Keary Taylor: Eden

“Avian!” I cried as I neared his tent. “Avian! Wake up!”

I didn’t even hesitate as I plowed through the flaps of the tent and stumbled inside. My arms shook as Sarah’s body limply lay in my arms. “Avian, wake up!”

He jerked up from his cot on the ground, his eyes wide but unfocused with sleep. “What… Eve…?”

“Sarah!” I cried, frustrated that he didn’t understand what was going on already. “She’s not breathing!”

This seemed to finally shake the sleep from his brain as he jumped to his feet, taking Sarah from my arms and laying her on his cot. He held his fingers to her neck, sitting quiet for a moment.

“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 didn’t hesitate as 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 ignored them and slipped inside the white tent. It only took me a moment to find the black, hard-sided kit. It frightened me that he needed it. He only used the items within it when things were really bad.

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. Seeing people like this made me want to run away. It was never a good thing when someone had to see Avian.

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 eyes opening wide with panic. They tried to focus on what she was seeing but instead they just rolled back into her head before she fell back against the bed. I could tell she was unconscious but she was still breathing and the color was quickly coming back to her face.

Avian sat back on his heels, his fist pressed into his pursed lips. It frightened me to look into his eyes. Avian was always so calm when it came to things like this. He always knew what to do. I hadn’t seen him look like this since he had to end Tye’s life.

“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.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly as Gabriel ducked out of the tent.

“Me?” I questioned. “I’m fine. Why?”

West just shook his head, then looked to Avian. “Is there anything I can do to help?” he 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 people 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 it was necessary. Sarah was still completely out. She wouldn’t feel anything. I helped Avian place pillows around her in a vain attempt to make her more comfortable.

“Eve,” I was slightly startled when I heard Graye’s voice from the entrance. “We need to be leaving 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 leave her right now?

“I’ll go in her place,” West spoke up. “I still haven’t been assigned an official scouting party.” I then 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 was listening. 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.

“I think she had some kind of allergic reaction. The pollen is really bad this time of year. She just wasn’t able to handle it.”

“That sure seemed a lot worse than just an allergy attack.”

Avian couldn’t quite meet my eyes as he pursed his lips and gave the tiniest of nods.

“Is she going to be okay?”

He didn’t answer right away. His hesitation made my stomach clench. “We’ll have to keep her indoors, probably for a few weeks till the air clears. It would help if it would rain. There isn’t going to be much I can do for her.”

“But if she stops breathing again, you have more of those shots?”

“It was just adrenaline,” he said as he sat on one of the stumps we used as seats. “I have two more now.”

I couldn’t decide if two sounded like a lot or nothing at all. Avian used those shots for several 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 suddenly, ducking out of the tent without saying anything else. I didn’t like the feeling that was flooding through me as all the questions I didn’t have any answers to ran though my head.

The scent of freshly baked bread wafted through the air as I made my way to the ovens. Half a dozen other people were flocked around the kitchen. A few women handed out the rolls. Another man was scooping a steaming mush into bowls and handing them to people.

As I stepped up to take Avian and I’s portions, 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 was 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 as he looked up at me briefly, accepting the bowl and the rolls. For a brief moment, I saw the twenty-one-year-old young man who had fled for his life again with fear in his eyes, not knowing what to do.

Avian had been a bright student in school. 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 his bachelor degree in pre-med 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 turned eighteen, 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.