The Eden Projects (Book I)

Chapter 6. In the Beginning...

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep..."

-6 years later-

"This place reeks."

Shattered glass cracked and skittered underneath the heavy boots Kasper wore. Shooting out like ice cubes against the cold tile. The beam of his flashlight lapped at the darkness and ricocheted off broken medicine bottles scattered along the endless hallway. The crisp sound bounced around him like fish caught in an echoing bowl, catching the light on their scales and he was a cat more than aware of their presence. He was with a small group, and they moved with caution. This place was not made to be rushed. Each step was more risky than the last. Each press against the dark, only made it that much harder to turn back.

"Let's just get out of here. The main access is collapsed and unless you feel like taking a plunge down the shaft there's no other way to the lower levels. Unless you see somethin' I don't." Archer tossed the map he held to Kasper who juggled it for a moment.

"Damn." He pushed his stringy hair back and eyed the partial map. How disappointing. "There's no point to risking it. We've cleared all the upper levels already. At least getting out's gonna be easy." Handing the map back he turned to Zak who stood behind with his gun drawn. His gaze trained on the darkness around them. "Time check?"

Zak settled his gun on his shoulder and pulled out an old solar watch from his pocket. The band long gone, a shoelace now held it attached to his belt. "3 hours left."

"Let's call it."

"You sure?" Zak questioned.

Kasper felt conflicted. If ever, this was their chance to reach some kind of answer. "I'm sure." 

I can't make them do this.

With a nod they set off in the way they came. Just enough time, if nothing happened, to get clear of The City before nightfall. There was something comfortable about the resting building. The way the walls had shifted after the bombing. It was slightly aslant. Everything angled in the same wrong direction. Broken every now and again by machines, carts, and whatever else had come to rest along the walls. It was comforting. It was laid to waste.

As they crisscrossed along the corridors dodging lines of cloth covered bodies they tried their best to search a few. Nothing of real value ever came from searching bodies but... Anything helped nowadays. Even a paperclip had its uses. Kasper had to find something, anything to make this whole trek and use of resources worth more than the total loss it had become. 

The solar panels still worked here. Though most of the grid across the state had gone down, Ark buildings were different, they ran on nothing but scientific ambition and it showed. They didn't need humanity to keep their fires lit. That, they could handle themselves. The light pulsed and crackled around the trio, casting ghastly shadows from piled junk that had been flung about into looming expressions along the bleached walls. This was less comforting. Kasper wondered if they would have been better off maneuvering through the dark. But preserving precious batteries was one of the very few things they still had to care about. Bullets. Batteries, and where The Birds had run off to.

"You holding up?" Zak spoke, tapping Kasper on the shoulder with the barrel of his gun. Guns never scared him, this was simply as friendly a greeting as any.

He squinted at the wavering darkness around the collapsed corridors. "For now." Some things old or new, never died. It was no secret that Zak cared about him, and it was no secret that Kasper couldn't see why. He stepped over a fallen lattice that had once held up a drop ceiling.