The Project Eden Thrillers Box Set 2: Books 4 - 6 (Ashes, Eden Rising, & Dream Sky)

by Brett Battles

  A favorite guessing game at the bar was: When would the UN arrive?

  “I’d bet it won’t be more than a couple more days at most. They know we’re here. They can’t leave us unprotected for long.”

  “The fact we are here is why they won’t be getting to us for a while. We’re contained. Safe. Why waste time on us while there are probably others in more danger?”

  “We’re in plenty of danger. Plenty!”

  “I don’t think it will be much more than a week. That’s what they said, right? A week? Hey, Robert, they said a week right?”

  Robert had been nursing a cold glass of water at a table along the railing of the deck. The conversation had been going on over at the bar. He’d been trying to ignore it, but had known at some point they’d try to pull him in. It had happened with others several times already.

  He looked over and said, “They told us it could be a few days, maybe more.”

  “Could be,” one of the men in the group pointed out to his friends. “Could be a few weeks, too.”

  Just like that, Robert was once more forgotten. He returned his gaze to the dark rolling sea. Of all the people at the bar, he was the only one who seemed to be still worried. Not about the UN and the vaccine, of course. He was happy about that. But until everyone was inoculated and started leaving the island, Robert was in charge of making sure they were all fed and safe. It was a responsibility that seemed to grow heavier every day.

  “You should never drink alone.”

  He looked up and found Estella standing next to his table.

  “Don’t know if this qualifies as drinking,” he said, picking up his glass. “Water.”

  “Drinking is drinking.” She pulled out the other chair, scooted it closer to his, and sat down.

  Ever since their morning on the beach the day before, he’d begun to notice her around more. He wasn’t sure if she’d always been there, or if her presence around him was something new. He had to admit he didn’t mind.

  “So when do you think they will come back?” she asked.

  “They’ll get here when they get here,” he said.

  “A smart answer.”

  “Don’t know if it’s smart, but it certainly saves me a lot of grief.”

  She cocked her head. “Grief?”

  “Uh, keeps me from, let’s see, um, having people get mad at me for no reason.”

  “Ah, okay. I understand.”

  She raised her glass toward his. As they clinked, he noted she was either drinking a tumbler full of straight vodka or was also having water.

  She took a sip, and put her glass down. “You are a busy man.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Do I look busy?”

  “You do.” She tapped her temple. “Inside, you thinking very much.”

  “Well, hazard of the position, I guess.”

  Again, her head cocked.

  Before she could ask, he said, “Part of doing my job.”

  A nod and a smile.

  “What do you do back home?” he asked, wanting to move the spotlight away from him.

  Her face clouded. “I do not do anything now, I think.”

  “I mean before,” he said.

  “I worked at a university. In the library.”

  “You’re a librarian?”

  “Why do you sound surprised?”

  “You don’t strike me as the librarian type.”

  “Strike you as the librarian type?”

  “It means—”

  “I know what it means. You do not strike me as the bartender type.”

  “I’m not a bartender anymore.”

  “And I’m not a librarian now, either.”

  He smiled and looked back out at the sea.

  A minute passed, or two or three—he wasn’t keeping track. When he heard Estella’s chair scrape against the ground, he looked over and watched her rise to her feet.

  “Thanks for joining me,” he said. “It was nice.” He meant it. For a few moments as they’d talked, he’d been able to forget about everything else.

  She looked down at him, the corner of her mouth turned up ever so slightly, and then held out her hand, palm up.

  “Come,” she said.

  He smiled, ready to tell her, thanks, but he had too much on his mind. Before he knew what he was doing, though, his hand was in hers and he was on his feet, all thoughts of the island and the others and the vaccine and the UN fading away.

  WALSENBURG, COLORADO

  9:55 PM MST

  THE RESISTANCE CONVOY reached Denver as the sun was going down, but since there was only a light dusting of snow on the freeway, they pushed on, not stopping until they reached Walsenburg three hours later.

  Their home for the night was a Best Western north of town. Ash, Brandon, and Josie took a room on the second floor, while Ginny and Rick chose one about as far away as possible on the first. That hadn’t been Ginny’s idea. She and Josie and Brandon had begun to form a bond, and Ash knew the girl would have liked to stay near them.

  Rick, on the other, had spent a good part of the trip glaring at Brandon and rubbing the hand that was missing a finger. Ash knew he would have to keep an eye on that situation. Though Brandon had become very good at taking care of himself, Rick was several years older than Ash’s son and twice his size. Ash had no doubt the kid was planning some kind of retribution.

  “You all right?” Ash asked Brandon, once he and his kids were alone in their room. While his son had not outwardly let Rick’s unwanted attention affect him during the trip, Ash was concerned that inside was a different story.

  “Yeah, why?” Brandon asked.

  “Rick.”

  “Rick? I can’t help it if he’s a jerk. If he didn’t want to get hurt, he shouldn’t have been shooting at us.”

  Ash put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “True. Probably best, though, if you keep your distance. Don’t think he’s looking at things in quite the same way.”

  “How’s Brandon supposed to do that when we’re all in the same truck?” Josie asked.

  It was a good point, and one Ash had been thinking about. “I’ll see what I can do about that in the morning,” he said.

  They ate dinner in their room, sharing cans of pears and ravioli and lima beans, and got ready for bed. Ash was finishing brushing his teeth when someone knocked on the door.

  “I’ll get it,” Brandon said.

  As the door opened, Ash heard Matt’s voice from the hallway. “Hey, Brandon. Your dad around?”

  Ash stepped out of the bathroom. “What’s up?”

  “Can I borrow you for a minute?” Matt asked.

  “Sure.” He pulled on the shirt he’d just taken off and told his kids, “Be right back.”

  Stepping out of the room, he saw Matt wasn’t alone. A few feet away, Chloe was leaning against the wall.

  “What’s going on?” Ash asked.

  “Not here,” Matt said, and headed down the hall.

  Ash glanced at Chloe, silently asking if she knew what was up.

  “More bullshit, I bet,” she whispered as she pushed herself off the wall and followed Matt.

  Matt stopped about ten feet short of the end of the hallway, in an area where none of the rooms were being used. When Ash and Chloe joined him, he said, “I didn’t want to spring it on you in the morning, so I’m going to tell you now. This is where we part.”

  “Matt, it’s not a good idea,” Ash argued.

  Ignoring him, Matt said, “The 160 heads west from here. You’ll take that. Here.” He pulled a folded map out of his pocket and held it out to Ash. “The route to the base in Nevada is marked. You’ll take one of the plows and your Humvee. Head out when we do in the morning, so you beat the storm.”

  “You’re making a mistake,” Chloe said. “You need us.”

  “We’ve gone over this already,” Matt said. “I’m not going to argue about it again.”

  Ash had yet to take the map from him.

  “Chloe and I are the only on
es here who’ve ever actually been in one of Project Eden’s facilities,” Ash said. “There’s a good chance you’re going to need what we know.”

  “Take it,” Matt said, waving the map. “Get the kids to Nevada where they’ll be safe.”

  With extreme reluctance, Ash took it from him.

  Looking relieved, Matt said, “I sympathize. I really do, but trust me, this is not a mission you want to be on, especially in the condition you both are in.” He forced a smile. “Now go get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.” Then, looking as if he couldn’t get away fast enough, he walked stiff-legged to the stairs and headed down.

  “This is stupid,” Chloe said when she and Ash were alone. “Even with one hand I’m better than anyone he’s got.”

  Ash didn’t doubt that was true. His own condition, though, was not quite as accommodating. He knew he’d be struggling to keep up with the others, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t be part of the team. If what Matt had planned would truly deliver a major blow to the Project, Ash needed to be there. That would be protecting his kids. Driving them to Nevada would be running away.

  “You’re thinking it, too, aren’t you?”

  He looked up and saw Chloe staring at him. “What?”

  “That you’re going to New Mexico whether Matt wants you to or not.”

  He hesitated. “The kids,” he said. “I can’t just leave them.”

  “Your kids aren’t kids anymore,” she said. “We find a good place for them to hide and they’ll be more than capable of taking care of themselves until we get back.”

  “I don’t know.” He rubbed his eyes. “I want to. I…I don’t know.”

  “I do know,” she said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  As he watched her walk back to her room and disappear inside, he tried to figure out what would be the right thing to do, but this wasn’t his decision alone.

  When he returned to the room, Brandon and Josie were lying down but still awake.

  “What did he want?” Josie asked.

  Ash walked over to the empty bed the kids had left for him, and sat on the corner. “I need to talk to you both about something.”

  EASTERN NEVADA

  9:17 PM PST

  THE AMOUNT OF fuel left at the Ranch had not been nearly as much as Pax had expected, so they’d only had enough to get the Combi to Idaho Falls, where they were able to finally fill up their tanks. By the time they got back in the air, it was after seven thirty p.m.

  Pax was sitting in the cockpit auxiliary seat, headset on, when they neared their destination.

  “Bravo Eleven, this is Pax,” he said, using the call sign for the Nevada base. “Bravo Eleven, please come in.”

  Static.

  “Bravo Eleven, this is—”

  “This is Bravo Eleven,” a female voice cut in. “Please restate your call sign.”

  Grinning broadly, Pax said, “It’s not a call sign. It’s my damn name. It’s Pax. Rich Paxton.”

  For a moment, there was no response, then, “Pax? Are you kidding me?”

  Recognizing the voice, he said, “Is that you, Crystal?”

  “Yes! Pax, oh my God! We thought—” She paused. “Hold on.”

  When the static stretched to several seconds, Pax said, “Bravo Eleven, you still there? Crystal?”

  “Is it really you?” A female voice, though not Crystal’s anymore.

  “Rachel,” Pax said. “It’s great to hear your voice.”

  “You’re alive.”

  “Hell, yes, we’re alive!”

  “All of you?”

  “Yeah, my whole team.”

  “Thank God. When we lost contact with you, we couldn’t help but think something happened. Where are you?”

  “Should be touching down on your airstrip in about ten minutes.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “I hope so. If not, you’re going to have to pick us out of the desert.”

  “I can’t believe it. We’ve really missed you around here.”

  “Been busy, have you?”

  Her tone turned serious. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “Well, I guess you can fill me in when we get down.”

  “Yeah.”

  “If you could do us a favor and light up the landing lights, that’d be great.”

  “Of course.”

  Seconds later, a double row of lights popped on in the sea of darkness below them.

  RACHEL PUSHED OPEN the truck door and hurried toward the plane, making it almost all the way there by the time Pax climbed out.

  They threw their arms around each other, Pax lifting her into the air as they hugged.

  “I can’t believe it’s really you,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if we’d ever see you again.”

  “There were a few days there I wasn’t sure about that myself,” he said. He kissed her cheek and set her down, then looked around. “I take it things haven’t exactly been normal around here.”

  She almost laughed. “Oh, Pax, I’ve missed you.”

  She hugged him again, and started walking with him toward the truck.

  “Matt too busy to make it out to say hi?” he asked.

  “He’s not here.”

  She could feel Pax tense.

  “He didn’t—”

  “He’s fine,” she said, cutting him off. “Just out on a mission.”

  “What kind of mission?”

  “I’ll fill you in on everything later.”

  “What about Ash and Chloe? Were they able to make it back?”

  “Yes, both of them.”

  “That’s something, anyway.”

  When they reached the truck, they climbed into the back and waited for the rest of the team to get there. Rachel recognized all but two of the men.

  When she mentioned this to Pax, he said, “No, that’s my mistake.” He waved the men over. “Rachel, I’d like you to meet Ian Lourdes and Frank Kendrick. They work with the research facility that put us up on Amund Ringnes Island.”

  “Researchers?” she asked, confused by why they had come.

  “Pilots,” Pax said.

  Of course. Someone would have had to—

  Pilots.

  “Gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to met you,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough for bringing our friends home. I’m guessing you both are pretty tired.”

  “Exhausted,” Frank said.

  She smiled and asked, “How exhausted?”

  SALINAS, CALIFORNIA

  9:41 PM PST

  IRIS HAD FALLEN asleep within moments of lying down.

  Ben, on the other hand, was wide awake. In what was surely the most eventful couple of weeks in human history, today had been a banner day in his small part of it. Leaving his childhood home, given the current circumstances, would have been traumatic enough, but throw on top of that finding Iris like he had, and then hunting for her after she ran off, was plenty to place the day squarely on top.

  He pushed off his mattress and headed down the carpeted aisle.

  His initial plan had been to find two rooms in a motel, but the first place he checked was full of the dead. Iris, who by that point refused to leave his side, had been so freaked out she wouldn’t even let him check any other motels. Houses seemed to be out of the question, too. So Ben began looking for anyplace they could sleep halfway comfortably.

  “There! There!” Iris had shouted as they were driving around on their search.

  “You don’t have to yell. I’m right here,” he told her.

  But when he looked to see what had caught her attention, he could almost forgive her outburst. A mattress store. Perfect.

  The place turned out to be stocked not only with mattresses, but also sheets and blankets and pillows. It was the jackpot of non-hotel/non-home places to sleep.

  He made his way to the back of the store, grabbed a can of soda out of the machine he’d jimmied earlier, and headed back up front, where he sat down on a bed in the window display.<
br />
  Outside it was as dark as he’d ever seen it. Salinas had apparently lost its power. No street lamps, no lit signage, no emergency lights on in buildings. As strange as the darkness was, he had a feeling it would become the norm from now on, so he knew he’d better get used to it.

  He popped open the can and took a sip. The soda was cool, but only because the store itself was cool. That was probably something else he’d have to get used to—not always being able to have a cold drink when he wanted one.

  Or heat. Or air conditioning. Or ice.

  Those were only a few items on the monstrous list of things he’d have to get used to, he thought. The truths and expectations he’d grown up with were gone.

  He stared out into the pitch-black night.

  This is the new reality. This is it.

  LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

  9:53 PM PST

  JILLY PULLED HER blanket tight to her neck. The room was heated, but she was shivering.

  We should have all stayed together, she thought. We should have gone with Martina.

  On the bed below her, Valerie muttered something in her sleep, “taking it time,” or “taking it, Tim,” or maybe something else entirely. Whatever it was, Valerie sounded panicked. She twisted one way and then the other before falling silent again.

  Jilly had no idea if she spoke in her own sleep, but she wouldn’t doubt it.

  From the moment they’d arrived at the survival station set up inside Dodger Stadium, Jilly had had a weird feeling about things. The UN officials they’d met with had given them only kind words and smiles, but something felt off.

  Each girl had been taken into a room and interviewed individually.

  “And you’re from Ridgecrest, too?” Jilly’s interviewer asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Pretty amazing you were all able to survive.”

  “I guess.” On the way to L.A., the girls had decided to keep quiet their belief that they were immune. They didn’t want to chance not being given the vaccine in case they actually needed it. They agreed that if asked whether they’d had the Sage Flu during the spring outbreak, they’d say no.