have had a dozen different guys
ask you to go with them. You would have had your
pick.”
“ What’s prom?” I
asked.
Avian chuckled.
“It’s a dance. It’s probably the biggest event of the school
year. Girls buy fancy dresses and guys wear tuxedos.
People rent fancy cars and pick up their dates. Then they go
to the dance and just have fun.”
The things Avian told me
about seemed so foreign. It was like he was reading to me out
of a fairy tale book and I barely even understood the terminology
he used. I would never go to a prom.
“ You might have had a
boyfriend. The two of you would go out on special outings,
just the two of you or with friends. You might try and sneak
out of your parent’s house to try and see him. Boys always
get girls into trouble.”
“ I can’t imagine you
getting me into trouble,” I said as I glanced over at him.
“Is that how you were?”
Avian gave a little
chuckle and looked at the ground. “I was the guy that
couldn’t get up the nerve to ask the girl I wanted out. I
would have stayed home by myself, burying my head in my latest
health or medical book.
“ I would have wanted to
ask you but you would have said no.”
I looked over at Avian and
really looked at
him. He was tall, at least six feet. He wasn’t built as
big as Bill was, but he wasn’t small. He had the lean frame
of a man who worked hard and had lived on a rations diet for the
last six years. His dark short hair accented the tanned color
of his skin, his surprisingly blue eyes piercing. “I highly
doubt that.”
He smiled at me and
squeezed my hand.
“ Problem would have been
that while you would still be in high school, I would have still
been in the Army, hopefully going through real medical
school. People wouldn’t have liked the age difference.
You would have barely even been legal.”
I gave a little
chuckle.
I considered what I might
have been like if I hadn’t grown up the way I did. I was as
mature as any of the other women in Eden. They didn’t look
down on me and I didn’t consider any of the others superior to
myself. But maybe if I hadn’t been experimented on and grown
up in a world of running and raids I wouldn’t have been that
way. Maybe all I would have cared about would have been
jewelry and what boy was asking me to the prom or what dress I was
going to wear.
The world we lived in made
me grow up. I didn’t know what it was like to be a real
teenager.
We walked at a swift pace
for another two hours before signs of life were detected. I
glanced at Avian who gave me a weak smile, the smile of knowing the
tiring endless work that was before the both of us. I
returned his smile, let go of his hand, and went to help reassemble
Eden.
TEN
With as little as we
possessed these days it didn’t take long to put everything back
together. Everyone helped everyone, no one was left in
distress about what needed to be done. We were a family, a
unit that worked as one.
Things were different
though. With Sarah’s newfound medical condition, she had
moved into Avian’s tent permanently. The seizures were
infrequent but happened enough that Avian insisted. I was on
my own now.
Avian and Gabriel’s tents
were always placed close together since, in a way, they were the
leaders of Eden. I would have set up my tent next to theirs,
but when I realized West had set up not far from their tents, I
assembled mine on the farthest edge of the clearing.
Forgiveness wasn’t one of my stronger traits.
Our new location was as
beautiful as Morgan had said. The lake was crystal clear, the
sunlight dazzling as it danced upon its surface. A clearing
to the side of it provided the perfect place to set up camp.
It was also a perfect defense location. Should any of the
Hunters find us here, we could all head into the water where they
couldn’t follow. As long as they didn’t start
shooting.
It was,
Florence Williams
Persons of Rank
Wong Herbert Yee
Kerrigan Byrne
Kitty Burns Florey
Mallory Monroe
Lesley Livingston
Brigid Kemmerer
M. C. Beaton
Joyee Flynn