The Garden of Eden

Chapter Four

For the first time in Elisabeth's life she didn't think about the consequences of her actions, all she was thinking is that she has to get to Josh right away. Her bare feet pound against the sidewalk, running towards the clearing like her life depended on it. She skids to a stop and scans the grounds, desperately hoping to catch sight of him, when the horrible thought dawns on her.

The Gates.

On the note, the girl said that he needed to get out of the Garden as soon as possible, and now that Josh knows that she knows, of course he would stop thinking rationally, of course he would panic. He's trying to leave, and there's no way Elisabeth is letting him.

Halfway between the Gates and the clearing, she stops and doubles over, catching her breath. "Why am I doing this?" she whispers to herself. She runs a hand through her tousled brown hair and tries to slow her racing pulse. 'Oh yeah,' she thinks. 'Because I'm actually growing to like this kid.'

When her heart rate is halfway normal, she takes off towards the Gates again. Panic encases her when she stumbles to a stop not too far away from the looming Gates, and Josh is nowhere in sight. She takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes, trying to think of where else he may be, when she realizes that there was nobody guarding. Her eyes fly open and sure enough, there was no one there, just the metal doors that separate the Children of Eden from the Savages lurking outside.

She dashes towards the patch of trees but stops when she hears hushed voices. She leans forward and tries to decipher the words.

"...cover this up? There's no way we can hide this." That voice. Elisabeth could swear it sounded exactly like... Angel's.

"You just have to trust me, A."

A? Definitely Angel. But why is she out here with Josh in the middle of the night? And why is he calling her by a nickname? Last time Elisabeth checked, they didn't really talk much; but then again, she's already plenty out of the loop. For all she knows they could be having a secret love affair or something. She should have calmed down. She should have turned around and left. She should have done anything than what she did.

Elisabeth pushes through the trees and suddenly becomes face to face with none other than Josh and Angel, and laying at their feet, two dead bodies.

Bile rises in her throat and she gasps for breath, backing into a tree. Angel stares wide eyed at Elisabeth, her face a mask of horror, Josh gapes at her, his face a mixture of confusion and shock. Elisabeth begins to scream, an "oh-my-God-my-best-friend-and-brother-just-killed-two-people" scream, but Josh springs to life, clamping a bloody hand over her mouth. The pleading look in his eyes is the only thing that makes her stop screaming. When he lets her go, she sinks to her knees and wipes at the blood he smeared on her face, trying not to gag. Her hands shake violently as she scrubs at the blood, and she looks anywhere but the two dead bodies.

"W-Why?" she eventually stutters. Angel bites her bottom lip and looks at Josh, and Elisabeth can tell that she's either trying not to cry, or not to panic. Maybe both. Josh is finally the one who speaks up.

"I can never explain this to you, Elisabeth, but maybe after I'm gone Angel can try to."

"Gone?" she croaks, slowly standing again. "You're just leaving?"

Josh sucks in his cheeks and nods. "Yes. Now. Look, go home and pretend you didn't see anything. Angel's already caught up in this mess, but you don't have to be. Go. Home."

"No!" she cries. "You just got here! You're not leaving!"

"Elisabeth-" he starts, but she quickly cuts him off with a wave of her hand.