Alone on the watch tower that night, I paced from one end to the other. The night was passing slowly, as they had been for the past few. I kept thinking about the notes, wondering how we could use them, if we could even use them. My brain hurt from thinking about all the things it felt like I could do nothing about.
My eyes scanned the trees.
Something felt off. I couldn’t explain it, but I could feel something.
I shifted the rifle in my hand, too on edge to sling it back over my shoulder. My pack was cinched tight to my back. In my agitation, I had sorted through it all twice. Food, water, ammunition. Everything I needed to survive on my own out in the wild. For as long as it would take me to reach a city and take what I needed.
I then remembered how Bill and Graye claimed it wasn’t safe to go into the cities anymore. I didn’t think I could fully believe that though until I’d witnessed it myself. Maybe it wasn’t safe for them, but it might be for me. I was at least not in danger of getting infected.
They could still blow me apart though.
EIGHTEEN
My breathing came in steady rhythm as my bare feet beat against the gravel. I checked my surroundings as I ran. The houses were starting to fall away and trees rose up around me. The sound of another set of feet came up after me.
I brushed leaves out of my tangled hair as I ducked into the bushes. It felt strange to have it so long, but I wasn’t sure why.
My feet were agile as I leapt over a fallen tree and crashed through the undergrowth. My pursuer continued to chase after me.
I analyzed the terrain before me, picking out the best path. My hesitation was too long though. The next second I was tackled to the ground.
All I saw after that was red and gleaming metal parts.
The dream haunted me as I joined the others in the gardens the next afternoon. I’d never had that one before.
Red.
There had been so much red.
“Set this in there, will you?” Sarah said as she extended a cucumber toward me. I grabbed it from her and set it in the basket at my feet.
The heat was getting intense, made all the worse by the clouds that were coming in. The air was heavy with humidity. I heard several people begging for it to rain.
With summer midway over, the garden was producing well. This was our second round of early harvesting. There was an abundance of squash, peas, beans, cucumbers, and other delicious vegetables. The kitchen crew had been busy canning the last week or so. Our new cellar was getting its shelves filled quickly.
“Do you know what it is Avian’s been working on lately?” Sarah asked as she handed me another cucumber. “He’s been obsessed, but he won’t tell me what it is he’s doing.”
Avian and I had both agreed to keep our discoveries quiet. Until we understood what it was we were looking at, we didn’t want to give anyone false hope.
“Why does this project seem so strange?” I diverted. “He gets into different projects sometimes.”
“I don’t know. He’s just being so secretive. And he’s been weird lately. I don’t know how to describe it.”
I did. Desperate hope filled with total inept ability.
“I wouldn’t worry about him,” I said as I reached for the next vegetable she handed me. It slipped through Sarah’s fingers before I grabbed it.
Sarah cursed under her breath, shaking her hand.
“Are you alright?” I asked as I bent and picked it up off the ground.
“Yeah,” she said as she shook her head and went back to work.
“You sure?”
“I’m fine!” she snapped at me.
I watched her closely after that. I didn’t understand what the fact that Sarah seemed to be having a hard time keeping her grip on things meant.
That evening, I watched as the one of the afternoon scouting groups arrived back at camp. Among them was West, who wouldn’t even look me in the eye as he grabbed a bowl of soup and headed straight for his tent.
Good. I didn’t want to talk to him either.
I didn’t know if I would ever be able to trust him again.
That night as I went up the tower for watch duty, Avian followed me. I should have protested. I had meant it when I told him he was too distracting. I thought I could control myself though, as long as I kept him at arm’s length.
“I recognize these things here,” Avian said as he sat on the bench. I leaned over the page, feigning interest. I was interested; it just didn’t mean anything to me. “These things here could be found at any hardware store. Most of these,” he said, pointing to something else. “Could be found in just about any lab. But these,” he said, indicating another few things. “I’m not even sure what they are.”
My eyes scanned the trees. I had that feeling again.
“There’s got to be someone out there who knows what it is,” I said distractedly.
“Have you talked to West about this yet?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I can face him without doing something stupid again.”
“He may know what we’re looking at,” Avian said quietly. “We should talk to him.”
“Feel free,” I said as I paced.
“I’m serious, Eve. He might know something. I think he’s a lot smarter than any of us realize. What he said about the infection having been designed to spread. It makes sense. He’s bound to have picked up on a lot of things from his family.”
“He was thirteen when everything happened. I doubt he learned too much about electro physics, or whatever.”
“Don’t underestimate inherited intelligence. I think we should talk to him.”
“Fine,” I sighed. I fought back the urge to send Avian back to his tent. It was setting me on edge to have him talking at me. I needed to be on full alert.
Eventually Avian fell asleep on the bench, the notebook balanced on his chest. I sighed in relief when I heard his heavy breathing. Finally, silence.
The air felt thick as the clouds kept building. There was a charge running through the atmosphere, like the sky was ready to split apart at any moment.
Two hours before dawn would have broken, the thing I had been waiting for finally happened.
The sound of a chopper buzzed through the air. A few moments later I picked up on the sound of another. I barely made out the tiny black dots in the sky to the west of Eden.
I cursed under my breath. They were slowing down in their approach.
Twenty seconds later, the glow of a stream of fire blazed through the pre-dawn sky.
“NO!” I screamed, true horror filling me for the first time.
Avian jerked awake as the second scream leapt from my throat. His eyes followed my line of sight.
Both helicopters had fire billowing out from them.
They were burning the gardens.
“Gabriel!” Avian bellowed as he leapt down the ladder and started sprinting through Eden. I leapt down after him, heading directly to the tree line.
I had to be careful not to crash into any trees in the nearly nonexistent light as I plowed through the woods. I pulled my pack in front of me, digging though it for more ammunition, putting it into a side pocket.
The glow of the flames told me I was getting close. It took me a while to realize the sound of the helicopters had disappeared.
I was about fifty yards away when it came running at me. A nearly all metal Fallen leapt at me from the trees. I pulled my gun and blasted its head open before it got within ten feet of me.
I had just gotten to the fence line when another tackled me, its hands closing around my throat. I rolled, coming on top of it. Getting my hands free, I attacked its head with my clenched fists. As soon as the outer metal was broken I started pulling at wires and gears. Its form was still a few seconds later. I pried its dead hands away from my throat.