Eden (17 page)

“
Well turn around,” I
commanded as I started swimming for the shore again.  Avian
did as I asked.

I wasn’t sure what to say
as I debated what to pull on.  Everything was still
soaking.  My cheeks flushing, I pulled on only my
underthings.  It was uncomfortable wearing wet clothes with
the temperatures so warm.  I turned my back as Avian came to
shore and pulled on his pants.

We stood there, both
unsure of what to say, not quite looking at each other.  I
sensed a lot of tension coming from Avian, hating the way it made
me feel inside.

“
I don’t want things to be
like this between us,” I finally said, looking up into his
face.  “You mean more to me than anyone here in Eden.  I
can’t stand this.”

“
More than West?” he
asked, his voice tight with a hint of hurt in it.

I took a few steps toward
him, stopping just a foot away from him.  “More than West,” I
said quietly.  “You are home to me Avian.  You are all
I’ve ever had.”

Avian finally looked up
into my eyes, his blue ones filled with feelings I was starting to
understand.  “You mean everything to me Eve.  I know I
haven’t exactly come right out and said it yet, but you do. 
But if you have feelings for West, I…” he trailed off as his eyes
again fell to the rough sand underneath our feet.

I bit my lower lip, my own
eyes falling from his face.  “Something is happening to me,
Avian.  There is something inside of me that is waking up and
I don’t know how to handle it.  I’m feeling things I’ve never
felt before.  Things I don’t understand.  I’m terrified,
Avian.”

His eyes met mine again,
soft and sad looking at the same time.  I wanted him to do
something, to say something.  Avian always had the answers for
me, always sorted things out when I couldn’t understand.  “You
can’t have both, Eve.  It just doesn’t work that
way.”

I stared into his eyes,
feeling my insides raging.  I felt like I was going to get
swallowed up by myself again.  Something inside of me reached
out to Avian, wanting to pull him closer and never have to let
go. 

He reached up, taking the
stone wings he had carved into his hand, his eyes studying its
surface.  “No matter what you choose, I’ll still be
here.  Just don’t expect me to not get hurt.”

My lips were against his
before I even allowed myself to consider what I was doing.  My
arms wrapped behind his neck at the same time that his wrapped
around my waist.  My insides surged in ways I didn’t
understand, and a feeling of what I could describe as nothing other
than belonging settled into every corner of my being. 
Everything about his scent, his body, his presence brought on a
flood of memories, sizzling with a feeling of newness and
anticipation.

And almost as soon as it
started, Avian pulled away, resting his forehead against mine, one
of his hands pressing softly against my bare stomach.  He
closed his eyes, his lips pursed together.  “You can’t have
both,” he said quietly.  He pressed one more quick kiss to my
forehead, then grabbed his clothes and walked back in the direction
of Eden.

FOURTEEN

The floorboards creaked in
protest as my booted feet walked across them.  Dust swirled
around my legs, the light catching their form, tracing patterns in
the air.  The air was stale with the heavy scent of
abandonment. 

While on scouting duty
that morning, I had found the cabin in the trees.  It was a
log style structure, fairly large for its remote location.  A
roughhewn road led up to it, the forest pressing back in, trying to
take the land back.  I had watched silently from the trees for
a full ten minutes before I dared move closer.  Silently, I
had peered into the windows, searching for any signs of life, enemy
or friend.  There were none.

I felt like I was stepping
into another world.  The world of houses, of flooring, running
water and windows was from another age.  The age of humanity,
of mankind.  We were in the age of the Fallen now.

The front area was full of
furniture, well-worn but taken care of.  Pictures lined the
walls, smiling faces staring back at me.  Books were stacked
on random surfaces, a yellowing newspaper lay casually on the
kitchen table.  I grabbed a handful of the books and stuffed
them into my bag for Gabriel and Wix.  A bedroom led off of
the front room.  It was a small room with little more than the
bed in it, but it was still larger than my tent.  I was
tempted to lie down on the bed, just to see how soft it was, but my
nerves were too on edge. 

A small bathroom was
attached to the bedroom.  I lifted the handle of the faucet in
the sink and a small smile crept onto my face as brown water
sputtered out.  It was true.  Running water really was
real.  I left it on as I turned to explore the rest of the
house.

The kitchen was small, but
it may have served the king of the land for all I knew.  It
was glorious looking.  I knew what the women who worked in our
kitchen would give to have use of this.  I opened a lower
cupboard and pulled out bottles, not even knowing what they were
for, but figuring they would appreciate anything I could bring
back.

I was looking out the
cracked window of the back door when I felt the boards under my
feet wiggle.  I looked down and noticed the cutout shape of a
small door.  It creaked loudly as I pulled it open.  The
overpowering smell of spoiled food assaulted my senses.  I
pulled my shirt over my nose and dropped into the dark space
below.

It took a moment for my
eyes to adjust to the darkness.  The air was damp, feeling
like earth and humidity.  As my eyes finally adjusted, I
wasn’t sure what to think of the sight before me.

The area that had been dug
out had to be nearly as big as the rest of the cabin.  Rows
and rows of shelves crowded the area.  Canned goods were
stacked everywhere, buckets of flour and sugar covered all of the
bottom racks.  Two entire shelves were filled with glass
bottles of water.  The source of the smell was coming from a
few sacks of rotting potatoes in one corner. 

Whoever had lived here was
preparing for something.  It didn’t look like they had even
gotten to use it before whatever had happened to them
happened.  I wondered what their fate had been.  Had they
been found by Hunters?  Had they gone to the city for
supplies, only to be infected there? 

Pushing away the ghosts of
the past, I climbed back up the ladder and closed the hatch behind
me.  I wandered back into the bathroom to where the water was
still running.  It was clear now and flowing steady. 
There was a glass stall in the bathroom as well.  I thought
this must have been a shower.  It seemed to fit Sarah’s
description.  I turned the knobs in it and a minute or so
later, it too was cascading clear water.

Checking again to make
sure the house was still clear and that I didn’t see anything
outside, I stripped down and climbed inside.  The water was
cold but not as cold as it was at the lake.  I found a few
bottles of liquid and sniffed at their contents.  They smelled
so
good
, I
massaged it into every surface of my body.  I couldn’t stop
smelling my skin.  

A towel was hanging next
to the shower and after flicking a spider off of it, I used it to
dry myself off.  A movement to my right caught my eye, causing
adrenaline to flood my system.  It had only been my reflection
though.

I approached the mirror
slowly, taking in the person who stared back at me.  My
grey-blue eyes looked washed out in the dim light.  My cheek
bones were bordering on gaunt looking, having spent all my life on
rations and scouting through the forest every day.  My jaw
line was sharp as well, all of my features pronounced.

I turned my back to the
mirror, glancing over my shoulder at my bare back.  The skin
was rippled and twisted looking.  Even though it had healed
completely in just a few days, the scar would be there
forever.

Unease crept into my
system at letting my defenses down for so long and I climbed back
into my clothes and pulled my pack back on, feeling my anxiety ease
up just a bit.  I walked back outside and headed toward the
back of the house.

There was a large
outbuilding behind the cabin, no windows, just roughhewn wood
siding.  I pulled the doors open and my heart jumped into my
throat. 

I had never seen a car
this far from the city before.

It was large, with a big
bed for cargo.  Bill called this kind of vehicle a truck.
 I could tell it was old, even in the days when it would have
been used, it would have been old.  I wished I knew how to
drive to see if it still ran.  I made a note to bring Bill
here with me soon.

I gathered up what more I
could fit into my pack and started back toward Eden.

The light was just
starting to dim in the sky as I made it halfway home.  The
sound of a branch breaking drove me up the nearest tree.  I
moved silently along the boughs, my eyes searching for the source
of the noise.  My heart jumped into my throat when I saw West,
walking back in the direction of Eden.

I picked the biggest pine
cone I could find out of the tree I stood in and threw it at West
with precision, hitting him square in the back of the head. 
His shoulders scrunched up towards his ears, whipping around
violently, a knife clenched in one hand, a pistol in the
other. 

A sly smile crossed my
face as I picked another, throwing it so it landed just behind
him.  He spun around again, his eyes scanning the trees, a
curse slipping across his lips.  I couldn’t help it as the
laugh slipped out.

West whipped around, the
knife launching from his fingers.  Instinct reaction took over
as I caught the blade tightly in my hand; the tip of it just inches
away from my chest.

“
Geez, West,” I said
sharply as I threw it back down at him, burying it in the ground
between his feet.   “A bit paranoid?”  As I looked
back down at my hand, the skin was already closing up where it had
been cut.

His eyes finally found me
and after picking his knife up, he scaled the tree, sitting next to
me on the large branch.  “I was wondering where you had
wandered off to,” he said, his eyes hesitant as they met
mine.  We were both remembering the way I had run away from
him the night of Gabriel’s party.

“
I found a house,” I said,
trying to drive away the awkward moment.  “It had a cellar
underneath it.  It was stock full of non-perishables. 
Enough for two people to live off of for a year probably.  And
they had a truck.  I don’t know if it runs still though. 
I don’t know how to work it.”

“
Me either,” he said as he
shook his head.  His eyes grew in intensity as he looked at me
and I saw his thoughts reeling.  “Is everything okay? 
You’ve volunteered for night watch almost every night since the
party.  It feels a little like you’ve been avoiding me the
last few days.”

“
I have been,” I said
honestly as my eyes dropped to the ground below
us. 

“
Does this have anything
to do with Avian?” West asked, his voice dropping in volume a
bit.

I pressed my lips tightly
together.  I wasn’t sure how to answer him.  It had a lot
to do with Avian, but I couldn’t tell West that without hurting
him.  “I’m just really confused right now.  I don’t know
how to handle all these feelings.  Everything feels so
intense.”

West’s hand shifted, his
fingers covering mine.  I looked back at him.  He stared
back at me, bringing his other hand to brush the side of my
face.

“
It’s normal,” he said
quietly.  “You’re supposed to feel this way.”

“
Not for me, it’s not
normal.”

“
It’s supposed to be,” he
said as he leaned forward.

And once again, it felt
like I was consumed in flames, heat rushing through my body in a
way I loved and feared.  My heart raced as he closed his eyes
and his lips met mine.

That’s when we heard the
screaming.

I leapt out of the tree
and was sprinting through the trees before West could even open his
eyes to look for the source of the scream.  It hadn’t been far
away.  Within ten seconds I saw Graye, lying on the ground,
twitching and writhing in pain.  Two metal barbs were embedded
into the skin of his chest, a sharp hiss emanating from them as
they shocked Graye, over and over.

I felt the sharp shock of
the electricity coursing through my body as I yanked the barbs out
of Graye.  As I stuffed them into my pocket I saw it,
sprinting towards us, with robotically enhanced speed.

I didn’t hesitate as I
sprang though the air at the Hunter.  His eyes shown with a
metallic glint, empty and cold.  Two cybernetic hands
stretched towards me and we collided with a heavy smack.  Its
hands went straight for my throat, my hands pulling at every gear
and wire I could get them on.

“
Eve!” I heard the scream
as we collided.

“
Get out of here, West!” I
tried to scream, the noise cut off as the Hunters hands tightened
around my throat.  “Run!”

Black spots started
forming in my vision as my air supply was cut off.  I clawed
at the hands, gaining no breathing room.  The Hunter’s eyes
stared at me, empty as ever, empty as those I had seen standing
under the cover of the skyscrapers.