Resurrection (Eden Book 3) (19 page)

“How are we going to get up there?” Troi asked the guide. Evan looked to Anthony, and Anthony looked at his sister. Troi was going along with this?

“There used to be an elevator…” Krieger turned his eyes away from the peak. “Doesn’t work anymore. Last time I was here, there was a rope ladder. Should be over there.” He spoke over his shoulder to Riley, “Eat your mushrooms.”

The guide walked off into the purple Paulownia trees abutting the monolith, Troi behind him.

“What’s up with Troi?” Anthony asked.

“They’ve got this unspoken…
thing
,” said Riley. She considered the mushrooms in her hand.

“He’s really going to climb up there?” Evan stared in disbelief towards the summit. “By the way, those things taste like ass.”

“Safer up there than on the ground,” wagered Anthony.

“You’re going along with this?” Evan couldn’t believe his ears.

“It is pretty,” said Riley. She cast whatever had been holding her back aside and started chewing on the mushrooms. When their taste proved too revolting, she forced herself to swallow them.

“So there’s nothing like a leisurely afternoon lolling about on a rock in the sun, is that it? What are we—friggin lizards?”

“They
do
taste like ass.” Riley stuck her tongue out.

“Here.” Anthony passed her the canteen and she drank.

“I’m not going up there,” said Evan.

“Like Krieger said.” Riley drank more of the water, trying to get the taste out of her mouth. “You can sleep down here tonight. Come on, Anthony.”

Evan let them walk off in the direction Troi and the guide had gone. They wanted to throw away a whole friggin’ afternoon to sit around on some half-assed mountain? They expected him to climb a rope ladder
how high
to get up there? Screw that.

Krieger had given them mushrooms to eat. Evan had heard about these types of mushrooms before. He knew what they’d probably do to him, to his friends. That would be interesting, even if it would kill a day.

Evan had to grant that Anthony did have a point about Zed though. Who knew when and where they’d come across a zombie. They were way out in the Outlands now. Zed had to be out here, somewhere. And chances were good that Evan on the ground would meet them first, before the others would up on that rock.

He didn’t want to be hallucinating and get eaten by a zombie. That would suck. Evan considered himself a decidedly unhappy camper as he took up after his friends.

It took them a half hour to climb to the top of the rock. As Krieger had said, a rope ladder had been left for them. Evan did not look down as he gripped one rung then the next.

They pulled the rope ladder up after them, so no one on the ground could follow them up. The area they had ascended to was flat and broad, and a stairwell bridged a chasm between the rocks, leading to a second flat area.

A flag pole stood lonely vigil atop this rock, bearing no standard.

Together they stood quietly looking out upon the land. As they watched, the trees to their east faded into dark shadows against a horizon that went from fiery red to a dark grey to the encroaching night. The blue water of a river was visible in the distance. The trees to their west were a riot of colors. Warblers and tanagers passed above the trees, level with them.

“I don’t feel so hot…” Troi was rubbing her stomach.

“Yeah, me neither,” said Anthony.

“Try not to vomit,” counseled Krieger.

“Are those mushrooms you gave us safe?”

“You want to ride, you got to pay the price of admission.”

“The price of what?” asked Riley.

“Consciousness,” said the guide. “Consciousness.
Listen
.”

They all quieted. There was nothing. After awhile, Evan said, “I hate to break it to you, but I don’t hear anything.”

“That’s because you’re listening with your ears.”

“What should we listen with?” Riley asked.

“You’ve got to
feel
the music.”

“
Right
.”

“I don’t hear any music,” said Troi. “I think.”

As Krieger stood looking out upon the land, the others unpacked their sleeping bags. Anthony struggled to piece his tent together.

“I understand what’s going on here,” Krieger announced.

“You do?” coaxed Anthony.

“It was the aliens.”

Anthony had read about guys like this, these types of people before the outbreak. Krieger didn’t look particularly dangerous, and as long as he wasn’t waving the grenade launcher around, Anthony thought they didn’t have anything to be afraid of. “You think it was the Mexicans?”

“Not the Mexicans. The
aliens
. I got a theory too, if you’ll all listen.”

“We’re all ears,” Evan was lying flat on his back atop his sleeping bag.

“They’ve been here for years...” began Krieger. “From the beginning. They’ve been among us. But we haven’t recognized them. You want to know why?”

“Are they disguised as people we’d know?” asked Troi.

“What are you looking at me for?” Evan demanded of her.

“No. Come on, guess again.”

Anthony spoke up from where he fiddled unsuccessfully with his tent poles. “Do they have super-invisibility powers or something?”

“Nope. We evolved on this planet.
With
this planet. Our senses evolved to deal with what we’d encounter
here
, on this spinning blue orb. We’re not equipped to comprehend the visitors.” Krieger turned away from the vista to speak in a more subdued, confidential tone. “They’re here, now.”

Troi looked around somewhat suspiciously.

“They’re on this rock now, with us?” Evan sat up. He looked like his stomach was ailing him. “That’s cool.”

“Can’t you feel them?”

“Honestly? No.”

“See? What’d I say? We evolved so you can feel the breeze on your face. You can feel this rock under your ass. But we’re not equipped to feel
them
or smell them or taste them. Get it?”

“Do you think he’s leading us the right way?” Evan asked Riley.

“Why haven’t they revealed themselves to us by now?” Anthony had given up on the tent and sat down where he was.

“Well, the thing is, they’re not hiding. Get it? They’re
there,
and we just go about our daily lives in their presence, oblivious. And when you’re not seeing the obvious, what are you?
Oblivious
.”

“You said that word twice.”

“I’m emphasizing a point.”

“And that point is?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“No.”

“There you go. You can take that to the bank.”

“Right…” Evan stood up and walked over to the safety rail that circled the stone.

“How long have you been out here, Krieger?” Riley asked.

“See, I been thinking a lot about that lately. I think we’re like…like reality television to them…”

“What’s reality television?”

“…we just keep fuckin’ up, for millions of years…” Krieger’s tone was one of dissatisfaction. “And they’re here watching it. And who knows, maybe they’re taping it—telepathically or something—and sending it back to their home planet. And they’re munching on, like, their equivalent to popcorn and laughing at us.
Laughing
at us.” Krieger looked over to Evan, who was staring off into the distance from the railing. “Hey, get away from that railing. You want to fall or something? All of you, steer clear of the railing. Don’t ruin my trip, dammit.”

“Maybe…” Evan said to the guide as he edged away from the railing, rejoining the group at the center of the rock. “It’s time to step back inside the capsule, Major Tom.”

“You wait,” promised Krieger. “We haven’t even left orbit yet.”

Troi turned her head and vomited.

“Okay. She might have.”

“Troi—you okay?” Riley knelt down at her friend’s side.

Troi smiled up at her. “Yeah, I’m great.”

Some of them sat and some of them stood as the sun edged farther westward in the sky above their heads.

“You okay, brother?” Riley felt like she had cotton in her mouth.

“Yeah, I think so…” Anthony looked at the back of his hand.

Troi burst out crying. Riley looked at her solicitously.

“No, I’m okay.” Troi started giggling. “Really.”

“Whoa…” Evan looked absolutely blissful. “I can feel the music, Krieg!”

Riley noticed that as she breathed in, the railings seemed to move in, and as she breathed out, they retreated. She didn’t want to be inside anymore.

“I don’t want to be inside anymore,” she announced and sat down.

“You’re not inside…” Troi was laughing.

Riley was pleased to be outside. The sky was so blue. Clouds were moving across it as if in elapsed time.
Wow
, she thought.

She wondered if she should be out here in the sun like this, when she wasn’t in her right mind. The sun was warm.
Oh no
,
I’m in my right mind.
Don’t be afraid. Dad was afraid. Afraid of love. That’s why he couldn’t hold down a relationship. That’s why it hadn’t worked out between him and Gwen. The manifestation had been his chasing women all these years, but the motivation…the motivation was escape.

Daddy was scared.

Riley wiped her eyes for her father.

He was scared deep down inside. The revelation nearly made her gasp. Riley was scared too. She tried to calculate in her head and realized math was the universal language, that you didn’t need a calculator or your fingers, and that she had maybe twenty years left. Most of her friends had kids by now, had tried to have kids by now.

But not Riley,
no
.

Because I’m like my dad. I’m scared. It made perfect sense to her.

“Don’t you agree?” she asked Anthony. He was standing next to her.

“Yes.” Anthony’s voice sounded gargled.

Riley laughed. Anthony laughed too.

“Why are we laughing?”

“Well,” Anthony paused for what seemed like a long time to him. “It’s better than crying, right?”

“Why would we cry?” Riley stared into her brother’s face. There was wisdom there.

They stood together quietly for some time until Anthony said, “Hey, look at those trees shimmer.”

“Yeah. It’s cool, isn’t it?”

Evan stood up naked. He extended his arms at his sides and breathed deep.

“Hey, Ev is naked,” said Riley, and then realized she hadn’t said it aloud. Or had she?

“Hey Ev,” Anthony called out. “You okay there buddy?”

“I’m just great.” Evan started to pirouette on one foot, an arm outstretched at the sky.

Troi was flat on her back, laughing. Krieger sat cross-legged off on the side.

“Hey, Ev is naked,” Anthony said. Riley thought her brother was thinking
her
thoughts now. Her mind boggled.

Evan walked a meter off and laid down on the bare rock. He started to roll around.

“He’s a great man,” announced Troi.

Riley was going to say
Who’s that?
but Anthony said it before she could. Again, Riley marveled that her brother was giving voice to her thoughts.

“Krieger,” answered Troi. “He’s showing us tremendous things.”

“There was something in those mushrooms...”

“Go with it.” Riley tried to reassure her brother. “We’ll be okay.
Why
is Ev naked?”

“Why aren’t we?” Troi tittered.

“Is that a philosophical question?” Anthony burst into a laughing fit so strong it brought tears to his eyes.

Krieger sat cross-legged, ignoring them, staring off into the distance.

“Ev?” Troi didn’t look up from where she lay. “Why are you naked?”

“Look at me,” said Evan. He was standing again, balancing on one foot. “I’m taking root.”

Riley giggled and Anthony laughed anew and soon they were both bent over.

“The earth is my bed…” Evan laid down and spread his arms and legs out and began moving them slowly up and down, back and forth. He looked content until he saw the others laughing. “Don’t laugh at me.” Evan looked alarmed.

“We’re not laughing
at
you,” said Riley. “We’re laughing
with
you.”

“Ain’t that right.” Evan closed his eyes and inhaled, wiggling his bare back on the rock beneath his flesh.

“Hey.” Troi gasped. “When did it get so dark out?”

Steve sat in the kitchen of his house in his boxer shorts, reading a newspaper on his digital tablet. It was his routine. He’d come home from work and undress, take his Swedish Ropes formula, and settle down at the table with the reader. He’d browse through the paper’s contents, perusing the articles that caught his attention. In years past, the kids would break his concentration, chasing each other through the house, talking to their friends, arriving home themselves from work.

Riley and Anthony had been gone six days. Every evening when Steve got back from work, he hoped he’d find them waiting for him. He didn’t need them to be sitting there waiting for him. If he could just walk in the house and find they were there, find them going about their normal business, he’d be happy.

Six days. Steve looked at the electronic calendar on the kitchen wall every morning before he left for work, and then when he got home and they were not home, he looked at it again. How long would they be away? What if they didn’t find Bear and his soldiers? What if they did? What if Bear was on the other side of the continent? Steve worried about what his children would find in the Outlands. The zombies weren’t what they once were, but they were still out there.

For the last six days, he would look up from his paper, through the blinds on the window, and the woman would be standing there, across the street from his house. She was bony and wasted, her skin sallow, always some kind of hat on her head. Steve knew who she was.

The first time he had spotted her through the window, he had looked away immediately, back at his newspaper. Steve felt nervous, scared, and excited all at once, but he hadn’t looked up. Instead, he’d tried to concentrate on whatever article was staring up at him, but his mind wasn’t on the words. When he had worked up the courage to glance back across the street, she was still there.

Steve didn’t think she could see him. He didn’t think she knew he was home. That was nonsense, he corrected himself. Why else would she be standing there, keeping silent vigil? Briefly he toyed with the idea of getting up, opening the door, and inviting her in. Only briefly. What would he say? What could he say? He was and wasn’t the same person she had known twenty years earlier. She was, but damn if her disease hadn’t taken a toll on her.