Once An Eve Novel

silhouette was visible on the bed. I started toward him, but when I reached the bedroom, he wasn’t alone. There were more of them—three men altogether. One sat in an armchair in the corner, his skin ghostly pale. Another stood by the room’s other entrance, blocking the path through. His face was scarred, and he wore dirt-caked pants and the same boots Missy had described in Califia. The others were in uniform, the New American crest pasted on their shirtsleeves.
    “Hello, Eve,” the man on the bed offered. “We’ve been waiting for you.” He sat up slowly and studied me, his face half in shadow. The thin hairs on the back of my neck bristled. I knew him. I knew this man.
    His eyes looked out from behind thick black lashes. He was young—no older than seventeen—but his face seemed more mature than it did when we’d encountered him at the base of the mountain that day. The day I had shot and killed the two soldiers. After he had stitched up Caleb’s leg, I had released him. I had let him go free, only to find him here, now, in this strange place.
    The soldier with the scarred face crossed his arms over his chest. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to get the message.” He looked to the others. “Word spreads quickly among Strays, doesn’t it?”
    My thoughts went immediately to Arden. She and Heddy were probably at the door, working their way inside the building. They had followed me here, on my stupid insistence. I had led Arden into danger once before. It couldn’t happen again.
    I needed to warn them.
    The young soldier nodded to the other two and they rushed forward. The flashlight was heavy in my hand. I didn’t think. As the pale one came at me, I swung, landing one blow across his cheekbone. He stumbled backward, into the other one, giving me just enough time to slip away. I took off through the maze, jumping over chairs and tables and broken lamps. I could hear them gaining on me, their steps close as I reached the entrance.
    Arden was readying herself to climb through the broken glass door. Heddy started barking, growing more frantic as we neared. Boots pounded the concrete floor behind me. Heddy barked even louder. I kept running, aiming for the opening in the door. I didn’t look back as I threw myself through it, screaming the only word I could manage.
    “Run!”

eight
     
    GLASS SLICED INTO MY BARE ARM. FOR A BRIEF MOMENT THE world was completely still. My body was halfway through the broken door. I saw the empty parking lot before me, weeds sprouting up through the cracks in the pavement. Heddy was snarling. Frantic, Arden grabbed me under the arms and pulled, trying to get me out. Then a hand was on my ankle, fingernails digging into my skin as one of the soldiers dragged me back into the warehouse.
    Heddy bolted through the door beside me and sank her teeth into his leg. “It’s on me,” the young soldier screamed to the others. Heddy was growling, a low rumbling sound that filled the air as she shook her head back and forth, tearing through his pants and into his flesh. She knocked him down and he finally released me. I turned to see his head smash into the floor, his eyes squeezed shut in pain. “Shoot it!” he yelled.
    Arden kept pulling, my blood soaking her sleeve, until I was out in the open air of the parking lot. It was nearly fifty yards to the road. Woods spread out behind the warehouse; the dense trees would provide cover. I got up and ran toward them but Arden was frozen, staring at the doors. Heddy was still inside. She had the soldier pinned down and was barking in his face. When the other two came out of the darkness she bared her teeth, as if guarding a fresh kill. “Heddy, come, come here,” Arden urged, smacking her hand on her thigh. “Get over here!”
    The soldier dressed as a Stray pulled a gun from his waist. He aimed at the dog but she lurched suddenly, biting into the young soldier’s arm. “Just shoot it!” he yelled from the floor.
    “We have to go,” I said, pulling Arden away.
    “Come, Heddy!” Arden tried again as she ran backward, away from the store. “Come—”
    A shot sounded. Heddy let out a horrible whimper and staggered away, her side bleeding. The soldier helped the boy up, then shot the chain holding the doors closed until it broke. The three men walked out into the parking lot.
    I grabbed Arden’s hand, pulling her toward the woods behind the warehouse, but she dragged her feet, staring at the building.