The Eden Projects (Publishing edit)

Chapter 23. New beginnings.

Kasper never wanted to lead.

But now he had to.

He was forced into the role with a heated prodding rod. Though he himself held it, it still burned when it hit him just the same.

Group up or die.

Group up or lose it all.

Group up and gain power.

Group up, and stay fed.

It was everything.

Suddenly, the idea of Zak and him going it alone seemed much too risky. Archer was the provider. It was Archer who led them around. Archer who hunted, Archer who drove.

Archer.

It was always Archer.

Archer, Archer.

Now, the task was left to Kasper, and he was beyond lost as to what it took to keep one person alive.

Let alone a group.

Kasper, Kasper, Kasper.

But this was their new beginning, whether they wanted it or not.

It had to be...

...time stumbled forward.

Day after day, the duo did nothing but come and go from the camp. They didn't talk to anyone. They didn't bark any orders, and rarely took anything from the group, food or otherwise. They had been self-sufficient for so long that it felt almost unnatural to take something even if they needed it.

By day, they did their best to blend in, carefully avoiding any actions that might draw attention to themselves. Every night came, and with it, the chance for quiet meetings, which they held in their tree just outside of the camp.

Weeks passed in a blur of cautious interactions and whispered conversations before they were sure the drama from the siege had died down and their presence was seen as less of a threat, allowing them the breathing room they desperately needed to plan their next move.

The plan?

Well, there was no plan.

No plan at all.

Still, they hoped for better things.

The shadows cast by trees were growing longer, the days were shorter, and they both feared what it meant.

Though neither spoke of it.

Neither had ever gone a winter outside of their own Rim, before or after time stopped in its tracks and plunged the present into the dark age. Kasper didn't know where on the calendar they fell, but leaves were beginning to take on tinges of brown and red.

The seasons were changing or were nearly ready to.

He could feel it coming.

If anything, he himself felt just that.

Changed.

For once, he was unbound from his hunger.

For once, a sense of calm filled him.

He wondered if this was what the Flickers felt. If it was why they hunted night after night in a pointless race against a fated starvation. He thought just maybe...

This was the promised paradise.

This was the reason for Eden.

Kasper knew he was making sense of an inexplicable madness, and he himself wished he was a kid again. Madness could easily turn into common sense in the eyes of a child but he hadn't been young for so very long... He wondered if a kid was something he ever was. His life was a rat-ridden maze, and a well-remembered childhood was a treat lost somewhere deep within the corridors of himself.