Eden (Eden Saga) Page 22

  Supported by Santino and breathing through contractions, Holly approached the scene. The pregnant woman’s eyes scanned the group until they found Alexandra.

  “The priest told me everything,” Holly said, an edge in her words. “He said you are the Christ, here to save us all. Is it true?”

  There was no wonderment in Holly’s voice, no warmth. She sounded like a woman who felt betrayed.

  Shaking her head, Alexandra said, “It’s not true, I’m sorry.”

  “She healed me,” Benjamin said. “I was a goner and she healed my wounds with light from her hands.” He paused, looked at Father Callahan’s body, and said, “Wait, you can heal the father!”

  “I cannot bring back the dead,” Alexandra said, amused at the words coming out of her own mouth. “That’s impossible.”

  “Jesus resurrected the dead,” Holly said.

  “You healed General Ryan too,” Benjamin said. “You can heal everyone here, right? Bring them back?”

  “Erzulie,” Koneh said, “don’t say a word.”

  “See!” Benjamin said, “Koneh knows. He knows and he doesn’t want the angel to tell us.”

  “I know that you are all fools,” Koneh said.

  “He was your friend, si?” Marco asked. “Can you not heal him, Alexandra? Like you did for the general and Benjamin?”

  Her face twisted into a frown, Holly said, “What are you waiting for? Heal him!”

  Cornered, Alexandra placed her hands upon Father Callahan’s back. She strained to recall how she felt when she helped the other two men, but her mind couldn’t focus. She wanted her friend back. She poured all her guilt, sadness and anger into her hands and squeezed her eyes shut.

  Nothing happened.

  After a few minutes, she opened her eyes and removed her hands from Father Callahan.

  He was gone.

  “What’s this?” Holly spat. “I thought you said she could heal?”

  Benjamin shrugged and said, “She healed me.”

  “Why don’t you all just leave her alone for a few minutes,” Koneh said.

  “But she can save my Jason!” Holly screeched.

  “No, she cannot,” Koneh said. “Let her grieve over her friend.”

  Marco slapped Benjamin on the back as they turned away and said, “Maybe she’s not who you think she is?”

  Holly burst into tears and said, “My poor Jason-”

  Santino led her away from Father Callahan’s body.

  “You too, Erzulie,” Koneh said.

  Erzulie removed her arm from Alexandra’s shoulders and joined the rest of the group near the tents. A cold wind blew through the area. For several long moments, Alexandra and Koneh sat in silence. Her body ached from the strain of the battle and the loss of her friends. Part of her envied Father Callahan. At least he didn’t have to worry anymore.

  “Was this over guilt?” Koneh asked.

  “What?”

  He wheezed. “Your decision to stay and fight. Were you still guilty from leaving Tampico? Or were you pursuing some higher purpose?”

  “I didn’t know,” she said, “I didn’t know something like this could happen.”

  “What did you expect?” Koneh said, coughing through the words. “Five of us had the capacity to fight. Five against ninety-nine. I told you people were going to die.”

  “I just didn’t think-”

  “Why did you stay?”

  Alexandra said, “I couldn’t just leave them-”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know! Because I still feel guilty about Tampico. Because I care what happens to them. Because I didn’t want more guilt? Pick one!”

  Instead of responding, Koneh looked into her eyes.

  “What do you want from me?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

  “How do you feel?” Koneh asked. “Now that you made the decision and people are gone.”

  “What kind of a question is that?” Was Koneh trying to make her feel worse?

  “I just want you to remember how you feel at this moment,” he said. “This world is one where you will lose friends and loved ones. Death and despair will become commonplace, and you must decide how to handle it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if you let it consume you… If you allow your heart to succumb to the grief, you won’t survive.”

  Alexandra closed her eyes. “I hate this world.”

  “Do you think that’s how Richard would feel?” Koneh asked. “If your places were switched, would he hate the world?”

  “I don’t know-”

  “Don’t choose the easy answer,” Koneh said. “That’s not you.”

  She opened her eyes. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “I don’t want you to say anything,” Koneh said. “Just don’t forget why you chose to make a stand. And don’t forget the friends you’ve lost along the way.”

  “I won’t forget Richard. He was like a father to me,” she said, her voice unsteady. “I just wish we had more time together.”

  “Time is one of those tricky things. It’s fast to slip through our fingers and we regret each lost moment the instant it’s gone,” Koneh said. “If we constantly turn around to examine our footprints, we’ll miss the road ahead.”

  “That’s easy for us to say, we’re still alive and we have regrets,” Alexandra said as she looked at the still form of her friend. How could he be gone?

  “Do you think Richard would want you to live your life in the past? Haunted by your regrets?”

  “Why do you keep asking me what Richard would want?”

  Koneh sighed. “Because this is the way we honor our friends who have fallen. We remember them, everything about them,” he said. “It is the only way.”

  What would Father Callahan want? Would he want her to continue to Eden? To reopen paradise for mankind? Of course he would. He had faith in her from the moment they met. Was that faith misguided? Could he have predicted that following her into the wasteland would have led to his own death?

  “I think he’d want me to carry on,” Alexandra said. “He’d probably tell me to cry tough or something like that. He liked to talk with those funny old sayings.”

  “He was an impressive man,” Koneh said. “I don’t know if I would have followed us if I were him.”

  Alexandra chuckled wryly. “Yeah, what made him think following a lawyer, fallen angel and you was a good idea?”

  “I told him who you are,” Koneh said. “And he believed me. Probably because of that Bible.”

  “How did you convince him?”

  Koneh shrugged. “I really didn’t have to, he was desperate for hope.”

  Tears again filled her eyes. “He doesn’t deserve this.”

  “No… He doesn’t.”

  Koneh grasped his left arm and turned it over in his hand. He was severely wounded, though his face betrayed no pain.

  “You know,” Koneh said, “I might not make it with you to the end.”

  Alexandra forced a laugh. “I saw you stand up after that man unloaded his shotgun into you. You’ll be just fine.”

  Koneh dropped his left arm to the ground and closed his eyes. Perhaps he was in some pain, after all. She felt like a fool.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “As long as I have fight left in me,” he said, “I will remain at your side. However, once I’m gone you must remain strong. Stay true to yourself. You know right from wrong better than I ever could.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, “seems like every decision I make is the wrong one.”

  Koneh shook his head. “You did well, and you didn’t let this old fool change your mind. The demons didn’t get what they came for.”

  “No,” Alexandra said, “but, they took away more than I wanted them to.”

  After a few long minutes of silence, Marco approached and said, “We talked and we decided to bury everyone at the base of the ship. Benjamin and Santino are gettin’ some shovels. Erzulie is watching over Ho
lly.”

  Alexandra snapped from her daze and said, “Yeah, that sounds okay.”

  Pointing over his shoulder, Marco said, “We got you a shovel too. Figured you’d want to help.”

  Alexandra nodded. “Are you okay?” she asked Koneh. “Can you move?”

  Koneh nodded and rose to his feet. “I’ll dig too,” he said.

  Nobody spoke as they dug shallow graves for their friends. Alexandra was numb. Was this her new life? Chased through the streets by mobs, accosted by rapists, expected to perform miracles, attacked by demon, and forced to bury her friends. Alexandra loathed every part of it.

  She was certain of one thing: God existed. So, if God was here, why was the world doomed to so much suffering? Or was the old woman in her dreams correct? Did God abandon them? If she was to figure it out, she decided she needed to open up her mind even further. She accepted that she had some important role to play. Koneh believed her fate was to open Eden. The woman in her dreams hinted at something Alexandra could accomplish as well, to bring the world back to life again. What did the old woman mean by that? Could Alexandra fulfill everyone’s expectations?

  “Maybe… Maybe you should say something?”

  Benjamin’s words brought her back to the present. So automatic were her motions, she didn’t notice the passage of time. The bodies rested under mounds of new dirt. Six mounds. Their names burned themselves into her memory: Thomas, Justin, Francine, Carlos, Jason and Richard.

  “Me?” Alexandra asked.

  What could she say? The man she looked to as a father was gone. Two teenagers from America were cut down before they had a chance to enjoy their lives. An expecting husband was torn to pieces by demons while his wife watched. A local man and an elderly traveler were also dead. The doctor watching over the pregnant woman abandoned his patient. What words could she offer to make any of it seem right?

  As if Erzulie sensed Alexandra’s distress, the angel sang. The words of the ancient funeral song flowed like ribbons from her perfect mouth.

  “Amazing Grace

  How sweet the sound

  That saved a wretch like me!”

  All the sweetness from Alexandra’s life drained away. All the things she found comfort in were now gone as well. Her world was empty.

  “I once was lost,

  But now am found;

  Was blind but now I see!”

  Alexandra closed her eyes. Erzulie’s dirge, though beautiful, offered no comfort. Darkness stretched out before her and she felt lost.

  “‘Twas Grace

  That taught my heart to fear,

  And grace my fears relieved;

  How precious did that grace appear

  The hour I first believed!”

  How could she believe in a God who would allow such things to happen? The world was full of suffering even before Alexandra’s bus flipped. War. Poverty. Disease. Hatred. Was this new world simply an extension of the old one?

  “Through many dangers, toils and snares,

  I have already come;

  ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

  And grace will lead me home.”

  Home. Erzulie sang the word like it was the sweetest word Alexandra ever heard. She longed for her refrigerator and takeout menus. Central air, silk bathrobes, satin sheets and bubble baths. All gone. She would give anything to return home.

  “The Lord has promised good to me,

  His Word my hope secures;

  He will my Shield and Portion be,

  As long as life endures.”

  Life. Alexandra thought she was protecting life. Instead, death visited them six fold. Was a sad mound of dirt waiting for her next? A week from now, would Erzulie be singing over her grave?

  “Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

  And mortal life shall cease,

  I shall possess, within the veil,

  A life of joy and peace.”

  Eden. Koneh believed Eden awaited them. A paradise. Was her companion correct? Or was he delusional to a dangerous extreme? Alexandra wondered if peace waited for her in Eden.

  “The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

  The sun forbear to shine,

  But God, Who called me here below,

  Will be forever mine.”

  Alexandra opened her eyes and looked to the black-red sky. For over a month the sun had refused to shine. Was the yellow star still out there, waiting to give life back to the earth?

  “When we’ve been here ten thousand years,

  Bright shining as the sun,

  We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise,

  Than when we’d first begun.”

  The last word of the funeral song drifted across the still wasteland. Everyone stood by the graves for a few minutes. Then, one by one, they departed.

  Alexandra knelt at Father Richard Callahan’s grave and said, “Koneh’s not here to scold me so I’m going to make a promise.” She chuckled, wiped a tear from her face, and continued. “I will reach Eden. If, by chance, you and Koneh are right in all of this then maybe I’ll see you again. I would very much like that. I miss you already, my friend. My adopted father.”

  Smiling, she touched the dirt and rose to her feet. She tightened her sword around her waist, tucked Richard’s rosary into her pocket and zipped her leather jacket. Glancing once more upon the six graves, she turned and walked towards Santino’s rig.

  The group salvaged what they could from the camp turned battlefield. Amongst the debris, Alexandra found Father Callahan’s altered bible. She turned the leather book over in her hands. Was all of this predetermined by the words at the end of that book?

  “Alexandra!” Marco’s voice carried through the air. “It’s Holly!”

  “She’s ready to go,” Koneh said as he intercepted Alexandra. “Any minute now.”

  Holly squirmed and screamed on the chaise next to Santino’s rig. The woman appeared possessed.

  “Tell me someone knows how to deliver a baby,” Alexandra said.

  Benjamin and Marco shrugged. Nicole bit her lower lip and shook her head. Santino stared at the scene from the driver’s seat and Alexandra noticed that Erzulie was missing.

  Koneh sighed and said, “Someone get the propane burner going and boil some water. Find some clean cloth as well.”

  As bodies spun into motion, Alexandra turned to him and asked, “You can deliver a baby?”

  Koneh’s eyes narrowed. “I’d have prefered the doctor stuck around for this duty,” he said.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “That is a yes,” Koneh said.

  Without another word, he walked to the pot of water. “Get her whatever she needs,” Koneh said to Nicole. As the water came to a boil, Koneh drew a small knife from under his rags and dropped it in the pot. He then unwrapped the bandages from his hands, revealing scarred fingers.

  Alexandra stepped forward and asked, “What are you doing?”

  Koneh pushed his hands into the boiling water and groaned.

  “You are loco, my friend,” Marco said.

  Alexandra jumped as Erzulie appeared from the sky and landed at her side.

  “I found him,” she said.

  “Who?” Alexandra asked, though she knew the answer as soon as she opened her mouth.

  “The doctor.”

  “We may still have time,” Koneh said. “Go get him.”

  “Where is he?” Alexandra asked.

  “On the freeway,” Erzulie said, “About twelve miles away. The bike appears to be out of gas.”

  Alexandra exhaled and said, “Benjamin, stay here with everyone. Erzulie, fly back there and keep an eye on him. Marco, Santino and I will go get him with the rig.”

  “Just hurry,” Koneh said.

  Santino maneuvered the truck through the brush and onto the freeway. The vehicle’s headlights cut through the darkness as Marco and Alexandra rode in the back of the roomy cab.

  Wrestling with the thought of asking Marco about Tampico, A
lexandra fidgeted with her ragged hair. Lost for the best way to approach the subject, she decided to just speak her mind.

  “What happened in Tampico?” she asked.

  Marco blinked and looked her in the eyes. “What?”

  “I’m sorry if I seem uncaring, but I need to know. What happened after we left?”

  “Well,” Marco said as he shifted in his seat to face her, “the same thing that we just lived through, basically. The belchers set fire to our barricade and most of our men died there. Then, the bigger demons ran through the streets and tore open anyone they came across. I’ve never seen so much blood. Not even after the quake.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Alexandra said. “I was… I wasn’t exactly thinking straight and I let Koneh make a decision for me.”

  Marco frowned and said, “Koneh is a monster, no? Why do you stay with him?”

  “Well,” she said, “if he meant to harm me, I think he could have done so easily by now.”

  “Not all pain is of the physical sort,” Marco said as he leaned towards her. “Maybe he’s planning something special for you.”

  Not ready to concede that point yet, she let the topic drop. Something deep inside told her she could trust Koneh. However, she wasn’t prepared to have a debate over the issue.

  “This is it,” Santino said over his shoulder.

  Alexandra and Marco hopped from the rig after Santino brought the vehicle to a halt. Henry, the doctor, cowered against a wrecked car.

  “I guess he’s frightened,” Erzulie said.

  “I thought I told you to just watch him,” Alexandra said.

  Erzulie shrugged. A human shrug. “He was going to run away, that wouldn’t have been good.”

  Alexandra approached the doctor and said, “Henry, listen. Holly is giving birth. We need you.”

  Henry mumbled to himself and appeared incapable of speech.