Chapter 2: Camp Eden
As the sun disappeared behind the northwestern mountains, Lou emerged from the giant sequoia forest, having had no luck hunting that day. The forest had yielded no rabbits, no edible plants - nothing. However, she was relieved to still possess her bow.
With aching steps, Lou trudged across the flat terrain to the east. The soil was barren and patchy, with short, fringed grasses and sharp spikes jutting up from the earth. She was familiar with this route and made sure to step on the dry ground instead of the grass, which felt like nails ready to pierce her shoes. Even the trees were twisted and thin, standing oddly crooked in the afternoon light. The elders had said that the vegetation suffered from groundwater issues, but Lou had never thought much about it.
As she walked, she noticed numerous box-shaped metal objects scattered across the patchy land. They varied in shape, but all shared a common structure. Lou had heard her grandpa talk about them - they were called cars, a popular mode of transportation in the Old World. Perhaps he was the only person in Camp Eden who knew how they worked.
Lou continued her trek, eventually coming across a massive metal block with a track and a cannon barrel - a tank. The colossal structure stood tall, covered in dry, thorny vines and the roots of twisted trees. Despite the growing darkness, Lou knelt before the rusty tank, as she always did after a hunt.
Lou uttered a prayer of gratitude to the Mech-God for sparing her life yet again:
"May God continue to protect me," - she fervently prayed. - "I swear I will sacrifice myself when I hear your voice."
After concluding her prayer, Lou hastened away, mindful of the fading sunlight. Roughly three hundred meters from the tank, she came across several towering buildings that were now dilapidated and choked with moss and vines. Lou wondered how people could have ever lived in such structures and understood the purpose of the red-yellow-green light box she had just passed. But her grandfather knew.
"Once, this world was called Earth," - he had recounted to her, - "and people lived under the protection of God. They lived in towering buildings, used cars for transportation, and countless machines for work - doing things that are now beyond our imagination."
Despite hearing this story repeatedly, Lou still felt a curious longing to hear more, with the exception of the absurd notion that humans had once soared higher than the clouds to reach the stars. She found that impossible to believe.
Lost in thought, Lou ran forward and almost collided with a four-story building. It was a crumbling structure, more than half destroyed, resembling a cake carelessly sliced. It was a relic of the Old World and was known in Camp Eden as the "Watchtower." Suddenly, a voice bellowed from the top floor, causing Lou to raise her head in alarm:
"Who's that? This is Camp Eden! We don't accept refugees or beggars here! Get the hell out of here!"
As Lou gazed up at the tall building, she noticed a few human shadows but did not recognize anyone. The Watchtower frequently changed guards, and with about five hundred people in the camp, it was impossible for Lou to remember or know them all. She shouted out:
"I'm Lou!"
"I don't know any damn people named Lou!" - replied a man from the building.
"Louise!" - scolded Lou. - "Louise of H.G. Workshop!"
These men conferred with each other. Lou was very confident. Perhaps many people didn't know her, but no one was unfamiliar with H.G. Workshop. Then one man asked Lou:
"Do you have proof?"
Lou lifted her forearm, revealing the clumsy tattoo of the word "H.G." surrounded by a mouth full of fangs. Only Lou and her grandfather possessed this particular marking. The men conferred again before answering:
"Come in!"
Lou sighed and muttered some curse words before walking around the tall building. As she walked, she spotted another structure that belonged to humans today. There was a wooden barrier that started from the south, then turned to the northwest. Many junks, such as ruined automobiles, stones, concrete cubes, rotten lumber mills, and barrels, were placed in front of the barriers. These junks were surrounded by traps and spike tables. The traps were still new and continued to be made, intended for Zombies. They were easily noticeable unless the careless or foolish rushed in.
At the intersection of the fences, there was a wooden door about seven meters wide, the only entrance to access Camp Eden. Two men in camouflage stood before the gate, one with a scarred face and the other with a shaggy beard, lounging on a rotted leather sofa and holding AK-47 rifles. Their arms carried red armbands printed with a six-sided yellow mechanical wheel. Lou swallowed hard before walking up to the two men.
"Did you get anything?" - asked the scar-faced man.
Lou shook her head. The bearded man laughed and said:
"I won! Hah, half of a water bottle! As I said, a hunter girl is useless." - He slammed the bottle on the table and waited.
The scar-faced man cursed, then poured half of his water on the other man's bottle with a grimace before turning to Lou and saying:
"Stay at home and give birth. What's the point of being a Hunter, bitch? Useless bastards!"
Lou remained silent, and if someone else had spoken, she would have immediately cursed them out. But she held her tongue in the presence of these two men. With haste, she made her way through the gate. Suddenly, the scar-faced man groped her rear end, causing her to jump in shock. Her steel-gray eyes glared at him as she blurted out a curse.
"You despicable son of a bitch!"
The scar-faced man rose to his feet, charged toward Lou, and bellowed,
"Whom do you think you're cursing, you whore? Do you have any idea who we are?" - He pointed to the red armband on his sleeve. - "We're the Soldiers of The Church of Mech-God, chosen by the Mech-God himself! Do you think this shantytown has survived all these years without us? You want to mess with me, bitch?"
The scar-faced Soldier shoved Lou, causing her to fall to the ground. Though she was filled with rage, she did not dare retaliate. Instead, she curled up and shielded her face, bracing herself for the worst. The physical disparity between a grown man and a young girl was one thing, but what truly mattered was that Lou could never attack a Soldier, a revered warrior chosen by The Church of Mech-God.
"Stop it, Pitt!" - the bearded Soldier interjected. - "Act like a proper Soldier! This girl is from the H.G. Workshop. Our equipment and the others are all serviced by old man Chop. He runs the best and most affordable workshop in Zone 2. Try going somewhere else, Pitt, and you won't have enough clean water to bet with me. Let's pack up. It's already nighttime, and we don't want to encounter any Zoms."
Pitt heeded his comrade's words and ceased approaching Lou. The gray-eyed girl got up and fled as fast as she could without looking back. It had been an exceedingly dreadful day.
Lou proceeded further into the depths of the camp. Before her eyes lay a stretch of makeshift wooden houses and tents erected on the hard earth covered in untamed grasses. These dwellings were ubiquitous within the barriers and served as the homes of the denizens of Camp Eden. However, it wasn't the only habitation within the vicinity. A mere few steps away from Lou stood a rundown four-story edifice cloaked in green moss and yellow signs with the word "Hotel" emblazoned on top. Although Lou and her fellow Camp Edeners didn't comprehend the term "Hotel," they had co-opted it as a communal dwelling.
Finding a place to live was no easy feat in current times.
Lou trudged down the main road, dodging the chaos of construction, and spotted several sturdier, larger wooden houses. These were the famed Ed Workshop, owned by Ed - the sole carpenter in the vicinity, whose father and grandfather had built fences for Camp Eden. Ed was an outstanding craftsman who crafted every arrow and bow used by the Hunter in Camp Eden. Lou's compound bow, however, was crafted by her grandfather. Despite her reservations towards Ed, Lou couldn't deny the quality of his lumber, and would occasionally visit Ed Workshop to purchase wood for arrow shafts.
Another impressive structure along the road was the Broadcasting Station - a towering wooden edifice that spanned three stories and covered an area of two hundred square meters. It held more significance than Ed Workshop or H.G. Workshop since it was the only means by which Camp Eden could communicate with other surviving camps and exchange goods. Thanks to the Broadcasting Station, Camp Eden knew that the Great Capital Heaven was not a mere legend, but an actual place that existed.
However, none of these constructions could hold a candle to the structure at the end of the road. Lou's gaze settled on a series of buildings consisting of a box-shaped edifice flanked by two watchtowers, all painted in a somber grayish-black hue. The two watchtowers loomed tall, just a hair shorter than the ruined Hotel, while the box-shaped edifice dwarfed the Broadcasting Station four times over. The buildings were cordoned off by a metal wire fence, setting them apart from the rest of Camp Eden. The towers were made of brick and concrete - materials that had never before been seen in Camp Eden - and made all of Ed's wooden constructions look like a child's playthings. The buildings had no official name, but the locals called it the Church.
In the world of Camp Eden, each camp, whether rich or poor, had a Church. The Great Capital Heaven would send people to establish new Camps and provide materials and labor to build the Church. The Church was always guarded round the clock by Soldiers, and it was the duty of everyone, from hunters to civilians, to protect it.
Lou stepped over the barbed wire fence and approached the box-shaped building of the Church, also known as the Hall. As she approached, some soldiers instinctively touched their Ak-47 rifles at the sight of her, but upon realizing that she was from the H.G. Workshop, their attention was diverted. Lou walked through the main door of the Hall, the rumbling sounds filling her ears. She stepped onto an iron bridge that spanned a complex of six large water tanks with filtering machines, each filled with clean, pure, and fragrant water that comforted her. Nowhere else in Camp Eden had that fragrance. The Church was a water factory, the only source of clean water for the entire camp.
The Mech-God was the only one capable of turning dirty water into clean water in this polluted world. He created the Church, bestowed the gift of clean water upon mankind, and sent it to the Soldiers to protect it. Since childhood, Lou had heard the commandments from adults and, after many hunting journeys, realized that they were true.
The end of the bridge led Lou to a thin man in a black tunic coat, busy with documents. His old eyes looked at words and numbers through cloudy glasses, and he was the Priest responsible for managing the Church and guiding all Eden citizens. Some believed he was a resident of Heaven, while others thought he was not. Nevertheless, the Priest was truly under the management of the Great Capital.
"The little girl is here!"
The priest removed his glasses and walked towards Lou - "How was your hunting today?"
Lou considered saying, "totally like shit," but instead replied:
"It's not good, Father Luther! I couldn't catch anything."
"Is it because of your bow or another reason?" - asked Luther sharply.
"It's been three months, Lou. You haven't brought anything valuable back to Camp except for rusty metal, wild mushrooms, bottles, and rabbits. And now there aren't even rabbits. What's the reason, Lou?"
Lou pursed her lips. Last week, he had said the same thing to her. At that time, she had felt incompetent. But this time was different. She explained:
"There's something strange in the forest, Father. There are fewer and fewer edible things. I haven't seen a moose in five years! The last time I saw a deer was half a year ago! The rabbits have become less active as they retreat deeper into the forest, hiding carefully and rarely coming out. I thought the reason was because of a wolf or a fox, but it was not. It's been a long time since the Camp Hunters brought back a fox skin or a wolf carcass! But the Zoms are becoming more and more numerous! There are hundreds of them in the forest! They can hide and know how to ambush!"
Luther laughed:
"Zombies hiding and ambushing? Hundreds of monsters in Camp Eden's traditional hunting grounds? Lou, lying in the Hall is a serious sin!"
"I'm not lying, Father!" - Lou shook her head. - "I'm not lying!"
The priest looked at the girl. She was pathetic: her hair was dirty, her face was covered in mud, her clothes were ragged, and her gray eyes were still filled with fear. He had known Lou for a while and knew she was not exaggerating. But fear could deceive a fifteen-year-old who was just starting as a hunter. The Priest had met too many young and inexperienced hunters who had been frightened by the old forest's various sounds. Lou was a typical example.
A few minutes passed, and the Priest stopped reprimanding her. He put his hand on her shoulder, and his old face softened:
"You're tired, Lou. You need to wash. Whatever you've done, you served the Mech-God with your heart. Kneel and receive a gift from God, Lou!"
Lou followed the Priest's instructions and knelt down on the iron bridge, gazing up at the ceiling of the Hall. The intricate design on the ceiling caught her attention - a colossal mechanical wheel with six faces, which symbolized The Church of Mech-God and the Mech-God. At the center of the wheel, a circular object consisting of three hands called a "clock", displayed the time as 6:34, and below it, the date read "November 5th, 2069". According to The Church of Mech-God, the Mech-God created the clock, which was a priceless gift to mankind, enabling them to keep track of time just like clean water.
It had been almost fifty years since Lou's grandfather spoke of the arrival of the Zombies that ravaged the Earth, changing everything from people to ecosystems and even continents. As per The Church of Mech-God, 80% of the human population perished in the Zombie disaster. The remaining 20% struggled to survive and sought refuge by forming the The Church of Mech-God, which established camps for mutual protection. They even discovered Heaven, a legendary paradise more stunning than any place on Earth before the Zombie disaster.
That was all Lou knew about the world she lived in.
The Priest handed Lou a water pot and a white towel, instructing her to wash her face before heading home to rest and recover to continue serving the Mech-God the next day. Lou was taken aback by the cold water and surprised at the luxury of washing one's face, which was something she had not experienced in a while. She eagerly scrubbed her face with joy, relishing every nook and cranny, while Luther watched on. Lou knew that the Priest was strict but occasionally generous, and she wondered if his benevolence was divinely inspired.
As Lou left the Hall, she realized that clean water was a scarce commodity, but she had received the privilege of washing her face. Tomorrow, she would devote all her heart to the Mech-God and strive to bring back not only rabbits but also foxes.
Luther observed as the girl made her way out of the Hall. A nearby soldier turned to the priest and remarked:
"Father, you really put the Hunters through the wringer today. That's the thirtieth time now. Someone even sucked on the towel!"
Luther answered:
"They don't have the right to access water if they bring back no spoils. But a little favor can go a long way in motivating them to work harder."
The soldier let out a sigh and added:
"But she's not wrong, Father. It's not that Eden's Hunters are incompetent, it's that the production is dwindling. Something is amiss in the forest, and if it's not resolved soon, the entire Camp Eden will perish. Winter is coming."
Luther cast his gaze down at his document. The storage count was dismal, and Lou wasn't the only underperforming Hunter. The priest announced his departure from the Hall, stating:
"I need to send a letter to the Great Capital."
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