The Eden Projects (Publishing edit)

Chapter 57. Sparks.

Zak and Kasper left the house in silence. 

Kasper held the little box close to his chest, his fingers tightening gently around its edges. Neither of them wanted to talk about the dead couple. Neither of them had to. 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.

Acceptance.

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

Eventually, the children born after the bombs and Cities 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.

Something so simple as mercy would simply be gone.

Like everything else.

It would take whatever remained of the human heart with it.

Nature begets nature.

When they reached the truck, Kasper strapped the little box into the passenger seat while Zak climbed into the bed. A gentle pat on the roof told him he was ready.

And so the drive began.

Kasper couldn't stop thinking about Zero. What was he supposed to say? Every chance he'd had, he'd walked into that room with a plan already forming in his head, only to abandon it before the door had even clicked shut behind him. 

In one light...

He'd tried to kill his own brother.

In another... 

He already had.

Granted...

Zero didn't seem to understand just who he was. Not exactly the best place to build a relationship from.

A tiny squeak broke the silence.

Kasper glanced over at the shoebox strapped into the passenger seat and lifted the lid just enough to peek inside. The little mouse wriggled beneath the knitted scraps.

It's fine.

He closed the lid again.

It's fine.

Everything else wasn't.

Even its quiet moments life had started to rot at the seams, like some terrible cadaver stitched together twice over. This was the ocean drawing away from shore with a dreadful whoosh before sending a wave crashing back at him. Kasper stood on that empty beach, watching the sea retreat farther and farther, knowing what came next would steal the air from his lungs. It would sweep his legs out from under him and drag him into the undertow. He couldn't outrun the wave.

The tide would come.

The moon would let go.

He and everyone he cared for 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 but forward. Maybe that was all they really were now. Sheep in Ark's field on Maliver's land lulled by promised safety while a wolf stalked among them. Wolves looked a lot like sheep when their winter coats puffed them into softer shapes. But that fuzzy disguise was beginning to slip and soon the sheep would know.