Eden's Legacy (Eden Rising Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  Over time, because of Simon, Cat began to learn how to relate to people in a more human way and, because of Cat, Simon was able to come face to face with the animal world in a way he could only wish for when he was younger.

  Simon's body strengthened over time. Spending at least a part of almost every day exploring the countryside with Cat allowed his lungs to develop and his health to improve. They didn’t know if his chest would ever be muscular like the other males living in Yellowstone, but that was of little concern to him or to Cat. The fact that he was becoming healthy was much more important.

  At first, despite Cat's changing body and emerging sexual urges, there was no romantic feeling between them. They just loved to hang out together—they were true friends. However, over time, as Simon's body began to develop and his emotions and desires followed suit, things changed between them.

  It was a year after they first met. They were sitting on a mountaintop in the western mountains of Yellowstone, overlooking a vista neither could ever tire of.

  "Do you ever wonder what it was like for our parents growing up?" asked Simon.

  "What do you mean?" asked Cat. She was only half listening. Her emotions were starting to get the best of her. Over the past few weeks, she had begun to see Simon in a different light. She was sure the feeling was mutual, but Simon had yet to make a move.

  "They grew up with people all around them. Thousands of people all the time. Can you imagine that?"

  "Never. I don't even like having a dozen people around me. You know, my mom was only a year older than I am now when the world changed. What I have trouble imagining is going from that kind of life to this kind of life overnight."

  It was time to make things happen. Her hand moved slowly along the smooth rock toward Simon's hand. He seemed oblivious, but was he?

  "Have your parents told you about their experiences?" asked Simon.

  "They never used to, but last year they decided I was old enough. I can't believe some of the things they went through."

  "My mom said everyone had heard of your parents. They were almost like legends."

  "Yeah, I heard that too. They told me they were just in the right place at the right time."

  Okay, enough was enough. Cat slowly touched Simon's hand, starting with his fingertips and finally putting her hand over his. He shifted uncomfortably, crossing his legs, but his hand responded. He turned it over and interlaced his fingers with hers. He looked her in the eyes. His face was red and beads of sweat had formed on his forehead.

  Cat leaned over and kissed him lightly on the lips. He responded awkwardly, but tenderly, and then put his arms around Cat and held her tightly while they kissed.

  "Wow," said Simon when they came up for air. "Wow."

  "You already said that."

  "Can I say it again?"

  "Okay."

  "Wow."

  "I agree."

  They kissed again, more comfortably this time. Finally, they sat back with the rock ledge behind them. Simon's arm was around Cat's shoulders and her head was resting against his chest.

  "Do you remember when we first met last year and you saved me from the flood?" asked Simon.

  "I didn't save you. We saved ourselves."

  "Well anyway, we made it up onto that ledge and we both fell asleep?"

  "Uh huh." Cat knew what was coming and she felt a surge of excitement course through her body.

  "I woke up when you were sleeping and saw you naked."

  "I thought so."

  "I was … I don't know … fascinated, I guess. I didn't have the same kinds of feelings that I do now." He grinned. "Probably a good thing I didn't. But I liked that you were naked."

  "How long were you looking at me?"

  "A long time. Twenty minutes, at least. Long enough to memorize every inch of you."

  Cat blushed.

  "Over the last year, as I started having feelings for you, I've thought about that time over and over."

  "I'll bet you have."

  It was Simon's turn to blush.

  "Anyway," he said hoarsely, suddenly needing water, "I just wanted to tell you that."

  "I'm glad."

  The afternoon sun was warm, and they dozed, snuggled in each other's arms.

  *****

  Cat woke up first. It was dark and there was a horrible smell in the air. Could it be night already? And then it hit her. It wasn't night. The blackness was smoke! She jumped up, rousing Simon in the process. He was instantly awake.

  "Forest fire!" said Cat as calmly as she could. This was no time to panic. She had to think logically. The memories flooded in of the fire that drove them from their home in the mountains back east years before—scary memories. "We have to get out of here."

  "Which way is it coming from?" asked Simon. Cat could tell that he was also thinking clearly. Determine its direction before making any decisions.

  Burning embers were blowing in with the smoke. One landed on Cat's arm. She cried out in pain. "It's coming from the west," she said, with tears in her eyes from the burn on her arm. The horses were tied on the eastern side of the rock they were on. If the horses hadn't become untied, they still had a chance. Flames were going to sweep over the ledge any minute.

  They climbed down the rocks and found the horses scared, but still there. They untied them and jumped into their saddles. The fire was only minutes from overtaking them. They found the trail they had come in on and headed east, back toward home. They were many miles from home, but Cat knew how quickly these fires could move.

  "We have to warn everybody," cried out Simon over the roar of the approaching fire.

  "I'm sure they've seen the smoke," replied Cat.

  They rode for about two miles, when suddenly Cat reined in Scooby. Simon stopped beside her.

  "What's wrong?" he asked.

  "Feel that?"

  He wasn't sure at first what she was talking about. And then he felt it.

  "We're going into the wind. The wind has completely changed direction."

  In fact, it was a stiff wind blowing back toward the west. A rumble sounded.

  "Thunder," said Cat. She looked up at the sky. They had outrun the smoke, but now the blackness she saw belonged to clouds. "We're going to get dumped on. I've never been so happy to see rain."

  "The wind is blowing the fire back the way it came," said Simon. "It will lose its energy. Add to that the rain and it should be extinguished altogether."

  As the rain began to fall, they found a thick overhang of branches and got off their horses, tying the reins to one of the lower branches. They dug out ponchos from their saddlebags and sat against a tree to wait out the storm. They held hands.

  "This day sure changed in a hurry," said Simon. "And yet, here we are, still holding each other. How's your arm?"

  "It hurts, but I don't think it's all that bad."

  Simon got up and retrieved a first aid kit from his saddlebag.

  "Let me see it."

  Cat held her arm out and Simon washed the burn with water from his canteen and some soap from his saddlebag and wrapped it in gauze.

  "It's not too bad, but I bet it hurts."

  "Feels a little better now."

  The storm was violent, as so many of them were, and lasted a couple of hours before finally dying out. By then it was early evening and the sun was going down.

  "It'll be too dangerous to ride in the dark," said Cat. "I think we should camp here and go home in the morning."

  "Our parents will be worried."

  "Maybe, but I think this is the smart thing to do."

  "I agree. I'll find some rocks to put around a campfire."

  "I'll try to find some dry wood."

  In an hour, they had a good fire going, warming them after the rain had cooled everything down. Their sleeping bags—a necessity to have with them anytime they went riding—were pretty dry, but they laid them next to the fire to get the dampness out. They dug into their saddlebags for food and came out with some smoked
fish and fresh vegetables, including carrots, which they fed to the horses.

  The forest fire and subsequent rain storm had tired them out, and they fell asleep fairly early, fully clothed and lying in each other's arms.

  *****

  The sun was already well up in the sky when they woke up to the sound of approaching horses. Just to be safe, they pulled their rifles from the scabbards and waited. But they needn't have worried. From around a bend came Cat's parents, Simon's parents, and Aaron and Sean. They all looked relieved to see Cat and Simon, and they jumped off their horses and gave the kids hugs.

  Simon built up the fire and boiled water for tea. Then the teens told them the story of the previous day.

  "I wasn't worried," said Ben. "I knew you were both capable enough to get out of its way."

  "You weren't worried?" said Lila. "Then why were you awake all night?"

  Ben shrugged it off while the others laughed. The truth was, they were all worried.

  "Do you have any idea what started it?" asked Sean. "Lightning?"

  "No," answered Cat. "The storm didn't hit until long after the fire started. We were napping on a high ledge and didn't wake up until the fire was almost on us."

  Lila noticed that Cat and Simon were holding hands. She looked over at Simon's mother, Linnea, who gave her a knowing smile. They knew it was bound to happen at some point.

  "I don't know how it would start if it wasn't a lightning strike," said Sean. "I'd like to see if I can figure it out."

  "Let's all go together," said Ben.

  They put out the campfire and headed west. They went a couple of miles before they began to see the effects of the fire. When they reached the ledge Cat and Simon had been on, the two teens looked at each other with a tinge of sadness. The whole rock was now black, and the beautiful scene that they had been looking out on was gone. Smoke hung heavy in the air as they rode through the blackened forest. Ahead, they could see an unblemished valley.

  "I think we are reaching the other side of it," said Sean.

  "If the wind hadn't changed direction," said Cat, "we would have lost a lot more than we did."

  "I used to curse the storms," said Ben. "Not anymore."

  They emerged from the woods into the valley and turned around to see if they could get a sense of what started the fire.

  "Let's spread out," said Aaron, "and see if something presents itself."

  It took less than ten minutes.

  "Over here," said Lila, looking down at a pile of charred wood.

  "Here," said Simon.

  "And here," said Sean.

  The three spots were almost identical. Wood had been piled near some thickets. The wood was charred, but still recognizable. The wind had blown the flames into the forest and eventually the fire on the wood had died out.

  "This was set," said Ben.

  Meanwhile, Cat had gone further into the charred remains of the forest, concerned as usual that the animals had made it out safely. Up ahead she saw a body. It was large like a deer. As she got closer, she knew it wasn't a deer. She looked down and inhaled sharply.

  "Over here." She had to say it twice, as the first time it caught in her throat.

  In a minute they were all there. Ben, Aaron, and Sean got off their horses and examined the body.

  It was a man. He had heavy burns on his body, but he was still recognizable. Ben estimated his age at around sixty, wearing overalls, and he had the remains of what had been a long beard. He had been burned alive, based on the expression on his face. His mouth was wide open, showing only a half dozen teeth.

  "Look familiar?" said Aaron.

  "You think it's one of the people who killed Clete?" asked Ben.

  "You saw one of them. Did he look like this?"

  "Yeah."

  "Which means what?" asked Simon's father, Mike.

  "It means they are travelling," said Ben. "They wouldn't have started a fire for nothing. I think they know we're here."

  "How would they know that?"

  "They tortured Clete. He probably told them whatever they wanted to know."

  "These people are going to be a problem," said Lila. "A real problem."

  Part Two: The Migration

  Chapter 13

  Seventeen years. It was sometimes hard to believe that the world I used to know had ended seventeen years earlier. Many of those years had been hard, but there were no regrets. I didn't miss my old life. It was a noisy world … a sick world. It was falling apart at the seams. There was just too much hatred and ugliness. Granted, wiping out most of the population might have been an extreme solution to the problem, but in its own twisted way, it worked. Healing was in full swing. Although it took some longer than others, most of the adults in the new society had adapted well. The kids didn't know any other life. Any problems they may have had with the new world were our fault. Their kids would be the most well-adjusted citizens of the new world. They wouldn't have to worry about their parents coming to grips with everything new. And the world itself was healing. The cities were still there, although overgrown and quiet, but many of the smaller towns had virtually disappeared, having given up the fight to the blossoming of the earth.

  It's because I remembered the old world so clearly that I had little tolerance for the bad elements in life—the groups Lila and I ran across after the event and on our journey west, as well as the group we almost encountered during our search for Sophie.

  I was a farmer and a rancher now, perfectly content to stay close to home tending to my crops and animals—except when I wasn't. I had helpers. Cat and Simon would split their time between our place and Simon's parents' homestead, doing whatever chores were needed. That allowed me the freedom to take off on two- and three-day journeys of exploration. Sometimes I'd go alone and sometimes Lila would accompany me, and we would recapture some of the good memories of our days hiking the Appalachian Trail on our odyssey south after the event.

  Lila didn't share my love of farming and ranching, however. She had become one of the movers and shakers of the Yellowstone community. She was respected for her common sense and her abilities as a problem-solver. She spent many of her days in the town of Rock Creek organizing community events and developing a healthy town government.

  Simon had grown strong and healthy, no resemblance whatsoever to the sickly boy who arrived in Yellowstone just two years earlier. He was a kind and gentle soul, very much like a son to us. Cat, now sixteen, and the spitting image of Lila at that age, had softened a bit—still serious, but less so. She had learned to laugh and to see the humor in things—thanks to Simon. She and Simon were a devoted couple. According to Lila, who had "those" types of discussions with our daughter, Cat and Simon hadn't yet had sex. That made me happy. There would be a lot of time for that. The devotion they had for each other was based on the love of nature they shared, and the kindness each possessed toward every living creature, from humans on down.

  I will admit to being a little puzzled by Cat's decision to leave home with the group of other teens. Her leaving wasn't what puzzled me, it was her decision to join the group. If she had come to us and announced that she and Simon were heading out on their own, I wouldn't have considered that strange at all. In fact, Lila and I were preparing ourselves for that possibility. But Cat was a loner, as was Simon, and while she had known most of those kids for years, she wasn't overly close to any of them. So I had to ask. Her answer made sense in a way typical of her common-sense outlook on life. "There is security in a group," she said. "But Simon and I will stay with the group for only as long as we need them or they need us. If we are drawn to an area they aren't, that's when we will part company. They understand, and probably know we won't stay with them the whole way." It made sense to me, but then, that wasn't unusual. Cat looked at life logically.

  We didn't know how long they would be gone, or if they'd even be back, but we would miss them terribly. We also knew that our life would change dramatically, and that saddened me. But I was able to be hap
py for them and the adventures they had in store for themselves. Lila and I could relate. So all we could do was wish them well and try not to think about the hole their leaving was going to put in our hearts.

  Chapter 14

  They left on a beautiful summer day. There were twelve of them altogether, ranging in age from fourteen to nineteen. The oldest was Zack and the youngest was Darcy, the only fourteen-year-old in the group. Most of the parents wouldn't have considered allowing a fourteen-year-old to take such a trip, but Darcy, like her single mother, had the reputation of being a bit wild. For Ben and Lila, it felt like Sophie all over again, but there was nothing they could do. The school of thought was that the mother had encouraged her daughter to be part of the group in order to give the mother the freedom to pursue her lifestyle with the handful of single men who regularly stopped by. Already, Darcy—who looked older than her fourteen years—was following in her mother's footsteps by having two of the seven males in the group showing more than a little interest in her.

  The plan was devised six months earlier in the dead of winter. While it was a group decision to go, it was Zack who suggested it. They were having a youth group meeting in Rock Creek, a popular bi-weekly event organized by Lila that was regularly attended by over thirty teens. Part of every meeting was an open discussion—any topic was accepted.

  At this particular meeting—held soon after a three-day snowstorm—the teens were discussing what was beyond the borders of Yellowstone. Most had never explored more than a few miles in any direction, Cat and Simon being the exceptions. Although many of them had traveled across the country to get to Yellowstone when they were young, very few remembered much about the trip. They had heard all of the stories from their parents about life before the event. Now, they were itching to experience the world for themselves. For six months they discussed, planned, and put into motion the trip. At first, twenty-five of the thirty teens expressed an interest, but that number got whittled down by a number of factors. Some parents said an emphatic "no" to the idea, and a couple of the teens were voted down due to their age (and yet, Darcy somehow made the cut—an irony not lost on the other female members of the group). A few of them chickened out as the date drew closer. So, a month before they left, the list was frozen at twelve.