Again I found no one.
I slept on the road again. Fear started creeping up in my stomach. What if they couldn’t get back to the tank? What if they’d been injured? What if the Bane really were out in these woods? We’d been driven out of our own mountains because they’d pressed so far into the wilderness before.
When morning came, a thought occurred to me. I’d called Bane I hadn’t meant to call before. Why couldn’t I do it again? If there was a chance there were Bane in this forest, I could do the one thing I could to protect whoever from New Eden might be out there.
I focused all my thoughts, channeled my energy or whatever I thought would help, into calling the Bane to me.
Today I would wait at the tank.
I stood just in front of it, my shotgun ready. And I waited.
The first one came an hour after I started the call. It came out of the woods twenty yards south of the tank onto the road. It headed directly up the road toward me, its dead eyes fixed on me.
It took only two shells to kill it. It dropped in the middle of the road.
Another came out of the woods, right in front of me, three hours later. He was so close before I saw him emerge from the woods that it only took one shot to take him down.
As the time continued to pass, my stomach started to growl, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten anything in more than twenty-four hours.
I’d just taken off my pack and was digging through it for one of the cans of soup when I heard shots being fired.
“Avian!” I bellowed, instantly sprinting through the trees toward the sounds.
“Eve?” I heard him yell, probably two hundred yards away.
Seven more shots were fired, shouts rose into the air, and then they ceased.
“Avian!” I screamed again. I was rocketing through the trees at this point.
And suddenly he came into view. Fifty yards away through the trees. He was running in my direction too.
His step faltered when his eyes found me. Horror filled his face.
But he crushed me into his chest when we finally collided.
“What the hell did they do to you?” he growled into the curve of my neck. I looked up into his eyes to see them burning with hatred. He inspected my hairline and the still fresh scar I knew was there.
“I’m okay,” I said, shaking my head, then laying my cheek on his chest and squeezing him tighter. Avian’s hand hesitantly came to the back of my head as he embraced me.
“Eve?” I heard Gabriel’s voice a ways away. I turned from Avian to see who else had come to find me.
Gabriel, Bill, and Tuck came towards us through the woods.
There were two Bane lying dead in a heap, their bodies riddled with bullet holes.
“They didn’t try to hurt anyone, did they?” I asked, looking back at Avian.
“No,” Avian shook his head. “They were just marching through the trees. That’s what caught our attention. They walked right past us and didn’t even acknowledge we were there. We followed them but didn’t dare let them get any closer to the tank.”
“It was me,” I said, my voice lowered. Gabriel, Bill, and Tuck stopped at our sides. “They were heading here because of me.”
“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked.
“I was waiting for you all to come back to the tank,” I said, looking each of them over for damage. They all looked fine. “I’ve been waiting for two days. But…something’s changed. The people who took me? They did something to me.”
Avian swore under his breath. “What’d they do?” His eyes were pained.
For some reason I felt ashamed for what had happened. I was too strong to let them do something like this to me. “They were trying to figure out the reason why I can’t be infected. I think they thought they could find a cure. I don’t know if they found what they were looking for, but they did something else while they were in there. And I don’t think they realized they did it.”
“What is it, Eve?” Avian asked, his voice low.
“You know how I could control the Bane before?” I asked, looking around to Gabriel, Bill, and Tuck. “Just one or two of them?”
They each nodded.
“It’s exponentially stronger now,” I said, my eyes growing dark. “I was trying to call any Bane that might be in the forest, to keep them away from you until I could find you.”
“But you were so far away,” Tuck said, his eyes narrowing at me. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I told them about how I had only thought of the supplies I needed to survive, and how the next morning the Bane had collected them for me.
“This changes things,” Bill said. “I’m not exactly sure how, but it changes things.”
I nodded in agreement.
“One more thing,” I said, looking back at Avian. “Those people who invaded New Eden. They’re not here. Someone helped me escape, but West is still in Seattle.”
“You’ve been in Seattle all this time?” Avian gaped, anger blazing in his eyes again. He shook his head, his fists balling.
“What about West?” Gabriel asked. “Did he turn? He’s supposed to have gone back in for Extraction by now.”
“They said they’d help him,” I said. “They promised their doctor would get the scrap out of his heart and that he’d be TorBane-free. They told me the surgery worked. The man who helped me get out, he said he would bring West as soon as he was well enough to travel.”
“Do you trust them?” Bill asked. “Do you trust them that they won’t kill him once they realize you’re gone?”
“Them, no,” I said shaking my head. “The man who helped me, yes. He said he’d protect West until then.”
“This is his fault, isn’t it?” Avian growled. His expression darkened. “He told them about you, didn’t he?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head, pushing my emotions down. “It doesn’t matter now. I’m back. I’m okay.”
“Oh, it matters,” he hissed.
“Avian,” Gabriel chided. “You’ve got to get over this anger towards him. It’s not going to do anyone any good.”
“West could have gotten her killed, Gabriel!” Avian shouted. “Look at her!”
“But like she said,” Gabriel spoke, his voice rising slightly. “She’s back now.”
Avian gave a big sigh, his body slumping as the fight went out of him. He wrapped his arms around me again, crushing me into his chest. Suddenly Gabriel wrapped his arms around the two of us and I was sandwiched in the middle.
“I was worried you were gone to us,” Gabriel said in his rough voice. “You’ve made it through too much to be taken out by humans.”
“I’m okay,” I said again. But I wasn’t really sure it was true.
“Any idea what this is?” Bill asked and his finger lightly touched the back of my scalp.
“What?” I asked.
“You’ve got a roman numeral two tattooed to the back of your head,” Bill said. Avian turned me so he could inspect it himself.
“That’s not fresh,” Avian said. “That’s old ink.”
“Who knows,” I said, shaking my head and turning around again. I took one of Avian’s hands and one of Gabriel’s. “I just want to go home now.”
“Let’s head back to the tank,” Avian said, looking down at me. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “We’ll head home in the morning.”
EIGHTEEN
I sat across from Avian, simply looking at him, still not quite believing that I’d found him, so far from home. Against the odds, we’d found each other again.
But something in me knew that I would always find Avian.
Gabriel, Bill, and Tuck had offered to sleep outside. At first I had blushed. I didn’t feel embarrassed often, but the thought of them just outside the steel walls made my face warm.
But as I sat across the tank from Avian, I was grateful for their offer.
“I took off on my own at first,” Avian said, his eyes never breaking away from mine. ?
??As soon as I realized they took you, I grabbed an emergency pack and a gun and just took off. Gabriel caught up to me twenty minutes later in the tank.”
I shook my head, a real smile pulling at my lips. “That wasn’t very smart.”
A smile flitted across his own face. “I tend to lose my head when it comes to you.”
That happy expression finally spread on my face. “How does stuff like this happen?” I asked. I felt silly for the grin on my face. “How does fate align perfectly that I find Eden, a place safe with good people who could help to mold me into the person I’ve become? That I find you? That I get taken across the country and the moment I escape, find my way back to you?”
Avian’s eyes grew dark and serious but they danced like stars reflecting on water. He stood and crossed the space toward me. He nudged my legs apart with his knee, standing between them. He placed a hand behind my neck. The gesture felt strange now. His hand should have been tangled in my hair.
“Because sometimes there are two people in this world who are bigger than fate. Sometimes there are two people who are just a force of nature and against all odds, a force this strong cannot be denied.”
“I missed you, Avian,” I whispered as his forehead touched mine.
“I nearly died without you,” he said, his lips only a whisper away from mine. I felt all of his anger and his desperation in that moment and understood them. We were all each other had left in this world.
“Never again,” I said, making a promise I knew I would do everything in my power to keep.
“I will always find you.”
And finally, he kissed me.
It nearly brought a sob from my chest. I hadn’t allowed myself to accept it before, but I had feared I would never be in this place again. I had nearly lost us forever.
This was me, the unchangeable, unbreakable part of me.
Avian’s lips weren’t gentle. They were desperate and they were lonely. They were fearful and possessive. His teeth tugged on my bottom lip. His breathing came out ragged.
My hands slid under his shirt, my fingers feeling alive and electric as they passed over his toned abdomen. I pushed his shirt up and pulled it up over his head. Goosebumps instantly flashed over his skin.
He let me look at him for a moment and I drank him in. His chest was tight and sculpted. Coming to New Eden had done glorious things for his already beautiful body. With more food and free time to do things more challenging than doctoring, he had the body of a god.
My eyes settled on the tattoo of three birds on his chest. My fingers rose to touch the one with the shape of an “S” in the way its wings met its body.
“I love you, Avian,” I said. It was a moment before my eyes left the bird and returned to his. “I don’t exist as a whole without you.”
Avian’s eyes burned as he looked back at me through the dim light. He took one of my hands in his and pulled me to my feet. His arms wrapped around my waist and he rested his forehead against mine.
“I promise you my forever,” Avian said, pressing a soft and gentle kiss to each of my eyelids.
“My forever is yours to keep,” I returned, pulling myself into his chest. I buried my face in his neck, clinging to his frame and breathing him in. I felt his heart beating into my own chest.
There was a fire building between the two of us that night. A fire that had never burned so bright until that moment, but would continue to burn for that forever we’d promised. Because that promise of forever, that was my word, my bond, and my eternal will.
NINETEEN
In the morning I told everyone about the other beacon, which was to be set off New Year’s day. This sent everyone into action and we immediately rolled south.
I felt like the slow journey would kill me. The motorcycle I’d taken from Seattle was wrecked when I crashed into the tank. We had no choice but to all take the trek home in the tank. It had taken them three days to get here, it was going to take us three days to get home. There was nothing we could do about it. We would get home with seven days to spare. In that time, the scientists would have to rebuild the energy storage devices and get the Pulse charge up. There was zero room for error.
“There is something else you need to know,” I said, loud enough so everyone could hear me over the sound of the track wheels. Tuck glanced down at me, he drove the tank. Avian, Bill, and Gabriel turned their full attention to me.
“The Bane, we’ve known for a few months that they’re getting smarter,” I started. “But the first generation receivers of TorBane, all the others are following them. They’re building an army.”
“How is that possible?” Gabriel questioned. “An army of Bane?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know exactly, but they’re thinking logically. The day before I found the tank, I was about to head through this city when all of the sudden hundreds of thousands of Bane came crawling out and started leveling the city. It was a small town so I knew they had to be coming from somewhere else.
“There was this man,” I continued. “He’d been following them, studying them. He said they’re sweeping. They’re leveling everything, looking for people. They’re moving west to east. When they reach the coast they turn south.”
“How long till they reach New Eden?” Avian asked, his brow furrowing.
“Tom was estimating maybe six months,” I said, the weight of my words filling the interior of the tank. “But he thought it would probably be less. They’re gaining numbers as they go. Any Bane that are awake, any Hunters, they’re joining the army.”
“Well that’s as scary as anything I could imagine,” Tuck said, shaking his head.
“There aren’t nearly as many Sleepers,” Gabriel said, rubbing a hand over his once again overgrown beard. “They’re all starting to wake up. Millions of them.”
“We’re going to have to prepare,” I said, nodding. “We’ve got to get the Pulse back up and running. And if possible, I think we need to build others.”
“If it’s true and they are gaining numbers as they move, there will be over three hundred million of them by the time the reach New Eden,” Avian said. “Even if we have multiple Pulses, will it be enough?”
“It will have to be,” Bill said. “What other choice would we have?”
“We could move,” Tuck suggested.
“Not again,” Gabriel shook his head. “There are too many of us now in New Eden. We have a perfect set up there. We will fight back.”
“Besides, it isn’t like the rest of the country is going to be totally Bane-free,” I said, looking up at Tuck. “There are still thousands of Sleepers out there. Eventually they’re going to wake up, after the army has left.”
Tuck sighed, shaking his head. He muttered something about good things never lasting.
“One more thing,” I said. I fidgeted with the shotgun that sat in my lap. “I don’t think it’s safe for me to go back into New Eden. I have no idea what those people did to me, but it seems the Bane might be attracted to me now. I think it’s safer for me to hang out on the outskirts. You all can go back in and send Dr. Beeson out to me. He can check me out, see what he thinks.”
“Eve…” Avian started to argue.
“You know it can’t be safe,” I said, shaking my head at him. “We can’t risk the Bane following me into the city.”
“He’ll fix it,” Gabriel said. “I’ve never met a man smarter than Erik.”
“Let’s hope so,” I said with a sigh. But something inside of me wasn’t so sure.
We drove through the night and fueled up when the sky was darkest. I took most of the night shift, finally fully recovered from my imprisonment and surgery. Avian slept with his hand on my calf, as if he was afraid I would disappear on him again.
By morning we were reaching cities.
Bill kept track of where we were on his maps. We’d been lucky to have forests to the north. There weren’t many cities. But the trees were falling away and the buildings were rising around us.
??
?I think it’s about time for you to head up,” Bill said, his finger tracing along the paper. “It all starts here.”
Avian met my eyes and where in the past there would have been fear, there was admiration and confidence. He gave me a lopsided smile and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Go save the world some more,” he said.
I couldn’t help the full smile that spread on my face. I checked my magazine, loaded my pockets with more ammunition, and opened the hatch.
There were still trees around us but they weren’t the towering ancient guardians of the north. These were smaller and more ragged. They had to struggle a little harder for survival.
There was a gas station up ahead and a few shops. There were blocks of houses.
The tank kept rolling through the morning light.
I raised my rifle to eye level, my finger poised on the trigger.
We clattered into the edges of the town. And almost as if it had trumpeted our arrival, bodies stepped into the light.
I started firing as the first batch of twenty sprang at us. Two bodies dropped to the ground with a scraping of metal on concrete.
“Stay back!” I bellowed as the crowd grew and rushed us.
The two hundred plus bodies that were swarming us instantly stopped and took a few steps back.
“You guys want to see this?” I said loud enough those below would be able to hear.
The tank slowed to a stop and I shifted to the side so the others could emerge.
The crowd of Bane just stood before us, twitching and shifting like they wanted to break from my hold the instant I dropped it. But they didn’t come any closer.
“Holy…” Bill whispered.
“There are hundreds of them,” Gabriel mused. “Why is it so strong now?”
“They did some serious digging in there,” I said, keeping my shotgun leveled at the crowd. So did the rest of the team. “I don’t think they meant to do this though. I think it is just an unexpected side effect of whatever it was they did to me.”
“They’re standing back, this many of them,” Avian said, holding a hand up to shield the sun from his eyes. “How many of them do you think would listen?”