Keary Taylor - The Human

I swore again as we paused in the lobby. “Can anything else go wrong?”

“Knock on wood,” Tristan said, shaking his head. “Are things always so dramatic around here?”

A chuckle unexpectedly erupted from my lips and I shook my head. “No kidding.”

“Now, are you going to cause any more issues, or can I go back to work?” Bill asked.

“I make no promises,” I answered honestly.

Bill just shook his head with a hint of a smile and walked away.

“Well, this was quite the introduction to your little colony,” Tristan said as his eyes swept the lobby.

“Welcome to New Eden.”

What could I do at that point but go back to work?

I’d tried to demand to see Avian, but Raj, who stood guard outside his door, refused me in a very in-my-face kind of way. He literally shoved his rifle in my face and told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to Avian.

I had no control. I couldn’t dig the remote out of my head, if there was one. I couldn’t make Royce figure out a plan any faster. I couldn’t make them all come out of that room. I couldn’t decide Avian’s fate. I couldn’t save Nick.

But I could work.

Tristan and I helped move everyone back into the hospital when it was determined safe. No one was to go back to their houses except to get supplies until we knew what to do.

Besides the Pulse, nothing major had been damaged during the earthquake.

I gave Tristan the tour of the hospital as people started settling down. He marveled over the kitchens, over the lobby, over the school rooms. I couldn’t blame him. It was the same reaction I had the first time Royce had shown us around.

“Do you think you’ll stay?” I asked him as we sat in the dining area, eating dinner. “Here in New Eden?”

Tristan met my eyes for a moment before dropping them to his plate again. “I don’t think I could go back,” he said, pushing his eggs around on his plate. “I can just feel it here. How different things are, despite your drama. I hope you appreciate how unique of a situation you have here, these good people. The fact that you all work together in harmony.”

I nodded as I finished off my roll. “I haven’t been anywhere but with these people since the Evolution, but I know we’re lucky.”

“So to answer your question, yes, if New Eden will have me, I’d like to stay,” Tristan said.

“You helped me get home,” I said with a smile. “If you were looking for immediate acceptance, that pretty much guaranteed it. I know everyone is kind of pissed at me right know, but we’re all still family.”

Tristan chuckled, looking back at me. “I think they’re happy to have you home for more than the reason of being family. You’re probably still the key to fixing all this somehow. How does it not go to your head, being so blasted important?”

“Oh, the knowledge that I helped bring about the end of the world keeps me pretty humble,” I said, my tone sarcastic.

“Good point,” Tristan said, his tone teasing and serious at the same time.

“What about you?” I asked, stacking my empty plate on his. “Where were you when everything fell apart?”

“Well,” he said, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. “I was sixteen. I was in high school and my best friend told me how his cousin had been acting weird after her surgery. She was a first gen. A few days later I heard something on the news about TorBane spreading and a week later, my best friend wasn’t human any more. As soon as I told my dad about it, he took us into the mountains.”

“How did you end up in Seattle then?” I asked, folding my arms on the table and leaning forward.

“My dad went out on a hunting trip one day, looking for some food for us. I was seventeen then. I was supposed to watch our camp because there had been marauders in the area. Dad never came back.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, truly meaning it.

Tristan gave a little nod with a tight-lipped smile in appreciation. “There was this man, Stanley, who found me. He didn’t say much, but he said I could come with him, that he’d try his best to keep the both of us safe. Eventually we ended up at the Underground. Eventually he ended up getting infected.”

I shook my head. “There are so few of us left.”

“Eve?” a voice called from behind. I turned to see Lin rushing across the room.

She collided with me as she skidded across the tile floor, engulfing me in a hug. “I heard you were back. Are you okay?” She backed away slightly, her eyes instantly going to my shaven head and the scars there.

“I don’t know about okay,” I said. “But I’m back.”

“Your hair,” she said, her face falling. “You always had the most beautiful hair. That doesn’t hurt, does it?” She gingerly touched the scars.

“I’m a freak, remember?” I teased her with serious eyes.

“Ah, yes, no pain,” she said. “And who is this?”

“Lin, this is Tristan,” I said, turning back to him. “Tristan, this is my…friend, Lin.”

And suddenly I felt like I had taken advantage of Lin. I knew she would have called me a friend without a second thought. I sometimes needed to remember people were people, not just tools for survival.

“Nice to meet you, Lin,” Tristan said, extending a hand toward her. He held a mischievous smile on his face.

“And you too,” Lin said. Lin smiled a lot, but this one was different.

I’d never been a matchmaker before.

I had to hope then that we’d all live long enough for them to get to know each other.

The plan was this:

In forty-eight hours the vast majority of New Eden would evacuate the hospital. They would pack their necessities and head for the harbors and everyone would take off into the water. Special teams would pack as much food and provisions as possible in those forty-eight. They would all have roughly eight hours to get to safety.

I would stay at the hospital as well as a handful of the scientists while they repaired the Pulse. We would have the wireless transmission system on full blast and would keep the hospital on lock down, just how they’d all survived before the Pulse went off. Royce would stay with us and Gabriel would go with everyone else to the water.

And we’d work as fast and furious as we could to rid the city once again of the Bane that were about to be called out.

Because no one saw a solution to stopping the beacon.

While everyone else prepared for evacuation, I had a few personal issues to take care of.

Despite the panic that was sweeping the hospital and city about having to evacuate, there was endless talk.

People didn’t know what to think about Avian’s actions.

Some called for his immediate exile from New Eden. Violence against our own couldn’t be tolerated. Could Avian be trusted anymore? What other ways would he lash out violently in the future?

Nick was still alive, but he only had a fifty-fifty chance of making it.

West had recovered from his injuries and had been released to prepare for evacuation. I made sure to avoid him. At this point it seemed best.

But I had to talk to Avian.

The floor was silent when I stepped out from the stairway. The lights on this floor flickered, air rushed through the vents, giving the feeling there where whispering ghosts whispering. Waiting to tell you their secrets.

I moved silently through the hall, finding it empty. Glancing around the corner, I spotted Raj, slumped on the floor. I could faintly hear his snore.

There was a supply closet just to the left of where he slept. I grabbed an electrical cord that was lying on the floor next to me and silently crept forward.