by C J Singh
“Hi.” I leaned closer, smiling. “I thought you were dead. They said you were dead.” I didn’t realize I was crying until the wet tear slid down my cheek. Wait, why was I crying? I quickly wiped them away.
“Eden,” he repeated, closing his eyes.
I surveyed the tubes and needles in his arms. “What did they do to you?”
He let out what I assume was supposed to be a laugh, but it came out as a coughing croak. “Nothing,” he managed in a dry whisper. “They’re helping.” He cracked his eyes again to look at me. “Are you crying?”
My cheeks warmed. Ignoring him, I touched his forehead again. “Helping? Then why are you still hot with fever?” Scanning the room, I grabbed a small bowl with cool water and a cloth, placing it on his forehead.
He tried moving again and his face grimaced. Grunting, he gave up. “You... OK?”
“Me? You’re worried about me? Have you looked in a mirror?” I chuckled, continuing to gently rub the cloth over his face and neck.
His cheek twitched in an attempt to smile. “Fever” was all he was able to get out.
“Yes. I know, but how do we cure it?”
“Can’t.”
I took a cup of water from the small table next to us. Holding his head up, I brought the cup to his mouth and he drank. More water spilled down his chin than actually made it into his mouth. I hated seeing him like this, would hate to see anyone like this.
“Procedure,” he rasped.
“Procedure?”
His eyes pleaded with mine. He wanted to say more, but he was too weak. “It’s OK,” I said. How about I ask yes or no questions, and you blink to respond. Blink once for yes, twice for no. Good?”
He blinked once. Yes.
“Good. Do you know this procedure?”
Two blinks. No.
“Did Sarah say something about it?”
One blink. Yes.
“Does anyone else know about it?”
One blink. Yes.
“Is it another woman?”
Two blinks. No. My heart sank.
“A man. Do you know his name?”
Two blinks.
I wasn’t sure if I was happy or frustrated. As much as I didn’t want to hear if Derek or Brian knew more than what they had told me, I wanted to learn more and help Jace. There weren’t many men here that would be talking to Sarah about such a vital thing.
“I’m sorry to keep asking questions, but did they give any information about it? What it was or how to do it?”
Two blinks. No.
I sighed, pursing my lips.
Jace closed his eyes and his breath turned deep and steady. He had fallen asleep. I returned the bowl and rag back where I found it and watched him a moment, unsure of when he had become someone I had to help, but he had. He had become my friend, and if what he just told me was true, he may be the only person I now trusted within this camp.
Chapter 19
Tristan
Ash’s tail wagged slightly as he led us through the woods. He was focused, never stopping, even to check the scent. He knew exactly where to go. The only sounds around us were from our shoes crunching the dry fallen leaves.
No one spoke. Ellie’s death still lingered between us. It was still hard to believe that she had been gone for four days now, that she wasn’t just walking slightly behind the group. Our backs were taut and we clutched our knives, ready if another scourge attacked. I agreed with Old Bob; no one else I cared about would be taken by them. Not if I had a say about it.
“Stop,” Old Bob hissed. He slowly moved in front of us, keeping his eyes fixed on the trees ahead. “We aren’t alone.”
I scanned the area where Old Bob’s eyes moved. Nothing.
“I don’t see anything,” Tate whispered.
“Same.”
Old Bob motioned us to follow him. Careful not to make too much noise, we moved through the trees, placing our feet carefully to not snap any twigs. Coming to a clearing, we stayed back within the tree line. Ash started to whimper quietly, wagging his tail.
From the top of the small hill within the trees, we stared down at a large wooden fence surrounding a camp. Small watch towers stood near the entrance with four people holding weapons. Inside people moved about freely, happily going about their day.
“There must be about a hundred people in there,” I whispered.
Neither of them looked at me as they continued to search our surrounding area.
“We have been practically living in solitude with one neighbor miles away for our whole lives when there are places like this?” Tate whispered.
I nodded in agreement.
Old Bob sighed. “We have lived in solitude for your protection. You don’t understand what life was like when the Fever happened.”
I turned to face him. “No. We wouldn’t since I can count on two hands how many people we have met in the last sixteen years, and with three of them, before we could learn anything from them, you scared them away.” I turned back to the camp. “I say we go in. They may have information about Eden. Maybe even about the scourges.”
“Everything we did for you was to protect you. You were young, not old enough to remember or comprehend the chaos that happened when the virus, the Fever, came.” He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “We can’t just go in. When everything happened, people changed. They became more violent, unsafe. We can’t trust them.” He motioned to the men standing at the entrance. “Plus, they have guns. Our daggers are no match for guns.”
“I understand what you’re saying, and I appreciate everything you have done for us, but we have to take a chance at some point. Right now, we have to think about Eden. These people may have some answers; we have to try,” Tate said. I nodded in agreement and fought the urge to give Tate an atta-boy pat on the back.
Old Bob sighed, closing his eyes in defeat. “Fine.”
A loud clanking rebounded from inside the walls. We moved to a better vantage point to see inside.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Come,” Old Bob whispered, moving toward the sound.
In a clearing near the edge of the camp, between the tents and the wall, two people fought. They moved gracefully, almost like a dance, holding wooden staffs that clanked together. The movements reminded me of Old Bob fighting earlier. I moved to the edge of the tree line to get a better view. A tall blonde, muscular man barked orders at a girl. Her long apricot hair flowed through the breeze with her movements. She was strong, nimble, quick, and... blindfolded. Eden.
“Tate! It’s Eden.”
“What?” He moved to my side. “What is she doing in there and why is she fighting blindfolded?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going in there.” I started toward the entrance only to be halted by Old Bob grabbing my arm.
“Wait. We can’t just go in. We have to have a plan.”
“A plan?” I scowled at him. “Eden is in there.”
“More of a reason that we need a plan. We can’t just go barging in knowing nothing about the situation.” He let go of my arm. “I care about Eden, too, you know that, but if we want to do her any justice, we have to think about what to do first.” He looked toward Eden and the man. “Anyway, she doesn’t look like she is any immediate danger at the moment. Remember, I did teach her to fight. I know she can handle herself.”
“She’s blindfolded.” I motioned toward her and the man. They still moved smoothly. He attacked her from all directions, but she blocked him with ease. It was a dance. A dance that turns bloody. Ellie’s wide, scared eyes flashed before me, and I turned away, squeezing my eyes shut.
“I think he’s right, Tristan. We have to be smart about this.” Tate’s hand gently folds over my shoulder and I slump.
Turning back to watch Eden, I saw her swing the staff with confide
nce. Her cheeks flushed with heat, and her hair flowed around her like golden water. She was beautiful. I sighed. “All right. What’s the plan then?”
“Plan for what?” a man said.
We turned to see a man behind us. Five more men walked into view behind him from the trees, all pointing guns at us. Guns. I hadn’t seen guns since I was a small child living in the city. Even then it was only the guards who had them. Crap.
“Easy, easy,” Old Bob said, putting his hands up. “We mean no harm.” He put his knife in his sheath, and his earlier comment about knives and guns had Tate and I doing the same.
“Sure. Let’s go,” one of the men said, motioning for us to move forward. One pushed the head of his gun into Tate’s back, and he stumbled forward.
“I’m walking! I’m walking!” Tate yelled.
Another man started toward me, but I dodged him so his gun missed me. We marched toward the open gates, open and ready for us, where more people with guns waited. What had Eden gotten into?
Chapter 20
Eden
The sky was clear and the sun beat down on us, sizzling away the coolness of the morning. Sweat formed on my brow as Brian and I sparred. The clanking of our staffs ringing through the clearing was much more prominent to my ears since I was blindfolded... again. Today, however, I wasn’t taking a beating. I was focused and tuned in to my hearing and sense of smell, blocking Brian’s attack. My bandaged hand clutched the staff, but the ache in my palm didn’t show in my swift movements.
Letting my senses run on autopilot for a moment, I allowed my mind to wander to earlier when I had met with Sarah to have my cut checked and bandage changed. She wasn’t as sweet and talkative as the day before due to a run-in with Jon and his thugs. He had done just what Derek said he would: gathered more people. They had shown up to her tent demanding Jace be thrown out. Derek and Brian ended the small protest, but Derek wasn’t sure for how long he could keep them away. Sarah insisted she was doing the best she could, but she wasn’t positive Jace would survive.
I had pushed her about the procedure. She didn’t even seem too surprised when I brought it up, but she didn’t have much information.
Frustration fueled my training.
Derek walked from his tent to the edge of the clearing and sat on the shaded grass. He hollered corrections or praise to me. I’m sure Brian and he were chatting in their heads, but since I was blindfolded, I couldn’t be sure. I had to practice more on building my interior wall.
“Focus!” Brian bellowed at me.
I shook out my body, rolling my head to stretch my neck. Focus, focus, focus. I moved in for an attack that was easily avoided, but it felt good not to be on the defensive all the time.
After an hour of nonstop work, my muscles ached and sweat dampened the back of my shirt. A guard from the camp entrance approached, stopping our session.
“Derek, there’s something you need to see.”
I pulled off my blindfold. The guard’s face was stone, but by the way he rubbed a hand along one pant leg, I would say he was nervous. His eyes flicked to me, then quickly back to Derek.
Derek stood with a sigh, brushing off his pants. The relaxation he had shown on the grass transitioned to dominance. The hairs on my neck spiked and my whole body stiffened. I would not bow. I repeated the mantra in my mind.
Come.
Derek’s voice rang in our minds. The pull was too strong to ignore. My foot took an almost involuntary step forward, but I shook my head and arms out, fighting the instinct to follow. This may be the only time to find any information. I bent over to fix my shoe, letting Brian walk ahead.
“Little one! Come on!”
“Yeah! I’ll be right there. Just need a drink.”
Nodding, he followed Derek toward the gate.
With no time to lose, I slipped into Derek’s tent and fixed my eyes on his desk. If there really was a procedure, then Derek was the best person to hold that kind of information. Papers littered the top, and I quickly shuffled through them, but nothing caught my eye. I opened the top drawer, nothing but pens. Moving to the top right, I didn’t find anything important. Frustration built and I pinched my lips together. There had to be something. I pulled out the bottom right drawer and spotted a dark leather-bound folder. Opening it, I discovered three loose pages, wrinkled and soft at the edges. Whatever they were, they had been looked at a lot.
I scratched my head, inspecting each page. I had never seen anything like it before, even in all of Ellie’s lessons. One page had a picture, hand drawn, of what looked like two twisted ladders mending together. Bonding the ladders was an odd spider-like symbol. There was a sketched picture of a human and a few sketches of different animals. Bear, deer, dog, and bird on the outside of the ladders. While skimming the few journal entries that accompanied it, I was interrupted by yelling outside. Almost dropping the pages, I shoved them back into the folder and back into the drawer. I peeked out the flap before rushing outside.
The feeling hit me like a gust of air. I stiffly walked toward the entrance of the camp, shaking out my trembling hands. This feeling, it was like when the bear attacked Ash in the creek a few years back. He had been terrified, as was I. It took a long few weeks to rid ourselves of the ripples of feelings that continued to plague us, but we got through it... together. As I neared the growing crowd, the sensation was so strong my breaths started puffing through my nose. What was happening?
My ear twitched at the low growl. Not just any growl, that was Ash’s growl. A rush of blood pumped into my head and I quickly pushed through the crowd. Ash, Ash was here. My fingertips ached in anticipation of feeling his thick, soft fur. When I reached the front of the crowd, my elation quickly transformed to rage. My family stood in a row, tied up with guns pointed at their backs. I looked at Old Bob, then Tate, then Tristan before my eyes dropped down to Ash at the end of the row; he had a rope tied around his muzzle. How they got that on him, I have no idea.
My lips pulled back, baring my teeth, and a guttural roar filled the air as I charged.
Chapter 21
Eden
The first man I tackled had his gun pointed at Tate. His eyes were wide and terrified as his back hit the ground. After pulling the gun from his weak grip, I knocked him unconscious. Jumping up, I pivoted to the next guard. His gun was pointed at Tristan. He tried to run but fell forward at the swipe of my foot. His scream was silenced by the blow to his head.
“Eden!” Derek bellowed.
I blocked him out, my rapid heartbeats thundered in my ears. My vision, rimmed with red, focused in on the third man. A growl in my throat grew loud as I stalked him. His shaking gun was pointed at Old Bob. He licked his lips, shuffling his feet as I slowly neared him. The whites of Old Bob’s wide eyes drowned out the hazel. Just two steps before I reached him, the guard set the gun on the ground, backing away. Closing my eyes, I put my nose in the air, pulling in the thick smell of fear. It rang through my nerves, exciting me.
WHAM!
My back hit the ground and all the air left my lungs. I widened my eyes and opened my mouth, willing myself to pull in air.
Derek.
Pulling in a deep breath, I curled my lips and flipped him off me. Jumping to a crouch, I spun, swiping his feet out from under him. He fell with a grunt. Standing tall, I looked down at him over my nose. I would bow to no one. He locked eyes on mine, the skin around them taut, and he slowly stood.
“Back off, Eden.” His voice was firm, strong, and... dominant.
I will not bow. I will not back down.
“That’s my family!” I snarled. “If you threaten them, I will rip you to shreds.”
Derek stilled, tilting his head as he observed me. “Back off. Release them,” he said to the guards.
“Derek...” Brian protested.
“Don’t argue! They’re Eden’s family. That makes them gu
ests.” He inclined his head toward me, a peace offering. Letting my shoulders drop, I stepped back.
The remaining three guards gratefully lowered their guns and moved away quickly; one wiped the sweat from his brow.
The moment I turned, Ash’s paws hit my chest and we fell back. Happiness twinkled in his gold eyes.
“Ash!”
I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in the soft fur of his ruff. All the tension in me disappeared. I held him back and untied the rope from around his muzzle. Whoever did that will have a word with me later. The roughness of his warm tongue scratched my nose and my smile returned.
“Is that a wolf?” Jon said in disgust from the growing crowd behind us. “We’re letting wild animals in now too, Derek?”
Standing, I turned to face him. “This is my wolf. If you have an issue with him, you can take it up with me.” Ash stood at my side, my fingertips grazing his soft head.
“That’s enough!” Derek’s voice rumbled, causing everyone to go silent. He turned to me “You need to cool off. Take your family back to your tent. I will be there shortly.”
Breaking away from Jon’s gaze, I turned toward Derek. The dominance in his eyes told me not to mess with him. Letting out a small snort, I turned to Tate, Tristan, and Old Bob, who regarded me with wide eyes, almost scared.
“Follow me.”
My lack of control prohibited me from giving them the greeting I would like. The only one who understood was Ash. Feeling the tickle of his coat on my legs brought a sigh to my chest. Without speaking, I escorted my family and focused on maintaining my temper the entire walk to my tent. Brian followed, for what I suspect was protection. Not to protect us, but to protect others from me.
***
“Sooo, you look good,” Tate finally said.
I looked up from my cot at him standing in front of me, his sweet face soft and smiling. We had been standing in a thick silence for a few minutes. No one seemed to know what to say to me, or I to them. Their uneasy fear was obvious in their shuffling feet as they avoided staring at me, giving me only fleeting glances.
