As my head fell back against the tile, a pair of boots came into view.
“Eve!” someone shouted. The next moment I felt a pair of arms underneath me and the ceiling came a little closer. A few seconds later my bed was back underneath me.
Slowly, the sight of West’s brown eyes came into focus.
“Can you hear me?” he asked, his voice sounding so far away.
I gave a nod, blinking hard. When I opened my eyes again everything was clearer.
“You really shouldn’t be getting up right now,” West said, taking one of my hands in his. He sat in a seat next to my bed, pressing my knuckles to his lips.
I looked over at him, my thoughts running a million places all at once. “How long have I been out?” I started. It seemed like I was having to ask that question to often lately.
“Only about a day,” he breathed, his eyes intense on mine.
I glanced back down, catching the light as it gleamed off the skeleton of my foot. I lay back down, swallowing hard.
“It’s a lot better than it was last night,” he said quietly. “There was nothing from your knee down.”
“How can you still look at me?” I said quietly, laying my other arm across my eyes. “Seeing what I really am? I’m one of them.”
I heard West stand, letting go of my hand, he sat on the edge of the bed. He placed his hands on either side of my face. “You are nothing like the Bane,” he said seriously, his eyes burning into mine.
I heard another set of footsteps enter the room and saw Avian enter. His face was hard to read as he took in the sight of West and I, so close together. I felt myself hating everything I was again.
“You’re awake,” he said simply.
“I’ll let him catch you up on everything,” West said quietly and to my surprise, left without another word.
As I watched Avian standing there, my eyes stung and my lower lip started to tremble just slightly. I couldn’t breathe.
He crossed the room silently and gathered me up into his arms, his face buried in my mass of tangled hair. His entire frame shook as he held me tightly. The sob that escaped my chest surprised me.
“My leg…” I barely managed to get the words out.
Avian sat back a bit, placing one hand on the back of my neck, his forehead resting against mine. His blue eyes looked like there might be flames burning behind them as he stared at me. “You will forever be the most beautiful creature on this planet to me, no matter what. I don’t care what you’re skeletal frame is made of. You’re still Eve.”
“Avian, I want…” I dropped off, not even knowing how to finish that sentence. I was tempted to put my head in that gigantic ring on the roof, just to stop all the confusion I felt.
“Don’t,” he said, pressing a finger to my lips. “You just need to finish healing right now.”
I took a deep breath, finding some sense of my normal self, and nodded.
“Someday you’re going to realize that you’re not indestructible.”
“How bad was it?” I asked.
Avian sat back, close to the foot of the bed. “The skin on your left leg was totally burned away up to your knee,” he started. “Traces of metal could be seen in your right leg, most of the skin was gone, and a lot of the muscle had been burned away as well. Your lower back had been burned but not too horribly. The bullet proof vest protected you quite a bit. It healed pretty fast. You lost a few inches of hair. You were bleeding profusely from the bullet wound in your arm and all your other injuries. You needed a blood transfusion. But within hours you were already healing. I would expect your left leg will look totally normal again within three days.”
I nodded, my eyes drifting to the ceiling. “I don’t feel the pain anymore.”
“I told Dr. Beeson about that,” he said. “He isn’t sure why your pain blockers were lessened. I didn’t realize you’d asked him to remove some of the emotional blockers.” There was a trace of hope in his voice that made me blush. The smallest hint of a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Dr. Beeson said it was an accident, messing with the pain blockers. He seemed pretty concerned about it. But he thinks he got it fixed. It seems like it’s working. Right?”
I nodded. “Guess you were right about being wary about letting me go to the plant,” I said.
He smiled. “Like I could have stopped you.”
“You couldn’t have,” I said. “Now find me some pants and boots so I don’t scare everyone away.”
He just chuckled and shook his head.
It took him a few minutes but Avian found me some clothes and we walked down the hall together.
“They haven’t set the Pulse off yet, have they?” I asked. My boots were too big without any flesh to fill them and the metal foot slid around inside it. I walked with a major limp.
“No,” he answered, his always serious eyes forward. “Royce said it takes about two days to build up enough power to set it off. It’s charging now though.”
“Two days,” I breathed. “Do you really think it will work?”
Avian shrugged. “The technology seems right. They have the brains here to do it.”
“I can’t even imagine what life is going to be like if it works.”
“It will be better,” Avian said quietly as we entered the main lobby area. “You’ll see how life should have been, in a post-apocalyptic way.”
By now the lobby was emptying out, everyone preparing for sleep at mid-day. I suddenly missed my days of scouting, of roaming through the woods, free without any walls barricading me in. Hopefully all that would end in just a few short days.
I followed the others up to the rooms, feeling like everyone could see through my pants to my cybernetic leg as I limped along. No one bothered me though, didn’t ask questions or pull my pant leg up to bear witness to the horror. I made it to my room without being exposed for what I was.
The ceiling greeted me as I lay down, knowing I wasn’t going to be getting any sleep for the next eight hours of silence. Images started to slide across my mind: the blinding light from the explosion that had tried to take my legs, the blue eyes that had tried to call out to me when my brain couldn’t handle it all. Flickers of row after row of Bane. The flash of light from my firearms.
So much violence.
I turned my head when a crack of light started growing on my wall. The silhouette of a man appeared in the door before he closed it behind him.
“Hi,” I breathed as he hesitated next to the door.
“Hi,” West said through the dark. I could feel the mixture of feelings that were rolling off of him. I knew what it was like to feel like an emotional wreck.
“I won’t bite you,” I said as I scooted to one side of my bed.
“You sure?” he said light-heartedly as he crossed the room and lay next to me on the bed. He lay on his side, just looking at me for a long time.
West trailed his fingers softly across my forehead, brushing stray hairs off my face. He didn’t look in my eyes as he did so, his gaze lingered on my ears, my shoulder, my neck, as he struggled with how to form the words he had in his head. Hesitantly, he picked up the wings attached to my necklace and held them lightly in his hand. I wondered if he knew Avian had made it for me, and the sacrifice he had given for me to have it.
“I thought you were going to die,” he said quietly. “When they brought you in after the explosion, you looked so broken, I wasn’t sure they could put you back together. It was so much worse than the other night. Your heart barely kept going. For a while I think I’d fooled myself into believing that you couldn’t die.”
“Good thing I’m not dead then,” I said as I placed my hand over his and he stilled it on my cheek. The coals started to burn as we touched. A sense of anticipation started to ignite in my belly.
“I wanted to give you something,” he said quietly as he finally met my eyes. “One last thing before I stop this. It won’t happen again until you make your choice.”
He leaned forward then,
his eyes holding mine all the way until his lips met mine. My own eyes slid closed as I kissed West back, feeling the fire leap to life inside of me. West’s lips moved with mine, parting as gasps were inhaled. I blazed to life from the inside out, the flames licking along my veins.
Could I ever give up this heat? Would I ever feel so alive again?
West’s hand came to the back of my neck as my hand tangled in his hair. I craved more.
Dr. Beeson had lessened my emotional blockers. How far could I push before I blacked out? Would I ever again?
But in the middle of the burn West pulled away, his earth-colored eyes looking into mine as I wished for more.
“I won’t do this again until you’ve made your choice, Eve,” he said quietly. I could feel all the hurt and pain I had caused him in the last few months in his voice then. Hate crept into my stomach again. “This isn’t right. I like Avian, respect him, despite everything. It isn’t fair to anyone. You have to make a choice. Until then, I’m tired of trying to convince you that it should be me. I’m not even sure it should be me anymore.”
I tried to find the words to reassure West, to convince him that he was wrong. I wanted to come up with promises and answers then but I couldn’t. He’d been right. About everything.
“I’m sorry,” was all I managed.
“Just don’t take forever,” he said as he stood. “If I’ve got miles of pain before me I’d rather start walking them sooner than later.”
And he walked out of the room.
THIRTY-SIX
Something was going on the next night. I’d seen no sign of Royce, most of his scouts, West, or Avian. Their presence was strangely absent from the lobby area. I couldn’t find them in their rooms, or in the dining area.
As I came down from the private rooms, I stopped in the main hall, hiding myself when I saw a few of the missing men trickling out of the stairwell. They were all heavily armed, each dressed in bulletproof vests. They were going out for something serious and dangerous and I had every intention of going with them.
I dashed back toward the stairs that led to the second floor. I barely limped as I ran down the hall, layers of tissue already forming over my metallic bones. I burst into my room, grabbing my familiar firearms, strapping them to my person.
As I turned to walk back out my door, an unexplainable thing happened.
My vision flickered for half a second. And then everything turned off.
THIRTY-SEVEN
I couldn’t…
Couldn’t…
Move.
A flash of light flickered across my vision and my eyes twitched just once as my brain flipped on and off. Another flash of light and I managed to turn my head to the left just slightly. Another and I was able to twitch the fingers on my left hand.
I took a gasping breath as the lights stayed for longer sparks of time. As my muscles unlocked for half a second, I attempted a step forward, only to crash to the floor as my brain flashed out again for a brief moment.
The lights stayed on finally, only occasionally flickering in the corner of my vision. Slowly, movement by movement, I worked my way to my hands and knees.
Struggling for each breath, my muscles finally released and the flashes stopped.
Looking at the clock on the wall, I saw it was almost four hours later than it should have been.
My movements still stiff and jerky, I closed my hand around the doorknob and pulled. Feeling slightly numb, I started to work my way down the hall.
I’d been alone. I hadn’t emotionally overworked myself.
I couldn’t think of any other explanation. Someone had shut me down.
“Eve,” a voice called to me from behind. I turned to see Dr. Beeson jogging down the hall toward me. “I thought you would have gone out with the others?”
“I tried,” I said, my voice bizarre sounding, not quite working right. He slowed to match my still clumsy gait. I narrowed my eyes as I looked over at him. “You didn’t shut me down did you?”
“What?” he asked, his brow furrowing. “Of course not.”
“I’ve spent the last four hours, frozen and gone in my room.”
Dr. Beeson’s step faltered as he looked at me, his face blanching white.
“Someone shut me down,” I said through clenched teeth.
He cursed under his breath and ran a hand roughly through his hair. “West spent nearly an entire night with me, asking questions about the wireless transmission system.”
“He…” I nearly choked on my words. “West shut me down?”
“I’m so sorry,” he said quietly. “Come with me. They’re having problems with the communication system with those who went out. I’m going to take a look at it and see if I can get it fixed.”
Numbly, I followed him down the stairwell and into the frantic lobby.
It seemed that everyone who lived in the hospital that hadn’t gone out on the mission was gathered. Tension rippled through everyone, setting my nerves on edge. Seeing Tuck by the front door, I joined him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his brow furrowing as he looked at me. “I thought you had gone with them.”
“It wasn’t for lack of trying,” I said as I looked out into the dark and silent night. “What’s going on?”
“Something pulled your power line about five hours ago,” Tuck explained. “Royce’s men and a few others went with him to go fix it.”
“West and Avian went out, didn’t they?” I felt hollow.
Tuck simply nodded. “We lost communication with everyone though. They called for Dr. Beeson to try and fix it. We have no idea what’s going on out there.”
I turned to see Dr. Beeson working with a handful of other people, their movements rushed and frantic.
A crackle suddenly sounded from the device Dr. Beeson and the others worked on.
“…anyone there? Please come in…” a voice came through the system.
“Yes, we’re here!” a woman said as she took the handheld piece that was attached to the system. “Is everything okay?”
“People shot…” the voice cut out. “…at least four dead…” The sound cut out again for a solid five seconds before finally coming back online. “Get the Extractor powered up!”
Everyone seemed to freeze as those last words filled the room. I felt my blood run cold.
“Who’s been infected?” the woman asked, her voice sounding dead.
“…Bane hidden…shots fired everywhere…” the voice continued to crackle in and out. “…Royce and West… Avian… didn’t see it…”
“Who was it?” I suddenly said, louder than I should have. “Who got infected?”
Everyone in the room suddenly looked up at me, every single pair of eyes. “I’m not sure,” Dr. Beeson finally answered.
I looked at the woman who had been speaking. “I couldn’t tell either,” she said quietly. No one seemed to notice how the receiver had gone dead again.
It was pure adrenaline that forced my legs to work. I sprinted out the front glass door into the dark night.
In that moment I finally knew.
I knew which one I would grieve over. A piece of me would be missing forever if he was gone. A part of me would break. But I would make it through.
And I knew which one of them I couldn’t live without, couldn’t take another single breath if he were to be taken away from me.
In that moment I finally understood what love meant.
Sarah had been right all along. A single moment was all it had taken.
The wind whipped through my singed hair, my cybernetic legs pumping me faster than I’d ever moved before.
Shouts and screams of agony rose into the night air. Shots were fired and flashes of light pinpointed their exact location. As I rounded the corner, I raised my rifle, firing two shots at the pair of Bane who rushed the struggling group from behind. They dropped to the ground in a heap. One of Royce’s men raised his own gun. For a moment I thought he was pointing at me, until the H
unter I hadn’t noticed creeping up on me from behind dropped to the ground.
I didn’t even remember feeling my feet slap the pavement as I ran toward him, my eyes never leaving his face. In that moment, every memory I had of him, every second we had spent together, flashed through my mind.
I ran straight into his blood soaked arms. I threw my arms around his shoulders, crushing him into myself, pressing my lips to his with a heat that burned me from the inside out. Avian’s assault rifle fell to the ground with a clatter as he wrapped one arm around my waist, bringing his other hand up behind my neck. Everything about his lips, his breathing, the way his body melted into mine left me craving more.
There was no destroyed world around us as I kissed Avian and he took my breath away. There was no infection, there were no cybernetics. There was no running, no fighting, no violence or death. There was only Avian and there was only me.
I’d never felt the heat from Avian that West had given me but I realized then that it had been because I wouldn’t allow myself to seek it out until I was sure it was Avian that I wanted and needed.
Now I was sure.
West may have made me feel alive but he didn’t have the gravitational pull that Avian did. Avian was my world, my universe. He was everything I had that was worth living, fighting, and dying for.
“I love you,” I whispered against his lips as Avian consumed me, body and soul. “It’s you. It’s always been you.” And I realized then that it was true. I had always loved Avian, it was always him.
I felt the tears as they rolled down Avian’s cheek, his lips still moving with mine. “I love you, Eve. More than anything.”
“We’ve got to get out of here!” a man screamed. I looked back, realizing the majority of the group had continued back to the hospital. I barely caught sight of a body being hauled around the corner.
West.
I raised my rifle and fired at the two Hunters who sprinted down the street after us. They dropped with a clatter.
Taking Avian’s hand in mine, I half dragged him back to the hospital with me. I realized then that there was blood oozing out of his left arm in two different places and in one spot in his right thigh.