Eden Rising (Eden Rising Trilogy Book 1) Page 2

  “Look around us. I think you have that right.”

  “How about you?” asked Ben. “You like your parents?”

  “Kind of. I think I’m a good person, but they had a way of making me feel worthless. I never got to do anything. It’s like they didn’t want to let me out of their sight. I had a sister who was a lot older than me who got into drugs and died of an overdose. It was a long time ago and I was young, but I think it changed my parents.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Lila changed the subject. “So what do we do?”

  “I was thinking about that. We can't stay here. It would be too hard. We don’t know where people might be who are alive, so it doesn’t make sense to search for them. I think we should make a decision to go someplace and if we run across people, that will be a bonus.”

  “All these dead bodies will be smelling soon, and there might be disease,” said Lila, “so I think we have to stay away from cities and towns for a while.”

  “Yeah,” answered Ben. “It’s also September. It’s going to get really cold soon. With no power, we'll freeze here. It doesn’t make sense to go west—that'll be just as cold as here. I’m thinking Florida. It’ll be warm year round.”

  “That makes sense. We’ll probably have to walk the whole way. Or maybe we can find some bikes. Are you sure all the cars are dead?”

  Ben nodded his head. “From what we've seen, but we can try them.”

  Lila moved over to Ben and put her arms around him. "A few hours ago I barely knew you. Now all we've got is each other. That's about as weird as it gets. We're both going to have to be so strong, and I don’t know how, because I’m really, really scared. We have no idea what's ahead."

  She was quiet for a few moments, then sat up and said, “What’s that?”

  Ben saw it too. There was an bright orange glow peeking through a break in the curtains. They headed to Ben’s room for a better look and were left speechless at the scene before them. The Boston skyline a few miles to the east was an inferno. Although much of what they saw was just a brilliant glow illuminating thick black clouds of smoke, Ben could actually spot flames coming from the Prudential and John Hancock towers, the two tallest landmarks in the city. It left them feeling totally defeated—just one more incomprehensible moment in an already incomprehensible day.

  They spent the evening in a numbed silence, glued to the window, not moving, not talking, holding hands in a desperate attempt to hang on to something familiar. Finally, exhaustion overcame them. They slept that night fully clothed, lying on Ben’s bed. As he was drifting off, it hit Ben just how radically their lives had been altered. They were surrounded by dead people. People who, just a few hours earlier, were going about their lives without a clue that they were on the verge of ceasing to exist. Fear of what lay ahead produced fitful sleeps and a lot of tears. He and Lila were just teenagers—and somewhat repressed teenagers at that. How would they survive?

  Chapter 2

  For the first time in my life, I was lying next to a girl. And yet, even though we spent much of the night holding each other, it was out of fear, not passion. It would be easy to think that this was an isolated incident, that it was only this area of the country that was hit by … well, whatever hit us. But I knew differently. I knew the whole country was dead. What I wouldn’t know for a long time was that the whole world had suffered the same fate. I spent the night thinking of all the things I’d never do again—the list was mind-boggling. I thought again and again of my family. I thought of my father, and his unsuccessful attempts to make a man out of me. I had no choice now. But the fact was, I had never been so scared in my life. Part of me felt that I had to be strong for Lila, but I secretly wanted her to be strong for me. I needed her. We needed each other. I thought of Richie’s last minute decision to put Lila in the freezer with me. That split-second moment of randomness changed my life. I now know that I wouldn’t have survived without her.

  They got up with the sun, thankful to be done with the demons that had caused so much sleeplessness during the long night. Neither one was hungry, and they sat at the kitchen table looking at each other.

  “We’ve got to do this,” said Lila, breaking the awkward silence. “We’ve somehow got to find the strength to make a move or we may as well just sit here and die. But I’m so scared.”

  “So am I,” agreed Ben. “I knew I should have taken ‘End of the World 101’ when they offered it last year.” He looked down, embarrassed. “Sorry, lame attempt at a joke.”

  Lila gave a wan smile. “I like them. Like I said yesterday, we need some humor. There sure isn’t any of it out there.”

  She continued. “So where do we start?”

  “Well, if we’re really going to make this trip—and I really don’t see any other choice—we have to stock up on supplies,” said Ben.

  “If there aren’t a lot of people out there, finding replacement supplies as we go shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” reasoned Lila. “But we have to find some basics. Let’s make a list.”

  Ben found some paper and they began their survival list. It included freeze-dried and/or canned food, maps, backpacks, propane stove and fuel, cooking utensils, tent and sleeping bags, survival books, weapons, and first-aid supplies, including antibiotics.

  “How about we spend today gathering the stuff and tomorrow packing it, then be off the next day?” suggested Ben.

  “I guess that’s realistic,” said Lila. “I think we should leave as soon as we can. I’m really afraid of the smell and disease.”

  “I am too,” agreed Ben. “Maybe if we’re lucky, we can get out of here by tomorrow. The highway would be the most direct route, I suppose. ”

  Lila didn’t say anything, which prompted Ben to ask if anything was wrong, “besides the obvious,” he added.

  “I know the highway would be the fastest route,” began Lila, “but I … I don’t think I could live with the concrete and the car after car after car filled with dead bodies. I need trees. I need to hear animals and see birds. I know we’ll see bodies wherever we go and avoiding the highway will slow us down a lot, but I just don’t think I can do it.”

  “I’m okay with that,” said Ben. He suddenly realized that Lila’s survival was intricately linked to nature. And his survival was intricately linked to Lila. “Why make a bad situation worse? Who cares when we get to our destination? In fact, I just had an idea. Doesn’t the Appalachian Trail run some of the way into the south? We can look at a map and see where we can hook up with it. We’ll be in nature for a long time and see fewer bodies. I bet there are towns along the trail we can hit up for supplies.”

  For the first time, Ben saw some hope in Lila’s eyes. She got up from her chair and came around to Ben, who stood up. She embraced him.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. “Thank you for understanding and thank you for your idea. I think that would be great.”

  With a plan in place, they set about their search. Leaving the sanctuary of Ben’s house was difficult, anticipating the sights that awaited them. They had seen enough forensic crime shows to know that with each passing day, the bodies would look less and less life-like.

  There were two bikes in Ben’s garage. They figured the bikes would help them get the job done quicker. Their first stop was a AAA office down the road. They walked in as if it was still open for business. In a scene that was to repeat itself at every store they visited for the next couple of days, until the smell kept them from going in, the employees were all slumped over their cash registers, with a couple of customers lying on the floor. They gently stepped around the dead people and went about their business.

  “I would say maps of any state we might go through, as well as any other information that might help us, booklets and things,” suggested Ben. “Hopefully they have something on the Appalachian Trail.”

  “They do,” replied Lila. “I just found it.”

  Their next stop was an Eastern Mountain Sports, where they figured they could find most o
f what they needed. They each picked out a top-of-the-line backpack and sleeping bag, as well as a tent that folded into practically nothing. They found a compass (not that either one of them knew how to read one), rain ponchos, bandanas, and hiking boots, as well as a good small propane stove and some bottles of propane. They picked out a large selection of freeze dried food. When they got to the knife department, they considered their choices carefully. They each settled on a Swiss Army Knife, a multi-function tool that included pliers, and a longer knife with a sheath that they could strap to their leg.

  “We’ve got an awful lot of stuff,” observed Lila.

  “Yeah, I think we can say goodbye to the bikes for today. Let’s lug it all outside, then we can go next door to the supermarket for a shopping cart.”

  Ben almost suggested that Lila wait there while he got the cart, but quickly realized that neither one of them wanted to be alone for even a minute at this point. To come back and find the other gone was just too terrifying for them to think about.

  As they pulled out a cart Lila said, “I know this might be a stupid suggestion, but should we take some money while we’re here? What if we do run across people? Would some of them still value money? Would we need it to trade for things?”

  “I don’t know, but what’s the harm in having it. It doesn’t take any space.”

  “I’ll see if there are any registers open,” said Lila. “Wow, do you notice how easy it’s become to just take what we want?”

  “We have to just keep thinking survival. It’s the only way we can close our eyes to all this. Speaking of survival, I’m just going to pick up some cans of nuts or some chips,” replied Ben. “I’ll be right down Aisle um,” he looked up at the signs, “Four.”

  “Do you mind talking as you go?” asked Lila.

  “As long as you talk back,” answered Ben. He turned into the chip aisle and stopped dead in his tracks.

  Lila, noticing the silence, called out. “Ben, are you still there? Ben? BEN!!!” she screamed. She ran past the registers and reached Aisle Four. Ben was standing with his knees half buckled and was holding onto one of the shelves. In front of him was a woman still half standing, slumped over her shopping cart.

  “Ben, are you okay?” Lila asked.

  “My mother.” It came out as a hoarse whisper. He then collapsed to the floor and sobbed with an intensity Lila had never heard from anyone before. This went on for fifteen minutes, Ben trying to catch his breath in gasps while alternately throwing up. Lila sat beside him and rubbed his back the whole time, not saying a word.

  Finally he stopped and was silent for a few minutes before starting to talk. He spoke in a whisper that Lila could barely hear.

  “Already, she doesn’t look normal. She looks deformed. I expected to find her at the house. When I didn’t, I accepted the idea that I’d never see her again. It’s so much worse to run into her like this.” Ben continued, and started to cry again. “And you know the worst part? The part I’m never going to get out of my head? She was just putting a bag of chips in the cart. I’m the only one in the house who eats chips, so her very last action in the whole world was for me.”

  “What would you like to do?” asked Lila gently.

  “Could we just lay her down on the floor and cover her with something?”

  Lila helped Ben pry his mother’s fingers from the cart and rest her on the floor. It took a few minutes, but they found a plastic tarp in the back room and laid it over her.

  “I love you mom,” said Ben, his voice cracking, and he turned and walked out of the store, with Lila trailing behind.

  They pushed the shopping cart home. Ben was lost in thought, so Lila let him have his time. When they got home, Ben went upstairs to the bed and lay in a semi-fetal position. Lila came up and got in bed next to him and held him tightly, as much for herself as for him. She worried that he might never come out of it.

  The next morning, the emotions of the previous night had passed, but Lila knew that Ben had been deeply affected by the experience. He had slept soundly, but cried out several times in his sleep. When that happened, Lila had squeezed harder against him. When he woke, he seemed determined not to mention his mother.

  I never realized just how much I loved my mother—how much I needed my mother—until that moment. She was always there to protect me from my father’s compulsion to shape me in his image. She provided the sensitivity in my life. I realized that Lila reminded me of my mother. Maybe that’s what attracted me to her. She had my mother’s kind nature. And for that I was truly grateful. I also knew then that I had to get as far away from there as possible.

  “I need to get out of here,” announced Ben. “Do you think we could leave today?”

  “I was going to suggest that,” said Lila, with relief in her voice. “It’s funny that yesterday we could just step over people and not give it a second thought. All of a sudden, I’m freaked out by it.”

  Ben pulled out a Massachusetts map. “You think we can ride our bikes with full packs? We’d make better time until we reach the Appalachian Trail.”

  “We can try, answered Lila. “What’s the best route?”

  “Let’s see where we are. Okay, here’s Newton. I think Great Barrington is the best place to pick the trail up. It looks like it’s about 120 miles. It’s a straight run along the Mass Pike.” He looked up at her, gauging her reaction. “It’s highway, but it’ll get us to nature sooner.”

  “I can do it,” said Lila. “How long do you think it will take?”

  “Good question. How fast do bikes go? We’ll be going slowly. Maybe ten miles an hour? If we put in two six hour days, that should probably get us there.”

  “Do we need guns?” asked Lila out of the blue.

  “Yeah, I think we’d be stupid not to have any. But I have no idea if there’s a gun store around here. I suppose we could take them off some dead cops.”

  Lila was shaking her head before he finished the sentence. “I can’t do it. I don’t know if it’s because they’re police or because I can’t bear stealing something off a dead person. But I just can’t do it. Not yet. I know that might change, but not now. How about we look in the phone book.”

  “I forgot they made phone books,” said Ben. “I always just go online.”

  They found a gun store in the Yellow Pages, and it was only a few miles down the road, not far off the highway. They would stop on the way.

  Their backpacks were packed within the hour. They had been able to fit everything in or on them, but they were awfully heavy, and Ben regretting having never had an interest in lifting weights to bulk up. He was pretty thin. That was one of his father's big complaints about him. They left the house, Ben knowing he’d never see it again. He refused to look back at it as they went to retrieve the bikes. He tried a few cars on the way, but they were all dead. Walking past the supermarket where they had left his mother was difficult too. All he could think about was getting away.

  They picked up the bikes and mounted them.

  Lila looked at Ben. “We’re really doing this.”

  “We are.”

  With that, we started our new life. No fanfare. No goodbyes. A lot of fear. Some hope. But mostly a sense that we really had no idea what we were doing. We weren’t survivalists. Suppose we had to shoot an animal for food? Assuming I could even hit one, which was doubtful, what would we do with it? We were unprepared for this. Wow, is that an understatement. It would have been almost comical if it weren’t really happening to us. From the moment we left the “comfort” of my house, I realized one thing. If we were going to survive, we were going to have to toughen up … quickly!

  Chapter 3

  The journey didn’t get off to a good start. Ben hoped it wasn’t an omen. The bike idea didn’t work. Their packs were heavy and every time they made a turn the packs shifted, often causing one of them to wipe out. Finally, after Ben hit a curb and banged up his knee, they abandoned the bikes altogether. They thought about alternatives, including a wago
n or an adult-size tricycle. They stopped at a bike shop, but it didn’t have any of the tricycles. Finally, they just decided to walk.

  “Once we hit the Appalachian Trail we won’t be able to ride a bike or drag a wagon anyway,” said Lila, “so we may as well get used to walking now.”

  “I still think the highway is our fastest route to the trail,” said Ben. “The further west we go, the fewer cars we’ll see, so hopefully it won’t be too bad.”

  “As long as I know it’s leading to the woods,” replied Lila, “I’ll cope with it.”

  We were trying our hardest to ignore certain things, such as the lack of electricity and the lack of mechanical noise. Every so often I would approach an abandoned car and reach over the driver to turn the key, just in case something started working again. Nothing did. The absence of traffic lights and headlights was still spooky to us. At night we would look toward Boston and see only darkness, interspersed with glowing pockets. The fires that destroyed much of the city had pretty much burned themselves out, but the smoke and the smell remained. The only breaks in the silence came from barking dogs. As long as we were near homes, the sound of the dogs was incessant. It was sad, but scary at the same time. Pets were going to die from hunger and thirst; zoo animals the same. There was nothing we could do about it. It would have been nice to have an animal with us as a companion, but the work involved was more than we could think about. We were both on overload. Just trying to pack cat or dog food would have been too much—our backpacks were heavy enough as it was. Lila brought up the fact that soon the dogs that were free would be running in packs, trying to find food. That made them dangerous. More than ever, the idea of carrying a rifle and a pistol was appealing.