Keary Taylor - The Eve

“We’ve got to start bridging this gap and animosity between us,” Avian said, placing a hand on my back. “Or there’s going to be another war.”

Over the next week, Avian, West, Bill, and I made plans for our journey and departure. We gathered supplies, carefully picked our firepower. And we discussed who the fourth member of our crew should be.

Elijah was laid up and in bad shape. He’d been shot twice in his left leg, and once in the chest. If the bullet had hit two inches higher he would have died. But even if he was at fighting readiness, he would be needed here in New Eden. Graye was in charge as head of security detail until Elijah was healed up. So Graye was out too.

Gabriel was still working with the civilians to carve out a normal life. He was helping to keep the peace between the refugees and the members of New Eden. Plus Gabriel wouldn’t have been my first choice on this kind of mission anyway.

Had we not had to deal with the refugees, I would have picked Tristan in a heartbeat. But nerves were still on edge and a fight was ready to break out at any moment. If not for him, we’d finish each other off like we’d tried to do two weeks ago.

So there were very few options left. There were others on security detail, but none that I knew well enough to trust their skills on a mission of this importance. I was considering Tuck, but he also had duties he needed to fulfill here in New Eden.

“Maybe we don’t even need a fourth,” I said late one night as Avian and I stepped into my room. “We’ve got you, me, West, Bill; we all know what we’re doing. Why do we need another?” I pulled my boots off and tossed them into my closet cupboard.

“I think that’s totally up to you,” Avian said as he slipped his own shoes off and lined them up by the door. He started pulling his firearms off and laid them on the counter. “I think I’d rather work with a tighter crew anyway.”

“I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with how well you and West have been working together for the past week,” I said as I walked into the bathroom. I turned the water on in the shower and leaned against the door, my shoulder pressing into the cold steel of the frame.

“He’s different now,” Avian said as he crossed the room. He stopped just short of me. He placed his hands on either side of the doorframe. “Whatever you two talked about last week sure put him in a different state of mind.”

“I just pointed out a few things to help him move on,” I said.

“I’m certainly enjoying the benefits of it,” Avian said, a slow smile creeping on his face. He leaned in closer. “I haven’t seen you this relaxed in months.”

“Having a purpose will do that you,” I said as his lips met mine.

His arms wrapped around my waist and my hand ran over his once again shaven hair. He lifted my legs and set me on the counter in the bathroom.

“Oh no, no, no,” I said, smiling against his lips. I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him away. “I’m supposed to get in the shower and then go for my last meeting with Royce. If we get started in on this,” I said, waving a finger between the two of us, “I will not make it in time.”

“You will be the death of me, woman,” Avian teased as he nipped at my jaw.

I couldn’t help the ridiculous smile that spread on my face as he stepped away. I very much didn’t want him to go as he crossed back to his shoes and bent to pick them up. He looked back at me where I still sat on the counter. He gave a low, playful growl, before opening the door and stepping out.

I climbed into the shower and turned the water freezing cold.

Over the next few days, a truce began to form between the residents of New Eden and the refugees.

Their six children were welcomed into Lin’s school room. She insisted children were children, no matter where they had come from. They deserved an education. That was the first step.

At Tristan’s recommendation, two of their men joined security detail. They were friends of Tristan’s and he was sure we could trust them. Royce hesitantly allowed them to be assigned firearms.

Two of the mothers joined the kitchen staff. It was the women who seemed to be making the biggest leap in bridging the enormous canyon between the two groups. Victoria was among the first of them that made the intimidating journey to the hotel to try and make peace. She’d formed quick friendships there. Her first step invited others to do the same.

Maybe we wouldn’t go back to war after all.

It was dangerous getting people’s hopes up too high, especially in a world like ours. Those of us in the know said nothing of our plans and about the slim possibility that this might work to anyone. Most people knew something was going on, but they knew better than to directly ask questions.

That didn’t keep the rumors from spreading.

Some thought Royce was keeping at least one Bane holed up in the building that Dr. Evans was kept in. Since Dr. Beeson frequented the building so often, people suspected we were experimenting on them.

Others speculated on why a vehicle was being worked on and why we were stockpiling supplies. They thought maybe some members of Eden wanted to return to the mountains.

None of them suspected we were making an attempt to save the world and looking for a girl who would be almost impossible to find.

Royce and Gabriel made sure life went about as usual. Security detail continued in the re-homing effort, without Avian as second-in-command. The incident still left him stripped of trust. He now had a more important mission to focus on though, as did Bill.

Nearly everything was back to normal after the death match between the refugees and New Eden. Most everyone was healed, back to work.

Except one person.

She wasn’t a victim of the fight. She was a victim of nature and Mother Earth.

I stepped into the medical wing and walked to her door. I saw her still form through the window, looking as if she were simply sleeping. I pushed the door open and sat in the chair next to her bed.

Morgan had been a member of Eden for almost as long as I had. Since we had different abilities and interests, I didn’t know her well. She had been the caretaker for our horses, until one died and the other we had no choice but to leave behind in the mountains.

Two years ago she married Eli in a makeshift wedding gown and a crown of daisies upon her head. She loved him.

And now he was dead.

Now she was fighting for her life, and losing.

So was the baby.

During the earthquake just a few weeks ago, the roof had caved in on Morgan and Eli, killing him, and nearly killing her.

My eyes shifted from her pale face to her growing stomach. How far along was she? I was no pregnancy expert, but it seemed like I remembered Avian once saying that pregnancy lasted nine months. She had found out she was pregnant just a few weeks before we left the mountains of Eden. So, five months?

I myself had arrived into this world three months early. I knew the child stood almost no chance if it arrived four months early. True, we were in a hospital with some amazing doctors, but the odds were not in her favor.

“Eve?”

I jumped to my feet when Morgan spoke my name. The word was weak and rough and totally unexpected.

“Yeah,” I said, backing up to the window, suddenly embarrassed that I was here. “It’s me.”

“What happened to you?” she asked, concern breaking over her face as she looked at me.

I hadn’t seen Morgan awake since I had returned from the Underground. She didn’t know that the top of my skull had been cut off and a device had been implanted in my head.

“You don’t think bald is a good look on me?” I tried to joke. I was terrible at it.