Keary Taylor: Eden

“It can’t wait that long,” I said as I shook my head at her. “He’s already lost too much blood. Can you sew him up? You’re a doctor, right?”

She shook her head. “I’m a nurse but I know how to suture.”

I grabbed a pair of gloves out of one of the boxes on the wall and pulled them on. “We’re getting them out now.”

The nurse watched me wide eyed as I dug my fingers into Avian’s flesh and felt for the bullets. I wondered if her face was just like that all the time. Either that or I had really shaken her up. I guess I had pointed a gun at her.

The bullets gave a small ping as I dropped them in the sink. The nurse set to stitching his skin closed while I fished the bullet out of his thigh. I gave a hard swallow as I dropped the last bloody bullet in the sink.

Once she was done with the stitches she left the room for a moment and came back with a bag of blood. “He needs a transfusion,” she said as she punctured Avian’s skin and the blood started mixing with his own. I didn’t like the idea of some stranger’s blood mixing with his.

The soldier in the bed next to us limped out of the room, eyeing me as he walked by. “I would have done the same thing if it had been my wife bleeding to death,” he said as he met my eyes. I managed to give him a half smile as he walked out the door.

“This shouldn’t take too long,” the nurse said as she peeled off her gloves and threw them in the trash. “He could start coming around any time now. I’ll be back to check on him in a while.”

“Thank you,” I said as she started for the door. I reached out and lightly touched her arm. She flinched. “I’m sorry about earlier.” She merely gave a short nod and walked out the door.

Just as I was about to sit on the edge of Avian’s bed, three heavily armed men walked into the room.

“You need to come with us,” one of them said. His eyes were hard, his brow drawn together.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said as I glared back at him.

“You’ve been deemed a security threat,” he said as he took another step toward me. “You fired two shots in the middle of a crowded room, threatened a nurse. You need to be secured.”

“I’m not leaving him,” my voice was cold and hard.

The three of them took another step, their hands twitching on their firearms.

“I suggest you don’t come any closer if you like your nose the way it looks,” I warned, balling my fingers.

He merely gave a cocky little smile and took another step forward.

A scream of pain leapt from his throat as my cybernetic-boned fist met his face, my other hand chopping at his throat. One of the men behind him raised his firearm, leveling it at my face. In the same movement I spun, knocking it out of his hands with my heel. The third man turned and ran out into the hall.

“I told you I’m not leaving,” I said calmly as I extended a hand to the man who I had just broken his nose. He simply glared at me and got to his feet on his own, holding his bleeding nose. “You can take these,” I said as I handed over my firearms. “But I’m not leaving.”

He took my weapons, looking surprised at my cooperation. “We’ll be keeping watch over you. Isaac, you take the first shift. Watch her like a hawk.”

Isaac looked at the first man hard, looking like he might want to hit him too.

“I won’t bite,” I said as I turned and walked back to Avian’s side. The first man left in a hurry, the second stationed himself outside the door.

Not many things scared me but seeing Avian laying there like that did. Now that I finally understood who it was that I needed, was I going to lose him? Was I to only get a few glorious but horror filled minutes now that I had finally made my choice? I might be losing both of them at the same time. Maybe this was my punishment for taking so long to figure my feelings out. For doing what I had done to them.

2,634 seconds later, Avian’s eyes blinked open, a haze covering his gaze. I jumped back to his bed, after pacing back and forth for what felt like eternity. I balanced on the edge of the mattress as I took his hand in mine, pressing my lips to the back of his hand. He blinked several times before he turned his head and his eyes found mine.

“Hi,” I said quietly, kissing his still clammy skin.

“Hi,” he said back, the life coming back into his eyes.

I leaned forward, pressing my lips to his, coals growing in my chest, the heat rising with every passing moment. I pressed my forehead against his, biting my lower lip.

“I was worried I might lose you there for a while,” I said, closing my eyes. “You lost a lot of blood. I thought you were going to die.”

“So I didn’t just imagine everything that happened?” he asked. “West being infected? You telling me that you loved me?”

I shook my head as I kept his intense gaze. “Are you sure?” he asked very quietly.

“Without a doubt,” I said as I pressed my lips to his again briefly. Here was everything that was home.

“When did you finally decide?”

I thought back to that horrid but enlightening moment, a hard knot forming in my stomach. “When we heard over the radio that someone had been infected. I realized then that there was only one person I couldn’t survive loosing. I’ve lost Tye, Sarah, everyone in my past that I can’t even remember. But I realized then that I couldn’t live through losing you. You’re everything I have that’s worth living for.”

“But what about West?” he asked, his question hesitant, as if he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

“He will always be a part of me,” I said, searching inside of me for the answers. “He’s the only connection to my past that I have. But while West woke up something inside of me, I realized what I was feeling for him wasn’t love. He made me feel alive, but he doesn’t make me feel…” I struggled for the right words. “I don’t crave being around him like I do you. I don’t know how to exist without you. You’re a part of me in a way that I can’t explain. I just don’t feel the same about him.”

Avian brought his hand up behind my neck, bringing my lips to his again for just a moment. “I love you, Eve. I promise I always will.”

“I love you ,” I breathed, relishing in the warmth that radiated into every corner of my body. I’d said love and I finally understood what it meant.

“Eve,” he said as his eyes drifted to the doorway. “Why is there an armed guard standing just outside the door?”

I glanced in that direction, seeing Isaac standing there with his back turned to us but his automatic weapon in obvious sight. “I may have used a little more force than needed to get someone to help you,” I said, not quite meeting his eyes.

“You didn’t hurt anyone did you?” he said with a hint of a sigh.

“There’s just a couple of new bullet holes in their ceiling…”

Avian suddenly chuckled. He brought my hand up to his lips, pressing a brief kiss there. “That’s my Eve.”

I gave him a small smile, everything inside of me loving hearing him call me “his”.

“Have you heard anything yet?” Avian asked as he lay back on his pillow.

I shook my head as I sat back, my hands falling into my lap. “I haven’t left you since you collapsed upstairs.”

“You should go find out what happened,” he said, his eyes sad and serious. “See if we were too late.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, my brow furrowing. I didn’t like the idea of leaving him here like this alone.

“It’s just a couple of bullet holes,” he said with a small smile. “I’ve patched enough of them to know that I’ll survive.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I said as I stood. I glanced back at him one last time before I walked out the door.