In one shot, I embedded the bullet into the gas tank and the ATV exploded in a ball of blazing glory for humanity.
Somehow we made it to the edge of the city and back into the trees where the Fallen only scouted when there was nothing better to do, which was apparently the only thing they did. West wheezed as we ran further into the forest, falling behind me several steps.
“Holy…” he gasped. “Eve.”
I slowed and turned to him as we stopped. “What?”
“Your shoulder,” he said, his eyes filled with horror.
My stomach knotted instantly and I almost didn’t dare look. With all the adrenaline coursing through my system I didn’t consider two very important things that had just happened.
I looked down at my shoulder and realized half my shirt had been burned away. So had my flesh. The skin from the top of my right shoulder down as far as I could see on my back was a charred, black, smoking mess.
“Oh my ga… Eve,” West said, his voice a horrified whisper that choked off. “Are you…?” I knew he was going to ask me if I was okay but it was obvious I wasn’t.
And then it hit me. “I don’t feel anything. I didn’t even know it was there.”
West continued to look at me with that horrified expression. I could only stare back for a moment.
“It touched you,” I could barely even hear his words as they escaped his throat.
My blood froze in my veins and it felt like all my internal organs had suddenly disappeared as his words hit me. A Fallen had touched me. One touch was all it took. The Hunter had been all over me.
“I have to go back to the city,” I said as I locked eyes with him. “You have to run, West. Don’t look back.”
I took two steps back toward where we had come from when he grabbed my wrist. “No,” he growled and shook his head. “No.”
“I have to West,” I hissed, almost angry with him. He knew how the world was now. “I only have a few hours. Then I’ll be trying to kill you too.”
“No,” he said again, his jaw clenched as his eyes burned into mine. I noticed there was moisture brimming in them. “I’m taking you with me. If you start to turn, I’ll shoot you myself and run.”
“It’s not a question of if, West,” I said, my voice low and husky sounding. I shook his hand off and started back again.
West grabbed my wrist again, this time yanking me back toward him with much more force. His other hand encircled my waist pulling me against his body. “No,” he said again.
And then he crushed his lips to mine. I could have sworn I was back in the middle of that explosion again in that moment.
I didn’t even realize for several moments after that I was being drug through the forest again, West’s hand securely around my wrist. I couldn’t think straight enough to resist.
Finally, I yanked the gun from the belt of my pants and forced it into West’s other hand. “Here,” I said, my eyes daring him to fight me. “You’re going to need this soon.”
He didn’t say anything, just tucked it into his own pants and continued to pull me through the trees.
EIGHT
The chill of the morning air shook West in an obvious way, his teeth chattering as we ran through the forest. His hand was still clenched around mine, his fingers a frozen color of purple. Our breath caused clouds to bloom around us in a cruel reminder that summer was still a few weeks off.
As we pounded our way through the woods, I could only think one thing, over and over. What was happening? Or more accurately: what wasn’t happening?
We had run through the entire day after I had been tackled by the Hunter, and had continued through the night. I kept waiting for the sensation of my cells hardening, waiting for my vision to sharpen and for the data to start flashing across my eyes, or something. It shouldn’t have taken more than two or three hours for the changes to start. It had now been just short of twenty-four and still nothing had happened.
The terrain became familiar and I felt both relief and panic. Perhaps Avian could give me some answers and I now had the medication Sarah needed. Yet I was infected now. I couldn’t bring it into Eden. That was the very thing we had fought all these years to keep out.
I was startled to see how Eden had changed since the time I had left it. There were only a few tents left by this point and the place that was my home looked deserted. I then remembered that Gabriel had told everyone to leave.
The few people who were left looked busy packing and preparing to leave. They stared at West and I as we walked swiftly toward the medical tent.
“Avian!” I half shouted before we were even inside the tent. “Avian!”
“Eve!” I heard his excited yet panicked shout as we burst into the tent.
I froze as I got inside, my eyes seeing nothing but Avian, standing there looking back at me. All the years watching him work, the hours we had spent by campfires, the feeling of his hand in mine, the sound of his breathing rushed through my head. Everything I was going to lose by turning into a Fallen was standing in this tent.
“Eve,” he finally whispered as he closed the gap between us and wrapped me in his arms. His entire frame was trembling. Softly, he pressed his lips to my temple.
He took a step back, placing his hands on my shoulders, and took a good look at me. That was when he realized what was under his right hand.
“Eve!” he nearly shouted as he whipped his hand away. “You’re fried! How are you not writhing in pain?”
Without waiting for me to say anything, he grabbed me and maneuvered me onto the table. I then noticed Sarah wasn’t lying on it anymore. What did that mean? Was I too late?
I felt a rock form in my throat. I couldn’t make myself ask about her.
“I can’t feel it,” I said, my voice sounding dead. “I haven’t felt it since it happened. There was an explosion.”
“It’s a good thing you can’t feel it,” Avian said as he poured some water onto a rag. “Burns are some of the most painful injuries. And this would really, really hurt.”
Avian cut away the rest of my charred shirt and I clung to the tattered pieces to keep myself covered. I stole a glance at West who stood in the doorway and watched with fearful eyes. Avian then started scrubbing at my charred skin.
“When did this happen?” Avian asked, his voice oddly tight.
“Yesterday morning,” West answered before I could.
“This looks a week old,” Avian said quietly. “It’s already started to heal.”
I tried to swallow the rock in my throat but it wouldn’t go down. “A Hunter touched me, Avian. It was all over me. It happened just after the explosion.”
Avian suddenly froze as he scrubbed. He stopped breathing for a moment and I felt him automatically withdraw his hand just slightly.
“I haven’t changed. Nothing’s happened except that I can’t feel this,” I said as I nodded my head toward my shoulder.
He paused for a while longer before hesitantly placing the rag back to my shoulder and slowly started scrubbing again.
“What does this mean, Avian?” I asked quietly. “Why haven’t I changed?”
He didn’t say anything for a little bit. It nearly drove me insane.
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice tight again.
“This doesn’t happen. They all Fall.”
And then a strange thing happened. I blacked out.
There were wires attached to every exposed surface of my body. And I was running. I’d been running forever it felt like. The belt turned under my feet, creating an endless four foot section of road.
“Increase the speed,” a voice said. I didn’t like those voices.
The belt started spinning faster under my small bare feet. My pace picked up to match so I didn’t fall.