Part 4: Tiptoe

 The Promised Land: 
(Part 4) Tiptoe

Caden, Shiloh, and Eden walked into a small, grey house. It looked as though the previous owners left right before a tornado hit. Most of the walls and rooms were intact, which is more than could be said for many other buildings in the area. Caden went ahead and checked all the rooms to make sure they were empty.

“It’s all clear,” he said as he ushered the others in. “We can sleep here tonight.”

Caden took the backpack from Eden and detached a roll, which turned out to be two sleeping bags tucked together. “Two of the rooms have beds. You can see which one you’re least disgusted with.”

“What about you two?”

“Shiloh and I are going to stay in here. There’s a couch one of us can sleep on while the other one takes watch.” Caden looked at his brother. “Flip you for it.”

Shiloh dug into his pocket and pulled out a flattened bottle cap.

Eden sat on a ragged patch of carpet with her legs crossed. “Don’t they have coins in the future?”

“Of course we do,” Caden answered as he watched Shiloh toss the metal cap. “We just… don’t have any. We don’t exactly run on money, you know. Not out here anyway.” The cap landed with the printed side up. “… I win.”

Caden pulled a handgun from his own backpack and handed it to Shiloh. After unrolling the sleeping bags and throwing one over the couch, Caden dropped his bag next to his feet and stretched. He took off his coat and dropped it next to his sack. Shiloh sat facing the door with his back against the couch. He laid the gun aside and started to unzip his black case.

“I’m not sure now’s a good time for that,” Caden said as he settled into the couch and pulled the other sleeping bag over. “We don’t know how close those goons are. Or how many are still out there.”

After a moment of thought, Shiloh nodded and zipped the case up. Eden’s stomach growled, but only she took notice of it. Seeing Caden pull the sleeping bag up to his chin, she asked, “What about dinner?”

“We already had dinner,” he muttered with his eyes closed.

“…I didn’t.”

The dejected tone in Eden’s voice was hard to ignore. Shiloh was about to get up and get something for her to eat, but his brother moved first. Caden threw off the sleeping bag, crawled off the couch, and over to their stash. He pulled out a chunk of bread and handed it to Eden with a sour look on his face. Without waiting for a response, he crawled back onto the couch and threw the sleeping bag over his head.

“Thank you,” a pleased Eden said before biting into her meal. Caden grumbled in response.

Eden decided it would be best not to bother him again. She wondered if his agitation was something sleep could fix or if he was just always that disagreeable. Eden finished her sparse meal not long after she received it. Although she was thirsty, she wasn’t going to risk waking up Caden. Eden stretched out her legs so they wouldn’t fall asleep and shoved her hands into her jean pockets. Feeling solid plastic, she pulled out her forgotten phone. The screen lit up as it searched fruitlessly for a signal. Eden was about to put it away when she had a sudden thought. Sliding the keyboard out, she glanced at Shiloh before typing a message. She gently tapped Shiloh and handed him the phone. She figured she already knew what the answer would be, but she wanted to be sure. Shiloh handed the phone back just a few seconds later. Eden found that typing messages and passing the phone back and forth proved to be an adequate way to communicate in silence. Had she known sign language, she probably would have used that instead. Eden read through the messages so far.

“Can you talk?”

“Yes.”

“Then why don’t you?”

“I don’t like hurting people.”

“You can’t think of anything nice to say?”

“I can think of lots of nice things to say, but to say them out loud would do more harm than good.”

Not sure exactly how to take that, Eden decided not to press the question. “Why do Caden’s eyes turn red?”

“That’s his gift. He can change the way he sees the world. He can see things others can’t.”

“Do your eyes get all creepy too?”

“No. It’s just him.”

“He said those soldiers were after you. Why?”

Shiloh paused on this question and stared straight ahead. Eden couldn’t tell if he heard something or if he was trying to avoid the question. Eden strained to hear anything unusual. “It would be ironic if the soldiers happened to find us just as we were talking about them,” she thought.

Shiloh handed the phone back. “It’s a long story. You should get some rest. We’ll make sure you get to the next town safely.”

Eden frowned. “He’s just trying to get rid of me,” she thought. “They’re probably going to get up in the middle of the night and leave me here for soldier bait.”

She typed out another message with a determined expression. She held up the phone so he could read it. Eden wanted to watch his expressions for any hint of deceit. “Promise?”

Shiloh read the message, looked Eden in the eye, and gave a solemn nod. Eden put the phone away and stood up. “Seemed serious enough,” she thought. Shiloh grinned and waved at Eden as she left the room. “Nope, he’s trying to get rid of me.”

Eden checked both bedrooms. Both beds looked pretty bad. The frames were broken. The mattresses were torn and burned. Not to mention the significant lack of bed sheets and pillows. Eden wondered if her thin jacket would be enough to keep her warm. She crept back into the living room. Shiloh was still at his post and Caden was fast asleep. When Shiloh saw her, Eden rubbed her arms and whispered, “Cold.”

Shiloh reached around, grabbed Caden’s green coat, and tossed it to Eden with a smile. Eden glanced at the sleeping lump on the couch and mouthed a “thank you” to Shiloh before heading back to the bedrooms. “Not sure how happy Cay’s going to be when he finds out I have his coat,” she muttered to herself. She snickered when she imagined a look of fiery indignation on his face. Eden inspected both beds again and chose, in her mind at least, the lesser of two evils. Caden’s coat was surprisingly large and quite warm. Snuggling into a ball on the rotting bed, Eden wondered if she would wake up in her own world. She wouldn’t say that she enjoyed her time in this new world, but she did find the twins rather amusing. She hoped she would see them again in another dream, a less malevolent dream. Eden closed her eyes and fell asleep.