Fury Rising (7 page)

But apparently Eve had still been able to get in.

Aries followed Jack and Joy up the rocks towards the shoreline. They’d had a rule about pitching tents this close to the water. No one was supposed to do it. But one lone tent stood off to the side, hidden beneath a massive pine tree. Not overly visible, but still more in the open than Aries was comfortable with.

How had Eve done this and no one told Aries?

“She moved it here a few days ago,” Jack said. “Most of us didn’t know about it. I tried talking to her yesterday, but she told me she just wanted to be alone for a bit. We checked it out from the water and it was well hidden. I figured it was okay. I mean, Eve’s been hurting. She took Nathan’s death really hard. And I think all of us want a bit of alone time now and then. I meant to tell you, but I guess it slipped my mind with everything else happening.”

Yeah, everything else. They’d all been preoccupied. And look what it cost them.

Aries walked around to the front of the tent to find Larissa waiting. The twenty-something girl looked up at Aries as they approached.

“How long has she been dead?” Aries asked.

“Not sure,” Larissa said. “My guess is it happened during the night.”

Larissa stepped aside and Aries paused at the slightly opened entrance. She didn’t want to go in there. She still had nights when she woke up in cold sweats, the memory of Nathan, and the way he looked right at her as the Bagger snapped his neck. Sometimes when she closed her eyes, she saw all of them, the people she’d lost. Looking at death was never easy.

Even worse, were the nightmares where she found herself seeing the bodies of her friends that were still alive. Mason beaten to death. Clementine stabbed and bleeding out. Michael lying on his back, gazing at the sky with dull, unseeing eyes. Was it really a dream? Or was she having premonitions of what was coming?

Aries took a deep breath and entered the tent.

Eve lay on her side, her sleeping bag in disarray and pushed down over her thighs. One hand still clutched the empty bottle of aspirin. Although her hair had fallen across her face, Aries could see the open eyes, staring at the grey tent walls. The smell of vomit was heavy in the air. Overpowering, Aries swallowed the bile that rose into her own throat before rushing back into the open air.

“We’ll have to dig a grave,” she said. “Quickly. Jack? Can you get a few of the others to help?”

“I’m on it.”

“We need to get someone to watch the tent. I’m okay with people coming to pay their respects, but I don’t want a bunch of others gawking at her.”

“I can do it,” Joy said. “I can get someone else to deal with the breakfast crowd this morning. In all honesty, I don’t really want to be around food anyway.”

“Where should I dig it?” Jack asked.

Aries paused. If only they could put Eve next to her brother. But Nathan was buried in a back yard across the harbor, several miles away. They’d have to go straight through the downtown core to try and make their way over to Shaunessey. And that would place them right in Bagger territory. No, they couldn’t take that kind of risk.

Lighthouse Park might be scenic and beautiful, but it was mostly rocks and hiking trails. It would be difficult to try and dig a hole big enough to place a body. They would have to go further out, find a nice yard where they could lay Eve to rest.

“She liked the blue house,” Joy said, referring to one of the mansions about half a mile away. “You know, the one with all the pictures of the celebrities on the walls. She went there a few times to think. She told me. It has a huge yard facing the ocean. I’ll bet she’d like it there.”

“Done,” Aries said, thankful that she didn’t have to make the decision.

“What about a funeral?”

Aries paused. She knew that Clementine and Michael would be upset if they didn’t get to pay their respects. Mason too. But who knew when they’d all get back? They couldn’t leave Eve in the tent forever.

“We’ll bury her tonight. Let anyone know if they want to come.”

“I’ll spread the word,” Joy said.

Aries took one last look at the tent. She could see Eve’s legs sticking out through the flap. They’d become tangled in her sleeping bag as she died. What last thoughts went through her mind as she’d taken the pills? Aries simply couldn’t understand it. Through this whole ordeal, even when things were at their worst, she’d never once thought about killing herself. All the pain and death only made her more determined to fight. To make the Baggers pay for everything they’d done. Obviously Eve hadn’t felt the same. Maybe through all her pain and suffering, ending things made sense. Either way, hopefully she was reunited with her brother again, along with the rest of her family.

“I have to go,” Aries said. “I have to deal with something else.”

She avoided looking her friends in the eyes as she turned, hoping they wouldn’t think she was taking the coward’s way out by leaving. She should be doing more, offering to help Jack dig the grave or taking over Joy’s kitchen duties while she told the others, but Aries knew if she didn’t sneak out now, she might not be able to get away. Once the news spread, everyone would be coming to her with questions she couldn’t answer. And today was going to be busy. Eve couldn’t have picked a worse day to die.

“It’s okay,” Jack said. He knew what Aries had planned. Thankfully he wasn’t going to try and talk her out of it again. They’d run that particular conversation into the ground ages ago.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

              She turned and walked away. Just like that. Leaving the others to clean up the mess. Selfish. Aries tried to swallow the guilt that welled up inside her chest. What Eve had done wasn’t a mess. It’s not like she’d planned on making things more difficult. No, she’d been a messed up girl, younger than all of them, and Aries was to blame. She should have paid more attention. She should have been there.

              She should have prevented this.

              “Aries?”

              Martin came scampering behind her, struggling to keep a large pile of wood in his arms. An older man and former prisoner from the Plaza of Nations, he was a good guy, but not someone Aries wanted to talk to at that particular moment.

              “Don’t forget the meeting tomorrow,” Martin said, his face red and sticky. Martin had been a computer programmer before the earthquakes. He survived with his wife, Betsy, a childcare worker. Aries often wondered how on earth they’d managed to survive. Martin was a good fifty pounds overweight and couldn’t make it up a small hill without breaking into a strong sweat. Betsy was the type to pick spiders up, take them outside and find them a nice tree to inhabit. They were good people, but not fighters.

              “What time?” Aries tried to keep her voice cheerful. She didn’t want to be the one to tell Martin. It would finalize things too much and Aries didn’t trust herself to not start bawling any second. Jack would fill him in later.

              “Noon.”

              “I’ll be there.”

              “Cool.” Martin paused to catch his breath and Aries waved.

              Carefully, she slipped through the woods, making sure to sidestep the guards as she made her way along the path that led down towards the houses outside the park. No one noticed her, something that made her both happy and annoyed. If it were this easy to sneak out, it would be just as easy to come in. She made a mental note to bring the issue up for tomorrows meeting.

The Baggers wouldn’t be as discreet if they were going to attack. They wouldn’t just send one person in. No, they’d bring an army. But there was always the possibility that they had scouts, people roaming the areas searching for them.

              Still, maybe it was time to heighten security. Tighten the perimeters and make sure no one slipped through the trees. As much as she knew it was the smarter choice, she still didn’t want to do it. Doing so would mean less freedom for her. Aries still liked to sneak out at night and go for walks. Every time she did, she swore she wasn’t looking for Daniel, but she still couldn’t ignore the disappointment when he didn’t appear.

              Months. He’d been gone for months. She didn’t know if he was dead or alive, Bagger or Human, and no matter how much she tried to push him out of her thoughts, he kept squirming back in.

              She wanted him back. Not just because of what they shared, but because of his usefulness. Right now, she’d give anything for some of his advice, no matter how infuriating. Daniel might have been playing both sides, but he never toyed with her. One of the things she both liked and hated about him. Daniel told her what she needed to hear, even if he knew it wasn’t something she wanted. He’d been mostly truthful, except for the one thing that possibly mattered most.

              Daniel was a Bagger.

              No point in thinking about that now. Aries slipped onto the road, looking both ways to make sure the coast was clear. Aside from a few geese sunning themselves on the asphalt, nothing else moved. Turning left, Aries headed up the hill.

              It took about fifteen minutes until she arrived at the house. They’d particularly chosen this one because of two things. It was far enough away from the camping spot that no one would likely come across it by accident. Second, it was hidden way back in the trees and on the top of a monster hill. They had a dozen or so people who spent their days salvaging buildings for anything of value. With the house being a major inconvenience to get to, Aries and Michael agreed that they probably wouldn’t bother searching it. Not when there were far easier pickings. 

What went on in that house was only known between a select few of them. It was important that they kept it secret. Not everyone would approve, or worse, everyone might want to get involved.

              It took her about five minutes to climb the hill. Thanks to all the walking she did these days, Aries was probably in the best shape of her life. But the slope was still hellish and she had to pause at the top to catch her breath. The view was breathtaking; she could see the ocean spread out before her. Through the tree line, she spent a few minutes looking at Stanley Park and beyond, all those empty condos and skyscrapers that made up the downtown core. The Lionsgate Bridge stood empty of traffic. Aries had been surprised to see it standing after the earthquakes.

The Baggers didn’t come to this side of the bridge very often. They hadn’t even bothered to come clear out the dead bodies like they had for most of Vancouver. Everyone had an opinion to why they left the north shore alone. Jack and Michael assumed it was because the Baggers only wanted downtown. Clementine figured it was only a matter of time before they showed up and they should be prepared for when the white vans would show.

But Aries thought differently. The Baggers didn’t like North and West Vancouver. There was something there; a sort of presence lurking in the shadows and the Baggers wanted nothing to do with it.

She could feel it.

With her heart rate stable and breathing back to normal, Aries cut around to the side of the house. From the garden, she moved aside a planter and picked up the key beneath it. Letting herself in, she locked the door behind her, just in case. Once inside, she went over to the kitchen and looked in the cupboards. There was still a bit of food left. She picked up a box of saltines and a half empty jar of peanut butter and put it in a plastic bag. Adding two bottles of water, she grabbed the second key hidden behind the toaster oven and made her way over to the hallway.

She paused at the door. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She’d promised the others last night—Clementine, Michael, and even Raj, that she wouldn’t go alone. It was a chance they took, knowing that opening the door could lead to problems. They always came as a group. Picking up the baseball bat leaning against the wall, Aries took a deep breath and unlocked the deadbolt. Without giving herself a chance to talk herself out of it, Aries descended the steps down to the basement.

She was always amazed at how much light seeped through the tiny storm windows. The unfinished room was large and empty. Sturdy wooden supports suggested someone once planned on making the place into a small apartment, but had never gotten around to finishing. A washing machine and dryer waited in the corner, a small pile of dirty clothes piled beside it.

And in the middle, a woman lay on the cement.

Aries approached her carefully, unsure if she was sleeping or faking. A glint of silver confirmed that their captive still wasn’t going to get up and walk away. Michael had rigged the whole thing. He’d wrapped bicycle chains around the wooden support beams and attached handcuffs to the end. The skin around the woman’s wrists was rubbed raw, and even though she shouldn’t, the guilt always made Aries want to sit down and comfort her.

Not a good idea.

“You’re back.” The woman’s voice broke through the silence. Aries jumped, her fingers clenching the baseball bat.

“I am.”

The woman sat up and looked right at Aries. “All alone. Where are your friends? Have they grown tired of you too?”

Aries sighed. She could see the black veins in the woman’s eyes from five feet away. “Does it matter?”

The lady grinned and ran her fingers through her hair. Aries remembered she’d said her name was Olive. The handcuff rattled against her wrist. She pointed up towards her face, making an effort to show Aries that the swelling on her cheek hadn’t gone away. “I’m having trouble seeing you. I think your friend messed up my eye the other night. Can you come a little closer?”

“Nice try, Olive,” Aries said. “You did that to yourself and you know it.”

“I’m bored of you. Why do you keep coming back? Just kill me and get it over with. I’m tired of all of this. This…” She paused as if searching for the right word. “These memories. I don’t want them.”

“It’s called humanity.”

“It’s cruel. I don’t want to remember. You keep making me remember.”

“I’m sorry.”

Olive suddenly jerked forward, moving to the end of the chain, but still out of Aries’ reach.