“Exactly,” Gabriel said, his smile disappearing into his beard. “My wife Leah has been copying the maps as exactly as she can for the last few weeks so we can leave locations. We run a smaller risk that we will be permanently separated that way. Pick a destination in the direction we are headed and let us know where to go. We have our general direction but there is going to have to be room for change. Who knows what we’re walking into.”
The work on the trailers was completed that night. The one that had been rusting away for years, left abandoned, was the one that the first group would take. The second one that Bill and Graye had brought back from the city would transport the second group. And if either of them failed to function, we always had our legs.
On our last night in Eden we feasted, at least as best we could on our starvation rations. Food never tasted so wonderful as I helped myself to two rolls, a heaping scoop of canned corn, a baked potato, and rabbit. For a moment I thought about seeking out Sarah so I could share my portions. Then I remembered.
I glanced down the table at Avian who sat talking hurriedly with Victoria, pointing at something in the book that was laid on the table before them. Not that it truly mattered, but her status and usability in Eden would be greatly increased if we ever all actually made it south. She was going from seamstress to back up doctor.
The thought that that would free up Avian crossed my mind and the smallest hint of a smile tugged at my lips.
West sat next to me, wolfing down his food faster than he could chew it. I laughed, shaking my head at him.
“What?” he said around a mouthful of bread. “I’m starving!”
“I know,” I said with a smile.
“You going to finish yours?” he said, eying the remains on my plate.
“Yes,” I said as I raised my eyebrows at him. “I intend to finish every bite.”
He chuckled then. Underneath the table he gave my knee a small squeeze.
We finished packing most everything that night. The members of the second group had to open their tents up to those in the first since everything had been loaded into the truck. I was glad I had watch duty that night; I wouldn’t have known how to handle that awkward situation.
I looked out over the tents that night. I was starting to realize that this place we were staying at wasn’t Eden. Eden was wherever these people were, Eden was them.
I wondered if there were any other places like this. It didn’t sound like it from what I had heard others say. How had I been so lucky to have come here?
Sarah wouldn’t have called it luck. To her it would have been fate. Maybe it was.
But Eden would be breaking up in the morning. Would it ever be fully put back together again? What were our numbers going to be like if it did? Who would be lost along the way?
By dawn, Eden was teeming with life. Nerves were running high.
People said hurried goodbyes with hurried hugs, tears pooling in their eyes. They knew this could be a permanent good-bye. My chest hardened as I watched Avian talking to Victoria again. He gave her a slightly longer than necessary hug good-bye.
Bill and Graye walked up to me and to my surprise, a pang formed in my chest. These two had been my team. We were part of the elite, the best. In a way they were my brothers.
Bill wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. “Be careful out there,” he said quietly before he released me.
I gave him a small smile. I looked over at Graye and he could only give me a tight-lipped smile and a nod of agreement. “Just remember that they can still blow you up,” he said with a smirk.
“Thanks,” I said with a chuckle as I shook my head. “You two be careful. You’re smart, you know how to survive. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
“Promise,” Bill said, his cool gray eyes on me.
I walked back to the truck, joining Avian and West. “Everything ready?” I asked, feeling both anxious and reluctant to leave.
“I believe so,” Avian said as he hoisted his bag of half the medical supplies into the back of the truck. We couldn’t fit much more in it.
Gabriel walked up to us, his hands stuffed into his pockets. His lips were invisible in his beard as he pressed them tightly together.
“We’ll reach the first destination this evening,” Avian said as he turned to Gabriel. “We’ll leave the marker with any notes on what we encounter today.”
Gabriel nodded. “I wanted to thank you,” he said, his voice suddenly rough sounding. “For keeping things going when I snapped. It was selfish of me.”
Avian pressed his lips together and nodded. “No one can really blame you.”
Gabriel extended his hand and Avian gave it a tight shake. He then shook mine and West’s hands as well. “Be safe,” he said. “We have to keep Eden alive. We may be all that’s left out there.”
All the members of our first group loaded onto the trailer and into the truck. The day watchman, Tuck, volunteered to drive. Morgan climbed into the front cab with him and so did another woman by the name of Bea. The other fourteen of us got to ride the bumpy thousand miles on the flat-bed trailer.
The members of the second group gathered around as Tuck started the truck to life. As he pulled away they waved, tears falling down half their faces.
The first hour was slow going as we made our way through the forest over uneven ground. We had worked hard to keep ourselves hidden so that we couldn’t be found by any still-remaining marauders or Bane. We each had to hold onto the short railing that lined the edge of the trailer to keep from being bucked off.
No one said anything for the first few hours but we all knew what the other was thinking. There was uncertainty and fear about traveling into the unknown. There was the very real possibility that this truck wouldn’t continue to run for more than another mile. Or it could break down in the middle of the desert. Helicopters could buzz over our heads at any time, reign down on us with dozens of Bane and infect us all.
There were endless horrible ways for us to die on this journey.
But it was sure death by starvation or infection if we stayed.
We jarred over a rough patch, everyone jerking violently to the right. “Careful!” I was surprised when Avian shouted at Tuck.
“I’m sorry,” he called. “I don’t see a clearer path.”
Avian said something under his breath as he turned his eyes forward.
“You okay?” I asked quietly. I suddenly felt all too open to everyone. There wouldn’t be much privacy for the next week or so.
Avian shook his head, his eyes darting to the cab of the truck. “Morgan’s pregnant,” he whispered.
“Pregnant?” I repeated. I glanced at the back of her head through the window. It explained why she was sitting up there.
Avian nodded. “Sharp, rough movement like that isn’t very good for the baby.”
“Should she be coming with us if she is carrying a child?” I asked. Suddenly this journey seemed all the more perilous.
“I thought it would be safer. Victoria would be able to stitch a wound or anything basic but her training is limited. Not that I know that much about taking care of a pregnant woman but I thought it would be better. She’s not that far along anyway. She should be just fine.”
I glanced at Morgan’s husband, Eli, saw that he was watching us. I thought I was supposed to say congratulations or something but it didn’t seem like something to celebrate anymore. Our world wasn’t a safe place for children.
After two hours the truck pulled to a stop and Tuck poked his head out the window to look back at us. “This is going to get really rough and I’m going to have to go really slow. I think it would be best if everyone got off and walked for a bit.”
Without another word, everyone hopped off and we started the slow journey down the rocky face of the mountain on foot.
As we moved I watched Avian. He walked at the front of us all. He held a rifle tight in his hands, his eyes scanning the trees and sky before us. I couldn’t recal
l ever seeing Avian with a gun. But his hands were perfectly positioned, his frame aware of everything around him. His shoulders were set tight, his knees bent slightly, ready to fight or run at any second.
I had never seen the soldier side of Avian before. Avian was probably better trained than I was to survive in our new world.
Curious, how a person’s value is placed. We needed soldiers. We needed people who could protect us, who knew what they were doing when it came to weapons. But we had also needed someone who could take care of us, stitch us back together. Even with the limited amount of training Avian had, he was more valuable to us as a make-do doctor than as the best trained soldier we had.
“So what do you think it will be like?” West’s voice jarred me back to my senses. “When we get to our new location?”
“Uh,” I stuttered, trying to refocus my attention from Avian to West. “Warm? I don’t know.”
He laughed, adjusting his grip on his rifle. “I hope, wherever we end up, it’s near the ocean. I remember going to the beach as a kid with my father a few times.”
“What was it like?” I asked.
“Big.” He breathed. “It never ends. It’s really beautiful. And scary.”
“How could a body of water be scary?” I asked.
“That much water is a lot bigger than you,” he said as he glanced over at me. “You think you could control the violence of the ocean?”
I was quiet after that, trying to imagine what the ocean would look like. It was hard to envision it as a threat. “I’d like to see the ocean someday.”
West looked over at me with another smile, bumping his shoulder against mine.
For the briefest moment, it felt like my heart jumped into my throat. But the strange part was that for just a second, my vision went completely black.
I tripped over the stones under my feet, throwing my hands out to catch myself before I fell.
“Whoa!” West said, obvious concern in his voice. “You okay?”
“Of course,” I tried to recover, brushing the dirt off my knees. Avian glanced back at me, a probing look in his eyes. I shook my head and after a lingering hard look, he turned his attention back upfront.
I didn’t think I had ever tripped before.
“And I hope it never snows,” West continued, brushing my incident off. “After last winter I wouldn’t mind if I never saw snow again.”
“Agreed,” I said distractedly.
We were both quiet for a few minutes as we kept pace with the rest of the group. “Do you think we’ll ever be able to stop running from them?” West asked.
I thought about my response before I spoke. “I guess if we could hide ourselves well enough. Push far enough into the country. If they can’t find us, they can’t infect us.”
West kept his eyes glued to the rocks at our feet. “I’m so sick of running,” he said quietly.
“Me too.”
We finally got to the base of the mountain and out of the canyon. We would be stopping here until dark, when it would be safer to travel. We had only traveled the last few hours in daylight because it was too dangerous to come down the mountain in the dark. We all would have killed ourselves on the rocks and cliffs. For now we would take shifts, some would sleep while others would keep watch.
I’d be staying up all night, as usual.
“Avian,” I said as I walked to his side. “I’m going to get a few minutes of sleep before nightfall.”
“I think I’d better do that too,” he said as he looked around at those who were traveling with us. “I think it would be best if I stayed up at night since my rifle has a night vision scope. Coby,” he said to a man walking past us. “I’m checking out for a while. Keep an eye on things, will you?”
He nodded, securing his handgun.
“West,” I called as I spotted him. “Keep watch for a while?”
“Sure,” he said with a nod and automatically turned his eyes to our perimeters.
Avian and I walked towards a tree, each greedy for the shade it would provide. We settled on the wild grass that grew at its base, side-by-side in the coolness.
“I’ve never seen the soldier side of you before,” I said as my eyes slid closed.
“There hasn’t been much opportunity,” he said as he gave a sigh and relaxed. “It feels weird being back in that mode. It was drilled into me constantly for over two years and it kept me alive for another four months. Then it got pushed to the back of my mind.”
“Eden has been lucky to have you,” I said quietly as I shifted around to get more comfortable, sleep already creeping in to take me over.
“I could say the same about you,” he said, his voice drifting away.
A few moments later I joined him.
TWENTY-SIX
I tried to press my back further into the corner. My vision blurred and the dark shadows before me blended together.
“She’s never been this aggressive before,” a voice said. It felt like someone was screaming into my ear. Everything was too loud. I pressed my hands over the sides of my head, trying to block it all out.
“She’s afraid,” a lighter voice said.
I couldn’t make out anything anymore as I opened and closed my eyes, trying to clear my vision. My head felt fuzzy and clouded.
The next second all I could make out was the scent of steel under me. And that my head felt cold.
Then there was the sound of a drill.
My eyes slid open, blinking immediately closed against the dimming but still bright light of the evening sun. I turned my head to the side, raising my hand to block it from my face. At the same moment my pillow moved and I opened my eyes to find myself nose to nose with Avian.
“You were having a nightmare,” he said quietly as he pushed a few stray hairs out of my face. I realized then that I was lying on his arm as a pillow, still under the same tree. After I glanced around at our caravan and knew things were still safe, I relaxed again, resting my head back on his arm.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Did you sleep much?”
“For a while.”
I lay there for a little longer, listening as Avian breathed, the sound of everything that was still okay in the world. A part of me wanted to never have to move again, to lay here until the sun died and time ceased to exist or matter anymore.
“We should probably get going,” Avian said, always right about everything. I nodded, pulling myself up to my feet, then helping Avian to his own. He went to take a step back toward the group but before he could, I slipped my hand into his. I had been wanting to do that for so long, but starving myself of it.
Avian looked down at me, his eyes open and intense at the same time. I brought our hands up to my cheek and just held it there for a moment. I took a deep breath, very aware of the steady rhythm of my heart. Then I let go and walked back to the group.
The sun slid below the horizon in the west, the temperature immediately dropping. I watched as Avian stacked some rocks at the base of another tree where it would be obvious to see, the note he had written tucked securely under the largest stone inside a waterproof bag. We all loaded onto the trailer and for the first time, Tuck set out on level ground.
“It won’t go any faster than about forty miles-per-hour,” Tuck called out the window.
“It’s a miracle that it still runs at all,” Avian called back to him. “Let’s just pray that it will keep that pace.”
Tuck nodded, turning his attention back to the level ground before him. Those who traveled with us had grabbed their blankets out of the back of the truck and started arranging themselves to get more comfortable. It was cramped quarters but they used each other as pillows, everyone suddenly getting much closer to one another than they ever had before.
Avian sat at the front passenger side of the trailer, rifle ready at any moment. I sat in the opposite corner in the back, watching the landscape as it fell behind us. West lay at my left, his head resting against my thigh as he drifted off to sleep. As far as I
could tell, all the others were asleep before we even got to the road. It had been a long, hard hike down the mountain.
The pavement of the road wasn’t perfectly smooth. After not being taken care of for so many years it had cracked and started to break down. The only sound that met my ears was the wind around us, the grumble of the truck, and its tires rubbing the road. The truck’s one working headlight created a tunnel of light before us that made me slightly uneasy. It felt like a beacon jumping up into the sky, alerting our position.
I reminded myself that the Bane weren’t supposed to come out during the night.
Except for when they burned gardens. And infected fallen soldiers.
It wasn’t long before we reached the outskirts of a small city. My nerves pitched as houses came into view. Tuck pulled off the road and continued through the fields. I saw the shadow of buildings that created the small city.
As we got to the outskirts, we reconnected with the road and pulled into a gas station.
Tuck pulled up to one of the pumps and Avian jumped off the trailer, grabbing a hose and started punching a few buttons. Nothing happened. Avian started walking toward the back of the store, waving Tuck forward with the truck. I hopped off, jogging ahead to catch up with Avian. I kept my shotgun level to my eye, my finger on the trigger. I wasn’t going to be caught off guard if anything woke up.
“Here we go,” Avian whispered, a bit of a smile forming on his lips. He waved Tuck over to a pipe that rose up out of the ground. At the top it had some sort of hand pump and a hose that ran off the side of it.
I watched in fascination as Avian opened a small round cover on the side of the truck. Tuck shut it off and stepped out, walking the length of the truck back and forth to stretch his legs. Avian put one end of the hose in the hole in the side of the truck and started pumping.
“This is going to take a while,” Avian huffed as he worked the stiff joints. “Watch the perimeter.”