Eden (3 page)

Gabriel and Avian looked
at each other with a knowing glance.  Avian gave a tired sigh
as he looked back at me.  “We know that.  Everyone
does.  They aren’t going to turn on Graye.  They all love
him too, despite his faults.  These things happen.  We
lose people every year.  No one wanted to see Tye go but sadly
it happens.”

I sat there, feeling
stunned for a while.  I had read everyone wrong.  “Then
what is happening?  Everyone is about to explode out
there!”

“
They’re grieving, Eve,”
Gabriel said, his expression a mix of annoyance and disbelief as
his eyebrows furrowed together.  “It’s a natural
process.  They want someone to blame, to shove it all off on
and Graye is that man.”

My eyes slid from
Gabriel’s face to Avian’s, whose expression reflected what Gabriel
had just said.  I’d missed it completely.  I felt sorrow
that Tye was gone but I had not considered that everyone would
grieve so deeply. 

“
No one is going to force
Graye out, no one is planning revenge.  They’re just trying to
deal with Tye’s death,” Avian said, his voice catching on his last
two words.

We were quiet for a few
moments, my eyes studying theirs, making sure they weren’t lying to
me.  Once they saw that I believed them they moved
on.

“
We have found traces of
something moving in the southern forest,” Gabriel said.  “We
found shoe prints and traces of waste.  We don’t think they’re
Fallen but we need to be careful.  If they’re human we may
watch them for a few days, see if we want to invite them
in.”

“
How many?” I asked, my
interest piqued. 

“
It looks like three, two
older and a smaller child.”

“
Where are they headed?” I
asked.

“
We’re not sure.  If
they are headed out this way they are probably just running. 
We will try and contact them soon.  We could use each other, I
am sure.”

“
Don’t act too soon
though,” I said a bit too quickly.  “We have to be
careful.”

“
Of course,” Gabriel said
with a nod.

I didn’t know what to say
for a minute.  I had come in here, prepared for an argument,
to state my case.  Instead I had made a fool of
myself. 

“
Take the day off,
Eve.  Try and relax,” Avian said, his face looking
concerned.

“
Take the day off?” I
questioned.  I could no sooner take the day off than I could
stop breathing.

“
Yes, take the day off,”
Gabriel said, he eyes sternly set on my face.  “I’m ordering
you to take a break from your duties.  I don’t want you
scouting today.”

“
But Gabriel,
I…”

“
I mean it Eve!” he
suddenly shouted.  We all knew that when he used that tone of
voice it was time to stop arguing.  He shook his head at me,
his brow furrowed.  “Go home, Eve.”

My jaw set, I stood and
walked out. 

Home.  I didn’t even
know what that was.

I threw the flap of my
tent aside, finding it empty.  I was glad it was, I was too
flustered to talk to Sarah then and I didn’t want to have her try
and calm me down.  I grabbed my bow and my quiver out of the
corner and walked back out.  They may have ordered me to keep
away from my duties but I could not sit around
idle. 

The woods were both silent
and full of sound.  Noise didn’t travel far, absorbed by the
towering threes that surrounded us, by the earth and moss that
covered the ground.  And yet the birds never stopped chirping,
the insects never ceased their harmonious singing.  If they
ever did it was too late. 

I watched for the
signs.  For the trails in the grass, the droppings on the
ground.  It felt like I had to push farther and farther out
from the perimeter of Eden to find anything.  I wasn’t the
only one that hunted in Eden but I was the most persistent.  I
almost never came back empty handed.

Goosebumps rose on my skin
as I caught a glimpse of movement to the south.  My heart
started racing in the familiar feeling of anticipation of
meat.  I pulled the arrow back, holding my breath.  Two
seconds later the buck stepped into view.

The next second it jerked
violently, the tip of an arrow appearing in the side of its
neck.  It took a few staggering steps
forward. 

My arrow was still in my
bow.

A moment later a figure
leapt out of the underbrush, knife in hand, and slit the thrashing
animal’s throat.  Just as the animal fell still, the boy
looked up and my gray-blue eyes met his wide brown ones.

It took me a fraction of a
second to react.  I leapt over the boulder I had been hiding
behind in one bound.  That was all it took for the boy to leap
back into the brush and take off at a sprint. 

I heard him crashing
through the maze of the forest, leaving a wake of fallen grasses
and trampled moss behind him.  Every time I thought I was
gaining on him though the sound of his retreating form would get
further away. 

It wasn’t an easy thing to
out run me.  I couldn’t remember the last time it had
happened.  But after ten minutes of dead-sprint chase I
couldn’t find any traces of him.

I climbed out of the tree
where I had made a desperate attempt to gain some ground and catch
a glimpse of movement.  As I dropped to the ground with a
gentle stirring of the dirt, I knew I had to get back to Eden
quickly.  After gathering as much of the buck as I could
carry, I jogged back to camp at a steady pace.

When I stepped away from
the tree line and into camp, I found things in a state of
unease.  Several scouts were gathered around Gabriel talking
quickly in hushed tones.  Others stood on the perimeter
looking nervous and anxious.

“
What’s going on?” I asked
as I came to Sarah’s side, readjusting the hunks of meat I had
bundled up.

She glanced at me, her
eyes widening slightly as she saw what I was carrying.  “The
scouts saw someone in the woods again.  They’re getting
closer.”

“
Yeah,” I said as I
started walking toward Gabriel and his group.  “I saw
him.”

Gabriel caught sight of me
as I approached them, his brow creasing.  “I told you to take
the day off, Eve.”

“
I saw him, in the woods,”
I said, ignoring his protests.

“
You saw him?” he asked
doubtfully.

“
Yes, I chased him but he
was quick.  He got away.”

Gabriel gave the scouts a
disapproving look.  “I suppose that explains the fourth
body.”

I gave Gabriel a
questioning look.

“
They found evidence of
the three unknowns in the woods.  Eli saw a fourth one,
running through the woods, following another of them.”

A little smile tugged at
the corner of my mouth.  “I was out hunting.  He killed
my buck just before I was about to.  I tried to capture him
but he got away.”

Gabriel glared at the two
men in front of him.  “Pay a little closer attention next
time.”  He said, then waved them off.

“
It’s not safe wandering
in the woods alone,” Gabriel said as he watched the crowd
disband.

I only stared at him,
waiting for this moment of false fatherly chiding to
pass. 

“
Even for you,” he added,
his tone less scolding now.

“
I am going to need two
people to help me collect the meat.  He was a big
one.”

Gabriel glared at me
again.  I could see the words forming in his head,
I told you to take the day off
.  He couldn’t say them though.  He wanted to eat
the meat just as badly as I did.

“
Get Graye and Wix. 
They are both relieved right now.”

Great, of the two people
he could have picked, he had to choose the one who was as weak as a
child and the one I could hardly stand to look at right
now.

It had taken longer than
it should have, gathering the rest of the meat.  I felt
distracted and I sensed it in Graye as well.  There was an
unknown running around out there.  Neither of us liked that
thought.

We ate well that night,
everyone filled themselves more than we thought it was
possible.  It seemed bringing meat also brought me redemption
I didn’t need to earn.  People started looking at me again,
hard lines turned into slight smiles again.  Everyone seemed
less hardened toward Graye even.  The feast had apparently put
everyone in a forgiving mood.

I went to bed before Sarah
did, a rare occurrence.  I normally slept little but tonight I
felt exhausted.  I slid into unconsciousness to the sound of
distant laughter.

FOUR

The smell of steel was
strong in the air.  I would recognize it anywhere since it was
so uncommon in Eden.  Low, hurried voices sounded behind me,
speaking with words I couldn’t understand.

My heart hammered, the
only part of my body that seemed able to move.  I could feel
the cold metal surface underneath me, pressing unrelenting back at
my shivering body.  I lay on my stomach, my face resting in a
hole cut into the table.

The voices approached
through the dark, excitement and nerves apparent.  I suddenly
felt afraid.  I wanted to run, to hide so the people in the
dark could never find me.  I didn’t want to know what they
were going to do to me.

A gloved hand touched my
head and I realized it was so cold because all of my hair had been
shaved off.

They gathered around me
and even though I couldn’t see them, I felt half a dozen pairs of
eyes settle onto the back of my exposed head.

The sound of a drill was
the last thing I heard.

I jerked awake, my hands
leaping to my head.  I slumped back, relieved to find that my
straight blond hair was still on my head.  I closed my eyes
again, the smell of steel still burning my nose.  My heart
continued to pound in the way it only did when I had the nightmares
that seemed so vivid. 

A stirring of the dirt
outside caught my full attention.  It was still hours from
dawn, no one should have been awake at this hour, and even if they
were, they wouldn’t be wandering outside of their tents.

Silently, I sprang from my
bed, slinging my pack on in the same movement.  I grabbed a
knife and a pistol from my own stash of weapons and went to the
opening of the tent.

The moon cast a faint glow
on Eden, just enough light to enable me to see the figure that was
retreating to the tree line.

I kept out of sight as I
slid between tents, careful to keep my cover.  The outline
looked vaguely familiar as I stalked it.  It moved with sure,
deliberate strides, quieter than I would expect from anyone but
me.  He must have dropped something or tripped just outside of
my tent for me to have heard him.

He kept watch as he moved
through camp but held his pace quick and straight.  He was in
a hurry to get out of there.

I followed him to the edge
of the forest, hiding behind Wix’s tent as I watched the figure
dart into the trees.  He glanced back once, making sure he
wasn’t seen before he dropped into the trees.  He should have
looked a little closer.

I darted into the trees
ten yards to the west of where I had seen him enter.  My
footsteps fell silently on the damp earth as I regained the footing
he had gained on me.  When I heard more than one set of
footsteps I took to the trees, being careful not to rustle the
leaves as I crossed from one bough to the other.

It was not difficult to
keep up with them.  The other older figure moved with a slight
limp in the right leg, all the while trying to keep a small figure
close to her side.  They didn’t seem
dangerous. 

Without hesitation or
fear, I dropped from a limb directly in front of them, my blade
just inches away from the boy’s chest.

“
We don’t tolerate theft
in Eden,” I said, my voice calm.

“
Then point that knife
back around,” a male voice said, filled with forced
confidence.  “I believe you stole my buck.”

So I had been right, this
was the same boy I had seen in the forest earlier.  Looking
closer, I realized I shouldn’t call him a boy.  He had to be
around my age, maybe eighteen or even nineteen.

My eyes flickered to the
figures that stood behind him.  A woman who looked to be just
a year or so older than myself stared at me with wide green eyes
that shone brightly in the moonlight, her brilliantly red hair
draping around her face in curls.  She had her arms around a
small boy with similarly curly blond hair.

“
I couldn’t let them
starve,” the boy said simply.

He carried a cloth in his
arms and I could see several food items sticking out of it. 
The small child held a piece of bread possessively in his hands,
ready to protect it with his life.

“
It’s dangerous coming
here and taking what isn’t yours,” I said as I held his
eyes.

“
We haven’t eaten in
days,” the boy said, his voice sounding tired.  “We’ve been
running for over a week, maybe longer.  So I guess it’s either
you kill us or starvation will.”