Chapter 2: Martyr or Monster

Cain, Abel, and Adam must confront the Head of EDEN with the knews of failure.

Its main head quarters were situated in a central city in a state that wasn’t known for anything much more than farming. On a flat plain, surrounded first by a large parking lot, and then by low lying buildings, the huge skyscraper sprung up from the ground like a monument. In the shining light of the early morning it seemed very much like a reflective tower of pure glass. Upon closer inspection, a person may come to realize that observation was incorrect. 45 stories up, there was a break in the windows. That particular floor was hidden behind thick walls. Of course, the average joe would not have guessed its purpose other than maybe a design statement on the part of the architect. In fact, the people of that town had come to love that building, and none of them even entertained the thought of its giant frame holding anything but hardworking professionals.

For the common person the name had either a biblical connotation or a business meaning. For the town of Reignsworth, most people had a concept of both. Endeavoring Determination of Evolutionary Neurography, EDEN, was the very life blood of their town. Its name, like its building, hung over them in their lives as they went about their business. At first, people had been anxious at its existence, but over the past 20 years it had become a familiar and welcome part of their lives.

A school bus that was only half full of children rumbled past the gate at the parking lot. The guard in his little white shack waved at the kids and smiled. His own daughter would be going to the local school the next year and E.D.E.N was to thank for that. Without the company the school would hardly be getting by. At present it was well funded with a turf football field, an indoor swimming area, and a brand new gym and class rooms. Pride settled into his chest as he watched the bus roll off into the distance. Even though he was only a security guard, he felt there was not a better job out there as long as he continued to work for E.D.E.N.

That early in the morning, most employees had yet to start arriving, and he settled down into his swiveling chair to listen to his favorite morning radio show. It was almost as soon as he had sat into the seat that the buzzer outside rang and he sauntered to his feet.

The car sat patiently outside the lowered arm. A young man, maybe the age of 20, rolled down the window and looked up at the middle aged guard.

“Good morning,” he smiled under his sunglasses.

“Good morning, sir,” the older man said as he eyed the youth. “You have to have a pass to get into this place.”

An orange laminated card was quickly flashed at the guard, who took it carefully. He looked from the driver to the card and then back into the car, where a skinny girl wearing a caramel colored dress was sitting quietly. “Does she have a pass too?”

The girl looked in his direction, though he couldn’t tell what she was looking at from behind her reflective glasses.

After a moment, the driver seemed to sigh and arched his back to get his hand into his back pocket. “We all have passes, good sir,” he muttered and took out a shiny leather wallet. From inside he pulled out two more cards and passed them to the stiff man.

The guard had lived in that town his whole life, and had worked for E.D.E.N for most of it. Occasionally, you got strange youths coming and going into the building, usually in pairs or in threes. He glanced into the back seat where a boy he hadn’t noticed before was eyeing him. Behind his dark glasses it was impossible to tell what he was looking at, and maybe that was best, he thought. There was a rumor among the regular staff that the kids going into the back entrance might be delinquents that were forced into work by the court, or on the other end of the spectrum, maybe they were the kids of the higher-ups. It didn’t matter which one was true, because neither type of teenager was the kind to be messed with. “Names?” he asked dryly.

“You don’t need our names. We have proper passes.”

With a grunt, the guard handed the cards back to the oldest in the car. “What brings you here?” he asked in a slightly friendlier manner.

The driver merely looked at him with an expression that was fairly unreadable.

“Uh, right,” he muttered to himself and pressed the button to lift the arm of the lever.

“Thanks,” said the boy in the back seat as he waved smugly.

Before the guard could respond the car was already too far away for him to get a word in. It drove off and around to the other side of the building and out of sight. The compact car looked normal enough, not shiny enough to be the toy of a rich kid, and not beaten enough to be a drug dealer’s car. He wanted more than anything to find out who they were and determine what kind of threat they posed to his perfect suburban paradise. After all, his daughter would be joining the throngs of students soon, and he only really wanted her safety and happiness. Kids like those were always oblivious to the rules and welfare of the middle class. He glared after the car and shivered in the slight morning chill.

In the car, the girl was slumped pathetically in her seat. The long car ride had done nothing to stem the flurry of anxiety in her chest. Though they had stopped multiple times to eat, she hadn’t touched the food Adam had tried to force into her. “He was annoying,” she muttered darkly.

“Now, now,” tutted Adam. “He’s an employee of E.D.E.N. just like we are.”

Abel made a disgruntled expression. “We aren’t anything alike.”

He shrugged at the younger boy's words. “Maybe more alike than you would think.”

Cain watched the exchange from where she was and then looked out the window towards the ground floor of the office buildings. Streamlined was the first word that came to mind with the sleek columns, the blue tinted windows and the slick sliding doors. This particular entrance, she knew, was one especially reserved for upper level employees of a certain kind. It was a much lesser used entry way than the public front door. She wondered vaguely if the guard even knew what it was for.

Adam pulled the car alongside the curb where a boy with blue eyes was waiting. He wore a florescent vest over an expensive dress shirt and nicely tailored black trousers. Standing up from the bench outside the door, he readjusted his tightly curled hair with a few plucks of his gangly teen fingers. He waited patiently as the three pink eyed youths pulled themselves from the vehicle.

Adam straightened his jacket and fixed his straight brown hair as he eyed the youth. He was normal with his blue eyes, easy smile and casual reference to the three teens with sunglasses. Nothing in that boy screamed of violence, anger or unbridled fury, and the absence of those things made the older boy do his best to dismiss his existence. “To the usual place,” the eldest sighed and handed the car keys to the valet.

“Of course.” He jingled the keys loosely in his fingers as he moved around Adam and settled into the driver’s seat. He closed the door, and propelled the car around to the back of the office building where an underground garage was open for employ cars.

Cain watched the car putter away and then looked down past the large red purse and at her feet. Her stomach was in knots, and a feeling of nausea was lurking in her innards. This was her first real mistake she had ever made, but one real mistake was all it took for them to pull her medicine away from her. She clenched the bag tight and took a deep breath, putting the thought of death out of her head.

“Come, Cain,” instructed Adam, who was already waiting by the sliding glass doors.

She jerked her head to nod at him. “Yes, sir,” she chirped.

He made an unpleasant face at her, but merely waited for the girl to get herself together. His frown deepened as he saw Abel sneer and walk briskly away from them and past the electronic doors. That boy was a terror, he was sure or it. Then again, most of the people he interacted with on a daily basis were terrors in their own right. As the dark headed girl walked past him, he settled his hand on her crown. A true terror was the kind with an innocent face. “You’ll be ok,” he reassured her.

She looked up at him with a quiet, blank expression. It wasn’t as unnerving to the older boy as it should have been to see her like that. Her hair, which was parted to the side was long, and pencil straight and quite child like. Even her petite nose that was slightly turned up at the end would have misled even the most stoic of men into thinking the girl was as harmless as a newborn infant. She was not, in any sense of the word, harmless. Raised from an early age at E.D.E.N., he had seen her shoot the head right off a man while eating her breakfast. He had been sure at that time that he’d heard a hum of indulgence come from her as she had taken another bite of her syrup ladened pancakes. For the average E.D.E.N. female, death was nothing more interesting than the bar of soap in their showers or maybe a particularly exciting game of Old Maid. It was something they didn’t think about, didn’t care about, didn’t even remember the next day.

          “I told you not to worry.” He steered her quickly through the small lobby that had an empty reception desk sitting beside a large double door elevator where Abel was waiting impatiently.

          The girl merely shrugged her answer. It was neither an admittance nor denial of her feelings.

          Adam sighed audibly as the three filed into the elevator and pushed the single button to the 45^th floor.

          “I got you something for later,” he muttered awkwardly to the teenage girl.

          She glanced up at him with just the slightest hint of confusion. “What?”

          He shuffled his feet for a moment. “Yeah, I picked it up before the job yesterday.” His eyes went everywhere except her. The fact was, this sort of act of kindness was something he wasn’t used to, and most certainly she wasn’t used to either. Though he was the Father of this family unit, he hadn’t ever made it a priority to spoil her or her brother with needless things, for that was the way of E.D.E.N. Even though they were a Family Unit, they were more like disgruntled roommates than anything else, always bickering, always looking for ways to hurt the other without pushing them so far as to strike back. There were no alliances within their group of three, only a never ending endurance of each other’s existences.

          Something shifted in her face and her eyebrows lifted in an excited expression. “You got me a present? Why?”

          He glanced down at her from his advanced height. “Eh, no reason really. It just looked like something you would like.” His hands found their way into his front pockets where they settled. In his right palm he curled his fingers around a small object.

          She laughed tensely, as if unsure of how to really produce the sound correctly. “Can I have it now?”

          His eyes narrowed. “No, I’ll give it to you after we meet with the Head.”

          Her mouth turned downwards in a frown as she paused. “If that’s what you want,” she resigned to him.

          The flat thing in his palm felt hot suddenly as he heard Abel cough.

          “I’d give it to her now. You know the Head isn’t going to be happy about this. I could definitely see them yanking her medicine,” he said with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. He had seen E.D.E.N. pull people’s medicine for less, and with their genetics wired to explode at any time, it only took one missed pill to send them careening into a convulsing, bloody death.

          Cain tensed visibly, but otherwise ignored the blonde’s comment.

          “Hey, shut up, Abel,” Adam growled. “You know the biblical story about Cain and Abel, don’t you?” he threatened. The brunette smiled smugly at the other boy. Having been the leader of the group for such a long time he was privy to the inner dynamics that were linked up with their name sakes. That boy would never admit it, but he was deathly afraid of his little sister and her legacy.

          “Whatever,” he muttered to himself. He did, indeed, know the story of Cain and Abel. E.D.E.N hadn’t just put biblical meaning into the company name. A chill ran down his spine as he retold the story in his mind. If that story was to be true in real life, that meant his sibling, Cain, would kill him, and he was the product of Adam. At least the last part was partially true. Both himself and Cain had been trained and taken care of by Adam since they had come into the organization, though he loathed to admit it.

          “He’s right,” murmured Cain. “Can I have it now?” She held out her hand, but let her eyes drop to the ground. For all the life in her, she couldn’t look at her comrades at that moment. Not from embarrassment, for she didn’t really care what they thought, but from sheer terror. There was nothing more pathetic than letting your team mates see you in a time of crisis, and if she did survive, she was sure Abel would never let her live down her mistake. The thought occurred to her that, if she survived, it might be in her best interest to kill the blond before he spread news of her failure to everyone else in E.D.E.N. If word got out, she would never hear the end of it.

          As she looked down she heard her commander sigh in defeat and then shift around, but he didn’t put anything into her hand. Instead, she felt him neatly clip something into her hair. Looking up at him, she touched the piece of metal with her finger tips.

          He smiled gently at her and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “It looks good.”

          “Looks too girly to me,” Abel said with disdain as he looked down at the clip neatly placed into her straight ebony hair. It glittered at him, throwing his subordinate position to her in his face.

          Cain looked towards the slightly reflective elevator doors, and though she couldn’t make out a lot of detail, she could see the reflection of the brass hair beret standing out against her dark brown locks. “I love it.” Did she really love it? Love was a strange word, and one she was not truly familiar with. Maybe she loved it. Maybe she didn’t.

          It was unusual for any of this to transpire. In fact, Adam had never given a gift to anyone in his whole life, and Cain had never received one, but at that moment both of them felt something stir in their insides.

          She flashed a smile at him. “Thank you, Adam. I appreciate it.” Once again, appreciation wasn’t something she knew a lot about, and she doubted very much that she felt it. Regardless of what she felt though, it seemed like the right line to say in the conversation, moving it along nicely.

          He smiled and settled his hand back in his pocket as if unsure of what to do with it. “It was no problem.”

          “It’s really not fair when you play favorites,” huffed Abel.

          Adam chuckled. “Jealous?”

          “No.”

          The older teen pulled a thick banded silver watch from his other pocket and tossed it back at the younger boy. “I got that for you too. Well, in fact, I picked it up off some guy at the party, but you can have it.”

          No word of thank escaped his mouth, but he admired the silver with a coy expression. It was good to own something of his own for once, even if it had been given to him.

          The elevator door dinged and the doors slid open again to reveal a large circular room with marble floors. They reflected the wide chandelier that hung above their heads in the windowless area.

          A tremor shook Cain as she forced her feet to move her into the cold space. She couldn’t tell whether it really was cold, or if it was merely her sense of terror at facing John.

          There was only 1 door along the off white wall that encircled them. Made of heavy dark wood, it stood as imposing as any mountain the girl had imagined. Behind it she knew there was an office, and in that office was the Head. The picture of his form flashed in her mind and a cold kind of fury and horror gripped her chest. It had been 3 months since she had seen him last, and if she had it her way she would have never seen him again.

          “Come, Cain. Don’t make me repeat myself,” Adam muttered as he led the trio across the shimmering floor and towards the door where there was a small button intricately carved with faces. The faces seemed to stare out at the three like solidified phantom images, screaming warnings of violence.

          Her fingers twitched as he pushed the button and a delicate bell tolled 3 times behind the door.

          A long moment of silence swallowed them before the Head answered.

          “Enter,” he instructed in a voice that was only half paying attention.

          Their leader pushed the door open briskly and ushered his 2 subordinates in. The room was large on a ridiculous scale. It was, in fact, the whole floor of the building, only barely furnished with an enormous desk, two sofas, a coffee table and the half balding man sitting behind the desk itself. He was a slight man with a stern looking expression and an angry down turn to the corners of his lips. Above his silver tie, his wrinkled neck wobbled slightly as he waved them in and eyed them with his steely blue eyes. “Why hello, how are the two siblings doing today?” he asked, ignoring the older third of the group as he eyed them.

          The color drained from both their faces as they fumbled for the correct answer.

          “We’re well, sir,” said Abel who looked just slightly less frightened.

          “I see she hasn’t disemboweled you yet, my boy. How very fortunate.”

          Abel pressed his pale lips together tightly. Was that man really expecting her to live up to her name sake?

          “And you, Cain, you look lovely, as always.”

          The girl visibly began to tremble as she clutched her bag tightly. “T-Thank you, sir.”

          The old man smiled contently. “And how about you, Adam? I’m sure you have been taking care of them both?”

          Adam stood casually in front of him with his rose eyes narrowed. “Of course.”

          E.D.E.N.’s Head frowned at him deeply. “Is there something you need to say to me, young man?”

          “I am not so young anymore, John,” he said coldly.

          Cain and Abel glanced wearily at each other and then back at their commander.

          “You are still young compared to most the world. Don’t forget that.” The elder man leaned in on his desk which was covered in papers and starred at the dark headed boy.

          He was silent, but his stance remained defiant.

          “How did the mission go? I can assume that I can mark the Judas off the list?” he asked casually as he fumbled around in his stacks of paper, looking for the one with a list of names on it.

          “No.”

          He stopped his searching sharply, tilting his head up to eye Adam. “Excuse me?”

          Cain had all but stopped breathing at that moment. She felt that if she got any colder she was going to fall over and die, which didn’t seem like that bad of an idea.

          “I let him get away,” Adam said with a shrug.

          The head of E.D.E.N, John, tilted his head just slightly towards the squad leader. “You what?”

          “I said, he got away. I lost him at the party he was attending. He must have slipped away while I was unaware.”

          “That is unacceptable…” John said flatly as he settled both his gnarled hands on the edge of his desk. His cold eyes searched the three, though, for what, none of them could be sure.

          “It is what it is,” answered Adam with no real tone of apology.

          “That is not what I want to hear from you! You have a job to do! Now do it!” the old man hollered, bringing his wrinkled hands down in fists on the desk, which shook slightly.

          Cain cringed, her eyes immediately taking refuge on the floor tiles. For all the life in her veins, she couldn’t figure out what had just happened. Adam had obviously not heard what she had said at the diner. Or maybe he had some alternative motive to taking the blame. Was there something he would gain from it? As hard as she thought about it, she couldn’t think of a single thing that the older boy would get from the situation except possibly death. She bit her lip roughly. Adam had never been the type to take the fall for anyone else. In fact, she had never actually met a person like that unless she later killed them.

          “There is nothing left to do. The target escaped.” He starred at the man behind the desk with unblinking floral pink eyes.

          John was turning red with fury as he gripped his desk tightly. “You’re all just worthless pigs! If it weren’t for this company you would have all died a long time ago!” He muttered something about “ungrateful swine” before dragging out a piece of paper from a drawer to his right. “You will not be getting any pills.”

          Cain groaned lowly to herself.

          “Fine.”

          The girl looked up at her commander and shook her head to herself. He was quite possibly the most idiotic person she had ever laid eyes upon.

          “The three of you are dismissed. Return to your barracks immediately.”

Adam was the first to turn, his silence ringing like a bell in the large room. Cain stood where she was, shaking quietly.

          “Cain, let’s go.”

          She breathed a sharp breath and turned quickly, running after the two boys as quickly as she could. The door slammed behind her, and immediately she was on Adam.

          “What were you thinking?” she muttered, circling him. What was his angle? Why had he thrown himself figuratively under the bus for her? There had to be something he wanted in return, she was certain.

          “It’s nothing really. Don’t worry about it,” he said as if it truly was nothing at all.

          “You’re going to die, you idiot!” she snapped at him as the elevator door rang, and the three loaded into it.

          “So what? I’m tired of living this way.”

          “What way? You mean, being part of E.D.E.N.?” She pushed herself in front of him, backing him into a corner. “You would rather die than be a part of this place? We’re only alive because they found a cure for our genetic condition. Without them we would have died a decade ago.” She grabbed the front of his white shirt and jerked him around roughly. “I know we aren’t programmed to feel grateful, but don’t you see what you’re doing?”

          He looked at her flatly for a moment before smiling slightly and unrolling her fingers from his shirt collar. Leaning back, he set his palm on her head again. “Why are you so upset? You aren’t even in trouble now.”

          “I’m not upset,” she muttered, glaring at his chest. “It’s going to be inconvenient to go on missions with only 2 people now.”

          His smile widened just slightly. “Oh, is that all? Because I think you 2 will manage just fine.”

          She turned her back on him and walked to the furthest corner of the elevator. “Selfish b*****d,” she muttered.

          At this he laughed. “We’re sociopaths, Cain. What did you expect?”

          Abel leaned against the rail at his waist. “You are a huge idiot, Adam. I hope you know that. I have to admit, it’ll be more peaceful without you around.”

          He shrugged at the younger boy. “It’ll be nice not having to deal with your smug attitude anymore, Abel. You really piss me off. Always have.”

          “God, enough with the final words. I’m already sick of it.” She put her head against the cool wall and tried to ignore the other 2 people in the space with her.

          “But you haven’t said anything yet,” Adam prodded from his corner.

          The doors binged and opened, but not into the entrance floor. Instead, they walked down a hall way that was illuminated by large florescent lights that buzzed dully above them.

          “I don’t intend to,” she said bitterly and began walking to where Abel and her rooms were. For as long as she could remember, the two had twin rooms, but then again, she knew that she had arrived at this place a year before Abel had and so there must have been a time when she was alone in her room.

          At a 4 way intersection in the hall way, Adam reached out and let his fingers barely grace her shoulder. “Not anything?” he asked with a slight pout.

          She stopped, but Abel walked a few more paces before turning towards her. “Not really,” she said tensely.

          Adam hooked his arms around her shoulders and nestled his cheek against her head. “Alright, Cain. Have a good life,” he whispered into her ear.

          The hair on the back of her arms stood up as he loosed his grip and turned down the hall to the left. “Oh.” He stopped and turned towards her again. “That hair piece really does look good on you.”

          And with that he was gone, strolling down the hall as if it wasn’t certain death he was facing during the coming night.

          She furrowed her brows and thought seriously about launching her heavy bag at the back of his head, but she reasoned that she may injure her rifle. So instead she joined her E.D.E.N. sibling and headed towards their rooms in a sickly dense silence.

Author's Note

Please leave a rating for this if you read it. PLEASE. I have all the chapters done for this book and would really love atleast some sort of feedback.