The Eve (The Eden Trilogy) (22 page)

I was just about to head down the stairs to the main floor when I ran right into Avian.  He tripped backwards and I reached a hand out and gripped the front of his shirt just in time to keep him from tumbling back down them.

Pulling him back into standing position, he started laughing.  “That would be just my luck, getting within two weeks of the apocalypse ending, and meet my demise by falling down the stairs.”

“I’ll have to wrap you up in layers of blankets to get you there,” I said as he turned and walked down the stairs with me.

We exited into the hall of the main floor and walked together toward the dining area for dinner.

Everyone sat at tables, quiet and so seemingly unaware of the changes that were about to descend upon our already crazy world.  They smiled and talked, and if someone from before the Evolution were to observe them, they wouldn’t think anything had happened to end their way of comfortable living.

“Things seem too calm,” Avian said as we sat at a table with our meals.  “Don’t they?”

I nodded and forked the canned green beans into my mouth.  I swallowed.  “The last year has been so crazy and life-threatening, this almost seems scarier.”

“The calm before the storm, maybe,” Avian said. 

“Things are falling into place too easily.”  I ate half of my roll in one bite.  “It feels like we’re missing something.  Like we’re overlooking an important detail, or something is brewing just under the surface where we can’t see it.”

Avian grunted in agreement as he finished off his own roll.  “Maybe the world has just made us paranoid.  We’ve had to fight so hard for so long, that when things get easy, we start getting suspicious.”

“I don’t know,” I said, wiping crumbs off my hands.  “I think maybe everyone is too confident that this machine is going to work.  What if it doesn’t go any further than New Eden’s borders?  No farther than the state this used to be?  What if they can’t even get it to go off?  What if there isn’t a single satellite up there that will work?  What if I can’t really connect with the Bane?”

“It will work,” Avian said, looking up at me from his plate.  “It has to.”

“I guess that’s the storm, isn’t it?” I said, picking up my fork but not grabbing any food with it.  “If this doesn’t work, that’s the end of the human race.”

Avian reached across the table and covered my free hand with his.  I met his eyes again.  “It will work,” he said. 

TWENTY-FIVE

THIRTEEN DAYS UNTIL SET OFF

First thing in the morning, Royce called a meeting. 

Every member of New Eden, including the refugees, and now Karmen and Susan, gathered in the auditorium, facing Royce with expectation.  Gabriel stood to his side, hands crossed behind his back.

“First, as I’m sure you’ve all already seen, our solar crew has returned safely,” Royce said, clapping.  Everyone followed his lead and clapped loudly.  My face grew red and I was glad I was in the second row of seats so I didn’t have to look at anyone.  West, who was just to my side, smirked down at me.  Vee, next to him just stared forward at Royce.

“Most of you have wondered what their exact mission was,” Royce continued.  He held his hands behind his back and paced across the stage.  “You’ve heard that the man who created TorBane is still alive.  Eve and her chosen crew went with Dr. Evans back to NovaTor Biotics.  They were on a mission to get a certain code.”

The room had grown silent and I could almost feel everyone leaning forward, on baited breath, waiting for him to continue.

“A kill code,” Royce said.  As if on cue, everyone inhaled sharply.  Several shouts of
what does that mean?
were thrown into the air.  Royce held his hands out as if to push their questions back at them.  “It is exactly like it sounds.  This is a kill code that will instantly wipe out the Bane.  It is difficult to fully explain how it works.  There is a lot of mixed up history to it, but our own Eve is the key to making it work.”

Instantly, I felt hundreds of eyes on the back of my head.  Avian shifted beside me and I could tell he was fighting the urge to wrap a supportive arm around me.  Instead, he discreetly slipped his hand into mine. 

“You know she can communicate with the Bane, control them.  She already has this kill code programmed inside of her,” Royce said.  He didn’t look down at me, which I appreciated.  His eyes were fixed firmly on those before him.  “This code she and her team went after unblocks it.”

Royce placed his hands behind his back again and paced toward the other end of the stage.  “While they were gone, our scientific teams have been working on a device that will amplify this kill code.  It will send a signal up twenty-three-thousand miles above us to an orbiting satellite.  This satellite will transmit the code to all other satellites that are still in orbit around planet Earth.  There are hundreds of them up there, floating around the entire globe.  Not all of them will be useful after so long with no attention and maintenance, but there should be enough to carry the signal around the globe.”

Another intake of breath, followed by loud murmurs.  Royce paused for a long time, letting everyone draw their own conclusions. 

“Yes,” Royce said, stilling in the middle of the stage.  He stood with his legs in a wide stance, his arms grasped firmly behind his back.  “If all goes as planned, it will do what you all are thinking it will:

“Wipe out the Bane.  Worldwide.”

The room erupted.

Some were saying it was impossible.  Some burst into tears of joy.  Others opened and closed their mouths, not knowing what to say.

I turned in my seat, observing their disbelief and hopeful, cautious dreaming.

“Prepare to be worshiped,” Avian said quietly. 

“I am not finished,” Royce bellowed.  Not in an unkind way, but a way that demanded attention once more.  The room quickly grew quiet once more.

“There is no guarantee that this will work,” Royce said, his voice grave sounding.  “Any number of things could go wrong.  I
do
have every confidence that it will work.  However, if it doesn’t, you all need to know the conditions of the world outside of our safe haven.”

He held their attention with a hook and line once more.

“I am sorry to say we have kept information from you,” he said, his eyes falling from the crowd around him.  “Once again, our information is linked to Eve.  When she was taken earlier this winter, she came back with reports of a Bane army.”

Cries and chaos once again threatened to overtake the room.

“Yes,” Royce shouted above the din.  “They are collecting.  They are moving.  And they are wiping out cities, forests, towns, anything that might be hiding humans.  They are looking for more flesh as they starve in their drive to spread TorBane.

“Eve and her team have come back with reports of more than one army.  They saw the aftermath of one that started in Las Vegas and headed east.  They barely escaped one that demolished the NovaTor Biotics building.  As we speak, they are probably ripping San Francisco apart.  We can only conclude that these sweeps are taking hold worldwide.”

Shouts and questions and cries erupted once more. 
What does that mean?  How will we survive?  What if this device does not work?

Royce put his hands on his hips and his head hung for a moment.  Gabriel, who had been silent up to this point, put his hand on Royce’s shoulder in a supportive gesture.  Royce was not an emotional man, but I did not envy him for having to deliver this end-of-the-world news.  That took courage.

“This—” he tried to speak, but his voice cut off with a choke.  He cleared his throat, placing a fist over his lips.  He took a moment as the room started to quiet again.  His eyes had changed two shades toward red when he looked back up at everyone.  “This is our last chance.  I will not sugar coat it.  If this doesn’t work, it may only be weeks until the Bane fall upon us and—” his voice cut out once again.

There was a heavy silence that hung in the air at his unsaid words.  Words that had to be said.

I stood from my seat and climbed over the one in front of me.  I pulled myself up onto the stage and stood beside Royce.

“By the time they reach us, even the Pulse will not be able to save us,” I said.  The room was so deathly quiet, I could hear myself breathe.  Little particles of dust swirled in the air and the lights shining down on the stage seemed to intensify.  “There will be nowhere left to run.  We could go out into the water, but we will only survive for so long without being able to replenish supplies.  Once the Bane get to the city, they will destroy everything.  There won’t be any supplies left to come back to.”

Gabriel stepped forward, placing his bear paw of a hand on my shoulder.  “We tell you this not to panic you, but to ready and inform you.  You all have a right to know what we are facing.”

“We ask that you prepare yourselves,” Royce said, his voice recovered, but quieter.  “Get your affairs in order.  Live your lives and maybe pray a little harder.  Meanwhile, Dr. Evans, Dr. Beeson’s team, and I will be doing everything we can to make sure this device is perfect.”

Before anyone could say another word, Royce hopped off the stage and exited out the side door.

The room remained silent and I felt every eye turn on me.  I looked out over them. 

The pressure on my shoulders was intimidating.  More than that—it was terrifying.  Before it had just been a few people who had known the potential I bore in saving what was left of the human race.  But now it had been announced and every one of them knew.  I couldn’t bear the thought of letting them down.

Because of the bright lights, I couldn’t see more than silhouettes, but I knew all of these people.  They were mine, and I was theirs.  We were quite possibly the last remaining human beings on Earth.  We might be eradicated in the next few weeks, but for now, we were here and we were together.

I placed a hand over my heart and then extended it out toward all of them, my fingers spread wide.

Each and every one of them mimicked my gesture.

We were few, but we would stand together until the end.

TWENTY-SIX

TWELVE DAYS UNTIL SET OFF

Things could never go back to operating the same after that day.  When you’ve been told the world will either be saved or ended in twelve days, how could it?

With the threat of a Bane sweep falling upon us at any time, we were vigilant.  The old security detail was resurrected.  Graye remained in charge with Bill as his second, and Avian as his third.  It seemed that with the end of the world nearly at our doorstep, he was forgiven.  West, Tristan, and almost every one of the able-bodied refugees joined the ranks.  Their job was to watch the perimeter, to keep an eye out for any approaching sweeps.  They also kept an eye out for any lone Bane wandering too close into town.

The WTS had been turned off only briefly when we returned from NovaTor and Dr. Evans unloaded his supplies.  Now it was operating once again, which meant Dr. Evans couldn’t come within three blocks of the hospital.  He stayed with the Nova at all hours.

We were cautious about any Bane being back in the city and everyone was ordered to stay within two blocks of the hospital at all times.  Most everyone chose to move back within its walls full-time. 

Gabriel headed up a team that prepared for an emergency water evacuation.  They organized boats, big ones that would house all of us.  They hoarded food, and most importantly, water.  They gathered supplies to evaporate ocean water to use for drinking.

But there were so many of us.  It would buy us maybe three more weeks on the water, but eventually we would run out of supplies.  I didn’t want to picture what things would turn to when the supplies did run out.

Regardless of all the panic and preparations for the worst, Royce and Dr. Evans remained confident that their device would, indeed, work.  Just as soon as they finished building the transmitter, they would run a test to see if they could get any response from the satellites above us.

Despite my protests, I was not allowed to join security detail.  I was on call.  They would allow me to come out and contain a Bane situation if needed, but until that arose, I was to be kept safe and sound.  Because if anything happened to me, it was instant game over.

I wasn’t sure how to handle being so important.

I stepped out of my room on day ten just as Vee came out of hers.  She gave me a small smile as our eyes met.

“Lin did a really nice job with your hair,” I observed.  It laid in a neatly done braid over her shoulder, a good foot shorter than it had been in the dreadlocks.  It was thinner, like much of it had broken off in the attempt to untangle it.

“It took four hours to get it all out,” she said, her hands rising to touch the frayed ends of it.  “I kept telling her to just shave it off, but Lin was insistent I needed it.”

“It’s stranger than you’d think, having no hair,” I said as we started for the stairs.  I reached up and rustled my own hair.  It was growing rapidly.  It came down to my jawline by now.  Lin had cut and “styled” it for me the day before.  She had said I looked like a boy and that if I wanted Avian to continue to be attracted to me, something had to be done about it.

Avian protested that wasn’t true, but he couldn’t stop smiling when it was done.

“This place is so quiet now,” I said as we walked out into the main lobby.  It was empty.  A few people walked back toward the kitchen areas for breakfast, but the tones they spoke in were hushed, almost reverent sounding.  “It’s almost eerie feeling.”

Vee nodded, even though she didn’t really know any better. 

I felt as if I were in a holy place.  Perhaps I was.  This could be the final walking grounds of the human race.

“I’m going to see Creed,” I said, stalling in the hallway that led to the hospital wing.  “Do you want to join me?”

Vee hesitated, glancing in the direction of the kitchens, where she knew West was.  “I was thinking of asking Graye if I could join his security detail today.”