The First Detect-Eve Read Online Free Page A

we had left of it, just as they were all we had left of Abel.
    At a rocky notch in the river, we crossed to the other bank to continue the search. We followed the bank well beyond the point where we’d descended into the valley, but turned up absolutely nothing.
    Unwilling to give up, I proposed that we double back in the direction of our old campsite, only this time cut through the edge of the forest. Adam cast an impatient look upriver toward you-know-where, then gave in with a heavy sigh and led the way.
    At my urging, we followed the treeline for quite a distance past the campsite. After a while, as afternoon leaned toward evening and this strategy proved no more fruitful than any other, Adam made a suggestion that didn’t come as a surprise to me.
    “Let’s go upriver,” he said. “Maybe Cain’s in Eden.”
    I covered my face with my hands and shook my head back and forth in frustration.
    “No, think about it,” said Adam. “What if it’s only you and I who can’t get back in? Maybe exile doesn’t apply to our children.”
    Lowering my hands, I rolled my eyes skyward. “What am I going to do with you, Adam?”
    “I can’t believe I never thought of it before,” he continued. “I’ll bet Cain’s in Eden.”
    At that moment, we both heard the crackling of branches and turned toward the forest...just in time to see Cain charging toward us.
    *****
    The instant I laid eyes on him, I knew we were in trouble.
    The expression on his face wasn’t one of joyful recognition. Clearly, he wasn’t running toward us because he couldn’t wait for a tearful reunion.
    Instead, his features were twisted in a grimace of rage. His eyes were glazed over, his nostrils flared, his teeth clenched and bared like a predatory beast’s. His long, black hair flew behind him as he ran, and his shaggy beard bounced against his chest, adding to the impression he gave of a ravenous animal on the attack.
    In one hand, he brandished a thick branch, swinging it overhead. He was naked, and he howled with violent purpose as he raced toward us.
    My heart pounded. In a matter of seconds, I flashed from shock and confusion to relief that he was alive to fear of what he might do to us...
    And resignation, for his appearance and behavior left no doubt in my mind that he had murdered his brother.
    *****
    As Cain’s club swung toward his head, Adam flung up his arms and deflected the blow. Without hesitation, Cain heaved the club back and swept it down into Adam’s side, then pulled it back again.
    Before he could swing it forward, I darted over and grabbed hold of the weapon with both hands, wrenching it back with all my strength. Cain roared and tried to yank the club free, but I managed to hold on.
    That gave Adam the seconds he needed to recover from the shock of Cain’s first blows. With a howl of his own, he lunged forward, slamming a shoulder into Cain’s chest, driving him back and down.
    As my husband and son dropped to the ground, Cain released the club. I had been tugging at it as hard as I could, and I stumbled a few steps back when it finally came free.
    The two of them grappled, rolling back and forth, each struggling to subdue the other. I looked on, waiting for a moment when I might need to intervene, holding on to the club with one hand.
    And keeping the other at my side, fingertips brushing the hard lump of the flint knife strapped under my goatskin. If it came down to it, if there was no other way, I would use it.
    And though I had never had to make such a difficult decision before, I had already made up my mind which one of them I would kill.
    In this way, though I didn’t think much of it at the time, I had already made the same leap as Cain. I had discovered that I, too, was capable of killing another person.
    *****
    Adam and Cain wrestled on the ground, the father at first holding his own against the son...but that quickly changed. Cain had the advantage of blind rage and wasn’t holding back, while Adam was more