Eden's Root Read online

  Eden’s Root

  Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Thy Medicine Be Food - Hippocrates

  Text and image copyright © 2011 by Rachel E. Fisher. All rights reserved.

  Visit my website at www.rachelefisher.com

  First eBook Edition: December 2011

  Published by Rachel E. Fisher at Smashwords

  Summary

  The year is 2033, and the world hovers on the edge of explosion as unexplained crop deaths lead to severe global food shortages. In the United States, the Sickness is taking lives slowly, creeping its way into every family. Thirteen-year old Fi Kelly has already faced the Sickness in her own family, toughening her at a young age. But when her dying father makes a shocking confession, Fi realizes that her toughness will be pushed to its absolute limits. Saddled with an impossible secret and the mission of saving her little sister, Fi sets out to transform herself into the warrior that she must become to survive the coming collapse. Along the way, she will discover that evil can be accidental...and that love can be intentional.

  Dedication

  This dedication goes first to my husband, who patiently waited while I dove into the deep end of something utterly new and exciting. Thank you for your willingness to support all of my endeavors, however questionable

  Also, I wish to dedicate this to those first willing guinea pigs who were kind enough to read three hundred pages of novel as a favor. Thank you…

  To my mother, Barbara, who loves the English language more than anyone else I have ever met, for her unceasing faith in her children.

  To my father and avid science-fiction fan, Joe, for his encouragement and knowledge.

  To my kind mother-in-law, Beverly, for her time and support.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue – A Special Treat

  Revelations

  When the World Was Young

  Haunted

  Confession

  Playing God

  Acceptance

  The Day After

  Preparations

  You Have to Hunt

  A New Found Friend

  You Have to Gather

  You Have to Fight

  And Then There Were Two

  An Impossible Secret

  One Hand, One Head

  Surrounded

  Announcement

  Trapped

  Escape

  The Ninth Level

  Rumors of War

  Bearing Witness

  A Time to Raid

  Shopping Spree

  Slow Going

  Pilgrimage

  Ambush

  It Was a Good Day

  Shelter

  Educating Sean

  New Additions

  Consideration Day

  Surviving the Winter

  Fi’s Birthday

  Beg, Barter, or Steal

  Jose and Mayra

  The Big Raid

  Back Up Plan

  Back in the City

  Night Crawl

  Gangs of New York

  Three is a Crowd

  Passing Like Ghosts

  Slipping Away

  The Lyrids

  A Matter of Trust

  The Heroes Return

  Homecoming

  A View to a Kill

  End Game

  On the Road Again

  A Fresh Start

  Maggie’s Last Days

  A Father’s Love

  Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

  Birthday Surprises

  Last Crossing

  Jackpot

  Down the Rabbit Hole

  Knock, Knock

  The Grand Tour

  The Final Consideration

  Meet Your New Leader

  Assimilation

  The Petri Dish

  The New Normal

  Seeking

  Back to School

  Wishes Granted

  Kiara’s Gift

  Rachel’s Miracle

  A Birthday Promise

  Epilogue – Finding Babylon

  Under the harvest moon,

  When the soft silver

  Drips shimmering

  Over the garden nights,

  Death, the gray Mocker,

  Comes and whispers to you

  As a beautiful friend

  Who remembers.

  Prologue

  A Special Treat

  ----------- Fi -----------

  Thirteen gaunt faces stared at Fi Kelly with hopeful eyes as they lined up in the dusty farmhouse kitchen, cups in hand. Sunlight weaved through cracks in the wooden shutters over the windows, painting the gathering in dim stripes. Fi held the can of fruit cocktail aloft and the group murmured in excitement. At the front of the line, Kiara and Zoe stood holding hands. Kiara’s deep blue eyes bulged in anticipation as Fi opened the can carefully, making sure not to spill any of the sweet syrup inside.

  “Oh, oh, oh!” Kiara wrung her small hands together. “This is going to be sooooooo good.” Fi’s smile was bittersweet. At least Kiara and the others would get a treat, she thought, before it all had to change again. Well, some of the others anyway. She shook her head as she examined the Family lined up in the small room. As the youngest in the Family, Zoe and Kiara were always fed first. The others all followed in order according to the Family Food Laws. Members of the Family were fed according to need:

  Healthy weaned infants and children up to thirteen.

  Healthy pregnant or lactating women.

  Healthy adults, fourteen to thirty-nine, including the disabled, so long as they can contribute something of value to the Family.

  Otherwise healthy adults with an infection (cold, flu)

  Healthy seniors (anyone over forty) and Diseased children

  Diseased adults or seniors

  As Fi grabbed the spoon to dole out the rations of fruit cocktail, her gaze drifted to the lone figure sitting on the living room couch. Maggie didn’t even bother to get into the line anymore when she knew she wouldn’t get any of the food. She thought getting into line only hurt Fi more, so she rested on the couch and watched. Though just forty-two years old, Fi’s mother was worn and grey. The weight of the Sickness settled into every wrinkle around her tired blue eyes. Her slight frame shivered, despite her warm coat. She needed this meal, Fi knew, but it was not right to give it to her. Everyone, including Maggie, knew that she would die whether she ate today or not. It was cruel, but Maggie wouldn’t have it any other way.

  When the Famine first began, the violence was horrific. Hunger and desperation drove people insane. By now tens of millions had died, numbers too big to truly understand. That was why their Family enacted the Food Laws…to keep the peace and give the greatest chance of survival to all Members. Fi turned back to her little sister Kiara’s excited face. A mirror of her Maggie’s face before she’d grown ill, Kiara had always been a breathtaking little girl. Though her beauty was still visible, Fi could see the starvation taking its toll. Where once there was baby fat, now there was the lean reality of a child growing up too quickly with no softness in her life or future. Thank goodness for small treats like this one, Fi thought.

  Her mother nodded as Fi scooped out the first serving of fruit, the small colored blobs floating in sugar syrup. With sixteen total Members in her Family now, Fi could only give a little taste, and she knew that it would only get to the first seven or eight if she could make it stretch. With a sigh she deposited the scoop into Kiara’s cup, managing to find a smile at her excited whoop. Typically, Fi would have skipped this small feast herself because she was strong and had learned long ago to function on very little. But with coming events she was going to need some strength. The Family had voted to give more to raider
s before they had to go out.

  She allowed herself one bit of syrupy fruit and took her cup into the family room with the others. “Oh my God,” she murmured as she slurped her small bite.

  The syrup and fruit filled her mouth for an instant and then slipped down her throat. Similar small moans occurred around her, quietly suppressed out of respect for those who received nothing. As she savored the flavor, Fi felt the immediate rush of the sugar. With the buzz of it in her bloodstream she got up to close and lock the main shutters for the night. She started to pull them together and then paused to gaze at the sunset. When she closed her eyes, she could feel the subtle change coming. The breeze carried a tiny promise of warmth and the subtle smell of green as new, budding leaves unfurled. She took a long, deep breath and locked the shutters before turning back.

  In the two main rooms of the farmhouse Members of the Family crouched, kneeled, or laid on mats or sleeping bags. Some chatted quietly or played cards. Others got ready to take sentry duty on the perimeter, cleaning and checking their weapons, discussing shifts. Sean who looked up from his weapon and met her gaze. His hair was getting shaggy, she noticed. It was time for another haircut for everyone who wanted one. Sean smiled at her and gave a little salute with his two front fingers and she smiled in return. His humor always lifted her mood.

  Fi found herself becoming nostalgic as she looked around. For the past six months this little farmhouse had functioned as a stable home of sorts. They’d settled here for the winter, a rabble whose loyalty to one another had made them a true Family. The winter had been hard. All of them were thinner, sicker, and weaker, but the stability the Home had provided had been a blessing. No one was going to like leaving, Fi realized, but there was no choice. She winced as she thought of her mother, worried about how she would make it. It didn’t matter she thought, as she pushed that thought out of her mind. There was no choice. If anything, Maggie was a constant reminder of why they couldn’t stay. No, Fi thought, she couldn’t watch them all wither away to the Sickness one by one. She had to give them a chance.

  It was time to leave.

  Revelations

  When the World was Young

  ----------- Fi -----------

  Morning sunlight streamed into the warm kitchen, its fingers sliding across the wooden butcher block and reflecting off the terra cotta backsplash. Thirteen-year old Fi swung her feet and dug into her bowl of Cheerios, eating quickly because she was late. Her ginger curls fell forward into her face and she brushed them back impatiently. Her mother stood on the other side of the butcher block, stirring half and half into her coffee while she scanned the news on her tablet. Her father Mike slurped his own coffee, his gaze fixed on the TV screen on the counter.

  Fi was glad now that he was no longer working on his super-secret classified NASA project. Though he’d been very excited about the opportunity, it had meant him being away from home every month for the past four years. She had missed him terribly while he was gone. He leaned against the table, wearing his usual professorial uniform of khakis and a wrinkly button down with a blazer. Fi smiled. His fashion sense left a lot to be desired. Though to be fair, she thought as she munched, some were critical of hers. Today’s choice had made her particularly happy, even if her mother had choked when she’d seen her.

  “What’s wrong?” Fi had asked.

  Maggie had simply shaken her head. “Blast from the past,” she’d responded.

  Now, Fi looked down at her clothes again and laughed. She wore a giant ripped white sweatshirt over a neon green tank top and tight, dark jeans. Striped neon socks. Big bow holding back her hair. Of course it was very 1980s, but it was fun. Well, at least she thought it was fun. A sudden noise from the television drew her attention. A crowd of angry protesters surrounded a news reporter who appeared to be having trouble even keeping her feet. A sea of hands grabbed at her as men shouted to the camera and gestured wildly.

  “And so the people here are not really rebels as we have been told previously,” the woman shouted into her microphone, gesturing behind her. “They are mostly men with families who say that they have no other choice, the bread lines are too long and their children are hungry. Here, let me take a moment so you can listen.” She raised her microphone into the air above the crowd. They chanted angrily for a moment and the reporter turned back to the camera. “As I said before, the crowd simply keeps saying, ‘No Bread, No Oil’ over and over again. They believe that the United States and Europe are sitting on more food stores than they are willing to share and letting ‘poor people’ suffer needlessly. They say that is why some groups have attacked the oil fields, rather than the religious motives previously reported.”

  She continued. “It is unclear what ramifications this crisis will have on oil prices and more importantly, on the overall global supply. But one thing is definitely sure. If the food conditions here do not improve soon, we can expect to see more violence. Reporting for BBC, this is Kara McKenna.”

  “Wow,” Fi murmured. “Glad I live in America.” A rumbling from outside made her stop and cock her head to listen. “I gotta go,” she yelled as she grabbed her backpack and dumped her bowl and spoon in the sink. Her parents’ goodbyes trailed behind her as she raced out the door and down the stairs after the disappearing bus.

  “Wait!” she cried as she sprinted. “Wait!” The bus squeaked to a stop and the doors opened. Fi leapt up the stairs and plopped into the first open seat. “Thanks” she murmured to the bus driver.

  The bus had barely started back up when she heard a voice from the back yell out. “Hey Red!”

  Fi closed her eyes and sighed. Of course Samantha was going to give her crap today. She kept her eyes on her tablet, pretending to read. Once again, she wished that Sean were still in school with her. She had never known a day of school without him since she was born. Well, not one that she remembered anyway. The Kellys and Skillmans had been next-door neighbors for her entire life and all the kids were like siblings. Now Sean was at that charter school so that he could focus on ‘hacking for real’, as he liked to joke.

  Fi remembered many days spent sitting on his couch in front of the TV while he banged away on his tablet. Sometimes he was so distracted that she would shop online with his little sister, Rachel until he was ready to show her the new app he had built or virtual sequence he had developed. At least now he got to do it as part of his school. She was happy for him, but it sucked being separated. Sean always used to bristle anytime someone called her a name or pushed her in the hallways. Though he was just as likely to do those things to her himself when they bickered, he had never let anyone else mess with her.

  A voice cut through her thoughts. “Only a kiss-ass like you would actually run to catch the bus to school,” the tall blonde girl in the trendy purple jacket shouted from the back row. A ripple of laughter and high-fives followed. That Samantha, she’s a real genius, Fi thought.

  Others chimed in, “Yeah, you geek!”

  “You’re supposed to try to skip school loser!” More laughter. She ignored them. This year wasn’t so bad. It had actually turned out to be a little better than last year. Seventh grade had really sucked.

  The girl next to her nudged her and held out a stick of gum. “Want some?”

  Fi nodded and took a piece. The girl, Lisa, was already chewing about four pieces of gum, but she shoved another one in her mouth anyway. Lisa was one of those amazing kids who seemed not to fall into any category. She wasn’t a Geek or Nerd, she wasn’t a Jock, she wasn’t a Prep, and she wasn’t a Goth. Though they weren’t really friends, Fi knew her well enough to know that Lisa was never bullied. She was really into music and seemed to spend most of her time alone with her headphones on, but she was cool. Fi popped the gum into her mouth and chewed, enjoying the rush of mint and sugar. In some ways Fi was a bit of a loner herself. It’s not like she had a gaggle of girlfriends waiting for her when she got off the bus. She smiled wistfully at her current seatmate. She would have much preferred that Sean b
e there to distract her.

  As the bus bounced along she realized that the kids at the back were already focused on something or someone else. Thank goodness they mostly had zero attention span. Of course they bullied her, but she found it all really stupid. They made fun of her hair and coloring, (“Red, Clown, Freckles”), her size (“Midget”), her age (“Baby”), her clothing (“Loser, Does your Mom Dress You? What are you, poor or something?”), and her grades (“Nerd, Geek, Teacher’s Pet, Kiss-ass, Genius, Doctor”). She didn’t really care that much. Sometimes she came back with a smartass comment, but that usually just made things worse. Mostly she just ignored them. It could be worse, she realized. It could be way worse. She could be someone like Ron Ruby or Sandy Pewkins. Really, Fi thought, how can anyone be named Pewk- ins? And the girl was actually poor, one of the poorest kids in school. The things they did to her were truly criminal. Fi felt bad for her, but she knew that if you were smart you just stayed out of the way. She caught up on homework until they got to school, chewing her gum hard. This was another reason she missed Sean.

  He always used to tease her about her slacker ways. “Really Fi, can’t you ever do your homework after school like you’re supposed to?”

  “Sean, what else can I do on the bus and in class to stay busy?” she’d reply.

  The question was honest. They were both smart kids who cruised through school pretty easily. Sean did things on time and followed instructions whereas Fi, well Fi had to explain to multiple teachers along the way why she hadn’t handed in this paper or finished that video. Most of the teachers hated that Fi still got all “A”s on her exams. It showed how little she needed to try in order to pass and that irked them for some reason. To Fi it was just another reason to avoid talking to anyone at school. The bus came to a stop and everyone began to get up.

  Fi started to stand when she felt Lisa’s hand on her arm, her expression amused. “Swallow your gum, ok?” Fi nodded and swallowed. It was out of flavor anyway. The kids were filing off and the ones from the back were about to pass by when Lisa whispered, “Wait.”