“Then we’re all in for a load of trouble,” Tristan said in a low growl.
“Come on,” I said, darting for the door. “We’ve got to tell Royce and Gabriel.”
The two of us sprinted back to the staircase. We exploded onto the sixth floor and I started pounding on the door to the conference room.
“Royce!” I bellowed. “I have to talk to you now or we’re all going to be dead!”
The door was yanked open and Royce’s expression was livid. “I do not have time to deal with your love mess, Eve,” he hissed in my face. “Avian shot someone, I can’t ignore…”
“I think I’m the trigger,” I interrupted him, pushing my way past him into the room. “I’m going to set the beacon off, if I haven’t already set off some kind of countdown.”
Everyone in the room finally froze and every gaze locked on me.
“This is Tristan,” I said, holding a hand out toward him where he stood just outside the door. I waved him in. “He was the one who helped me escape and brought West back. He has something you need to hear.”
I had to respect Tristan. There was no hesitation or intimidation in him. He launched into the story he’d told me. How this had all been a set up.
“It makes sense,” I said, shaking my head when Tristan was done. “These blackouts I’ve been having, they have to have something to do with them. They wanted me to get home and get home quickly.”
“I’d say let’s put you on an ATV and get you far away from here, but what if you’ve already initiated a countdown?” Elijah said.
“We have to evacuate the city,” Royce growled, glaring at me. “With how much smarter and more aggressive the Hunters have gotten, the wireless transmission system might not be enough to keep them out of the hospital. Even if it is on lockdown.”
“The water,” Tristan said, his hands on his hips. “Most of the Bane won’t even get near it. You head out into the water and you’ll be safe.”
“We can’t just abandon the hospital though,” Gabriel said, his brow furrowing. “We’ll survive out on the water for a while, but we’re going to have to come back to land. We have to get the Pulse back up and running and that’s not going to happen if we’re all hiding on a ship off the coast.”
“Thank you for your information, Eve,” Royce said, again glowering at me. He placed a hand on both of my shoulders and maneuvered me toward the door.
“Wait a second—” I started fighting.
“You’ve caused enough trouble for one day,” he said, shoving me toward the door and then pushing Tristan towards it as well. “Leave the plotting to the grown-ups.”
He closed the door in our faces.
“Royce!” I yelled, pounding on the door. “Gabriel!”
No one replied.
“Eve,” a voice called down from the hall. I turned to see Bill, marching toward us with a shotgun in hand. “Leave them alone. Never thought I’d be called for backup with you as a threat.”
“You’re here because of me?” I said, my voice livid.
“Elijah radioed me up to escort you away from this floor,” he said, regret in his eyes.
I shook my head, clenching my jaw. “I assume you’ve heard about all the drama?” I asked as I reluctantly walked away from the door, Tristan in our wake.
Bill nodded.
“Any idea how Nick is doing?” I asked.
“He’s in surgery,” Bill said, shaking his head. “It doesn’t look very good.”
I swore under my breath, closing my eyes for a moment.
“Avian really freaked out like that?” Bill asked, the disbelief obvious in his voice.
It took me a moment to nod. The whole scene hadn’t seemed real. “Avian’s never been a violent person. Never.”
“I assume that’s the guy you’re involved with?” Tristan asked.
“Yeah,” I responded as we entered the stairway. “Any idea what they’re going to do with him?”
Bill shook his head. “Royce has him locked up on the fourth floor for now. He said something about determining his fate when we learn Nick’s.”
I swallowed hard. What had Avian been thinking?
“What about West?” I asked as we descended the stairs.
“He’s in the hospital wing right now,” Bill responded as we exited on the main level. “Avian banged him up pretty bad, but Dr. Stone is patching him up.”
I swore again as we paused in the lobby. “Can anything else go wrong?”
“Knock on wood,” Tristan said, shaking his head. “Are things always so dramatic around here?”
A chuckle unexpectedly erupted from my lips and I shook my head. “No kidding.”
“Now, are you going to cause any more issues, or can I go back to work?” Bill asked.
“I make no promises,” I answered honestly.
Bill just shook his head with a hint of a smile and walked away.
“Well, this was quite the introduction to your little colony,” Tristan said as his eyes swept the lobby.
“Welcome to New Eden.”
TWENTY-THREE
What could I do at that point but go back to work?
I’d tried to demand to see Avian, but Raj, who stood guard outside his door, refused me in a very in-my-face kind of way. He literally shoved his rifle in my face and told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to Avian.
I had no control. I couldn’t dig the remote out of my head, if there was one. I couldn’t make Royce figure out a plan any faster. I couldn’t make them all come out of that room. I couldn’t decide Avian’s fate. I couldn’t save Nick.
But I could work.
Tristan and I helped move everyone back into the hospital when it was determined safe. No one was to go back to their houses except to get supplies until we knew what to do.
Besides the Pulse, nothing major had been damaged during the earthquake.
I gave Tristan the tour of the hospital as people started settling down. He marveled over the kitchens, over the lobby, over the school rooms. I couldn’t blame him. It was the same reaction I had the first time Royce had shown us around.
“Do you think you’ll stay?” I asked him as we sat in the dining area, eating dinner. “Here in New Eden?”
Tristan met my eyes for a moment before dropping them to his plate again. “I don’t think I could go back,” he said, pushing his eggs around on his plate. “I can just feel it here. How different things are, despite your drama. I hope you appreciate how unique of a situation you have here, these good people. The fact that you all work together in harmony.”
I nodded as I finished off my roll. “I haven’t been anywhere but with these people since the Evolution, but I know we’re lucky.”
“So to answer your question, yes, if New Eden will have me, I’d like to stay,” Tristan said.
“You helped me get home,” I said with a smile. “If you were looking for immediate acceptance, that pretty much guaranteed it. I know everyone is kind of pissed at me right know, but we’re all still family.”
Tristan chuckled, looking back at me. “I think they’re happy to have you home for more than the reason of being family. You’re probably still the key to fixing all this somehow. How does it not go to your head, being so blasted important?”
“Oh, the knowledge that I helped bring about the end of the world keeps me pretty humble,” I said, my tone sarcastic.
“Good point,” Tristan said, his tone teasing and serious at the same time.
“What about you?” I asked, stacking my empty plate on his. “Where were you when everything fell apart?”
“Well,” he said, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. “I was sixteen. I was in high school and my best friend told me how his cousin had been acting weird after her surgery. She was a first gen. A few days later I heard something on the news about TorBane spreading and a week later, my best friend wasn’t human any more. As soon as I told my dad about it, he took us into the mountains.”