Saving Eden (Original Series book 3)

by Rachel McClellan

  She nods.

  "I'm going to get you out of here, okay? It might hurt, but I'm going to drag you back toward that car."

  She nods again.

  I'm nervous for this part. For me to drag her backward, I'm going to have to rise higher than I'm comfortable with, but there's no other way. I straighten as much as I dare and loop my hands under her arms.

  "Sage!" Jenna yells. "Get down!"

  I keep moving. Another twenty feet and we'll both be safely behind the car. It's raining harder now, and I have to blink rapidly to keep the water out of my eyes.

  "So you're the Original everyone keeps talking about," a deep voice behind me says.

  I close my eyes and inhale a shaky breath.

  "Set the woman down and turn around slowly."

  I do as the man says. A tall Prime stands only ten feet away, a gun pointed at my chest.

  "They told us to take you alive, but I'm going to do the world a favor right now because we're all real sick of hearing your name."

  "Sage!" Jenna calls again. I can see her running at me out of the corner of my eye. I'm wondering why she's not shooting at the guy, but then I see she's not holding a gun.

  I lift my hands. "Please, don't—"

  Jenna jumps in front of me just as a gun cracks and then another. I stand there in shock, expecting to feel pain from a bullet wound any second, but it doesn't come. My gaze lowers. Jenna is lying where I should be. I look up. The Prime is also lying on the wet earth. I swivel around. The girl I'd been dragging is lying partially on her side, pointing a gun in the Prime's direction.

  I drop to the ground and roll Jenna over. "Jenna?"

  "Oh man," she groans. "Did I really just take a bullet for you?"

  I frantically look her up and down. That's when I see it. Her shirt near her right shoulder is turning crimson. I press my hand to the wound.

  "I'm so sorry," I say. "I can't believe this is happening! This is all my fault."

  "Would you shut up already?" she snaps and grimaces. "Get Evie out of here!"

  I whirl around and resume my hold on Evie's arms. It doesn't take me long to drag her behind the vehicle.

  "I'll be right back," I say. "Keep applying pressure."

  I head back for Jenna who is stumbling to her feet. I can't see Tank, Anthony, or any of our guys for that matter. Jenna's cursing under breath, half the words I've never heard before.

  "Let's go," I say and hook my arm around her.

  She trips, curses again, and leans into me as we walk toward the vehicle. There's fewer bullets flying and less shouting, which makes me think the fight is almost over. Because I'm not sure if we are winning, my brain starts making plans to escape into the forest, maybe follow the path of Michael and the other Originals. It will be difficult because I can't carry both Evie and Jenna.

  I'm almost to the vehicle when suddenly it blows up, knocking Jenna and me back several feet. I hit the ground so hard my vision explodes into reds and purples and my hearing is accosted by a loud, high-pitched ringing. I attempt to sit up but fall back down. I slowly turn my head to the side. Jenna's lying with her back to me, unmoving. I need to get up. I need to see if she's all right.

  As I struggle to my feet, I catch Anthony in the distance. He's running toward us, shouting something I can't hear over the loud pealing in my ears. I manage to stand, but I'm so disoriented that I wonder if maybe I'm dreaming all the fire and dead bodies around me.

  I reach out to tell him I'm okay when all of a sudden his chest seems to open up and explode blood everywhere. He collapses to the ground, his mouth still open from shouting at me.

  "No!" I sprint and drop to the ground next to him, my insides shaking violently. "Anthony?"

  I don't know where to touch him to stop the bleeding. His entire chest cavity is ripped apart and blood bubbles and pulses outward as if his insides are boiling. He was shot with something huge, creating more damage than I can fix.

  I think he’s dead then, but his golden eyes fly open. "Sage." He coughs, blood sprays into the air.

  "Don't talk. I'm going to fix this." I remove my jacket and press it to his chest.

  His hand slides up to mine. He speaks again. I do my best to hear him over the ringing in my ears.

  "Don't…change…you." He tries to inhale but coughs again. He struggles to say more, but there's no more air in what's left of his lungs. His eyes widen in fear, and his grip tightens on my hand.

  "Shh, it's okay," I say through hitched breaths. Tears burn my eyes and blur my vision.

  His eyes lift above me and a strange calm comes over him as if he can see something I can't. I think he even smiles.

  "Anthony?"

  His hand loosens and falls limply to his side. Then, just as another explosion goes off on the other side of the clearing, his eyes close.

  I shake my head, my chin trembling. "Wake up." I jiggle his shoulders. "Wake up!"

  This can't be happening. I'm breathing so fast and hard that my lips begin to tingle. I don't know what to do. If this were anyone else, I'd be calling for Anthony. Without him… I glance over at Jenna. She's still not moving. I need Tank.

  I force myself to my feet, swaying left and right. There are a few people in the distance running into the forest. I can't tell who they are through the smoke and dim light. I stumble after them. Tank has got to be here somewhere. I round a corner and see him. He's fighting a guard who's not nearly his height, but the smaller Prime is fast and wielding a sword. Tank swings and misses, off by over a foot.

  Something's wrong. I blink a few times, trying to clear my head to make sense of what I'm seeing. Then Tank turns and I understand. His whole left side is drenched in blood. He's missing an arm.

  The swordsman takes another swipe at Tank. Tank isn't fast enough to avoid the blade and it cuts into his back. He cries out in pain, a sound I've never heard from him before.

  First Jenna, then Anthony and now Tank. I can't watch one more friend die. I drop my gaze to the ground, searching for the only thing that makes me strong. I find a gun not far away, stuck within the grip of a dead man. I pry it out and point it at the swordsman. There's not a single thought to keep me from pulling the trigger. I press hard and drop to my knees, my breaths shallow.

  The swordsman has fallen to the wet ground dead. There is no one left to fight Tank, yet he still continues to swing his only arm blindly into the night. Blood pours from his empty shoulder.

  "Tank," I say, my voice lost in the fires around me. I need to get up. He will die if we don't stop the bleeding.

  Slowly, I rise and glance behind me. Jenna is still lying still on the ground face down. Help Tank first, then Jenna.

  "Tank!" I call and stumble over to him while I tear off my rain-soaked jacket.

  He turns and jabs a fist right at me. I duck just in time and call his name again. This time he stops and blinks. It's like he's seeing me for the first time.

  He drops to his knees, swaying slightly.

  "Anthony," he whispers. "The others."

  "I know." My lips tremble as I tie my jacket around his shoulder as best I can, but it barely fits across his massive chest.

  "I couldn't save them." He inhales a great, hitched breath.

  I pull him to me. He's so tall that his head comes to my chest. I hang on to him, one hand pressing firmly to where his arm should've been, while his shoulders tremble.

  All of a sudden, there's a loud whirling and the area is bathed in light from above. Tank stands and holds me back protectively. It must take him great effort because his legs visibly shake.

  Another sound, like something sliding open, has me looking up, but I can't see anything through the glaring light. A moment later, men and women in uniforms just like ours drop from a large craft above us. Some jump while others slide down long ropes, guns raised.

  "Over here," a woman calls to others in her group. She hurries over to us and gasps when she sees Tank's missing arm. "Bring a medical unit!"

  Not far away, a ne
w wave of gunfire sounds. The soldiers who just arrived must be engaging the remaining Institute guards. For now, we are safe.

  "You're going to be okay," I tell Tank over and over, but I can't be sure if my lips are even moving. We are saved. The fight is over, but the battle has just begun. Anthony is dead. I glance back at Jenna. Someone is with her, helping her to her feet.

  "Who?" Tank breathes. "Why?"

  "Rafe changed his mind," the woman says. "It's too bad we couldn't get here sooner."

  Tank is swarmed by three people at once who help him onto a stretcher that is then air-lifted. I stay back as his body rises, thoughts hammering through a wall of shock. When the barrier shatters, a powerful realization dawns on me. It rushes through me from head to foot, a burning fire that ignites who I once was: my childhood memories, the ones that comforted me when I needed it the most, my belief system where words matter, the idea that I can help the people I love by just being me—all these thoughts that Anthony had helped instill in me. They are all just gone. Burned to a crisp by flames of anger.

  "You survived," a voice says behind me with mild amusement. It's Rafe.

  I look away from Tank just as he's swallowed up into the hovercraft and meet Rafe's steady gaze. "I want those injections as soon as possible."

  7

  I take Jenna's still hand in mine as she lays in bed. She's been out of surgery for almost an hour but still hasn't woken. The bullet in her shoulder had to be removed from the bone along with bits of metal from the explosion. It should've been me in this bed, but she chose to save me instead. I am indebted to her forever.

  The room they've put her in is on the east side of Enfield in the medical wing. We're lucky we have such a nice facility. Before Enfield, surgeries had to be performed either on a hovercraft or in a room at one of HOPE's safe houses. They weren't always the best conditions.

  Jenna looks peaceful, her blond hair spread out on a white pillowcase. She doesn't know about Anthony. No one wanted to tell her before surgery. No one really wanted to tell her after either, so I volunteered. Everyone knows how much Jenna looked up to him. She will take his death hard.

  I squeeze her hand then lower back into a chair, closing my eyes. I haven't slept at all after we came back. Tank and a couple other survivors had also been rushed into surgery. We had suffered huge losses, but so did the Institute. We had captured six of their guys, killed about twice that many, while others fled. We also managed to find Michael and the other two Originals who had been in the basement and brought them back with us to Enfield.

  This is what I'm thinking about when I finally fall asleep—the Originals we saved. My dreams are filled with their new, future life, living in a normal house, on a normal street where they have children who attend school. They take them to the park, along with a big dog that likes to bark at the birds in the trees. I watch as a spectator, but after some time I yearn to be a part of their life. I approach them nervously. They turn to look at me, but just as they do, bullets ravage their bodies, misting the air with red.

  "Sage! Sage!"

  My eyelids fly open, and I sit up, gasping for air.

  "Have a nightmare on your own time," Jenna grumbles. "As you can see, I'm trying to rest. Or maybe you've already forgotten how I took a bullet for you."

  I sip in a couple of breaths, trying to calm my racing heart. "Of course I haven't forgotten. That's why I'm here."

  I glance at my wristpad. I've been asleep for almost two hours.

  "What were you dreaming about?" she asks, her voice softer. "Monsters?"

  I chuckle. "I wish. No, this was just a dream about real life."

  "I hear you. What I wouldn't give to have my dreams filled with hot vampires and ripped werewolves!"

  We both laugh a little, relieving some of the tension in the air. We both know real life is far scarier than any fictional creature.

  Jenna winces as she shifts position in the bed. "So what happened? You know, after that explosion came out of nowhere."

  Even though I had imagined this conversation many times since Anthony died, the words I thought I would say simply won't come. Maybe because I don't want to say them out loud.

  "Hey!" she says, as she rises on one elbow. "What happened? Tank? Anthony? Are they okay?"

  I fight back hot tears. My voice shakes, when I say, "Tank was hurt bad. He lost an arm."

  She sucks in a breath. "And Anthony?"

  I blink, releasing several tears that turn cold when they touch my cheek. "I'm so sorry, Jenna. He didn't make it."

  She searches my eyes as if waiting for me to add something else, maybe give her a glimmer of hope. When I don’t, she drops her head back to the pillow.

  "Get out," she says.

  I reach for her hand, but she moves it away.

  "Please," she adds, her voice quivering.

  I'm slow to rise to my feet. Her eyes are closed.

  "I'll come back soon," I whisper and leave the room.

  My legs feel like they weigh a thousand pounds as I walk down a long hall. I pass other rooms with Primes who were also hurt. Tank is in the last room. I peek in the window of the door. He is asleep with Ash, his girlfriend and Enfield's doctor, cuddled next to him, his good arm wrapped around her shoulders. She looks so small against his massive frame.

  I turn away from the door and continue onward until I'm outside. It's late afternoon and warm, much warmer than I prefer. I pull my long sleeve shirt over my head, leaving just a tank top. I should go see my father, but he's probably still with patients helping out those he can. We did speak briefly, long enough for him to ascertain my health and scold me for lying to him.

  Despite a bone-deep weariness, I walk down the street, pass the Green, finally stopping at the main security building. The inside is filled with a lot of people I've never seen before. They crowd the halls, chatting and standing next to each other as if awaiting orders. A few of them acknowledge me as I pass.

  When Rafe saved us last night, he brought back with him a small army. More were expected to arrive every day from the West. Rafe had discovered a way to temporarily trick the Institute's flight surveillance, giving his men a small window to fly across the Northern lands and into the East.

  These new Primes were different from the ones in our area. They seemed more open and interacted easily with those around them, but there was something else. A forlorn look in their eyes that made me wonder how long they have been fighting.

  I'm about to open the door to Command, when someone grabs my arm and spins me around.

  "I wouldn't go in there just yet." Link stands behind me, his hands balled tightly.

  "What's going on in there?"

  "Some secret meeting. Only a few people were invited."

  "Who from our side?"

  "Tank and Anthony were supposed to be there, but, well, you know." He clears his throat. "Raven's in there, and Ice."

  I nod. Those two would be the most logical choices. They had worked closely with Colt before he was taken.

  "You’re supposed to be in there too," Link says, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

  "I am?"

  "Yeah, but I told them you were with Jenna."

  I furrow my brow and look at him more closely, noticing his rigid posture and pinched expression. "Are you okay?"

  I haven't seen much of him during the last couple of weeks. He has been spending a lot of time with the Originals, the ones who had been held captive at Enfield and also those who had escaped Eden, like his mother and sister. I thought he's just been busy, but maybe there is something else going on.

  He looks past me, his jaw set. "I should've gone with you last night."

  "It was a spur-of-the-moment trip, and I guess I didn't stop to think that you might want to go."

  His cold stare returns to me. "Well, I did. Have you forgotten that the Institute still has my father and brother?"

  It's my turn to make fists. "Just like they have Max. We have all lost someone, Link."

  "Then
let me do something about it! Maybe if I would've been there, Tank wouldn't have lost an arm and Anthony would still be alive."

  I take a step toward him. "Or you could've ended up dead too."

  "That's for me to worry about. You think you're the only Original capable of helping Primes fight this war?" His voice grows louder.

  I cringe at his words. "I am far from capable. In fact, I am so far from being able to help anyone that people are dead because of me."

  "Then how come they keep letting you go on these dangerous missions?"

  I look back and forth into each of his eyes, wanting desperately for some strong words to come to me, but nothing does. He's right. I probably shouldn't have gone.

  His arms fold to his chest. "I need to be doing something, Sage. I'm going crazy here!"

  I touch him lightly on the arm. "I'm sorry. I'll make sure—"

  The door opens suddenly, nearly hitting my shoulder.

  "What's with all the yelling?" Ice asks, but when he sees it's me, adds, "It's about time. Get in here."

  He pulls me in before I can argue. Just before the door closes, I see Link punch the wall. I feel bad for him. I know he's hurting just like I am, and I admit, it does help being actively engaged. Somehow, I need to find a way to get him get more involved.

  "I'm glad you made it under such difficult circumstances," Rafe says.

  I turn around. I've been in this room many times, but for some reason, it feels smaller. Maybe it's because of Rafe and his new friend sitting across from him. The way they are staring at me, you'd think I was about to audition for a play.

  The strange man is one I've never seen before. He's a thin and tall Prime with black hair and golden eyes. His pointy nose dips into a skinny-lipped smile. The smile looks like it's one he's practiced in the mirror. He also looks much older than Rafe, at least fifty, which can only mean one thing—he's had oDNA, lots of it. I hate him already.

  Ice sits near him looking at a pad in his hand, while Raven scowls at me from a chair nearby.

  "Sage, this is—" Rafe begins.

  "Leaf Myers," I guess.

  Myers's smile turns upside down. "Have we met?"