Eden Reset Ch. 02

There was another mark up ahead, so she headed that way. As she was checking the marks, she heard the sounds of water. Looking around the corner, she saw water pouring up and falling back. That was a strange sight she had never seen before, so she carefully moved closer.

The rocks at the edge of the pond were very smooth and some of the edges were square. Katey knew those rocks had been made by the people before the dark clouds time. There was a green looking scum on everything. The hard path here had a raised edge on each side, she walked close to the odd looking rock wall for a long ways.

She came to a strange statue that had fallen into the hard path, it was white and had a huge built in hat on it's head. She had no idea at all what that was.

She realized that everything she was looking at were things the others had made.

Katey passed a building that had large doors that slowly opened wide when she walked up to them, that frightened her and she darted back behind some nearby bushes, drawing her blade.

When nothing else moved and the doors closed, she approached again. Once again, they opened wide, faster this time.

Inside, she found a large room with rows of machines of some kind. They all had screens on them, all of them were lit up, just sitting there. Katey also heard a sound, almost like an animal's call but it never changed.

Katey knew there had to be a huge Sunlight collector somewhere for everything to all still work. Checking carefully, she found no bodies, no sign of anything anywhere. There was thick dust on every surface. She looked at one of the machines closely, it had pictures of something in front of little slots. That made no sense at all, so she wandered around looking to see what else was there. She came to a room with bars in front, inside she found stacks of papers that looked like the pictures she had seen. They all had faces on them.

Curious, she picked up one of the bundles, went over to one of the machines. It seemed that they meant to put one of the papers into the machine, so she pulled one loose and tried it. It had designs on it, but they meant nothing to her.

The machine made a whirring and clicking sound and jerked the paper from her fingers, Katey darted for cover, the sudden sound frightened her again. She finally walked back, a light was lit so she pushed it, thinking maybe it had food since she had seen other machines that had packs of food inside but she could see no way to get to it.

She knew about the snack bags that were inside, Dan father had brought some home on his trips. But no amount of effort would get the box open, she had tried.

The machine groaned to life and the screen flashed, it clicked several times and then nothing happened. She pushed the button again, still nothing. Kneeling down, she looked up inside of it, there was nothing there. She set the bundle down and moved on through the room.

Then it hit her. She went back and got the bundle, walked back to one of the machines she saw food inside of. Putting the paper in the slot, the machine jerked it from her fingers. She pushed a button and a small bag fell out into the bottom. She stood there and slid the papers in until the machine was empty, then sat down and ate.

The ones that were black rings rings of sweet bread with Chocolate on them were really hard to bite into but were best of all. She knew what chocolate was from some that Dan father had brought home so many seasons before. The rings were very hard and crunchy, she liked that.

Then she picked up a bag that had what looked like little berries, those were filled with the Chocolate, too.

Katey ate greedily until her lips began to sting from some of the food that a reddish color to it, then her belly hurt a little so she drank some water. There was more than she could carry, so she hid the sacks behind one of the machines.

Then she sat crosslegged on the floor and licked her fingers clean. She drank some more water, then dozed, the sound that came from somewhere still repeating over and over. That seemed to be something like when Dan Father played the songs when she was a very little girl. But the solar collectors had failed, it had been a very long time since she heard them. The sound lulled her to sleep.

Awakening refreshed, and finding nothing else she could use, she went back outside. Marty's mark showed again further down, excited now she moved more quickly, hiding once when she saw a Desert Dog dart across the hard path.

Spotting the marks again with a line and a circle, so she turned and followed.

Passing a doorway, she heard a sound and turned, her hand dropping to her blade.

"In here, Katey, quickly!" She heard Marty's voice. She darted through a side doorway, Marty shut the door and hugged her.

"I knew you would be coming." He told her.

"I had to, both Sara and Mary Mother have gone on." She told him.

His face fell at that.

"It's just us, then, and Marilee."

"You found her?"

"Yes, she is with the others, they have her right down there. They don't know I am here yet. I had been searching and found no sign, then suddenly here they were."

"How many?"

"I have seen six of them and two women, they are all old except for Marilee and one of the men. I think they took Marilee for him.

"For him?"

"Yes, you know, for...breeding."

"Oh." Katey knew about that. She also knew that Marilee was now 18 warm seasons, barely one season younger than herself so she was not too young. That worried her.

"We need to figure out how to get her away from them."

"We could try talking to them?"

"That won't work, they will never give her up without a fight, and then they will just be warned."

"Are they hurting her?"

"It doesn't seem like they are, but I see her work."

"We need to let her know somehow that we are here." Katey said.

"I think we should just try to take them down fast and get it over with. There were too many for just me, but with you here..." Marty's face darkened, his jaw set.

"I have a sling." She said.

"So do I." Marty grinned.

"Well, let's do it, then."

They moved out and slipped carefully down the street. Emboldened now that he was no longer alone, Marty led the way. They could hear voices inside, but they didn't recognize the words. Katey had her sling loaded, Marty loaded his, too.

Together, they stepped inside. One man looked up surprised in time to see Katey release her sling, the pebble hit him on the forehead and he went down without a sound. The one that Marty aimed at moved slightly but was struck on the shoulder hard enough to drop him to his knees. Katey's second pebble took him all the way down.

Marilee stood there startled, then she was running their way just as the man behind her reached for a weapon. Both Katey and Marty knew what those were but their own had long since ran out of ammunition.

Katey wound up her sling, stepping sideways to clear Marilee as the man was swinging the gun around. Her pebble struck him in the stomach, he dropped the rifle.

Then Marilee was hugging Marty, he picked her up and headed for the door. There was some yelling from the other room, Katey dropped the first man that came through the doorway with a stone, the other man jumped back.

She only caught a glimpse of him but he was tall and slender, much younger than the others.

Then she turned and ran, Marty was already on the other side of the hard path and ducking into another building. They ran down a long hallway, then into a side room.

"I took down at least three of them." She panted, trying to catch her breath.

"I got two, one of them you finished off. Nice job."

Marilee was struggling and squirming furiously so Marty put her down. She was much bigger than when Katey had last seen her, but Marty had carried her with ease.

"There are at least two of them left...and the woman." He told her.

"The others will recover, all we did was knock them down. Did you see the young man?"

"Yes, I saw him. We had probably better get out of here." Marty said.

They took off at a trot, Marilee running easily beside them. She still had said almost nothing. They ran all the way to the river, then turned and followed it upstream.

They covered several miles before they stopped to rest. They shared the last of the meat Katey had in her pack.

"The river has lots of fish." She told Marty.

"I know, I caught some when I came through. I have some line I found in a building." He produced a little wheel with red colored line from his pack.

Marilee hopped up and went looking for Ant eggs, Katey could see she hadn't really changed. She never spoke much, but if there was something to do she just did it. She was back quickly with a large handful of big white eggs.

They all went down to the river, in short order Marty had a couple of nice fish. Then Marilee took over, she caught one almost as long as her arm, Marty helped her to pull it out, flopping on the bank.

"That's plenty." Katey said, so they went into the brush to make a camp. Not daring to build a fire, they ate the meat raw.

Then they climbed deep inside a wirebrush plant after chopping out a section, and they curled up to sleep.

Once again, they were all together.

Katey dreamed that night of the tall young man, once she woke up and felt Marty pressed close to her.

It made her feel uncomfortable somehow, she wiggled around until Marilee was between them.

Morning came, it rained briefly, then the Sun came out. They ate the rest of the fish and then headed up the river.

They hadn't gone a mile when they heard the whine of a solar machine. They hid in the brush as it passed, the young man was driving, an older man sat up top and there was an old woman in the other seat. The others didn't see them, so they stayed hidden.

Later, when all seemed quiet, they headed out again. At the edge of the vegetation, the land turned back to desert. They stopped, knowing that to cross would put them out in the open.

They camped right there that night, watching carefully. Katey set some snares with no success, so the next morning they found a water plant and cut some wedges out of it. The moisture was good and would save their meager water cans for later.

Then they headed out. Katey saw her own tracks in the dirt, so they followed those back towards the far off hard path. They were almost to the abandoned vehicles when they saw the big machine pull up and stop. The tall man was standing up, he was looking their way through some kind of glasses.

They were trapped.

Katey picked up some stones, Marty did the same. He handed his blade to Marilee, she took it, knowing exactly how to use it. The others had taken all of her throwing blades from her of course. Her jaw was set, Katey knew she was ready to fight too. The thin 15 seasons old little girl that had vanished so long ago was now a budding young woman.

The machine moved their way again, then stopped well out of their range. Katey expected them to use a weapon, but they didn't.

She realized they could not, not with the three of them very likely being fertile, and two of them women.

Katey had just about decided to rush the vehicle to get within range since running would do no good, not if they had firearms. She really did not think they would use weapons but she wasn't sure of that.

Just then the young man stood up, and held up both hands.

Katey hesitated, not really understanding.

"Darth wants to talk." Marilee said.

The sudden sound of her voice was startling.

"Darth?" Marty asked.

"That man. He is kind to me."

Marty stood up straight, held up his arms. Katey stepped off to the side, her sling now at the ready. The young man climbed down off the vehicle and walked their way. He had nothing in his hands, nothing on his waist.

The man stopped about 10 feet away. His eyes were wary.

"What do you want?" Marty said.

"We need to make peace, work together. We have several of us badly hurt, we can't fight any more."

"There should be four of you badly hurt." Marty answered, folding his arms across his chest.

"Yes. They are sore but OK, they are back at camp being tended to by the family."

"What do you want?" Marty repeated.

"I want to join you. My people talked, they are all old and there is no future. There is a future for me with you. I have no place else to go."

"You want Marilee, is that it?"

"Yes, but...." His eyes dropped. Katey saw Marilee smile slightly out of the corner of her eye.

"In my family, we choose. In my family, we are free. Your people took our sister by force, why should we just not kill you and go on?"

"I can work, I will help. I want to be free too." Darth's eyes looked directly at Marty.

"What about the others?"

"They decided and they agree. They end here now, they can only just live. I want to live, I want to be...with you. With you, I have tomorrow."

Marty glanced at Katey, she nodded. Marilee was looking off into the distance, her way of standing was unconcerned, but Marty knew. He looked back at Darth.

He nodded. Darth turned and walked back to the big ATV. The woman got down, hugged him, handed him a pack then climbed back onto the machine. It spun in it's tracks and was gone in just a few minutes. Darth stood there and watched it go.

His eyes looked damp when he came back to the group. Marilee reached out and touched his arm, smiled. Marty saw that motion and tensed slightly, then relaxed.

Marilee could choose.

"Let's go." He said, and they headed on across the desert.

That night at camp Darth gathered wood, spun up a fire quickly. He opened his pack and produced some dried meat and some kind of vegetable none of them had ever seen before. They all ate quietly. They buried some coals to ward off the chill, made beds in the soft sand. Darth carefully moved several feet away from the rest of them.

The next day as they traveled, Katey noticed that Marilee walked closely to Darth. She said nothing about that, but noticed. It took them a long time to retrace the steps, finally they came to the sign. It now lay on the ground.

Darth and Marty replaced the sign, hung it securely. They were home again, so many seasons had passed.

As they made the last turn towards the house, a voice rang out.

"Hold it right there! Who are you and what do you want?"

Surprised, Katey looked up to see a young man and a woman standing there. They both held long rods tipped with a point.

"Who are you?" Marty asked, stepping forward. The man was dark skinned, the woman was also dark but both had white hair.

"I'm Jon, this is May. We live here."

"This is our home." Marty said.

"We found it empty when we came through?"

"We have been traveling, how many of you are here?"

"Just us, we are all that is left."

"This is our home!" Marty insisted, pulling himself up to his full size, his hand dropping to his blade.

The dark man saw the movement, his spear tip dropped towards Marty.

The situation was tense, Katey knew it was close to a fight. She made a decision.

"Will you join us then? We can all live and help each other."

Jon and May looked at each other, spoke quietly. Then they looked back, and nodded. They all turned and headed up to the house.

Things were tight for a few weeks but the men built some more rooms. The new couple had tended and weeded the garden while Katey had been gone, so the food supply was good. Darth turned out to be as good of a hunter as Marty was, in short order they were always off gathering something to bring home.

Jon had a knack for growing things, he spent most of his time in the gardens while Katey and May took care of keeping things in a reasonable order around the house.

Marilee was always with Darth when the men returned from their hunting. Marilee had grown and filled out, she was now a mature young woman.

One evening Katey lay awake, Jon was out on watch. The tightness of their living quarters made most basic privacy impossible, she listened to the sounds coming from the nearby room, knowing that her brother Marty was mating with the slender dark woman, May. She knew their family of six would become more.

Katey felt the stirrings inside herself, but pressed them back out of her mind, she slept then fitfully.

The next morning she found herself alone with Marty, they spoke quietly.

"We will need more room if May takes with child." She said bluntly to him.

"Yes, Darth and I spoke, we will build another home soon." He knew that Katey knew, he was unabashed.

"Darth and Marilee will probably soon join." He looked at Katey pointedly.

"They already have." Katey said flatly, with a smile.

"That leaves just Jon." Marty waited for her reaction. Katey said nothing, she felt no real attraction for Jon, instead her thoughts and dreams had been of Darth. The strong hunter in him had more of an attraction than Jon, who was slender and seemed content to tend the crops.

Marty knew from the look on her face, but he said nothing more. He simply got up and went to work gathering stones. Soon he was joined by both Darth and Jon, they cleared an area and began the laborious process of building. It took two full seasons, finally a fine home stood a few dozen feet away from the main house.

Marty and May moved into it, she was heavy with child. With just the four of them living in the main house, there was suddenly room. Jon took one of the rooms they had added, Darth and Marilee took the other.

Katey used the main room that Dan father and both Mary and Sara mother had used so long ago. She was accepted as the leader of their group, since Marty now stayed very close to May. He doted on her.

When May delivered the fine baby boy, Marilee was there with Darth and Marty. Jon was tending the gardens like he always did, Katey had been out hunting with her sling for Rabbits.

Those were now plentiful, she had a half dozen when she got back, greeted by the lustful cries of the new arrival as she walked down towards the stone house. Jon came in and helped her prepare the meat.

"Marilee is now with child." Jon told her simply. Jon was like Marilee in a way, he seldom said anything and when he did it was to the point.

Katey just nodded, busied herself with the meat.

"I was thinking..." Jon said.

"About what?" Katey answered.

"I was wondering if you and...I?"

"You wish to mate with me?" Katey grinned at his discomfort.

"Well...yes. We could maybe make a child?"

She turned and looked at him.

"Just for that? Just to make a child?" She asked.

Jon's dark skin flushed darker.

"There is no one else." He said finally.

"I do not need a child."

"Our family does, we will."

Katey finished up cutting the Rabbits, hung the meat to dry. She would smoke it later on. She gathered her pack and sling, turned and left.

Jon said nothing more, just hung his head. Later he went back to the gardens, busied himself. Katey did not return that evening, nor the next. The rest of the family sat around the fire and waited.

Jon was outside tending the smoker they had built when Katey came down the trail. She looked at him and smiled, then went inside the house. She said something to Marilee, the two of them went into their common washroom.

Marilee came out and she and Darth left, neither one of them said a word.

Jon was puzzled, nobody was acting normal. He came into the house, looked around.

Katey was sitting there, her hair put up carefully in long braids. She wore her desert dog parka over her shoulders and nothing else.

"About time!" She told Jon. He just stood there.

"Well?" Katey asked, turning and walking into her room.

Jon understood that.

Eden was likely to grow, it seemed.

Three couples, living their lives together. There was an unspoken rule, they shared in everything they caught and grew, they harvested when they could.