“You and Avian? You two aren’t…” I didn’t like the implication the trailing of his voice left.
“What?” I questioned, wondering if he was being serious. “No, Avian’s twenty-five. It’s not like that.”
“Twenty-five? Huh, he doesn’t look that old.”
I just gave a shrug as I stared forward. Avian just looked like Avian to me.
We were quiet for a while as we hauled our load. I was looking forward to eating the fatty meat of the bear tonight but at the same time I wished we hadn’t wandered this far from Eden before finding it.
People buzzed with excitement as we drug the pieces of bear through camp to the mess hall. I left them and West to take care of the meat that would feed us for days.
I walked toward my tent, passing by the newly set up tents. Just as I was about to slip by, a mass of red hair stepped out, followed by an explosion of Brady. The boy giggled as he raced out and hid behind another tent.
“Brady, stay here!” Victoria said, her voice slightly alarmed sounding.
I paused, feeling awkward just walking away, but not knowing what to say to this person I didn’t know.
“I’m sorry if he startled you,” she said apologetically as she grabbed Brady’s hand and pulled him back to her side. “He’s restless after sitting still. We’ve been running so long, he’s not sure what to do with himself now.”
“He’s an active boy,” I tried to make conversation. “He needs that to be a survivor.”
Victoria only gave a nod. “He’s a good man you know,” she said, her voice dropping a bit. “I mean West. We wouldn’t have survived out there without him.”
I stiffened as West was brought up. Was my hesitancy about him so obvious? Feeling the awkwardness double, I gave a nod and continued on to my tent.
That night, after the rest of the bear had been retrieved and the rest of the food had been cleared away, the stars started to wink into the sky. I sat beside the fire in front of my tent, staring into the flames. The heat warmed my skin, but the night air hadn’t chilled me. I rarely felt cold.
I had avoided Avian all day. I didn’t know how I was going to react to him when I had to face him. What he had asked Graye to do was stupid. I didn’t need the necklace. It was just a silly little thing. It wasn’t going to help me survive, or anyone else. Why had he bothered?
My chest tightened as I thought of Tye. He often joined me in my solitude, if he would leave his post. We shared that. Neither of us liked having to take time away from our duties. There were nights we would both sit here, staring into the flames in silence, wishing we could be scouting the woods, or keeping watch in the tower. Now he was gone, nothing but a pile of ashes thrown into the wind.
The ground crunched as someone walked toward me. I didn’t look up from the flames, not really caring who it was that joined me. We sat in the darkening silence, two people lost in their own minds.
“Did you know that the Hunters are the only ones that do anything?” Somehow I wasn’t surprised when it was West’s voice that spoke quietly through the dark. I glanced up. His silhouette faced the flames, earthy eyes watching the fire. “I saw them once. The rest of the Fallen. Just standing there, lined up inside the crumbling buildings. Like they were waiting for something.”
A shiver worked its way from my stomach out as I heard his words. “Waiting for what?”
“I don’t know,” he said quietly.
It was a terrifying thought, one I couldn’t dwell on. “She said you saved them,” I said to the flames.
He didn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so cold to you. I don’t trust people easily.”
He was quiet for a few moments. He shifted positions, sitting forward, his forearms resting on his knees. “He’s her son, you know. Brady.”
I wasn’t completely surprised by this. Part of me had assumed he was but when I thought of how old Brady was and how young Victoria looked, the numbers didn’t add up.
“Victoria was fifteen when she was raped. A man forced himself on her just after she escaped the city. She joined our camp when Brady was only fourteen months old. He’s four now and she’s only nineteen. She’s only a few months older than I am.”
I shook my head, disgust filling my stomach.
“Does she mean anything to you?” My blunt question startled even me. I didn’t know where it had come from.
West glanced over at me for the briefest moment, his brow furrowed. “Victoria is a good person. But she’s just someone who needed help. I couldn’t not help her.”
My eyes remained glued to the flames, I couldn’t think of anything to say. Conversation was something I wasn’t good at. I was good at most of the things I did but talking wasn’t one of them.
I noticed West check something in the inside pocket of his jacket, securing it like it was something precious.
West kept secrets. Secrets could be dangerous but weren’t we each entitled to them?
SIX
The next morning started in a rush of panic. I was woken in the early hours of the morning to the sound of Sarah’s wheezing coughs. I tried to ignore it at first as I stared up at the black ceiling of the tent. As the sound of her coughing intensified I rolled onto my side to face her.
“Sarah, are you alright?” I asked quietly through the dark.
She didn’t answer me but her coughing had paused. It took me two full seconds before I realized what had happened, why she was suddenly so deathly quiet. She had stopped breathing.
“Sarah!” I said in a panicked whisper. I was out of my bed and across the tent in less than a second. Through the dim morning light I could see that Sarah’s skin was covered in sweat and her eyes looked sunken, her lips the wrong color. Without another second’s hesitation, I scooped her up in my arms and barreled out the door of the tent.
The sound of my footsteps fell flat against the sides of the silent tents as I ran through Eden. A thick fog had settled around us, lessening my visibility. I could have made my way through camp blindfolded though.
Sarah’s head jostled around as I ran with her in my arms. Her eyes slid partially open. They were rolled into the back of her head, looking frighteningly gray. She still wasn’t breathing and her lips were turning an ugly shade of purple.
“Avian!” I cried as I neared his tent. “Avian! Wake up!”
I didn’t even hesitate as I plowed through the flaps of the tent and stumbled inside. My arms shook as Sarah’s body limply lay in my arms. “Avian, wake up!”
He jerked up from his cot on the ground, his eyes wide but unfocused with sleep. “What… Eve…?”
“Sarah!” I cried, frustrated that he didn’t understand what was going on already. “She’s not breathing!”
This seemed to finally shake the sleep from his brain as he jumped to his feet, taking Sarah from my arms and laying her on his cot. He held his fingers to her neck, sitting quiet for a moment.
“She was coughing and then all the sudden she stopped breathing,” I explained as I watched him put his ear to her chest.
“Run to the medical tent, grab my kit,” he said, his eyes wide with fear and adrenaline.
I didn’t hesitate as I dashed out of the tent and sprinted for the infirmary. People were poking their heads out of their tents, wondering what was going on, what all the shouting was about. I ignored them and slipped inside the white tent. It only took me a moment to find the black, hard-sided kit. It frightened me that he needed it. He only used the items within it when things were really bad.
It took me all of ten seconds to get back to Avian’s tent. By this point a few people were standing outside, confusion and sleep filling their faces.
When I stepped back inside, I found Avian doing chest compressions and breathing air into Sarah’s mouth. I handed the kit to him and stepped back. Seeing people like this made me want to run away. It was never a good thing when someone had to see Avian.
He opened the kit and took a syringe out. He pulled the
cap off and plunged the needle into her chest. Sitting back on his heels, he watched her.
A few seconds later, Sarah took a gasping breath, her eyes opening wide with panic. They tried to focus on what she was seeing but instead they just rolled back into her head before she fell back against the bed. I could tell she was unconscious but she was still breathing and the color was quickly coming back to her face.
Avian sat back on his heels, his fist pressed into his pursed lips. It frightened me to look into his eyes. Avian was always so calm when it came to things like this. He always knew what to do. I hadn’t seen him look like this since he had to end Tye’s life.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, my throat feeling tight.
He just shook his head, not saying anything for agonizing seconds. I wondered if he didn’t dare speak yet. There were emotions just under the surface that were threatening to explode.
The flap of Avian’s tent was opened and in stepped Gabriel, West silently following behind him.
“Sarah’s sick,” I said hoarsely, saving Avian from having to speak. “She stopped breathing but Avian helped her.”
Gabriel gave a simple nod, his eyes fixed on Sarah. My eyes slid to West, his own meeting mine. They were reserved but I was surprised at the concern that I saw there.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly as Gabriel ducked out of the tent.
“Me?” I questioned. “I’m fine. Why?”
West just shook his head, then looked to Avian. “Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked, his voice sincere.
Avian gave a sniff, finally seeming to jerk out of his state of shock. “You can help me move her to the medical tent.”
Each of them grabbed an end of the blanket Sarah was lying on, and being very careful not to jostle her, carried her from one tent to the other. By this time, most people had woken up. They watched with fear as she was transported to the medical tent. I knew what they were all thinking. We had just lost someone. We couldn’t deal with that again, not so soon after.
The men laid Sarah softly on the examination table though I didn’t think it was necessary. Sarah was still completely out. She wouldn’t feel anything. I helped Avian place pillows around her in a vain attempt to make her more comfortable.
“Eve,” I was slightly startled when I heard Graye’s voice from the entrance. “We need to be leaving for scouting duty. We’re already late.”
I looked from his face to Sarah’s still form. I wasn’t one to shirk my duties, ever. But how could I leave her right now?
“I’ll go in her place,” West spoke up. “I still haven’t been assigned an official scouting party.” I then realized he had been watching my face. His eyes connected with mine for a brief moment. I couldn’t make the words “thank you” form on my lips for some reason, but I hoped he felt my gratitude anyway.
Graye nodded once, and West followed him silently.
Avian had grabbed an array of well used but meticulously cared for medical equipment. He placed an instrument on her chest and was listening. Next he pressed his fingers to her wrist, checking it to the one watch that existed in Eden. He wrote a few notes down.
“What’s wrong with her Avian?” I asked again, standing along the edge of the tent, unsure of what to do with myself.
“I think she had some kind of allergic reaction. The pollen is really bad this time of year. She just wasn’t able to handle it.”
“That sure seemed a lot worse than just an allergy attack.”
Avian couldn’t quite meet my eyes as he pursed his lips and gave the tiniest of nods.
“Is she going to be okay?”
He didn’t answer right away. His hesitation made my stomach clench. “We’ll have to keep her indoors, probably for a few weeks till the air clears. It would help if it would rain. There isn’t going to be much I can do for her.”
“But if she stops breathing again, you have more of those shots?”
“It was just adrenaline,” he said as he sat on one of the stumps we used as seats. “I have two more now.”
I couldn’t decide if two sounded like a lot or nothing at all. Avian used those shots for several things. Terrif’s heart had stopped once and Avian’s shots had got it started again. But what if something like that happened again? We’d be down to only one. What if Sarah stopped breathing again? What if it happened more than once?
“I’m going to go get us some food,” I said suddenly, ducking out of the tent without saying anything else. I didn’t like the feeling that was flooding through me as all the questions I didn’t have any answers to ran though my head.
The scent of freshly baked bread wafted through the air as I made my way to the ovens. Half a dozen other people were flocked around the kitchen. A few women handed out the rolls. Another man was scooping a steaming mush into bowls and handing them to people.
As I stepped up to take Avian and I’s portions, everyone’s eyes grew a little wider.
“Eve, is she okay? Is Sarah alright? What did Avian say?” I was bombarded with their questions. It didn’t take long for news to travel in Eden.
“Avian thinks it was an allergy attack. She stopped breathing for a minute this morning. That’s all I know.”
I grabbed our food and made a hasty retreat back to the tent. I found Avian staring at Sarah’s still form, his brow furrowed.
“Eat something,” I commanded as I handed him the warm food.
“Thank you,” he said as he looked up at me briefly, accepting the bowl and the rolls. For a brief moment, I saw the twenty-one-year-old young man who had fled for his life again with fear in his eyes, not knowing what to do.
Avian had been a bright student in school. He had skipped grades and eventually got a scholarship to an accelerated private school. He had graduated high school at the age of fifteen and received his bachelor degree in pre-med by the time he was eighteen. Scholarships had been offered but it wasn’t going to be enough to pay the hefty price of medical school. Just months after he turned eighteen, Avian joined the Army with the offer that they would pay for all of his medical school. Along with his military training, Avian had been put into an accelerated medical program specific for Army and survival training.
But only two and a half years into his training, he noticed how everyone was acting strange. The world fell apart and Avian took what knowledge he had gained and fled with his sister and cousin into the mountains.
I picked at my food, not feeling like eating in the least. My stomach was a hard knot and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Sarah. I was sure at any minute she would open her eyes and complain about having to lay on the hard wooden table.
After we both pretended like we had eaten something, we watched her in silence. I was getting anxious. I didn’t know how to handle just sitting. I debated internally what I could do that was close by, so that if I needed to, I could run right back in. Not that I could really do anything to help Avian. When it came to the body, I was just glad mine functioned. I didn’t know how to fix it.
I was saved from idleness in a horrifying way.
Sarah suddenly started shaking violently. Her arms flailed and her legs spasmed. We both sprang to our feet, catching her just a fraction of a second before she fell of the table.
“She’s having a seizure!” Avian said, panicked.
“What do we do?” I screamed.
“Help me roll her onto her side,” he shouted as he ducked out of the way of her thrashing arm. With difficulty we maneuvered her onto her side, balancing her so she wouldn’t shake her way off.
“That’s it?” I asked, my voice struggling to come out.
“That’s it,” Avian said quietly, looking at me with fear in his eyes again.
The seizure lasted for just over a minute. Her limbs continued to swing violently, her arm beating against Avian’s side so hard I knew he would be bruised in a few hours. I could only stare at her for a moment when it was finally over, horror filling me.
Avian sank onto his s
eat again. His head dropped into his hands, rubbing his scalp with force. I realized then that he didn’t know what was wrong with Sarah. I felt angry with him for a moment. Why didn’t he know what to do? He always knew what to do with everyone else. Why couldn’t he save his sister?
And then I felt my own fear double. This was his sister. Avian had already lost his cousin. Maybe he was about to lose his sister too. The only family he had left in this world.
We paced around the tent, each pretending to do something productive. I rearranged the plastic aprons used for operating several times. He cleaned his tools till they shone.
We were both startled by the sound of Sarah coughing. We jumped to her side, Avian grabbing one of her hands in his.
“Mum… ahh,” she tried to speak, her eyes struggling to open.
“We’re here Sarah, me and Eve,” Avian spoke quietly as he pushed the hair back from her face with his free hand. “We’re here.”
She gave a soft sound of acknowledgment before her eyes closed fully and she fell asleep. Or into unconsciousness, I wasn’t sure which.
Avian’s body slouched as he stood next to me, his shoulder brushing mine. His hand fell away from her face. As it dropped to his side, his hand brushed mine. His fingers stretched out toward my own, curling around them till our fingers were intertwined securely.
My eyes shifted to our hands, my chest suddenly feeling strange. I wasn’t sure what it was feeling. It was almost like a bunch of bees were buzzing inside my chest, making my breaths come in shallower swallows. And yet, at the same time, I felt like I should pull my hand away. People didn’t touch me, I didn’t touch people.
But I didn’t. I left my hand in Avian’s. The feeling of the bees buzzing in my chest didn’t feel too bad. In fact, it felt kind of good.
SEVEN
We waited. And waited.
Sarah’s condition didn’t improve. She continued to have the seizures and only became conscious once more after the day Avian held my hand. She had started coughing in her sleep, so violently she started choking. On the second day we had to use another of the shots. After four days of watching Sarah waste away, Avian used his last one.