The Eden Projects (FINAL EDITING)

Chapter 6. In the Beginning...

- 6 years later -

Breathe in. Check guns.

Breathe out. Look for a light.

Breathe. The air is thick with decay.

Breathe. It smells like infection.

Open your eyes. Don't look away.

This is not a dream.

The world is dying.

"This place reeks."

Kasper opened his eyes, blinking against the dim light. Shattered glass cracked and skittered beneath his heavy boots, shooting out like ice cubes against the chiseled tile, each piece reflecting the faint glow of his flashlight with each wavering pass. The crisp sound bounced around him like fish caught in an echoing bowl, each note of the noise catching the light on their scales.

He drew in a breath, long and hard, trying to steel himself against hours of exhaustion. The smell of mold and rusting pipes burned at the back of his throat. Everything was rotting, and an inexorable decay seemed to seep into everything, living or dead. His small group moved through the space with caution, their footsteps muffled. The ground beneath him shifted and swayed like a living thing. The building was destabilized. Each press into the dark made it that much harder to turn back. He drew in another breath.

"Let's just get out of here. The main access is collapsed and unless you feel like taking a plunge through still water 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 before flipping it over and thumbing over their route.

"Well..." He pushed his stringy hair back and eyed the partial map before looking down the flooded elevator shaft. How disappointing. "There's no point in 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 was long gone, replaced by a shoelace tied to his belt. "3 hours left."

"Let's call it."

"You sure?" Zak asked. "This is our last shot before the snow..." 

Kasper felt conflicted. "I'm sure."

I can't make them do this.

Navigating through the hallways, they wove around rows of bodies draped in fabric. Although searching the deceased rarely turned up anything of significance, every chance counted in times like these. Most importantly, Kasper needed to uncover something- anything- to justify the effort they'd poured in to get there. The resting building felt comfortable in its own disheveled way; its walls had shifted after the bombing, and all things stood slightly aslant. Everything within the structure was angled in the same wrong direction.

The solar panels still worked here and there. Ark buildings were different; they ran on nothing but pure 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. Kasper wondered if they would have been better off maneuvering through the dark. Preserving precious batteries was one of the very few things they still had to care about. 

Bullets, batteries, and where in the world The Birds had run off to...

"You holding up?" Zak spoke, tapping Kasper on the shoulder with the barrel of his gun.