“She was coughing and then all the sudden she stopped breathing,” I explained as I watched him put his ear to her chest.
“Run to the medical tent, grab my kit,” he said, his eyes wide with fear and adrenaline.
I dashed out of the tent and sprinted for the infirmary. People were poking their heads out of their tents, wondering what was going on, what all the shouting was about. I slipped inside the white tent. It only took me a moment to find the black, hard-sided kit.
It took me all of ten seconds to get back to Avian’s tent. By this point a few people were standing outside, confusion and sleep filling their faces.
When I stepped back inside, I found Avian doing chest compressions and breathing air into Sarah’s mouth. I handed the kit to him and stepped back.
He opened the kit and took a syringe out. He pulled the cap off and plunged the needle into her chest. Sitting back on his heels, he watched her.
A few seconds later, Sarah took a gasping breath, her entire chest surging off of the cot. Her eyes didn’t open though. Suddenly her body went slack again and she lost consciousness. Thankfully her chest continued to rise and fall.
Avian sat back on his heels, his fist pressed into his pursed lips
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, my throat feeling tight.
He just shook his head, not saying anything for agonizing seconds. I wondered if he didn’t dare speak yet. There were emotions just under the surface that were threatening to explode.
The flap of Avian’s tent was opened and in stepped Gabriel, West silently following behind him.
“Sarah’s sick,” I said hoarsely, saving Avian from having to speak. “She stopped breathing but Avian helped her.”
Gabriel gave a simple nod, his eyes fixed on Sarah. My eyes slid to West, his own meeting mine. They were reserved but I was surprised at the concern that I saw there.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” West asked, his voice sincere.
Avian gave a sniff, finally seeming to jerk out of his state of shock. “You can help me move her to the medical tent.”
Each of them grabbed an end of the blanket Sarah was lying on, and being very careful not to jostle her, carried her from one tent to the other. By this time, most everyone had woken up. They watched with fear as she was transported to the medical tent. I knew what they were all thinking. We had just lost someone. We couldn’t deal with that again, not so soon after.
The men laid Sarah softly on the examination table though I didn’t think their tenderness was necessary. Sarah was still completely out. I helped Avian place pillows around her in a vain attempt to make her more comfortable.
“She was coughing the other day,” I said. “When we were in the gardens.”
Avian just nodded, placing his hands on his hips and watching Sarah.
“Eve,” I was slightly startled when I heard Graye’s voice from the entrance. “We need to leave for scouting duty. We’re already late.”
I looked from his face to Sarah’s still form. I wasn’t one to shirk my duties, ever. But how could I just leave right now?
“I’ll go in her place,” West spoke up. “I still haven’t been assigned an official scouting party.” I realized he had been watching my face. His eyes connected with mine for a brief moment. I couldn’t make the words “thank you” form on my lips for some reason, but I hoped he felt my gratitude anyway.
Graye nodded once, and West followed him silently.
Avian had grabbed an array of well used but meticulously cared for medical equipment. He placed an instrument on her chest and listened. Next he pressed his fingers to her wrist, checking it to the one watch that existed in Eden. He wrote a few notes down.
“What’s wrong with her Avian?” I asked again, standing along the edge of the tent, unsure of what to do with myself.
He shook his head, bracing his hands on the table next to Sarah. “I’m not sure. I might say an allergy attack, but this was too severe and Sarah’s never suffered from allergies before. Pneumonia maybe? It could really be anything.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
He didn’t answer right away. “We’ll do what we can. But until I can figure out exactly what this is there isn’t going to be much I can do for her.”
“But if she stops breathing again, you have more of those shots, right?”
“It was just adrenaline,” he said as he sat on one of the stumps. “I have two more now.”
I couldn’t decide if two sounded like a lot or nothing at all. Avian used those shots for multiple things. Terrif’s heart had stopped once and Avian’s shots had got it started again. But what if something like that happened again? We’d be down to only one. What if Sarah stopped breathing again? What if it happened more than once?
“I’m going to go get us some food,” I said, ducking out of the tent without saying anything else.
The scent of freshly baked bread wafted through the air as I made my way to the ovens. Half a dozen other people were gathered around the kitchen. A few women passed out the rolls. Another man was scooping a steaming mush into bowls and handing them to people.
As I stepped up to take Avian’s portion and mine, everyone’s eyes grew a little wider.
“Eve, is she okay? Is Sarah alright? What did Avian say?” I was bombarded with their questions. It didn’t take long for news to travel in Eden.
“Avian thinks it might have been an allergy attack. She stopped breathing for a minute this morning. That’s all I know.”
I grabbed our food and made a hasty retreat back to the tent. I found Avian staring at Sarah’s still form, his brow furrowed.
“Eat something,” I commanded as I handed him the warm food.
“Thank you,” he said, accepting the bowl and the rolls. For a brief moment, I saw the young man who had fled for his life five years ago, with fear in his eyes, not knowing what to do.
Avian had been a bright student. He had skipped grades and eventually got a scholarship to an accelerated private school. He had graduated high school at the age of fifteen and received a degree in biology by the time he was eighteen. Scholarships had been offered but it wasn’t going to be enough to pay the hefty price of medical school. Just months after he came of age, Avian joined the Army with the offer that they would pay for all of his medical school. Along with his military training, Avian had been put into an accelerated medical program specific for Army and survival training.
But only two and a half years into his training, he noticed how everyone was acting strange. Violent, disoriented. Savage. The world fell apart and Avian took what knowledge he had gained and fled with his sister and cousin into the mountains.
I picked at my food, not feeling like eating in the least. My stomach was a hard knot and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Sarah. I was sure at any minute she would open her eyes and complain about having to lay on the hard wooden table.
After we both pretended like we had eaten something, we watched her in silence. I was getting anxious. I didn’t know how to handle just sitting. I debated internally what I could do that was close by, so that if I needed to, I could run right back in. Not that I could really do anything to help Avian. When it came to the body, I was just glad mine functioned. I didn’t know how to fix it.
I was saved from idleness in a horrifying way.
Sarah started shaking violently. Her arms flailed and her legs shook. We both sprang to our feet, catching her just a fraction of a second before she fell off the table.
“She’s having a seizure!” Avian said, panicked.
“What do we do?” I screamed.
“Help me roll her onto her side,” he shouted as he ducked out of the way of her thrashing arm. With difficulty we maneuvered her onto her side, balancing her so she wouldn’t shake her way off.
“That’s it?” I asked.
“That’s it,” Avian said quietly, looking at me with fear in his eyes again.
The seizure lasted for just over a minute. Her l
imbs continued to swing violently, her arm beating against Avian’s side so hard I knew he would be bruised in a few hours. I could only stare at her for a moment when it was finally over, horror filling me.
Avian sank onto his seat again. His head dropped into his hands, rubbing his scalp with force. He really didn’t know what was wrong with Sarah. I felt angry with him for a moment. Why didn’t he know what to do? He always knew what to do with everyone else. Why couldn’t he save his sister?
We paced around the tent, each pretending to do something productive. I rearranged the plastic aprons used for operating several times. He cleaned his tools until they shone.
We were both startled by the sound of Sarah coughing. We jumped to her side, Avian grabbing one of her hands in his.
“Mum… Avi… ahh,” she tried to speak, her eyes struggling to open.
“We’re here Sarah, me and Eve,” Avian said as he pushed the hair back from her face with his free hand. “We’re here.”
She gave a soft sound of acknowledgment before her eyes closed fully and she fell asleep. Or into unconsciousness, I wasn’t sure which.
Avian’s body slouched as he stood next to me, his shoulder brushing mine. His hand fell away from her face. As it dropped to his side, his hand brushed mine. His fingers stretched out toward my own, curling around them until our fingers were intertwined securely.
My eyes shifted to our hands, my chest suddenly feeling strange. It was almost like a bunch of bees were buzzing inside my chest, making my breaths come in shallower swallows. And I felt like I should pull my hand away. People generally didn’t touch me, I didn’t touch people.
But I didn’t. I left my hand in Avian’s. The feeling of the bees buzzing in my chest didn’t feel too bad. In fact, it felt kind of nice.
EIGHT
We waited. And waited.
Sarah’s condition didn’t improve. She continued to have seizures. She coughed in her sleep, so violently she started choking. On the second day we had to use another of the shots. After four days of watching Sarah waste away, Avian used his last one.
We were going to need more.
Something, maybe everything, in Sarah’s body was breaking down and I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to fix it in a world that had forced us out into the backcountry.
As if Sarah’s illness wasn’t enough, there was a lot of anxiety flowing through Eden. A Bane had been spotted twenty miles away and a helicopter had been heard, though not seen. We needed to move camp but Avian begged Gabriel to wait. He didn’t dare move Sarah, especially since he was out of the adrenaline.
Camp was quiet as I rose and strapped my pack to my back. There was barely enough light to see by as I pulled my boots on. I pulled the shiny silver handgun from under my cot and tucked it under my belt. I grabbed a box of ammunition as well, dumping a heaping handful into the side pocket of my pants. I secured my favorite rifle to the side of my pack.
I surveyed the tent carefully, making sure there was nothing I was going to leave behind that I would need later.
Last night had been one of panic. Sarah had started coughing again, so violently it left blood on her lips when she finally stopped. As I helped Avian, Bill had come into the medical tent informing us that there were now two Bane that had been spotted. We had no way of knowing if there were more out there. They were getting closer.
Gabriel was ordering everyone to pack up. Eden was to move in two days. Those who could leave sooner were encouraged to do so.
“We can’t move her,” Avian said, panicked. “She won’t make the trip.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Bill said quietly. “If we stay here, we’ll all die.”
“If Sarah had the right medicine, would she be okay?” I asked as I hesitantly placed a hand on Avian’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. I felt awkward. I wasn’t good at that kind of thing.
“She’d stand a chance. But it’s all gone. I don’t have anything left.”
So there I was, walking out of my tent, ready to take the two-day journey to the city by myself. I wasn’t going to let Sarah die.
I had just gotten to the outskirts of the tents when I heard footsteps coming up behind me. I turned and West met my eyes as he cinched his backpack.
“Let’s go,” he said quietly as he looked away from me into the woods.
I hesitated for just a moment before we took off.
We jogged through the trees silently for nearly an hour as the sun crawled up into the sky. I had to remind myself frequently to keep my pace slower. West was in good shape and he was by no means slow, but few people were able to keep up with what was my normal speed.
“Why did you come with me?” I finally asked. “You don’t even know where I’m going.”
“I figured it must be important if you were willing to head into the woods by yourself with Bane in the area,” he said. “I felt like I needed to do something, even if I’m not sure where I’m going.”
“I’m going to the city. There are a few pharmacies that should have the medication Sarah needs,” I said as I jumped over a tree that had fallen across our path. “This is going to be really dangerous.”
“I know,” he said as he jumped over after me. “She’s really important to you, isn’t she?” West asked. “Both of them are.”
I nodded. “Sarah has been like my big sister. She’s taken care of me. I owe this to her.”
We stopped briefly at mid-day to drink from a stream that looked clean and I shared some of the food rations I had taken the night before. We were going to have to be careful. I had only taken enough for myself. Now it was going to have to keep the two of us going for the next five days. Maybe we’d get lucky and find something non-perishable in the city.
The sun was hot as it started toward the western horizon. Spring was finally starting to warm up into summer. This was exactly what the gardens needed.
I explained the layout of the city to West as we walked. There were certain hideout spots we knew were safe, places the Bane would never think to look. There were three pharmacies in the city, each on opposite ends. It would take us nearly a full day to get to all three, if there were no complications.
A few weeks ago I would never have tried a raid in the day time, but Tye’s death proved the night was becoming just as dangerous.
As the light faded away, we found a place to make camp.
I caught a decent-sized rabbit and was lucky to find a large handful of wild, though not nearly ripe, blackberries. When I came back to our camp, I found West had built a fire and slung a hammock high up in a tree.
“Where did you get that?” I asked as I set to skinning and gutting the rabbit.
“I found it in my old camp. Someone left it. It will be a lot safer sleeping up in that than it will be on the ground,” he said as I gave him the rabbit. He drove a narrow, sharp stick through it, then set it over the fire to cook.
I gave a nod, pretending like the fact that we were going to be sleeping right next to each other didn’t make me uncomfortable.
It felt good to get food in my system. While none of us in Eden were starving, we had to be careful through the winter to make sure our stores would last until spring. It was nice to get my share. I licked my fingers and threw the bones as far as I could to keep the wolves away.
The heat of the day faded away and the chill of evening started to set in. We both huddled closer to the fire, palms raised to the flames.
“What do you remember from before the Evolution?” I asked, my voice quiet.
West glanced at me for a brief moment, taken off-guard by my sudden, very serious question.
“I lived with my father and my grandfather. My mother left when I was really little. My grandfather was a scientist, my dad was a doctor.”
“What kind of a scientist?” I asked. Just the word scientist brought up all kinds of hateful feelings in all of us. It was the scientists at NovaTor that had ruined our world, our race.
“He did experimental stuff,” he
said as he rubbed his tired eyes. “It was weird; I was always around other adults. I never even really knew any other kids. We lived in this unit that was attached to where they worked. A woman came to take care of me during the day while they were at work. When she couldn’t come they would take me with them.”
“I bet that wasn’t too fun for you,” I said as I stared into the flames.
“It was all I really knew. It might have been harder if I’d ever lived any different,” he said with a shrug. “And you don’t remember anything?” he asked. “Nothing before you came to Eden?”
I shook my head.
“No parents? No childhood friends?”
“Nothing,” I said. “I know everyone has lost someone, but I don’t even remember there being anyone. People talk about electricity and running water in houses, but it’s just a story to me. A myth even. The world in Eden, the world of raids and running, it’s all I’ve ever known.”
West looked over at me and I looked back at him, watched the flames dance in his eyes. “Maybe it’s better you don’t remember. Not everyone has a happy childhood.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that so I looked back into the fire. Even though I didn’t feel cold often, the wind that gusted through suddenly shook me with a shiver. West draped an arm across my shoulders, squeezing me to his side. As he did, I felt something square and flat press into my side.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said, tensing up. “Just…a connection to my past.”
I looked at his face for a moment. More secrets.
“We should probably get some sleep,” I finally said as I looked away from him.
“Good idea.” West stood. We both kicked dirt over the dying fire until it was smothered.
West helped hoist me up into the hammock and I pulled him in after me. Despite how uncomfortable I felt, we wrapped our arms around each other to keep warm.
West quickly drifted off to sleep. I considered the fact that I was going to be sleeping in the arms of the boy I wasn’t sure if I could trust and could hardly stand just a week or two ago. The fact that he had chosen to take off with me into dangerous woods with no hesitation spoke pretty loudly though. Maybe I had judged him too harshly.