Escape to Eden

by Rachel McClellan

  “What? Where?” I ask.

  Jenna slaps the table. “Clueless here! Fill us in already.”

  “Purgatory Island,” my father says. There are more lines on his face than normal. Creases of worry and concern etched deep into his skin. I want to focus on those lines, to pretend I hadn’t heard those two words, but they’re like flies in summer and refuse to be ignored.

  “So you’re sending me to hell?” I ask, but Jenna’s voice comes at the same time and is much louder.

  “What brainless idiot would put a bunch of Originals on the most dangerous place on earth?”

  “I would,” my father says. “Yes, it’s dangerous, but once they reach the compound they are completely safe.”

  I rub the back of my neck, where the muscles still ache from my earlier seizure. “Compound? You mean the prison? The one that has been overrun with mutated Primes?”

  Colt stands suddenly, knocking his chair backwards. “This is insane. I can’t even believe we are discussing this. Anthony?”

  Anthony is staring down at the table.

  “You knew, didn’t you?” Colt asks.

  “I found out last night.”

  Colt turns away and walks to the other side of the room.

  Tank leans forward, his fists tightened. “Why can’t Sage hide out with Max in the forest? She did just fine for years and the Institute never found her.”

  “But they did eventually,” my father answers.

  Colt whirls around. “Because you led a Canine right to them!”

  This time my father stands. “Actually, I believe that was your fault, Colt.”

  “How long has Eden been there?” I ask before the tension in the room explodes into something physical.

  “A little over forty years.”

  “Forty years?” I ask. “How is that possible? You’re fifty-years old!”

  “Forty-seven,” he corrects with a frown. “And it was my father who started the project with a few others. Eden is safe, I assure you.”

  “But getting there isn’t,” Tank says.

  Jenna leans back into her seat. “Well, I’m not going.”

  “You don’t have to,” my father says. “In fact, none of you are going, not the whole way at least. There will be a few Originals waiting as soon as you get them to the bay. They know the island better than anyone.”

  Colt places his hands on the table. “I’m not leaving them alone until they get inside this supposed safe compound.”

  “You’re not in any condition to be doing anything,” my father says. “Now sit down.”

  “I’m just fine.”

  “Not for long,” Jenna mumbles and the room grows quiet.

  Colt looks around the room at each of us. I’m the only one who will meet his gaze. His normally bright blue eyes appear dull and lifeless.

  “I’ll be in my room,” he says. “Come get me when it’s time to go.”

  As soon as he’s gone, I turn to my father. “The serum I stole from the Institute. What does it do exactly?”

  He seems taken off guard by the question, but quickly recovers. “It temporarily masks the pDNA, tricking the body into thinking it’s repaired, but eventually it wears off and cells begin to die again. The whole process can take several years.”

  “And what are you trying to do with it?”

  “In a nutshell? Take out the toxic pDNA altogether so humans can live as long as they did before.”

  “Hello varicose veins and arthritis,” Jenna says and lowers her head to the table like she’s bored.

  “If you think it’s possible,” I say, “why hasn’t the Institute done it yet? Surely their big brains are more than capable.”

  “They can do it,” Anthony says before my father can answer. “But they won’t. They found that by reverting the DNA back to what it was, Primes slowly lose their special abilities, making them like Originals, or really just normal humans. I think the thought of that disgusts Techheads.”

  “But it’s not just that,” my father adds. “The Institute holds all the power. They are controlling people with promises of new DNA or threats of withholding their technological advances.”

  “We are at their mercy,” I say, finally understanding the Institute’s motives. As long as they are the ones developing the drugs, we will always need them.

  “How long until you develop a cure from the oDNA Sage gave you?” Tank asks. He props his legs up on the table. He is the only one who doesn’t seem affected by this news.

  “It will take time, possibly years.”

  “I don’t care about that right now,” I say, warranting the confused looks of everyone in the room. Even Jenna lifts her head. “Colt has the Kiss. I want you to give one of the oDNA serums to him. This will temporarily save him, right?”

  “I have so few—” my father begins but I interrupt him.

  “Do this one thing for me. Please. I’m about to walk out of your life, and you may never see me again. Grant me this one wish.”

  His gaze lowers to the table, and he shakes his head. “We have to think about what’s best for the future. I need every vial you gave me for the experiments.”

  Anger wells inside me, a burning inferno I fear might explode from my head. There may be logic in his words, but I’m too mad to care.

  “Hell balls, William!” Jenna says, surprising everyone. “Give your daughter this one thing. It’s not like she hasn’t earned it.”

  “I agree,” Anthony adds. “Both she and Colt have sacrificed so much to get you those vials. It’s the least you can do.”

  Although bringing the vials to my father was an afterthought, I’m glad Anthony made it seem like the oDNA was our first priority. This type of logic resonates with my father. I glance at Anthony appreciatively.

  My father’s shoulders sag as does his countenance. “You don’t understand. If the trials fail then I’ll have no backup serum, and, as you already know, it’s very difficult to come by.”

  “I’ll get you more,” Tank offers. “Save bat boy.”

  “Look at me, Dad,” I say. His gaze rises to mine. I’m so full of desperation that I pray he can see it bleeding from every pore. I need Colt to be okay. I can’t go to Eden knowing otherwise.

  My father closes his eyes. “Fine, but if I do this, he’s going to have to stay under my supervision for at least forty-eight hours. Those injections make a person severely ill before they get better.”

  Tank lets out a low whistle. “There’s no way you’re going to get Colt to stay here while you and Max leave, Sage. You know this.”

  “But if he doesn’t stay, he’ll die,” Anthony says. “One more seizure will kill him.”

  I stand, feeling stronger than I have in a long time. “Leave it to me. I’ll get him to stay one way or another.”

  I’m in my father’s lab, a room I’ve never been in before. It’s in the basement of the old, rundown building, yet is the brightest, cleanest room I’ve seen. It has been strategically designed with all the modern conveniences. By my father, I have no doubts. It’s a much larger version of the lab he had in our home, right down to the lab rats in glass cages in the corner of the room.

  “What are we doing in here?” Colt asks.

  I turn around. His face has some color to it. Not because he’s feeling better, but because it took great effort for him to take the stairs getting here, though he’d never admit it. He casually wipes sweat from his brow like he gets it all the time.

  “I wanted to show you my father’s lab,” I say. “He’s close to finding a cure for the Kiss.”

  Colt picks up a nearby beaker and stares at the crimson fluid inside. “That’s what people have been saying for decades.”

  I stare at the red liquid too as Colt swishes it around inside the glass. It’s probably blood, but I don’t want to think about it. I’m here for one purpose. I shake my head and say, “It’s for real this time. That serum I stole from the Institute has the ability to prolong a man’s life for at least another fiv
e years. My father believes he can use it to get rid of the pDNA, which will make man’s DNA become pure again.”

  “Why are you telling me all this?” His eyes narrow. “Don’t think for a second I’m going to take an oDNA injection, especially not right now.”

  His posture has become rigid. I’m going to have to proceed slowly so he doesn’t suspect.

  “Of course not.” I walk to a nearby cot and sit down. “Will you sit with me?”

  He remains still. “There isn’t time for this. We need to get you and Max out of here.”

  “But there is time. Please. Just for a minute.” I pat the nylon material next to me. When he still looks conflicted, I add, “I need to tell you something important before we leave.”

  This time he comes. He sits next to me, our legs brushing, igniting a warm chill across my skin. I close my eyes briefly and then open them. I don’t want to do this, but I can’t think of any other way.

  Very slowly, I slide my hand over his. Air escapes between his lips as if I’m causing him pain.

  “This world,” I say, “is all about illusions. Your cities are shiny and new, the people are beautiful, smart, strong, exceptional. It all seems so perfect. But who decided that this was perfection? There is nothing beautiful about perfection. It’s the flaws that give character, that give true beauty.”

  I tighten my grip on his hand. “Have you heard of the Mona Lisa?”

  “That was a painting the Institute destroyed decades ago, right?”

  I think back to the replica that had hung in my room for as long as I could remember. “It was flawed, they said. In their eyes the woman wasn’t beautiful. They thought she represented everything wrong with Original humans. They had spewed this rhetoric for so long that no one cared when they finally destroyed Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest work. That’s what ‘perfection’ has brought this world. Apathy.”

  I slide off the cot and move to kneel in front of him. A shiver passes over him, and at the same time I quiver, but I ignore the feeling. I have to. For in this moment, I can’t let myself feel. To save his life.

  I continue, “People don’t want to see past the illusion, because once they do they will realize how rotten their world is. They will see the decay and death beneath their perfect cities; they will see how they are still imperfect despite their perfect appearance. And this awareness will make them start to care again. Care to make things right.” I let go of his hand and raise my hand to his cheek. Very slowly, I brush my fingertips over the skin on his jawbone.

  “I have seen past your illusion,” I say. “You are kind and gentle, loyal and brave. But you’re also stubborn, reckless, and temperamental.”

  “I’m not—”

  My thumb brushes over his full lips, silencing his protests. “All of this is perfection to me.”

  I don’t mean to pause, but I can’t help it. I never realized how deep my feelings went for him until this moment. My hand lowers to his chest, where it rests just above his rapidly beating heart.

  I finally look up at him. “You’re dying, Colt.”

  I expect some kind of emotion on his face, but there is nothing.

  “We all die,” he says, but when I open my mouth to speak, he adds, “but not all of us die at peace.”

  It’s his turn to take my hands. There is no hesitation in his action.

  “You speak of beauty,” he says, his eyes burning blue, “as if it actually exists in this world. I didn’t believe that until I met you.” He takes a breath. “You’ve made me feel things I never thought possible. It’s like my heart is beating for the first time, and even though I know my life is about to expire, I can say what most others cannot—that I will die happy.”

  Warmness spreads through me, turns hot when his fingers caress the underside of my wrists.

  “You don’t have to die,” I say.

  “I’m not going to do anything until I know you and Max are on that island safely. Nothing else matters.”

  The look in his eyes is firm. He will never stay. He would rather die. All for me.

  I hate what I’m about to do, but I see no other way. Moving slowly, I let go of him and slide my right hand behind his neck to pull him toward me. Our foreheads touch first, and I pause. Colt nuzzles his head against mine. His mouth parts just barely, but enough that the breath escaping from his lungs warms my neck.

  Don’t feel don’t feel don’t feel.

  He turns his head a fraction of an inch, and I turn mine. His lips graze my jawbone, slide softly to my chin. His hands trail up my bare arms, every fingertip igniting a fire beneath his touch. The burn goes bone deep, searing doubt and fear from my heart and mind, and I know I will never be the same. Especially when his lips meet mine.

  His mouth moves slowly, carefully, as if he might shatter me, but when my lips part and I press hard to him, his kiss turns deep and desperate. The suddenness of it brings me back to reality. I have a job to do.

  While we continue to kiss, I slip my left hand into my pocket and remove the syringe my father gave me. In one swift motion, I jab it into his neck and inject the medicine that will make him fall asleep within seconds. He jerks back, his eyes wide.

  “I’m so sorry,” I say, “but I can’t have you die. It would kill me.”

  He mumbles some sort of protest before his eyes close, and his head falls back.

  I carefully lower him onto the cot and lift his legs until they are lying with the rest of his body. He is safe now. My father will give him the Institute’s serum, giving him at least another five years of life. It will be a life where he will most likely hate me, but I’m willing to take that risk. Besides, I may never see him again.

  I lean over him and lightly kiss him on the forehead. “Goodbye,” I say. It’s the most painful word I’ve ever said.

  Upstairs Tank, Anthony, and Jenna are waiting for me, standing around a small table with papers scattered on its top. They stop talking and look at me expectantly.

  “It’s done,” I say.

  “Good,” Tank says. He hands me two small daggers. “You might need these. Do you know how to use them?”

  I nod and slide one into each of my boots. My father taught me how to fight with knives, but it has been awhile. Hopefully, I won’t need them.

  Jenna swings a backpack over her shoulder. “Maybe the new DNA serum will fix Colt’s face.”

  “Not now, Jenna,” Anthony says and walks away.

  We follow after him, down the hall and back into the room I arrived in. We are greeted by two men and one woman, all dark skinned. The woman is just as tall and muscular as the men. From behind I probably couldn’t tell them apart, but her feminine features, high cheekbones and pouty lips, give her away. All three have black hair with a single blue stripe down the middle. They are Dresdens, incredibly strong and skilled in combat.

  My father’s there too, kneeling down and speaking to Max in a quiet voice. When he sees me, he straightens and comes over to me to give me a tight hug. He is cold and smells like chemicals.

  “I’ll take care of Colt,” he says. “I promise.” When he releases me, he motions to the newcomers. “Meet Tori, Summa, and Rowdy. They will guide you to the Originals who will take Max and Sage to Eden.”

  Anthony nods at them. They do the same back.

  Tank slaps the nearest one on the back, Summa, I think, and says, “I didn’t know we had Dresdens on our side. Spectacular!”

  “Don’t touch me again,” Summa says. He speaks with a beautiful accent.

  Tank smiles and raises his hand as if they put a gun on him.

  “Great,” Jenna says and crowds past me to exit the room. “More moody people. Bloody fantastic.” Anthony and Tank follow after her along with the Dresdens.

  It’s only me, my father, and Max in the room now. I place my hand on Max’s small shoulder.

  My father looks down at us, his expression a mix of emotions I can’t place. Is he worried about us? Is he anxious to get started on his work? I hate that I can’t
tell. “Take care of Max, Sage. And take care of yourself. I’ll see you when I can.”

  I wait for some type of emotion to come, but it doesn’t so I take Max’s hand in mine and leave.

  The Dresden Tori drives us to the edge of the city where the shiny metal ends and the wild country begins. Trees, tall and wide, stretch and twist toward the sky. Beneath the canopy of trees, an endless darkness stretches on. It’s a darkness I’m familiar with.

  Tori parks the vehicle. “We’re here. Everybody out.”

  I do as she asks, taking Max with me. Before I have a chance to ask our location, the Dresdens disappear into the forest.

  “They are the most boring Primes I’ve ever met,” Jenna says, her voice low. “I almost fell asleep in the car. Or died. I would’ve been happy with either.”

  Tank rounds the backside of the vehicle. “I’ll pay you twenty dollars if you can get one of them to smile.”

  “Deal.” She slaps the top of the car and hurries after the Dresdens.

  “Let me know if you need any help with Max,” Tank says to me before he goes after her.

  The path through the overgrown forest is well tread, sometimes dangerously so. Where it dips and turns, huge chunks of earth have slipped into steep ravines, and I have to inch carefully just to stay on the trail. It brings me some comfort to know that so many Originals made this journey before me.

  Max is clinging to my chest, my arms wrapped around him tightly. He’s been whimpering softly for the last ten minutes. It’s not a sound I’m used to.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Anthony asks. He’s walking just behind me.

  “I’m not sure. He’s upset about something.” I whisper encouraging words to him and caress the back of his head while my other arm holds him up.

  “Maybe he misses Colt,” Anthony offers.

  My chest tightens at his name, and I quickly push images of Colt to the fringes of my mind where painful memories wait to be forgotten. But I won’t forget. I will return for him, to see again the contours of his face, the way his eyes look into mine as if he might slip into them forever, and feel the way my skin ignites beneath his touch.