The Eden Projects (FINAL EDITING)

Chapter 57. Sparks.

Zak and Kasper left the house with just a little more pep in their step. Neither wanted to talk about the couple.

But they both knew what the other was feeling...

Loss.

For what they had never had.

For what could have been.

For what they'd been given instead.

Loss.

For who they were before.

For what they had become.

For their parents...

Or the lack of them.

Acceptance.

None of what came before the Collapse would matter in another twenty years.

Eventually, the children born after the bombs would have children of their own. Maybe then they'd never know there had been another way to live. Maybe they'd never know what had been lost. Maybe mercy itself would become another forgotten thing.

Mercy would simply be gone...

When they reached the truck, Kasper strapped down the box in the passenger seat and Zak climbed into the bed. Patting the roof gently when he was ready.

And so the drive began. 

Kasper couldn't stop thinking about Zero. What was he supposed to say? At every chance he had, he'd gone into that room, a plan in mind, and scrapped it before even closing the door behind himself. He'd tried to kill his own brother. Granted that brother didn't seem to understand that fact- that hardly seemed like the foundation of any relationship. A tiny squeak came from the shoebox resting on the passenger seat. Kasper lifted the lid just enough to peek inside. The little mouse wriggled beneath the knitted scraps.

It's fine.

He closed the lid again.

Everything else wasn't.

It's fine.

Life had become impossibly complicated. Even its quiet moments had gone threateningly rancid. Like the ocean drawing away from shore before sending a wave crashing into them. They were all standing on that empty beach, watching the sea retreat farther and farther, knowing what followed. Knowing they couldn't outrun it when it returned.

The tide would come.

The moon would let go.

And every one of them would disappear beneath that white capped nightmare.

The snow was gone now.

Kasper steered the truck along the winding trail toward camp. The fences guiding the road no longer felt protective. They reminded him of cattle chutes, narrowing with every turn until there was nowhere left to go.

Safe.

Unable to turn back, he marched quietly toward slaughter. 

Maybe that was all they really were now. Cattle in someone else's field that Kasper never really owned. He'd simply been grazing there too. Stuck behind the exact same fence he'd used to pin the rest. Now, there was a wolf among them and worse yet, they'd let it in. 

The truck rounded the final bend.

Home.

If it could still be called that.

Zak hopped down first. Kasper passed his backpack through the open window, watching one of the waiting sorters carry it away with the others.

Then he reached for the shoebox.