Emergence (Eden's Root Trilogy) (5 page)

“Sean?”
Squeak’s voice wavered, as if he wasn’t sure what he was seeing was real. “Wha…what are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing
. Are you ok? What the hell happened here? Where is everyone? Did they hurt anyone? How did you get away?” The questions tumbled out of him like rocks crashing down a hillside.

“Ugh
,” Squeak shook his head sadly. “It was the Truthers, but they weren’t like they say. They were armed and mean, and everyone was terrified.” Tears filled his eyes. “They took them all away, Sean, and I don’t know where they went. They took my mom and dad and…well, they took everybody.” He choked as he plopped onto a nearby stool.

“But did they hurt people, did they kill anyone?”
Asher’s voice was thick.

“No, I don’t think so
. They were really coordinated. I think they must have been watching us for a while. They knew the rounds of our security and when they’d all be together in their own pod. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what they must have done, because they had our security trapped and disarmed before anyone even knew they were here. From there it was easy to get everyone else to listen. All they had to do was fire a few rounds in the air and people did what they said.” He dropped his head into his hands.

Sean breathed a small sigh of relief to hear that no one had been killed
. “And no one was hurt? Are you sure?”

“I dunno, Sean, I didn’t see anyone hurt, besides being pushed or smacked a little
. But I didn’t see it all because when the screams started…” His voice trembled as he dropped his hands, ashamed. “…I hid. Here, in the Forge. I knew they would never look hard enough to find me. I didn’t realize that our security was already overwhelmed. I thought I’d just wait until the fighting stopped and then come back out. Then the lights went out and I froze. When the noise stopped, I came out, but…” He shook his head and tears made their way down his cheeks. “…they were all gone. All of them. I was all alone….all alone.” His voice changed to a wail.

Angry tea
rs pricked at the corners of Sean’s eyes and his jaw locked in newfound determination. Fi definitely had one thing right when she’d made her declaration of war after the Truthers nearly succeeding in kidnapping Sara. They were going to
stop
these sickos.

“A
ll right, Squeak, I know we have a lot to discuss, but can you help us to try to get the emergency power back on?” Asher’s practical question shook Sean from the haze of his rage.

“Yes,
” Sean agreed. “We need electricity right away.”

Squeak
wiped his eyes and nodded. “I thought about doing it myself, but I didn’t want to draw attention, you know, in case they came back.”

Sean nodded, that made sense
. Jesus, what must Squeak have thought, stuck here all alone in the dark for weeks? What would
he
have done? Regardless, between the human contact and the new mission, Squeak seemed to have recovered himself somewhat. He waved to them, grabbing a few items on his way out the door.

They followed him as he wound his way into the maintenance tunnels off the main perimeter tunnel
. Thought they were never used by the colonists, the maintenance tunnels housed all of the electrical, plumbing, and circulation controls. Squeak moved confidently, particularly in the dim light, and Sean grew interested. Despite his earlier breakdown, his friend already seemed to be different…harder somehow.

Squeak spoke over his shoulder
. “I’ve been over every square inch of this place since the attack. Of course, I had to dig into the emergency food stores, which luckily, they must not have had time to discover.” He took a hard right turn into a tiny alcove. He ripped a panel off the wall. “I thought about bringing things back online. I was at the last step when I chickened out. Can you give me the flashlight?”

Asher passed
his along. Sean felt the weight of his silence. Not that Asher was usually a chatterbox, but he’d barely spoken at all since Fi had gone into labor.

Squeak peered at the confines of the electrical panel
. “See here, Sean? We can splice the backup power lines to our geothermal units, which fortunately, the Truthers were smart enough to leave alone.” He grimaced as he squeezed his fingers into a tight space and rooted around. “I guess some of them can read well enough to notice all the pipes marked ‘flammable.’”

Understanding dawned on Sean all at once
. He’d wondered why they hadn’t burned Eden when they’d left. The Truthers always burned their conquests. They must have been afraid to trigger the pressurized gases. Or maybe they were smart enough to know better than to burn laboratories filled with chemicals and toxins. “You think that’s why they left so much alone?”

“Ah, got it!”
Squeak cheered as he dragged a wire out and started stripping it. “I can bypass the main line and go right to the backup with this and a few other jumps.” As he worked, he continued his assessment of the Truthers’ efforts. “I had heard all the stuff about these assholes hating scientists. But I didn’t realize how much they meant it. Even from my hiding spot I could hear them shouting a bunch of bullshit about us reaping the whirlwind. Fuckers.”

Sean drew back in shock at his friend’s language
. Squeak may have looked like the same skinny kid, but he had definitely changed. Sean sighed. That happened when marauders threatened your family and took away your life
. Even the Squeaks of the world can’t hide anymore
, he thought, frustrated. Squeak nodded in approval at his work and reached for another wire.

“So did they destroy everything else?
Is anything still here, still intact?” Sean tried to refocus on the information that they really needed. It helped to keep his mind off the fact that his oldest and dearest friend had just gone into premature labor and they had no medical help whatsoever.

Squeak took the pliers out of his mouth and jammed them in his pocket
. “There’s a lot that’s still intact. I think herding three hundred frightened people was task enough, though there were a lot of them. From the few bits of video I was able to pull onto my tablet before it died, there were at least fifty of them, all armed in one way or another. They separated our security and took them in the Jeeps, took our weapons, painted some stupid shit. Not sure why they had time for that and not enough to seek out our seed stores, but can’t say that I’m upset about it.”

Se
an inhaled sharply. “So the seed stores are intact then? They didn’t take them?” His heart pounded as he realized that this was the first bit of good news he’d had in weeks. After everything that had been sacrificed…after decades of work and preparation by Eden’s colonists, if the heirloom seed stores of Eden had been destroyed, all of that work and sacrifice would have been for naught.
And
, he thought wearily,
the future of humanity may have been sealed
.

“Yes, they’re intact
. Though what good it will do us when they’ve got all our people, I don’t know.” Squeak grunted as he finished his last splice and tucked the wires back into the wall. He reached for a handful of switches, his hands glancing over them for just the right ones. After a few pointed flips, a quiet whirring noise began and emergency lights sprung on all around them. “There we go,” he grinned.

------------ Fi ------------

“Push, Fi, c’mon, you can do it!
Breathe. That’s it, you’re almost there.” Sara’s commands kept Fi going. “Just one more, I think,” she added, and Fi nodded.

At least, she thought she nodded
. Somebody nodded, but she had turned to jelly, so it was hard to tell who it was. The pain had morphed now in the last moments. Now it was just as advertised: labor. It was grunting, straining, screaming, breathing
work
.

After each push, Sara would help her out of her squat and back against the bed for a momentary rest
. As Sara roused her again for the last push, Fi steeled her resolve. There was so much work already behind her, so much work. Surely she could make it to the finish.

At Sara’s command she bore down again, her legs feeling more like water than flesh
, and her core burning like fire. All at once there was a massive release as Sara’s hands freed the baby’s shoulders. Fi collapsed back onto the bed.

“Got him!”
Sara crowed.

Fi laughed, hysterical, her eyes closed
.
It was a boy. Of course. It was a boy
. Sara worked to clear his airways. Just then, the emergency lights came on and Fi’s eyes flew open. Sara was swaddling the tiny, red creature in her grasp as he waved his angry fists. When Sara handed him to her, he opened his mouth and screamed.

Exactly
, Fi thought.
Welcome to the world.

------------ Asher -----------

“She’s ok, guys!” Sara reassured them as she came out, putting her finger to her lips. “The baby is too, it seems like.”

“What do you mean
, ‘seems like’?” Sean asked, his voice cracking.

Asher’s chest
cinched, his heart bucking, trying to kick its way out.

Sa
ra held up a hand. “Sorry, sorry! Not trying to panic you. It’s just…he’s a preemie. So he’s little and kind of fragile, but he’s breathing ok…” She stopped and pushed her hair off her face. Tears filled her eyes as she shook her head. “ I think he’s ok.”

Sean grabbed her and pulled her into his arms and she took a deep, shuddery breath.

Asher froze, pinned beneath successive waves of relief and panic. She was alive! He was alive.
He
.

The thought released him with a jolt and he swept through the door.
Fi’s eyes opened and she smiled. Tears sprang to his eyes and he clenched his hands to steady them. Their new son lay sleeping on her chest, wrapped up snug like a little caterpillar in a cocoon. She waved Asher over and took his hand.

Her hair was plastered to her forehead
in sweaty ropes. He’d never seen her so pale in his life, not even when she’d nearly run herself to death on the treadmill, trying to work through her feelings about the cause of the great Famine. But despite her obvious exhaustion, a smile danced on her lips and in her eyes. His heart squeezed. She was a mother now.
And she’s happy.

“Asher, meet your son, Luke David Grey
.”

“David.”
The word left his mouth seconds before his tears broke their bonds. Overwhelmed, he sank into the chair beside her, still clutching her hand. The terror of the past hours welled up and pushed at his throat, forcing its way out in tight, choking sobs. He gasped, trying desperately to hold back sound, but he couldn’t stop the spasms that had seized his chest.

Fi’s lip trembled and she squeezed his hand
. “It’s ok, Ash,” she said, her voice wobbling. “ It’s ok. We’re ok.”

He nodded, working to take deep breaths and regain control
. “I’m ok, babe.” His throat was still tight. “Just…scared. It was…” He stopped, finally drawing a full breath. He took a few more and Fi waited, still squeezing his hand. He shook his head. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Ash.”
A single tear wound its way down her cheek. Her lips still trembled. “I was scared too.”

He reached out and cupped her cheek, wiping the tear away
. “No, I mean, it’s not fair for me to be weak. You…you just did something terrifying and crazy and amazing.”

His heart crumpled when she rewarded him with a weary smile
. “It
was
pretty crazy, baby.” She lay back against the pillow and placed her hand gently on their son’s back. “But it gave us him.”

Asher startled, his focus restored
. Fi wasn’t just a mother. He was a
father
. His hand crept over the blankets, like a child would reach out to a pet, eager, but tentative. When he laid his hand over Fi’s on his son’s back, he marveled at his tiny frame.

“You can hold him, baby.”
Fi’s voice was warm and resonant. It rolled with contentment.

He turned to her, his interest piqued
. Normally, he sort of thought of her as a creature of air and water. He always teased her that she must actually be a sprite or fairy of some kind. But this woman seemed different somehow. Rooted. Maybe she had become a creature of earth.

Gently,
Asher pulled his son to his chest. He was such a miniscule ball of mush that it was almost a struggle to hold him.

Fi chuckled
. “He’s not an egg, Ash. Just make sure you hold his head.”

Asher nodded,
his eyes fixed on the baby, his heartbeat back to a steady canter. What had they done? How had they created this creature? He almost didn’t seem real. Soft and pink, he snorted a little as he breathed, but who the heck could breathe through a nose that tiny? And look at his fingers and toes. They’re crazy tiny.
Oh, God. I’m a cliché. I’m counting his freaking toes.
He took a deep breath and kissed his son’s head. “A boy.”