“Let’s head back to the tank,” Avian said, looking down at me. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “We’ll head home in the morning.”
EIGHTEEN
I sat across from Avian, simply looking at him, still not quite believing that I’d found him, so far from home. Against the odds, we’d found each other again.
But something in me knew that I would always find Avian.
Gabriel, Bill, and Tuck had offered to sleep outside. At first I had blushed. I didn’t feel embarrassed often, but the thought of them just outside the steel walls made my face warm.
But as I sat across the tank from Avian, I was grateful for their offer.
“I took off on my own at first,” Avian said, his eyes never breaking away from mine. “As soon as I realized they took you, I grabbed an emergency pack and a gun and just took off. Gabriel caught up to me twenty minutes later in the tank.”
I shook my head, a real smile pulling at my lips. “That wasn’t very smart.”
A smile flitted across his own face. “I tend to lose my head when it comes to you.”
That happy expression finally spread on my face. “How does stuff like this happen?” I asked. I felt silly for the grin on my face. “How does fate align perfectly that I find Eden, a place safe with good people who could help to mold me into the person I’ve become? That I find you? That I get taken across the country and the moment I escape, find my way back to you?”
Avian’s eyes grew dark and serious but they danced like stars reflecting on water. He stood and crossed the space toward me. He nudged my legs apart with his knee, standing between them. He placed a hand behind my neck. The gesture felt strange now. His hand should have been tangled in my hair.
“Because sometimes there are two people in this world who are bigger than fate. Sometimes there are two people who are just a force of nature and against all odds, a force this strong cannot be denied.”
“I missed you, Avian,” I whispered as his forehead touched mine.
“I nearly died without you,” he said, his lips only a whisper away from mine. I felt all of his anger and his desperation in that moment and understood them. We were all each other had left in this world.
“Never again,” I said, making a promise I knew I would do everything in my power to keep.
“I will always find you.”
And finally, he kissed me.
It nearly brought a sob from my chest. I hadn’t allowed myself to accept it before, but I had feared I would never be in this place again. I had nearly lost us forever.
This was me, the unchangeable, unbreakable part of me.
Avian’s lips weren’t gentle. They were desperate and they were lonely. They were fearful and possessive. His teeth tugged on my bottom lip. His breathing came out ragged.
My hands slid under his shirt, my fingers feeling alive and electric as they passed over his toned abdomen. I pushed his shirt up and pulled it up over his head. Goosebumps instantly flashed over his skin.
He let me look at him for a moment and I drank him in. His chest was tight and sculpted. Coming to New Eden had done glorious things for his already beautiful body. With more food and free time to do things more challenging than doctoring, he had the body of a god.
My eyes settled on the tattoo of three birds on his chest. My fingers rose to touch the one with the shape of an “S” in the way its wings met its body.
“I love you, Avian,” I said. It was a moment before my eyes left the bird and returned to his. “I don’t exist as a whole without you.”
Avian’s eyes burned as he looked back at me through the dim light. He took one of my hands in his and pulled me to my feet. His arms wrapped around my waist and he rested his forehead against mine.
“I promise you my forever,” Avian said, pressing a soft and gentle kiss to each of my eyelids.
“My forever is yours to keep,” I returned, pulling myself into his chest. I buried my face in his neck, clinging to his frame and breathing him in. I felt his heart beating into my own chest.
There was a fire building between the two of us that night. A fire that had never burned so bright until that moment, but would continue to burn for that forever we’d promised. Because that promise of forever, that was my word, my bond, and my eternal will.
NINETEEN
In the morning I told everyone about the other beacon, which was to be set off New Year’s day. This sent everyone into action and we immediately rolled south.
I felt like the slow journey would kill me. The motorcycle I’d taken from Seattle was wrecked when I crashed into the tank. We had no choice but to all take the trek home in the tank. It had taken them three days to get here, it was going to take us three days to get home. There was nothing we could do about it. We would get home with seven days to spare. In that time, the scientists would have to rebuild the energy storage devices and get the Pulse charge up. There was zero room for error.
“There is something else you need to know,” I said, loud enough so everyone could hear me over the sound of the track wheels. Tuck glanced down at me, he drove the tank. Avian, Bill, and Gabriel turned their full attention to me.
“The Bane, we’ve known for a few months that they’re getting smarter,” I started. “But the first generation receivers of TorBane, all the others are following them. They’re building an army.”
“How is that possible?” Gabriel questioned. “An army of Bane?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know exactly, but they’re thinking logically. The day before I found the tank, I was about to head through this city when all of the sudden hundreds of thousands of Bane came crawling out and started leveling the city. It was a small town so I knew they had to be coming from somewhere else.
“There was this man,” I continued. “He’d been following them, studying them. He said they’re sweeping. They’re leveling everything, looking for people. They’re moving west to east. When they reach the coast they turn south.”
“How long till they reach New Eden?” Avian asked, his brow furrowing.
“Tom was estimating maybe six months,” I said, the weight of my words filling the interior of the tank. “But he thought it would probably be less. They’re gaining numbers as they go. Any Bane that are awake, any Hunters, they’re joining the army.”
“Well that’s as scary as anything I could imagine,” Tuck said, shaking his head.
“There aren’t nearly as many Sleepers,” Gabriel said, rubbing a hand over his once again overgrown beard. “They’re all starting to wake up. Millions of them.”
“We’re going to have to prepare,” I said, nodding. “We’ve got to get the Pulse back up and running. And if possible, I think we need to build others.”
“If it’s true and they are gaining numbers as they move, there will be over three hundred million of them by the time the reach New Eden,” Avian said. “Even if we have multiple Pulses, will it be enough?”
“It will have to be,” Bill said. “What other choice would we have?”
“We could move,” Tuck suggested.
“Not again,” Gabriel shook his head. “There are too many of us now in New Eden. We have a perfect set up there. We will fight back.”
“Besides, it isn’t like the rest of the country is going to be totally Bane-free,” I said, looking up at Tuck. “There are still thousands of Sleepers out there. Eventually they’re going to wake up, after the army has left.”
Tuck sighed, shaking his head. He muttered something about good things never lasting.
“One more thing,” I said. I fidgeted with the shotgun that sat in my lap. “I don’t think it’s safe for me to go back into New Eden. I have no idea what those people did to me, but it seems the Bane might be attracted to me now. I think it’s safer for me to hang out on the outskirts. You all can go back in and send Dr. Beeson out to me. He can check me out, see what he thinks.”