Shadows of Eden

Trigger Warning: Blood, Vulgar language, Violence

Just a few miles south of the river the shaft opened up to, Cullen had already set up his small camp. He had zipped himself up in his tent, flashlight in one hand, shining it onto the notebook he had taken from Tristan’s jacket pocket. He studied each page carefully, looking for clues about his parents written down as if there had to be something. Just a sliver of information about what happened could lead him in the right direction. 

The breeze outside was steady as it blew the polyester material of his tent, the branches creating shadows that danced on it. He turned over on his back and held the notebook up in the air and continued to delve into its contents. He had taken a few of the MREs from back where the others were; they wouldn’t even miss them. He did, however, know that eventually, those wouldn’t hold him over. He would have to go out and find something that would. 

By the next morning, he hadn’t slept at all and his eyes were heavy. He had finished the book but was right back at square one. Nothing in it explained anything about his parents, but he did pick up on the fact that the main topic of conversation in it was Naomi and Tristan’s parents. He wondered if they had read as deeply as he had? 

He unzipped the tent flap and peeked his head out of it. This place was unlike anything he had imagined. How did he not notice the wildflowers the night before when he set up camp. They weren’t just buds but in full bloom. Had he really not paid that much attention? 

He crawled out of the tent and examined one that was sprouting right outside of it. Then, he realized it wasn’t a flower at all, but a mushroom. It was covered in an oil-like substance that caused his hand to tingle. He looked up and followed a small trail of them up one of the pines that was leaning on its side as if it could fall at any moment. The opalescent mushroom sprouts were winding up the trunk and got bigger the further they went up. Each tree, he noticed, had a different color mushroom covering their trunks. Shades of yellow, blue, purple, green. 

“Woah,” He said to himself as he took a closer look at the iridescent growths. Scattered throughout the uneven ground were even more colors of the fungi. Now, if these were talked about in his horticulture class, he would have paid attention; they were mesmerizing, to say the least.

He turned his head and looked up at the sky. Above the trees was a clearing where the sun shimmered, casting a spotlight on another tree. This one was covered in spongy mushrooms of all shapes and sizes. They were swaying in the slight breeze that was starting to pick up. The closer he approached the mushrooms, he could have sworn he saw them pulsing. Suddenly, a wave of extreme famine fell over him and he wanted nothing more than to devour anything in sight. He lunged for the sponges and plucked one off of the tree, then another, and another. He shoved them into his mouth, not giving himself time to breathe after each bite. Then, Cullen’s feet started to quiver. The ground sounded like it was being pounded on as if a tree had fallen in the distance. He turned to see the tree by his tent still intact and he scrunched his face. He felt the rumble again, this time more fierce. Then, as it had stopped, he brushed it off and kept on with the mushrooms. But when he went to grab another, there was nothing there, as if nothing had ever been. Slowly, the mushrooms started retracting themselves, retreating back into the trees they were sprouting from. 

“What the hell?” He whispered. Then, the rumble was back. The ground started to shake underneath him, hard enough to knock him to his feet. His hunger had ceased and he rushed for his tent. Knowing he needed to get out of there as soon as he could, he didn’t bother packing it up. He just snatched his bag and the notebook and took off in the direction he thought he came from. As he turned back to see what was going on, he saw the trees themselves trembling as if this invisible force was shaking them. He sped up, dodging low tree branches and bushes. He maneuvered over several logs he swore weren’t there the night before. Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember any of the surroundings he had ventured through the night before. The last thing he remembered was walking in the opposite direction of the river they had stumbled upon, away from the metal shaft that he and the rest of the group crawled down in, back to the ground below their home.

Suddenly, a prickly vine started growing in front of him and he couldn’t stop in time to avoid it. He tumbled over it, one of the thick needles piercing through his cargo pants and into his thigh,” 

“God,” He gripped onto his leg as he stumbled to get up. He could feel the warm blood trickling down into his boots but he had to keep moving. He was sure if he stopped, he would never make it out alive. Whatever presence he felt rushing up behind him, he was sure would take him if he even thought about taking a breather. 

XXXX

“What was that?” Luke asked as he jerked to look behind him. 

“Dude,” Tristan rolled his eyes. “It was a leaf,” 

If Luke asked what was that every time he stepped on something one more time, Tristan didn’t know if he would be able to hold himself back.  

Tristan turned to see Luke shivering despite the sun barreling down on the five of them. As soon as he did, the ground did its own kind of trembling. 

“Ok,” Naomi said, bracing herself as if she were going to fall. “What was that?” 

“I’m not sure,” Tristan said. 

“Look who’s not sure now,” Luke spurted out. 

“That sure as hell wasn’t a leaf,” Talia said. 

“Guys,” The girl who had tagged along with them pointed through them, north. 

“Is that Cullen?” Naomi said quietly. 

“More importantly,” Tristan said as he reached out for Naomi, his little sister's arm. “What the fuck is that behind him?” 

It was running on its hind legs and stood way too high above the trees to be anything natural. 

They took off where they had come from, as the ground continued to quake underneath them. Naomi could feel the fire in her lungs swell the faster she ran. Cullen had now caught up to them at that point, leaves crunching and crackling under their boots. 

Naomi saw her brother reach for his gun on his holster. He fumbled it around in his hand as he tried to slide the magazine into place. Turning around just enough to point it at the creature, he fired the first shot. After that, he let a few more rounds go. Eventually, Naomi heard the creature groan. It was only nearing closer, despite Tristan’s efforts to slow it down; the bullets barely jabbing into its skin. The creature was creating a shadow over them so dark that it looked to be night time once again. In its shadow, she saw its hand or paw, whatever it was, rear its gnarled claws which seemed to be at least a few feet long. 

“Up ahead!” Talia shouted as she pointed in front of her. Naomi spotted the metal shaft once again. 

Then, a blood curdling scream came from behind Naomi and she flashed around. 

The creature had grabbed hold of the girl whose name she didn’t even know. 

Her fingers were dragging through the forest floor as it had her leg clenched between its fangs. She saw the creature rip her arm off with its claws, then toss her out of its mouth. Her body flung, thrashing against a nearby tree. Naomi watched her mangled body slide down it, thudding onto the tree's roots. The creature didn’t stop there, and she spotted her brother going straight for it. 

“Tristan!!” She shouted. He couldn’t hear her, and she contemplated going to stop him or rush over to where the girl's body was laying lifeless a few feet away. 

“Oh my god,” Naomi stuttered as she crouched by the girl's body. 

Blood was gushing out of the corner of her mouth and she was jolting slightly. Naomi brought her ear to the girl's mouth to see if she was even alive; her breaths, labored. A wheeze filled her ear and she looked into the girl's eyes. 

“What’s your name?” Naomi asked. 

“Si..” The girl was choking on all of the blood pooling in her throat. “Sienna,” She barely got that out. 

“I’m right here, Sienna,” Naomi reached out for Sienna’s hand. She gripped onto it. Naomi let her feet give out and she sat with her, bringing Sienna’s head up to her knee. She hummed softly in her ear and brushed her hair out of her face, knowing there was nothing she could do but she couldn’t let the creature’s growls be the last thing this poor girl heard before she died. 

Sienna gasped and her faint grip on Naomi’s hand released all together. Her eyes continued to stay open, but the life behind them crumbled apart. Naomi let out a whimper and leaned over the girl's body. She brought her trembling hand up to Sienna’s eyes, and she flipped them closed. 

She couldn’t bear to leave her there, alone. She just wept as she held Sienna’s body close to her own. It felt as though it was just the two of them, the rest of the world falling silent as she watched the life of a girl she just met slip away as if it was nothing. Then, a few more gunshots went off behind her that made her twitch. 

She looked down at Sienna’s body, her mouth had fallen slightly open then. She carefully laid her head down on the ground. Blood was all over Naomi’s tank and jeans, including her face. As they were running, Naomi had tripped a few times, scraping her face so she couldn’t tell the difference between Sienna’s blood and her own. She stumbled back, growing disoriented. For the slightest second, she forgot what she was walking up to, until Tristan had a hold of her and started shooting the creature that was heading her direction ready to pounce on her. 

He emptied the rest of his magazine, but it didn’t slow the creature down at all. Suddenly, Luke came from beside them and jumped up onto the creature's back. 

He yelled as he dug his blade into the creature's thick, hairy skin. He dragged it all the way down as far as he could, twisting it as he went along. The creature reared its back and Luke flew off, hitting the ground. He quickly got up and flew for the creature again. Soon after, they all watched the wolf-like animal hiss into the air, reaching for each spot that Luke had stabbed it, along with the bullet holes. Then, it tumbled to the ground, and Tristan grasped onto Naomi’s arm, getting them both out of the way before its body crushed them. 

The six of them met back up with one another, and Talia grabbed onto Naomi. Cullen made his way towards them with his limp. 

“Looks like we found some food,” He said when he approached them. 

Naomi turned her head and saw the remains of what was left of Sienna drooped over the raised up roots of the pine tree her body had hit. 

“Tristan,” She whimpered. 

He turned around to see what his sister was looking at. 

“Oh god,” Talia said, cupping her hand over her mouth. 

“Her name was Sienna,” Luke piped up, his face falling as he spoke. “She was my lab partner. We didn’t talk unless we needed to.” 

He stumbled over to her lifeless body, and dropped to his knees. 

“We can’t leave her here,” He said. 

“He’s right,” Talia said. “It wouldn’t be right,” 

Cullen limped over to where Luke was kneeling. He dropped to the ground and started digging, throwing clumps of dirt and grass, along with leaves off to the side. Naomi walked away from Tristan and got down beside him, and she started repeating what he was doing. Cullen looked over at her and she could see his entire face was covered in sweat, blood and dirt. He looked like a completely different person from when she last laid eyes on him. His hair was no longer in its slicked back form, but was falling into his teal eyes. 

The rest of them followed suit and eventually, a hole was dug up, a few feet deep. 

“I got her,” Cullen said, moving Luke out of the way and scooping Sienna’s body up. All she had left was one arm and a leg, and those were nowhere to be found. He gently laid her down into the hole, as piles of loose dirt fell onto her face. 

“She was so nice,” Luke said, wiping a single tear from his face. His fiery red hair was blood speckled, and his jacket was ripped open on one side. Talia wrapped her arm around his shoulder as they watched Cullen scoop the dirt back over Sienna. She rested her head on his. 

Naomi looked to her brother and she even saw the bubbling of tears in his eyes as well. He brought her close to him, an arm around her shoulder. She gripped onto the back of his jacket. 

Luke bent down to grab what looked like a yellow dandelion, but before he could Cullen gripped onto his wrist. 

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” He warned. 

“We need to toss something nice in there,” He countered. 

“That’s what landed us in the position in the first place,” Cullen said, thinking about the mushrooms he left behind in that clearing miles away. 

“What did you do?” Luke said, his voice growing cold. 

“It’s not like I thought this was going to happen,” Cullen said, his head looking over his shoulder, up at Luke who was standing over him. 

“Everything was fine until we just had to come and find you,” Luke said. Talia tried to turn Luke around but he shoved her off of him. “If you hadn’t of left, she wouldn’t be dead,” 

“Once again,” Cullen stood up now and got closer to Luke. “Was I supposed to know that that thing would have started chasing me?” 

“That should’ve been you,” Luke said, pointing to the grave. 

“And it’s about to be you,” Cullen started to swing on Luke. Tristan hooked his arms through Cullens, keeping them held back. Cullen spat onto the ground and jerked around. Luke went flying to Cullen’s face and Talia and Naomi had to restrain him as well. 

“Knock it off!” Tristan shouted. “Stop!” 

Cullen finally calmed down enough to be let go, along with Luke. 

He went right back to filling in the shallow grave that held Sienna. Then, the six of them made their way back to the creek. 

“What was that?” Gwen stumbled up from the ground as she spotted all of them coming their way. 

“We heard gunshots,” Owen tightened his grip on his cardigan when he crossed his arms. “Is everyone ok,” 

“No,” Luke pushed past the rest of them and started walking down to where he heard the water drifting across the rocks. 

“What happened?” Skylar stopped Naomi. “Are you alright?” 

“Sienna,” Naomi said. “She’s dead,” She felt numb as she stared through Skylar. 

“What was all of that noise? What happened?” Owen asked. 

“When we were going to look for Cullen,” Tristan started. “He started running up to us and this wolf thing was chasing behind him,” 

“I didn’t actually see what it was until I made it back to you guys,” Cullen said. He assumed the blood had stopped spurting out of his thigh because he didn’t feel it pooling into his shoe anymore. 

“What do you mean you didn’t see it?” Talia asked. 

“When I kept looking behind me, all I could sense was something extremely large coming after me,” He started. “It’s like it was invisible,” 

“What happened before that?” Tristan inquired. 

“Right before the rumbling started happening,” Cullen started with what he could remember. “I felt this immense sensation of hunger, so I stuck a few of these mushrooms into my mouth.” He handed the mushroom that was in his pocket to Tristan who held out his hand. 

Tristan clutched onto the spongy plant in his palm. He tossed it to the ground almost as soon as he put his fingers around it. 

“Tingling?” 

“How’d you know?” Tristan asked, bending down but refusing to pick it up again. He used his own blade to toss it around. 

“It did the same thing to me earlier before I felt like I hadn’t eaten in ten years,” Cullen said. 

“Owen,” Naomi said. “You are good with plants,” 

Owen crouched down by Tristan who was beginning to stab it with his knife. 

“I truly haven’t seen anything like this before,” He said. Then, he got this weird look in his eye as he looked up at the rest of them. 

“What is it?” 

“I have a strange feeling that we aren’t where we think we are,” He gulped, picking up a leaf that had fallen from the trees next to them. It wasn’t green like most but had a purple hue. He turned it over and squinted his eyes. 

“What are you suggesting?” Tristan said, standing back up. 

“I mean I don’t think we found Earth.”