White Dove - Scorpions

Happy successful rebellion day, fellow Americans! 

I can't help but be patriotic myself. My siblings are all out at camp this week, so I'm enjoying the silence. It's been raining everywhere we've been, but I don't mind. I'm happy with any reprieve from the humidity. We're still traveling around, currently in TN. 

Go have fun eating hot dogs and saving the world from aliens. ^_^

Maybe check up on Caden and Shiloh in your spare time. And Eden too, I suppose. 

The Promised Land: (Part 13) White Dove 

When Teknia woke up, light was streaming through the window above her head. Eden sat up and stretched with a yawn. The beds around her were empty, sheets and covers abandoned in crumpled piles, but she could hear children laughing outside. The events from yesterday seemed like merely a dream. Were it not for the splotches of dried blood on her dirty jeans, she wouldn’t have believed they really happened at all.

Eden wiped the sleep from her eyes and stood up. After another long stretch, she left the room and headed down the hall in the direction she thought she came down last night. With some wandering, Eden found the room Shiloh was resting in. He was still sleeping, no change from the night before. Caden was sitting in the same chair from last night, probably having fallen asleep at some point by his brother’s side. For once, they both looked completely content. Cay’s head, resting by his twin’s shoulder, moved slightly as he breathed. Though both twins were covered in grime, a stark contrast to the clean sheets, Eden found the overall scene adorable. She dug her phone out of a jean pocket and quickly snapped a picture. The simulated “click” of her phone’s camera was loud enough to wake Caden. He jolted upright and reached for his gun. In his haste, he knocked over his own chair and found himself sprawled on the ground, eyes red and gun poised. His expression of controlled wrath turned to one of confusion as his mind grasped the situation.

“Whoa there, quick draw,” Eden said as she put her phone away and walked toward him with her hands in the air. “Slow down before you hurt someone.” She offered a hand to help him up.

“Heh, sorry. Habit.” Caden grasped Eden’s hand firmly as she pulled him to his feet. “Thanks.”

“No prob.”

Putting away his weapon Caden stretched with a grunt. He ran both hands through his hair, rubbed his stiff back, and then switched to rubbing his eyes.

“You all right?” Eden asked as she picked up the chair.

He stopped rubbing and blinked a few times as his eyes returned to their original color. “Tired.”

“I can tell,” she stood back with her arms folded and looked him up and down. “You should try to get some more sleep while you can.”

“I’d love to, but I have things I need to take care of.” Caden scooped his windbreaker and sack from the cold floor and hung them on the chair.

“Dude, you seriously need to relax. You’re killing yourself here.”

“I’ll live.” Leaving it at that, Caden glanced at his sleeping brother then left the room.

Eden plopped into the chair beside the bed with a sigh. “He takes life way too seriously.”

Turning her attention to Shiloh, she patted the covers and said, “Hang in there, kid. Someone’s got to take care of that boy and it’s not going to be me.”

~

Caden continued down the halls until he came across an old cafeteria. Hope was stacking dirty plates at one of the tables. Streams of filtered light shone on the sparkly pink butterfly pinned to her white hat. When she noticed him, her face lit up with a bright smile.

“Oh, hi Cay! Did you rest well? Is Shy doing better?”

“He’s fine. Grace did a good job healing him last night.” Caden muttered as he watched her finish stacking plates then attempt to lift them. “I’ll get those for you.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Hope said, but moved aside as Caden came and lifted the entire stack of thirty-eight china plates.

“Where do these go?”

“Oh, just over here. Follow me.” Hope led him to the back of the room and through an opening into the kitchen. “You must be hungry. I’ll fix some lunch for you,” Hope said as she started pulling food out of a large silver refrigerator. Her yellow dress swirled around her knees as she moved from the counter to the fridge and back. Caden, as gently as he could, set the heavy stack of plates into a deep, metal sink. He turned to lean against the sink and shoved his hands into his pockets.

Hope filled a clean plate with fried rice, mixed vegetables, and a slice of bread.

“It’s a little cold. We can heat it up in the microwave real quick if you want.” She was in the process of putting the food away when she realized Caden hadn’t moved or said anything. “Cay?”

After a moment of silence and staring at the ground, he looked up and asked, “How long have you been here?”

Hope detected the somberness in his voice. “Almost a year now. They banned Diseased in Alcor not long after you left.”

“I never knew.” His face turned downward.

“Don’t feel bad about it.” Hope’s smile and cheery voice returned. “Hey! I have something for you! You can eat first though. And I have to finish these dishes. Why don’t you go eat outside? It’s such a lovely day. I’ll come join you when I’m finished.”

“But I-”

“Hush, now take your food and go outside.” Hope said as she brought the plate and a fork to Caden, pressed them into his hands, and hurried him out the side door.

The 16 year old exhaled loudly before chuckling to himself. There was no stopping Hope once she had her mind set on something. As pushy and talkative as she could get every now and then, he knew she meant well. There were very few people in this world Caden could ever call his friend and she was one of the best. She and Shiloh both always looked for the best in people, even when Caden didn’t believe there was any to be found.

Emerging from the shadowy overhang, he carried his plate down a set of concrete stairs. Once he reached the bottom, Caden sat on the second to last step and enjoyed his food. As Hope had said, it was a nice day. The sun was actually shining through various gaps in the clouds, providing warmth to the cold earth below. All of the children were on the playground. Little kids were swinging, sliding, and climbing on the jungle gym. A group of girls sat in a circle and played with dolls. A number of the older boys had a game of soccer and football going on at the same time. One of the boys accidentally kicked the soccer ball harder than intended and it wound up three feet from where Caden sat. The boys stopped playing and watched him expectantly.

Infected - 12 Stones

With the rise of superheroes to the scene, I decided I might as well put a picture of a hero I like. (And my sister dared me to change my picture to a super hero. Batman was taken. >_> )

Whew, talk about whirlwind travels. DC, PA, MD, VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, TN, FL, and now we're headed to AL.
Three presentations in one day. Brother graduating with honors and awards. Driving through torrents of rain. Driving tank-like vehicles that can float on water. Sisters taking placement tests for high school. Going to the dentist and only getting halfway done in the time we had (we'll need to go back later). Got the van fixed and put into excellent working condition (for now). Looking up pictures of albino animals (look up albino peacocks. They look like living snowflakes. So cool. ^_^)

Anyway, today's song fits in with this part of the story.

Fair warning: this is probably not your type of music. Listen at your own risk.

~~~

The Promised Land: (Part 12) Infected 

Eden wasn’t sure how long she stayed with the children. It could have been years. The sun, if this future had one, must have been starting to set because it was growing dark. The streets, once filled with casualties of genocide, were nearly clear. The dead had all been moved away for burial. The injured were stabilized and moved to homes that would care for them. The group of children had dwindled, as relatives of the deceased took in their own. Caden came up to Eden’s group of cold and exhausted children.

“We can go now,” he whispered as he picked up a little girl and carried her in his arms. The girl fell asleep on his shoulder almost instantly. As Eden stood up, an older woman joined them. An orange scarf pulled her curly black hair away from her face. A worn smile was swiftly replaced by a heavy sigh as she observed the kids. She picked up one of the sleepy toddlers and took the hand of an older child. Eden took hold of the remaining two youngsters’ hands and followed the woman to a dark blue minivan. All the children piled in with Caden and Eden. The woman took the wheel and started the trip back. The darkness outside deepened. Eden looked for stars, but saw none. She found herself nodding every now and then as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Before she knew it, they were already at the school. Eden yawned as the lady ushered the children out of her vehicle. Looking for Caden, Eden saw him entering the doors of the building. Jogging around the crew and to the door, Eden nearly ran into the girl in the yellow dress.

“You’re looking for Shiloh too, right?” the young girl asked. Her yellow dress and bright eyes reminded Eden of a ray of sunshine. After Eden nodded, the girl pointed down a long hallway. “Second door on the right.”

Muttering her thanks, Eden followed Sunshine’s directions. She entered a small room lined with several beds, but only one was occupied. Shiloh was asleep and seemed to be breathing normally. Caden sat on one side of the bed and an older woman on the other.

“Is he… Is he going to be ok?”

“Yes, dear,” the woman replied. It was then that Eden realized she was sitting in a wheelchair. The woman rolled away from the bed and toward the door. “He is going to be just fine. I’ll just leave you kids alone.”

Eden moved aside so the lady could leave the room without restraint. Once she left, Eden pulled a chair over to the bed and sat down. Just as the woman said, Shiloh seemed to be doing just fine. He appeared to be sleeping peacefully. His twin, on the other hand, looked about to collapse. Caden folded his arms on the side of the bed and rested his chin on them. Aside from the bags under his eyes, he had dust, dirt, and dried blood on his clothes and in his hair. The poor kid actually looked worn out. Eden felt she was seeing Caden for who he really was: a child in the middle of a war and he was tired of acting like an adult.

“How are you holding up?” Eden asked.

It took a minute for him to realize she was talking to him. Either that or he didn’t feel like answering right away. “I’ll live.”

“Doesn’t sound very reassuring.”

“It’s more than can be said for a lot of people in Jericho today,” he answered in a low tone, trying to let his brother sleep.

“You’re still upset about that?”

Caden’s eyebrows scrunched up and Eden thought he was glaring at her for a moment. “How can you not be?” His tone of voice suggested his question was genuine.

Eden was hit with a wave of guilt, but she defended her position. “It’s not my world. What happened to those people is horrible, but I don’t want any part in this. I have a home I need to get back to. I’m sorry, but I’m sick and tired of living in this infected world.”

Caden’s head shot up. “YOU’RE sick of it?! You’ve been here three days,” he said, trying to keep his voice down. “You just got here! You haven’t been living in this world since the day you were born! You aren’t the father spilling his blood for his children. You aren’t the mother watching her kids die slowly one by one. You aren’t-”

At that moment, Shiloh shifted in his sleep. Caden sighed and waited a moment before continuing in a whisper. “You aren’t one of millions waiting… fighting… every hour of every day for a cure.”

Eden folded her arms and sat back in her chair. “Is that what these people are looking for… or just what you’re looking for?”

Again, he left the question unanswered.

“Caden… What if no one finds a cure?” Eden asked.

A soft knock interrupted them. Sunshine was standing in the doorway. “Dinner’s ready.”

Dinner? After all the adventure in her day, Eden hadn’t even thought about food. Or rather, she thought about it a few times in the moments of frequent silence, but she hadn’t realized exactly how hungry she was. Eden lightly patted Shiloh’s bed before getting up and heading to the door. When Caden didn’t follow, she turned around and asked, “You coming?”

Caden shook his head and returned to resting his chin on his arms.

“I’ll bring you a plate then,” Sunshine commented as she and Eden left the room.

“Thank you, Hope,” Eden heard Caden whisper as they left.

Eden wanted to ask Sunshine, whose real name was apparently Hope, how she knew Caden and Shiloh. And who the two older women were and why Caden seemed to trust them so easily. And how they managed to stop Shiloh from bleeding to death. Eden had so many questions, but she was too tired to put in the effort of asking. The two walked down the hall, turned a corner, and walked until they reached a room that looked like a refurbished school cafeteria. Many children were already eating at the long tables stretched across the room. Eden made sure to wash her hands at a sink in the back. She had actually forgotten about her bloodstained hands in her conversation with Caden. Her meal that night wasn’t much: a bowl of vegetable soup and slice of bread with a glass of water. She would have complained about it, but she was too hungry to care. Eden was still hungry when she went to bed that night, but the food was warm, the bed had a pillow and blanket, and she could rest in security. Just as soon as she crawled under the clean sheets that night, she fell asleep with one thought, “This isn’t real.”

O Fortuna - Carl Orff

Just a story update. That is all. The music actually matches the story this time. Sort of. The music really goes with the latter half of this section. 

The Promised Land: (Part 11) O Fortuna

The tune in Eden’s head was the same song she sang to Shiloh earlier. She hummed for the majority of the journey.

She stopped humming when they approached rundown houses on the outskirts of a larger city.

The closer they got, the more houses showed up on each side of the road. Narrow streets appeared on either side.

“Take a left at the next intersection,” Caden said calmly.

With further instruction, they weaved through side roads until they drove up to a once-red brick school building. Eden parked the truck by the main entrance and ran to get help.  She came up to the doors only to realize there were metal bars covering all the entrances.

“Ask for Ezra!” Caden shouted from the truck.

Eden reached through the bars and pounded on the rotting wood door. “HELLO?!” she shouted. “Is anyone there? We need some help out here! PLEASE! Somebody!”

A slot in the door slid open and a pair of narrow brown eyes appeared on the other side.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

“Please, you’ve got to help us!” Eden pleaded. “I have a friend who’s been shot and he needs attention. I need to see Ezra!”

The door opened and a young girl, about fourteen years old, wearing a pink bandana and yellow dress peered through the rusty bars. “Ezra’s not here. She’s back in town.”

“Great,” Eden muttered as she headed back to the truck. “She’s not here!” she shouted.

“Wait!” the girl cried out, causing Eden to stop and turn around. “You’re not going to Jericho, are you? It’s not safe there!”

“We have to. Shiloh’s going to bleed to death if we don’t get him some help!”

“Shiloh?” The girl gasped and disappeared in the shadows behind the door. With a jingle of keys, she returned and unlocked the bars. She ran by Eden and straight to the truck. To Eden’s surprise, five other kids soon followed.

By the time Eden got to the truck, the girl had the back door open and was helping Caden ease Shiloh out.

“What are you doing?! I thought you said Ezra wasn’t here!” Eden was probably more upset by the fact that the children were acting and she was left out of the loop again than she was about the prospect of being lied to.

“She isn’t, but you can go find her while we take care of Shiloh.” The girl carefully took over Caden’s role as the other young ones helped carry him out. “Don’t worry, Cay. Mom and I will do our best.”

Eden wasn’t so sure about leaving Shiloh with a bunch of children and she really didn’t see how wasting time in the extra trip helped him at all. “Why don’t we just take him with us?”

“Because we can’t keep moving him around like this,” Caden responded, already in the driver’s seat. “Get in.”

Eden obeyed and they were off toward Jericho again. Folding her arms, Eden said, “I don’t think we should leave Shiloh with a bunch of kids.”

Caden didn’t look away from the road. “Most of them are just a few years younger than me. Grace and Hope have done more than their fair share of nursing. He’ll be fine.”

“Then why do we need Ezra?”

He didn’t answer. Eden was beginning to expect silence whenever she asked questions Caden didn’t want her to know the answers to.

Looking ahead, Eden realized they were getting closer to the city. A rusted wire fence, which probably once surrounded Jericho, stood in some places and sagged in others. At least one section of it was torn down completely. The sky was greener here, like it was back in Freedom.

Smoke billowed from black houses beyond the fence. A yellow, triangular biohazard symbol hung on an old wooden sign that read, “Welcome to Jericho.”

Caden, unfazed, continued driving. As they passed the wooden sign, a bright yellow sign read, “Warning. Infected Area.”

“Caden?” Eden could feel the panic building up again. “What happened here?”

“Don’t worry. Those are just left over from the war.” His composed voice did nothing to quell Eden’s nerves. In fact, her worry grew.

Before long, they came to a great big fountain in the center of the city. The fountain was dry and cracked, as if the very heart of the city had taken a devastating blow. Caden slowed down and parked next to the ashen spring. A number of people were moving around very quickly, as if they were in a hurry to get someplace. The people were working, moving objects to and from the other side of the fountain.

“Follow me!” Caden jumped out of the truck and pushed his way through the crowd. Eden tried to follow, but she lost him in the sea of moving faces. “Where did he go?” she thought.

She continued through the crowd until she came to the source of activity. Before her, in a small clearing of people, a number of figures covered in blood lined the street. Some were alive and groaning in pain, but most weren’t moving at all. People were moving in and out of the outdoor infirmary. Some people were covering bodies and carrying them away. Others were attempting to dress the wounds of the perishing. What really caught Eden’s attention were the children, the ones kneeling alongside dying fathers, mothers, and older siblings.

Frozen by the horror, Eden could only think of the words spoken by the one who did this, “It was in their best interest to relieve their misery.”

“Eden? Eden.” She blinked, realizing Caden was standing in front of her. “You need to focus. I need your help.”

Eden barely nodded before being pulled toward a group of sobbing children.

“Can you take care of them while I go help Ezra?”

Before she could answer, Caden disappeared into the crowd again.

She was next to a group of eleven or twelve children, the oldest of which was probably younger than ten. Some were just toddlers. All were crying, their worlds of love and care shattered.

Eden found herself gently hushing the weeping children as she wrapped her arms around the youngest two and began rocking. “It’s ok. It’s going to be alright.”