“Snooping around,” Bill said, slinging the firearm over his shoulder. “This man is a thief and a thug.”
The things Bill was saying, these were details. Details he couldn’t have gathered in the last few minutes.
I had a feeling a ghost had just walked out of Bill’s unspeakable past.
“Take care of the body,” I said, my jaw stiff as I glanced down once more at the dead man.
“Looks like the clouds will burn off in an hour or so,” Vee said as she helped me clear the snow from the solar panels.
Bill was off burying the man he’d shot, and everyone else was cleaning up the tents and bringing out breakfast. The snow in the middle of us all was still scarlet red.
“We could probably head out about an hour after that,” I said, dusting my hands off. “If this thing wasn’t so completely drained, it wouldn’t take quite so long.”
Vee nodded, looking around, as if distracted. Bird suddenly swooped in, flapping his wings as he hovered above her shoulder for just a moment before landing.
“He’s a beautiful creature,” I said, observing his honey brown feathers mixed with the white. A hawk if I wasn’t mistaken. He had powerful talons and a killer beak.
“He’s been my only companion for the last three years,” she said, looking over at him. “I found him when he was just hatched. He was abandoned. Just like me.”
I met her eyes for a moment. It was still strange, like looking in a mirror but with altered hair and less expression.
“Did it drive you mad, being so alone?” I asked. I had known we would need to talk sometime, but I wasn’t sure what to say. We had never been close and I hadn’t even known of her existence until a few weeks ago.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Before everything happened, they said it was because of the way I was born, my disconnect with everyone. I started to get better after they gave me TorBane. But then they gave me the chip and took it all away. I didn’t mind being on my own.”
“But you did miss West,” I said plainly.
She hesitated. Gave me a serious look. “I did miss him.”
“Was it nice to be with him last night?” I asked, feeling awkward doing so. “Did you talk much?”
I thought I saw a hint of a smile cross her face. “Some. I think he is embarrassed he didn’t realize the difference between you and I right away. It should have been obvious.”
“Maybe not when he thought I was dead,” I said, nearly smiling myself.
“You nearly tried to kill him,” she said, her smile growing. “Twice. That should have been a good indication.”
A laugh erupted from my throat. “Yeah, I guess it should have been. Was it really that bad between him and me? I don’t remember more than a few snapshots.”
She started to smile before it broke off her lips. She just nodded. “West always liked to be the best at things and you always tried to show him how you were better. He didn’t like that. You didn’t like that he tried so hard.”
I looked out toward the tent, the one she and West had spent the night in. He was disassembling it.
“It’s a little odd to be around you two and not have you fighting,” Vee added.
“It’s a recent development.”
“You’ll be by my side, won’t you?” she said, her change of mood instant. “When we get back to your people?”
“Of course,” I said. She didn’t know how to vocalize it, but I could imagine the idea of being around so many “normal” people after so long in isolation had to be overwhelming. For a brief moment, I considered reaching out and giving her a reassuring squeeze on the arm or something. But she was like me, and that kind of contact wasn’t exactly reassuring to us. We weren’t normal. “I’ll be there as much as you want me to be.”
“And West?” she said, looking back at him. “Will his duties permit him to be there when I need him as well?”
A smile once again crooked in my mouth. “I think that could be permitted.”
As predicted, two hours later we were moving once again. The snow on the ground was about three inches deep, but our tires were large and the sun was shining.
Bill drove, Dr. Evans sat in silence inside his glass box. Vee was mostly quiet and I could never quite figure out what she was thinking. West watched Vee and kept looking from her to me and I could tell he was still having difficulty processing everything. Creed cried and slept and many times wouldn’t calm down until I held her, her wrinkly cheek pressed into my chest. Avian did his best to keep her alive.
The miles fell behind us and the few small towns we came across had few Bane in them. I stood at the opening of the hatch and commanded them to destroy one another. I wouldn’t risk any more of them joining the Bane sweep. At this point, it felt like every single one of them counted.
I hoped the army that I had sent out into the country was making even a slight dent in the Bane population. Honestly, I just hoped that they were still doing as I commanded. I couldn’t live with myself if they’d gone back to their main objective and were infecting people once again.
By nightfall we were just outside of Las Vegas. Or what should have been Las Vegas. The snow was gone and the temperatures had risen fifteen degrees. We all appreciated that. It was frighteningly quiet once more when we camped and we slept right next to the solar tank.
We rolled out as soon as the sun came up and charged the solar panels. Bird circled above us, never tiring of the skies. Everyone but Vee grew restless, anxious to get home and to see what was to come.
“How far can they get with the construction of the Nova without the supplies you collected?” Avian asked. He was in the middle of changing Creed’s oxygen tank.
“They can get all the framework structured,” he said, not looking back at us. “And the main motherboard isn’t too complex. We should be able to finish it off in about two weeks.”
“That seems like a lot of time,” I said. “If it’s mostly the fine tuning of it that is left, why would it take more than a few days?”
“My dear girl, do you claim to know how to build a transmitter that will reach every still functional satellite and how to fine tune it?” His voice was patient, but it was dripping with condescension.
“I think your tone is a bit unnecessary,” Vee said, her brow furrowing. “She was asking a valid question.”
I would have made an appreciative gesture to my sister for defending me, but I was too occupied balling my cybernetic-boned hands into fists, and using restraint not to connect them with Dr. Evans’ face.
“My apologies,” Dr. Evans said, shaking his head. “I must admit, I’m feeling a little less…understanding these days.”
The interior grew quiet at that, each of us considering what he was really meaning by his comment.
“Do those of us without TorBane have anything to be worried about, Dr. Evans?” Avian asked.
“Not for the time being, you don’t.”
Tension and uncertainty threatened to choke each of us out for the next six hours. Adrenaline constantly burned through my veins. I kept going over plans in my head, just in case Dr. Evans lost his grip on his humanity. But the truth was simple: if he decided to turn on us, I had no chance of immobilizing him before he could infect everyone.
I just wanted to be back in New Eden. Now.
“See if you can get anyone on the radio,” Bill said, grabbing it off the dash and handing it back to me. I took it from him and pressed the talk button.
“This is Eve and the reclamation team, can anyone hear me?” I said.
There was radio silence for all of five seconds before it crackled. “Welcome back, Savior.” Royce. “Everyone still alive?”
I hesitated. “Not exactly sir, but our numbers are plus one.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Crackle, out.