New Eden

I woke up to the smell of smoke, and a sharp pain in my left arm. I groaned as I opened my eyes to blinding sunlight. I blinked against it, and slowly pushed myself upright. Suddenly, I became aware of a layer of sand and sweat covering me. The wreckage on the beach left me with a feeling of complete despair and sheer panic. I watched the thick smoke curl out of the plane engine that had crash-landed in some rocks along the coastline.

The plane went down. Is this really happening?

As I got my bearings, I felt the bile rising in my throat, but managed to push it down. I saw a few other women lying on the beach, groggily coming to, screams punctuating the still air as they took in their surroundings. Others weren't moving. The women I had been on a flight with less than an hour ago were lying motionless on the beach, waves lapping at their corpses. I felt tears spill down my cheeks. For a while, I let them fall as I stared at the bodies dotting the coastline, with a backdrop of flame and smoke. I moved on shaky legs over to another woman who was in the sand, rubbing her head as she sat up and realized what was happening.

"Hey!" I called out to her. She turned towards me with panicked eyes, and I saw a cut dripping blood down her face.

"Where are we?" She asked. I reached out a hand to pull her to her feet. "What happened?" She looked around frantically, eyes landing on a woman whose limbs were contorted and twisted. "Is she...?" She covered her mouth as she gagged. Despite her valiant efforts to suppress the urge to vomit, she doubled over and emptied the contents of her stomach onto the sand.

I rubbed her back awkwardly until she righted herself and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. "I don't know." I looked at the mangled plane parts and swallowed the sob that threatened to bubble out of my throat. "The plane. We crashed. I..." I trailed off. I didn't know what to say. I cleared my throat. "I'm Madeline, by the way."

She didn't look at me when she responded, "Theresa." There was a long and uncomfortable silence between us as we stared at the twisted plane cabin, somehow trying to will it to reform and take us home.

This is the first time I've ever wanted to be back home.

----

Most of the first day was spent putting out the fires and tending to our wounds. Eve, an older woman with dark curly hair, wrapped my broken arm in a sling she had made by ripping strips off her skirt. Her tongue poked out from between her lips as she secured my arm in place. When she was done, she leaned back on her knees and patted my shoulder. "There you go, Madeline."

"Thanks." I smiled half-heartedly at her. "I think, um. I think the girl with the short hair, her head was bleeding. Her name is Theresa." I nodded my head towards where she was sitting on the beach, staring out over the water. Eve returned my small smile and made her way over to Theresa. I stood up and looked around for a familiar face. I spotted Fiona, a girl who I'd known for a while. We weren't exactly close, but we lived in the same neighborhood and we both worked for the same company as secretaries. I waved at her and the woman she was chatting with as I walked towards them. "Fiona! Are you okay?" I asked, quickly scanning her for injuries.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I've got a wicked lump on my head, but I'll live. What happened to your arm?"

"Eve said it was likely just a hairline fracture. It should hopefully heal if I keep it wrapped and in the sling." I shrugged.

Fiona nodded and gestured to me. "June, this is Madeline. We work together." June looked at me with an expressionless face and held my gaze. She didn't speak. I broke the staring contest first, looking down at my shoes. Fiona cleared her throat. "We should go talk to the others. We need to eat something, and probably figure out some kind of shelter."

"I agree," I answered her, likely too quickly. I was thrilled at the prospect of not only breaking the awkward tension but also eating. I hadn't eaten since last night, opting to skip breakfast in order to arrive at the relocation center early enough to score the best possible relocation option. My stomach let out a timely growl.

"Come on, then." Fiona laughed. I shot a glance towards June who was still staring at me, expression unreadable. I swallowed my discomfort and trailed after Fiona.

----

'Dinner' consisted of some wild foliage and berries, eaten far down the beach from where we had laid the women who died in the crash, and the pilot. It wasn't exactly filling or delicious, but it was enough to quell the gnawing feeling in my stomach. All nine of the survivors made idle conversation as we ate, very pointedly ignoring the grave situation we were in. "So, Eve, where did you learn to make a sling like this?" I asked through a mouthful of purple berries.

"I was a nurse," she answered simply.

"A nurse? And you applied for relocation?" Alexandra asked. She was the youngest one among us, only 19 years old. "I thought you could only apply if you were in a class C or D job? Nursing is class A."

"You can also apply if you've been selected for scientific testing," Eve answered, letting out a long breath.

"That's why I applied," said Theresa, who was just a few years older than me, but her gray hairs and worry lines aged her considerably. She was arranging her berries by color on a large leaf in front of her. "There's not really a choice if you get selected by the Imperial American Scientific Research Command."

After a long pause, I leaned in towards the others and lowered my voice. "Did you know it used to be called the United States of America?" Some of the women nodded, eyes widening at the mention of a completely forbidden topic. The others looked bewildered. "They don't teach it in schools anymore, but about 150 years ago Imperial America was called the United States of America. The mainland was sectioned into 50 states that sort of governed themselves. Like, every state had its own leaders." I leaned back as I popped a green fruit in my mouth.

"What happened?" Alexandra asked.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "There aren't any books or articles left from that period."

"My granny told me when I was little that there had been a war between the people and the government." Eve supplied. "After that, it became Imperial America, and that's when they invaded the Eastern Americas." She reflexively looked around to make sure she hadn't been listened to by the armed guards, relaxing her shoulders when she realized that, at least, that wouldn't be an issue now. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to being able to speak freely." She let out a breathy chuckle. At least we can say whatever we want now. The thought lifted some of the tightness in my chest, and we all fell into a sort of comfortable silence.

"You could apply if you've been selected for population control, too." June broke the silence. "We were talking about applying for relocation. If they select you for population control, you can apply for relocation." Her tone was bitter. I looked at her set jaw and her tightly balled up hands.

"June, is that what - " Fiona began. June stood up abruptly and cut her off.

"We need to set up a shelter of some kind," She said, brushing sand off her skirt. "It's been a long day, and my head hurts."

"We can clear some debris out of the plane cabin and sleep in there for tonight. Tomorrow we can work out a more permanent shelter. We don't know when they're going to send a rescue team out for us." Katarina stood as well. She was the oldest one among us and had a stoic, strong presence. She reminded me slightly of my mother. "We don't even know if they'll send one at all." She had a point. A plane of unmarried, low-ranking members of society going missing would hardly be a top priority for a rescue mission. Katarina's words sank in as we all looked across the moon-lit beach.

I cleared my throat and stood up. "We'll take each day as it comes. Let's get some rest."