Part 5: Imaginary

The Promised Land: 

(Part 5) Imaginary 

Eden’s dreams were filled with dark visions. In her nightmare, soldiers with red eyes and white hair surrounded her and tried to take something from her. Eden wasn’t sure what she was holding on to, but the soldiers had taken hold of it and wouldn’t let go. The more they pulled it away, the harder she clutched to the item for dear life. Eden woke up and realized Caden was trying to yank his coat from her iron grip.

Frightened, the girl let go and looked around. She was still in the room she fell asleep in, still in the same world. “I… I don’t understand,” she said quietly.

“You stole my coat in your sleep, simple as that. I’ll make sure to lock the door next time.” Caden’s face was wrinkled into a frown as he briskly put the coat on and zipped it up to his chin. “Get up. An Atari scout found us, but I took care of him. We need to go.”

Eden remained curled up on the poor excuse for a bed, staring off into the distance. “I fell asleep… but I didn’t wake up in my world. I thought… I thought I could… go back,” she said aloud to herself.

A shadow of pity reduced Caden’s irritation. He grabbed her arm and pulled Eden up. “We need to go. NOW,” he stated firmly. Still holding on to Eden’s arm, he pulled her out of the room, down the hall, and into the living room. Shiloh was guarding the door with an assault rifle.

“Take her,” Caden muttered as he let go of Eden’s arm and grabbed the backpacks instead. He went outside, presumably to make sure there were no more soldiers lurking about. Shiloh smiled at Eden and, with his left hand, touched his mouth with his index finger and covered his right fist with his palm. Eden blinked in confusion. She jumped when someone knocked on the door two times. Shiloh took Eden’s hand and pulled her outside. Eden was hit with a wave of chills as soon as she stepped outside. The wind was howling. The grey/green sky and broken buildings gave her an eerie feeling.

Eden couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering. “So c-c-cold. What t-time is it?”

“Almost four,” Caden said as he took the lead. The small group wandered behind and between several houses until they came to a rusted military jeep. In the dim light, Eden could tell the brown seats were torn and tattered. What little paint could be seen suggested that the jeep had been a dark green color at one point. Eden wondered if the rust bucket would run at all. Caden threw the large bag into the backseat and started sifting through the bag’s contents. Shiloh hopped into driver’s seat and started the jeep.

“Why does he get to drive?”

“Because he knows where to go.”

Eden was about to climb into the front passenger seat when Caden spoke again.

“Can you use a gun?” he asked as he unzipped his heavy green coat and pulled on a black windbreaker.

Eden shook her head.

“Don’t call shotgun if you can’t shoot.” Caden handed her the big green coat and climbed into the seat next to his brother. As soon as Eden got in beside the backpack, the jeep took off. Where they were going, Eden didn’t know. Nor did she care. She wanted to be as far away from the demolished center as possible. Many of the roads had large potholes and looked as though something had plowed through them. Eden assumed it was for this reason that Shiloh stayed off the roads. Caden kept his rifle, the same one Shiloh had earlier, ready to fire at any moment. He was tense for a full hour into the drive. Once he thought they were a good distance from the wreckage of Freedom, he relaxed enough to turn around and talk to Eden.

“Jericho is about two hours away. We’ll-”

“Jericho?” a fully awake Eden interrupted. “That already doesn’t sound good.”

“As I was saying,” Caden continued, “You won’t survive out here on your own, but you should be able to figure something out in Jericho. It’s not a star city, so it will be easier for you to blend in.”

“What’s a star city?”

“A city approved by Z as pure.” Caden put air quotes around the last word.

“Z? Pure? From what?”

“This is going to be a long drive,” Caden sighed. Eden’s ignorance annoyed him, but if there was any truth to her story, she needed to know how to stay alive this new world. “Z is the dictator. After the war, he took control of what was left of America. Now he has his own army that he uses to enforce his laws.”

“The Atari?”

“Right. You’re not such a blockhead after all.” Caden smirked.

Eden stuck out her tongue, but he continued.

“The dictator divided people into two groups: the Pure and the Diseased. The war was mostly chemical. It left a lot of… sickness. The Pure are the ones who weren’t infected by the chemicals, like you. Those who were infected reacted differently. Most died immediately. The rest of the Infected were either stuck with a disease that would eventually kill them or… mutated.” Caden’s dark eyes drifted until he was staring behind Eden as his voice grew quiet. “I suppose now there are really three groups: the living… the dying… and us.”

In his own mind, Caden was reflecting on the different responses he and his brother got when people found out they were “Diseased.” In the blink of an eye, Caden was no longer in the present, but picturing a scene from his last visit to a star city.   

~*~

The black and white flag in the center of the city glided gently in the wind. It looked far more peaceful at the top of the flagpole than it did at the bottom. Far below, the ashen faces of the citizens blocked out whatever cheerful color could be found in the city. “Any color would do,” Caden thought to himself behind his dark sunglasses. “Even a blue would be welcome at this point.” He had never seen so many greys in one location. Sometimes he saw a green or two, no orange, no red. This wasn’t a colorful town. Except for the two people walking ahead of him. Shiloh, with his hood drawn over a dark ball cap, was always some mix of the two colors. Hope, however, reflected yellow almost consistently. The trio moved into the segregated part of town, the “Infected Zone.” Caden saw more color here. Green, to be exact. No matter where he went, the infected could always be discerned from the pure. Not just by the symbol they bore on their clothes and above their houses, but by their fear. Caden wondered if a cure for the diseased could ever be strong enough to heal a people broken by fear and prejudice. It wasn’t just from the pure citizens that Caden and Shiloh hid their identity. Most of the infected were just as on edge as the pure when they found out the truth. There were a few who accepted them with open arms and they weren’t to be found in star cities. Caden didn’t like being labeled and treated differently, sometimes even treated like dirt. He had to continually remind himself how lucky he and Shiloh really were. They were diseased, yes, but not in agony and waiting for life to expire. Caden wasn’t sick, like so many of his friends…

Caden’s trip down memory lane was interrupted when Eden spoke up.

“What are you?”