Seeking Eden Read online

  He glanced back at Elanna, who was incredibly still asleep. Maybe being pregnant tired women out. Anyway, the hard ground and the rising sun didn’t seem to bother her, and he didn’t want to wake her just yet. He wanted to see what lay on the other side of the barrier.

  Climbing it wasn’t too hard. There were plenty of gaps to use as hand and footholds. He was afraid at first that the structure would shift under him, but he relaxed as he moved higher and not so much as a twig snapped under his weight. Whoever had built it made it strong.

  He climbed higher. Sweat ran stinging into his eyes and he turned to look at Elanna. His stomach did a slow roll as he realized how high he really was. It hadn’t seemed so high from the ground. Now it seemed as though he could almost reach out and touch the tops of the trees set back from the road, if they were only a little closer.

  Just a few more steps and he’d reach the top. Even as he climbed the last few steps he knew it didn’t matter much if they were rerouted. They had no time line other than the one he’d created in his mind. That and the seasons would determine how fast they traveled. He didn’t want to be on the road when the weather turned cold again. When Elanna’s baby would be born.

  He stopped, thoughts of Elanna and the baby gone. Deleted. What was on the other side of the barrier left no room for thought other than horror.

  With numb fingers he grabbed, hard, to keep from falling. The road below him was an abattoir; the carnage that had occurred there was no less horrific because it had obviously happened long ago. Bodies, piles of bones with shreds of flesh hanging from them, were strewn as far as he could see. Several of them were impaled on pieces of the roadblock.

  The corpses wore identical outfits of green, though most of the cloth was faded and torn. Some gripped long barreled things in their hands. Guns? Were they guns? Old Pa had an ancient shotgun that had belonged to his great-granddaddy. It didn’t look anything like the weapons these people had carried. What had happened here? What had they been fighting to defend?

  A sound like thunder broke the morning silence. Far away it rumbled, but he imagined he felt the barrier shake beneath him. His palms grew sweaty as he gripped a metal street sign that jutted from the pile. Again, silence. His ears strained.

  It came again, a low rumble brought on the breeze. His heart began to pound. He looked at the bodies again, the bones in clothes who carried guns. He noticed something he’d overlooked in his initial shock.

  All of them were facing away from the barrier. They hadn’t been defending it. They’d been crawling over it.

  Whatever had killed them was on this side of the roadblock. And judging by the rumble that came again to twist his guts, it was coming back.

  −

  28-

  She wasn’t sleeping, just lying there with her eyes closed, but when Tobin shouted it startled her. Elanna sat up, heart pounding. She squinted against the bright sun and raised her hand to shield her eyes.

  “Get up!”

  Tobin was scrambling down the jumbled pile of wood and junk. Her heart leaped into her throat as he lost his footing and nearly fell. Images of Tobin splattering onto the road, breaking bones and maybe worse, flashed into her head. He caught himself at the last moment but didn’t slow his frantic pace.

  He yelled her name, slipping again, catching himself again, and her stomach jumped. The blankets tangled around her feet and she cursed them because they wouldn’t let her up.

  “Get up! Get in the car!”

  “What’s wrong?” she managed to say, thrusting herself free of the tangle.

  One more time he lost his footing, and this time he didn’t find a handhold. Tobin slid the last few feet to the earth, skidding along the jutting wood and metal. She heard the sound of cloth ripping.

  “Be careful!” Elanna reached for him though she knew she was too far away.

  He was up and on his feet before she had the chance to get to him. His hands were bloody, and he’d scratched his cheek. A strip of fabric from his shirt flapped as he ran toward her. He didn’t seem to notice any of these things. Fear contorted his face, and seeing it made her own heart thud in alarm. What had he seen?

  “What’s wrong?” she asked again, but he was pulling her by the arm, back toward the car.

  “No time,” Tobin said through gritted teeth. His hands were cold and wet on her elbow. He propelled her ruthlessly into the passenger side and slammed the door, almost catching her foot.

  He slipped into the driver’s seat, fumbling with the ignition. His forehead was pale and sheened with sweat. He swiped at his eyes, fingers shaking as he reached again for the keys.

  “Tobin? You’re scaring me!”

  He looked at her then, his mouth set into a grim line she didn’t like at all. “We have to get out of here. How far back was that exit?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  He reached over and pulled the seat belt across her shoulder and over her lap. “Put this on.”

  His face had scared her, but that simple act of putting on her seatbelt terrified her. “Please tell me what’s happening!”

  He didn’t have time. Thunder suddenly filled the world, shaking the road and the car, and them. Elanna gripped the dashboard, watching the roadblock. She expected it to tumble down in front of them, over top of them, any second.

  Tobin twisted the keys in the ignition, cursing impatiently and slapping the steering wheel with his free hand when the car didn’t start right away. He tried again, harder this time. Still, the engine buzzed but didn’t catch.

  “The button!” The roar of thunder ebbed and grew incredibly louder, pulsing. She thought she heard voices, too, yelling beneath the noise. She couldn’t be sure. “You have to push that little button!”

  “Got it!” Tobin pushed the small red button on the control panel and waited until it turned green. Then he twisted the keys. The car buzzed into life.

  He slammed it into reverse and the little car revved, then flew backwards. Gravel shot from beneath the tires, spanging against the windows. The car bumped, hard, as they passed over the shoulder. Elanna thanked Ha-Shem she’d put the seatbelt on. Tobin had not, and he hit his head on the ceiling when the car jolted.

  Tobin heaved the wheel as far as he could, and the car turned. Now they were facing away from the barrier. Elanna twisted around to look out the back window, but she could see nothing. Their packages and baggage blocked the view.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Something bad.”

  The car leapt forward as he pushed down on the accelerator. A high-pitched whining came from the engine. He was pushing the car too hard, too fast. Looking at his face, she dared not ask him to slow down.

  Now she heard more yelling over the thunderous roar. She looked into the side mirror, trying to see what was behind them. The car bounced so much her vision blurred, but she saw figures on top of the pile blocking the road. Some of them had already climbed down to the street. They waved their arms and yelled, and they all held strange, long poles.

  The end of one of the poles exploded, and the figure holding it fell back. In the next instant, her side mirror disappeared. Pieces of it clattered against the window. Elanna shrieked without breath, and though the sound echoed in her head nothing came out of her mouth.

  Tobin pushed the accelerator harder. The whining grew louder, more strained. The car bucked and jumped, but responded, and in the next moment they’d left the roadblock far behind.

  Elanna sat back in the seat, helpless. Tobin drove like a madman, hunched over the wheel. The exit was coming up sharp on the right. He wasn’t looking at it. He didn’t see it. They were going to go right by.

  And yet, she couldn’t speak. Whatever had destroyed the mirror seemed to have stolen her voice, too. She moved her lips but nothing came out. She’d never been so terrified.

  Now the side road was just in front of them. Elanna raised her hand, pointing. Tobin didn’t see. His hands gripped the wheel so hard she thought he might leave marks. S