Eden Reset

"Every single Nation?"

"Yes."

"How many have you found so far?"

"About three hundred, all in small groups. There is one group living back East near what was Virginia, they were miners. There were 40 of them, just two women."

"Three hundred? All told?" Dan couldn't fathom that, billions were now...three hundred?

"We keep finding a few here and there, not very many. Anyone underground for some reason made it, but anyone exposed even slightly are sterile."

"But? All of us were exposed, Sara the most of all of us?"

"Really? That means there is hope, you are the only ones so far that have children. A boy..and a girl, you say?" He turned and said something to the other man that Dan didn't understand.

"Yes." Dan was feeling nervous now. The man's tone had changed.

"We will need to move them, we need to find out why..and keep them protected."

"I have them protected." Dan told him.

"You can't, not like we can. We can move...all of you to our camp, take care of you."

"We are comfortable right here."

"I don't think you understand, it's too important. The entire human race could depend on it."

"No."

"Besides, you have two women, we have just one."

"NO!"

The man got an angry look on his face, started to turn to say something to the other man sitting on the machine. He was too slow.

Dan reached out and grabbed him, getting instant resistance but years of hard labor made Dan very strong. He controlled the smaller man easily. The other man sitting on the machine reached for his weapon.

"Don't or I will break his neck!" Dan shouted.

The man hesitated, just then Mary appeared off to the side. She had Dan's pistol in her hand, the hammer cocked.

"Get down!" She ordered. The man looked first at her, then back at Dan.

He climbed down from the machine.

"Cover them, Mary." Dan told her. Then he climbed up on the machine, picked up the large gun. He had no idea how to work it but he knew he could figure it out. He searched the machine, found the canisters of ammunition, unloaded them and stacked them on the ground.

"Now go. If you come back out here, interfere with us in any way, we will fight. We are armed and you can't even shoot at us. We are all there is." Dan wasn't sure he was right on that point, but it was worth a try.

There was going to be trouble, he knew. Government, there always is. Another budding government, trying to force their ideas of what is right on everyone. It had only taken a few minutes, too.

The two men stood there, frightened.

"What are you going to do?" The man said.

"We are going to live, don't ever come back here and try to tell us what to do again. If you do, you will stay here. Do you understand what we mean?"

The man nodded. They got on the machine and drove away. Three hundred, the man had said. He knew this group was far less. Six of them, and one woman, he had said. Maybe they could handle them, maybe not. Maybe there was actually far more out there...maybe.

Dan put his arm around Mary as he watched the trail of dust vanish into the distance. Sara came out and cuddled up to him too. He looked over at their two children, both watching with big eyes.

"They will be back, or more like them."

"Yes, I think so." Mary answered.

The next day Dan checked carefully, there was nothing moving, no one in sight. He drove down to the turnoff, dug a hole and set a post. On the post he set a sign.

Stepping back, he looked at the sign. He was a bit proud of his handiwork.

"EDEN." The sign read. "DO NOT ENTER."

Mary waved as he drove past the area up in the rocks she had selected to place the heavy weapon. She had figured out how to work it in a few minutes. She had aimed and fired one round, smashing a rock she had set up as a target to tiny shards. Then she had grinned at him, and shown him how the thing worked.

There were weapons in town, too, He had seen a few in some of the houses, not many but they didn't need many. He would slip in carefully and gather more.

It never ends, he thought. It just never ends.

To live, men fight. To live free, men must fight harder. The way it has always been.

Probably the way it would always be.

Dan smiled at Sara, she was fixing a meal when he walked in. Marty and Katey we already sitting at the table. Mary came in, checked the solar powered video screen Dan had set up, the remote camera gave a nice view of the only way in. She checked the volume on the warning buzzer he had hooked up to several motion detectors, just in case someone decided to pay a visit at night.

She grinned at Dan. Sara set the table, her swollen belly showed that she was close. Dan was looking forward to the next child, boy or girl, it didn't matter.

Tonight he and Mary would try again, although she told him that she was already late by over a week.

Dan glanced at the video screen, there was nothing there, no sign of anything at all. He could see the highway in the background, nothing moved there, either.

Dan knew that from now on, he would be checking that a lot.

Eden, they called this place. He also knew it wasn't quite an Eden.