Escape to Eden

by Rachel McClellan

“You want me to carry you?” Tank calls over his shoulder. “My muscles will barely feel your weight.”

  I take a deep breath to make sure I have enough air to answer. “I think your muscles are busy holding up your ego.”

  Colt looks back, the corner of his mouth slightly turned up.

  Tank laughs. “There’s always room for a pretty lady.”

  I want to retort, but I only have enough lung strength to keep jogging. I manage to go almost another hour before I say between breaths, “I need a break.” My voice isn’t loud, but Colt hears and calls up to the group.

  “Let’s rest for a bit.” He lowers Max to the ground.

  Tank jogs back to us. “Why are we stopping?”

  “We need a break,” Colt says.

  Tank looks confused until he notices I’m sitting down, gasping for air. “Right, fine, but only for a few minutes.”

  “Slowing us up again, eh Patch?” Jenna says and drops her pack onto a large boulder.

  Anthony comes next to her. “Lay off, Jenna. I’m tired too.”

  “Sure you are,” she mumbles.

  I pretend not to hear and do all that I can to regulate my breathing.

  “How much further?” Colt asks.

  “If we’re fast, we can be there by nightfall,” Tank says.

  Colt’s gaze flickers in my direction. “Let’s go slower and make it there by morning.”

  “No way,” Jenna says. “I want a comfortable bed tonight.”

  Tank stretches his arms up and around. “Look, if this is about Sage, I can carry her. My offer still stands. In fact, I think I might enjoy it.” He winks at me, but I roll my eyes, knowing he’s only teasing.

  “You don’t need to carry her,” Colt says. “She just needs a little more time than the rest of us.”

  “We could split up,” Jenna says. “You know, some of us go ahead, get a car, and then come back for the rest of you.”

  “It didn’t go so well last time we did that,” Anthony says. He’s pacing back and forth, not the least bit winded.

  “What are you talking about?” Tank says. “It went exactly as I had planned.”

  Colt takes a threatening step toward him. “You planned on me getting shot and Sage getting strangled?”

  I stand up. “Enough! I’m fine. Let’s just keep going and if I get tired, then you guys can go ahead.”

  “No one’s going ahead,” Colt says.

  Jenna throws her pack back over her shoulders. “I am. Love you, Sage, but I’m so over this.”

  Tank follows after her. “Think about it,” he calls over his shoulder in my direction.

  Anthony pats me on the back. “Don’t push yourself. Just do the best you can.” He trots away.

  “I feel like such a charity case,” I say and grab my bag. In a mock voice, I say, “Poor Sage. Can’t do much of anything.”

  “No one thinks that,” Colt says and picks up Max again.

  Our fast pace continues. I manage to keep up but it’s not long before I need to stop again. Several blisters have formed on my feet, and my legs are shaking. I slow to a walk, not even bothering to say anything.

  Colt calls to the others. “Let’s take another break!”

  This time, surprisingly, Jenna doesn’t complain. “Good. I need to pee.”

  “Don’t go alone,” Anthony says. He leans up against a tree and pulls down his shirt to inspect his wound. My eyes widen at how much it has healed.

  “I don’t need anyone to hold my hand,” Jenna says.

  Anthony readjusts his shirt. “No one goes out alone.”

  “I’ll go with you,” I say.

  “Oh, goodie! We’ll visit the dirt toilet and powder our noses with pine needles.” Jenna heads into the forest. “Try to keep up, Patch.”

  I turn to Max and ruffle the hair on his head. “I’ll be right back. Stay with Colt.”

  Dipping under a low hanging branch, I scramble up a small rise, my feet slipping on wet earth. It’s a difficult path Jenna has chosen, probably deliberately. I inch my way around thick foliage while trying to keep my hair from being ensnared by prickly limbs.

  When I’m close, Jenna looks over her shoulder. “Seeing how we’re doing the whole girl bathroom thing, we might as well gossip too.”

  “About what?”

  “First on the list is what’s up with you and Colt?”

  I almost trip over a fallen log but manage to catch myself. “Nothing, why?”

  “Oh come on now. You can be honest with me. I saw you in the medical room. Colt was standing all close to you, holding your hand. And if there’s one thing I know, Colt doesn’t like to be touched. Ever. So what’s the deal?”

  “He’s nice.”

  “What a dumb answer. Let me try again. Does he make you hot?”

  I glance away, embarrassed.

  “Maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about. You did live like a caveman after all.” Before I can refute her, she says, “I’m not saying I’ve been around the block or anything, but I know a few things about men and women.” She pats me on the back. “I think it’s time we had the talk, Patch.”

  I shrug her arm off my shoulder. “I’m not an idiot. I know what you’re talking about. As for Colt, he’s very handsome, that’s all.”

  “But you know it can’t work, right?”

  I remain silent.

  Jenna continues, “We’re trying to save your kind, not breed more Primes.”

  “Who said anything about breeding? I just want to know him better.” The forest grows dark the farther we go, and I look up. The trees are older here, their branches more full, making it seem more like night than day. “Are we going too far?”

  Jenna keeps walking. “You need to think big picture here. Colt’s like the first guy you’ve met and, in my humble opinion, a Junk would be a better companion. Besides, how do you know there isn’t some hottie Original back at Eden?”

  “I really don’t want to have this conversation with you.”

  “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when your dream guy in Eden doesn’t like you because you’re hung up on some Noc.” She turns left up a steep ravine, sending a few birds from their nests, their wings flapping against red leaves.

  I take wide steps, pressing my hands against my knees to help me up the hill. “Can we just stop already?”

  “At the top. I want to make sure we’re far away from Tank. He’ll do anything to catch a peek at a girl.”

  “I think that’s just an act,” I say, remembering how he was with Ash.

  “I don’t.”

  A few minutes later, we crest the top. I glance behind us, surprised at how far we’ve come. I can’t see or hear the others.

  “I’ll be over here,” Jenna says and moves to my right.

  I quickly do my business then return to the top of the hill to wait for Jenna. I inhale deeply, and smell the forest’s rich earthy aroma. Jenna’s approaching footsteps are loud as they snap twigs and other woodsy debris.

  Too loud. There should be other sounds this time of day, like birds chirping or the singing of cicadas, but there’s none of that. Something’s frightened them, which means we should be frightened too.

  I rush after Jenna, catching her just before she ducks behind a thick, blackened tree trunk.

  “Get away, Patch. You haven’t washed your hands—”

  I quickly cover her mouth and whisper. “There’s something out there. Be quiet.” I press both of us against the tree and strain my ears. “Do you hear anything?”

  She cocks her head to the side. “I think so.” Her eyes go big. “It’s not a bear, right? Please tell me it’s not a bear.”

  The sounds I’m hearing are heavy but too quick for a bear. “I don’t think so. Just stay still.”

  For the first time, she does as I ask. We stay huddled together, pressed against the tree. As the sound draws near, I determine that two people are walking, one of them much heavier than the other. Occasionally one of them speaks, but I ca
n’t hear their words yet.

  I peek around the tree trunk and can just barely make out their forms as they move easily in and out of the trees. One of them is massively tall and thick, like a tree trunk that has lost all its limbs. And it’s walking toward us.

  The other man is a little taller than me and thin. His arms seem unnaturally long, his hands almost reaching his knees. I think hard until I recall their species. To Jenna, I whisper, “One is a Plank, the other a Twiggy.”

  Her grip tightens against the bark on the tree until it snaps off. “We are so screwed.”

  “Maybe they won’t notice us,” I say and lower myself to the ground, taking Jenna with me. We’re slightly positioned down the slope so there’s a chance they might not see us, especially with all the shadows crowding beneath the leafy umbrella above us.

  I slowly breathe in and out to make sure I don’t hold my breath. I need to keep a clear mind. Jenna’s fears are not unfounded. Planks are similar in strength to the tall Titan I faced at the Institute, but Planks don’t lack intelligence, nor do they have the same weakness of bending at the waist. A Plank’s only weakness, common to their species, but not definitive, is poor eyesight. Twiggys, on the other hand, are fast runners and have a death grip if they catch you, but their movements are awkward in hand-to-hand combat. Alone, each species can be dealt with, but simultaneously they’re a deadly combination. Something tells me they know this and aren’t traveling together because they enjoy each other’s company.

  “—not stupid. I know I saw it land,” the Plank is saying. His voice is deep and smooth, each syllable running into the next.

  “Then where are they, Ted?” the Twiggy asks and Jenna and me cringe at the same time. His voice is high and sharp, like the sound I’d imagine a rat would make if rats could talk. I’m glad they don’t because there are a lot more rats than people.

  “Quit talking and maybe we’ll hear them, horse-face,” Ted says.

  “What if someone else already found them?”

  Ted doesn’t answer. His footsteps come closer, crushing everything beneath his massive feet.

  “Can you imagine if we get the reward?” Horse-face says. I’m not sure if that’s his name or if Ted was insulting him. “I’m going to move out of my sister’s house with my share. How ‘bout you?”

  Jenna nudges me. She points down the hill and mouths the word “run.” I shake my head vehemently, knowing the Twiggy will catch us.

  “I’m going,” she whispers, determined lines set in her forehead.

  “Did you hear that?” Ted says. They stop moving.

  I glare at Jenna and shake my head. She scowls and mouths the word what?

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Horse-face says, “but I sure smell something, like perfume. It’s nice, better than what my sister wears.”

  Jenna nods her head as if thinking, Of course it is.

  “Who’s out there?” Ted calls.

  Jenna looks like she’s going to bolt, so I take hold of her arm hard to keep her still.

  Several seconds pass before Horse-face says, “Someone’s passed by here recently. You think whoever it was came from the plane you saw land?”

  Ted starts walking again. “I thought you said I was seeing things?”

  Horse-face laughs, a horrible grating sound, and I’m convinced that a rat’s laugh would be much more pleasant. “I was just messing with you. I saw it too.”

  Ted’s not far away, passing by us. “Shut up, Lenny.” I guess his name isn’t Horse-face.

  When they are some distance away, still within earshot, but out of sight, Jenna says, “I’m out of here.”

  “No! Wait,” I say, my voice as quiet as possible. The Primes have moved on too quickly, I think.

  She looks back at me as if she’s considering whether or not to obey, but decides against it. “You better follow me if you know what’s good for you.” She hurries down the slope almost to the point of tripping.

  I don’t move, despite the fear of being alone. Jenna’s almost to the bottom, and I think maybe I was wrong, when I hear the faint sound of something running through the forest. Because the steps are light, I imagine a deer, but when the figure comes into view I’m not surprised that it’s the Twiggy, Lenny the horse-face. I am surprised, however, by the way he’s moving, all orangutan-like, but graceful and really fast.

  Jenna looks over her shoulder and doesn’t even have the chance to scream before Lenny’s huge hand sucks itself around her neck. He lifts her above his head like a rag doll and races up the hill, smiling big, which seems to widen his narrow face.

  “I’ve got her! I’ve got her! Wahoo! We’re rich!” he yells, and if it were possible for him to jump and click his heels while running upwards, I have no doubt he’d do it.

  I press myself against the tree as he runs past, but he’s too happy with his prize to notice me. I try to catch Jenna’s eye, but her body’s bouncing so violently that she can’t look over. Not far, the sound of heavy footsteps, like an elephant on steroids, crashes through the forest. Ted has arrived.

  “Let me see,” he says to Lenny.

  I carefully peek around the tree. Lenny sets Jenna down, who wobbles precariously. Once she balances herself, she punches at Lenny. “What the hell? You can’t just grab people like that!”

  Lenny pushes her away with his long arm, making her fall to the ground. “You see that, Ted? She’s like a wild dog.”

  Jenna scrambles to her feet. “Nobody calls me a dog.”

  She rushes him, but he stretches his arm and stops her progression with his hand to her forehead. Jenna’s cursing and swinging her fists at him, but he’s at least a foot away from her much smaller arms. He laughs.

  “She seems awfully feisty for an Original,” Ted says. “Let me see her eyes.”

  Lenny spins his hand, forcing Jenna to turn around, despite her angry words, half of which I don’t recognize. Ted bends down until his eyes are level with Jenna’s. A second later he straightens, his expression anything but jubilant.

  “You moron, Lenny! This isn’t her.”

  While Lenny takes his own turn to examine Jenna, I drop my head back into the tree. Ted had said “her.” They are looking for me, which means the Institute has a lot more people searching for us than we expected. And since they’re offering a reward, it will be impossible to know whom to trust.

  “Where is she?” Ted says to Jenna.

  “Your mom?” Jenna asks, innocently. “She left you when you were a baby, don’t you remember? She couldn’t stand your face.”

  “Don’t get smart with us.”

  “Impossible,” she says.

  Ted hits her hard, making me flinch. A blow like that would’ve knocked me unconscious.

  Jenna wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “My cat hits harder than you.”

  Ted cocks back his fist. “Where is the Original? Tell me or next time you’ll see stars permanently.”

  Jenna raises her chin. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

  Lenny grabs her neck from behind and lifts her up, shaking her hard. “I want my reward! Tell us where she is!”

  When he’s finished, his grip lightens, giving her a chance to respond. She gasps for air, then says, “I don’t know any Originals!” There’s no humor in her voice now.

  “Of course you do,” Ted says. “Why else would a little girl like you be out here, within thirty miles of where I saw a plane land?”

  “I saw it land too and was curious,” she says.

  This gives the men pause.

  “You looking for the Original too?” Lenny asks. He lowers her to the ground.

  She runs with it. “I sure am. I’m going to use the money to buy me those new Nike shoes. You see them? The ones that let you walk on water?”

  “My sister has a pair,” Lenny says. “They don’t work all of the time.” He lets go of Jenna’s neck.

  “Don’t they? That’s too bad.”

  Ted’s watching her closely. “If you kno
w about the Original,” he says, “then you heard the announcement, right?”

  My mind races. Announcement? The one we deciphered on the plane? But it said nothing about a reward. Jenna’s probably thinking the same thing.

  “My com was low, but I heard all the important stuff. Original and reward. That’s all I need to hear and I’m like a Canine.” She growls and shows her teeth.

  Lenny laughs.

  Jenna looks at him. “Don’t do that.”

  “Huh?”

  “I don’t believe you,” Ted says.

  “I don’t care what you believe. You guys have wasted enough of my time, and it’s only a few more hours before dark.” She turns to leave, but Ted grabs her by the arms.

  “I don’t think so. Not until you pass my test.”

  “I’m dyslexic,” she says.

  “There’s no reading involved. Just me smashing your head in three times. If you don’t tell me where the Original is, then I figure you’re telling the truth and you can live, if you’re still alive by then.”

  “I don’t know of any Original,” she says. Her loyalty touches me. I wouldn’t have guessed she had it in her.

  Ted continues to hold her with his left hand, while he raises his right fist. “We’ll see.”

  Jenna’s eyes close tight.

  “Stop!” I call and step out of my hiding place.

  The men startle and settle into a defensive position.

  Jenna opens her eyes and groans, “Balls, Patch! What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking I want you to keep your face. Let her go,” I say. “I’m the one you want.”

  “Raise your hands and walk toward me,” Ted says. “I want to see your eyes.”

  I move out of the shadows and come toward them, my hands above my head. They both stare into my eyes.

  “Eww,” Lenny says. “Her eyes are ugly. Definitely an Original.”

  “You are so dumb,” Jenna mutters to me under her breath.

  “There’s supposed to be two of you.” Ted says. “Where’s the boy?”

  I turn to Jenna. “You’re the one who bolted when I said not to, remember?” To Ted I answer, “Just me. The broadcast was wrong.”

  Lenny thumps his long arm into the ground. “I ain’t sharin’ the prize with nobody.”

  “Neither am I,” Ted says. “I say we make the Original scream. Maybe the boy’s hiding in the forest just like she was.”