Part 9: Dead Man

The Promised Land:
(Part 9) Dead Man

Eden ran around the truck and ducked behind a broken wall. She peered over the crumbling brick to look for Caden. A few toppled cars littered the ground in front of her hiding place. There he was, huddled behind a smashed vehicle with his weapons ready. A few more shots went off from an unknown location. With a deep breath, Caden spun out from behind his shelter and ran into enemy fire. Swerving to the sound of gunshots, Caden leapt to the hood and top of a car. Without missing a beat, he somersaulted over the side, shot three bullets from each gun mid-flip, and rolled into a crouch when he landed with two dead men behind him. Sprinting once again, Caden fired into enemies on either side as he ran by their rubble hideaways. He darted into an opening of a two-story building with a large chunk of wall taken out of the corner. Eden could still hear gunshots, but she couldn’t see where Caden disappeared to. Within a few minutes, she spotted him on the rooftop. He jumped from the roof to a barren flagpole and slid down like a firefighter. Upon reaching the ground, he stood straight and rolled his shoulders back. Walking back to the truck, Caden scooped up a rifle and rested it on his right shoulder.

“How can a preteen have that much skill?” Eden asked herself in surprise. She was both amazed and terrified by what she just witnessed. “Were this a movie, I wouldn’t think twice about it.” Eden wasn’t quite sure if this increased or decreased her trust in these two mysterious wanderers. She turned around and screamed when she saw a pale and silver face in front of hers. Shiloh jumped back with his eyes incredibly wide. Apparently, he hadn’t expected her to turn around so fast, just as she hadn’t expected him to be standing behind her.
“Sorry, Shiloh,” Eden said as she tried to get her breathing under control again. “You scared me.”

With a sheepish grin, he handed her the jean jacket she left behind.

“Oh, thanks.” As Eden took the article, something touched her shoulder and she spun around, screaming a second time.

Caden stood back with his hands up. “Jumpy much?”

Eden didn’t realize he was wearing fingerless gloves until just now. She wondered if he had them on the whole time or if he put them on when she wasn’t looking. His dark eyes were red, presumably from use in his little escapade.

“I-I just…” In her anxiety, Eden failed a few times in trying to get her arm through the sleeve. She almost put it on backwards at one point. “Never mind. How old are you?”

Caden tilted his head. “Sixteen. Why?”

“How in the world did you do that?”

“…Do what?” His confused expression melted into a smirk, which Eden found entirely obnoxious.

She crossed her arms and frowned. “You know very well what. The Jason Bourne, ninja-spawn moves!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Caden shook his head and turned to look at the scene.

“Yes, you do!”

“Hush.” Caden dropped the rifle from its resting position on his shoulder and glanced around suspiciously. He was tense, but Eden remained oblivious.

“I most certainly will not hush. You can get yourself ki-”

“Would you just-”

Something tackled Eden just as gunfire exploded. A sharp yell blasted through her eardrums. With her hands pressed firmly against her ringing ears, Eden vaguely heard Caden fire back. Whatever force knocked her to the ground kept her pinned down. Eden had no idea where the sound blasted from, but her ears were ringing like crazy. For a moment, she thought she was going deaf. She kept her eyes shut and curled into a ball as soon as the pressure holding her down was lifted. When she cracked her eyes open, she realized something was terribly wrong. Ears still roaring and panic building, Eden sat up with her hands still clamped against her head.

Shiloh was lying on his side with Caden kneeling beside him, speaking quietly. Shiloh would slowly nod or shake his head every now and then, but his face was scrunched in pain the whole time. As the ringing died down, Eden removed her hands and crept closer.

A splotch of red was quickly spreading across Shiloh’s grey hoodie.

Stunned, Eden was paralyzed with fear. “Is he… is he ok?”

Eden glanced up to find Caden’s red glare burning through her.

“Instead of sitting here,” he said in a calm, but stern manner, “why don’t you make yourself useful and go find a car that works?”

Eden gulped. “But… what if there are more guys with guns?”

“Then use yourself as a meat shield next time.” Caden’s attention turned back to his brother. Hurt, Eden felt tears welling up as she stood. After all, it wasn’t her fault that Shiloh was injured. Right? She never asked for his protection. She didn’t even ask to be here. Everything was going just fine until she woke up in this nightmare. Nevertheless, Eden obeyed and started her search.

She hoped Shiloh would be ok. If he wasn’t… She tried not to think about it. She crept between bodies and debris. It was deathly quiet and, without Caden’s heavy coat over her thin jacket, she was cold again. She wondered if the whole country was this way: cold, dry, silent, and dead. Eden wished for something living. She wanted to see green grass, blue sky, and yellow flowers again. Thinking back to her task, Eden found two trucks that looked semi-decent parked behind a large, bare tree. They were both unlocked and the windows were down, but Eden couldn’t find keys for either one. Picturing the missing keys on a dead body somewhere disturbed her. She didn’t know how to hotwire a truck and didn’t think she could figure it out on the first try. She continued her search, but only came up with rubble. Eden made her way back to the twins. Shiloh was lying on his back now, but he looked like he was in even more pain than before. He winced with every breath. Caden ignored Eden’s approach entirely and continued whispered to Shiloh. The only words Eden caught were, “…blockhead…sacrifice…hero…Dad…”