Read Online The Eve (The Eden Trilogy) by Keary Taylor - Free Book Online
Authors: Keary Taylor
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There were three classes of Bane: Babies—the newly infected, Sleepers—self-explanatory, and Hunters—those who actively sought humans to infect. “There aren’t many babies of either species being made anymore.”
With that grim thought, we split off, the three men to the men’s clothing section, me toward the women’s.
And as I started browsing, I thought of the ability to have children. If this really did work and we killed off all the Bane, it was going to take a very long time to rebuild any kind of population. I knew of one other pregnant woman in New Eden besides Morgan. Bringing children into this world felt too dangerous. And there weren’t many people left to repopulate the planet with anymore.
My eyes drifted over to Avian, halfway across the building.
Did I possess the ability to bear children? I’d never considered it before. I’d honestly never even thought about being a mother. I was only eighteen. But when the time came, that I was old enough, when Avian and I followed tradition and that was the expected next step, would I even have the ability?
Somehow I didn’t think so.
I had cybernetic bones, a mostly cybernetic heart and lungs. Why wouldn’t my baby making organs be cybernetic too?
Surely a fetus could not survive in a body like mine.
Pushing the thought aside, I tried to pay attention to the task at hand.
It didn’t take long to find some waterproof clothes, all skintight running clothes. They would fit easily under my usual cargo pants. I grabbed three pairs. I also found two short-sleeved shirts and one long-sleeved of the same kind.
“You finding any coats or anything like that?” Avian called from across the building.
“Nope,” I replied, scanning the racks around me with my flashlight.
“It was late spring when the Evolution started,” Bill said. “They would have stopped carrying that kind of stuff by that time. Especially here where you barely need a coat in the winter anyway.”
“Let’s check the back room,” West said. We all walked to the center aisle that cut through the building, leaving our findings in a pile on the floor.
There was a narrow hall that had changing rooms branching off of it, and at the end, there was a solid steel door. Bill, at the head of us, pushed it open and stepped inside. We had all shuffled in when Bill stopped short, covering his nose and reeling back.
The smell hit me.
I didn’t even see the source of the stench before I started gagging.
West lost his lunch to the side of me and I was just stepping out of the spray when I saw a tiny little foot poking out from behind a box.
“Avian,” I whispered when I heard a muttered moan.
We both leapt over the pile of boxes and then instantly froze.
There were two young boys lying in a nest of rags. One couldn’t be more than ten years old. His skin was ashen colored and covered in some kind of a rash. His stomach was swollen and bulging. There was a gaping bullet hole in his chest. He was obviously dead. He was the source of the smell.
And lying next to him, his chest barely rising and falling, was a child that looked about five.
Avian dropped to the younger child, pulling him into his lap. He held his fingers to the boy’s neck, feeling for his pulse. He too had a bullet wound, in the fleshy part where his arm met his chest. It looked deeply infected.
“Pulse is very slow,” Avian said, gathering the boy up into his arms. “He looks like he’s been starving to death, and infection has been eating at him too.”
It was true, the child was nothing but skin and bones. I took Avian’s firearm, slinging it over my shoulder as he stood, the boy in his arms.
“We’ve got to get him back to the hospital,” Avian said, already headed for the entrance. “He isn’t going to last much longer.”
“Bill, can you go with him?” I asked, watching Avian’s retreating form.
Bill simply nodded and followed.
By this
With that grim thought, we split off, the three men to the men’s clothing section, me toward the women’s.
And as I started browsing, I thought of the ability to have children. If this really did work and we killed off all the Bane, it was going to take a very long time to rebuild any kind of population. I knew of one other pregnant woman in New Eden besides Morgan. Bringing children into this world felt too dangerous. And there weren’t many people left to repopulate the planet with anymore.
My eyes drifted over to Avian, halfway across the building.
Did I possess the ability to bear children? I’d never considered it before. I’d honestly never even thought about being a mother. I was only eighteen. But when the time came, that I was old enough, when Avian and I followed tradition and that was the expected next step, would I even have the ability?
Somehow I didn’t think so.
I had cybernetic bones, a mostly cybernetic heart and lungs. Why wouldn’t my baby making organs be cybernetic too?
Surely a fetus could not survive in a body like mine.
Pushing the thought aside, I tried to pay attention to the task at hand.
It didn’t take long to find some waterproof clothes, all skintight running clothes. They would fit easily under my usual cargo pants. I grabbed three pairs. I also found two short-sleeved shirts and one long-sleeved of the same kind.
“You finding any coats or anything like that?” Avian called from across the building.
“Nope,” I replied, scanning the racks around me with my flashlight.
“It was late spring when the Evolution started,” Bill said. “They would have stopped carrying that kind of stuff by that time. Especially here where you barely need a coat in the winter anyway.”
“Let’s check the back room,” West said. We all walked to the center aisle that cut through the building, leaving our findings in a pile on the floor.
There was a narrow hall that had changing rooms branching off of it, and at the end, there was a solid steel door. Bill, at the head of us, pushed it open and stepped inside. We had all shuffled in when Bill stopped short, covering his nose and reeling back.
The smell hit me.
I didn’t even see the source of the stench before I started gagging.
West lost his lunch to the side of me and I was just stepping out of the spray when I saw a tiny little foot poking out from behind a box.
“Avian,” I whispered when I heard a muttered moan.
We both leapt over the pile of boxes and then instantly froze.
There were two young boys lying in a nest of rags. One couldn’t be more than ten years old. His skin was ashen colored and covered in some kind of a rash. His stomach was swollen and bulging. There was a gaping bullet hole in his chest. He was obviously dead. He was the source of the smell.
And lying next to him, his chest barely rising and falling, was a child that looked about five.
Avian dropped to the younger child, pulling him into his lap. He held his fingers to the boy’s neck, feeling for his pulse. He too had a bullet wound, in the fleshy part where his arm met his chest. It looked deeply infected.
“Pulse is very slow,” Avian said, gathering the boy up into his arms. “He looks like he’s been starving to death, and infection has been eating at him too.”
It was true, the child was nothing but skin and bones. I took Avian’s firearm, slinging it over my shoulder as he stood, the boy in his arms.
“We’ve got to get him back to the hospital,” Avian said, already headed for the entrance. “He isn’t going to last much longer.”
“Bill, can you go with him?” I asked, watching Avian’s retreating form.
Bill simply nodded and followed.
By this
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