He gave me a crooked grin. “I could tell you, but I think it would be too scary for certain little ears.” He used his free hand to point at Caleb, who seemed blissfully unaware. “Let’s just say a few of them involve giant freezers and hooks on the ceiling.”
I wrinkled my nose. “It’s not like that,” I said, giving in. “Basically it’s a big city with lots of old buildings, vampires and poor people. There’s a big wall that keeps rabids out, and a wall surrounding the Inner City, where the vampires live, and in between there are the humans. Or, at least, the ones that haven’t been Taken into the Inner City to work for the vamps.” I paused to kick a broken bottle, which went clinking over the pavement into the weeds. “Nothing special about it.”
“Have you ever seen a vampire?”
I winced. That was another question I didn’t want to answer. “They really didn’t leave the Inner City very often,” I said evasively. “Why, have you?”
“I’ve never seen one,” Zeke admitted. “Rabids, yeah, I’ve seen a ton of those. But never a real vampire. Jeb has, though. He says they’re vicious, soulless demons that can tear a man in half and punch through steel walls. If you ever meet a real vampire, the only thing you can do is pray and hope it doesn’t notice you.”
My apprehension grew. “You keep talking about this Jeb person,” I said, not liking the sound of him at all. “Is he like your leader or something?”
“My father,” Zeke replied.
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Not my real one.” Zeke smiled, easing my embarrassment. “He died when I was three. My mom, too. Killed by rabids.” He shrugged, as if telling me it was a long time ago and that I didn’t need to act sympathetic. “Jeb adopted me. But, yeah, I guess he is our leader. He was the minister of our church, anyway, before we all decided to leave to find Eden.”
“Say what?”
I nearly tripped over a broken crate. For a second, I didn’t think I’d heard him right. Did he just say they were looking for Eden? I wasn’t religious at all, but even I knew what Eden was. What it was supposed to be.
I stared at the boy walking casually at my side, wondering if delusions could strike someone so young and handsome. Zeke rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, I know.” He gave me a sideways look, cocking an eyebrow. “It sounds insane. Crazy fanatics off looking for the Promised Land—I’ve heard it all before. No need to rub it in.”
“It’s none of your business, anyway,” Ruth added sharply. “We don’t need you to tell us how stupid it sounds.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” I said, though that’s exactly what I’d been thinking.
“But we’re not looking for the biblical place,” Zeke continued, as if I hadn’t said anything. “Eden is a city. A huge city. One with the technology of the old days, before the plague. And it’s run completely by humans. There are no vampires in Eden.”
I stopped to face him. “You’re joking.”
He shook his head. “No. According to rumor, Eden lies somewhere on a huge island, surrounded by an enormous lake. The lake is so big and vast, no rabids would dare cross it, and the vampires don’t know it exists.”
“A magical island with no rabids or vampires.” I curled my lip in disdain. “Sounds like a fairy tale to me.”
I heard the bitterness in my voice, though I wasn’t sure where it came from. Perhaps it was because the news that a city completely made up of humans, with no vampire influence and no threat of rabids, had come just a little too late for me. If I had heard this rumor earlier, when I was still alive, I might’ve gone looking for it, too. Or…maybe not. Maybe I would’ve laughed it off as a wild fantasy and continued life as I knew it. But at least I would’ve heard about it. I’d want the chance to know, to decide for myself. Eden didn’t do me any good now.
Behind us, Ruth gave a disgusted snort. “If you don’t believe him, leave,” she challenged, stepping beside Zeke to glare at me. “No one is stopping you.”
I resisted the urge to snap at her, focusing on Zeke, instead. “Is it really out there?” I asked, trying to give the notion of a vampire-free utopia the benefit of the doubt. “You really think you’ll find it?”
Zeke shrugged, unconcerned, as if he’d heard it all before. “Who knows?” he said. “Maybe it doesn’t exist, after all. Or maybe it’s out there somewhere and we’ll never find it. But that’s what we’re looking for.”
“We’ll find it,” Caleb chimed in, nodding seriously. “We’ll find it soon, Jeb says so.”
I didn’t want to crush his expectations, so I didn’t say anything to that. A few minutes later, we walked past a rusting iron gate into the courtyard of a small apartment complex. Another human, a few years older than me, black-haired and lean like a wolf, stood guard near the entrance. He nodded and smiled at Zeke, but his eyes widened when he saw me.
“Zeke! You found him. But…who’s this?”
“Another stray, wandering in the wilderness,” Zeke replied with a wry grin at me. “Allison, this is Darren, our other stray. You two will have a lot to talk about.”