The Eden Projects (Book I)

Chapter 20. Frenzy.

Kasper stuffed his pack back up as best he could, checked his weapon, and joined Zak in the field. He seemed hesitant. Death was a thing that happened to other people, and for a while they had felt invincible. Now it was all too real. "Ready?"

"Let's go." Zak nodded. Clipping the chest strap on his bag.

The woods were less menacing in the daylight. The colors fading from emerald greens to richer tones of yellow and red. The sounds of creaking trunks and rustling branches made the forest less of an unknowable thing. It was alive, it breathed. So they had things in common. It was all so different. But still. He could smell it. This is going to be hard. It was the ultimate test. I just have to stay clear of Zak. Kasper had become increasingly aware of the space Zak required. It wasn't much but it was enough that made him wary of overstepping. He knew just how fragile a human was and after the trap, he knew exactly what it took for one to die. "Once they're dead, we'll take as much as we can food wise." He didn't want to be the one to make all the decisions, but he knew Zak wasn't in any state to bark orders. So he would have to fill it.

The trap wasn't far from where their barn was, though their dead sprint the night before made it feel like miles when walking. All he had to do was follow the blood, the smell, and soon enough they were squeezing between cars, hiding their packs in the brush, and walking past the bodies. They were unrecognizable piles of mush and fragmented bone. Faces all but skinned and bodies emptied out like urns.

"They work fast."

Kasper eyed the corpses, licking his chapped lips. "There was a lot of them."

"Mh- think they'll come back?"

He walked the sidelines, looking for any sign that one of the cars had been moved. Nothing had changed, except for the generator and battery of their car being gone. Of course they would.

"What's the plan?" Zak pulled his curly hair back into the smallest of buns.

"Follow the tracks and make our move. They came from behind us, but I think our best bet would be to head up. Towards the tower."

"Sounds good, let's just get out of here."

Stepping past the dampened plots of crushed viscera and grass they did their best not to look. Kasper felt an ominous chill trickle down his spine. "That's not happening to us." He waited for Zak's reply. He wasn't exactly leader like in any way, but he could try to sound reassuring.

Something unnatural tainted his words. No matter how much he wanted to believe it, how much he wanted Zak to trust his judgment, he knew it wasn't sound. It was an unviable outcome. The path eventually wove them back up onto the road and they found the place where tires had met the pavement spinning. The displaced dirt pulled left towards that small city. He shifted his pack. Standing in the open lane. "We're doing this right?" He checked his gun.

"For Archer, for the others."

"For Archer." Kasper muttered.

...Liar...

The two walked along the roadside until a length of sidewalk broke their path. Stepping up onto it was a strange sensation. It transported them back. Back to the times when they had once mattered. Now the the un-edged sides were peeling away at the cement teeth. Dislodging the roots and grassy gums. The sound of their boots thumping and scuffing against the weather etched surface soothed their nerves. They were moving, they were going, they were doing. They followed it along until another car trap led them off the road again. This time, it trickled into a gravel driveway. The tracks led down it, so they followed. Staying nearest to the grassy buffers, quietly marching until a sign bolted to a rusting pole arch hung over them.