“What are you doing here?” I asked. No one other than Elijah and Gabriel had ever come to the tent.
“Royce sent me after you two,” Tuck said. The alarm in his eyes outweighed the embarrassed flush in his cheeks at catching us together. “Some new people showed up today.”
“How many?” Avian asked, his expression dark and serious again.
“Twenty,” Tuck said. “They’re well-armed and seem to know how to handle themselves.”
“Twenty?” I said, not hiding my shock. “Where did they come from?”
“That’s what’s got Royce and Gabriel so worried,” he said. “They won’t say. But they arrived by Coast Guard ship early this morning, just north of here. They’ve been asking a lot of questions but not answering any.”
“Okay,” I said, turning back to Avian. He gave a little nod, his eyes carrying a sad look, like he knew how much I didn’t want to go back into the city yet—that in reality—I wasn’t quite ready. “We’ll head out in just a minute.”
Tuck nodded and jogged back toward the electric car.
“You ready to go back?” Avian asked, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
“Are you?” I asked and instantly the air grew heavy.
“I think it’s best if I just avoid West for a while,” he said. His gaze fell to the sand beneath us.
“Hey,” I said, my brow furrowing. “What is it?”
“I trust you, okay? Don’t get me wrong there. But just promise me that you’ll always be honest with me.”
I shook my head. “You know I will,” I said, attempting to push back the black feelings trying to rise up in my blood. “What’s this really about?”
He took a moment to respond and I could feel his turmoil. “I know that you have mixed emotions about West,” Avian said. “You still have some kind of feelings about him and I wouldn’t expect that to immediately go away. You two have some kind of history that I can never be a part of. I get that. Just…always be honest with me about it, okay?”
He pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me. I laid my head on his chest, listening for the beat of his heart, the sound that was the anchor to my world.
“The honest truth is this,” I said, looking up into his eyes. “I love you. You are who I want and need to be with. That’s never going to change.”
As we parked the motorcycle in the underground parking garage, Avian tucked a small handgun into his belt beneath his shirt. I checked my Desert Eagle, making sure I could pull it out quickly in case I needed it. I had no doubt a lot of members of New Eden would be packing with these newcomers.
The stairs echoed back our footsteps as we climbed the two sets of flights to the main level of the hospital. A gust of warm air caressed my face when we stepped out onto the main floor.
I bumped the door into Graye as we entered. There were no civilians in the lobby, which was odd considering this was the main hub of all operations of New Eden. Instead I found Elijah and the majority of his and Avian’s crew, as well as all of Tuck’s team guarding doors and stairways with loaded weapons.
In the middle of the room stood twenty people I didn’t know, their pale faces and bodies hardened by the world we lived in. They held their own weapons.
“What’s going on?” I whispered to Graye.
“They’re refusing to tell Gabriel or Royce much of anything. They want to talk with Royce privately but Elijah isn’t having it, not without Avian here. He wants someone here in charge of security detail.”
“And you and Bill are useless?” I asked in an annoyed voice.
Graye shrugged, shaking his head in exasperation.
“Finally,” Royce suddenly said, spotting Avian and me. “Elijah, happy now?”
Elijah nodded his scarred head.
“You two, come with us,” Royce said, pointing at two people in the front of this new group with the tip of his AK-47. “Avian, Eve, care to join us?”
I nodded, as did Avian. Royce, Gabriel, the two newcomers, Avian, and I all wedged ourselves into the elevator.
“Anyone makes a wrong move, don’t hesitate to shoot,” Royce said as the silver doors slid closed.
“This is how you treat your guests?” the woman asked, her voice hard and mocking.
“Forgive us if our manners are a little rusty,” Royce barked. “But when you come into our city armed like this with no answers, we don’t serve up the welcome cookies and milk.”
The elevator dinged and we walked down the hall toward the conference room. I felt uneasy that we were only one floor below the blue level, where the most valuable devices and people in the world resided.
As soon as everyone was in the room, I positioned myself in front of the door and Avian stood in front of the window.
“We could start with some names,” Royce said, bracing his hands on the table, staring them down with his steely eyes.
“Margaret,” the woman said, leaning forward as if to prove Royce didn’t intimidate her.
“Alistar,” the man beside her said.
“Good,” Royce said with a cocky smile. “That’s better. Because when you walk into our town, you answer our questions. You heard our radio message.”
“Yes,” Margaret replied, folding her hands over one another on the table. “Your message did promise food, shelter, a home.”
“Somehow I don’t get the feeling that’s what you’re really looking for here,” Royce growled. “You don’t go begging for a bed armed like this.”
“We’ve never heard of another group surviving in such large numbers,” Gabriel butted in. I sensed his attempt to smooth things over. Gabriel was always the peacekeeper but knew when to not let things get out of hand. “We’re just surprised at your numbers.”
“Where are you from?” Royce asked. I could tell this wasn’t the first time he’d asked these two this question.
“Where are any of us from?” Margaret said back. “Like you, we’re from everywhere. Just trying to survive in an impossible world.”
“That isn’t an answer,” Royce said, leaning forward again, his voice icy.
This game was tiring me very quickly and I was having a very bad week. The distrust and anger inside of me quickly flooded my veins.
I crossed the room and nestled the barrel of my rifle between her ribs. “Where are you from?” I said.
She jumped, much to my satisfaction, and her face blanched all the more white.
Good. She was still capable of feeling fear.
“North,” she said, her voice a little too loud. “We’ve been in the forests up north. We’ve been hiding there for the past year.”
“The Redwoods?” Avian asked, studying them.
Margaret nodded.
“We heard the message,” Margaret said, now fixing me with hard eyes. I stepped back to the door now that she was talking. “We were curious to talk to other survivors, so we came. We weren’t exactly expecting to be held hostage.”
“One can never be too careful these days,” Royce said, standing straight again. He was still tense, but I felt him backing down now that they had answered some of his questions.
“We’re not looking to join you permanently,” Alistar said, looking around at each of us. “We just wanted to talk, share information. We thought it could be valuable.”
Royce glanced over at Gabriel who shrugged and shook his head as if to say it was Royce’s call.
“Everyone will be heading to bed right now,” Royce said. I glanced out the window that overlooked the buildings around us. The sun had dipped below the skyline and darkness was settling. “We’ll talk in the morning. Avian, Gabriel, will you take their group to the fourth floor?”
They both nodded and directed Margaret and Alistar back toward the elevator.
I almost smiled when Royce said the fourth floor. It was the former mental unit. Very secure. Easy to lock down.
Royce didn’t trust these people any more than I did.
When they were out in the hall, Royce shut the door and turned to me.
“I’m shutting down all the elevators when they’re settled,” he said, meeting my eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. “I want you guarding the blue floor. All the scientists will be sleeping on that floor tonight. We’re not saying anything about the Pulse, the Extractor, you, or West until we know more about these people. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” I said with a nod.
“Don’t shoot me, Eve,” he said as I turned to leave. “But I think it’s best if West stays up there tonight as well. It’s a little obvious just looking at him that he’s had some major work.”
I gave him a hard stare for a long moment. But in the end logic won out, and I couldn’t argue with him.
“Make sure Avian knows where I am tonight,” I said as I walked toward the stairs.
“Yes ma’am.”