“Doesn’t she get tired?” a young voice asked.
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” the voice I knew answered.
I turned my head toward the window where they watched me from. A pair of curious brown eyes stared back at me.
I opened my eyes, only to squint them back to nearly closed. Light streamed in, momentarily blinding me. My left shoulder felt stiff, and as I reached a hand to it, I found it covered in layers of bandages. I was also wearing a shirt that I recognized as Avian’s.
“Try not to move too much,” a voice said kindly.
Ignoring the voice, I pulled myself into a sitting position. I blinked my eyes several times, willing them to focus.
I was still on the medical table but now there was not just the three of us inside but Gabriel as well. I wondered when he had come back.
“What happened?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes.
“You passed out from the pain,” Avian said, his voice stiff again.
“But I didn’t feel it,” I said, my voice sounding a little more annoyed than I had meant it to. “I still don’t feel it.”
Avian and Gabriel exchanged looks. West just stared at me with a blank expression.
“We need to have a talk, Eve,” Gabriel said as he looked at me. “In private.”
West seemed to realize this last part was directed at him. “I’m not leaving her,” he said, his voice stubborn.
“I’m not giving you a choice,” Gabriel said, his eyes hard. I then heard someone shift position outside and recognized Bill’s shadow through the wall of the tent.
“Go,” I said quietly to West, looking into his earthy eyes. “I can take care of myself.”
He gave me a hard look. I could tell he didn’t like this but after a moment he walked out. I saw Bill walk away with him.
Once I was sure West was out of earshot I looked back at Avian and Gabriel. “What is happening to me?” I asked, my eyes daring them to not answer me. “I can’t feel the pain. I didn’t change.”
“You still feel the pain,” Avian said, swallowing hard on the rock that seemed to have moved into his own throat. “Your brain just doesn’t tell you it’s feeling it. That’s why you passed out this morning. Your body couldn’t handle the pain.”
“But I didn’t feel the pain,” I insisted, not that the statement made me feel any better.
The two of them exchanged looks again. That was really starting to annoy me.
“What do you know?” I snapped. “What aren’t you two telling me?”
Avian bit his lower lip, his eyes dropping to the floor. Gabriel took this as an indicator to take the lead. “When you came to us, we knew right away that something was different about you Eve. You shouldn’t have survived out there on your own. You were only a thirteen-year-old girl for heaven’s sake.
“We didn’t know what it was. We watched you for weeks, looking for any signs that you were a Fallen, sent to spy on us. It’s difficult to tell sometimes. We kept the CDU with us at all times, ready to use it should you show any indicator that you might turn on us.
“You were nearly as strong as any of the grown men. You never got tired. You were so blasted tough and solid. And yet you lived among us. You didn’t turn against us.”
My heart pounded as I listened to Gabriel. I recalled everything he was saying, remembered the way the two of them had hovered over me at all times when I was a younger. I had thought they were trying to protect me. They had just been protecting themselves though. They had been ready to short me out at any moment.
Apparently there had been reason to.
And I was still too strong, still too fast. And apparently my brain didn’t register pain.
“What the hell am I?” I said in a raged hiss.
“We don’t know,” Avian finally said as he looked up. “You’re human but part of you is cybernetic. You’ve been enhanced in a way we’ve never even heard of before.
“That’s why you didn’t change when the Hunter touched you. You’re already part Fallen.”
My breathing increased as my eyes dropped to the floor. It suddenly rushed up at me as I fell off the table and landed roughly on my hands and knees. Avian jumped to help me up but I pushed him away.
“No,” I said as I shook my head and stumbled to my feet. “Get away from me!”
I bolted out of the tent and stumbled through what was left of Eden without seeing or caring where I was going.
My tent felt safe and frightening all at the same time. This was my space, and yet it was wrong. Sarah still wasn’t here. As I hid in my tent, Avian had come to tell me that she was starting to recover but was staying in his tent so he could watch her.
Eden was too quiet as darkness fell upon us. It felt strange to have our colony split up like this. I felt like I had been left behind. I wasn’t used to the feeling. I was always at the forefront of everyone.
I heard the dirt stir outside my tent as someone approached.
“Go away, Avian! I don’t want to talk to you right now!” I shouted as I lay in my bed and pulled my blanket up over my head.
“Good thing I’m not Avian,” a voice said as someone entered my tent.
“What are you doing here, West?” I asked as I glared at him, pulling the blanket back down.
He stood there, staring back at me, refusing to be intimidated. I then noticed he held something bulky and black in one arm.
“I brought something I hope might make you feel better,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders.
“I just found out I’m the enemy I’ve been fighting against for the last five years. I don’t think there’s anything you can do to make me feel better.”
West rolled his eyes. “You could try not biting my head off. I’m not the one who kept that massive secret from you all this time. Get up,” he said.
“What?” I asked, my voice annoyed again.
“Get up so I can lay this down,” he said as he raised his eyebrows at me.
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I did as he asked. He then rolled out the black mass and I realized it was a hide.
“The bear?” I asked as I rubbed my hand over the soft fur.
“Yeah,” he said as he looked at it on my bed with a half-smile. “I asked Bill if he could tan it for me. I wanted to give it to you as an apology for stealing your kills.”
“Well, I did take your buck that one time. I was the one who technically stole it.”
West looked up at me, a half smile coming to his lips before he gave a little chuckle. “See, it made you feel better.”
I then realized that I was smiling too.
“Thank you,” I said, really meaning it.
West gave a nod and then stood there uncomfortably as if he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.
“They asked you to watch me tonight, didn’t they?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at him.
“And you’re not going to give me trouble about that, are you?” he shot back at me.
I just glared at him for a minute, gauging his stance and expression. I hadn’t forgotten the fact that we had spent two nights together, a little more intimately than I would have cared to remember, or the fact that in the moment he thought I was as good as dead, he had kissed me.
“You can sleep in Sarah’s bed, then. Don’t oversleep though; I’m packing up early in the morning.”
“Good,” he said as he went to lie on the other bed. “I’ve already packed up all my things. I would have been sleeping in the dirt if you kicked me out.”
I crawled into my new bed, surprised at how much of a difference the hide made. I balled my pillow up under my head and pulled the covers up to my chin.
“Good-night, Eve,” West said quietly through the now dark tent.
I hesitated for a moment. This whole situation felt so strange. As awkward as it was to have West sleeping in such close quarters, it was kind of nice to have him here at the same time. “Good-night, West,” I half whispered as I turned onto my side away from him.