There were only a few people left in the dining hall when I wandered down, still in my strange green clothes. They glanced up at me, merely a look to try and remember my face. They were now all well aware of the fact that there were four newcomers.
I was handed a scoop of pears, a pile of steaming eggs and a glass of ice cold, formerly powdered milk. I sat at a table in the corner of the room, shoveling everything down so fast the real chicken eggs burned my throat. It had been years since I had had eggs from a chicken. Wolves had gotten to ours long ago.
I caught sight of Royce approaching me from across the room. He was in good shape, especially for being in his later forties I guessed. His nose was straight, his jaw sharp. He looked like a leader you would want to follow.
He sat down at the table across from me, just searching my face for a while. “Erik told me everything that happened,” he said. “Everything about what was done to you as a child. I also talked with Avian.
“I’m sorry for my behavior before,” he said uncomfortably. I had a feeling Royce wasn’t one that apologized often. “What you’ve been though is unfathomable. Avian told me what you did for the members of Eden. For his sister.”
My stomach knotted up again as he spoke of Sarah. I wanted her to hug me and tell me everything was going to be okay.
“We could use a soldier like you,” he said as he held my eyes steadily. “It’s getting harder and harder to keep them out, times are changing. We want to invite you, and the rest of your group to join with us. We would be honored to have all of you here.”
I just looked at him, trying to make my brain process everything. I felt so sluggish. “What did Avian say?” I asked. My voice sounded terrible.
“He hasn’t given me an answer yet. I talked with West and Tuck as well. They both liked the idea but wouldn’t give an answer without consulting with the rest of your group.”
I nodded. “My answer is the same. It’s not just my decision.”
Royce nodded. “That’s fine. I wouldn’t expect anything different. I want to show you something. All four of you.”
My chest felt tight at having to finally face West. I wasn’t sure I could handle it. But I wasn’t a child, I wasn’t going to just flop at the first sign of difficulty. I stood, returned my plate and glass, and followed Royce out into the main front room. I felt my face blanch as I saw West reading something in one corner. His eyes found mine and my stomach felt sick.
West could be my brother.
Royce indicated for him to come with us. West marked his place, set the book down and joined us.
“There are a few things I want to show you,” Royce repeated to West. We spotted Tuck across the room as well, talking to a woman. He joined us.
As we walked down the hall to the medical wing, West couldn’t hold back the question anymore. “Are you okay? I’ve been pretty worried about you.”
I shook my head, feeling freezing cold as I did. I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror. I looked like a skeleton walking, my skin pale white, my hair hanging loose and limp, my body too thin.
“What’s the matter?” he pushed.
I shook my head again. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.” I had to know for sure first if West really was my brother before I could drop that bomb on him. And I still couldn’t wrap my head around the possibility.
He didn’t get a chance to respond to that as we entered the medical wing and Avian came walking out of a room with a doctor I had not seen yet.
“That’s a wonderful idea,” the new doctor said. “I’d love to give it a try sometime.”
“When we have more time I’ll tell you how I removed a tree branch from a man’s chest cavity in the middle of the forest with no medical supplies. Without killing him,” Avian said with a chuckle.
“Okay,” the doctor grinned back. He shook Avian’s hand and walked into another room.
“There’s something I’d like to show you,” Royce said when Avian turned his eyes on us. He looked momentarily surprised to see me. A few moments later, we were rising in the elevator toward the third floor. I was very aware of Avian’s keen eyes on the back of my head.
We stepped out into the blue glowing hallway, surprise filling the other three’s faces. Unease crept up in me as we approached the door to Dr. Beeson’s lab. We stopped just outside the door.
“I understand your hesitancies in joining us,” Royce started. “Living here has its challenges. But I want you to understand the benefits that come with a place like this, besides the obvious of electricity and running water.”
He opened the door and we crowded into the room, Dr. Beeson staring at the flashing screens before him.
“Erik has developed technology to interface with the Fallen,” Royce started explaining. “Trust me, there are endless Hunters out there who would have ripped this building apart, bit by bit, if not for his research.”
“You can control them?” West asked.
“What we can do is very limited,” Br. Beeson said as he tore his eyes away from the screen before him. “It’s difficult to transmit any information to such a large amount of receptacles. If we could focus only on one Fallen we could do probably just about anything to them. But with so many, pretty much all we can do is tell them to keep away from this building.”
“So in a way, you make this building invisible, or make them forget that it’s here?” West questioned. He eyed the information on the screens closely. I wondered if he understood any of it. “It’s kind of like when Eve controls them.”
“You can?” both Royce and Dr. Beeson exclaimed at the same time.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’ve just made them stop what they were doing before. All I did was tell them to get away. For some reason they listened.”
Dr. Beeson nodded, his eyes excited again. “The chip in your brain is set up for wireless transmission. That’s how we made adjustments to the chip. We never would have guessed that you could send signals though.”
“So, could I be controlled with that?” I asked hesitantly, pointing at the screens. Dr. Beeson looked back at them.
“I don’t see why not. The technology is virtually the same. But this computer is password protected so that only myself and my assistant have access to it. No one is going to hijack your brain,” he said with the hint of a smile.
“So you see why we are safe here?” Royce said. “In the four years that we have had this set up, we have never had a breach, or anything even remotely close.”
“It’s impressive,” West said, his eyes still studying everything before him. “Would you mind if I came back later and talked to you about this some more?” he asked Dr. Beeson.
“Of course,” he said with a smile and a nod.
“I have one question for you,” I said. My voice was hoarse sounding. Dr. Beeson nodded. “What are they waiting for?”
“The Fallen?” he asked. I simply nodded. Everyone in the room stiffened slightly, recalling the bodies we had all seen, lined up inside the buildings.
“The end of the world,” he said, his eyes looking dead suddenly. “You have to understand that the technology was designed simply to assist people in living. It doesn’t have any desire to do anything but spread. Once it has finished doing that, it will simply exist. It isn’t waiting for anything but the end of time.”
No one said anything as Dr. Beeson looked back at us with hollow eyes.
Hollow. That was a good way to describe the way the world was becoming. The way I was starting to feel again.
“Excuse me. I’ve got to get back to work,” Dr. Beeson said, his voice tight.
“Thank you, Erik,” Royce said as we walked back out into the glowing hall and closed the door behind us. “This way. There’s something else I want you to see.”
We walked further down the hall and opened another heavy black door. The room we entered into was largely dominated by a terrifying looking steel chair in the center. Bands for securing a person’s hands were welded to th
e arms of the chair, another set of bands for the ankles. The entire chair was surrounded by metallic arms that rose from the ground, curving in a bowl shape, giving the slight resemblance to a terrifying bird cage. They shone in a menacing and primal way.
“We’ve been lucky to have the best scientists who survived at this facility,” Royce said as he approached the contraption. It almost seemed to glow under the blue lights. “We worked on this for five years before they got it right. We started work on it before this facility was even fully developed.
“I worked in weapons development and warfare research for the United States government for seventeen years before the Fall happened. It was my concept but I couldn’t have done it without the entire team.”
“What is it?” Avian asked.
“It’s an extractor.”
“For what?”
“The infection.”
We all stood in silence for a moment, processing what Royce had just said. It hit us like a punch in the gut.
“It extracts the infection?” West said, his voice doubtful. “As in takes the cybernetics out?”
Royce nodded and started circling the extractor. “It isn’t always successful. The person who has been infected must start treatment within an hour of being touched. After that time frame it seems to always be too late.”
“And it’s worked?” Avian asked in awe.
“On one man. We’ve tried it on two others but it was not successful. They had been infected for over two hours though. The process, however,” Royce paused, looking us in the eye as he rested his hands on the back of the intimidating chair, “is very, very painful.”
“These are magnetic, aren’t they?” West asked as he approached the extractor and touched one of the rounded arms. They were taller than he was.
Royce nodded. “Surgery could never find all the tiny parts. And you could never operate fast enough. They’d turn on the table and heal before your eyes. And then they’d infect you. With this method, it gets every little piece. And pulls it right out through your skin.”
“But how could anyone survive that?” Avian asked, his brow furrowing. “The process would kill you just from the pain you would feel.”
“Anyone going through the treatment is placed in a medically induced coma. It’s a slow process. If we pull too fast, all of the person’s insides will be shredded to bits. We have to extract everything slowly, allowing the body to heal as everything is being pulled out. And then this,” he said as he pointed to a round disk in the ceiling above us, “keeps it from spreading. It’s an electrical pulse that contains it. It’s not strong enough to wipe everything out. If we crank it up too far, it would kill the person too fast.”
“You wanted to see me, Royce?” a voice from behind us said. We all turned at once to see who had joined us.
“Yes, please come in, Elijah,” Royce said as he stepped past us and joined the man at his side. “Elijah underwent extraction five months ago. He has fully recovered with no traces of cybernetics left.”
Saying this man had fully recovered seemed like a cruel joke. He wore an eye patch and I understood why. The eyes were usually the first thing to turn. Half of his face looked like it had been rubbed over the crumbling road, and not let up for hours. The short sleeved shirt he wore exposed the pocked and scarred skin of his arms. His hands looked similar.
“Elijah had been on scouting duty when a Hunter cornered him. As you know, one touch is all it takes. One of our other scouts killed the Hunter and brought him back here. It had only been just over a half an hour when he started the treatment.”
“How long did it take?” Avian asked. I saw him swallow hard. I wondered if he was thinking of Tye, like I was.
“Almost three weeks,” Elijah said. His voice was as rough sounding as the rest of his body looked.
“This is really amazing,” Avian said, shaking his head. He just kept blinking, as if what he was seeing would disappear at any moment. I didn’t blame him. This didn’t seem real.
“I must get back to my duties,” Elijah said, looking over at Royce.
“Of course,” he said. “Thank you for coming.” Elijah stepped out of the room and I heard his footsteps fade down the hall.
“I see no reason for you not to stay,” Royce said as he turned and looked at the four of us. “We can keep you fed, keep you safe, comfortable. I think we have an obligation to keep the human race alive. We all do.
“But, I understand that you need everyone to make a decision. We can send vehicles after the rest of your group if you like. We have military tanks that will keep any Fallen out and there is room enough for all the members you brought with you.”
I could feel my brain clouding up again. This was too much, too fast. I needed more time to process everything, to sort it all out. Luckily, Avian was clear-headed as always.
“If we could have a bit of time alone to discuss this, it would be appreciated,” he said, glancing at West, Tuck, and I.
“Of course,” Royce nodded. “You’re welcome to use one of the offices if you’d like, or you have your rooms. I will be in my office if you need me.”
We followed Royce back to the elevator. I felt like I was suffocating in this tiny box. Everything was pressing in too close, including West. I gasped in the air as the doors slid open and we stepped out.
West…
My brother…
Breathe, Eve. Focus.
We entered into an empty room just a few doors down from Royce’s office. It was devoid of anything but two wooden chairs. I took one as soon as we entered.
“This is amazing,” West said as he closed the door behind us. “I wondered how they kept them away here but I never would have imagined it was through wireless communication.”
“And that extractor is incredible,” Avian said, the same excitement in his voice.
I could only squeeze my eyes closed and try to subdue the rolling of my stomach that hadn’t stopped since I had talked with Dr. Beeson. I didn’t want to be around West right then, I couldn’t look at him. I just wanted to run and never stop.
“I see no reason we shouldn’t go get everyone else,” West said as he slowly paced the room. Even the sound of his voice felt grating.
“If they have military tanks they would probably be safe to even go out during the day,” Tuck said quietly. “Not that they would, but it would be better than us trying to sneak out and get them ourselves.”
“I agree,” Avian said. Even the sound of his voice wasn’t soothing to me in that moment. “What do you think Eve?”
My stomach gave a little jump and I had to purse my lips closed to keep everything in my system down. I just gave a little nod of agreement. I honestly didn’t know what to think on the matter. My brain wasn’t really working.
“Are you feeling okay?” Avian asked as he squatted down in front of me. I couldn’t even meet his eyes. He pressed the back of his hand to my forehead. “You’re freezing. And you’re clammy. Are you sick?”
I managed another nod.
West… My brother… Our parents… Family…
Breathe.
“I didn’t think you could get sick,” he said as he placed his hands on either side of my face. “I think I’d better stay here. The two of you are going to need to go with Royce’s people to get everyone tonight, to prove that this is all real. And don’t force anyone if they don’t want to come. It’s still their decision.”
“Maybe I should stay too,” I heard West say as he took another step towards me.
“No!” I tried to shout but it came out as more of a drugged sounding mumble.
Avian gave me a confused glance before looking back up at West. “You should go with Tuck. You’re in charge now.”
I didn’t even realize that West and Tuck had left the room and that Avian had picked me up in his arms. I barely registered the lights overhead as they came and went as we moved down the hall and into the elevator. Some time later, I felt a bed underneath me and Avian’s blue eyes came
into focus. I caught sight of someone else in the room but it didn’t seem to matter who it was.
“What’s wrong, Eve?” Avian’s voice sounded fuzzy. I just blinked, staring at him through the haze of my brain.
Everything was wrong.
Something was pressed into my ear and it beeped a few moments later. “Ninety-eight exactly. Not too far from normal temperature.”
Something was placed around my arm and it gave a tight squeeze. Something else was clipped onto my finger. “Blood pressure is low and her pulse is racing.”
“She’s in shock,” Avian said quietly as he placed his hands on my cheeks again. “But why?”
“Nurse,” the other voice called. “Grab a few blankets and get an IV bag.”
Some kind of mask was placed over my nose and mouth, forcing air into my system. I felt some pressure in the crease of my arm and a while later, felt something cool start spreading through my system. Something warm was tucked around me and my head became all the fuzzier.
“Eve,” someone’s voice called through the haze. “Eve, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
A lot had happened, I thought. I’d learned who my mother was. I’d learned how I’d come to be in this world. I had some sort of idea who my father might be.
But I’d also learned that the boy I had developed some sort of feelings for, the boy I had kissed, and spent intimate time with, might be my brother.
I’d learned I might have a family member still alive.
I could handle being attacked by robots. I could handle watching our beloved gardens burn. I could survive losing Sarah. I had handled living in a world that had fallen apart.
But I didn’t know how to handle this.
I think I slept. I didn’t remember what happened after that and I had no idea how much time had passed when my eyes focused on the dimmed lights above my head. My hair stuck to my forehead and neck as I turned my head to see where I was. I laid on one of the strange skeletal looking beds and there were tubes and wires sticking to and in my body. They led to a screen that beeped and flashed things I didn’t understand.