Seeking Eden Read online

  The boy ran to his father, who clutched him to his side and stared at Tobin and Elanna. Apprehension was clear on his face, even with the beard and the hat shielding his expression. He spoke sharply to the boy, who nodded and pointed at them.

  “He’s afraid of us,” Elanna murmured. “We should get up and talk to him.”

  Get up. Tobin hoped he could. He took a deep breath and gathered what little strength he could find. Even then, he had to lean heavily on Elanna just to stand.

  Once on his feet, he felt a bit better. His legs, at least, didn’t seem to hurt much, and if he concentrated hard enough he could stand without shaking. Walking, though, was another matter altogether.

  “Can you make it?” Elanna asked softly.

  Tobin gritted his teeth. “I can try.”

  As they stepped toward the man with Amos, the man moved back. He pulled Amos with him, though he never took his eyes from Tobin and Elanna. The boy struggled briefly, pointing and jabbering some more in the language Tobin couldn’t understand.

  “He’s telling his daddy that we’re all right,” Elanna said. “That we aren’t…something…I couldn’t quite catch it.”

  Tobin paused, not wanting to scare away the man or the child. He raised his hands into the air, hoping the man would see he was harmless. Unfortunately, he had to let go of Elanna to do that, and his head began to spin dizzily again.

  “Don’t you faint on me,” she whispered, knuckling him sharply in the ribs. “You’ll take me down with you if you fall.”

  “English!” The man shouted.

  Tobin looked at Elanna. “Is he talking to us or asking us a question?”

  “I don’t know,” she said.

  ”English you are?” the man shouted.

  A question, then. But how to answer. They weren’t English, at least not in the way Tobin thought of the word.

  “We…we’re American!”

  “Ve all Americans are, naw vunst,” the man said back. Tobin was relieved to see the twitch of a smile cross his mouth. “But you English are? Yankees?”

  Tobin realized he could understand the words, if not the content. He remembered reading Mark Twain, long ago. “I guess you could say I’m a Yankee. Sure. I’m not from Connecticut, but --”

  The sound of thunder rent the air again. It was still far away, but coming closer. Not from the direction they’d come, but from the side.

  Tobin saw the man look toward the side road just on the other side of the creek. He clutched the boy to him harder. Amos squeaked, growing pale-faced under his hat.

  The man turned and began to run, holding Amos up so the boy wouldn’t fall. He did anyway, going to his knees on the road and letting out a shrill cry of pain. When his father yanked him up, Tobin saw the boy’s pants had shredded.

  “Wait!” Elanna left Tobin to run a few steps after the man and the boy. “Please! What’s that noise? Help us!”

  The man didn’t slow, and she tried again. “Helfn mir, bitte!”

  The man stopped and turned. The thunder grew louder. Tobin imagined that the earth trembled under his feet. Maybe it did, or perhaps he was still having trouble standing. Either way, he didn’t like the feeling.

  “What is that noise?” Elanna cried.

  There seemed to be no distance now between Tobin and the man. Their eyes met, both unwavering. Tobin thought the man meant to come back, to help them. Instead, he turned and picked up the boy, then continued to run. They passed out of sight just around a corner, and were gone.

  “They left us,” Elanna said.

  He was alarmed to see that her face had grown pale and sweaty. She licked her lips nervously, eyes gone wide in fear and shock. She was, he saw with a start, going to faint.

  As if in slow motion, Elanna began to sink. Tobin grabbed her by the arms, hard enough to sink his fingers into her skin. She groaned, head sagging and knees buckling. He couldn’t hold her up, not in his condition. Instead of him knocking her down, she was going to do it to him.

  Now the air was definitely trembling. He stared in wide-eyed horror at the side road that twisted sharply away, out of sight. They were coming, those people from the barrier. He knew it. They were coming with their guns and their trucks, or whatever it was that made that ear-wrenching noise.

  Elanna slipped from his grasp and puddled to the ground. He tore his gaze away from the horizon long enough to look at her. Her eyes fluttered, not quite closing. Her hands batted at the air, trying to grab him. She wasn’t quite out.

  Tobin didn’t know what to do, or where to turn. He saw the thick gouged marks in the earth that showed exactly where they’d left the road and where the car had stopped. The car would be no protection.

  “Tobin?” He knelt beside her, and she clutched his shirt. “I can’t get up.”

  “You have to get up.”

  Now he could hear whoops and cries along with the sound of the roaring. With numb fingers he pulled on her until she could stand along with him. He didn’t dare look back now. He didn’t want to see their deaths, and he was afraid that’s exactly what was coming for them.

  He’d had nightmares like this, ones in which something was chasing him and he couldn’t move fast enough to get away. Only this time it was no dream, it was real, and it would appear around the corner any minute.

  “Run!” Even as he spat the words, he knew they’d do no good. Neither one of them could move any faster than they were.

  Elanna tripped and fell, sprawling. Tobin went with her. It was his pants that shredded on the blacktop this time, but if his skinned knees hurt he didn’t notice. He rested his cheek against the gravelly surface, surprised at how warm it was. If he could lay here and sleep, maybe it would be over soon. Maybe he wouldn’t have to wake up.

  Thunder of a different sort roared out from the road ahead. Elanna screamed from beside him, and he lifted his head. The beast bearing down on them was the largest he’d ever seen. Its four legs pumped up and down, straining to pull the large wooden wagon to which it was harnessed. Its hooves clattered on the road with a sound like pottery breaking.

  Small Amos clung to the wagon seat beside his father, whose expression was fierce and determined. The man pulled hard on the straps attached to the animal’s mouth. Its hooves slid on the road, spraying up gravel. Some of it hit Tobin in the face, and the dust stung his eyes.

  “A horse!” Elanna said from the dirt beside him.

  Reading about them was not like seeing one in real life. He wondered briefly if he had, indeed, passed out again, and was dreaming. Or maybe, he’d died. But he’d never remembered smelling anything in dreams before, and if he was dead, surely he wouldn’t smell anything either.

  The horse had lifted its tale and dropped a pile onto the ground. No, he had to be alive and awake to see and smell that. Hysterical laughter bubbled in his chest.

  “Kummen zie, bitte,” the man said. “Hurry, Yankee. They soon will here be.”

  Tobin looked up at the high wagon bed, and down at himself. “No way. There’s no way.”

  “I’ll help you,” Elanna said. “You can lean on me.”

  “In the wagon not.” The man looked to where the sound of the hooting and rumbling was almost upon them. “Under it you will go! And hurry!”

  Tobin looked at the champing, stamping beast, and then at the high wagon. Plenty of room under there, but what would hide them? Elanna hadn’t hesitated, though, and was squirming underneath.

  “Into the grass,” the man said, clucking to the horse. Obligingly, it moved a few feet closer to the edge of the road, where the weeds and grass grew thick. “Hide there.”

  Tobin didn’t hesitate again. The rumbling and yelling was so loud now that he could make out the individual words, even over the sound of the engine or whatever it was that was making the racket. Whoever was coming wasn’t crying out warm welcomes, either. He scooted under the wagon, following Elanna to where the grass was thick. He rolled in, and the man clucked to the horse again. The huge beast bent to ch