Jamie McGuire - Eden

“Should we wait until dark?” Bex asked.

I grabbed his bloodied shoulder, pressing my palm against it. “You’re hit.”

He winked. “It’s not bad. So…should we wait?”

Jared shook his head. “We just need to get in there.”

Kim sighed. “But how? There are hundreds of people out there.”

Claire pulled a pin from a grenade. “Like this.” She rolled it into the crowd, and in seconds a large explosion blew people and body parts in different directions. A huge brown cloud of smoke filled the area and Claire and Ryan ran full speed into it.

Jared grabbed my sleeve and we followed. We didn’t get five steps before a hail of bullets rained down on us. Jared was hit several times and faltered. A bullet ripped through my arm. At first it didn’t hurt, but the closer we got to the Sepulchre, the more the burning surged through my veins. The memory of the pain in my leg at the Japanese restaurant in Providence immediately came to the forefront of my mind. Jared flipped around, and emptied his pistol into the dissipating cloud. He pushed me forward, and Claire and Ryan took me into the church.

“She’s hit!” Ryan said.

They had already cleared the main room. Ryan tied a piece of cloth around my arm while Claire took out the shells in the rest of the church and secured the entrances. Jared, Bex, and Kim came into the doors as one unit, with Kim sliding in on her knees. Bex slammed the door closed behind them, and immediately covered the window.

After a few minutes and sporadic gunfire, Claire returned. “We only have a few minutes before they reorganize. The barricades won’t hold for long. We need to get underground.”

I winced as Jared tightened Ryan’s tourniquet. “I thought they couldn’t come in here.”

Jared frowned at the dark red saturating the cloth on my arm. “It’s the tomb they can’t violate. The church and basilisk itself are fair game.”

Bex glanced back from the window. “Whatever we’re doing, let’s do it fast.”

The cloud from the grenade had cleared, revealing dozens of mutilated corpses on the ground. More shells were crowding the Sepulchre, and were now climbing its walls and beating on the doors.

Jared lifted Kim off the floor. “You have the book?”

She nodded, breathing hard.

“You ready to do what you came here to do?”

“Yes, and it’s about damn time, Ryel,” she said, tightening her grip on the pack.

We retreated into the church, passing extravagant garnishing of gold, marble and artwork. Candles lined altars, and pictures of the crucifixion of Christ. We passed a set of stairs that made Claire pause before advancing into the Sepulchre of Jesus.

“Where do they lead?” I asked.

Jared glanced at the stairs only briefly. “That would be the stairway to Calvary. Christ climbed those steps on his way to be crucified.”

We continued through a large room to another room that held a smaller room within it. You could walk around this room, but Claire advanced inside.

“Is this it?” I asked.

Jared squeezed my hand. “The Holy Sepulchre.”

We filed in, and everyone dropped their packs. I was confused. The adornments around the room signaled a holy place, but all this time, my mind pictured an underground cavern.

“This can’t be it. How can we protect ourselves in here?”

Claire sighed. “Not in here.” She pushed the altar to the side, revealing an ancient steep staircase. “The true tomb is hidden below. It’s hidden from the public.”

“I’m having my baby in a hole,” I said, more of a statement than a question.

Bex laughed once. “Uh…is there room in the inn?”

My stomach lurched, and I grabbed Jared’s arm.

“Nina?” he said, immediately worried.

I grabbed my belly with both hands and groaned. “Give me a minute,” I said, panting.

Claire took a few steps down. “We don’t have a minute.”

“Let’s get her downstairs,” Bex said, checking outside the room. “They’re coming.”

Claire clicked a flashlight onto her rifle and ducked down the staircase. Ryan followed, and then Jared, me and Kim went down next, with Bex closing the opening behind us. The stairway opened up into a stone hallway that led to a massive cavern. Damp, dark, and drippy. Just as I had imagined.

“Feeling better?” Jared asked, touching my protruding stomach.

I nodded, still looking around the room. The flashlights illuminated giant stone arches lining the vast space, accessing lateral halls.

“Where do they lead?” I asked.

“Tunnels. Two hundred yards either way isn’t protected. They won’t come down here, but don’t wander.”

“I won’t.”

Kim pulled the Naissance de Demoniac from her satchel, and pointed her flashlight around the room, settling on what looked like a formerly adorned altar. She walked over to it slowly. Even in the dim light, I could see her body shaking uncontrollably. Ryan and I walked behind, watching her hold the book in front of her.

“I did it,” she said, staring at the book in awe. “We’re free.”

Ryan put his hand on Kim’s shoulder as she placed the book on the altar. She fell to her knees, and we fell with her. In the next moment, the ground began to shake, and small bits of rock fell to the floor. A piercing roar echoed through the tomb, causing us all to cover our ears. It was one voice, but also many, wailing, yelling, cursing utter foulness…and then it was over. Silence.

Kim looked back at Jared, and he offered a knowing smile. She had completed her mission, and freed her family of the duty of protecting the Naissance de Demoniac from a constant, powerful enemy.

“I guess I can go home now?” she said.

“You can,” Bex said. “But you’re on your own, and this place is crawling with shells.”

“We could use you here,” Jared said, “to help with the birth.”

Kim smiled at him. It was a relief to finally see the two come to terms. The air was immediately lighter between them.

“I wonder if you still have your superpower?” Ryan said.

Kim punched him in the gut, and he doubled over. “It would appear so.”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” he coughed.

It’s hard to keep one’s days and nights straight when underground. If it weren’t for the family full of Hybrids, I would have been alone while keeping my strange hours. Whether it was the baby, or the less-than-comfortable blow up mattress we slept on, or the constant dripping in the background, it was impossible to sleep. Regardless, I took naps at one to three hours at a time, around the clock.

Ryan and Kim didn’t seem to have the same problem. Even though his mattress was noticeably close to Claire’s, she made a point of keeping her distance now that we were all safe. As the days wore on, Ryan grew less happy about her cold demeanor, and the grumbling turned into full-blown arguments.

It was difficult — after we’d spent so much time dodging and preparing — to sit and wait. As much time that went into planning our escape into this tomb, no one, it seemed, had planned for the suffocating time spent underground.

Jared and I tried to make the best of it: talking to my belly, spending quality time together, discussing the birth. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Jared delivering our baby, but of all the people trapped in the tomb with us, Jared was my top pick.

After thirty days of darkness, tasteless rations, and the same close company, life in the tomb began to wear on all of us. Even Bex’s bright and cheery demeanor began to show signs of waning. Poker and gin rummy only entertained for so long, and radio reception was hopeless in the deep of Israeli rock. Stories in the evenings were something I looked forward to, and it gave me a chance to get to know everyone better.