Seeking Eden Read online

  “Shh.” Elanna put her arms around the girl. “Shh, sweetheart, it’s okay.”

  The comforting came as second nature to her; the irony that she was soothing the enemy did not escape her. But what else could she do? The girl was crying, and she was just a child, really. Not a soldier, not like those others. Certainly not like Kodak, who had thrown her gun to the ground and was now trying to throttle Tobin.

  The girl was large, and she was obviously strong, but pitted against a man as tall as Tobin, she had to stand on her tiptoes to get a good grip. Tobin managed to get his hands up around hers, and began pulling. The other two soldiers stood stunned, seemingly unable to respond.

  Now Tobin had Kodak’s wrists pinned with his, wrenching her hands away from his throat. She was still screaming, sharp short bursts of angry barking that sounded like they had to be shredding her throat. A word slipped through here and there, a “fuck” or a “shit”, and once even a “goddamn tits on fire” that Elanna couldn’t make sense of in her muddled state.

  Tayler and Winslow were still standing goggle-eyed, weapons dropped at their sides. Little Dallas huddled against Elanna, squeezing her hard around the waist. The girl buried her face in Elanna’s stomach, her shoulders thin and bony beneath Elanna’s soothing fingers.

  With one final heave, Tobin threw Kodak away from him. She went down heavily, landing in the dirt with a thump that nearly buckled Elanna’s legs. The Gapper was on her feet in an instant, blue eyes raging and her blonde hair matted with dirt and sweat. With fists clenched, she spat on the ground again.

  “Come on, you fuck.” Her mouth stretched in a frightening grin. She gestured with her hands before closing them into fists again. “Come on, then. Show me what you got.”

  Elanna saw the hesitation in Tobin’s eyes. He didn’t know how to fight. Whatever had gotten him this far was anger and instinct. He was no match for a soldier, trained in combat, even if he was a man and she no more than a girl.

  “All right.” Tobin opened his arms wide, as though he were going to embrace Kodak instead of fight her. “Give it to me.”

  With a roar of rage, Kodak launched herself at Tobin. He stepped aside at the final moment. Kodak nearly went sprawling in the dust. She whirled around, expression crafty.

  “I knew you were a pussy,” she said with a laugh that left Elanna cold. “Just like them.”

  Tobin didn’t say anything. Though Elanna couldn’t see his face, his body was tense, his knees bent a little and his hands outstretched. Distractedly, Elanna realized she was seeing him through a fine red haze. She was going to pass out, and soon.

  “Gonna have to let you go,” she murmured to Dallas in a slurred voice she almost didn’t recognize as her own.

  “No! No!” Dallas wailed and clutched her harder.

  Kodak flung herself at Tobin again, and this time he wasn’t able to move out of her way. She wrapped her arms around him, almost like a lover, and used her legs to kick at his. She was too close for Tobin to really get in any blows, so he sunk his fingers into the dirty length of her hair and pulled.

  “God damn dirty fighter!” Tayler shrieked, finally coming to life.

  Kodak let go, twisting around suddenly. Tobin still had hold of her hair, but now she faced away from him. Elanna could see a look of madness on her face. She was still grinning.

  Kodak bent at the waist as though she’d been shot. At the same time, she snapped her head downward, despite the grip Tobin had in her hair. He didn’t have time to let go. Her forward motion threw him off balance and he fell at her side, fingers still tangled in her hair.

  Kodak ripped her head upright, leaving a chunk of blonde strands still in Tobin’s hands. She fell on him, using her hands and feet, and, Elanna saw with horror, even her teeth. She sat on Tobin’s chest, knees locked on his ears and hit his face.

  Winslow ran toward Kodak and Tobin. “Sir! Let go, Sir!”

  “You’re killing him, Sir!” Tayler cried, running too.

  “Damn fucking straight I’m killing him!” Kodak yelled. With sick terror Elanna saw her lips were wet, glistening red with Tobin’s blood. “I’m going to fucking murderize this fuck!”

  “Sir, no, Sir!” Tayler cried. “The General says he wants both of them, Sir!”

  “Fuck the General!” Kodak screamed, fists still flailing on Tobin’s face. “This fuckwad called me a bitch!”

  “Sir! You are a bitch, Sir!” Winslow yelled.

  Both Tayler and Winslow had their hands on Kodak, who writhed like a rabid animal. Tobin wasn’t moving. Tayler and Winslow pulled Kodak off him, both of them using all their strength.

  “If you kill him the General will kill you!” Winslow cried in Kodak’s ear.

  “Get her in the truck!” Tayler yelled to Winslow. “Leave the asshole here! He’s not going anywhere. We’ll get them back to base and come back for him later!”

  “But the General said --” Winslow began and ducked out of the way as Kodak let out another scream of fury and tried to bite her.

  “We’ll get him later!” Tayler dodged Kodak’s feet as she kicked. “We don’t have a choice! Maybe the bitch will be enough!”

  Winslow didn’t have time to protest. “Let’s move!”

  She began shoving Kodak toward the truck. Tayler followed, barking orders to the other two Gappers who’d been watching the entire ordeal. Those two began moving toward Elanna.

  “No!” Elanna cried, trying her best to peel Dallas away from her. The girl clung like a leech, wailing. Elanna’s legs wouldn’t move. Her ears filled with a heavy buzzing and the fine red haze grew thick in her eyes. She managed one step, but that was all.

  Her stomach lurched and her legs buckled. Tobin’s face, his eyes rolled back in his head and his cheeks pale, was the last thing she saw before the red haze overtook her. And then she was lost in it, the buzzing blocking all the noise around her except for a new voice in her ear.

  “Fuck,” said the voice. “This one’s out, too.

  −

  37-

  Every part of him was in agony, particularly the spot just below his ear, where that bitch had nearly taken a chunk out of him with her teeth. But he wasn’t unconscious. Just waiting.

  It wouldn’t do Elanna any good if he got killed, which is what Kodak wanted to do to him. It wouldn’t do either of them any good if they both were taken back to the Gapper’s base. So, though it hurt his heart a million times worse than his body’s pains to let her go, Tobin lay in the dirt and pretended to be dead. Or close to dead, it didn’t matter. They were taking Elanna and not him.

  He heard the rumble of the truck as it started and sped away. Now he stayed on the ground because he didn’t think he could get up. He didn’t want to feel the damage Kodak’s fists, feet and teeth had done to him, not on top of what he’d already sustained from the car crash and everything else he’d gone through over the past few months.

  “Into the haus take him,” a voice said.

  “Careful!” That was Rachel. He felt the brush of her skirts as she knelt beside him. She smiled at him and brushed the hair from his forehead. “Be still.”

  “I have to follow them.” Nothing moved but Tobin’s mouth and his eyes as he blinked.

  “Shh.” Rachel’s gaze was troubled. She glanced away from him, looking far away. To where the truck had gone, maybe? “Later, you will go. Now, you will rest.”

  “No,” Tobin said. He still didn’t get up. His arms and legs felt removed from him, but not numb. No, he hadn’t been granted that relief.

  “Yes,” Rachel said firmly. Two men he didn’t know appeared beside her. “Daniel, David. Lift him and to the haus carry him. Sadie! Mary!”

  Like magic, Sadie and Mary appeared next to Rachel. Their faces were nearly identical beneath the white caps, though Mary looked a few years older. They both looked like Rachel. Daughters, then.

  “Some water, boil,” Rachel said, and rattled off a list of other chores. The girls nodded in unison, their brown eyes wide