The Road to Eden's Garden

Chapter 1

The human brain begins to develop memories around the age of 3 years old.

However, many people might be able to recall a few memories from before that age, and Grace Fleming was one of them. Her first memory was from when she was still in her crib. She specifically remembers being anxious to get out of bed one morning, and instead of waiting for one of her parents to come get her, the small toddler had decided to crawl over the bars herself and landed painfully on the ground with a thud. The impact to her head must've temporarily knocked a conscious into her, she would joke.

The act of practically getting flung over the fence by her parents just now was like a slightly more painful reenactment of the memory.

It was the only way she could live, they said. They couldn't all make it to the train together. She was smaller and faster than them, at the young age of 9 years old, which meant that she had a better chance of getting there quickly and could squeeze through the crowds. However, her parents couldn't. If they tried to go with her, they'd slow her down, and none of them would make it.

She had to go alone.

Little Grace tried to protest, tried to encourage them to come with her, but their fate had already been sealed. They refused, and told her to run.

Run now.

Run as fast as you can. Get on that train. Yes, that one, the big one. Go now, you'll be okay, it's going to be okay.

The little girl was about to open her mouth again, to try and protest further, but another voice had interrupted her.

"Departure in 10..."

"Grace! GO!"

The girl had no choice now but to run. Partially because she knew her time was limited, and partially because crowds of people were pushing her around and gradually beginning to tear her away from the fence.

The train wasn't all that far away from her, so if she ran and squeezed and fought enough, perhaps she could make it before the countdown was finished. Luckily her parents were right in their assumptions that her youth would make it easier for her to slip through the crowds attempting to hurry on board.

Though the heavy snow and cold slowed her, biting at her skin and bones, she was still slightly faster than the others, and swifter too. But the issue was, she didn't have nearly enough strength as the adults did, and they weren't afraid to use brute force. It didn't help that violence was starting to break out around her, spiking even more panic and outrage, which caused people to knock the child around and bruise and hurt her.

But the slight injuries had to be ignored. Her primary focus was making it to the train. The problem was, the front of the train was the most crowded and heavily guarded.

"3..."

Shit. Grace was running out of time. If she had any chance of survival she had to let pure instinct guide her. Without a thought she slipped through people no matter how hurt she got or how many times she fell or how many times she flinched from the sounds of gunshots and screams. She had to block out the fact that bodies were dropping dead around her, she had to keep running. There was no looking back or stopping.

"2..."

Finally, she had managed to climb her way up the steps that lead inside the train and away from the cold, scrambling away from the angry mob that was quickly incoming. Grace panicked and hurried into a more desolate corner where less people were violently barging in.

"1. Departure."

Instantly, the doors began to close, shutting out the rest of the mob and muffling their screams and shouts. A series of sounds like puffs of steam, clicking gears, and rumbling followed the closure of the doors, and soon, the train began to move, leaving everyone outside behind.