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face showing no emotion as he
followed me through the gate and down a path.  Despite the
questions that they were practically screaming with their eyes, no
one said a word as we passed.
    We stopped in the western
field where hints of corn were starting to sprout.  Tufts of
green rose in perfect rows.  Spring brought hope every
year.  Every row echoed our victory over the infection,
against the Fallen.  We were still here.  While we were
still here there was still some form of hope.
    I dropped to my hands and
knees and started on a row, picking out the rebellious weeds that
insisted in cropping up.  Seeing what I did, West dropped a
few rows away from me and started pulling too.
    My hands worked swiftly
and with well-practiced precision but my eyes kept flickering to
West’s form.  His back was turned to me, his head bent low as
he worked dutifully.  He looked able to take care of
himself.  His frame was light but
well-muscled. 
    His dark hair fell across
his eyes, left shaggy and long like the majority of the males in
the world.  It was difficult to cut hair without shaving it
completely off.  The only man in Eden who kept his hair short
was Avian, who shaved his head completely every other week or
so.
    As I was tangled in my own
thoughts I suddenly realized that he had looked at me, his woodsy
eyes holding mine.  He had paused in his work, his hand a few
inches above the ground, holding a weed.  I felt frozen for a
moment, unable to look away.  Why did his eyes echo something
in the recesses of my mind, calling to a place in my memory I had
forgotten?
    The small smile that
tugged on his lips was all I needed to snap back into
reality. 
    “ How long have you been
here, Eve?” he asked, his eyes turning back to his task.  He
threw the weed in his hand into the wheelbarrow.
    “ For as long as I can
remember,” I said simply.  I felt oddly disarmed, as if he had
tipped over a wall in me that I didn’t really realize was
there.  I didn’t really want that wall tipped.
    “ Since before the fall?”
his voice sounded slightly surprised.
    “ No, just after
it.”
    “ How old are you?” he
asked, glancing up at me for a moment.
    “ How old are you?” I
questioned back.  I didn’t like the questions.  I felt
like I didn’t have enough answers most of the time.
    “ I turn nineteen in two
months.”
    We were both quiet for a
few moments, only the soft sound of earth being
disturbed. 
    “ I’m seventeen,” I said
quietly to the dirt.  “I think.”
    “ You think?”
    “ I think,” I said sharply,
making sure not to look into his face.
    The sound of feet brought
my attention up.  Graye had moved into our field, keeping a
short distance away but watching us as we worked.
    “ Who’s he?” West asked,
meeting Graye’s eyes for a moment.
    “ Graye,” I answered. 
“He can have a temper.  Stay out of his way if you
can.”
    West met Graye’s eyes
again for a second, holding them as if to test what I had just
said.
    We said little else as we
finished our shift, dumping the full wheelbarrow of weeds into the
compost pile.  With the rest of the group, we walked back to
Eden.  Despite the whispers that flew through the group, no
one dared to ask about West’s presence.
     
    I saw little of the
newcomers the rest of the afternoon.  They stayed close to
Gabriel’s side, getting settled in.  Word was spreading fast
about them, it would be impossible for it not to.  Emotions
were mixed.  Some were elated to have three new members come
into our family.  There was obvious excitement about
Brady.  There weren’t many children anymore.  Other’s
felt like I did, not sure if trust was to be automatically given
just because they were human.
    The sun started to set, an
orange haze peppered with stars.  I sat on the hill that
protected Eden on the north side, watching as everyone went about
their evening routine.  Some made trips to the outhouses,
others to take an evening bath, some