Beyond the Garden

by S. Y. Thompson

  “This is more than a flesh wound.”

  Dana quickly removed bandages and antiseptic from the kit. She swiped at the torn flesh gently, cleaning the blood from the wounds that continued to seep regardless. There were too many holes to bandage and Dana eventually settled for binding Lil around the torso and situating a pressure bandage at the shoulder.

  “Lil, you need a hospital. I’m sorry, but there isn’t much I can do for you.”

  Lil attempted a smile. “It’s still twenty miles to the nearest hospital and we don’t have a ride.”

  Dana didn’t respond.

  “We need to go,” Lil told her. “We can’t stay out here in the open.”

  “Where are we going to go? I’m all ears, but I don’t think Greyhound makes any stops this far out and unless you can levitate, I’m open to suggestion.”

  Levitation was an interesting concept and Lil was just weak enough to be sidetracked by the suggestion. Through sheer willpower, she concentrated. The region had changed over the centuries due to wind, erosion and moving landmasses. Tectonic plate shifting had raised mountains in the area and mountains had natural concealment such as valleys, estuaries and grottos. Sometimes there were even caves. Insurgents often utilized caves as bases of operation so those were to be avoided.

  “Help me up?”

  “You shouldn’t be moving,” Dana argued, clearly horrified by the idea. “You need an ambulance.”

  “Help me up or get out of the way.”

  Dana’s lips compressed together and her face flushed, but she finally relented. She slid an arm under Lil’s shoulders and helped her to sit. Lil had to stop there for a moment until she caught her breath. She noticed that her shirt and britches were saturated in blood, but there was little she could do about it. Instead, she climbed stiffly to her feet. Dana kept hold of her as she made the transition from sitting to standing. Lil swayed a little and Dana steadied her.

  “Follow me.”

  “Do you know where you’re going?”

  Lil briefly closed her eyes again. She wasn’t angry, just trying to figure out how to keep Dana from arguing with every suggestion. “Do you trust me?”

  “Considering that you just saved my life and almost got yourself killed in the process? Yes, implicitly.”

  “Then let’s go. First, we need supplies from the truck.”

  Lil leaned on Dana once again as they made the short sojourn back to the downed vehicle. It felt like a journey of epic proportions. Lil gritted her teeth to keep from screaming with every shuffling step. Sweat poured down her face and tracked down the center of her back, further saturating her shirt. By the time they reached the truck, Lil knew she wouldn’t be able to make it to any decent shelter. She wondered how Dana would react when Lil appeared to die.

  Finally, they reached the wreckage and Lil had to sit. She leaned against the side of the truck and panted heavily.

  “Get your utility belt. We might need the weapon and ammunition. We’ll definitely need the canteen.” Lil took her own belt when Dana presented it and found her canteen was full. She suspected Dana’s was as well. She was relieved to see that Dana had the forethought to bring the first aid kit with them. “Tie a sleeping mat to the pack and shove as many supplies as you can carry inside. I’ll need my crossbow as well.”

  Lil rested her forehead on her knees. She didn’t intend to doze off, but after what seemed only a second, Dana was shaking her awake with a hand on her shoulder.

  “Don’t do that! You scared the hell out of me.”

  Dana held a canteen to her lips and Lil sipped the water, grateful when it flushed the coppery taste of blood out of her mouth. She spit the first mouthful into the dirt before swallowing the rest.

  “Do you have everything?”

  “Yes, at least as much as I think I can carry for an extended time.”

  “Good. Let’s move.”

  Lil didn’t attempt to conceal her weakness as she leaned on Dana once again. It wasn’t fair to make her carry everything, including Lil’s weight, but there was no help for it. Lil wasn’t in any condition to do heavy lifting. She could barely place one foot in front of the other as she directed them south. Lil maintained enough awareness to move off the beaten path and toward the nearby range. She soon learned that “nearby” was a relative term.

  The foothills of the mountain range were only a few miles from the roadway, but it might as well have been light years. With every step, Lil’s condition grew more fragile. Blood pumped from her wounds with every heartbeat. Breathing was an agony. When they finally reached a sandy knoll, Lil called a halt.

  “I have to rest.”

  “It’s about time. I thought you were going to try to be Superwoman.”

  Lil tried to smile at the attempt at humor, but couldn’t summon the strength. She grunted in relief when Dana eased her down into a low crevice, her back toward the incline. This spot was out of the waning sunlight and the sand felt blessedly cool to her fevered flesh. Lil put her head back and took one final breath before she gave up the struggle. She felt nothing but relief as her heart ceased to pump.

  ****

  Dana pulled the first aid kit out of the pack and turned to inspect Lil’s wounds. Through the bloody rags of her shirt and the sodden bandages, it was difficult to assess her injuries. She kept up a steady monologue as she worked to change the dressings.

  “I think we’ll be safe here for the night. I brought some dried rations so at least we won’t be hungry before morning. Hey, look. The bleeding’s stopped. Maybe you weren’t hurt as badly as I…”

  Dana froze. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Lil’s face for a moment, her eyes pinned instead to her chest. The satin bra encasing small, firm breasts was covered obscenely in ochre. That alone was disturbing, but even worse was the way Lil’s chest refused to rise and fall. Dana’s eyes filled with tears and her head dropped forward.

  No, it couldn’t be. After everything they’d survived, Lil couldn’t die. The sun began to set as Dana grappled with the truth. The nightly breeze awakened and lifted Lil’s dark tresses gently from her forehead. The sight broke Dana’s heart and she finally allowed the tears to fall. Throughout their short affiliation, Dana had resisted her attraction to Lil. She had wanted to say something more than once, to discover if there could be anything intimate between them. Cowardice had prevented her from acting and now it was too late. She would never know.

  Dana always had the feeling that Lil was lonely, cut off from others in some fundamental yet unfathomable way. That she was such a generous and giving person, it seemed so unfair. Lil had deserved better. She had deserved to know that someone had cared for her. Dana regretted that she had never said anything, but she would make sure that she took care of Lil now. Scavengers would not find and feed upon her in this isolated desert.

  Stiff from sitting so long in one place, Dana groaned as she shifted over to dig through the pack. She didn’t have a shovel handy, but a metal camp plate would work. Tears continued to fall softly as Dana dug the edge of the salver into the dirt and began scooping out a shallow grave. She considered her options as she worked.

  She had supplies, including two canteens of water and two handguns. She had no illusions about the crossbow. There were also rebel fighters everywhere and Dana was terrified she would accidentally bump into them. Worse yet, she didn’t have a clue how to get to Baghdad except by the main road. She’d be a sitting duck if she walked back there.

  Dana glanced at Lil’s motionless form. In the dim moonlight, she appeared to merely sleep. Somewhere in the distance, scattered artillery fire boomed. It wasn’t uncommon in this region although Dana forgot about the unrest until the quiet of the night intruded. Sometimes the flashes lit up the night sky, outlining Lil’s pale form. Seeing her like this reminded Dana of the woman’s courage. She owed it to Lil to find that same strength within herself. For that reason, Dana decided to chance the road. Rebels had to sleep too. It would be safest to travel at night. As soon
as she finished here, she would head back to the road.

  Hours later, the hole was finally deep enough. Dana took a moment to wipe the perspiration from her face with a clean bandage and take a sip of water. Then it was time. She grasped Lil from behind with her arms around her chest. Lil was heavier than Dana had suspected, but she managed to drag her toward the furrow. She wrestled Lil’s body into the pit and arranged her into a comfortable pose before she stood back to survey her handiwork.

  There was nothing more she could do.

  Dana started at Lil’s feet, shifting dirt back into the hole and covering the body in a systematic way. She told herself that she was just being thorough but finally admitted the idea of covering Lil’s face made her feel a little nauseated. When she finished, Dana knew she would have to find some heavy rocks to put over the mound or the wind and scavengers would unearth the remains.

  The night was starting to get away from her and Dana tried to pick up the pace. She wanted to be well on her way before the sun came up. The first scoop of dirt onto Lil’s chest produced an unexpected reaction. Lil took a single sharp inhalation. Her body arched upward and Lil’s eyes opened.

  Dana moved backward so fast that she lost her balance and landed on her butt. She continued to scoot away with thoughts of zombie and vampire movies roaring through her head. Dana couldn’t look away as Lil’s eyes focused and found her in the darkness.

  “Dana Reed. What in God’s name are you doing?”

  Chapter Ten

  “What the hell are you?”

  The fear in Dana’s voice made Lil cringe. She had heard it before, but it had never been directed toward her. Lil found it disturbing to be the target of that terror now. In the face of such fear, the only thing she could think of was to speak the truth.

  “I am Lil—”

  “I didn’t ask who you are,” Dana grated. “I asked what you are?”

  “Then shut up and listen.”

  Lil hadn’t intended to react so sharply, but her temper finally prevailed. Her goal to find the artifact created from the Tree of Life was thwarted by someone else’s war. She was grievously injured protecting Dana and temporarily died as a result. Now, although reanimated, the wounds still hurt like hell and Dana was demanding answers. Fine, it was time for the kid gloves to come off.

  “I am Lilith, the first woman to walk the Earth. I awakened in God’s Garden, brought to life directly by his breath filling my lungs and I cannot die. I was present when Arthur falsely accused Morgan La Fey and I have witnessed the arrival of beings from the stars who taught the Egyptians how to build.”

  Dana’s brow furrowed in disbelief. “Right, and I’m the queen of England.”

  “You asked for an answer and I have given it. What other explanation would you have?”

  “I think it’s far more reasonable to assume you were merely in a light coma and you’ve just awakened from it.”

  Lil snorted a laugh and then grimaced in pain. Her wounds had begun to seep again and she recognized the impending signs. If this didn’t prove her words to Dana, nothing would.

  “Come here.”

  Lil sat up in the trench as Dana reluctantly approached. Her hands trembled as Lil unfastened her shirt to bare her midriff. She pulled the bloody bandage away, wiping the seepage as much as possible to present a clear view of her torn flesh.

  “What am I supposed to be waiting for?”

  “Be patient.”

  Lil held the blood-stiffened flaps of her shirt aside and watched as her stomach began to move. The shifting of her flesh made it appear that something alive wiggled beneath the surface. Dana gasped and tried to move away, but Lil caught her wrist in a vice-like grip and refused to let go. Fluid streamed from the bullet hole and a moment later, the tip of something emerged. Dana whimpered and wrestled to free herself to no avail. An instant later, a mangled lump of metal surged forth and dropped to the ground with a muted thud.

  “It’s one of the bullets that entered my body.”

  “How?” Dana whispered.

  “I told you, I can’t die. While I might appear dead for a while and even stop breathing, eventually my body recovers and I go on as I always have.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  She still had that breathless, disbelieving quality in her voice, but eventually Lil knew she would come to terms with the truth. She released Dana and lay back to rest. She still had a lot of healing to do and some of her injuries, such as the ones to her heart and lung, would take a lot more time. Until then, she was the same as any recovering patient and she had needs.

  “Would you mind getting me some water?”

  “Uh, yeah. Sure.”

  Dana quickly retrieved a canteen and handed it over. Lil noticed she was careful not to allow their fingers to touch. She hadn’t even the strength to shake her head in disappointment.

  “Are you hungry? Do you even get hungry?”

  Lil sipped some of the water before she answered in a deliberately bored tone. “Of course I do and that would be very nice. Thank you.”

  Time passed as Lil consumed a little beef jerky and a ration bar. She waited silently for the barrage of questions Dana would soon begin to fire off at her. It hadn’t happened often that Lil confessed the truth to someone, but the result was always the same. At first, they refused to believe. When they could no longer deny the facts, the questions would pour forth in a torrent, sometimes almost too fast for Lil to keep up.

  “You said your last name is Primus, but that’s not true. If you’re really Lilith,” Dana hesitated. “I can’t believe I’m even saying this. I think my brain is about to explode.”

  “It is true. I chose Primus because it translates to ‘first.’ I am the first.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you that. If you were the first, why did…God…create Eve?”

  Lil covered her smile by drinking a little more water. Dana still had trouble even though she’d seen the evidence with her own eyes. At least the scientist in her had begun to reassert itself. “Because I was made from the same clay as man, I possessed the same strong will. I refused to bow down. I was considered flawed, an error. Yahweh rectified that error by creating a woman directly from man, from his rib, so that she would feel compelled to do his bidding.”

  “And the others that you mentioned, the ones from the stars? Are you telling me that aliens actually exist? Please tell me you’re pulling my leg on that one.”

  “So you really believe me when I tell you I am Lilith, but have difficulty ascribing to life on other planets?”

  Dana cocked her head to the side, considering the question. “Well, I guess when you put it that way, it does sound a little silly. Look, I’m still not sure I believe any of it. I admit that little trick of expelling a bullet out of your stomach is impressive, but I’m not a medical doctor. There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation.”

  “Of course there is. That is why I ceased breathing and my heart stopped beating for hours on end.”

  Dana didn’t rise to the bait and Lil allowed the discussion to taper off. As weak as she felt, they needed to get moving. Dana would either come to believe the veracity of Lil’s words or she wouldn’t. At this point, Lil didn’t care. She would recover completely in a day or so, barring further injury, and needed to focus on getting her expedition back on track. To do that, she needed first to know about her men.

  “Do you know if any of the men survived the assault?”

  “No,” Dana shrugged, “I’m not sure. I wasn’t really thinking about it. I just wanted to get out of there. I’m ashamed to admit that out loud.”

  “There is no shame in wishing to survive. It’s human nature. I’d like to go back and check on them, but I’m not sure it would be safe to do so.”

  Dana snapped her fingers. “Damn, I didn’t even think about our cell phones. Isn’t there someone we could call for help?”

  Lil shook her head. “Unfortunately, there isn’t any service out here and I can’t contact my people.
We either expend time going back to check on them or we strike out for Baghdad. We cannot do both, but must make a choice.”

  “You still need to get checked out at a hospital, Lil. Even if you’re some kind of walking miracle, which I seriously doubt, bullet wounds like that need to be treated to prevent infection.”

  Lil scooted backward out from under the mound of dirt covering her body. She shook her head. “I don’t think I’d be much help for anyone anyway. Although it isn’t likely I’ll develop an infection, I’m still far too weak. I think we should head for the city and send someone back for Muhammed and the others.”

  Dana offered her a hand and Lil stood on shaky legs. They gathered the supplies and started walking again. Dana carried everything as she had before and seemed content to let Lil lead. Lil still hurt with every inhalation, but the sharp stabbing pain in her chest had ebbed.

  “Are you going to answer my question?” Dana surprised her by asking.

  “Which one?”

  Dana sighed. “You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you? Are there really aliens?”

  Lil chuckled. “I suppose that depends on your perspective. To them, we are the aliens.” Dana grunted and Lil relented. “Yes, they really exist. I went with them for a time and learned so much more than humanity can begin to fathom.”

  “Why did you come back?”

  “I missed my home. I missed Earth. After I returned, I was quickly reacquainted with mankind’s aggressive ways and I longed for a return to space, but it was too late. The old teachers who seeded mankind with knowledge were gone. Even they were appalled by the inherent hostility of our backward species.”

  “Wow, you really don’t like people, do you?”

  Lil’s standard answer when presented with this question was, no, in fact she did not care for people. She surprised herself when she responded.