Miss Independent - Kelly Clarkson

The Promised Land: (Part 21) Fixed at Zero

Caden awoke with a start, his familiar Beretta ready to fire. Tap, tap tap. As cloudy eyes blinking into grey focus, he found no color to aid him. Where was that sound coming from? Tap, tap. There! A large, and rather pesky, vulture tilted its head at Caden. It squawked loudly and continued tapping on the glass. Tap, tap, SCRASH! Reminding himself to explain the bullet hole in Ezra’s window later, Caden sat up and looked around. He wasn’t sure exactly where he was, but he knew he slept much longer than intended. It was significantly lighter outside than it was when he fell asleep. Running a hand through his hair and exhaling in frustration, Caden climbed into the driver’s seat, started up the van, and speedily continued his delayed journey.

~*~

“A. B. C. D. Wait, that’s not a D? Oh, that’s an F. Ok. I think I get it now.” Eden practiced the alphabet again. Shiloh had taught her a few simple words, but they realized quickly that knowing the alphabet would greatly help. Physical objects were easy enough, but concepts and actions were a little harder for an outsider to grasp without spelling the words out.

Eden practiced the few words she knew in front of Shiloh and watched for his approval.

“Chair. Food. Good. Bad. Happy. Angry. Sad. Friend. Yes. No.”

Shiloh smiled at her progress. “That’s a good sign, hopefully,” Eden thought to herself. She enjoyed learning the emotions best. Shiloh would make hilariously dramatic facial expressions to emphasize the emotion. Even though it wasn’t much, she felt like she was getting closer to understanding the mysterious teen sitting in front of her. It took her most of the night to finally get the alphabet down, but she felt proud of her work. Looking at the beds on the far side of the room, Eden pointed to the sleeping children. “Kid?”

Shiloh patted the air with one hand.

“What about more than one?”

He patted the air with both hands, as if there were invisible children sitting on the bed around him.

“Cool.” Thinking about various signs she saw both twins perform before, she asked, “What’s that sign that you and Caden keep doing? It’s something like this… I think.” Eden covered her fist with an open palm. Shiloh’s smile disappeared as he demonstrated the correct version of the sign and slowly finger spelled.

“P. R. O. M. I. S. E. Promise?”

He returned a smile and nod. Eden realized how out of place Shy looked when he didn’t smile. Honestly, except for a few rare moments, it was like this kid was always grinning. “What makes you so happy all the time?” Eden wondered aloud. It wasn’t until Shy tilted his head with a curious expression that she realized she had actually voiced her question. “…did I say that out loud?” she asked, feeling awkward. The kid looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh as he nodded.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to phrase it like that. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Making sure Eden was watching, Shiloh made a letter F with both hands, placed them together so the thumbs touched, then traced a circle in the air, ending with the outside fingers together. He repeated the gesture before slowly finger spelling it. F. A. M. I. L. Y.

“Family. Caden?”

Shiloh nodded and then spelled Hope and Grace.

“They’re your family…” After another nod, he signed family and happy. “Family makes you happy.”

Shy pointed to Eden, then to himself and signed happy again. Eden’s wide smile matched Shiloh’s. “You make me happy too.”

Without warning, red lights flooded the room and started flashing. There was no sound, but Eden was sure it was an alarm system all the same. “Stay here,” she said as she got up to leave. Before she took a step, something grabbed her wrist. Turning, Eden saw a look on Shiloh’s face that stabbed guilt into her. She realized she was leaving him alone just like Caden did. Shiloh shook his head and refused to let go. Sucking in her lips and contemplating her next move, she said, “Fine, come with me. But don’t try to be a hero, ok?” Grinning, Shiloh threw the covers off, jumped out of bed, and ran ahead of her. “Whoa! Hold on!” Eden took off down the hall after him. She almost had troubling keeping up. When they finally stopped, Eden bent over the catch her breath. “You’re… supposed to… be recovering! Don’t… do that!” She stood up and inhaled. “Where in the world do you get that energy?”

The teen shrugged and nodded to Hope, who was standing with Grace at the end of the hall. Coming closer, Eden noticed they were by the door. The red lights stopped flashing and the group was left in darkness and silence.

“Someone’s here,” Hope whispered. Listening carefully, Eden barely heard what sounded like a vehicle pulling up to the door before stopping. A few tense moments passed before three heavy knocks pounded on the wooden frame. Eden suddenly didn’t feel so safe behind the triple-locked, rebar-bolted door. Hope looked too terrified to find out who it was. After what happened earlier in Jericho, who could blame her?

The doorknob rattled with three more heavy knocks.

“HUNTER, IF YOU’RE IN THERE, COME OUT WITH MY BROTHER AND THE GIRLS!” hollered a scratchy voice.

Hope gasped. “Caden! It’s all right! Wait a minute!” With Eden and Shiloh’s help, she worked to free the door. As soon as it was open, Hope launched herself toward Caden and greeted him with a great, big hug.

Between the early morning shadows and the kid’s dark hair, Eden couldn’t see his expression. He entered the building with Hope still clinging to him, his arms around her shoulders.

Yellow light suddenly filled the hall, momentarily blinding Eden. Ezra leaned against the wall by the light panel. “Was I the only one asleep up until now?”

“Sorry, Ezra.” Caden croaked in a raspy voice as he looked from her to his brother. “Glad to see you’re still alive.” Shiloh formed a letter Y with his left hand and moved it back and forth between the two twins, a frown crossing his face.

In the new light, Eden could see Cay’s face better and involuntarily give a look of disgust. “You look awful. What happened?”

“Picked a fight with a cave troll,” he grumbled, gently returning Hope’s hug before letting go. His sorely irritated tone softened when he spoke to his brother, “Hunter sold us out. He knows we have the package.” Eden watched with concern. For once, Caden sounded… defeated.

“We need to get back to base.”