Standing in the middle of the freeway were two women. Both with very large assault rifles pointed at us.
Dr. Evans suddenly chuckled and shook his head. “Oh, this is just precious.”
The two women kept their firearms leveled at us as they crept forward.
“Open the doors!” one of them yelled, tapping her firearm on the door just to the side of West.
He glanced over at the rest of us, unsure of what to do. “Is she serious?” he said, his brows furrowed together in disbelief.
“Firearms ready,” I said, steadying my own gun in the direction of the door. Everyone else pointed their own assorted weapons at the door. I nodded to West. “Open it.”
West placed his hand on the handle of the door and shoved it open. As soon as the two women saw what was waiting for them, they dropped their weapons and held their hands up.
“Don’t shoot,” the same one who had spoken before said, shaking her head. “We were just looking for some food and were surprised to see anyone else on the road.”
“What are you doing so close to the city?” I asked, still not relaxing my M16. “There’s got to be hundreds of thousands of Bane just at your backs.”
The same woman, the one with the matted blonde hair that was pulled back in a messy bun at the top of her head, spoke. “I don’t know about that. I mean, I’m sure there are some. But it looks like most of the city has burned down.”
“Burned down?” I said, my brows pulling together. “Who’s left to bother?”
The woman shrugged, shaking her head.
“Might not have been anyone,” West said, his eyes turning toward the city as he lowered his weapon slightly.
“Could have been lightning,” Dr. Evans said.
And as soon as he spoke, the women took one look at him, screamed, and scrambled for their firearms.
“Wait!” all four of us shouted at the same time. West leapt from the van, tugging their firearms from their hands. The woman who had yet to speak swung at him and tried once again to recover her firearm.
She started shouting and screaming in a language I didn’t recognize.
“What are you doing driving around with one of them?!” the blond woman said, her eyes wild as she backed away from the vehicle.
“He’s safe,” West said, handing their firearms back to me. He then held his hands up to show he wouldn’t hurt them and slowly started walking toward them. “He’s not quite like the others. He will infect you if he touches you, yes, but he still has his humanity. He won’t hurt anyone.”
Both the women shook their heads, but they stopped their retreat.
“Not possible,” the blond one said.
Cracking his window just a tiny bit, because it was still raining, and he was mostly Bane after all, Dr. Evans looked out at them. “I can assure you that it is indeed possible.”
“How does it talk?!” the woman shouted, nearly jumping out of her skin. The other woman shouted words I didn’t understand.
It took a very long time to explain it all—how exactly Dr. Evans had kept his humanity, how he was different from the others. Neither of them would come any closer to the vehicle and in the end, it was Avian and I who climbed out to talk to them.
“This seems crazy,” the blond one said. “But I guess I can’t deny what I’m seeing with my own eyes.”
“What are your names?” Avian asked, wiping the rain out of his eyes. We were all completely soaked by this point.
“Susan,” the blond woman said. She was thin, the same body as the rest of us survivors had. She looked to be in her mid-thirties. She wore a thick winter coat covered by an enormous rain slicker. She sported a large hiking pack. “This here is Karmen, but she doesn’t really speak any English. Just Spanish.”
Karmen looked younger than Susan, maybe twenty-eight. Her hair was cut short, but in a way that still looked feminine. She was also shorter than Susan and more petite.
“Where are you from?” Avian asked, folding his arms across his chest. Avian had always seemed too quick to relax and trust. He’d slung his rifle over his shoulder just after we climbed out of the van.
“Wyoming,” Susan said. “My husband and I owned a ranch up there. We were fine until about seven months ago. My husband’s gone now.” Her voice faltered for a moment, but her body showed determination and resolve. This was a woman built to survive. “I’d just returned to my house after burying him when I found Karmen in my barn.”
“What are you doing clear down here then?” I asked, my eyes scanning the roads behind her. I had no way of knowing they were alone. They very well could have more of them watching us, ready to commandeer our vehicle the moment we let our guard down.
“There’s no one else with us,” Susan said, suddenly tensing. I realized then that I’d raised my rifle again and was pointing it at her lower belly. “It’s just us.”
Scanning the road and the broken down vehicles again, I lowered it just slightly. Susan eyed me warily for a few more moments before answering my question.
“About two months ago, we had the radio on,” she said. “I’ve been checking it every few weeks, just to see if anything comes up. Imagine my surprise when I heard a message saying Los Angeles had been cleared and that they were offering shelter and protection.”
The smile on Avian’s face was immediate. “That’s where we’re from,” he said, nodding in my direction. “It was Royce, our sort of military leader, who recorded the message.”
Susan’s face was suddenly filled with a mix of emotion. First unbelief, then hope, then uncertainty. “So it’s true? There really are more people out there? In the middle of such a huge city?”
Avian nodded as the comforting smile spread on his face. “It’s true. There are just over one hundred and sixty of us there.”
A laugh suddenly bubbled out of Susan’s throat and she threw her arms around Avian. Her sudden movement caught me off guard, and I reflexively raised my rifle back to her. Karmen started yelling at me in Spanish and I lowered it again. Susan immediately released Avian.
“I’m sorry,” she said, still laughing and smiling. “It’s just…wow. I couldn’t really believe it was real, but I knew I had to try.”
“If we’re staying for a while, should we set up tents so you all don’t drown?” West called from the van.
“Doesn’t look like the sun is going to break any time soon,” I called back to him. “May as well pull two of them out!”
West nodded and he and Bill set to setting two of them up.
By the time they were erected, the six of us were completely soaked. Dr. Evans couldn’t step outside of the van without getting shorted out, so he stayed in the van with Morgan. It was better that way. Susan and Karmen were still terrified of him.
I couldn’t blame them.
“So if you all are from this New Eden,” Susan said once we were settled inside and drying off. “Why are you out here? Why are you leaving the safe zone?”
We each looked at one another, all of us unsure of what to disclose. Finally, they turned to me, as if to say it was my call on how much to reveal.
“We’re on a mission, if you will,” I said, feeling uncomfortable. I had always been a leader, but being the leader was going to take some getting used to. “We think we might have a chance to fix things. We’re investigating that.”
“Fix things?” Susan said, her brow furrowing. “What do you mean by that?”
I shook my head, already wishing I hadn’t said anything. “We can’t say too much, but we’re hoping we can make things better.”
“Hmm,” Susan said, her eyes still disbelieving, but leaving it alone.
“We’ll be leaving as soon as the sun comes back out,” Avian said. “Our vehicle is solar powered.”