We left that night with a mix of anticipation, both nervous and excited. We were all ready to get to our new home but for most, the unexpected and unknown was frightening. What would we be finding?
I didn’t like that I had so many questions lately with no answers.
TWENTY-NINE
Everyone had just started falling asleep when Avian’s attention perked up. He stood in his place on the trailer, his eyes narrowing at something ahead of us.
“What is it?” I asked quietly in an attempt to not wake anyone. I took the safety off my shotgun.
“Stop the truck,” Avian told Tuck. As he did, Avian hopped out, myself in close pursuit. He walked up to an old road sign and only then did I notice that there was something different about this one.
“What are those?” I asked as I looked closely at the white dots beneath the words leading to somewhere that now meant nothing.
“Morse code,” Avian whispered as he ran his fingers over the dots.
“What does it say?” I said as my eyes swept the area again. No threats in this desert forsaken place.
Avian shook his head, his eyes frustrated looking. “I don’t know. I hadn’t learned it yet in my training.”
Without hesitation I walked back over to the trailer. “Wake up!” I said loudly. A few bodies stirred. “Come on. Wake up.”
Some of them eyed the gun in my hands warily, others simply rubbed the sleep out of their eyes. “Does anyone know how to read Morse code?”
West yawned as he raised his hand. “Come on,” I said, waving him toward the sign. “Sorry to wake everyone. You can go back to sleep now.”
I heard a few grumbles as we walked toward the sign. Most of them lay back down but a few of them watched what we were doing with curiosity. I didn’t blame them. I would want to know what was going on too.
“You know Morse code?” Avian asked as we walked up.
“My grandpa thought it was a fun game when I was little,” West said as he rubbed his eyes again. “That’s a scientist’s version of fun for you.”
“What does it say?” Avian asked as he looked back at the sign. “This isn’t the regular paint that was used for signs. It’s too irregular and the paint doesn’t look that worn. This was put there in the last few years. After the infection.”
West squinted through the dark to read the sign. As he did, he stepped around it, looked at the back, then looked at the edge of it. “It just says ‘look underneath’.”
Avian furrowed his brow at West, then looked back at the sign. That was when we all saw the slightly bent form of the metal sign in the bottom right corner.
With a hefty tug, the three loose screws at the top of the sign were ripped out and I let the metal sign fall to the ground with a thud in the dust.
Our eyes grew wide as we took in what had been hidden under the old road sign. Words were crammed onto the wood board beneath, and detailed but obviously hand drawn map spread over most of it. There had unquestionably been people here, trying to leave a message for anyone who might find it.
“Holy…” both Avian and West breathed.
“Where is the map leading?” I asked, my eyes following the hand drawn lines.
“Right to the middle of one of the biggest cities there was before everything fell apart,” Avian said quietly.
If you’re reading this, congratulations on surviving. To be brief, there is a group of us, hiding in the city. We have unlimited supplies of food, water, other necessities. We also have electricity and can offer you protection. A life. If you can reach us. Here is the map to our location. Travel only at night and travel silently. Good luck.
Below that, in another person’s handwriting was written: May the force be with you.
“Do you think it’s a trap?” I asked as I reread everything.
Avian chuckled as his eyes trailed over the words. “I don’t think so. A Fallen would never write that last line.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked. May the force be with you. It sounded like gibberish to me.
Avian chuckled again. “It was a line from a very famous movie.” When he saw my confusion at the word movie he just shook his head and laughed again. “Never mind. Just know that it is a very human thing to say.”
“How is that even possible?” West asked, fully awake now. “For a group of people to be living in a city?”
“I can’t imagine anyone is that careful,” I said quietly.
“But if they were…” West said wistfully. “Can you even imagine? Having actual electricity, living indoors?”
“No,” I said, furrowing my brow at him. “I can’t imagine what it would be like. It would be too dangerous. Avian said that was one of the biggest cities. It is going to be flooded with Fallen. We couldn’t even get fifty miles outside the perimeter.”
“But they must have a way of getting people in if they’ve left this message,” West continued. “They said to travel at night and to travel silently. Why would they have us walk into a death trap?”
“This could have been left a few years ago,” I said, my voice rising. “They could all be infected by now, dead. There could be no one left in the city anymore.”
“But if there are people there…” Avian said, his voice sounding wishful. “They could have access to anything if they can get around that city.”
“You can’t be serious about this?” I demanded as I turned my eyes on him. “We cannot take this risk. We have a mission to complete. Find a new, safe location for Eden and settle. Lead the others to us.”
“We could change our course,” Avian said as he walked back to the truck. He grabbed Bill’s maps out of the trailer and walked back to us. He opened it up and quickly found our location. “We were going here,” he said as he pointed to a place that was due south of our current location. “We could get there by dawn if we can get the truck to drive fast enough. But we could go here,” he said as he drug his finger across the page to a place that was due west of our location. “Frankly it will be a nicer location. We’ll have access to more water, there will be more natural resources. And it is close to the ocean so there will also be more options for fishing. Temperatures shouldn’t be much different.”
“But it is surrounded by cities,” I observed as I read the names around the textured green space Avian had his finger on.
Avian nodded his head. “But it is less than sixty miles from where these other people are supposedly hiding out. We could go to this new location, even if it is only temporary, hide out and send a scouting party to check things out.”
“This is suicide, Avian,” I said as I shook my head. “A city that size? We don’t have a chance of even getting to the outskirts.”
“But if there are people there…” Avian said again. “Eve, we’ve already lost so many people this last year. As far as we knew, we were the only ones left. But if there are more of them out there… We have to stick together, to keep humanity alive.”
I looked up at Avian, searching his eyes. There was hope burning there, but I was surprised at another thing I felt coming from him. A total lack of fear. I realized then just how much we had all underestimated Avian.
“This isn’t just our decision,” I said quietly. “This affects all of them too,” I said as I indicated those waiting on the trailer for us. “We have to let them decide as well.”
Avian and West looked up to those who were watching us silently. Their faces were anxious looking, mixes of hope and fear on their faces. They could read what was written on the sign as well as I could.
“What do all of you think?” Avian said as he took a few steps toward them. “I assume you heard everything we said.”
No one spoke up at first and I sensed they were afraid to voice their opinions.
“Tuck,” I called on him. He jumped slightly at being directly addressed. “What do you think?”
“I…” he stuttered. “It is dangerous, but if there really are people there I think we have to go.”
“N
o, we don’t,” Tess, the newcomer, spoke up loudly. “Like Eve said, this is suicide! Have any of you ever been to a city? We have, and it’s been years. It’s bound to have gotten worse.”
“Eli?” I asked when Tess was finished.
He glanced at Morgan where she stood at his side. “I’m not willing to risk putting my family in danger, but if there are some willing to go into the city on scout, I’m willing to change course. It could only be temporary. I trust the three of you to keep us safe.”
The majority of the heads in our group nodded, much to my surprise. Maybe they did still trust me with their lives, even if they knew what I was now.
“Let’s put it to a vote then,” Avian said, putting his hands on his hips. “All those in favor of changing course and hiding out while some of us scout the area, raise your hand.”
Every hand but mine, Tess and Van’s went up.
“That’s the majority,” Avian said with a nod. He turned his intense blue eyes on me, his brow furrowed with mixed emotions. “Are you going to be with us Eve, if we change course? Would you go with the scouting party?”
I glared at him. Where had my cautious Avian gone to? Who was this daring risk taker?
“Of course I will go with you,” I said, my jaw tight. “If anyone is going into the city I have to go with them. There’s no other option. I’m the only one that can’t get infected.”
The smallest of a smile formed in the corner of his mouth but I didn’t miss it. I almost returned it.
“Alright,” Avian said, clapping his hands together. “Everyone get ready to go. We’ll get our new destination mapped out and get going as soon as we can. We’ve still got a few hours of darkness left.”
Avian’s instructions were unneeded as no one but the three of us had anything to prep. They were already set to go.
“Crazy idiot,” I muttered under my breath as we turned back to the map. Avian just gave me a smug smile as he started drawing on the map.
A few minutes later we all loaded up, heading out west on the crumbled highway.
“We’ll find somewhere safe to hide everyone for a few days at least,” Avian said as he squinted against the wind that blew in his face. “If everything goes smooth, we’ll get everyone settled in the morning, get some sleep, and then the three of us will head into the city tomorrow night.”
“I’d like to come too, sir, if that’s alright with you,” Tuck said from the driver’s seat.
West chuckled and Avian couldn’t seem to help himself as he cracked a smile. I wondered if anyone had ever called Avian “sir”. “That’s up to you. You seem competent enough with a gun. If you’re willing to take the risk you’re welcome to come.”
Tuck just nodded.
“But what if they need you?” I asked as I glanced at those who were resting around me. “A lot could go wrong.”
Avian’s eyes swept over them and I saw that he had already been having this argument with himself. “I have to go where I think I am most needed. In twenty-four hours that will be in the city. Right now I’m most valuable as a scout, not an ill-trained doctor.”
I held his eyes for a while, wanting to argue with him but knowing I didn’t have any ground to stand on. As much as I didn’t like it, he was right. The likelihood that something would happen just as soon as Avian was unavailable was not very high. It was still too possible though.
“I’m assuming you will be coming with us?” I asked West, who had been unnaturally quiet the last few hours.
“Of course,” he said, his voice almost sounding insulted. “I’m not going to let you and Avian have all the fun.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he looked like he wished he could take them back. “I mean… uh…”
“We knew what you meant,” I cut him off before this moment could grow any more awkward.
Excitement was tangible in the air as we drove but the uncertainty was thick enough to cut through with a knife.
An hour and a half later, a few looming figures to the south of us drew my attention. They almost looked like… giant birds. “Avian, what are those?”
He squinted in the direction I pointed then he raised his rifle to his eye level to look through the night-vision scope. “They’re planes,” he said as he glanced down at the map in his lap. “This is an old Air Force base. Tuck, pull over.”
“Military?” I asked, my attention perking. “They would have weapons inside somewhere?”
Avian shook his head and shrugged. “Maybe. The base I was stationed at was just abandoned when things started falling apart. Who knows what we’d find in there.”
“Would we have time to go take a look around?” West asked.
Avian looked at the map again. “We’re making good time. We should have about an hour of extra time pretty safe. You really want to go inside? There could be dozens of them in there.”
“It’s really deserty around here,” West said as he looked around us. He was right. There wasn’t even sagebrush growing in the cracked earth. “It looks like there are only a few buildings for there to even be anything in. I doubt this small base attracted them.”
“I think West is right,” I said as I scanned the area. “It doesn’t seem like a likely place for Fallen.”
“Alright,” Avian said as he nodded. “Eve, obviously it’s best if you go in. We’ll stay here and keep an eye out for if anything happens.”
“No way,” West said as he shook his head. “I’m not letting her go in there by herself.”
“I can take care of myself,” I said as I rolled my eyes at him. “I think you would know that by now.”
“Even so, I’m not going to just sit here,” West said as he locked eyes with Avian. And the argument over me continued silently.
“Get over it you two,” I said in an exasperated tone as I jumped out of the trailer and started walking toward the looming buildings. A moment later another set of feet jumped to the ground and jogged to keep up with me.
West and I padded silently across the sand and clay, guns in hand, ready to fire at the slightest movement. As we approached the buildings my eyes grew wide.
“They’re huge,” I breathed as I took the size of them in. The thing just went on and on, a massive landscape of waved metal. I had never seen a building so big.
“You should have seen the building we used to live in,” West said, again without thinking. I gave him a hard look before he let out an awkward chuckle. “Okay, maybe it’s better you don’t remember it.”
We found a door in the vastness of the north wall. It was locked. I tapped it, testing its thickness. “It’s pretty thin,” I said as I squinted through the dark. “Ready to see how enhanced I am?” I chuckled. West just shook his head and gave me a half smile.
I punched a hole through the waved aluminum without too much effort. A thin scratch ran down the length of my hand, a few tiny drops of blood dripping to the ground. Ignoring it, I reached through and opened the door from the inside.
The interior of the building was massive. Everyone in Eden could have set up their tents inside and still had plenty of room to be comfortable. “They must have put those planes in here,” West said as he too took our surroundings in. There were no traces of any life around, cybernetic or organic.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get moving.”
We jogged along the perimeter of the building, finding a few rooms in one corner. One contained a desk, papers and books scattered around the room. We found a handgun in one of the drawers and a small box of ammunition. The other room was used for storage. We found a few pairs of shoes and pairs of pants to bring back with us.
We went back outside and jogged to the next building. It too was locked. Five seconds later it wasn’t.
Proof of West’s theory was found inside this building. Through the darkness we could make out the figure of one of the massive planes.
“Isn’t that amazing?” West mused. “That we used to have control over the sky like that? I would have loved to learn to fly
one of those.”
“Maybe someday you’ll get your chance,” I whispered as I started along the perimeter of the building. We found a kitchen but there was no food left in it. It was in the next room we struck gold.
“Here we go,” I said with a smirk as I stood in the doorway.
The walls were lined with all kinds of weaponry. Handguns, shotguns, things I had never even seen before but would learn to use shortly. “Grab everything you can,” I said, grabbing the nearest menacing looking piece of destruction and salvation.
I filled my pockets with ammunition until my pants threatened not to stay on my hips from the weight. I grabbed three oblong balls with small pins stuck in the top. I wasn’t sure what they would do but if they were in this room they must have had destructive force. I shoved them into one of the pockets at the side of my knees.
“What Avian said, about you only blacking out around me, it’s true, isn’t it?” West said as he continued to load up.
“I told you that myself,” I said as I strapped two guns to the side of my pack.
“I guess I thought you were just mad at me before, when you said it, as usual,” he said quietly as he worked. “Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t know,” I said, feeling a little frustrated. I just wanted to be doing something useful and not have to deal with my feelings right now.
“Do you think what Avian said is true?” he asked quietly. “That feeling those things kind of… overloads you?”
“Maybe,” I said as I felt along an upper shelf. I pulled down another box of bullets. “All of my emotions were supposed to be blocked. Now that I’m starting to feel things again I sure feel like I don’t know how to handle it.”
West was quiet for a while after that and I could sense all the turmoil he was in. “I don’t want to be putting everyone at risk but I don’t know how to stay away from you, Eve. I don’t think I can just shut my feelings for you off.”
I finally fell still at his words. “I don’t know how to shut them off either. I’m trying to see where the line is between acceptable risk and feeling alive.”