Eden woke up to the sound of knocking. Deep, bellowing knocking. The kind of knock you couldn't ignore no matter how hard you tried.

She got up and snuck towards her door, she opened it up and looked around. The knocking was even louder outside her door.

She didn't see anyone else in the hallway so she left her room and followed the knocks. With every step she took it got louder. She passed the kitchen, through the bathroom, and made it to the stairs leading out of the bunker.

The knocks were coming from outside the bunker.

The doors shook from the force of the knocks. The rhythmic pounding shook Eden to her core. But she reached for the clasp that held the door closed. And opened it.

The doors swung open. The sun blinded Eden, causing her to stumble backwards. A familiar voice shocked her even more.

"Deputy? Is that you?" The voice rang in Eden's ears.

She pulled her hands away from her face and adjusted her eyes to the harsh light. Standing around the entrance to the bunker was Grace, Nick, Sharky, and Hurk.

"Deputy!" Their hands extended down the Eden, grabbing her and pulling her up the stairs. At the top of the stairs they all wrapped her in an embrace. Squeezing her with all their might, hands clamouring to hold their friend.

"Thank god you made it! We were so worried about you after the bombs fell." They all spoke at the same time, their excitement spilling out in every word.

Eden pulled away from the embrace and looked at her friends. They were grey haired and pale, but they were the friends she remembered. A tear fell down Eden's cheek, then another and another. Eden couldn't fight back her tears of pure joy.

She fell to her knees and sobbed into the ground. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I should've been there for you, I should've stopped everything." The words bubbled up out of her mouth.

Hands held her shoulders and pulled her up into another hug.

"Hey man, lady, Dep, it's ok! We all made it, we can go home now." Sharky said.

Feeling the warmth of her friends...Eden just couldn't stop crying. After so long, they were ok.

Eden's eye snapped open.

     She stared up at a cement ceiling. Her cheeks were wet from tears. Her chest ached like it had just been stomped on repeatedly.

     She rolled over on her bed and clutched her chest. Eden couldn't stop the tears from hiccuping out. Despite her desire not to cry and her fear of being seen, nothing could stop her from feeling every ounce of pain in her heart.

     Eden pressed her arm into her face to try and muffle her cries. She couldn't even try to hold back. All the guilt and pain she had been suppressing was finally coming back up.

     Jacob leaned against the wall by Eden's room. The chair felt familiar but the hallway was uncomfortably unforgiving. He sat outside her door whenever he could be away from his family. He didn't know why, it wasn't like he had any power in the bunker, but sitting guard felt like his responsibility.

     He heard a muffled sob come from inside Eden's room. Then another.

     It had been a couple of weeks since he had talked with her. He still remembered the anger he felt when he turned the corner to Eden's room and saw John acting like that. That was John. Always asking strange questions.

Jacob had known John since he was an alcohol, drug and sex addicted lawyer in Atlanta. His younger brother had calmed down a lot since then but he had long since buried the innocent little kid Jacob had remembered. It was rare now that Jacob got a memory of John as a kid, he rarely showed that much weakness. Sometimes he wished that John would be more like that kid rather than the twisted adult that he knows now.

But look who's talking. Jacob wasn't exactly a wholesome adult. The things he'd done in his past...they made him sick to even think about.

He didn't blame John for who, or what, he became. But maybe if Jacob had been able to take better care of him and Joseph as kids, then maybe they would've grown up differently.

     Regardless of fantasies, Jacob couldn't change the past, he just had to deal with the present.

     Jacob wanted to go into Eden's room, but he didn't know how to handle whatever grief she was going through in that moment. In the past he didn't really think about the locals and how connected Eden was to them. He mostly just saw the way they used her to fight their battles.

     The thing that he could never wrap his head around was why. Why would she keep coming back to help them, even when she knew she was going to get hurt? Why did she constantly put herself back out on the battle field over and over again before she was ready?

     It wasn't until he saw how she deteriorated in the bunker that he realized why. She didn't fight because she was forced to, she fought because of the love she felt from those people. They welcomed her into their homes and treated her well, so in turn she fought for them.

     When the bombs fell, her entire support system died. She was cut off from the people that she considered family with no warning. That was why she just didn't have any will left.

One Year In The Bunker

     Eden laid on the ragged old couch in the kitchen and dining room. One of Dutch's Roskam Brothers records played quietly on his record player. The room was bathed in the familiar blue light emitted from Dutch's fish tank. The fish died a while ago, but the tank stayed on because the light was nice.

     Eden had adjusted to the silence of the bunker, but that didn't make it less eerie to be sitting in silence. The problem with being in the bunker with the Seeds was that they were all silent as well. Ever since Eden started coming out of her room, she had been snuck up on many times simply because they were so naturally quiet. You'd think that at least John would try to make an entrance.

     It didn't feel like it was that long ago that Eden was laying on this couch and talking to Dutch. It was Christmastime then, wasn't it? They shared so much about each other that night, funny stuff, sad stuff, stuff they didn't really feel like talking about.

    Dutch and Eden had a very paternal relationship, maybe it was because Dutch and his kid didn't really talk anymore and Eden had never really known her dad, but they found a sort of solace in each other's company. The fact that Dutch was dead still hurt, just when Eden thought she was letting go of the pain it came right back. It was like a wound that never healed.

     With her other friends, it was all speculation. She hoped they were still alive and out there somewhere, but she could never really know. All she could think about is what she would say to them if she saw them again. She'd probably apologize for roping them into all of her antics, for not being able to help them more than she hurt them.

     But most days Eden tried not to think about them too much. But no matter how hard she tried not to, of course, they found their way into her thoughts. Not all of it is bad though, sometimes, just sometimes, it's pretty nice to imagine them. But the fear and guilt Eden still felt...it made good memories turn sour. Even nice memories she had with Nick and Kim and Carmina...they hurt to reminisce in.

    Of course, reminiscing was just about the only thing Eden could do.

     "Enjoying the music?" Eden didn't even flinch.

     She looked over at the doorway and saw John leaning against the open doorway. Eden looked back up at the ceiling, ignoring him.

     "I wasn't really a fan of this music, the...Roskam Brothers. I found their songs a bit, disruptive." John said and walked over to the record player. "But I do have to admit, it's beginning to grow on me."

Eden remained silent and comfortable on the couch. She could tell the silence was irritating John.

"You know, you've changed quite a bit. The old Deputy was always so sharp tongued, it's almost a shame to see you so docile." John alluded and walked closer to her.

"Are you bored, John?" Eden asked and glanced over at him.

"Terribly, this shabby little bunker is not what I imagined I would be spending the Collapse in. There's nothing to do, no one to talk to." John muttered and leaned against the wall.

"You mean there's no one for you to sleep with." Eden stated and glanced at him.

"I'll have you know I'm abstinent." John replied, not entertained by Eden's observations.

Maybe not by choice, but Eden didn't say that out loud. She knew John knew what she was thinking. She could feel John's eyes on her, but she was having too nice of a time ignoring him to care.

One and A Half Years In The Bunker

Jacob woke up. His back was killing him again. He had been trying to stay in shape in the bunker, but without the proper nutrition it was hard to stay fit. He got up and walked around the bunker.

He didn't spend very much time in front of Eden's door anymore. She was coming out of her room more often and it felt strange to always be sitting there when she did. So Jacob moved around the bunker.

Eden was always very hard to read. She stayed pretty quiet, almost like she wanted to blend in with the walls and disappear. Jacob didn't like that he couldn't really understand her, he used to be able to tell what was going through her head just from studying her. Now she had a strange expression all the time.

She wasn't mad, or sad, or happy. She just always wore a baseline expression of...numbness. Her eyes were almost glazed over, when you said something to her it took a minute to register. It was almost like she had left but her body was still there.

It must've been weeks since he actually talked to her. And even then it must've been but two or three words. Something about the hot water.

He had a lot he wanted to know. He wanted to know what she was thinking, but every time he thought about what to ask her it seemed...weird. She didn't seem to be doing as badly as she was when she was first adjusting to the situation of the bunker.

He remembered when Eden wouldn't even eat or drink, now she was up and roaming around the bunker. But despite this, he couldn't tell if she was actually doing better or if this was just something that happens naturally.

The only thing he could compare Eden to would be a lion at the zoo. Not one raised in the zoo, but a wild lion captured from the great open plains and put in a zoo. She was a wild animal taken from her home and thrust into a dull life of captivity.

In a way, Jacob was too. He didn't have anyone to lead, no one to train, he was just left alone with this thoughts and his brother's teachings. Despite being surrounded by people all the time, Jacob was more isolated than he was used to feeling.

Jacob decided to take a shower and clean himself up. He hadn't trimmed his face or hair in a while, just because he's in this bunker doesn't mean he should let go of his hygiene.

Jacob found his bath towel and went to the bathroom. It was right by the doors out and could barely be considered a bathroom. It wasn't very private, but he had showered in worse places with far less privacy.

When he rounded the corner into the bathroom he saw something that made him stop. Sitting at the base of the stairs on the other side of the room was Eden. She wasn't looking at anything in particular, she was just gazing off into space.

"Almost didn't see you there." Jacob said, half letting her know he was there, half trying to get her to leave.

Eden let out a small hum of recognition and stood up. She walked past Jacob and out of the room, barely even looking at him as she walked past. Jacob wanted to stop her and talk to her, but he didn't know what to say. So he just let her walk away.

Two Years In The Bunker

Faith was starting to get enough of the bunker. She was starting to run out of The Bliss. She had been micro-dosing to try and make it last longer, she needed to find more. She didn't know how to find it, maybe if she went outside she could find some.

Her head was starting to be filled with strange thoughts...maybe they were memories from her past? But that was silly, she knew her past, she knew who she was. She knew about how Joseph saved her and led her into the light. She knew how he freed her soul.

So why was she starting to be flooded with these thoughts? These whispers that said something wasn't right? Why did she wake up hearing the name Rachel being called in her head? Who is Tracey?

Faith woke up cold and panicked. Her hands shook from being so low on Bliss. She didn't know how to calm her racing thoughts.

She didn't know who to talk to. Who could she possibly turn to? There was only one person.

The door to Eden's room opened slowly with a loud creak. The light from the hallway spilled into the dark room. Eden was laying in bed, facing into the room with a blanket pulled up over her body.

Faith crept into the room and quietly shut the door.

"Eden?" She whispered. "Are you awake?"

Eden groaned and rubbed her eyes in the darkness. "Faith? What're you doing?" Eden asked and Faith turned on the light in her room. Eden cringed at the sudden bright light and sat up in her bed.

"Can I talk to you?" Faith asked desperately and walked over to Eden's bed.

"Wouldn't you be more comfortable talking to Joseph or-" Eden began to say but Faith cut her off.

"No, I don't want to talk to him. I need to tell you something." Faith replied in a hushed voice. "I'm...I'm beginning to remember. I'm remembering everything. I know who I was before I met Joseph, how vulnerable I was. How he took advantage of my fear and naïvety. I remember who I am." A tear welled up in her eye, then another, and another.

Faith knelt in front of Eden's bed and tried to wipe her tears away. "What do I do? I-I don't want this. My head is so full of these...feelings, but I don't want to listen, I want to go back to how it used to be." Faith vented and kept crying. She was shaking uncontrollably and the tears just kept coming.

Eden looked down on Faith, she saw her tears and listened to her confessions. Faith sniffed and tried to wipe away the tears rolling down her face. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Eden was looking back down at her, a look of empathy on her face that Faith had never seen before.

"I believe you." Eden said and pulled Faith up onto her bed. She rubbed her back while Faith cried even more and began confessing what happened to her.

She explained how she grew up with an abusive dad and an emotionally distant mother. She told Eden all about how she watched her father make medicine to help people and she began making her own. She explained how she got hooked on drugs to make her pains and fears go away. They only led to more pain and fear, but she couldn't stop.

She found Joseph when he moved to Hope County. She spoke to him and he persuaded her to join him. He wanted her to become someone powerful, he wanted another Faith. So when faced with the challenge Faith took it upon herself to kill the Faith before her and become Joseph's new Faith.

He showed her The Bliss and how to make it, he helped her chase her demons away. But now that she was sobering up everything that she had done was coming back to her. She understood what she did when she made her Angels. She knew what she did.

     Faith was wrecked with guilt for what she did, and Eden understood. Part of her was wondering if this could've been another mind game she was playing, but as she listened to her story she saw how earnest Faith was being. She couldn't have been lying.

     Eventually Faith, or Rachel, cried herself out and fell asleep. Eden left her in her room and left to go wander the bunker. She found her way into what she had donned 'the blue room'.

She went to go lay down on the couch but Jacob was already there on the couch. He had his arms crossed in his sleep, his chest rose and fell rhythmically. Eden didn't want to wake him up, so she just kind of stood and watched him.

She had never seen Jacob sleep before. Not that she didn't believe that he never slept, but she had just never been witness to him so vulnerable before.

But she doubted he was vulnerable. She was sure that if she so much as stepped near him he would be awake. But she didn't want to lose this moment so she just watched him.

He hadn't been doing well in the bunker. He lost a lot of muscle mass from not being able to eat right. She knew he hadn't been sleeping well just from looking at him. He wasn't fully deteriorating but he definitely wasn't up to par with his usual self.

It was strange to just sit and watch him, maybe this is why he used to watch her so much. You just watch and try to figure out what's going on inside their head. What is he thinking?

As Eden was watching him, Jacob started breathing heavier. He began muttering something, over and over, that Eden couldn't make out. He started looking around in his sleep, muttering something. No? No it was a name... Miller? Why did that seem familiar?

Eden walked over to him while he started panicking more. Unsure of what to do, she tapped him shoulder. "Jacob?"

Her touch hit Jacob like an electric shock. He jolted up and before Eden could even take a step back he had wrapped both hands around her throat and slammed her into the ground.

Jacob damn near growled as he choked Eden tighter. He cut off any air from getting in or any words from getting out. Eden looked at his eyes but Jacob wasn't home, he was totally taken over by rage and fear.

Eden struggled against his hold and tried to pry his hands off of her but she wasn't nearly as strong as he was. She kicked her legs and beat against Jacob with her hands, but nothing was working. Full blown panic was kicking in but she was trapped by Jacob's full force.

Her vision started to blur and go dark, her legs stopped lurching, and her arms were getting heavy. She looked Jacob in the eye, his expression was primal. It was like she was facing a bear, not a man.

As if he was upset at how long this was taking, Jacob pressed even harder.

Eden's vision went dark and she started floating away from her body. This was it.

Jacob's hands were shaking. He was attacked by someone, but he's taking care of it. He began to snap out of it, he was becoming aware of his actions, like he was coming out of a dream.

He looked around and saw where he was. Blue light, kitchen, couch, he was still in the bunker. He wasn't in the desert, he was safe.

He looked down and saw his hands wrapped around Eden's neck. "Fuck!" Jacob lurched backwards and bounced against the couch.

His whole body was shaking from adrenaline, he tried to brush his hair back to gather himself. "I'm sorry, I-I don't know what happened." He expected Eden to cuss him out or something, but no such response came.

"Eden?" Jacob looked up and saw Eden's head lulled to the side. Her body was still laying flat. Her chest wasn't moving.

"Shit." Jacob rushed next to her and grabbed her wrist. He couldn't find a pulse. "Shit." He grabbed her face, her eyes were open but they were glazed over and unresponsive.

"Shit!" Jacob tried to ignore the way his hands were shaking. He lowered his ear to her lips to try and hear if she was breathing. He couldn't feel or hear anything.

"Fuck!" Jacob clasped his hands together and pressed them on her chest. He began CPR and counting each pump he did on her chest. When he hit thirty he let go and did a lip lock to try and breathe air into her lungs.

He waited but she was still unresponsive, so he started the chest compressions again. "Come on Eden, come on." He tried to rouse her but nothing was happening.

Another breath, more chest compressions, another breath, more chest compressions, another lip lock, more chest compressions.

"You idiot, you fucking idiot." Jacob cussed himself out while doing the chest compressions. "Come on, Eden, not now!"

He didn't think she was going to wake up. Then he heard her suck in a breath. He pulled his hands away from her as she started breathing and choking on air.

Jacob wrapped his arms around her and lifted her into his lap, he pressed his back against the couch and held her close to his chest. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Jacob kept repeating that over and over as he cradled her in his arms.