Eden

Book 1: The Descent

Verse 1: Untimely Beginning

“The Deus Corporation is one of the largest technological and industrial empires of the 21st century. Founded in 2007 by a young entrepreneur called Donald Reefer, the Deus Corporation produces over 9000 different products across 50 departments. Almost every home in Europe and America is likely to have one of our products inside it, you have probably used one today.”

Brian Stephenson watched the screen with a vague interest, his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans, he glanced down at the small touch screen in front of himself. It had the date and time at the top, and several options of information videos available to watch. He pressed another button, another video began to play.

“Welcome to Eden, please enjoy your shopping with us today. Eden was opened in 2012, it was heralded as the worlds largest shopping centre in the world, drawing in tourists from across Europe just for shopping. Located off of the South coast of England, Eden is a haven for all types of consumers…”

Brian was distracted from the video, there she was. He didn’t want to admit he was a stalker, he hadn’t followed her here, he had come because he needed to buy something, but he knew she would be here. Katie Weathers… They went to the same school, but he had never dared to speak to her. He shook his head slightly, feeling his slightly long brown hair flick around his ears. Now was as good a time as any. He began to walk over to where she was standing, near the toilets…

Francis Donagan had not come here to shop; he had come to pick something up. It was simple really. Sit down at the bar and order a drink. Wait for the dealer, a quick under the counter exchange. He had done this already, and he couldn’t wait to get it over with again. He rushed into the toilets, ready to swallow what he had been given, it was the best but most risky way to transport it.

“Bro, I need to go to the bathroom!” cried little 7 year old Mary.

“Alright, alright.” Replied her 20 year old brother Joe. “But don’t take too long. I have got lots of things to do.”

“Ok ok.” She replied, running into the bathroom.

Joe stood in the corridor towards the toilets, looking into the window display, facing him were lots of different electronic goods. As he stood there someone came running past, bumping into both himself and the girl. Joe turned around to look at this person as he sped into the toilets. Dyed white hair, glasses, a Hawaiian shirt and a small bag of white powder poorly concealed. Joe had an idea what was going on. Nearby was a security guard, he walked over too her…

Jenna Gates was on the morning shift that day. She stood around the main entrance area watching the place slowly fill up with people. There had been nothing interesting this morning, one shop attendant had left a tag on a jacket that someone purchased. But the alarms went off everyday in Eden, that’s how things were. A young man came running up to her.

“Excuse me lady. There is a guy in the toilets, I think he’s got drugs.”

Jenna stepped into action, approaching the toilets…

At this brief moment in time 6 people were all in one place, they would all be very lucky to be in this one place. At 10:57am on the 27th of July 2014 one of the greatest manmade disasters in human history would begin. These 6 would be part of the lucky few who were in the right place at the right time, although they were about to begin a painful journey, even from this early stage, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

It happened. In an instant alarm bells rang all around and people looked up from whatever they were doing to see what the fuss was about. As they did all the doors to the shops and entrances closed. Thick iron shutters came down, locking people in. People began to shout, however all of a sudden there was a great rumbling which brought everyone to a silent stop again. The noise grew louder as the floor began to shake, things started to fall from shelves while people panicked. The shattering of glass, the rattling of clothes hangers on the floor was masked by the alarms and the flashing of red warning lights. The shaking got stronger. Suddenly all the lights went out, and the whole building seemed to be thrown into turmoil. Dust filled the air, and then there was silence…

Verse 2: Calm between the storms

Brian opened his eyes. He could see the marble floor, covered with dust. He knew he had been knocked down. Lying just a few meters away from him he could see Katie. He slowly got to his knees, feeling if his body was ok. He got up and looked around. There were several other people around. A security guard was already up, and was looking at what seemed to be a pile of rubble. It was blocking the way into the main shopping centre area. Cutting them off like in the movies. Metal screens covered the shop windows, they were stuck.

“Hey, you!” said the security guard. “You ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Great, go check in the toilets, see if anyone is around.”

Brian was clueless, he obediently walked into the male toilets following the orders of the security guard. Almost all the lights had gone out. Only one remained and it flickered badly, casting fearful shadows on the cream tiled walls. Brian noticed that the room seemed to slope. At the far end where the last cubicle was, Brian could see that there was a hole in the floor, a huge gaping hole that seemed to lead to nothing. He walked over towards the hole. He noticed that all the mirrors were cracked, something really strange was happening. It was obvious. Holding onto the side of a sink he peered down into the hole, not daring to take a step forward as the floor sloped violently. Water dripped out of a broken pipe. It did not seem to fall far. There must be another floor just below. Brian jumped in alarm as a painting hung on the toilet walls slipped off and fell through the hole. It smashed on the floor below.

Brian got up. As he did, something leapt up from out of the hole. A lizard. It ran along the floor at lightning speed, and out of the door. It left a red trail on the floor, a trail of blood.

“Fucking hell.” Brian said, staring at the small red line. He noticed the door to one of the toilets open. A man stepped out. It was the one who had run past Katie just moments earlier.

“You can say that again kid… Damn, what the hell happened in here?” the man asked, looking around. “Did you do this?”

“Yeah, course I did.” Brian said sarcastically.

“Course you did kid, of course you did…” the man said coolly, walking out of the toilets. As he went he added. “Name’s Francis.”

Brian followed him out into the corridor. The security guard was tending to someone, they were injured. It took Brian a few seconds to work out who it was. Her clothes were covered with dust, he right cheek was badly cut, and several of her teeth were missing. Katie Weathers was not quite the princess she used to be. She was sitting on a large block of rubble, tears flowing down her face.

“Its ok.” Jenna was saying over and over again. “We have some bandages in the first aid stuff in the security room.”

The door to the ladies bathroom opened, a man came out, carrying a little girl on his shoulder.

“A lizard bit me!” she cried. Holding her arm.

“You sure it was a lizard Mary?” asked the man carrying

“Yeah, it wasn’t very big, but it was green, and it was hurt.”

“I saw it as well.” Brian said. “It ran out of the men’s room. I don’t have a clue where it is now.”

“It came out from a big hole.” Said Mary, trying to hold back the tears.

“There’s a bleedin’ massive hole in the men’s room as well!” said Francis loudly. “What the hell is going on here?”

“I don’t know.” Jenna said. “I have to go report to the security room, we need to get the emergency services here as soon as possible. Hey you” she said, pointing at Brian. “Help this girl walk would you.”

Jenna walked over to a door at the end of the short corridor. she scanned a card through a slot and expected the door to open. It did not budge. She tried again and again, even trying other doors.

“Shit, the whole place has gone into lock down. We need to get down one floor. You guys said there were holes in the bathroom floors.”

“Yeah.” Mary said. “A big, black hole!”

“It didn’t go down far.” Explained Brian, who was helping up Katie. “We should be able to drop right down a floor, it didn’t seem too high.”

“I’ll take a look at it, it should lead down into one of the staff resting rooms. Everyone wait here.”

Jenna opened the door to the male toilets, she walked over to the obvious gaping hole in the floor. She shone her torch down into it, she recognized the room below, it was the smoking room.

“Steven? Tom?” she shouted down into the hole. “Clarissa? Anyone there?”

Cautiously she began to move down into the hole. Just below was the top of an old filing cabinet. By standing on that and dropping off of it she made it to the floor. All the lights were out, glancing around with her torch she could see nothing out of the ordinary. The ironically placed and untouched stop smoking leaflets remained in their dusty pile on the coffee table. Tom (one of the maintenance guys) had left his ladder as usual by the small television. She slowly opened the creaky door into the hallway. She glanced around, it was silent, except for the dripping of water from one of the pipes on the floor above. She made her way down the corridor to the security office. None of the rooms here seemed to be in lockdown. She scanned her card in the lock and opened the door, there was Steven, one of her collegues, asleep in front of all the camera monitors. A little bit of drool was dropping form his large mouth. It was only then Jenna realized it. That was not drool, it was blood. She instantly rushed over to him

“Holy shit!” she said. “Steven are you alright?” She asked urgently, shaking his shoulders. It was hopeless, the indescribable stench of death hung in the air. Jenna noticed that his uniform was stained darkly at the waist and below. She pulled back the chair, the man’s legs were missing…

Jenna returned quickly to the area where the others were waiting, she climbed up from the hole using the stepladder. She had not known what to do, she had grabbed the first aid kit and ran. Out in the corridor area she found everyone waiting, they all looked tense and concerned.

“What happened? Joe?” asked Jenna

“Quiet.” he said, holding his hands over Mary’s ears.

Jenna stood still, listening. At first she heard nothing, but suddenly she could hear the screams. Torrents of footsteps, screaming and shouting. Then finally a shrieking noise like nothing she had heard or could comprehend.

“We have to get downstairs!” Jenna said. “Something is going wrong. Quickly, go!”

Everyone began to move down into the smoking room below the toilets. As they went the screams from beyond the pile of rubble began to get fewer and fewer, and the hammer of footsteps slowly began to drain away. The beautiful halls of material pleasure were empty, and all was silent in Eden.

Verse 3: A Plan

It is here that I begin my story, because there is a lot to tell you all, you see what you have read above is all true, it all happened, and it is still happening right now. How do I know? Because I was there, my name is Brian Stephenson. I am either one of the luckiest people alive today. (When you understand what is going on you will realize that there isn’t much competition.) Or I am cursed, to suffer for the rest of my confusing life. They call this place Eden, somehow there is some truth in that. This place may now be the epicentre of all evil in the world, but there is a tiny area, where there are no strange creatures, there are no dust storms. There is a place where rain falls from the sky, not blood and acid. This place is the closest thing to heaven on earth, and it is here that I sit, typing this. Yes, typing, on a fucking computer! While the rest of the world burns.

Of course paradise is not without its faults. Around 30 of us are left here, there are conflicts, but nothing major. What really creeps us out is some of the stuff that goes on, paranormal stuff…

I’m sorry I must be confusing you; just remember what I have just said now, there is trouble in paradise, and I only think its going to get worse.”

The last person to descend into the hole was Jenna. Now, the group was stood in the silence of the staff smoking room, waiting, not knowing what was going on. Brian was holding on to Katie, who’s cheeks were wet and bloody at the same time. Francis moved over to the corner of the room and turned the light on, the long bar lights flickered for a few moments and eventually most of them came on.

“What the hell is going on?” Francis asked to Jenna. “Why did everything just close down?”

“This place has gone into lock down, it’s a security feature, if there is a terrorist attack or fire.” she replied, moving the ladder away from the hole and drawing her gun. “It’s not a fire as the fire alarm lights are not on, but it could be terrorists. I found someone down here, he was dead.”

“Bloody hell! What are we going to do?” asked Joe.

“We need to get outside, but all the entrances are in lockdown except the ones at the back of the facility. We have to get there.” explained Jenna. “But to do that we have to go down several more floors.”

The group moved out of the room, following Jenna down a dimly lit corridor. As they passed a map encased in glass, Jenna smashed it open, taking the map. They continued for a short while until they came to a large doorway with the word “Ethiopia” painted on it in large white letters, it was a cargo elevator. Jenna turned around and spoke to the group.

“We have to go down here, this leads to Ethiopia.”

“What, the country?” asked Brian.

“No, munitions and mechanics, don’t ask why its called that because I don’t know. It was the choice of Mr Reefer.”

“So, there are guns down there?” asked Joe

“I’ve only seen a little bit of it myself, but there should be guns down there, along with cars, planes, tanks. You name it.”

“So, that’s where the exit is, yes?”

“I think so, although it’s a large department, takes up most of the east and rear of the facility. If we manage to find our way through we may find an exit to the rear, hopefully they wont have gone into lockdown.”

Once again the group moved on without questioning. Joe held onto Mary, and Brian helped Katie, too nervous to dare say a word to her. Francis followed Jenna closely; the others could tell just how desperate he was to get out of this place. As they moved down in a large cargo elevator, they could all feel the air getting colder, a bitter chill coming over them.

“I’m cold Bro.” Mary said quietly too her brother.

Joe reached into his backpack that he had on, and found a fleece. He gave it to Mary and she hurriedly placed it on.

Brian finally found his courage. He spoke to Katie.

“Are you ok?” he asked in a soft voice.

“I’m fine, thank you for helping me Brian.” Katie replied, smiling slightly at him.

“You know my name?” Brian asked in surprise.

“Of course, you are at my school, Brian Stephenson, right? You were like the best at javelin and stuff.”

“Yeah, it’s great that you recognize me.”

The elevator stopped and the doors slowly opened. This time into a very brightly lit corridor, like that of a hospital.

“This is the medical department I think, its where people sometimes come for very advanced surgery and private medical treatment. All staff have to come here for a medical exam once a year.” Jenna explained again. “This is the furthest I will have been.”

As they began to walk, Francis could hear something, at first it sounded like a low hum of a fan, a sound of an old computer. It seemed to grow louder, becoming a roar of air. Then, it hit them. A huge gust of wind suddenly blew down the corridor. The doors of all the rooms flew open and tiles began to fly from the walls. The entire group was thrown to the floor except Francis. He grabbed hold of a doorway and forced himself into a room, out of the way of a vicious air current. He hurriedly pushed the door shut behind him, trying to save himself. Once he had it closed, he looked around the room, hearing in the background the shouts of the others and the howl of wind.

There was a strange smell in this room, something that first smelt like gone-off meat. He noticed that all the furniture in this room was trashed, probably by the wind. He could see through the window of the office that the others were all on the floor, it seemed strange, it seemed as if there was no wind anymore, their hair and clothes seemed still, but yet objects were flying around and he could certainly hear the roar of the wind. However his mind turned again to the smell in this room, and why in fact he had even decided to abandon the group and walk into this room. He moved across the room to the only piece of furniture that had not been moved by the winds. The smell was foulest here, around a low cabinet that was attached to the wall in a corner of the room. Slowly Francis knelt down and opened the doors. He peered inside only for a second before jumping back in disgust, throwing his forearm over his mouth and nose, desperately trying to conceal his senses from what was inside.

In that moment, the winds seemed to just stop. All was quiet again. Jenna was the first to get up, she dashed into the room that she saw Francis enter. Her first intention was to rebuke him for leaving the others just to save himself. But she too smelt that smell. The stench of death she had smelt earlier that day. She saw what was in the cabinet. At first glance it looked like no more than a carcass. It was a dog, they could both tell that much. But what made it a really harrowing sight was not the pinks, browns, purples and reds of its flesh, it was the chest of the animal, and the fact that it slowly rose up and down. Breathing. A small wheezing sound was coming from its mouth.

“What the fuck is that?” Francis asked Jenna.

“How should I know?” she replied

“Well you work here, I thought that you might...”

“I don't have a clue what it is, but it looks like a dog, its like a zombie or something.”

Ironically at that moment the chest stopped moving and the wheezing stopped, Francis and Jenna knew that it was dead, at least they both hoped so. Jenna leant down and closed the cabinet, gagging slightly as she did. Joe appeared in the doorway of the room.

“What the hell is going on?” He asked.

“Nothing.” said Jenna and Francis together.

“I just ran in here to get out of the way of the wind.” explained Francis.”I tried to hold the door, but it slammed and I could not open it.”

“Okay.” Joe said, not believing a word of it. He sniffed several times. “What the hell is that stink?”

“I don't know, but something weird is going on. That wind, it knocked us down but there was no wind down near the floor.” Jenna explained. “Are the kids ok?”

“Yeah, they all seem fine. My little sis Mary is kinda upset, but those two teenagers seem fine. I really think we should get out of here.”

“We certainly should. Lets get out of here.” said Jenna urgently, for the first time she drew out her pistol, the three adults left the room and with increased urgency they began to move on.

Verse 4: Realization

They had only moved several meters down the hallway when suddenly the lights went out, for a few moments the hallway was plunged into darkness.

“Damn.” said Brian. “Anyone have a torch?”

However as he said it the floor of the corridor suddenly lit up with black lights, creating an eerie purple glow.

“Bro, I don't like this.” said Mary quietly, clutching her brothers hand closely.

“Its ok, I'm here.” Joe replied.

Brian was staring around this strangely lit corridor, noticing how strange the white ceiling and walls were against the black light. As they continued to walk he began to notice something in the hallway in the distance. At first it seemed like little more than an area of darkness in the disorientating glow of the black lights, but it seemed to have form and shape, a figure. The basic outline of a human being seemed to be in the corridor ahead. In the silence he whispered to Katie.

“Hey, you see that?”

“What?” she asked.

Brian looked again, whatever was there was still there. He pointed it out to Katie.

“I can’t see anything.” she responded. “You must be seeing things.”

As they drew closer it seemed to loose it shape, slowly turning into a blob. Brian passed right past it, staring into it. He could not describe it, and no one else could seem to see it. A floating lump of black matter, he paused for a second, reaching out a finger towards it. It was about the size of his fist now, growing slowly smaller. He stuck his index finger straight into it. It was warm, and like putty. Katie, however, only saw him sticking an finger into the middle of the air, and if they had looked so would the rest of the group. It was growing ever smaller and eventually there was nothing left, and Brian found himself chuckling slightly as the lights came back on and all seemed normal again.

“What are you doing?” Katie asked Brian. “What are you pointing at?”

“Nothing.” he replied. “My head hurts a little that’s all.”

Joe overheard this and he said.

“Have some water mate, you could be dehydrated.”

“Does anyone have any?” Francis added.

“Don’t worry.” Jenna said. “According to this map there is a refectory up ahead, we can go in there.”

“Ok, but something is bugging me, where the hell is everyone?” exclaimed Francis. “This place is like a fucking graveyard.”

“The chances are they all evacuated themselves. There are a lot of exits but they are all sealed.”

“But if they are all sealed then why are we going to the rear exits?”

“Because the exits at the rear lead out into a large open area of the island, sealed off. Its all just grass and rocks apparently, but we should be safer there.”

“I thought you said you know hardly anything.”

“Well Francis, people talk, and that is what I have heard. I don’t know anything for sure.”

Jenna pushed open a set of double doors and they entered a dining hall lined with long tables food still lay at tables, people halfway through meals and snacks when the alarms went off. The place was also empty, the hum of an air conditioner filled the room.

“Right, get water and food, be quick, we need to get out of here.” ordered Jenna.

Francis moved over to the vending machines and browsed the contents.

“Mars anyone?” he asked.

“Yeah, and get me an orange juice please.” said Brian.

“I’ll have a pack of cheese and onion if you’re buying, oh and I’ll have some chocolate.” Added Joe.

“I’m not paying for all that.” Francis

“Fine, I’ll do it.” sighed Brian, walking over to the machine. He pressed a series of buttons, and then, without putting any money in he keyed in the products.

“How’d you learn that?” laughed Francis. “Neat trick.”

“Learnt it off of the net.”

“You know you just stole, right?” explained Jenna. “I really should shout at you or something, but this is a strange situation and frankly I have bigger con…”

Just then there was a noise out in the corridor. Jenna opened the canteen door and looked up and down the corridor. The black lights had come back on again and once again there was an eerie glow. From around a corner in the distance she could hear an eerie noise, a scraping and a thud, a noise usually heard in the scariest of films.

“Wait here, all of you. Do not leave.”

“What is going on?” whispered Katie to Brian. “Where has she gone?”

“I don’t have a clue, but I don’t like this at all.” Brian responded. “You want something to drink? Crisps? Mints? Everything?”

Katie laughed and smiled. “If only I’d gotten to know you sooner Brian.”

Jenna was scared. Not just concerned, or suspicious. Actually scared. Her hands shook as she held her gun. This noise that lay just around the corner, it was like something out of a computer game she had played as a kid. The scraping and the bumping noises, like something was struggling and tumbling. She placed her back up against the wall of the corridor, she was going to peak around the corner like the people on T.V do, stealthy and smart. She leant her head out and looked, immediately throwing her self back up against the wall. There was something down there. She began to whisper to herself.

“I can do this, you can do this. You got a lotta people riding on you here Jenna, don’t let them down.”

She looked out again, this time for longer, she could see a figure, a person, it looked like they were shaking slightly, and twitching. She threw herself back up against the wall one last time.

“3, 2…” She never reached 1. Jenna leapt around the corner and faced whatever was down the corridor.

“Don’t move!” she yelled. “Put your hands up!”

The black lights went off and normal lighting came on. It was then that Jenna realized what she was facing, she wished the lights had never come on. It was human. Well it was once a human. Jenna felt like she had been put into some sort of zombie film. There was this rotting excuse for a person, ripped clothes, bulging flesh, coloured purple and green, it left a bloody trail as it moved slowly towards her. She could see what the scraping noise was, this… creature was dragging a shotgun on the floor behind itself, and in its awkward stride it clonked it against the floor occasionally.

Jenna did not hesitate, that killed people in the movies, but this might not want her brains. She fired into the foot of this creature, hoping to stop it before it reached her. The foot seemed to disintegrate into a fleshy mess, the creature moaned, but kept on coming. This was just like the movies, this thing wanted to eat her, the only thing missing was a cool catchphrase to finish it off with. But there was no time for catchphrases or one-liners, this was serious. She fired twice and it was over. She picked up the shotgun; it was a sport shooting kind, the kind that many people could own with a license, she carefully opened the chambers, both barrels were loaded, she took this with her back to the canteen. She walked back into the room, a scattering of faces looked at her. They had all heard the shots.

“What happened?” asked Joe. “We all heard gunfire.”

“There was a dog.” Lied Jenna, glancing at Francis. “It leapt at me and tried to attack me, something must have angered it, I had to shoot it.”

“Where did you get that gun?” asked Katie.

“In an office, lying on a desk.”

“Strange place to find it, don’t you think?” said Francis, in suspicion.

“Yes, I know! Now we really need to move on, can any of you shoot?”

“I shot grouse a few times with my grandfather when I was young, I can use a shotgun.” Joe replied. “Give it to me.”

Jenna gladly handed the gun over, Joe took it. He closed the chamber but kept the safety on. “Mary, you’d better hold Katie’s hand, she will look after you.”

“Ok bro.” said Mary, who was perfectly willing to go over to Katie.

“We all ready?” asked Jenna. There were nods and agreement. The group moved on again, further into the bowels of Eden.

Verse 5: Survival

The group walked on for a while longer, the corridor they were moving down now had no doors or furniture, it was totally empty except for a door that stood in the distance. Francis walked beside Jenna, waiting to ask her questions. When the time was right he spoke to her quietly.

“There was no dog, was there?” he whispered to her.

“You're right.”

“What was it?”

“I... Its hard to describe...”

“Tell me, I need to know.”

“Ok. You ever see a zombie movie?

“Yeah, what’s that got to do with anything?”

“Something that was like a zombie tried to attack me, it had a gun. That’s where I found it.”

Francis did not know what to think, the situation was finally fully apparent. He did not want to believe Jenna, but she wouldn’t like about something like this. At least he hoped she wouldn’t.

“You lied about it earlier, just to keep the kids calm, right?” he asked

“Yeah, I knew you knew I was lying.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“We get out of here, as fast as we can.”

“How much further?” asked Francis aloud, bringing the conversation back to audible level.

“We should be out of here soon, that door up ahead should lead into a storage area, through that there should be a cargo elevator up to where the exits are.”

“Lets go then.” said Joe, who was walking at the back of the group.

“Should we tell him?” Francis asked to Jenna.

“Yes, but not yet.”

They reached the door at the end of the corridor, Jenna took out her security pass and scanned it through the slot next to the door. There was silence for several seconds, followed by a loud beep, and a red light flashed above the door.

“Shit!”she shouted, slamming her hand against the door.

“Locked?” asked Brian.

“What the fuck do you think?” she shouted back at him, gritting her teeth.”

“Do you mind!” exclaimed Joe. “Can you try not to swear.”

“Sorry.” Jenna muttered. Leaning against the door, she muttered to herself under her breath. “Hold it together, stay calm. Hold on...” She felt a hand on her shoulder as she forced back tears. She looked up to see Francis, he stared at her through his glasses, a crooked smile on his face.

“Is there another way around?” he asked after a while of silence.

“Yeah, but we have to go down another floor, and more doors may be locked up. Maybe the place has gone out of lockdown, I should be able to open all doors in emergency situations.”

“Maybe its time we told them.” Francis whispered in her ear. Jenna turned away from the door to look at them all, she was ready to tell them the truth. However they were all about to find out the truth for themselves, from around the corner some distance back down this long hallway something appeared. Jenna's eyes widened with fear. This was not like something out of a zombie film, it was something far worse.

“Get back behind me!” she shouted, raising her pistol. “Joe, shoot!”

“What?” asked Joe, turning around to look down the corridor, he saw it, so did the rest of the group, he and Jenna both opened fire without hesitation, there was a brief moment of chaos and gunfire that seemed to last a lifetime, but in the silence that followed all were now aware of the reality and severity of their situation. This 'thing' that they had shot dead was like something out of the most twisted of horror movies. It had moved on 2 feet, with a tail leading out behind it for support. It had no skin, all its flesh and muscle was visible. It had an arched back and a human face and arms. It was like a man attached to an animal. Its long arms were covered in metal, along with its tail.

“What the hell is going on?” screamed Katie! “What the hell is that?”

“I don't know!” shouted Francis in reply. “But I don't wanna find out! Get us outta here Jenna!”

Jenna began to run back to a turn in the corridor, she glanced at her map.

“This way! Now!” she cried. The group ran after her. Joe thrust the gun into the hands of Brian, grabbing Mary by the arms and lifting her onto his back.

Katie grabbed Brian's hand, they ran together following Joe, Francis followed behind them, stopping to stare at the apparently dead corpse of the strange beast they had attacked, the short corridor they had turned into ended abruptly at an elevator. Jenna hammered the button. The doors opened almost instantly and the group poured inside, scattering curses and shouts around as they went. Jenna swiped her card in the slot and stared at the number pad. There was only one floor this elevator went to, a floor deep underground. She pressed the button, and as the doors closed the black lights suddenly came on. In the last seconds as the doors met, Brian saw something waiting in the dark, the strangle congregation of darkness, waiting for him and watching him go.

The doors were shut and the elevators shuddered into motion. Soft jazz tunes played from a speaker in the ceiling of the elevator. The group were stood still, shocked by what they had seen. The music soothed Brian, he felt relaxed, taking in every second of the music. It was then he realized that he still held Katie's hand. He instantly pulled it away, his heart missing a beat. He looked at her, she looked at him, an awkward grin spread across his face. Mary was the one to break the silence. She peered up at Jenna and asked.

“Where does this go?”

“I... I don't know...” Jenna answered as she looked down at the deep and worried eyes of a little girl. “But I will get you all out of here. So don't you worry at all.”

The music carried on playing,and the group stood still as each second they descended further into darkness and further away from their goal.

Verse 6: Trapped

The music stopped and the doors opened, the group stepped out into a surprising environment. The rushing of water filled their ears and they could hear similar music to the one played in the elevator wafting towards them. Straight in front of the elevator there was a tree, an apple tree, bright red apples hung from its low branches. Behind it there was a series of very short waterfalls leading up toward several doors at the back of this long room. The floor was made of marble and long marble steps lead up along with the water.

“What is this place?” Katie asked, staring around, she glanced up at the wall to the right of the elevator. There was a sign bolted into the walls, thick white lettering on a green background. Brian noticed it as well and read out loud.

“Hygiene and Sanitation Records Department.”

“I can see why they call it that.” Francis joked. “Look at this place, its spotless.”

He moved over to the tree and picked off one of the apples, it was as perfect as an apple could be, dark red and well rounded. He went to eat it when a squeaky voice rang aloud from the other end of the area.

“I wouldn't eat that fruit if I was you!” A man appeared along with the voice, a short stumpy man with a thick beard and square glasses. His small figure still threw a large shadow over the area, and the group was greatly surprised to see another person.

“Why not?” laughed Francis in reply. “Is it... Forbidden?”

“No.” replied the man, moving quickly down the steps as Francis bit hard into the fruit. “Its plastic.”

Everyone laughed as Francis spat bits of plastic out of his mouth, a look of embarrassment on his face. The short man stared at the group.

“Why have you come down here? Is It about Barney? I was just heading up to look for him in my free days.”

“You can't go up there!” exclaimed Jenna. “There is loads of crazy stuff up there!”

“Like what?”

The group began to explain, all that had happened to them, the man sat on the edge of the water, in front of the tree. He listened attentively and only occasionally nodding in an open mouthed manner. Once they were done he stood up.

“I have to go then, I have things to do.”

“What are you doing down here?” asked Joe urgently.

“I file the paper reports for all meetings, data collections, payrolls, income and expenditure for the department of health and sanitation in the Deus corporation.” explained the man. “Oh and my name is Harrison. Its a pleasure to have met you all but now I have to go.”

Harrison pushed through the group hurriedly and ran into the elevator. He scanned his card into the slot and hurriedly pressed the button. The elevator did not move.

“What time do you make it?” he asked them, still madly pressing the button, his forehead was sweating and he was breathing loudly.

“It's just gone 12.” said Mary

“Damn!” roared Harrison, his once little squeak had become very loud. “My watch stopped 5 minutes ago! I can't leave now!”

“Why not?”

“I have to use the elevators at certain times, if I don't use it now I can't go back up for 2 weeks!”

“You mean we are all stuck down here?” cried Brian. “That is not good!”

“Fortunately there is another elevator, but that wont be usable for another 36 hours. Its a supply elevator that carries food and supplies for myself, if you are really desperate to get out then you can use that, it comes out in a hangar at the rear of Eden.”

“Perfect!” said Jenna. “All we have to do is wait.”

The group settled down on the cold floor around the tree. Harrison moved away to the back of the area and he bought back food and drink. Bottles of Agros strawberry flavoured water (The Deus corporation’s main food and drink brand) and Agros microwaveable burgers. Harrison watched them, asking questions.

“Did any of you see a lizard by any chance?” he asked, it seemed like a strange question, but Mary immediately looked up.

“A lizard bit me!” she said, showing her thumb to Harrison “In the toilets, this morning.”

“What colour was it?” he asked urgently.

“Green, and it was very fast.” said Mary loudly.

“I saw it too, it was injured, it left a trail of blood.”

“Oh, my poor Barney, it must be him!” wailed Harrison.

“This guys a nutter.” Francis whispered to Jenna. She nodded in response.

“Do you have a TV or radio here?” asked Jenna. “I want to see if all this is on the news.

“I have a radio, but I can’t pick anything up, my computer crashed about an hour ago as well.”

“Let me have a look at it.” Katie said. “I used to help my brother fix computers, I may be able help.”

“Ok, let’s go have a look.”

Jenna went with Katie to the back of the area, there were 2 doors, white and black. The white wooden door lead into a room, into which Harrison showed them. On one side there was a bed and a chest of draws, on the other side there was a cluttered desk, a computer and an old fashioned large radio and cassette player sat at opposite ends, in the centre of this long desk there was a small incubated cage, obviously the home of the lizard. Katie moved over to the computer and looked at it for a few moments.

“It’s on, and it’s working, but nothing comes up on your monitor, it think its your monitor. Do you have any others around?”

Harrison thought for a moment before replying

“Yes, there is an old little computer at the back of the records storage; it has one of those old CRT screens.”

“Can you get it?”

“Sure.”

Harrison moved out of the room and went through the black door; a cold draught filled the air as they passed through into a cold chamber lined with filing cabinets. At the end there sat an old 90’s computer, buzzing away as a screensaver of a smiley flashed about on the monitor. Katie could hear her feet echo loudly around the cold stone walls and floor of this room. A single bulb hang above, swaying. Katie reached the little computer and unplugged the monitor, she carried it back to the first computer and set it down, plugging it back in. The screen came on instantly and the computers desktop filled the screen.

“Lets get on the net.” Katie said, getting up to let Harrison sit down. They loaded up the internet, and on the first news site they came to…

TERROIRST ATTACK ON SHOPPING CENTRE!

Today at just before 11am there was an explosion at Eden shopping centre off the south coast of England. The whole of the artificial island on which it was built has gone into lockdown. Early reports state that no one died in the explosion but that hundreds have been killed or injured in the pandemonium that ensued. The last of the stranded survivors have been evacuated by air and sea. Shortly the emergency services and military will be entering the complex and investigating the problem.

“This doesn’t look good.” said Jenna. “See what else you can find.”

“I will…” began Katie, but at that moment the computer let out a loud beep and turned off.

“Damn!” shouted Katie, slapping her hand against the side of the computer in a desperate and pointless attempt to revive it. She pressed the power button and the computer whirred back into life. However on the screen there stood nothing except a few lines of white text on a black background. “Fuck it! The hard drive has been wiped or something!”

“Can you fix it?” asked Harrison.

“Yeah, if you have all your start-up disks and stuff, but it will take some time.”

“They are all up in the computer department. Sorry.”

Katie sighed. “There isn’t much I can do without the disks and stuff.”

“What’s going on?” a voice asked from the doorway, it was Brian.

“The computers buggered up, but we found out some stuff.”

“Its terrorists apparently.” Explained Jenna. “They’ve evacuated everyone who they think is alive, teams are being sent in to explore and investigate.”

“Its monsters! Not Arabs!” Francis said angrily.

“Hey! That’s racist.” said Mary who had appeared behind Brian.

Francis looked at her, then away. He smiled slightly and muttered to himself. “Smart kid.”

The hours past slowly from then. The group wondered if Harrison ever got bored as there was so little for someone to do down here. He had a chess set and monopoly board (but no one to play against), an exercise bike and a collection of classic novels. Mary had challenged Brian to a game of chess, and one game had become 7 as Mary and Brian seemed evenly matched. Joe watched them, smiling at his young sisters ability to beat this teenager. Harrison had gone off into the records office, he sat there typing away at the little old computer, one that could not be linked up to the internet, much to Katie’s annoyance. Jenna and Francis were sat away from the others, talking.

“I have something to ask you Francis, were you in possession of drugs this morning?” Jenna asked with a serious voice and serious expression. “You have to tell me.”

“Yeah. I was.” Francis said quietly in replay as looked away to stare down into the water that flowed by through the centre of the room.

“Well, I’m in no position to arrest you, just get rid of them if we get rescued.”

“You mean when we get rescued, don’t be so pessimistic. I’ll get rid of them, hell I lost most of it the toilets.”

“Thanks.”

“Not really the kind of thing you should thank me for.”

“No, I’m thanking you for helping me, and taking this whole thing seriously.”

“Me, serious? Don’t kid me.”

“Checkmate!” Mary shouted with glee, knocking down Brian’s king. “I win!”

“Cheeky little…” laughed Brian. “I call a re-match.”

“No, I’ll just beat you again.”

“You just won’t accept defeat.” Katie said. She smiled at Brian, he could see whereo one of her teeth had been knocked out, and her cut cheek seemed larger than ever. She was still beautiful to him.

“Do you want a game?” Brian asked her.

“I don’t know how to play.” Katie sighed. “But you could teach me, couldn’t you Mary?”

“I’m tired.” Mary said. “Bro, I’m going to sleep.”

“Ok, I’ll go see if Harrison has any blankets for us.” Joe said to her, getting up and going off towards the records room.

“I’ll teach you Katie.” Brian said. “I’ll go easy on you.”

“Ok.”

As more hours passed the group slowly drifted off into sleep, Harrison had found a few blankets and rugs in a cabinet, and he stripped the sheets from his bed for them to use. Brian was the only one who hadn’t gone to sleep. He was shocked at how everyone had been able to just brush off what they had seen today and how they had all managed to sleep. He would never have imagined except in the odd daydream that he would ever be this close to Katie, lying next to her on cold marble floor, deep underground. Even his imagination could not have thought of that scenario. Take away the injuries and monsters and weird stuff and you would have had an almost perfect day for him. Years of teenage angst and depression seemed to be over, he felt refreshed and somehow powerful. Maybe through this they would become boyfriend and girlfriend, like what happened in the movies when lovers meet in horror or war scenarios. He was in no way the most attractive guy, and girls were vain, they would never admit it but it’s true. He may have even got bragging right in school, and maybe popularity. These thoughts were emptied from his mind when he realized how negative they were. He had women issues, but he thought to himself.

“All the best protagonists have women issues? Right?”

Verse 7: Way to the Garden

“Brian, you fucking dipshit, listen to me!”

“Fuck off, I don’t care about you.”

“You are a wacko Brian, you claim you see stuff, and that you have special powers.”

“I do.”

“Prove it Bitch.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because you won’t be able to see it!”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want wankers like you to see it.”

“You really are a ret. Get a life.”

“Lose some weight you fat sod.”

Brian would never forget the beating that he got from that. As he woke up in a cold sweat on the floor to find everyone else was awake, running around and shouting. He leapt off of the blanket and asked to Joe.

“What’s going on?”

“My sister! Mary! She’s gone!” Joe exclaimed in reply. “I just woke up and noticed it about a minute ago!”

Brian looked at everyone shouting for her, the door to Harrison’s living area was open, but the records room door was still closed. Brian rushed to investigate; he opened the door and looked inside. Several of the filing cabinets were knocked over; files were strewn over the floor. Brian moved over and looked behind the filing cabinets that had been knocked down. There was a rusty grate for a ventilation duct hanging off a duct that was certainly large enough for an adult to crawl through so a child could have certainly gone through there. Brian got on his hands and knees and peered into the duct, about a metre in there was a chess piece, a knight, standing upright in the shaft.

“In here!” shouted Brian, and in seconds everyone had rushed in. everyone except Harrison.

“Where is Harrison?” Jenna asked right away.

“He’s not here!” Joe said. “He could have taken her!”

“Look in the duct, there is a chess piece, and the grate is torn off.” Brian pointed out.

“Well, its pretty obvious what we have to do. I’m going in.” Jenna said, before anyone could argue she crawled into the duct. She picked up the knight piece as she went and threw it back out of the duct. Moving forward was slow, but she reached a turning quickly, then another turning shortly after. After only several minutes of crawling she could see a way out. As she approached the exit she could hear shouts. She recognized both the voices. She reached the end of the duct and looked down. Several meters below there was an open cargo elevator, there sat both Harrison and Mary.

“Stop!” Harrison shouted as soon as he saw Jenna appear from the duct.

“What are you doing?” Jenna shouted at him. “Did you kidnap the kid.”

“No, she followed me, there is no time to explain, have you got your security pass?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, I forgot mine and I couldn't get back up to the shaft, we are both too short you see. Throw me your pass and I'll move this up a metre or so.”

“Ok, but don't you dare go anywhere.” ordered Jenna, throwing her pass down to him. She shuffled backwards a bit in the duct, and the elevator descended. She shouted back down the duct.

“Can you guys hear me?” She heard some distant shouts of acknowledgement. “Ok, crawl through.”

Jenna moved forward and onto the elevator floor that was within the reach of her arms.

“Now, tell me how you both got here.”

“Okay okay!” Harrison sighed. “I saw my lizard, Barney. I tired to catch him but he went behind the filing cabinets. I went through the ducts but I didn't see them end so suddenly, i fell down here and couldn't get back up, a couple of minutes later this little girl falls from the same place.”

“Sounds like bull to me.” Jenna retorted. “Tell me the truth.”

“Its true!” Mary said. “I heard all the noises and went to have a look, I like exploring.”

“To think I thought she was smart.” Jenna thought.

Jenna turned around to find Joe crawling from the duct, followed by Katie, Brian and finally Francis. Joe threw his arms around Mary and held her close, he was almost in tears as he spoke to her.

“Please Mary, don't ever run off again, especially now!”

“Sorry Bro, please don't get made. I don't want you to become like mummy was.”

“I won't, I promise, if you promise.”

“Promise bro.”

“Promise sis.”

“Get this elevator moving.” Jenna ordered to Harrison.

The elevator moved into life, and the group began their ascent towards hope. The journey upwards took several minutes and there was a tense silence and the air was still. There was no jazz on this ride, they all longed to see what was at the top of the elevator and when they finally hit the surface they were faced with a somewhat underwhelming sight. An empty hanger lay before them, it was almost totally bare save for several tool racks pinned to the walls and the odd crate scattered sparsely across the floor. Their footsteps echoed as they stepped off of the cargo elevator. Sunlight streamed in through the roof, giving them all a slight feeling of elation. They all moved towards the large sliding doors of the hanger. Harrison walked quickly up to a panel on the wall. He studied the buttons and switches for a moment before he found the one that opened the doors. He pressed it and for a tense few seconds there was a harrowing silence. But fortune was with them. The doors whirred and buzzed into action. They slowly began to part and daylight poured in. The 7 survivors walked forward and out into a summers day that seemed more beautiful than any other, the sun in the east was risen in the sky, a solitary bird could be heard chirping somewhere nearby, and the sky was as a vibrant blue and several puffy white clouds floated by themselves in an almost fairytale sky. A unanimous feeling spread amongst them. They felt freedom, and with the sun on their faces they felt alive.

Book 2: The Garden

Verse 1: The Roof

Brian clambered up the steep grassy hillside. He clutched rocky outcrops as he ascended. The rest of the group watched from a wide tarmac road that lead away from the hangar doors they had come out of. The doors had slowly closed behind them and the looming structure of Eden stood behind them, inaccessible to them now. Brian looked back at them just before he reached the top. They all gazed up at him approvingly, Mary waved up at him. Finally Brian reached the top of the hill. He gazed around. This place was simply jaw-dropping. On the horizon there was the sea leading off into the rest of the world. Behind him, beyond Eden and panning out to the east and west there was the coastline, a curtain of bays and headlands leading off to the horizon.

But it was his immediate surroundings that were fascinating. The hill he was stood on was part of a valley. To the east there was a large plain scattered with small copses and woods of deciduous trees. Wild flowers grew all over. Where the Eden building ended a large concrete wall ran, sealing this area off from the rest of the island. To the East the area remained will small hills that abruptly ended as they met the sea, however through these hills there was a wider road than the one they were on. It lead away from the hangar entrance and ended in a row of lights just before the cliffs. It dawned on Brian that this was not a road, it was a runway. On this side the same wall ran, all the way to the cliffs. Leading off from this runway was the road they had followed a short way. A single lane road with no markings. Brian followed with his eyes. He couldn't believe he had missed it! There were buildings. 2 large ones and at least 10 smaller ones that were centred around a large grass area in the centre. He put his hand above his eyes to shelter them from the sun and looked closely. He could see people!

“Everyone!” he called down to the group. “Take a look at this!”

“What is it?” Joe called up to him in reply

“People and houses!”

All of the group began to make their way up the hill, Brian sat down on a smooth topped rock at the top of the hill and waited for them. Eventually they were all there, they all looked around. Brian pointed out the houses in this distance. They were easy to spot, they were square and white, the kind of buildings seen in hotter and drier countries. They reminded him of his parent’s holiday house in Spain.

“Lets go.” Francis said. “We have no time to waste.”

Jenna was about to agree when something caught her eye. This green hillside sloped downwards and eventually met the side of Eden, a ladder ascended up the concrete.

“I need to get a view of the front.” Jenna announced. “You should all go on, I will catch up.”

“You sure about that?” Joe asked.

“Yeah. Now you guys should go. Go!”

Jenna walked away along the hillside away from the group, she eventually reached the ladder, she shook it before she began to climb. It seemed safely bolted into the concrete. She mounted the ladder and slowly made her way up. After about 10 rungs she glanced behind her. The group had begun to move off, down the hill and onto the road. She continued her climb. She reached the top finally and stared at the long rooftop that stretched out in front of her. She was expecting there to be at lest some features on the roof, a doorway leading down, or perhaps the opening to a vent poking out. But there was nothing it was totally featureless and slightly arched so that any rain water that fell on the top fell down to guttering that ran along the far edges.

She walked hurriedly but it still took a couple of minutes for her to finally reach the front of Eden. There she saw a strange sight. She looked across the tram and footbridge to Eden, there the other end was a large number of emergency service and military vehicles. Beyond that were the large car parks, they had more scattered vehicles for the emergency services, all the civilian cars had been totally emptied. She looked further ahead to the main gate of Eden, beyond that there was a sea of people; she could hear shouts in the distance. They were being blocked off by a military barricade. A news helicopter hovered in the sky above them. Jenna began to frantically wave her arms. She had tried to use her mobile phone before but there was no reception inside. She got it out and looked. Normally she got full reception at the front of the building, but she seemed to get none here. As she waved her arms again the noise of the crowd seem to increase slightly. She faintly heard a loudspeaker shout. “Please step away from the edge!”

Jenna obeyed and watched. She saw a helicopter take off from an area of the car parks, it rose up into the air and began to move towards her. The helicopter hovered above the roof. A rope descended from it. Jenna watched as a man in black uniform slid down, she noticed his face, the man wore a gas mask. As he hit the roof he drew a pistol from his holster.

“Do not move!” he shouted at her, his voice distorted by the mask. “Do not take a step closer to me.”

“What’s going on? What’s with the masks?”

“You could be infected; everyone we’ve evacuated is dying. Here take this!” The man threw a black duffle bag at Jenna, she caught it and unzipped it. Inside there was food and water along with a mask and a pistol.

“Can’t you evacuate us? There are people at the back.”

“This whole place is in trouble! This virus is spread by physical contact, its only been a day but this whole island is going to be shut off.”

“Shit!” Jenna shouted. “We have to get off of here! There are monsters and zombies in this fucking place!”

“You’ve seen them!” the man cried in fear. He looked up at the helicopter and yanked on the rope. “Get me up! Get me up!”

The man immediately began to rise up into the sky. Jenna wasn’t letting him get away that easily. She grabbed his foot and pulled with all her might, the black combat boot came slightly loose and moved down. Jenna felt her hand reach the skin of his ankle. The man shouted at her. “Shit, get off me!” As he said that he seemed to lose his grip. The man fell down from the rope, landing with a grunt at Jenna's feet. The rope fell from the sky, detached from the helicopter. As the man got back up the helicopter moved away from the roof. The man could only scream, he stamped his foot on the rooftop and turned to curse at Jenna.

“You fu...” he never finished his sentence, from behind him there came a huge bang. He turned around to see the helicopter burst into a ball of flames. In the distance they both heard shouts from the crowds and the crash of burning metal on solid ground. Immediately the emergency service and military groups move into action. A group of about 20 soldiers all dressed in identical black combat suits and gas masks began to cross the bridge they ran quickly and in an erratic formation. But before they were even halfway the earth shook and both Jenna and the man were thrown to the floor as the huge glass frontage of Eden that was below them disintegrated into millions of deadly shards that flew forward propelled by a vicious outburst of flames. Before the smoke had cleared below them gunfire could be heard. Jenna peered over the edge, not daring to get up. She heard a scarily familiar noise, one that send a shiver down her spine. It was late morning but the world seemed to darken. A scraping and then a clunk, a scraping and then a clunk. The smoke had cleared enough for her to see silhouettes of them, the strange zombie like creatures she had seen before, they seemed to wander aimlessly forward, several of them had weapons or objects in their hands creating the noise on the ground.

Jenna did not want to wait around. She leapt up and began to run back to where the ladder was. As she moved she heard a deep roar, it was nothing like any animal she had heard. She did not stop until she had descended the ladder on the other side of Eden, from down here the noise and screams from the front were nothing but a slowly fading memory, birds chirruped in a nearby tree and a squirrel scampered around on the warm tarmac road. Jenna collapsed on a rock halfway up a small hill, she held head in her hands, her mind became blank as she perfectly still listening to the world around her. She heard footsteps nearby, she glanced up to find the man form the helicopter walking past her a little further up the hillside. He seemed to ignore her as he stared out over the terrain. He reached behind his head and fumbled for the gas mask straps in amongst his short black hair. He found them and began to remove the mask. Once it was off he turned around to speak to Jenna.

“You alright?” he asked in an uncaring voice.

“I'm fine, why have you taken your mask off?” Jenna asked. “Won't you get infected or something.”

“You touched me, its spread by even the tiniest physical contact, if I'm gonna die then it may as well be now, and this is the most beautiful place I've ever seen!”

“What were you talking about when you said that everyone has died?”

“All the survivors we pulled out of here yesterday said they felt unwell, as the hours passed they didn't seem to get worse but they would just close their eyes and their hearts would stop, there are several of them still left, but what is strange is that very few of the people treating them have died.”

“So, its like a sort of mini plague?”

“I don't know, but that's not what worries me now, you and I both saw what was happening down there. Did you see those things?”

“I saw them.” Jenna began to explain as she rose from the rock and moved towards him. “I killed one of them inside, I managed to get everyone out alive. They have all gone down towards the houses down there.”

Jenna pointed down into the valley. The man reached to his waist and drew a small pair of binoculars from a pouch, he peered through them.

“I see people down there, gathered near the largest building at least 20 maybe 30.”

“What's your name?” Jenna asked.

“Theo. Yourself?”

“Jenna.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Theo said in a cold and sarcastic voice. He put his binoculars away and began to move down towards the road and onwards into the green valley, he did not speak to Jenna as he went, and all she could do was follow him.

Verse 2: The Village

The group had carried on through the green valley in silence each person keeping to their own thoughts. Brian’s mind had wandered to a memory that he had almost forgotten, as he trudged down the tarmac road he could hear the sound of rain in his mind.

He was 14 again and it was a rainy day sometime before Christmas, he was walking down the long tree shaded hill towards the town. The trees above were leafless and naked; the rain fell through them and onto him. He felt angry both in the memory and in his present, the feelings of anger and hatred to all things he felt back then were flooding forward into the present. He remembered walking into the church, at first to escape the escalating downpour but something else drew him inside. It was the first time he had visited the church in 4 years. When he was young his parents made him go for a while, but for a long time he went at his own will. Although he had totally forgotten about the lord he was wearing a cross around his neck, a symbol of faith, faith that he didn’t have. He was still stood in the entrance way when the reverend approached.

“Service ended half an hour ago you know.” He said to Brian.

“I know reverend.” Brian replied, staring at his own feet. “Don’t you remember me?”

“I do remember you Brian, where have you been for these last few years.”

Brian did not reply, instead he simply took the cross off of his neck and dropped it to the dusty stone floor and walked out of the door back into the rain, the bewildered reverend watched him with suspicion and sympathy.

Brian’s mind returned to the present and he wondered how that memory had come to him, he cringed. All the pain of the last few years had become lost in the chaos of the last day.

“Motherfuckers.” Brian muttered to himself.

“What did you say?” Katie asked, overhearing his mumbling.

“Nothing.” Brian replied. “I haven’t said a word.”

The road took a sharp turn and suddenly they could see the buildings in full view, they could see all the people sat on the grass outside the largest building, and the people could see them.

“Look! Survivors!” they heard someone in the crowd shout. Instantly they were all their feet and coming towards the group. Shouts of questions and statements filled the air.

“Who are you?”

“Where have you come from?”

“Where is the rescue?”

“How many of you are there?”

The group were surrounded by the crowd and pushed forward into the large building whilst being constantly showered with questions that they desperately tried to answer. Joe heard someone shouting his name in the crowd, he could recognize the voice. He began to shout back.

“Miriam! Miriam where are you?” he cried, looking around, craning his neck. She appeared in front of him, a tall and slender woman with dark curly hair, bright eyes and an optimistic expression on her face.

“Thank god you two are alive!” Miriam said in response, hugging both of them. “Are you ok Mary?” she asked.

“Yes Miriam, Bro is fine too.” Mary explained. “But there’s lots of scary stuff down there.”

“It’s ok now, don’t you worry.” Joe said. “We’d better follow everyone else inside.”

Inside the building there were rows and rows of chairs lined out, with a aisle down the centre leading up to a raised wooden stage, to one side of the stage there was a piano, to the other side a fire escape. To Brian it looked exactly like a typical village hall, except larger, the ceiling was abnormally high, to the right there was a large serving window and lots of fold up tables stacked against the wall. Through the serving window he could see kitchen appliances and washing machines.

“What is this place?” Brian asked out loud.

“We don’t know.” Someone in the crowd replied.

The crowd stood around and some sat down on chairs, there was no order or function in the people as they sat around. A tall and imposing man approached the group who had remained standing in the centre.

“Someone wanna tell us what you know?” he asked in a surprisingly friendly voice considering his dark and grand presence.

“I will.” Joe said immediately. “But then you’ve got to answer my questions.”

“Very well, the rest of you, please sit.”

Joe stood up on the stage. At murmured requests from his audience he slowly and bluntly described what had happened too them. From the toilets, too the corridors below and to their emergence at the rear of Eden. Everyone listened in silence. When he was done everyone remained silent for a few tense moments. Although it was hard to tell from facial expressions alone, it was clear to Joe that they all believed him and that fact that however unsatisfactory it was to accept, all that they had experienced was real.

In the pointless hubbub of talking and discussion that followed, Brian found himself distracted by the world around him, it was as if he had slipped unwillingly into a trance. Was he dehydrated? It had been a while since he had last had something to drink. He found himself staring at a lonely looking middle aged man at the back of the room. He sat alone, distancing himself from the other people who had seated themselves more towards the front. Brian felt a strange sense of understanding come over him, followed quickly by fear, was he to become like this man? Aging and angry. He hoped not. Filled with a sudden sadness and regret his mind turned back to the questions being asked, and the decisions being made.

“What is this place?” asked Joe to the crowd. There was a short silence as people looked around to see if anyone knew. The answer came from Harrison.

“I think I’ve heard about this.” He explained. “This little settlement was built to be a place to house families of some of the employees who were required on the site 24/7. I don’t know much about it, but it was supposed to open in several days from now. Mr Reefer himself was planning on staying here.”

“How do you know all this?” the tall man asked.

“I don’t know, what I got told by word of mouth. I don’t get out much you see.”

“Who is this guy? Is he an employee?” the tall man asked to Joe.

“I don’t know exactly, we found him deep underground, he came out with us.”

“Are you telling the truth?” the tall man asked, growing suddenly enraged.

“Calm down Tom!” someone shouted.

Everyone looked back at the entrance to the building, a man and a woman walked through the doors.

“Jenna!” exclaimed Tom. “You’re alive!”

“Yeah, no need for you getting angry now, you know you have a short temper.” Jenna said to him. “How did you get out?”

“All of these people were in the café.”

“How did you get out?”

“We found a corridor through one of the old fire exits that we never used, it lead in a straight line all the way here.”

There was a silence again, nobody was really sure what to say. At that moment the doors opened again. There was a small whirring as a strange looking robot entered. It was about 5 feet high and moved on short tracks across the hall. It had a slim body and arms, holding up an almost abnormally high head. On its torso there was a gold cross and trailing behind it a black cloak. It moved to the front, everyone watched it. Someone in the crowd stated the obvious.

“It’s a robot.”

The robot stopped at the front and turned its head, its eyes were like a persons, they looked indistinguishable from a glass eye, but through these eyes the robot could see perfectly?”

“Is there an event taking place?” it asked in a clear and crisp computer voice, directing its enquiry at no one in particular. Harrison leapt up and let out a scarily girlish squeal at the sight of this robot.

“It works!” he cried out, moving to examine the robot.

“Hello.” The robot said to him. “You appear to be excited.”

“I am! I helped to create you! I worked on the project for a year; I ended my work last month.”

“You are programmer number 5.” the robot replied. “It is a pleasure to meet you in physical form.”

Harrison turned to the bewildered crowd and spoke hurriedly in a very happy voice.

“This is robo-preacher, he was made 5 years ago to preach sections from the bible and respond to questions about religion. But it grew, it had the ability to learn and remember new things that it was told, people dedicated years of their lives teaching it everything they could every action they could think of, as a result he is the closest thing to AI we can get. I taught him so much last year, I taught him how to speak fluent French. I also taught him how to play cards, how to play sports, even how to dance and play instruments. Although I never saw him, I saw through his eyes, I controlled him directly from a room.”

Harrison stopped and took a deep breath, he was finished talking. The robot silently moved to the back of the room and stood still by the doors.

“Right, we have to wait for rescue.” Tom explained. I see no reason why we don’t use the houses to rest inside. We need to find a way to get a message out, I see no reason why we can’t use the houses. Don’t stay alone, find someone else to share with, we may not be safe here.”

This proposition may sound absurd to some, but to the people gathered in this room, it seemed enchanting, the general hubbub took over again. Everyone seemed suddenly happy and content, all apart from our group, they had witnessed evil and this situation was taking its toll. Brian moved outside along with others as they flowed out of the hall. He stood outside, under the shade of a nearby tree. His mind was blank. He saw Katie walk up beside him and Jenna was with her, they both smiled at him.

“You two know each other?” Jenna asked.

“Yes.” Katie replied, Brian nodded.

“Good, then you will both stay with me, I’ve picked out a house, that one.” said Jenna, pointing to a building that was behind Brian. Brian turned to look at it. It wasn’t much different from all the others, a square, white building with large glass windows and doors, and part of the upstairs floor was cut away to form a balcony.

“Lets go then.” Katie said.

“Ok.” said Brian with a smile.

The three began to walk towards the house. Both Katie and Jenna felt elated, however Brian felt a cold feeling churning in his stomach. Something didn’t feel right in him. But nothing was ever right in him. He felt a little better when they entered the house through the sliding glass door. He looked around, it was well decorated. There was a kitchen, living room and dining room all in one main room. He could see two doors at the back of the living area behind the pale blue sofas. There was a large mirror mounted on the wall where there should have been a TV in a typical house. Brian walked up to it. He noticed several black buttons poking out of its elaborate gold frame. He pressed one of them, and a green light appeared in the centre of the mirror. He had seen this before. This was the latest technology. He pressed his thumb on the green light and the mirror suddenly lit up. An image appeared on a blue background. The word “Eden” and a spinning globe behind it. Gentle music came from speakers around the room. Brian sat down on the sofa. He glanced around. Jenna was looking around the kitchen, but he could not see Katie. He then heard footsteps coming down the stairs behind him. She appeared with grin, one of her teeth was visibly missing. She smiled at Brian, he smiled back. She came and sat next to him on the sofa.

“Lets have a look at that.” She said, grabbing the remote from his hand.

Brian smiled, he had never smiled so much in a long time.

Verse 3: The Evening

Brian walked up the steep grassy hill behind the houses. It was a tough walk but worth it once he reached the top. The hill slowly sloped down into a river valley. Flowers were scattered around, looking vibrant in the sun. There was a stream in the centre of the valley. It flowed from a short waterfall to the north, and flowed south out into the sea, large trees with low over hanging branches were scattered about towards the lower parts of the valley. Brian looked back towards the houses. He counted them 15 in all, scattered around a flat plain. In the middle there was the village hall-like building they had been in, it sat on a green surrounded by more scattered trees. Brian moved down into the new valley, the grass was up to his ankles and he left a clear trail in the grass as he walked. A small cloud briefly covered the sun, giving the landscape a brief respite of darkness, a cold wind kicked up, Brian felt this sudden change in climate and shivered as he crossed his arms to keep them warm. But this only lasted a moment and the sun was back out before he reached the stream.

Brian could honestly say that he had never been in a place this beautiful before. He had been in a place that was almost this beautiful, 2 summers ago when he had just turned 14. He remembered his family dragging him on a horrifically bad trip to a National Park somewhere. He remembered meeting someone that day. A beautiful person in a beautiful place, he could remember her bright sparkling eyes, her looks and her glowing intelligence, he had come so close then, he could smell it… her…

He was about to lapse into reminiscence when suddenly he saw something up the river out of the corner of his eye. A shadow? A figure? There one second and gone the next. Was it like that strange thing he had seen in the corridors of Eden. Was something haunting him? He had assumed that it was something of his wild and potent imagination? This place, this seemingly perfect little village in which he now found himself, he found it suddenly unnerving. He got up from where he had sat at the bank of the stream and began to walk back up towards the steep slope that lead down to the houses. He wondered what would happen now, they had survived things that belong in sci-fi and horror movies, but these were happening in the real world! Right next to him! He saw a flash of brown in the grass as he reached the top of the valley, a mouse? A vole? A creature that probably had no idea what was going on, it was just living its normal life, unaware of bigger affairs than food, drink and sex. A fair trade in Brian’s eyes, insignificance and being preyed on, in exchange for a blissful ignorance. His friends and family would certainly know about what had happened by now, he wondered how they would feel. Without further thinking he descended down the slope and entered the house. Here he found Katie, still sat in the sofa, she spoke to him excitedly.

“Hey Brian, they have movies! Hundreds of them! All ready to watch right away!”

“Great.” Brian said, sitting on the other sofa.

Meanwhile, Jenna was outside, she had grabbed Francis, Theo and Tom. She was talking to them in urgency.

“This isn’t right, this whole thing isn’t right.” She said to them. Directing her comments at Theo “You saw it as well, those things are outside now.”

“How did this guy get here anyway?” Francis asked.

“I fell, from a helicopter.” Theo muttered. “This whole place should be infected, but yet none of you have fallen ill. Those things could have killed everyone by now, we need to go and take a look.”

“But there are those walls blocking us off from the rest of the island.” Tom added.

“Use the roof.” replied Theo. “We’ll all go. Before it gets dark.”

“What if we encounter something? We’re not armed.” Theo added.

“I found several tazers in a cabinet in that hall.” Tom explained. “They may not be lethal but we can use them.”

“Go get them then.” Jenna said. “I still have my gun. What happened to that shotgun?”

“I left it in Eden, sorry.” Apologized Francis. “But I don’t think we should go tonight, we should leave it until the morning.”

“I suppose we could.” Tom said in agreement. “Ok, 8 o’clock tomorrow morning. Meet at the roof; follow the road back to the rear of Eden, just us four.”

The group split up. Jenna wandered into the large building in middle of the village; she could see a kitchen area behind a long window on the right. Inside this kitchen the robot they had seen earlier moved around. The doors closed behind her, creating a loud echoing noise around the area, the robot heard this and looked up at her.

“Greetings.” It said. “Food will be ready at 5:30.”

“Thank you.” said Jenna. “But I have some other questions to ask.”

“Okay, ask away.” The robot replied.

“Jenna leant on the counter and peered her head into the kitchen, it was very hot, and steam was rising from saucepans and several kettles scattered around. There were also washing machines and tumble driers at one end, vibrating noisily. Despite all this the robot had time to stop and talk to Jenna.

“Is there any way for us to get out of here?” Jenna asked.

“Yes, you go up the road, into the hanger, take the door in the far left corner and that takes you straight to the car park, the required door code is 7767.”

“Is there any way without going through the building?”

“No, there is a gate in the wall, but you need to unlock it from inside according to my knowledge. If you have a boat or aircraft you could always fly off, but that may not be possible.”

“Why not?”

“Well according to my information downloaded from the main system, the Eden complex has gone into lockdown since 10:57am yesterday. This means that it is impossible to exit the island, the defence systems have been enabled. They were only taken down for 3 hours yesterday, and may not be taken down anytime soon.”

“Defence systems?”

“If you will excuse me.” The robot said, moving away. “I am busy.”

“But I need answers!” Jenna shouted as it moved away. The robot did not respond, it resumed its cooking.

Jenna gave up shouting after it, she walked out of the empty hall and back to the house they had just moved into. There she found the two young people whom she had probably saved from a grizzly death. They were relaxed and calm, unlike herself. She was still quite young, but her memories of being a teenager were fading, she never knew why, they were not bad memories, it just seemed that over the last year events of the past were becoming lost, faces, places, moments, becoming more and more vague, and like someone trying to piece together a confusing dream (the kind that plague you for days afterwards) she would fill in the gaps with her imagination, and she would never notice.

Katie had worked out how to use this home entertainment system. It was very advanced and absolutely awesome to her. A library of 10,000 songs across all genres and decades. Over 300 movies ready to watch, and then there was the computer system. She had discovered a keyboard lying in a wooden draw, along with a mouse. But no matter how much she tried she couldn’t get it to go online. She was frustrated, she had enjoyed working with electronics since she was young, her elder brother would pay her a few pounds to help him build computers for his friends. He mostly needed her dexterous fingers to deal with working with small wires and switches on the inner components of computers. By 13 she was building her own, and getting money for making them for family and friends. Ironic really, all the guys at school fancied her and thought of her only as a pretty girl, but she was a lot more than that, however cliché it may seem. She could tell that Brian thought more than that of her, but how did she feel about him? Her mind was undecided.

Jenna spoke briefly to the pair of them, then went up the stairs towards the bedrooms, she entered the one she had picked and opened up the wardrobe, she was met with a great surprise. The wardrobe was a walk in, at least 4 metres in length. Inside there were men’s and women’s clothes and shoes of greatly varying styles and sizes. She went into the next room, the one that Katie had chosen. There was a slightly smaller wardrobe, inside there was again a huge variety of different sizes and styles of clothing. It seemed that all the clothes in both were completely brand new, some even had price tags still on them.

It was a while later that they were all ushered from the houses into the hall once again, the chairs had been rearranged along with tables, one long row of tables stretching the length of the room up to the raised stage. Food and cutlery had been laid and the robot stood by the doors, waiting for them all to enter. Everyone was surprised by what the robot had done, it was hardly a banquet or feast because there was not that much food there. There was just enough so that everyone could eat their fill and feel satisfied. Brian and Katie sat next to each other, Jenna sat opposite them along with Joe, Mary and Miriam. Everyone settled down to eat, there were enough chairs for everybody, with only one going spare. The robot had noticed this and had occasionally trundled round the table. It eventually came to its conclusion and announced.

“There is someone missing.”

“Its that guy with the glasses and Hawaiian shirt.” Someone replied. “Where is he?”

Everyone glanced around to check to see if he was right. It was true, Francis was not there. People wondered why he was not there, but no one left the table. There was plenty of wine at the table also, and by 7 p.m. the terrors of the previous days seemed forgotten thanks to the alcohol. Katie however wasn’t drinking, wine wasn’t too her taste, Mary felt the same way and her parents would have never let her anyway. Theo did also not drink; he was concerned about the man he had met earlier and his sudden disappearance. When the food had was being cleared away, and the talk was at its peak, Theo took his chance and slipped out. Katie and Mary also did, claiming they were tired. They went outside to get away from the noise. Picking up a chess set from one of the houses they sat under a tree near the hall, here they would play for a short while. Theo meanwhile had taken a torch from the house he had chosen. He immediately began to jog up the roadway out of the village. He felt a strange concern for someone who was still quite a stranger to him. He had been landed in this situation and he wasn’t going to let anyone die until they got out.

Verse 4: The Night

“Okay, you want to move your knight to take my pawn.” Mary said to Katie, indicating one of her chess pieces. Mary had been teaching Katie how to play, she did not seem to mind being taught by someone much younger than her, and they had both been glad to escape the noise inside. They had both paid little heed to the figure leaving the village via the road, although they could just about hear in the distance the tap of feet on hard tarmac.

“Do you like it here?” Katie asked to Mary, following her order and removing the small white pawn from the board.

“I don’t know, it’s a strange place, and after all that scary stuff we saw.”

“Don’t worry, you have your family with you.” Said Katie with a sigh.

“Well you have Brian with you, don’t you?”

“I guess, but…”

“He likes you, you know that?” Mary interrupted.

“He does? How do you know? Did he tell you?”

“I dunno, I can just tell these things. I’m smart, I’m sure of it.”

“Check.”

“What?”

“Look at the board Mary, I’ve beaten you.”

“Impossible! You’re getting good at this already.”

“I know, c’mon I want to win.”

Theo was moving fast up the road, he wondered where Francis was. He arrived at the back of Eden without seeing a sight of him. He made his way up the ladder he had descended earlier that day, he found Francis on the roof. Francis turned around to see him coming up the ladder. He turned to face Theo, a worried look on his face, he held a small round stone in his hand.

“Hey you.” Francis said to Theo with a strange look. “Follow me.”

Francis silently walked to the end of the roof, he peered down over the edge, below there swarmed all manner of the same zombie like creatures that they had seen before.

“Shit.” Theo said, backing away from the edge. He glanced to the horizon, in the distance he could see destruction. There were fires scattered across the horizon and smoke was filling the air. He could see flashing lights in the smoke, gunfire striking like lightning. In the foreground before the smoke, empty vehicles and bodies lay strewn across the large car park. However the crowd of creatures below them did not seem to move beyond the bridge.

Francis leant back and then hurled the stone towards the bridge, it moved through the air for several seconds before something extraordinary happened, it suddenly disappeared, or disintegrated into thousands of tiny shards of rock that fell down to earth.

“What is this?” Theo uttered, he looked around the rooftop, there was another stone nearby, he picked it up, it was well rounded and slightly smaller than his clenched fist, he moved back to the edge. He tossed the stone forward with a great deal of force, it carried on forward for only a couple of seconds before it disintegrated in the same way as the previous stone, with a small flash of light and complete silence as it fell to the floor at the feet of the most disgusting creatures both men had seen in their lives.

“What are those things?” Francis asked.

“I don’t know, we just got called in, it was all pretty haphazard, something was up we could all tell that. Now its just got even worse, it looks like the end of the world out there.”

“And we are here.” Francis said. “Trapped.”

“In what looks like a paradise.” Laughed Theo, turning around to survey the low rolling hills around them and the glow of the sun setting in the west, but he could not ignore the sight before them, they were powerless to do anything from here. Francis also looked towards the sun, in the glimpse of an eye he saw two small blobs pass across the sun, he looked closely as they quickly got larger, aircraft. Both men watched as they passed across the near horizon, they were military aircraft as far as Theo could tell. They passed through the thick clouds of grey smoke that covered parts of the distant land and off into the East, growing further and further inland and away from Eden.

“What do we do about all this?” Francis asked. “What do we tell everyone?”

“We tell them nothing yet, we were both never here, we shall wait until tomorrow discuss all this with others, form a plan, that sort of stuff. If I were you I’d get some sleep mate, it’s gonna be a rough few days coming.”

“Okay.”

They both got up and made their silent return to the houses, negative thoughts preyed on the minds of both.

Curled up on the sofa, next to the girl of your dreams, with just inches of soft fabric separating you, what do you do? Brian wondered this as he sat with Katie watching some rubbish comedy film that made her laugh a lot, but he had only found himself genuinely laughing about twice. He went along with his façade of smiling and chuckling, just to keep Katie happy, not that she would have cared either way. He wondered what was going through her mind, he wondered what was going through the minds of everyone, he would sit for the entirety of the lunch hour at a bench and watch all the other people, occasionally Julie would come and chat to him, a girl who clearly had affections for him, but he would ignore them nonetheless. He knew that his fearful liking for Katie would pay off, would it be now? Tonight? With the world in chaos?

The film came to its end and the credits rolled along to a brash pop song, Katie switched off the TV and the room was bathed in a sudden darkness as their eyes adjusted to the changing light. Little Mary had left earlier to go to bed In the house her brother and his wife had chosen, Jenna was outside, walking around somewhere, it was just the two of them, alone. Katie sighed and spoke to him in a gentle voice that set Brian’s nerves on fire.

“I can’t believe I didn’t know you at school, you are such a nice guy.” She said to him.

“Thanks.” Laughed Brian with a blush. “I wish I’d gotten to know you also.”

There was a brief silence, for a heart stopping second Brian though their conversation had dried up, but Katie then began to talk in a way that surprised him.

“I’m glad to be away from school, we may have exams soon but I just can’t take the guys there anymore, total jerks who only want sex.”

“Not all guys are like that you know, well at least I’m not.”

“Oh really, how would I know that you aren’t just being sly, any guy can lie and fake that they are all perfect, I think I’m smart enough to see through that.”

“Well I’m not like the other guys.” Brian explained, not sure weather that was true or a lie, was he like the other guys? “Not all guys are totally interested in sex, well at least I’m not totally interested in sex.”

“And how am I suppose to believe that, can you prove it?”

“Ha! How’s that work, I just don’t have sex with you and then I’ve proved myself.”

“Well, yeah, if you really want to prove yourself.”

“Well, alright, how hard could it really be?”

Their eyes met, and they both saw what they wanted to see in the other, whatever desire, wish or want they had, they found it in each others stare, by gravity, temptation or fate they began to draw closer to each other, both of their minds had become clouded, but Brian’s had fallen into chaos, a million thoughs threw themselves around inside himself, songs, quotes, memories and images seemed to manifest themselves. An image appeared in his mind, a kitchen knife, stuck into a wooden table.

“Stop!”

Brian pulled away, he hadn’t shouted out loud, it was as if his mind had screamed to him to stop. Instantly this whole situation became a sudden regret as the ‘moment’ died away, Katie looked surprised, she did not move or say anything. Brian had stopped at the last second, delayed 3 years of dreaming for a period of unknown length, but why? What force from a dark alcove of his mind had stopped him?

“I’m not trying to prove myself here. I just need to go somewhere for a little bit, hold whatever you were thinking.” Brian said quietly, not daring to look at Katie, he opened the sliding glass door to the house and stepped outside, almost tripping and falling from the bump at the base of the door. He did not close it behind himself as he walked out into the night, and the blinds on windows moved gently in the intruding breeze.

“Men…” Katie said to herself, turning the TV back on and changing to music, she played a soft sombre song and lay down on the sofa to think. “Just what the hell had happened?”

Only a minute later Jenna strolled into the room, she smiled at Kate.

“Hi there.”

“Hello.” Katie sighed.

“Where’s Brian? You two were together just earlier, where is he now?”

“He, uh… he went out.”

“Something happen?”

“No, nothing.”

“Oh, well… would you like something to drink? Tea?”

Jenna did not have a clue what to say, she had no children, and her teenage years seemed so long ago (although they weren’t.) what was she to do?

“I’d love a cup of tea.” Katie replied with a cheerful smile.

“Okay, now I’ve just got to find everything.” Jenna said as she fumbled around in the kitchen, she found mugs, tea spoons, teabags and a kettle, but no milk. “Can’t have tea without milk.”

“I’ll go see if the robot has any.” Katie said straight away, getting up and leaving the house before Jenna could argue otherwise, she simply stood there with a bemused look on her face, wondering just what had gone on.

Across the village area from the roadway there was a small dirt track that lead down towards the southern edge of the island Brian could see in the distance a sandy beach onto which calm waves lapped up and down. Brian did not follow the path for long, in his confusion he ripped off the path and trailed off into a clump of tall trees scattered to the left of the path, he zigzagged his way through them and emerged to find a strange sight, a rock face from which a waterfall flowed off of into a pool, steam rose up from the waters, Brian could feel warmth as he approached, this was some kind of hot spring. A sloping rocky cliff arose to either side of the springs and a sort of path of climbing rocks was visible, a way up the cliff and to beyond. He leant down by the water and dipped his hand in, it was very warm, a perfect temperature and the water was crystal clear, he considered jumping in then and there, but something else beckoned him, he could just smell that salty sea smell, a smell that was sometimes repulsive, sometimes attractive. He wandered away from the waterfall and the spring and back onto the pathway, he carried on a little way until he could just manage to see the sea in the coming darkness of that night. From here the beach looked like a cold grey strip and the water dark and menacing, he had not thought for one moment why he had left and what had happened in his thoughts. He had stopped short of something he would never imagine would happen, the regret had hit him and he wished he could run back to her, hold her and…

“Never let go.” Brian blurted out loudly, he immediately closed his mouth and felt embarrassed, but there was no one around to react to it, he sat down beside the pathway and thought about things, things other than what had happened, what lay before him in this place? He could see that moment in his head now, from a third person’s view as if he was there, watching him, all the alternatives ran through his head, some good and some bad, but he had had one choice and it had been made. There was no way back for him now and there never was. He wasn’t going to let depression take him back.

Katie walked through the darkness to the hall, inside she found the robot, trundling around and putting the tables they had eaten off of away, the robot looked towards her as she entered.

“Hello.” Katie said shyly, not sure how to speak to a robot.

“Hello there, can I help you?”“

“I need some milk, do you have any?” asked Katie

“Yes, I do, its in the fridge downstairs, follow me please.”

The robot trundled into the kitchen area and then through a door, Katie followed it as it travelled down the stairs, adjusting its feet tracks so that it did not fall down, they entered into a very large and plain walled basement. Row after row of strip lighting illuminated as they entered, Katie was faced with a grand sight, shelf after shelf stacked with crates, boxes and all sorts of things.

“What is all this?” Katie asked to the robot.

“Everything, food, bedding, cleaning products, clothes, furniture, plants, computers, TV’s, appliances, firearms, computers and pretty much everything anyone here would need.”

“You said firearms?” Katie said in surprise. “Is that a safe idea?”

“I do not know as it would depend on a lot of factors, but firearms are here as standard.”

They walked down one of the rows, to a group of 3 large fridges, the robot opened one of the fridges and drew from it a pint carton of milk.

“There you are, anything else?”

“No thanks.” Katie replied, taking the milk from the robots long mechanical fingers. “Thank you for your help.”

“No problem.”

“Did you get the milk?” Jenna asked as Katie walked into the house.

“Yeah.” Katie said. She put the milk down on the kitchen counter and slouched back into the

sofa, she stared into the mirror, she forced a smile and looked at her teeth, one of her front teeth on her lower jaw was missing and one at the back of her upper jaw, she did not mind much, but the scar on her cheek seemed as large as ever, but yet she felt no concern for any of it, far worse could have happened to her, she could have been dead right now, what had happened the previous day was beyond belief, but now she was here, and she felt so comfortable, if only it weren’t for Brian, he was a strange guy there was no doubting that, she suddenly remembered something she had to say.

“There are firearms below that hall, I just thought you should know.”

“Really, how many?”

“I didn’t see, but the robot told me there was, there are loads of things below in the basement.”

“I’ll have to take a look tomorrow, thank you for telling me.”

Jenna sat down on the same sofa and turned on the screen using the remote, she took a noisy sip of tea and repeatedly pressed buttons, she grew frustrated.

“Is there no TV?” she asked angrily

“No, I tried that straight away.” replied Katie. “There is only music and movies. It has a computer mode as well, but the internet refuses to work.”

“Damn, guess its movies then.”

“I’ve already seen 2 today, that’s enough for me. I’m going to bed.” Katie muttered. “Goodnight.”

“Okay, fair enough, have a good night sleep.”

Katie walked up the stairs and into the room she had chosen, it was only just after 9 but she felt so tired, she threw herself down onto the bed and her eyes were forced shut before she even had a chance to think.

It was only moments later that Brian entered, Jenna watched him in silence, bemused by the behaviour of these teenagers. Brian looked at her and gave a strange look, it should have been a cold nasty look but it only made Jenna chuckle.

“So, what happened?” she asked. “Are you going to tell me?”

“Why do you care so much?” said Brian quietly.

“Well I’m interested, I see too young people quite blatantly in love one second and then refusing to talk to each other in the next. What’s the deal with that eh?”

“Its nothing. Really there’s nothing for me to say, its my fault.”

“What’s your fault?”

“I… I… I’m going to bed. It’s been a long day.”

“Fine. Do you want that cup of tea?” asked Jenna, indicating Katie’s untouched cup sitting on the low coffee table between the sofas and the television.

“No thanks.” Brian sighed. “Goodnight.”

“Night.” Jenna said as the door slammed shut, then there was silence.

Jenna stared into space for a few moments, what lay ahead for everyone? How was the world coping with these things? Why was there nothing here? She felt herself fading away into sleep. She made her way up the stairs and quickly fell asleep in the room she had chosen. Her last thoughts were of these two teenagers, Katie across the hall and Brian downstairs, they had somehow become her responsibility and she knew she would have to look after them for now. If things had gone bad then their families may both be dead, the whole world could have been destroyed…

Her eyes closed, and while sleep did ensue it would be a restless sleep, one that was fraught with nightmares. In the room below Brian lay awake in the darkness as he listened to the silence of the night. He shook his head to himself and clenched his fist, waiting for sleep to take him. Eventually it did, but not for long. Night had come to Eden and with it all things that can come with darkness.

Verse 5: Spectre

Brian awoke with a start, he sat up in the bed and took a deep breath in and out. He hadn’t had a nightmare; he felt that something was in his room, in the real world. The whole room seemed strangely warm as Brian stepped out of the bed, he picked up his phone that lay on the floor by the bed, there was no signal still and the time was 1:47 am. The world around him was silent, totally silent aside from the gentle and normally inaudible sound of his breathing.

He had that creepy feeling, a feeling of being watched by someone or something even though he knew the room was totally empty. He opened the bedroom door and walked into the kitchen area, to the left there was the sitting area and… He paused, blinked and looked again. Was he seeing things? He walked forward, unafraid of whatever it was. At a distance it looked like no more that a shape of light, thin at the top and bottom but rounded out in the middle, it hovered a few inches off of the floor beside the sofas, Brian approached it to get a different look. The house felt so warm and seemed to grow warmer the closer he got to the light. This light began to move slowly towards him, between the sofas until it was just 2 metres away from him. It had a face! Well at least the outline of a face…

To be continued