The Eden Projects (EDITING)

Chapter 35. Split.

It was morning when he reached the camp. He'd eaten all he could and now the light prickled against his pale skin. Not by any means unbearable, but just enough to notice and drive Kasper mad. Each hair on his arms stood on end, like the pitter pattering of a million marching centipedes. His skin had gone red from his scratching before he let it alone. Covered in crusted blood from last nights events he arrived at the gate. Greeted the same man who let him out hours ago, and was allowed in.

"Rough night?" The man quipped, attempting small talk as Kasper helped him pull the gate shut.

He looked at him. "Yeah." A faint smile slathered on his face. 

The camp, for the most part, was half awake. A few people busied with the cars, and another sat sorting things outside the largest unit used for supplies. He came to his shack and let himself in with a labored sway.

Zak sat awake cradling his freshly bandaged arm. All of him communicated he hadn't slept a wink. Relief tugged his brow out of a furrow. "Some walk you had."

Kasper lowered himself onto his mattress, pulling his shirt off. The entirety of him was a mess. He didn't say a word for a long time.

Zak watched him settle. "If they see you like this-"

"It was just the gate guard." He undid his belt and slipped out of his pants.

"...was it someone from here?" He looked away. 

"-I don't know, I didn't stop to ask."

Zak pushed his hair back. "Did you get rid of it?"

Kasper had killed, and eaten, a human. IT, hardly seemed like the right word to cover the action. "The Flickers will do the rest."

"There's no going back now..."

He pulled on a fresh pair of jeans. 

When they left their room an hour later the camp was alive and bustling. Men went back and forth, checking fences, weapons, and the solar generator that (as Zak had informed him) was stolen from them to begin with. Riley, along with the worm named Malcolm chatted in the corner while the two bird-men wove barbed wire over the top wall.

Kasper adjusted where he sat. Watching life begin around him. 

Zak was next to him, eating quietly on a concrete berm.

He looked over the hustle. "We can't stay here."  Each person moved within a predestined track. The ones carrying building supplies always went left at the main office. The women with blankets and foraged items banked right between the first and second rows of units. Left, right, forward to center. So they went, beating drag paths into the gravel. 

"You wanna leave?" Zak chewed on a piece of meat from his plate. "All you gotta do is say so."

Kasper looked up to the sun. "I want to go after the tower first." He considered Zak's need for other humans. "If we were to stay with these people, we need a spot that's better hidden. it's too open here." 

"The tower." Zak glanced his way. "You're kidding right?" 

"You said we had to check it out."  

"There's reasons to stay away- it hasn't been that long since the accident." 

"It's been long enough." He assured. "We're gonna need supplies." The conversation felt awkward. A forced interaction between at odds individuals.

"The people can find them."

"You're human too. Right now, you're all a liability." He crossed his arms. "Like Ace said." The words were muttered under his breath as he continued. "I found that one pretty close to the camp." He itched his neck. Choosing a patch of skin that hadn't been welted from scratching. "Damn this sun."