the eden protocol

{ dystopic short story }

The quiet after the explosion was as loud as the blast that leveled Eden, the last human city to survive the Conflagration. When Eve came to, her ears were still ringing with the echoes of the destruction. She stumbled around in the semi gloom, disoriented by the impact and smoke. She tripped and fell, scraping hands and knees on shrapnel. Too dizzy to get up, Eve crawled around in a daze, eyes watering.

Something felt warm and solid under her exploring hand. A human leg. The leg twitched and she gasped. She gingerly ran her hands up the leg, up the torso and the chest that rose and fell with difficulty. Her fingers brushed against something jagged and she paused. Taking a shaky breath, she carefully felt around the sharp spike that did not belong there, and her insides deflated. She quickly wiped her sticky palms on her pants, leaving bloody handprints, then touched the face: it was Jax. Eve placed a palm on Jax’s neck, finding a flighty pulse.

“Jax," Eve croaked, the smoke burning her throat. "We have--" she coughed, "we have to move."

Jax groaned. "You go."

"I'm not going without you." Eve touched his face again.

"It's too late for me," Jax wheezed.

Eve knew it was true but she shook her head. "We have to find a safe place..." She trailed off. The last safe place was gone. Eden was obliterated. She coughed to cover up a sob. "We just need shelter..."

Jax groaned again as he shifted his weight slightly. "Are you hurt?"

Eve rubbed smoke and tears from her eyes as she looked around. "No. I'm going to take a look around and I'll be back to get you." She placed a light hand on his chest, his breath uneven under her touch. His condition was critical, but even if he were wheeled into a surgery center now there was a slim chance he would survive. Maybe she could find painkillers, antibiotics, gauze, or just a blanket to keep him warm... She had to do something.

Slowly, she stood up, vertigo spinning the world into a blur. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath against the nausea. Eve took a tentative step forward, then another, lurching like a drunk, arms outstretched for balance. She walked a cautious circle, peering at the ruins that surrounded her, blanketed by clouds of smoke and dust. She could hear heavy crumbling and crashing all around as huge fires roared. Buildings had been reduced to rubble, unrecognizable shapes through the the plumes of ash and fallout. Eve coughed as her lungs burned, tears streaming down her face. If Eden was annihilated, so was humanity. They were doomed.

Eve stumbled around for interminable minutes, climbing over what remained of walls and ceilings, trying to find something, anything useful in the wreckage, but all she found were mountains of concrete and twisted metal, shattered glass crunching underfoot, and crushed bodies. This had been her laboratory, and now it was just rubble, everything pulverized to oblivion. She needed to get back to Jax but she could not find anything that she could use to administer first aid.

She was pawing through the debris when she found a heavy canister that seemed intact. Eve's heart raced. She turned the canister over, wiping dust off its smooth metal hull with her sleeve. On the top a little blue diode shone bravely in the dark. It was still working! Here was a vital part of her research, and it had survived! A small chuckle bubbled up her throat as she remembered Jax's words when they had started the project, saying the canisters would last through anything. He had been right. Finding nothing else, Eve turned to go, sighing as she gave the destroyed lab one last glance.

Night had fallen. Buildings were still desintegrating as she made her way to where Jax lay, tripping and stumbling in the dark as she hauled the canister over the debris.

"Jax! Jax!" Eve called out. "Jax!"

Finally she heard his weak reply and she turned around, heading in his direction. He was barely conscious, his breathing erratic as he bled to death. She couldn't help him. Even if she managed to remove the shrapnel, there was no way to stop the bleeding or fix the internal damage. Eve sat down and cradled his head in her lap, smoothing his dark hair over his head as he trembled in the cold night air. She had never felt so helpless before, all her medical training becoming useless.

"I found one of the canisters," she said. "It's still working." Tears ran down her face and splashed on Jax's forehead. He reached a shaking hand to her wet cheek.

"I was right," he croaked, a smile tinting his voice through the pain.

"Yes, you were." Eve lay down and clumsily wrapped her arms around him, trying not to push the shrapnel further in.

"I can't feel anything," he whispered faintly against her hair. "I'm glad you're gonna make it, Eve. You're our best specimen."

Eve kissed his dusty forehead as he took his last breath. She fell asleep still holding him.

When Eve awoke again the sun shone bleakly through the smoke that was slowly dissipating. Her limbs were stiff and cold as she stood up, looking around at the ruined landscape. What was she going to do? She looked at Jax for the last time, weeping as memories of him flooded her mind.

Her throat burned and she coughed, red staining her hand. The acrid smoke that hung in the air was toxic, and it would surely kill any survivors. Whoever had done this wanted to be sure humanity would be wiped out completely.

Eve's gaze fell on the canister on the ground, lying in a pool of blood next to Jax's still body. All those years of research and experimenting, and this is all that was left. The little blue light glowed in the grey dawn. It had survived but what good would it do? All the other equipment had been destroyed. The contents of the canister wouldn't last much longer without an external power source, and even if by some miracle she managed to find a generator, what then? Who would take care of it? There was nobody left. The canister had survived but her research was as dead as everything else.

Eve hoisted up the canister and cradled it, noticing the little blue light falter almost imperceptibly. The canister's internal power source would not last much longer. Yet she could not discard it. This had been her life's work, hers and Jax's. Their baby, they would often joke. Now Eden was gone, Jax was gone, and this is all she had left.

Eve walked for hours among the wreckage, until she came upon a patch of green. She was weak with hunger and thirst, and from whatever had poisoned the air. The cough had gotten worse, blood dripping down her chin as she walked, the canister growing heavier in her arms with each step she took. She collapsed on the dew-speckled grass and leaned heavily against a tree that was still inexplicably standing. A little oasis in the midst of the devastation.

The blue light on the canister winked, then blinked on and off. There wasn't much time left. Eve pressed a small button by the hinge, but it didn't open. She pressed it again, and again, nothing happened. Eve sighed. The locking mechanism must have gotten damaged. She pressed the button again and again, but the canister did not open. Eve got up on unsteady feet and walked around the grass, eyes fixed on the ground. Finally she found a fist-sized rock and sat by the tree again, the rough bark scratching her back even through her shirt. She anchored the canister between her knees and slammed the rock against the top. The little blue light blinked, yet the lid did not open. She pounded the top over and over where the internal hinge would be, black spots dancing in front of her eyes. Her hands shook as she brought the chunk of rock down on the canister, scratching the metal but barely denting it.

"ARRRGH!" Eve screamed, bringing the rock down with what remained of her strength. The lid popped open with a hiss of escaping gas. Eve reached inside and pulled up the inner tray, her fingertips freezing on contact.

The tray nestled seven vials, each vial holding a frozen human embryo. Each embryo had been genetically engineered to be perfect in every way, the DNA meticulously modified to replicate flawlessly. They would be immune to diseases, malformations, addictions, behavorial and mental downfalls. The next step in human evolution. But the lab was gone, there were no incubators left or even any women to carry the babies.

The little blue light on the canister went out. The embryos would expire soon. Gasping, Eve took them out one by one, laying the cold vials on the green grass. Then she ripped up the grass by fistfuls, her nails breaking as she dug into the ground, pulling up handfuls of dirt over and over until she had a deep enough hole. The toxic air was slowly suffocating her, burning her lungs, darkening her vision. Her head spun as she spit up blood. She didn't have much time left, either.

With blood-stained hands she placed each vial into the ground and then swept the earth back over them. She placed the dead, empty canister over the little grave, lay down, and closed her eyes.

The end came swiftly for Eve.

A cold wind blew fiercely through the ruins of the last human city, dissipating the clouds of noxious smoke. Black rainclouds rolled in, bringing torrential downpours that washed the last of the poison away. The vegetation that had not been destroyed in the blast and fires glowed neon green in the warm sunshine that followed the rain.

The canister atop the little grave rolled away as the earth underneath buckled. Fingers, hands and arms poked through the verdant grass, heads crowning as mouths gulped air hungrily. Seven naked humans crawled out of the ground, shapely limbs muddy and grass-stained. They stood tall and strong, blinking hard in the harsh light, looking at each other mutely - white, brown, yellow and red. The last humans stared at the destruction around them, at the dead woman that lay nearby.

One of them took a step forward, headed towards the green in the distance. The others followed in one accord.

Humanity was reborn.

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