and that kind of contact wasn’t exactly reassuring to us.  We weren’t normal.  “I’ll be there as much as you want me to be.”

“And West?” she said, looking back at him.  “Will his duties permit him to be there when I need him as well?”

A smile once again crooked in my mouth.  “I think that could be permitted.”

As predicted, two hours later we were moving once again.  The snow on the ground was about three inches deep, but our tires were large and the sun was shining.

Bill drove, Dr. Evans sat in silence inside his glass box.  Vee was mostly quiet and I could never quite figure out what she was thinking.  West watched Vee and kept looking from her to me and I could tell he was still having difficulty processing everything.  Creed cried and slept and many times wouldn’t calm down until I held her, her wrinkly cheek pressed into my chest.  Avian did his best to keep her alive.

The miles fell behind us and the few small towns we came across had few Bane in them.  I stood at the opening of the hatch and commanded them to destroy one another.  I wouldn’t risk any more of them joining the Bane sweep.  At this point, it felt like every single one of them counted.

I hoped the army that I had sent out into the country was making even a slight dent in the Bane population.  Honestly, I just hoped that they were still doing as I commanded.  I couldn’t live with myself if they’d gone back to their main objective and were infecting people once again.

By nightfall we were just outside of Las Vegas.  Or what should have been Las Vegas.  The snow was gone and the temperatures had risen fifteen degrees.  We all appreciated that.  It was frighteningly quiet once more when we camped and we slept right next to the solar tank. 

We rolled out as soon as the sun came up and charged the solar panels.  Bird circled above us, never tiring of the skies.  Everyone but Vee grew restless, anxious to get home and to see what was to come.

“How far can they get with the construction of the Nova without the supplies you collected?” Avian asked.  He was in the middle of changing Creed’s oxygen tank.

“They can get all the framework structured,” he said, not looking back at us.  “And the main motherboard isn’t too complex.  We should be able to finish it off in about two weeks.”

“That seems like a lot of time,” I said.  “If it’s mostly the fine tuning of it that is left, why would it take more than a few days?”

“My dear girl, do you claim to know how to build a transmitter that will reach every still functional satellite and how to fine tune it?”  His voice was patient, but it was dripping with condescension.

“I think your tone is a bit unnecessary,” Vee said, her brow furrowing.  “She was asking a valid question.”

I would have made an appreciative gesture to my sister for defending me, but I was too occupied balling my cybernetic-boned hands into fists, and using restraint not to connect them with Dr. Evans’ face.

“My apologies,” Dr. Evans said, shaking his head.  “I must admit, I’m feeling a little less…understanding these days.”

The interior grew quiet at that, each of us considering what he was really meaning by his comment.

“Do those of us without TorBane have anything to be worried about, Dr. Evans?” Avian asked. 

“Not for the time being, you don’t.”

Tension and uncertainty threatened to choke each of us out for the next six hours.  Adrenaline constantly burned through my veins.  I kept going over plans in my head, just in case Dr. Evans lost his grip on his humanity.  But the truth was simple: if he decided to turn on us, I had no chance of immobilizing him before he could infect everyone.

I just wanted to be back in New Eden.  Now.

“See if you can get anyone on the radio,” Bill said, grabbing it off the dash and handing it back to me.  I took it from him and pressed the talk button.

“This is Eve and the reclamation team, can anyone hear me?” I said.

There was radio silence for all of five seconds before it crackled.  “Welcome back, Savior.”  Royce.  “Everyone still alive?”

I hesitated.  “Not exactly sir, but our numbers are plus one.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”  Crackle, out.

“Sir, we saved the child.  She’s going to be okay,” I said, looking back at Creed.  She slept in a nest of blankets and sleeping bags.  “And we found Eve One.”

Silence for a long moment.  I had a feeling Royce took that moment to swear.  “So there’s two of you now, huh?”

“Twice the fun, sir,” I said with a grin.

I faintly heard him chuckle.  I imagined how the fine lines would grow around his eyes when he smiled.  Exactly how my father’s eyes looked in all those pictures.

My demeanor grew more serious and I glanced back at Avian.  “Royce, did you have a brother named Rider?”

He paused again for a moment.  I could imagine the way his brows would pull together and his gray eyes would question.  “Yes.  Why do you ask?”

My chest swelled and I started blinking rapidly when something bit at the back of my eyes.

“We’ll talk about it later.  See you soon.”

“We’ll all be waiting for you.”

TWENTY-THREE

I didn’t expect to feel relief when we pulled into the parking garage at the hospital.  This place had never felt like home, and being trapped there had made me start losing my mind just a few months ago.  But it was the place that had housed all of the members of my family.  Literally, now.

Royce, Tuck, Tristan, and Gabriel, as well as Lin were waiting for us as promised.  As soon as I stepped from the solar tank, Lin was across the garage and was squeezing me so tight I thought even my ribs might crack.

“You’re alive!” she said in a delighted squeal.  “And in one piece!”

“We hardly even ran into any Bane,” I said, mocking her.  “It was actually a fairly boring trip for the large part.”

“Whoa,” Lin suddenly said, looking over my shoulder.  “You two really are identical.”

I turned to see Vee step from the tank.  She looked uncertain, but not afraid.

“Everyone,” I said as the rest of the welcoming crew came forward at a more acceptable pace.  “I’d like to introduce you to my sister, Vee.”

She nodded at them, without the courtesy smile most people would have worn on their face.  Tristan reached forward to shake her hand, but she didn’t know what to do with it.  He withdrew it awkwardly.

“Vee, this is Royce,” I said, indicating him.  I wondered if it would mean anything to her, the fact that he was her uncle.  “He’s sort of our military affairs leader.  This is Gabriel, he’s the more personal level leader.  He’s been working on rehoming everyone after we cleared the city.  And this is Tuck, Tristan, and Lin.”

“Apparently we’re not important enough for explanation,” Tristan teased, raising an eyebrow at me.

“You’re all still alive, that means you’re important,” Vee said in a very logical voice.

“I like her,” Tristan said, giving me a sly smile.

“And who might this stowaway be?” Royce asked.  I turned to see Avian step from the vehicle, Creed wrapped in a blanket in his arms.  Royce looked up at me with incredulous eyes.

“This is Creed,” Avian said, lightly bouncing from one foot to another.  West stepped from the tank as well, carrying her oxygen unit.

“And she’s…” Royce said, unsure how to finish his sentence.

“She’s like us,” I finished for him, fixing him with a hard stare.

“You didn’t need to abscond into the night with her mother like that,” he said, his voice bordering on scolding me, and being offended that I’d sneak behind his back.

“You wouldn’t have let us take her,” I said, never breaking his gaze.  “And it was my operation.  I didn’t need your permission.”

He didn’t respond but held my eyes in a way that said no, he wouldn’t have given his permission.

“Get her upstairs to Dr. Sun,” Royce suddenly said, looking away to Creed.  “No need to make her freeze down here.”

Avian shouldered the oxygen pack and feeding tubes and slipped inside. 

Dr. Evans stepped from the tank.

“Won’t be long and there will be no traces of human left on you, huh?” Royce said, cringing slightly as he looked at Dr. Evans.  I observed him too.  He had, indeed, changed over the last two weeks.  The small amounts of flesh still on his face were being slowly overtaken.

“Won’t be long and it won’t matter anymore,” he growled as he went for the back of the tank.  He pulled the doors open and produced his precious box of supplies.  “Shall we get back to work?”

Royce didn’t say anything, just nodded his head back to the opening of the underground garage.  I opened my mouth for a moment, about to ask Royce for a minute to talk.  But saving the world was still more important.  I’d find a better time later.

“Is Graye still in charge of security detail?” I asked, turning back to Tristan, Tuck, and Lin.

“Yeah,” Tristan said as we all turned back to the doors leading inside the hospital.  “Elijah’s still laid up.  His leg got infected pretty badly.”

I nodded.  “I’m going to ask him to have a guard watch Dr. Evans at all times.”

“Yeah,” West said, following us, Vee in tow.  “What was his comment about earlier?”

I shook my head.  “I don’t know.  But it’s true; he’s losing more of his human traces every day.  How long before he loses grip on his humanity?”

TWENTY-FOUR

“My room is just next door,” I said as Vee walked around her new room.  She ran a hand over the hospital bed, a look of detachment upon her face.  “West and Avian are just across the hall if you need either of them.”

“These people lived here when there were still Bane in the city?” she asked, her brow furrowing.

I nodded.

“Their odds of surviving for five years that way, in a city of this size, they’re miniscule, nearly nonexistent.”

“I know,” I said, leaning in the doorway, crossing my arms over my chest.  “I fought it when our colony made the exodus west.  I thought everyone was going to get infected if we came into the city.”

“It is a miracle that they didn’t,” she said, raising an eyebrow.  She absentmindedly pulled a drawer open.  It was empty.  She closed it again.

There was silence for a moment as Vee continued to wander the room for a moment before settling uncomfortably on the bed.  Her back was ramrod straight, her hands placed lightly on her thighs.

“I’m sure Dr. Beeson will want to meet with you soon,” I said.  I was getting back to not knowing how to fill these uncomfortable silences.

“Will he want to fix me like he fixed you?” she asked.  She looked up at me with hints of uncertainty in her eyes.

“That is entirely up to you,” I said, stuffing my hands in my pockets.  “I asked him to do my emotion blocker adjustments.  I was evolving past them, but the chip and my emotions were still combating.  Everything that I was feeling was becoming dangerous to me and those around me.  Blackouts.  Mood swings.  It was ugly.”

Vee nodded.  “Maybe someday.  But not yet.”

“That’s fine,” I said.

“You ready?”

I turned to find West and Lin standing behind me.  Lin held several bottles of hair products and a metal comb.  West had an armload of towels and clothes.

“Yeah,” Vee said, trying to smile.  This was going to be a difficult life adjustment after nearly six years in solitude.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking quizzically at Lin.

“She wants the dreadlocks out,” Lin said, a crooked smile curling in her lips.

“Is that even possible?” I asked, looking back at Vee’s hair.  It was long.  Longer than I had ever worn my hair.  The tendrils hung more than halfway down her back.

“We’re about to find out,” West said, raising an eyebrow at me.

“Good luck with that,” I said, smiling as I ducked out of the room.  I heard the three of them head for the bathroom as I worked my way down the hall.

“Eve,” someone called out to me as I approached the stairs.

I turned to see Susan stepping out into the hallway.

“You made it,” I said.  A smile crossed my lips.

She nodded.  “We actually just got in yesterday.”

“Did you have any troubles getting back?” I asked.  I stuffed my hands into my pockets and leaned against the wall.

She shook her head.  “We didn’t see a single Bane, just like you said.  Which I think was almost scarier than if we had seen them.  I kept expecting them to jump out at us any second.”

I chuckled and nodded.  I understood the feeling.  “How’s Karmen?”

“She’s good,” Susan smiled.  “There are a few others here that speak Spanish, so that’s nice.”

I nodded once more.  “I’m glad you made it okay.”  She smiled and then turned to walk the opposite way down the hall.  I headed back for the stairs.

There were two weeks between now and knowing our future.  What was I going to do with myself for two weeks until the transmitter was finished?

That would put us to the end of February.  The gardens wouldn’t quite be ready to till.  I would be too on edge to go to my tent out at the beach.  I supposed I could join security detail, now that there was a need for it once more.  I wondered how much further into the city the Bane would have gotten in the two weeks we had been gone.