Babylon (Eden Saga Book 2) Read online

  Amazed they had made it so far on foot, Alexandra asked, “Do you have any guns? Weapons?”

  Maria shook her head and her neck wrinkles wobbled. She spoke in a mixed Spanish-Portuguese hybrid which Alexandra was able to follow.

  She said, “No. Padre not allow us to take more than a little food.”

  “How have you survived?” Alexandra asked. “Your fire, do you build one every night?”

  “Sim,” Maria said. “The cold, it is too much for us.”

  The others were all Maria’s age: senior citizens. Only Via and Hector were young and able. That they had avoided any demons was a miracle.

  “What’s wrong with a fire?” Via asked.

  Alexandra blinked, not sure she wanted to scare them. “Well,” Alexandra said, “nothing, really. I’ve just heard rumors of beasts in the wasteland.”

  “You mean demons?” Hector asked.

  Alexandra glanced at the weary faces. “Yeah,” she said. “But you seem to be doing as well as could be expected. I’m impressed.”

  “Not everyone is as helpless as my brother,” Via said. “I protect us.”

  This time, Alexandra performed the inspection. There was more to Via than Alexandra first noticed. The girl radiated danger, like someone without fear. How could she protect everyone? Did she have a hidden weapon?

  Maria patted her granddaughter’s hand and said, “Via is good girl.”

  Alexandra narrowed her eyes. “Indeed.”

  “So,” Via said as she picked her teeth with a small stick. “I guess it’s time you were on your way? You were just passing through, right?”

  “Oh!” Alexandra said. “My jeep!”

  “Jeep?” Via asked. Her eyes filled with surprise.

  “I have more than enough supplies,” Alexandra said. “I can give some to you.”

  Because this is a one-way trip for you, that voice scolded in her mind. The general gave you enough to make it back to Brasilia, but you will have nothing of it. You intend to return to Eden by finding the right opportunity to sacrifice yourself. Coward.

  Alexandra turned to the side and shushed the voice. Was she finally losing her mind? Did they notice her?

  “You’re just going to give us your stuff?” Via asked apprehensively.

  One of the old men bowed his head and mumbled something about Tonantzin.

  Ignoring him, Alexandra nodded. “Why not? Like I said, I have plenty. I’ll be right back.”

  After a short hike, she found the jeep. She took stock of her supplies and calculated the route, adjusting for her slower pace. There was plenty. It was the least she could do.

  A twig snapped behind her and she whirled on her heel with her hand on the grip of her sword. A form advanced upon her.

  “I know who you are,” Via said as she strode into view. “I was warned about you.”

  With her hand still on her sword, Alexandra said, “Warned? What are you talking about, Via?”

  “My mother was part of a sisterhood,” Via said as she maneuvered closer to her. “I didn’t understand then, but I do now. After the dreams, I know what I must do.”

  “What dreams? What are you talking about? I mean you no harm-”

  The girl’s eyes blazed with a touch of insanity. “Oh, but you do,” Via said. “The Earthmother warned me. She told me that I must stop you before you destroyed everything.”

  “Via, I’m not who you think I am.”

  “She said you would lie to me. That you would lie to us all. You are not Guadalupe. Your words are poison!”

  Via lunged towards Alexandra and caught her off-guard. How could she draw her weapon against an unarmed girl? Then, Alexandra’s stomach erupted in pain in response to Via’s touch. Alexandra crumpled to the ground with a twisting, wrenching agony. She tried to scream, but her body couldn’t comply. She was frozen.

  “You’re not the only one with powers,” Via said. “The Earthmother has made me strong and I answer her call. I must kill you and drink your blood. Then I can do what you have failed to do!”

  The Crone! Could she have contacted this girl? Was she using Via? The Crone did warn Alexandra that they were enemies.

  Via put her hands around Alexandra’s neck and began to tighten. Eyes burning, Via clenched her teeth as she squeezed. Alexandra felt her windpipe on the verge of collapse as she gasped for air. The girl’s muscles bulged around her biceps and forearms and spittle fell from her mouth.

  Get up! Alexandra’s inner voice commanded.

  Biting back the pain, Alexandra swung her elbow and cracked Via on her jaw. The girl reeled backwards and Alexandra rose to her knee. She drew her sword but couldn’t stand. The pain was too violent.

  “The Earthmother was right,” Via said as she stepped into the jeep, being careful to give Alexandra’s sword a wide berth. “I will return again when my coven is at full strength. Then, you will die.”

  Via sped into the darkness with the jeep and Alexandra fell to the ground again. She curled herself into a ball to remediate the pain the best she could. What did Via do to her? Where did her power come from?

  Eventually, the pain subsided. Once she was able to stand Alexandra stumbled to the camp. They were gone. Alexandra picked through the remains and found their food and water. They left in a hurry. That meant Via wasn’t sure of how long Alexandra would be incapacitated. The girl was acting on instinct, much like Alexandra when she healed General Ryan.

  The world, it appeared, wasn’t finished throwing weirdness at her.

  Stuffing what she could into an abandoned backpack, Alexandra set out on foot. She could have returned to Brasilia, but that would just cost her time. Now, her only hope was an abandoned vehicle. She realized she would have to divert from the main roads, as Maria’s group would have surely found a vehicle on their trip north. That meant none were to be found.

  “Erzulie, if you’re out there, I sure could use a lift,” Alexandra said aloud as she descended a shrub covered embankment and headed towards what she hoped was a rural area.

  Did the Crone really visit Via in her dreams? Alexandra wrestled with the likelihood that the Crone was on the move. She wanted Eden destroyed, but Alexandra couldn’t fathom why. So the Earth could heal? That’s what the Crone had said in one of Alexandra’s dreams. What did Eden have to do with the wasteland of Earth? Why did it need to be destroyed?

  If they just came out and told us these things, everything would be much easier, Alexandra’s second voice said.

  “No kidding,” Alexandra replied aloud. “How am I supposed to know what to do?”

  Exactly, the voice said. Screw all of them. You know what? Go back to Eden. You deserve it.

  Alexandra peered through the darkness and hoped she was on a dirt road. It seemed like one. Toppled power lines and their associated posts left an uneven path into the dusty distance. Unlike life before the quake, no lights and little sound accompanied her. Earth was now a lonely place.

  “I thought I was a coward?”

  Nah, screw it. That witch bitch almost got us. Forget that! Get to Eden. Get to Koneh. Get to safety. This world is doomed.

  Alexandra grinned. “I can’t agree more. I’m glad we’re finally seeing eye to eye.”

  When no response came, Alexandra frowned. Who was she talking to?

  “Yup,” she said as she climbed over a low rock wall, “you’re losing it, Lex.”

  She found a splintered road marker, but without her maps from the jeep she was lost. A gas station would have solved both her problems; she just needed to find one.

  “Gotta be one somewhere,” she said as she examined the gravel intersection and attempted to decipher which way would lead to former civilization. “One way is as good as another, I guess.”

  She walked until the orange sky turned black. Her backpack dug into her shoulders and she decided to rest. After waiting until she was about to collapse, she abandoned the thought of finding shelter. Damn, she missed her jeep. She settled for a relatively soft spot of burnt g
rass and rested her head on her confiscated backpack. She also longed for all of her old supplies, especially the chocolate from General Ryan. Perhaps she shouldn’t have refused his help.

  The next day brought the same scenery. A lonely road with no buildings. Alexandra considered backtracking to the intersection, but the sky was already growing dark again. She found a secluded spot and went to sleep again on a mostly empty stomach.

  Had another day passed? She scolded herself for losing track so easily.

  Alexandra awoke on a massive flat plain. Scorched and cracked earth spread out in all directions and the orange horizon held no answers. She wandered for days until she was weak with thirst. The landscape turned flat and endless. She knew this was another dream and she collapsed to the ground when she was tired of it.

  “Wake up already,” she said to herself.

  “You are awake,” Koneh said.

  When did he arrive?

  “What?”

  “You are awake,” he repeated.

  “No, I’m not.”

  When no reply came, she peered at him from one of her eyes. He shrugged.

  “Is this it, then?” she asked.

  “Are you asking me if you are going to die?”

  Alexandra nodded once. She was beyond exhaustion.

  “What happened to you?” he said. “You were so determined before. Now look at you. You are stronger than this, Alejandra.”

  “I’m lost. Things were so easy before. You knew where you were going. You knew where to take us.”

  Koneh narrowed his all black eyes. “You are lost in every sense of the word, Alejandra.”

  “They took my jeep,” she said, not sure she was making sense anymore.

  “So get another one.”

  “That’s what I was trying to do, until I started dreaming,” she said.

  “You’re awake,” he said, “and dying. You cannot die.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  “Because there is still much for you to do.”

  Alexandra wrinkled her nose but didn’t answer. She didn’t know what he was talking about. Her mind was moving too slow and she just wanted to close her eyes.

  “This time,” Koneh said, “I came to you. I went to the tree - you know the spot. I went there and spoke with your madre. I went there looking for my own mother.”

  Slowly, Alexandra’s mind processed his words. “Eve?” she asked.

  “That’s the name you know, yes,” he said. “I was looking for her because I thought Eden promised life everlasting with those we love.”

  Alexandra closed her eyes and smiled. “I’m banking on it. Not long now.”

  “Dammit, Alejandra, listen to me!”

  Alexandra lazily opened her eyes. “I’m listening. Don’t yell at me.”

  “I was wrong,” he said. “I see that now. Since my youth, I have longed for paradise. I was angry at my parents for leaving Eden. Why should I be left in the cold for the shortcomings of my parents? Why should I suffer too?”

  Alexandra closed her eyes again and curled into a ball. She just wanted to sleep.

  “When I was young, I would often visit the gates of Eden and imagine them opening for me,” Koneh said. “My mother caught me on one such trip and told me something I hadn’t heard before. She said that they weren’t forced to leave Eden. She decided to leave.”

  Alexandra’s eyes snapped open. “What?”

  “She was ready to move on,” he said. “Eden held no surprises for her anymore. She wanted to know what was beyond the horizons of their small realm. She was curious.”

  “Why would she want to leave paradise?”

  Koneh huffed. “That’s exactly what my father asked her. He didn’t understand either. Well, now I understand. This place means nothing without the ones we love. I don’t want perfect days handed to me. I want to feel life around me and within me. And I want that for you as well.”

  “I’ll be with you soon,” she said.

  “Not like that, Alejandra. We will have eternity together, but for now I cannot wish your death. People here need you, deserve you. Live your life as you were meant to and I will see you once it is over. Please stop seeking Eden, as it means you are seeking an end to your life.”

  Alexandra propped her head on her hand and examined Koneh. His scars were exactly as she remembered, smooth and tight across his skin. The wind occasionally whipped his rags into a frenzy. He watched her with the intensity of a hawk, like he did on their first night together in that ruined chapel.

  Was he really here with her?

  “What?”

  “You must stop your path of self destruction,” he said. “As I said before, you are better than this. Do not let them win. Do not let them break you.”

  “I’m already broken.”

  “No, you are not,” he said. “Look at what you have accomplished. You have saved lives. You have made a difference. And no matter how much you disagree with me, you are wrong.”

  Alexandra forced a weak smile. “I’m wrong, eh?”

  Koneh grasped her hand and said, “I love you, Alejandra. Know that I do. All I ask is you not give up just yet.”

  Sighing, she said, “I’m dying anyway. Not sure it matters…”

  “You are not close to dying,” Koneh said. “Remember? Superior material. It will take some more work before you are done, sorry.”

  Though her tears refused to fall, she felt defeated. Why wasn’t she allowed to die? Certainly she had played her part. Now, with her jeep stolen and no end to the wasteland in sight, Alexandra deserved her ticket to paradise. Why were they keeping it from her?

  Her lip wavered. “Don’t you want to be with me?”

  “If I had the power, and the time was right, I’d come and carry you home myself,” he said. “But not now. Not like this. I love you too much to just watch you give up on yourself, your friends.”

  “Home.” She breathed the word as if it was both a curse and the sweetest sound she had ever heard.

  “When your time has come,” he said.

  Silence blanketed them for several moments. Then, Alexandra decided to broach the subject which burned her thoughts for so many months.

  “The Crone wants Eden destroyed.”

  Koneh paused and narrowed his eyes. He once told her that he didn’t want to know the details of her visions. Perhaps he was embattled in some internal struggle.

  Finally, he said, “Did she tell you why?”

  “So the Earth could heal? Whatever that means.”

  Lost in thought, Koneh didn’t respond.

  “What do you think she means by that? What would happen to you if Eden was gone?”

  He looked into her eyes and said, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The natural order of things would return here, like trees and grass engulfing an abandoned parking lot.”

  Frustrated, she said, “I don’t understand.”

  After another long pause, Koneh said, “I need to think about some things.”

  “What do you know about the Crone? About this ‘natural order of things?’ I thought there were no more secrets between us.”

  “All I know is that Eden interrupts the natural flow of our life energy. We are born, we age, we die. Our energy, our spirit, our soul is a part of everything else. I am not sure exactly how yet, but I am certain that our world works in this way. For some reason, Elah decided to interfere with that process here.”

  “And you are okay with all of this?” Alexandra said. “It sounds awful to me.”

  Perhaps this was the missing piece of information – the keystone to her guilt over reopening Eden. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to follow Elah’s grand plan. Perhaps the Crone wasn’t the enemy here, after all.

  Then again, without Eden she would never see Koneh again. She would never find her home.

  Like so many times before, she looked into his bottomless eyes and attempted to read him. He was conflicted, she knew that much.

  “I still don’t know what to do,” s
he said.

  He put his hand to her cheek and consumed her with his eyes. “My deepest regret is this: we were denied the time together that we deserve. Our new world took that opportunity away from us. I am trying to come to peace with the fact that I am dead and you are alive. You are alive, Alejandra! Do not seek death. Do not seek something that cannot be. Live for the both of us. Live!”

  With a boom of thunder, Koneh disappeared and Alexandra was slammed to the cracked ground.

  “Koneh!” she screamed, but he was gone.

  She pounded the earth until her fists bled. Nothing was fair when it came to him. Just when she realized she loved him, he was taken from her. Now, he wanted her to remain in the wasteland, apart from him. What kind of deal was that? When did Alexandra get what she wanted? When was her time?

  When her journey started, she decided to hate her new world. Now she realized that initial feeling was but a spark compared to the roaring flame of anger she now allowed to grow within her. She opened Eden without knowing the full truth. Though she still lacked information, one thing was certain: she overflowed with rage.

  She hated her separation from Koneh. She hated Elah for placing her on this course. She hated Padre Hernon for all he had done to her. She hated the world for what it had become. She hated Eden because it was the object around which her new life seemed to revolve.

  Also, she hated herself. She allowed the forces around her to shape her path. Koneh told her to open Eden. Her friends followed and died for her. Now, she felt her only path to happiness was death – and Koneh disagreed with her settlement.

  How did she arrive at this desperate point?

  The dry tears eventually subsided and she was left alone with that one question in her mind. She turned it around like an unknown jewel. She molded it like clay to determine if it held any value.

  After what felt like an eternity, she opened her eyes and examined her surroundings. The flat expanse of cracked earth stretched out in all directions. Nothing moved amongst the burnt scrub as the orange sky churned and roiled.

  Though her bones protested, Alexandra stood. She exhaled the pain and lifted her meager backpack. Koneh’s sword felt heavy but comforting across her back. Concentrating on her destination, she knew the proper direction.