Seeking Eden Read online

  “Where did you get this?” His eyes greedily sucked in the sight of Tobin’s belongings.

  “From a store.”

  Asaph turned his head and spat. “Liar! All the stores have been rooted clean since before my father’s father’s day. You must’ve stolen it.”

  “I didn’t!” Without bothering to ask permission, Tobin began repacking his bags. “I told you, I got it from a store. A big one. I found it on my way here from Eastport. It was filled with stuff like this.”

  He found himself again with the knife at his throat. He froze, more afraid a slice would come from the shaking of Asaph’s hands than a deliberate jab. The old man was sweating, the froth on his lips dried to an unattractive crust. He stank.

  “You said you were from the Bronx! Up by the stadium! There’s nothing left up there but beggars and thieves!”

  “I didn’t say --” But Asaph wouldn’t let Tobin protest that he hadn’t claimed to be from the Bronx at all.

  “You stole this from the Tribe! All of this! It’s the only place you could’ve gotten it! You’re a gonif, a thief! Thief!”

  Swiftly, because he was tired of being held at knifepoint and tired of being accused of things he hadn’t done, Tobin reached up and grabbed Asaph’s wrist. The knife clattered to the ground. Tobin pushed the old man away, careful not to break the old bones but forcefully enough that Asaph landed on his rear.

  “I’m not a liar, and I’m not a thief,” Tobin said, his voice low and painful in his throat. “And I’m not from the Bronx. I’m from Eastport. It’s in Maine. I don’t know who or what the Tribe is, and I don’t really care. I’ve been traveling for more than three weeks. I am on my way to California.”

  He sat back, watching Asaph warily. The old man made no move toward him, instead just held his wrist and grimaced. Tobin continued to repack his bags.

  “I don’t have any truck with fighting you, old man,” Tobin said, though not disrespectfully. Old Pa had always told him that a man is measured by how he treated those weaker than he is. Tobin was pretty sure that included Asaph. And if that was the sort of people populating this city, he could do without the company. “I just want to be on my way.”

  Asaph said nothing, even when Tobin stood and hefted his bags, preparing to leave. Tobin watched him for a moment, but the old man didn’t move. Tobin stepped over him, watching for any movement that meant Asaph was going to attack him again, but there was none. He left the storeroom, climbed around the empty glass case, and began packing up his bike.

  He expected to hear the old man coming after him at any moment, but again was wrong. Tobin thought about checking on him, but decided he hadn’t pushed him hard enough to cause permanent damage. Let the old guy go back to whatever it was he’d been doing before Tobin had been unlucky enough to make his acquaintance. He just wanted to get out of here.

  It was still dark outside. He wasn’t afraid of the night. In Eastport, they’d all gone to bed with the dark. Lantern light was precious and reserved for emergencies.

  No, he wasn’t afraid of the dark, but he was afraid. Meeting Asaph proved that the city was not as empty as it seemed. If the other residents were anything like the old man, Tobin didn’t want to meet up with them in the dark.

  He’d have to walk his bike and use the flashlight. If he were lucky, he might find another empty store to camp out in, but he’d get no more sleep this night. In the morning he could be on his way, and forget about this cursed place. It didn’t matter what the peddler said. He’d find other people. He didn’t need companions like Asaph.

  Tobin pulled his flashlight from the backpack and switched it on. It threw only enough light to illuminate the street a few feet around him, but it was enough that he could see where he was going. It also might make him an easy target for anyone hiding in any of the empty buildings. He didn’t like that at all, but didn’t see any help for it. He squared his shoulders and started walking.

  Tobin had hardly gone ten feet when he heard a rustling and a crashing from the store he’d just left. He turned to see Asaph standing in the doorway. The shadows from the flashlight made his grin seem to dance on his face.

  “The Tribe doesn’t like thieves!” Asaph’s quavery old man’s voice echoed through the dark street and sounded more distorted than it was. “Ride fast on that bike!”

  Tobin didn’t bother replying. Instead he turned back and kept walking. The flashlight bobbed with every step and he gritted his teeth to keep from running like Asaph said he should. He wouldn’t show fear. If there were any eyes watching him from the dark, he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

  One foot in front of the other. Step by step. His neck began to ache from straining against whipping around at every small sound. His throat hurt, and when he touched it his fingers came away tinged with pink. Asaph must have sliced him a little, after all.

  He stopped and pulled the map he’d torn from the book out of his pocket. He’d marked his route carefully with a bright pink pen, but the markings stopped once entering the city. He didn’t have many plans from here. The peddler had said he’d find people in the city. He hadn’t said where.

  “Or that they’d be crazy,” Tobin muttered. Something metal clanged in an alley to his right, but when he shone the light in that direction, he could see nothing.

  The buildings, so immense and intimidating by day, were even more hulking by night. If there was one advantage to the dark, it was that he couldn’t really see their true bulk. His world had shrunk to a ten-foot circle of light.

  He kept walking, if for no other reason than he didn’t know what else to do. He was heading further south, into the heart of the city instead of away from it, but he didn’t want to backtrack. He’d just plow ahead, follow the streets until he reached something he could find on the map, and go from there.

  His eyes were grainy from exhaustion, and his muscles ached and pulled. He concentrated on walking. Step by step. Push the bike. Think about getting out of here alive.

  Another clang of metal. This one sounded deliberate. Tobin shone the light, holding it up over his head to make the thin beams stretch as far as they would. He saw nothing, but now every nerve in his body strained to hear or see something.

  Tobin realized he’d tensed, as if for flight. Stupid, he told himself, still searching with the flashlight. Stupid to run when you don’t know where you’re going. That’s a good way to get into a trap, or get killed. He’d have to fight, should it come to that, and hope he wouldn’t be too badly outnumbered.

  “James Bond could do it,” he said out loud. Despite the situation, he found a smile. “Hey! Watch out! James Bond is here!”

  His voice echoed through the streets and bounced off the empty buildings, making it sound like ten people yelling. When the echoes died away, he thought he heard another sound. A low, steady murmuring whisper. Like people talking, but so low he couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  He didn’t want to run, and if he had to fight, he didn’t want to wait. He’d never actually fought, or even hit, another human being before. He’d read plenty of books about sword fights, and fist fights, and wars with guns and tanks and missiles, but when it came to actual experience in hand to hand combat…he had none. No one had ever hit him, not even when he was small and naughty enough to merit a spanking.

  “Hey!” He yelled again, recklessly.

  If it was going to happen, bring it on, he thought grimly. His ears rang, and his palms moistened. He felt like he was about to jump right out of his skin, but he also felt gloriously alive. He pushed down the bike’s kickstand and shrugged off the backpack in one smooth motion that made him feel like James Bond.

  “If you’re out there, show yourself!” Tobin yelled to the blackness stretching out all around him. “I’m right here! Come and get me, if you’re going to!”

  Another clang of metal on stone, this time above him. His head snapped up, eyes searching and finding nothing. The light was making him a target. He switched it off, evening his