Keary Taylor - The Human

“Come on,” Avian said, taking my hand and pulling me toward one of the fires.

We stopped in the firelight. Avian held his hands up to the flames to warm them. They were covered in blood.

“I’m going to try and go back to the tent tomorrow as soon as I can manage,” I said, a lump in my throat. “I’m going to need some of my stuff.”

Avian met my eyes with sadness. “When you’re this close to the coast and there’s an earthquake, often times the shore gets flooded. We’re lucky a tsunami didn’t rush in on us. There’s a good chance the tent isn’t there anymore.”

I squeezed my eyelids closed, my stomach feeling sick. There was nothing in it that was dire, nothing that I couldn’t find in this city elsewhere. Except for the picture of my mother.

“We’ll check though,” Avian said. He placed a finger on my chin. I opened my eyes to meet his. “It might still be there.”

I could only nod once again.

I didn’t sleep that night. Avian and I curled into each other on a blanket on the ground, never once letting go. While I listened to his steady breathing, I could only gaze out into the dark night.

My thoughts turned to West. I wondered if he was okay. Would Margaret hurt him? Turn him out onto the Bane-infested streets?

I could only pray that Tristan would be able to protect West like he promised.

But would West even want to come back with Tristan? He’d left New Eden willingly to try and get away from me. How was he really supposed to move on if he had to see Avian and me every day? I wouldn’t really be able to blame him if he didn’t want to come back.

Finally morning started growing in the horizon. I pressed a kiss to Avian’s forehead and went to see how I could help.

Avian’s patients slept, probably with the aid of some kind of medication. Morgan was still sleeping, her eyes moving rapidly beneath her eyelids. While I certainly didn’t want her to die, I almost wished for her to never have to wake up and find the love of her life and the father of her unborn child gone.

I was looking at Eli’s empty cot when Gabriel stopped silently at my side. I observed his face, saw the heavy bags beneath his eyes. He’d been up most of the night, if not all of it. I had little doubt it had been him that had buried Eli.

“It’s not fair,” I said, looking back to the cot. It was covered mostly with a blanket, but it had slipped off one corner, exposing the blood stains. “He survived the Bane this long. And then to be killed by a force of nature?”

Gabriel cleared his throat and swallowed heavily. “No it isn’t fair, but in a way it was a kind of beautiful way to die. Better to be claimed by nature than to be stolen by TorBane.”

“I suppose.”

By now the morning light had broken over the tops of buildings, calling everyone to wakefulness. I turned to see Avian roll over, his eyes searching the crowd. When he found me, a smile lit up his sleepy face.

This time I did manage to smile back.

Something moved in the corner of my eye. I looked over to see two figures down the street, moving slowly, struggling.

I took a few steps closer, squinting to see through the blinding sunlight.

“Tristan?” I said.

He looked up as I said his name. Then he and the figure at his side collapsed to the ground.

“West!”

I rushed toward them, at the same time Elijah, Nick, and Tuck did with guns pointed in their direction.

“No!” I shouted to them, waving a hand at them. “It’s okay. He’s a friend.”

West was laying on the ground, looking totally out of it, his eyes dully searching the sky. He looked like he’d dropped fifteen pounds since I had last seen him. But the inhibitor was gone.

Tristan knelt on the ground next to him, his body trembling slightly in fatigue.

“Is he okay?” I asked Tristan, kneeling at West’s side. I was conflicted, wanting to both assure myself that he was alive and wanting to strangle him at the same time for betraying me.

“He’ll be fine,” Tristan said. “He’s actually drugged right now. I told him the truth about what happened with you and he was totally freaking out. I didn’t want him getting too worked up during the journey until he could see that you were okay.”

“Eve?” West mumbled, his eyes still totally unfocused. He blinked hard and shook his head.

“How did you get down here?” I asked, turning to Tristan and standing. “Surely you didn’t walk this whole way.”

He shook his head, a smile playing on his lips. “We took a boat. I didn’t think we’d survive the drive down.”

West moaned as he pulled himself into a sitting position. “My head,” he said, pressing his hands into the sides of his head. “What did you give me?”

“A sedative,” Tristan said with a chuckle. “It was intended for livestock, but it did the trick.”

West finally opened his eyes, and saw me standing there with a hard expression. “Eve,” he said, his voice rising as he made his way to his feet. “Eve, you’ve got to listen to me—”

And then Avian plowed into him.

They both skidded across the concrete and hadn’t even stopped before Avian’s fists were connecting with West’s jaw.

“You’ve screwed Eve over for the last time!” Avian screamed. “And now you’ve probably killed us all!”

“Avian!” I screamed, lunging after him at the same time Nick did.

Avian shoved me off and punched Nick. He turned back to West and to my horror, pulled his hand gun and leveled it in West’s face.

“You keep making mistake after mistake,” Avian whispered. “And I am sorry for what you’ve gone through, but I’m getting tired of forgiving you. This…what you did to her this time…I’m not letting this go.”

“Avian!” I yelled again, taking a slow step forward. “This isn’t you. You don’t want to hurt him.”

“Believe me,” Avian said, shaking his head, his eyes never leaving West’s. “I do.”

“Avian, I—” West started.

“Shut up!” Avian screamed, spit flying from his mouth. He shoved his gun in West’s face again. “You don’t deserve any more second chances. I nearly lost her forever because of you!”

“Avian, don’t do this,” I said as I took another step toward him.

I looked up to Nick, who met my worried gaze for a second. I saw the action in his eyes before I could yell to stop him.

Nick rushed forward. His arms wrapped around Avian’s waist and they both rolled over the concrete, wrestling for the gun.

A shot fired.

Nick collapsed to the road, his breath’s coming in shallow gasps. His hands clutched his bleeding abdomen.

“Nick!” I screamed, darting forward to press my own hands into his to try and stop the blood.

“No,” Avian whispered. “I didn’t… I’m sorry… I—”

Elijah tackled Avian, forcing his face to the ground. He snapped a pair of handcuffs around Avian’s wrists.

“Royce!” Elijah bellowed. “Dr. Sun!”

The next sixty seconds were a blur of Avian apologizing, his eyes wild, Royce barking for Avian to be taken into confinement, men hauling the bleeding Nick and West back to the hospital, and Tristan and I standing there stunned, not knowing what had just happened or what to do.

They all shut me out.

Elijah locked Avian up and he, Royce, Gabriel, and everyone else important headed for the conference room to figure out a plan. As well as what to do with Avian.

They literally locked me out.

“Eve,” Tristan said. He’d followed me up to the sixth floor and we both stood outside the locked door. “I really need to talk to you.”

It took me a long moment to respond. I just stood staring at that locked door thinking I should be inside, helping to formulate a plan for how to save everyone here.