[ 5 ] Eden West

Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

Eva and her crew stood on the roof of Vandenberg Air Force Base for two more hours while the surges of water slowly receded back into the ocean. It was unclear how far the wave traveled inland, but she suspected the elevation north of Mission Hills would provide relief from soaked soil.

Hundreds of bodies floated past the survivors before being swallowed by the ocean. When a half hour passed with no more hints of flooding, Eva descended the staircase. The water puddled inside the compound but had cleared out the heaps of containers and vehicles that once littered its interior.

“Well, the spacecraft is gone,” Eva said. The others walked up behind her.

“What in God’s name is going on?” Tallah asked. She peered down at a bloated corpse of the woman Eva had run into.

“I think Earth decided she didn’t like us anymore,” Brody said.

Eva placed her hands on her hips and turned towards the Vandenberg facility. “We head to the hills,” she instructed. “The wave must have taken the craft inland. We check on the specimens and grab some weapons. We might be in for the long haul.”

Brody nodded. “We’re going to need to get the MRE’s too. Eva, you grew up here, what’s the closest town?”

Eva hesitated. “We can walk through the base, but everything is probably flooded or spoiled. There should be an armory close by with weapons at least. The closest town is Santa Maria.”

Freddy had that fatherly look again that Eva couldn’t stand. She already had to endure it from her step-father before he succumbed to the heart disease, and she didn’t need Freddy to take his place.

“You sure you want to go there, Eva?” Freddy asked.

“I’m sure, Freddy,” she replied. “I’m not a little girl anymore. I can handle it.”

Eva knew Freddy was apprehensive about heading that way, but she knew the place like the back of her hand. She knew it took roughly six miles to drive from the base to Santa Maria. She remembered the smell of the air when she used to stick her head out of her mother’s window on their drive to visit her step-father at the base. 

“How long would that take on foot?” Brody asked.

“On foot?” Eva replied. “Hell if I know. If we’re quick and don’t run into tons of those burned monsters, maybe six or seven hours? It’s anyone’s guess. But we’re not going to get there by talking about it.”

With that the four survivors took off in the direction of the closest barracks. As they approached the stone structure, the overturned Humvees reminded Eva again of her childhood days.

“Think they’ll drive?” Brody asked.

“They might if we were able to overturn a 5,000 pound vehicle,” Freddy replied.

Brody shrugged. Eva ignored them and entered the armory. The room was dark. Light from the sun crept into the entranceway and through the broken glass of the windows, illuminating one corner of the room. The survivors sighed when the building was absent of any burn victims ready to tear their flesh apart.

“Jackpot,” Brody said.

It had been forty years since the survivors walked on Earth, but the storage containers that held the weapons hadn’t changed appearance.

“Locked,” Tallah said, approaching the container.

Eva pulled out the Walther P99 she’d tucked in her cargo pants and delivered two rounds into the padlock. “You can thank the Germans for that,” she said, unlatching the broken lock and tossing it onto the ground.

“How many rounds you have left?” Freddy asked.

“I put two through the head of the monster who ate Michael,” Eva explained. “So 12 more. But I don’t think it matters.”

Eva opened the storage container and her eyes lit up. It wasn’t the M16 rifles that caught her attention, or even the Beretta M9’s pistols. It was the Remington 1100 Tactical Shotgun.

“Thank God,” Eva said. She reached forward, lifted the shotgun from its holder, and examined it like she was holding the Holy Grail. “I’ve missed these things.”

“Yea,” Brody said, reaching in and grabbing an M16. “Space will do that to ya.”

Freddy bent down and grabbed a pistol and box of ammo before turning to Tallah. “Are you comfortable with this?”

Tallah looked concerned. “Do I have a choice?”

Freddy ejected the magazine and loaded the weapon. He then pushed up on the grip. The clicking noise that hit Eva’s ears excited her. “Loaded. Safety on,” Freddy explained. “Don’t shoot unless you need to. We’ll practice once we figure out what the hell is going on.”

Eva grabbed one of the large satchels from below the gun rack and tossed the weapons in the bag like they were plastic toys. “We need to move,” she said.

The first two miles were hell. The second two were worse. The sun was beating down on Eva’s shoulders. She wanted to collapse. She’d already taken off her shirt, dipping it into the massive puddles that were left behind from the wave before tying it around her head. She didn’t care if Freddy or Tallah saw her exposed skin around the sports bra, but Brody’s obvious stares were getting on her nerves.

“Careful with your eyes, or I’ll rip them out,” she said, peering backwards at Brody.

Brody looked at her with puppy dog eyes. “I’m just watching where I’m walking,” he said. “Wouldn’t want to trip over one of the Burned.”

“The Burned?” Freddy asked.

“I figured we needed a name for the things anyway,” Brody explained. “Zombie just seems to cliché.”

Tallah stopped in her tracks. “Those things are people, and my brother is probably one of them. Have some respect.”

Brody shrugged his shoulders and continued walking. Eva stared ahead. She squinted in an attempt to see anything but the haze of heat that hung above the paved roadway.

Brody walked up next to her. “That’s the speed of light slowing down,” he said.

“What?”

“The haze above the road. Isn’t that what you’re looking at?”

“I’m just looking for anything but this damn road,” Eva said, annoyed.

“The road temperature is hotter than the air, so it’s less dense,” Brody said, struggling to keep pace with Eva’s swift strides. She could have pulled out her gun right there if only to scare him into keeping quiet. “The change in density of the air causes a distortion of the light, which makes those puddle-looking things.”

“Freddy do you want to shoot him or can I?” Eva asked. Freddy laughed.

“Tough crowd,” Brody murmured, separating slightly from the group.

Eva had no idea where the wave carried the shuttle off to, and the bag of guns seemed to grow in weight with each mile. She was relieved when Freddy motioned for the bag.

When the elevation rose and they ascended the first hill, Brody was the first one to notice the vast expanse of greenery below the mound. “Holy shit,” he said.

The terrain, which before was cracked ground and arid shrubbery, now looked like a tropical jungle. Eva couldn’t classify the trees that snaked up to the canopy. They appeared similar to palms, but the scales looked black from their distant viewpoint. The giant leaves that stuck out of the shrubs were earthy colors of reds and yellows, starkly contrasting with the blue flowers that jutted out from the centers.

“What in the hell is this?” Freddy said.

Eva squinted again. Just over the canopy of the forest, that looked to stretch for miles, was the towering frame of a building. ‘Santa Maria,’ she thought. ‘Or what is left of it.’

It looked like the survivors had hiked into an alien territory. The greenery surrounded both sides of the road, hovering over it, almost creating a tunnel that was capped by the leaves. The jungle must have consumed even the city, because Eva could only see the tops of tall buildings sticking out of the vegetation on the horizon.

The only familiar thing about the spectacle was the white object on the outskirts of the forest. Eva noticed her jaw was open when the drool began to form around her lips. “Is that?”

“It’s Etana One,” Tallah said. “Incredible.”

Etana One sat angled against the start of the forest. Vines crept out of the interior, curving around the loose wires and debris before making their way into the heart of the forest. Eva’s heart sank when she put the pieces together in her head. ‘The specimens,’ she thought.

She wasn’t sure if the containers had broken open, but it would explain the outlandish species of vegetation that towered before them. Brody reached behind his back and pulled out the Beretta M9. He pulled back on the slide. “This doesn’t look like the Earth we left,” he mumbled.

∞

Adrift in the Pacific Ocean, nine miles from the California Coast

Three hours after Malcolm’s death, the survivors in the life raft still sat silent. Kaeya and Corrine drifted in and out of sleep, while Miles and Ian stared off into the distance. Miles was fairly certain they were drifting in the opposite direction of shore, and it would just be a matter of time before death was at their doorsteps.

The muffled sound of an engine made Miles jerk upwards. He first thought that he was experiencing hallucinations from pure exhaustion. When Ian leaned up and his eyes grew wide, Miles knew it wasn’t just him.

“Helicopter?” Ian asked.

Kaeya and Corrine were slower to notice the rhythm of the chopper blades, but when they spotted the craft in the distance, they shared the same enthusiasm as the others.

“Unbelievable,” Miles said. “Should we wave?”

The question didn’t need an answer. The four survivors in the life raft hurled their arms through the air. “Don’t tip us over,” Ian cautioned. “They have to see us.”

The sullied water pooled around Miles’ ankles, and the sogginess of the skin around his toes motivated him even more to catch the attention of the chopper. When he could see the ripples caused by the chopper’s blades, Miles leaned back in the raft and exhaled. By some miracle, they would be rescued.

The sharks must have moved elsewhere, because the rescuers jumped from the helicopter and into the swells of the ocean. Kaeya was the first to be lifted up in the harness. She didn’t say a word the whole time, just shook violently as the rescue personnel strapped her into the metal basket.

Miles stared out the window of the helicopter; a baby-blue towel was draped around his body, and he saw one last glimpse of the life-raft before it vanished from sight. He lifted his head and stared at Corrine, who despite her occasional shivers, seemed to be doing okay. He smiled and she returned the expression.

It was the first time Miles saw what the men who rescued him looked like. Both appeared to be middle-aged. Their skin attested to long hours in the sun. One of the men placed a headset around Miles’ head. He did the same for the others.

“My name is Eric and I know it’s loud,” he shouted into the microphone. “But once we land, I’ll explain everything.”

It wasn’t exactly what Miles had expected, but he was just happy to be out of the water. ‘What is there to explain?’ Miles thought. ‘Oh, the zombies, the earthquake, and the burn marks on everything.’

Miles had never been as relieved as he was when the chopper crossed over land. He moved the microphone closer to his mouth. “Eric,” he shouted. “Where are we?”

“A few miles south of Santa Barbara,” he shouted back. The pilot hadn’t spoken but Miles could see eyes continuously peering into the mirror on the dashboard. Eric reached into the cockpit and pulled out a small case. Opening the lid, he passed each one of them four blue pills. “This is for the dehydration.”

He handed them the pills and jugs of water.

“Where are we headed?” Miles asked as Eric dropped the pills into his cupped hands.

Eric sat across from him. The man wrung the water from his shirt and ran a hand through his hair. “You’ll see,” he replied. “We’ll be there in about two hours. Just enjoy the ride.”

‘Two hours?’ Miles thought. It seemed odd that a rescue helicopter traveled two hours out of its way and somehow spotted their life-raft. Something didn’t add up, but Miles couldn’t deny his appreciation for the rescue.

He also couldn’t deny the overwhelming exhaustion that passed over him. He was out in minutes. For a moment he thought he was back on the life raft when Ian woke him. He jolted up and attempted to balance himself on the seat. Embarrassed, he realized his surroundings.

“Look,” Ian said, pointing out the window.

The mountains were the first thing Ian spotted. They swept across the horizon, forming a level basin in the middle. On first glance, Miles thought it looked like the rest of the terrain he saw on the trip. After a while, California’s rolling hills and mountains appeared the same to him. But he’d seen this place before.

“Is that Area 51?” Miles asked. Kaeya and Corrine looked at him and back out the window.

Eric laughed. “Only skeptics call it that,” he said. “We call it Eden West.”

Miles was speechless. That meant they must have traveled roughly three-hundred miles and across state lines. He looked below and could see dim lights surrounding the helicopter pad. “How did you find us? Why are you taking us here?” Miles asked.

Eric cracked his knuckles and then leaned forward, placing a hand on Miles’ shoulder. “I’m not exactly authorized to tell you. But don’t worry; someone’s been waiting for you for quite some time.”