Eden Rising

by Brett Battles

  “No. I had something that finished up early. Thought I’d save you the trip.”

  In truth, Perez had canceled a previously scheduled video conference so he could make this personal appearance. In his mind, Sims was the second most important person in the Project. He had become the hammer that reinforced the principal director’s rule. So Perez knew it was necessary to make sure their working relationship was solid. Small things, such as dropping in like this, went a long way toward solidifying loyalty.

  “Thank you, sir, but you didn’t have to do that.”

  “Not a problem,” Perez said. “I take it you didn’t find anything after your last report.”

  “No, sir. Those first tracks we saw were it. There was a big storm up there. I’m pretty sure they’re riding it out somewhere. Once the weather clears up, we can go back out and look for them again.”

  Perez had received a report on the storm. It was the same one, though diminished, that was expected to hit northern New Mexico in the next hour or two, and could possibly make it all the way down to Las Cruces at some point during the night.

  “If you do go back, what do you think your chances are of finding them?”

  “Fair, I guess.”

  “Give me a percentage.”

  “Well, if the weather clears up in that area like it’s supposed to tonight, and we leave before first light tomorrow, I’d say we have maybe a forty-percent chance. If we have to wait twelve hours or a full day more, it would go down to single digits and probably not be worth it.”

  Perez wasn’t sure a forty-percent chance would be worth it. “Touch base with me this evening. We’ll make a decision then.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Anything else to report?”

  “No, sir. That’s it.”

  “Very good.” As they shook hands, the principal director said, “Tell your men I’m very pleased with the work they are doing.”

  “I will. They’ll appreciate that, sir.”

  26

  WARD MOUNTAIN NORTH, NEVADA

  11:13 AM PST

  “TRY AGAIN,” RACHEL said.

  “Okay,” Crystal said, “but the result’s going to be the same. Either their radio is off, or Matt’s not answering.”

  “He’s got to answer.”

  “I realize that, but I can’t make him pick up.”

  Rachel’s jaw tensed. She needed to reach her brother, and try to talk him out of this insanity one last time. “Keep at it, Crystal,” she said. “You can make it every ten minutes, but don’t stop. They’ve got to check in at some point. When you do reach them, no matter where I am or what I’m doing, let me know. I must talk to Matt.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Crystal said.

  ISABELLA ISLAND, COSTA RICA

  12:22 PM CST

  ROBERT MADE SURE he was the very last person in line to receive an inoculation from the UN doctors. Renee had tried to take the position for herself, but settled on second to last at his insistence. Together they watched as the others went behind the screens that had been set up, and come back out a few minutes later, a few rubbing their arms and all of them smiling.

  After Estella received her shot, she paused when she reached Robert. “It doesn’t hurt too much,” she said.

  “I’m happy to hear that,” he said.

  She touched his hand. “Lunch after you’re done?”

  “Sure.”

  She walked off, and he could feel Renee staring at him.

  When he looked at her, she said, “Oh, really now.”

  “Please don’t start.” Robert wasn’t in the mood to participate in any teasing. He was happy they were all being vaccinated, but he was still coming to grips with how many people Ivonne had said were dead.

  Renee seemed to sense his frame of mind and didn’t say anything more.

  Slowly, they continued moving forward until they were the last two in line.

  After a few minutes, Helena, the UN nurse, stepped around the end of the screen and motioned to Renee. “Señorita, please come back.”

  The two women disappeared behind the screen, leaving Robert the only one left.

  He glanced out at the sea. It was another postcard day in paradise—blue sky, light breeze, and sunshine. It was the kind of day guests coming to the resort always hoped for as they flocked to the water, and took to the Jet Skis and snorkeling boats and surfboards. But that was Before. In the After, the water was empty and the beach deserted.

  “Robert?”

  He turned and found Ivonne smiling at him.

  “Your turn.”

  Renee was still there, sitting in a chair next to Dr. de Coster.

  “Please sit here,” Ivonne said, pointing at the empty chair next to where she was set up.

  After Robert followed her directions, she placed a strip of plastic against his head. When she pulled it off, she looked at it, and then noted something on the pad of paper. “Temperature’s normal,” she said. “Your arm, please.”

  She wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his bicep, placed a stethoscope against his arm, and pumped up the device. Again, she wrote down the results.

  “Feel any unusual aches or pains?” she asked, her fingers probing under his jaw and down his throat.

  “No, I’m fine. I told you, we’re all fine,” he said.

  A disarming smile. “I’m sure you are. It’s procedure only.”

  “Sure. I guess that makes sense.”

  She opened a plastic packet and removed a swab attached to a long, wooden dowel. “If you would open your mouth, I want to take a sample from inside your cheek.”

  The testing went on for another few minutes, ending with two vials of blood being drawn before she pulled out a prepared syringe with orange-tinted liquid inside.

  “This won’t hurt much, but you may feel a little uneasy in the next few hours. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but if it does, don’t worry. It will pass quickly.”

  She jabbed the needle into his arm and pushed down the plunger. At first, it felt like he had a knot under his skin, but even before Ivonne put a small, round bandage over the injection point, the sensation had gone away.

  “That’s it. You’re all done,” she said with a smile, and looked over at Helena. “Next one, please.”

  “He was the last,” Helena said.

  Ivonne leaned back in her chair and began rolling her head over her shoulders. “Finally.” She noticed Robert looking at her. “Yours is the largest group we’ve had to deal with at one time.”

  “We’re the largest?” he said, surprised yet again.

  “By far,” Dr. de Coster said. He’d finished with Renee a few minutes before, and she had left to join the others. “The average is three or four people. Our biggest group previous to yours was seventeen.”

  “It’s a miracle that all of you are still here,” Ivonne said.

  To Robert, it wasn’t so much a miracle as him and Dominic making hard choices and sticking by them.

  He touched the bandage on his arm. “How long until we’re safe?”

  Something changed in her expression. She glanced past Robert at de Coster. When she looked back, she said, “You’re the one in charge here, correct?”

  “Well, there are a few others who try to help keep things in order,” he said.

  “Perhaps you should have them join us.”

  Robert suddenly felt very uncomfortable. “Why?”

  “There are some things we need to discuss.”

  __________

  NOT WANTING TO cause any unnecessary concern among the rest of the island’s survivors, Robert decided the meeting would be held in Dominic’s apartment, located in a part of the resort few others ever went.

  In addition to Renee, Robert asked Enrique Vasquel and Chuck Tyler—the two people who’d been helping him and Renee the most—to attend the meeting. Ivonne, Helena, and de Coster were joined by the older man who had ridden in the back of the plane with them.

  “Are we talking about how we’r
e getting off the island?” Chuck asked. “I assume that’s why we’re here.”

  “Perhaps I should introduce our colleague first,” Ivonne said, motioning to the man from the plane.

  “No need to be so formal,” the man said. “Name’s Richard Paxton, but you all can call me Pax. And it’s a damn pleasure to meet you. What you’ve all done here is pretty amazing. I am definitely impressed.”

  “Um, thanks,” Robert said. “I’m a little confused, though. Ivonne made it sound like there was something important you guys needed to talk to us about.”

  “There is,” Pax said. “And it starts with an apology. Robert, my friends here and I, we have deceived you. We are not, nor have ever been, associated with the United Nations.”

  A stunned silence.

  “I know that’s a bit of a surprise, but—”

  “If you’re not the UN, then who are you?” Robert blurted out.

  “Screw that,” Chuck said, clamping a hand over the bandage covering his inoculation. “What the hell did you put into us?”

  “The vaccine for the Sage Flu,” Ivonne said. “We didn’t lie about that.”

  Chuck rose out of his chair, clearly not believing her. “Jesus! Maybe you’re wondering how we’re still alive. Maybe that’s why you took our blood. Maybe you think we can save you!”

  “Hold on,” Pax said. “No need to get all riled up. First off, as you can see, we’re not sick, either.”

  Chuck’s face twisted into a grimace. “That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe you’re just not showing signs yet.”

  “Secondly,” Pax went on, “taking your blood would tell us nothing. There are too many people alive here for all of you to be naturally immune. You’re still breathing because you’ve kept the sick away. That’s it.”

  “You’re talking bullshit,” Chuck said.

  He walked quickly to the door and pulled it open. Standing right outside were the two pilots.

  “Out of my way,” Chuck said.

  “Best if you go back inside and finish listening to our friends first,” the larger of the two pilots said.

  “Or what?”

  “Now, Chuck, nobody wants any trouble here,” Pax said. “We’re just talking. Come on back and have a seat. Afterward, you can run around and shout that the sky is falling to your heart’s content. You have my word on that.”

  “Your word?” Chuck scoffed.

  The friendly smile Pax had been wearing disappeared. “My word.”

  Robert rose to his feet. “Chuck, come on back. It’s better to hear what they have to say than not, don’t you think?”

  “What are they going to tell us that’ll be worth listening to?”

  “Well, we won’t know until they’re done, will we? I promise you, if I think it’s all bullshit, I’ll be the first to say you were right, and then you and I can escort them back to their plane and kick them out of here. Deal?”

  Chuck considered Robert’s suggestion for a moment. He shot a glance at the blocked door, and then, his face hardening, he returned to his seat. “All right,” he said, his gaze now fixed on Pax. “Tell us what the hell’s going on.”

  “Thank you,” Pax said. “I appreciate you giving us the time.” He said nothing for a moment, looking at Robert and his friends. “Yes, we did lie about being with the UN, but we’re not the only ones who have done that. You see, there is no UN anymore, not since the flu hit.”

  “But that’s not true,” Renee said. “The message on TV, on the radio. The secretary general.”

  “Gustavo Di Sarsina,” Pax said.

  “Yes!”

  “I watched the video myself last night on my trip south. Pretty convincing. The thing is, Di Sarsina is not the secretary general, and the message is not from the UN.”

  “Oh, come on!” Chuck said.

  “He said there are survival stations,” Renee argued. “Places people can go.”

  “He’s right about the latter, but calling them survival stations is a bit disingenuous,” Pax said. “It’s a long story, if you’re willing to listen.”

  “We’ve got time,” Robert said.

  US 101

  CENTRAL COAST OF CALIFORNIA

  10:44 AM PST

  MARTINA AND HER friends had been on the road for over an hour. The temperature was cool but not unbearable, the sky clear and wide. The freeway north of Paso Robles consisted of two ribbons of asphalt, each two lanes wide. One was for northbound traffic and the other for south, with about a thirty-foot-wide strip of grass between them.

  The four travelers had already come across several accidents, the worst of which had forced them to ride off the road to get around it. So, in the interest of not dying, they were once more keeping their speed down to forty miles an hour. It wouldn’t get them anywhere fast, but by Martina’s figuring, they would still make San Mateo before nightfall.

  They had just come over a small rise when the sun glinted off something in the distance.

  Glass, probably, Martina thought, either another accident or an abandoned car at the side of the freeway. A few moments later it winked out, masked by the undulating road. She’d almost forgotten about it when the glint appeared again, only it had shifted position. A different car? Or…

  Was it moving?

  She slowed.

  The glint shimmered and dipped.

  It was moving.

  Martina let her bike roll to a stop.

  “What’s up?” Noreen asked as she and the others stopped next to Martina.

  “I think there’s a car heading this way.”

  They all looked down the road.

  “I don’t see anything,” Riley said.

  “It was there a moment ago,” Martina said.

  “That sun reflection?” Craig asked.

  “You saw it, too?”

  “For a second, but it disappeared pretty quick. You saw it moving?”

  “I think so,” Martina said.

  Riley cocked her head. “You hear that?”

  Martina and the others listened. Above the sound of their idling bikes was a low whine.

  “That’s an engine,” Craig said. “I’m sure it is. I think you’re right.”

  “Should we try to flag them down?” Riley asked.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Noreen said. “The only other person we’ve come across shot at us. Maybe this guy will try to ram us with his car.”

  “She’s right,” Martina said. “We have to be careful. Maybe we should stay right here and watch it drive by. We can get a look at whoever’s inside. If they seem okay, we can catch up to them and get their attention. If not, we keep going on our way.”

  The others seemed to like this idea.

  After killing their engines, they climbed off their bikes and walked over to the shoulder so they’d have a better look when the car drove by.

  It wasn’t long before Martina could see the approaching vehicle was red. It looked more like a truck than a sedan, but it was still too far away for her to tell. Maybe an SUV or a station wagon?

  It disappeared into a dip, and when it came up again, it was considerably closer.

  Not a station wagon or an SUV.

  It was a Jeep. A red Jeep.

  Not unlike Ben’s red Jeep.

  A few seconds later, Martina realized it didn’t have just a passing similarity to Ben’s Jeep. It looked almost identical, and a few seconds after that she thought, Not almost.

  She whipped around and raced back to her bike.

  “Hey! What are you doing?”

  She wasn’t sure which one of them had yelled at her, but she didn’t care. All she could think about was Ben, and that he was right there on the other side of the road. She fired up her bike and raced onto the grass separating the lanes.

  When she reached the southbound side, she stopped and began waving both arms over her head. “Ben!” she yelled. “Ben!”

  Behind her, one of the other bikes pulled up.

  “What the hell, Martina?�
� Noreen asked.

  “That’s Ben’s Jeep,” Martina said, her gaze still on the approaching vehicle. “I know it is!”

  The Jeep was only a few moments away now, but given that it hadn’t started to slow, she realized Ben hadn’t seen her yet. She stood up, one foot on the ground, the other on the bike’s footrest, and waved again. “Ben! It’s me!”

  That did it. The Jeep began to decelerate.

  “It’s him,” Martina said to Noreen, a huge smile on her face. “It’s Ben.”

  She was starting to hop off her bike when the Jeep sped up again.

  She waved her arms faster. “Hey, Ben! Stop! It’s me!”

  As the vehicle blew past her, she realized two things: first, it was indeed Ben’s Jeep, the license number and the dent in the front fender being proof of that; and second, the person behind the wheel wasn’t Ben.

  The driver—a woman with wild brown hair—glanced stone faced at Martina before looking back to the road. Martina had met a few of Ben’s friends, but this woman wasn’t one of them.

  But whoever she was, Martina was certain the woman knew where Ben was.

  Without thinking twice about it, she fishtailed into the southbound lanes and raced after the Jeep.

  27

  NEW MEXICO

  12:57 PM MST

  MATT KNEW HE and his team had caught a break. Bad weather was coming—there was no missing the wall of gray clouds following them southward—but so far they had been able to stay ahead of the storm and make excellent time.

  As the town of Alamogordo came into view, Matt said, “We’ll stop here for a bit.”

  “Yes, sir,” Hiller said. He’d taken over driving Matt’s Humvee. “Any place in particular?”

  Matt checked his notes. “East on 10th Street. Should be a big market four or five blocks in on the left.”

  “Got it.”

  Matt shifted in his seat and looked out the side window at an ocean of shrubs and dirt. Though it had been a long time since he’d been in this part of the country, it looked exactly the same.

  How naïve he’d been back then, enough to become a member of Project Eden without fully understanding what the organization’s real mission was. He had been an engineer, working on what he then considered a dream job, helping to build secret underground facilities throughout North America.