The Garden of Eden

Chapter Six

Elisabeth wakes up to a sharp pain in her side. A startled cry escapes her lips and her eyes fly open just as Audrey brings her foot back down to kick her again. Elisabeth groans and rolls away from her. "What are you doing?"

"It's time to get up. This isn't your perfect little paradise, Elisabeth, we're actually productive around here." Elisabeth ignores the comment and sits up. Fighting with Audrey wasn't going to solve anything, and she's already tired enough as it is. Pulling herself to her feet, she notices that Luke isn't there any more. Her heart sinks a bit, but she ignores the slight disappointment. The room is cold and damp, smelling slightly of mud, which didn't exactly surprise Elisabeth, considering they're underground, but still she could not help but long for the sweet scent of the Garden.

Audrey is standing with her arms crossed at the foot of her sleeping bag, a scowl on her face. She's wearing a dirty white shirt that's almost long enough to be a dress, and old, worn jeans with the knees torn out. Her blonde hair is damp and pulled into a severe bun on the top of her head. Elisabeth makes a mental note to keep her clothes away from the others. It may sound selfish, but she wants at least one nice thing, and clean clothes fits the bill.

Elisabeth rocks on her feet, staring awkwardly at her bare feet. "Um. What do you guys do here?"

"Luke, Josh, and I normally guard. I'm sure you'll be stuck with us, which is an idiotic move on their part, considering you probably can't even shoot a gun."

"Why do they put teenagers in charge of guarding?" asks Elisabeth, slightly surprised.

"The adults are busy planning, and children obviously can't handle a gun. So they put us on guard duty. It's not like we're incompetent or anything. We know how to handle a gun, Elisabeth." Unlike you. Elisabeth doesn't need help finishing that sentence. The coldness of the room makes her shiver and she crosses her arms tightly.

"Is there any jackets I can use? It's cold."

"No. There's not."

Audrey turnes on her heel and marches out of the room, not waiting for Elisabeth to follow, but she figures that she should probably follow her anyway. After she crawls through the hole, she's faced with two options. One: find Audrey, or two: walk around aimlessly. The second is very appealing, but even though Audrey can be pretty mean, she'd rather talk to someone she kind of knows than a random stranger.

The area is very large and very open, people mulling around, cleaning or just talking, and Elisabeth has never felt so out of place in her life. The people look like they haven't bathed or changed their clothes in months, but the smell isn't too unbearable. It mostly consists of a dank, woodsey smell, with a touch of something Elisabeth can only describe as sweat. It wasn't that bad, actually, just very different from what Elisabeth is used to.

Waiting by the latter with two guns in his hands is Josh. When he catches sight of Elisabeth he quickly waves her over. Elisabeth pushes her way through the crowd of people, muttering "excuse me" and "pardon me" out of habit, even though the people didn't hear her.

When Elisabeth managed to squeeze her through the crowd of people, Josh doesn't waste any time shoving the large gun in her hands, causing Elisabeth to take a few hesitant steps back. A gun this big and black and heavy made her skin crawl.

"A gun?" she asks in a small voice. "Shouldn't I stay inside? I could tend to the children, or maybe help with the meals..."

"Those are women's jobs. When you grow to adulthood and start a family, you may tend to the children and cook the meals. It is our job, as young adults, to protect our families."

"But the men..." Her voice trails off.

"The men hunt. The men plan. The men don't have time for guarding." Seemingly taking pity on Elisabeth, he sighs and takes the gun out of her hands. "No one comes out here anyway, and if they do, I'll take care of it. Okay?" He deftly unloaded the gun and hands it back to Elisabeth. "There. It's not even loaded. Now come on." Josh climbs up the ladder, Elisabeth right on his heels. As soon as they get outside, they close the latch and kick the dirt back over top of it, affectively disguising it.