Chapter 8: Reflections

There was only one certainty he had come to know throughout all of this, going right back to Sil… one single, cold hard fact… that who, or whatever had sent out that transmission, they sure had a lot to answer for.

Sil's victims, Patrick's victims, the people of that town in Mexico…did they have any idea, or even care, how much chaos and pain they had unleashed.

He may not ever be able to make the sender, or senders of the signal answer for what had arisen from their actions, but he could certainly make those who enabled it here on Earth pay for theirs.

That was his driving force now, what kept him going, and why, as uncomfortable as he was about what it was going to be like having Eve around, unconstrained, as part of their group, he would force himself to adjust. He knew all too well of her adaptive capabilities, well, if she could do it, he could too, in his own way.

Press took out more gum and began to chew, his fourth in the past hour as he waited for the plane to land. He wanted a cigarette so badly he could practically taste it.

This entire thing had been a hair-brained plan, one unnecessary risk after another. Taking Dan up north to try and find Eve before Burgess's men, thereby stopping Arianna Fitch from getting hold of her, dead or alive. Given that their only lead at the time was a 2 week old CCTV video posted on social media by some twenty something gas station kid.

Press had made his position on the whole thing very clear. To begin with, IF they were able to find her, there was no way of knowing if she could be trusted, those alien urges could surface at any time without warning, and with them having to relocate, they had nowhere to keep her. When Álvarez had suggested just bringing her on board as an equal, he had actually laughed.

He couldn't picture sharing a space, potentially having to sleep under the same roof as one of those creatures, let alone having to work with one… and not just any one, this was Eve they were talking about…the re-created version of Sil, the suped-up, ever evolving beyond any quantifiable level version of Sil… thanks to Laura's efforts to enhance her, a prudent measure at the time, but had unforeseen consequences.

But… this was the reality now. Theirs was a group effort and he had been overruled. Laura and Álvarez had put in their votes, and that was that. As for Dan, he had been in intermittent contact with them since they went underground, but this was the first time he had become an active participant in their efforts.

Dan had been told of Eve before, when Burgess had tried to get him involved, thankfully he had refused the Bastard. Dan had been enthusiastic about helping Álvarez find her. Although Dan rarely talked about the incident with Sil, the man wore his heart on his sleeve. Leading Press to suspect that, perhaps on some level, he felt guilty about Sil and her Offspring. That, in a strange way, being able to find and help Eve might be his way of making amends.

Everyone had a deeply personal stake in all of this. Álvarez's town was all but destroyed, along with a number of her colleagues and friends. Laura had taken the job at the lab so that Eve was treated with as humanely as possible, Gamble was best friends and crew mates on the Excursion with Patrick Ross and Ann Sampas, and had lost them both to this.

Then…. there was him, this whole thing had started the same way for him both times, a job, a search and destroy mission, a bounty hunt for lack of a better term. Along the way, however, he had come to care about them all. Hell, he'd even listened to Laura and cut Eve a break, especially after she had tried to defend them against Patrick's onslaught, but none of that meant he should count on her to remain on side. Eve's contributions, if any, remained to be seen.

For better or worse, this would be the shape of things for the foreseeable future. Álvarez had volunteered to go and had suggested Press and Laura relocate while she met up with Dan and searched for Eve. It was a sound strategy after all. Álvarez had a rapport with Eve that he, and even Laura didn't.

Eve's bond with Laura had been a strong one, but Eve would've had no way of knowing Laura was no longer involved with the project. At least not until Álvarez cued her up in that safehouse.

Had Eve spotted Laura or himself coming, she would have assumed they were trying to recapture her and taken off… either that or a fight would have ensued.

Truth be told, he hadn't believed they would find Eve at all, but their time up north had proven both eventful and fruitful.

One couldn't count Dan out, his abilities were clearly more potent than anyone realized. Then it was an even bigger gamble that Eve had actually agreed to join them, a testament to Álvarez, who had clearly formed a bond with her. They had been in a serious fight for their lives together in Mexico after all, as a former soldier, he knew how bonds could form in those situations.

Álvarez, despite knowing exactly what she was, apparently treated her with the same characteristic warmth as she did all others. He thought, in that lay the key to making this new dynamic work, just treat her like anyone else, how hard could that be?

Seeing Eve on that first video in the gas station had been haunting, the way she had just appeared out of the forest in that lashing storm. Posted in reply to the article. After so long with not so much as a whisper of her out there, Press had actually begun to think she was no longer alive, having fallen victim to the elements or some other situation.

In hindsight, thinking that Eve could be harmed by the elements, or fall victim to any of the god-awful situations that befall a woman travelling alone was nothing short of foolish. He had seen her unleash her power first hand and it was nothing short of awe inspiring and terrifying to behold.

He thought the whole "Evelyn Greene: Wanted Fugitive" campaign online was just Burgess fishing in the dark. When the campaign first appeared and didn't immediately generate a lead, he thought it probably never would. It must've taken Burgess a long time to get a strategy like that approved, along with all the official legal maneuvering to make "Evelyn Greene" a genuine fugitive.

After all, Eve possessed head turning looks, no point in denying it. People would notice her, or remember seeing her. It was obvious, even after two weeks, that kid in the gas station who sees people come and go all the time, remembered her immediately when he finally saw the article.

She had clearly been doing the whole "Into the Wild" thing, and surviving in that environment for a long time with little to no human contact. For somth… no, she was going to be a fact of life for the foreseeable future, thinking of her as a thing would only create unnecessary tension… for someone with no natural predators and the ability to adapt to any threat, it was probably a relatively easy, albeit lonely life for her.

The first years of her life, she had never even known privacy, to go from that, to being completely alone must've been a shock to the system in itself. She had proven herself time and time again to be a resilient one. He had to admit, it was admirable. To go through so much shit and just keep going.

Then the brawl in the park, by contrast, was like watching the protagonists of a cheap horror movie make decisions you know will get them killed.

However, upon studying it, he had once again been forced to give credit where it was due. In a situation that was openly hostile. The only one conducting themselves with any kind of self-control was Eve. She had attempted, albeit in vain, to defuse the situation, remaining calm, right up until the point of no return and actually holding back as much as possible for someone that strong.

He had seen her smash through reinforced quartz glass and tear a heavy steel door apart like paper. Eve could have delivered them a bloody massacre if she had wished. He had to think, had that been Sil, it's likely she wouldn't have left any of them breathing. She was obviously able to hold that alien side in check. God damn that woman can fight!

When Eve escaped and actually managed to operate a vehicle, he hadn't understood how. When Laura had said she had learned it from her favorite Dukes of Hazzard tv show, he had scarcely been able to believe it. When he'd viewed that video… along with most of the male population of the western world it seemed, he'd made the mistake of asking Laura where she could've learned to fight like that.

All her movements seemed precisely timed and she knew how to utilize her strength. She had injured those young men and knocked that cop out cold, but none of them had been killed.

Laura's answer had been just as strange "She could've learned from someone, but, back in the lab, she used to like old Kung-Fu movies" she had said, to which he'd replied "Oh great… fantastic!". The entire internet was going Berserk over who Evelyn Green was, and how she was so inhumanly strong, thankfully, nobody had connected it back to the previous video, albeit dark and grainy, of a half-changed Eve darting away into a forest.

Thankfully, Gamble's place was safe. A sitting senator's winter retreat would be the last place anyone would think to look for a group of armed fugitives and an escaped, half-alien woman who just unwittingly achieved internet fame. Surreal as it was.

From here, they would be able to lay low for a while, plan their next move and hopefully, the heat would die off of "Evelyn Greene".

It had been dark again by the time he saw the landing lights of the Antonov An-26 cargo plane owned by one of his oldest friends in the business, Dwayne Lee, appear over the secluded airstrip. Lee had been instrumental in keeping them a step ahead of Burgess for the past few years.

A grizzled old former fighter pilot who had found a new calling smuggling anything anywhere in the world. As the Antonov taxied to a halt near him, he steeled himself. This was going to be strange. The engines cycled down as he approached the plane. The rear ramp descended enough for Press to put his foot on the edge.

Lee was the first one to appear, with one hand on the ramp control, stretching himself and lighting his trademark cigar with the other. "How you doin ol' timer, long flight". "Ahh haven't that far north in a while, used to run contraband through there all the way across to Russia back in the day" he said cheerfully. "Our passengers well behaved?". "Well, the new one's a quick study. I expect she'll have my job before long".

Before Press could ask what that meant, Álvarez appeared out of the hatch and came down the steps. Her usual rifle case was slung and in her hand she carried some kind of next generation rifle of a design he had never seen. On her back was a sleek contraption with four ported vents. "What's all this?" Press asked?

"Spoils of War" She said "Courtesy of Burgess's matones".

"Looks like your crew had a productive trip" Lee laughed as Dan came down the ramp. "How you doin Dan, been too long" He and Dan clapped hands and brought it in, they hadn't seen one another in person for a long while with him having to constantly move around.

At Gamble's lodge, they could safely lay low for a longer period, catch up and plan their next move. "It's good to see you Press, you doin ok?". "Not bad, to see you all got back safe" he replied. "Heard things got pretty hairy up there". Dan shrugged in response and then turned to look back into the plane.

Well…here we go, Press thought. As the final passenger appeared at the top of the ramp, stepping out of the shadow with her face shrouded beneath a hood, it was definitely Eve. Only those eyes were visible, glinting an eerie green from beneath the hood as they reflected a light source. Eve cautiously stepped out and looked around before making her way down the ramp

"Well, I never thought I'd see you again". He said as she started to walk down, kicking out as upbeat a tone as he could.

Eve returned a nod as she descended the ramp "Likewise".

Then, as Eve drew level with him, she did something Press hadn't expected, pulling one hand out of her pocket and offering it in greeting. For a moment he was caught off guard and didn't realize he was showing hesitation, her expression was hard to read but appeared sincere. Rather than be that asshole, he took her hand, in much the same way he had with Dan moments earlier. Is she just copying Dan, or trying to put me on the spot here?

Eve's next words appeared to clear up his unspoken question "We never really met before, did we?". He had to admit she was right, he'd spent days down in that lab working with Laura, all the while trying to pretend she didn't exist, until finally she broke out. He'd chased her for miles until finally confronting her and Patrick in that god-forsaken barn. "Yeah…I guess not" he finally returned. Eve was hard to read under that hood, but he got a slight sense that perhaps she was also nervous about meeting him again too.

After a few moments, he realized he was still holding her hand, she took the initiative and withdrew her hand back into her pocket…. It was only then he noticed that the jacket belonged to Álvarez, or used to.

Eve looked past him as she stepped off the ramp and they began to make their way to his truck. "Is Laura here?" she asked. "Gamble's place isn't far, she's setting up there". He knew the relationship between Eve and Laura had been much more complicated and nuanced than this, but he decided to compress it into three words: "Laura missed you". Eve dropped her eyes for a moment in thought as she opened the door to the truck, she glanced back up at him as she got in and he was sure her eyes were slightly red.

Dan and Álvarez stowed their gear in the back. Álvarez was careful with her new toys. As she didn't yet understand how to use them. The coming days and weeks are gonna be interesting. He thought as he walked back to Lee by the plane.

Handing him the agreed upon price and shaking his old friend's hand "You guys gonna be ok?" the old man asked. "Yeah.. I think so… hope so" Press muttered, looking back at the Truck. "Who's the new girl" Lee asked "She sat up front with me, learned every dial, every switch, every control. Said she'd never been on a plane in her life". "She's… a friend of Laura's, ran into some trouble up there". "Ahh, another egghead, makes sense now" Lee wasn't a stupid man, he knew there was likely much more to it, but wasn't in the habit of asking too many questions.

They shook hands and parted ways "Hay" lee called after him "What's up" Press replied. "Call if you need me, I'll be right here, you hear?". "You got it, old man!" Press said with a smile and made his way back over to the truck.

As he got in, he noticed one thing immediately, Álvarez and Dan in the back seat, spent from the journey, heads back, eyes closed, only one remained alert, sitting in the passenger seat. Eve looked over at the old man and raised a hand, which Lee returned as he made his way back to the plane.

Press got in and started the engine. It was a short, thirty minute drive from the airstrip to Gamble's lodge. The man himself was in Washington, but would be joining them soon enough, he was busy putting together a third investigative committee in the house. He had played a major role in putting a stop to Patrick and his brood, and therefore was privy to the classified details of the project. Their ultimate goal was to bring the whole thing into the light.

The two previous hearings had been secret and despite his best efforts to make things public, thereby vindicating them, a third, if he was able to get it in motion, was looking to be another closed hearing, however he was slowly gaining allies.

The Wyoming winter was setting in, the first snow of the year had yet to fall, but that crisp, frosty smell was very much in the air. Hopefully it would be a short, sharp winter, Press thought.

As they drew near to Gamble's lodge, Press turned off the main road and along a long, private road. "Hay, we're here" he said, mainly to the two in the back. Eve, who had remained alert the whole drive, shuffled in her seat and took a noticeable deep breath. During her life in the Lab, Eve's whole world had revolved around Laura, and they hadn't seen one another in a long time.

The last time they were together had ended violently for Eve, and so much had transpired in the intermittent time. Laura had also been visibly nervous when he had left. Both of them tried to hide it in similar ways.

"You alright?" he asked. By way of response, Eve glanced at him and then back to the road ahead, giving the subtlest nod, had he blinked, he'd have missed it. There was nothing he could say to put her at ease, so he chose to say nothing else as they drew nearer.

Dennis Gamble…. Senator Dennis Gamble's Wyoming lodge was relatively remote, comprising the main house, with eight bedrooms and all the trappings of a homely country retreat. There were also several small outbuildings, a converted barn and a guest house. Dennis had entertained some pretty important guests since winning his seat. But for this winter, the place was all theirs. Laura didn't actually know how many acres the property sat on, but it was a lot, there were fields, woods and even a river which ran through the property. In that regard, Laura allowed herself to relax. Given what she's learned about how Eve had been spending the past few years, she may like it here. It gave her the space to adjust to being around people again. They hadn't chosen it specifically for that purpose, but it suited.

Laura had only stayed here once before, and then only briefly, this time would be longer. This time they needed to lay low. They would shortly be joined by a new member of their group, it remained to be seen just how, if at all, this was going to work out for any of them.

Laura had run through in her head a thousand times what she might say, if she and Eve ever crossed paths again, but at precisely this moment, when the perimeter alert went off and she saw the lights of Press's truck coming up the mile-long private road, she could think of not a single one of them.

One thing she knew she wanted to say to Eve if she ever saw her again: How she wished she'd been there that night in the ambulance, how she should have been there, how, she had tried in vain to find out what precisely occurred that night, but even Burgess's people had drawn a blank.

After some determined digging, she had managed to find the report of the investigator on site that night. It raised more questions than answers. The Ambulance had been thoroughly, forensically searched.

Besides Eve, other DNA profiles were present, the first corresponded to, but didn't match, samples taken from Patrick's brood in the barn. The creature's DNA presented markers indicating it was an adolescent, likely had yet to enter its cocoon stage.

The second profile was that of a pure strain. The Double X chromosome present in the DNA indicated a female. However, Laura had later been able to glimpse Eve's Autopsy report which made no mention of pregnancy or birth. The report had chalked it up to Eve's evolving physiology at the time. Her enhancement would still have been fresh. That enhancement had elevated Eve well beyond what was intended, pure speculation was that perhaps, over time, she would evolve in unforeseen ways. However Laura suspected something else was going on. Things about the report just didn't sit right.

It was only when Álvarez came into the picture, initially to hand over files recovered from Forbes McGuire's burned out lab, she came with a story. Eve had apparently mentioned to Álvarez that she had given birth to a daughter, but that she had been attacked, and that was the last thing she remembered.

The most unusual thing about that ambulance, despite minute traces of feline DNA, was the question of the driver. The Specialist assigned to accompany the transport was found dead on site, but the driver was nowhere to be found. The odd thing, upon further investigation, the driver who had been scheduled to make the run, was off base at the time, someone had copied his ID and driven that ambulance in his place. Wherever they were, they had taken it off course, and then disappeared.

Laura had not been able to discover anything else, by the time Álvarez came to her with the files, she was already considering blowing the whistle and covertly gathering evidence. But so many things had occurred during that two month period. Not long after meeting Álvarez for the first time and receiving Forbes McGuire's files, she had been approached by Arianna Fitch, someone she previously knew nothing about, but who was apparently extremely influential.

Laura had been shocked when she had returned to her apartment in Washington to find two heavy set bodyguards securing her residence and Arianna Fitch sitting in her living room. Arianna Fitch looked almost exactly like Eve, save for the fact she appeared slightly older, Laura hadn't been able to precisely gauge that aspect as she seemed to have one of those ageless faces, her hair was black in contrast to Eve's blonde, although Laura couldn't tell if it was a product.

She appeared polite, and introduced herself. Upon seeing Laura's reaction to her surname, confirming that indeed she was the daughter of Xavier Fitch who had been the lead scientist on the original Sil project. The first shock she delivered was telling Laura that the human ovum used to cultivate the Alien genome had been harvested from her by her own father, a fact which left Laura horrified, but explained the looks.

She was a toned woman with a regal bearing, cutting an imposing figure in an expensive monotone suit. The suit was sleeveless revealing her arms, covered in colorful sleeve tattoos depicting eastern style dragons coiled around her arms, intricately interwoven with sections of binary and other forms of coding language, stretching down to the backs of her hands. Some poked through her collar alluding to the fact they were extensive.

Having had time to reflect on the operation to capture Sil, Laura remembered a brief encounter in a bathroom where a woman she later came to realize was Sil herself, had approached her and asked to try her perfume. Sil had dyed her hair black to disguise herself. Seeing Arianna Fitch was like seeing a ghost, literally, and immediately put her on the defensive.

Arianna Fitch's most distinctive feature was not her similarity to Eve or Sil, but her incredibly piercing eyes. Arianna Fitch had a very conspicuous heterochromia, one eye was an alluring ocean blue, while the other was a striking hazel. The way she seemed to use those eyes to peer into one's soul had further made Laura uncomfortable in her presence.

She had approached with an offer to Laura to leave the failing Project Athena and join her in her new, private venture, more of a cause as she put it.

"What you have been able to achieve with Eve, and then her enhancement, had been nothing short of inspired" Fitch had said "I wonder if you might replicate the process?".

She didn't go into much detail in that initial meeting, but mentioned enough for Laura to deduce she was already working with the Alien genome and other technologies on several levels. She had laid on the charm, with regards to Laura's work with Eve, she had remarked "Calling yourself a scientist is selling yourself short, Laura, you mind if I call you Laura… I'd say you're an artist".

Laura had been done with all of that, Eve was still very raw in her mind and there was no way she was going to start the entire process all over again, and likely watch it go horribly wrong again because Arianna Fitch believed the alien message to be a gift to our potential as a species as she put it, and alluded to knowing more about the alien signal than Laura or even Project Athena had on record. At that point, Laura was already resolved to expose everything, though she kept a very tight lid on those intentions.

Laura suspected an ulterior motive and outright refused despite Fitch putting forth several, very well constructed arguments, it was clear to Laura that Arianna Fitch was an incredibly dangerous individual.

The meeting had ended when Fitch had eventually seen that she wasn't going to break through to Laura in one conversation. It was at this point she had taken Laura by the hand in a firm grip and placed an expensive black business card in her hand "Someone will be at this number day and night, Doctor, if… hopefully when, you change your mind" When Laura attempted to pull her hand away, Fitch had held tight, it was only this close that Laura had seen the true intensity in those eyes "You must know your Darwin, Laura, "It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change… CHANGE, Laura… humanity languishes in stagnancy, and I, for one, will not suffer it no longer" and with that, she had turned and left, taking her bodyguards with her, leaving Laura to sit for hours in disbelief before calling Press. He had hardly been able to believe her at the time.

Laura brushed those thoughts aside as Press's truck drew up into the grounds.

Against all odds, Álvarez and Dan had found Eve. When the social media campaign had been launched, no doubt by Burgess and his new operation, like Press, she had initially believed it was a futile attempt. How could Eve still be alive after so long without any incidents? For that matter, how had she gone this long without producing more offspring with unwitting men while on the run. So many unknowns were in play, but none of them mattered. There was only one thing that mattered, over time, during their time together in the Lab, though Laura had tried to maintain a certain detachment, she had come to deploy care for Eve, she had raised her, nurtured her, consoled her.

After a certain point, despite knowing exactly what waited just beneath the surface, Laura had come to see Eve as a person with a soul, a person with a soul that she couldn't bare to see in pain, each experiment they had had her perform had hurt her with equal intensity, though she had been unable to show it, even to Eve. Each test became harder to live with.

Had the incident with Patrick not happened, Laura often thought about what she would have done. Followed through with the vulnerability tests till their natural conclusion and forced herself to live with it, or would she have tried to facilitate an escape. None of that mattered anymore, and here, in this place, she would have time to say everything that remained unsaid.

She found herself taking a deep breath as Press's truck drew to a stop.

The doors opened, Álvarez, Press, Dan…. the front passenger door was slower. Then after all this time… there she was.

Laura couldn't initially pick out Eve's face as she was wearing her hoodie up, only her eyes glinted beneath it. Laura had never seen Eve in a darkened environment, at least not in her human form, that eyeshine was either a new adaptation she had developed, or something that was always there and never noticed.

Eve took a cautious step forward, which Laura matched, she felt a lump in her throat. Press, Álvarez and Dan said nothing, it was almost like they didn't want to interrupt. Now Eve reached up and swept back the hood, revealing that same face Laura knew. Her hair was slightly longer and her expression was hard to read, save for her eyes, which Laura could see properly now… they began to redden and glisten, just as Laura felt that familiar salty sting.

Eve stepped closer to which Laura matched again until they were within arms reach. Laura found herself looking up at her, as Eve stood slightly taller. She did the only thing she could think of, reaching up and gripping the taller woman by the shoulders. Eve's mouth trembled slightly and she blinked slowly, sending tears down her face. Cautiously, Laura pulled her closer and hugged her. Their relationship had always been complex, but right now, it was the only thing she wanted to do, to have her back.

After a few moments, Laura felt one of Eve's arms cautiously rest around her shoulders, followed eventually by the other, she had been hesitant at first, but she eventually returned the hug, which felt naturally strong... Laura couldn't hear anything, save for Eve's long, uneven breaths and felt her periodically tremble.

The other three present didn't make a sound as they all made their way inside, all recognizing that Eve and Laura both needed this. Electing to leave them to their reunion for the time being. Gamble's place was as safe as they could be for the time being, and would allow plenty of time to reflect.

It's so good to see you again. I missed you. I have so much to tell you. Neither of them said it, neither of them needed to. They had been apart for so long and so much had changed for them both. For the moment, this was all either of them needed.