“Hahaha~!” I couldn’t help bursting out into laughter when I thought about how everything must have seemed. After all, I wasn’t just working out and practicing archery. I also did some wrestling and ‘sparing’. I originally thought it would be really cool and safe, since I could just, you know, not accidentally hurt myself when fighting. But the reality was that a lot of combat was reflexes and subconscious movements. I would punch towards my own face and instinctively dodge or fight back, and not particularly well either.

I couldn’t help but explain, “When I was ‘training’ I would try to fight myself every so often but it was really hard in the beginning. I could probably become a total badass if I focused both my minds towards controlling a single body but… Well, when you control two at the same time, it’s super hard to keep track of who needs to dodge, block or counterattack. Sometimes I would punch out with Mike, then also pull my head back, while Ana would also punch forward instead, causing both my bodies to get hit in the face at the same time.”

Eve sighed and started to regulate her breathing again. It took her a while to return to her neutral brownish skin-tone, before she calmly said: “I’m glad that’s the case. I know it’s probably silly, but I always felt really guilty that I just ‘watched’, even though I thought the two of you had an abusive relationship. I wanted to reach out, to contact you but… I’ve never actually seen an ‘Adam’ before. What I mean by that is, well, at least in the decades that I’ve been here, I’ve never seen or heard about anyone choosing to come here. This island is basically a prison for failed experiments to live out the rest of their days in relative isolation. I’ve only ever met a handful of Eves in person, and a lot of them… Well, they either left or didn’t survive this long.”

“That sounds kinda ominous… Okay, really ominous.” I frowned and couldn’t help but ask, “What you’re saying is that in twenty-odd years, you’ve never met a dude in person? Is there some reason why guys physically can’t survive here? Or is it that no one was supid enough to take a possibly one-way trip to some mysterious island off the coast of Florida that doesn’t technically exist?”

She smiled wryly and shook her head slowly, “No. There are or at least, have been other men who came here in the past. I’ve heard from the older generations that they used to be much more common. But that was a long time ago… Like World War Two or even earlier. The standards back then also weren’t very high. In recent history, they already perfected the cloning process and even figured out how to grow humans and other animals in artificial wombs. There are even some extinct species that they brought back from the dead. It’s too easy to hide normal humans out there though… So why would they bother keeping them on this island?”

“Ah… I get it. I mean, it’s not a huge revelation. They did kinda tell me this back then, but I guess I just forgot.” I sighed and thought back to that conversation with Infinity. With a smirk, I said: “Maybe you really should be afraid of me. After all, I’m not like you. I might not have any ‘visible’ superpowers, or superhuman traits, but ultimately, I’m probably a ticking psychic time bomb. For now, I sometimes look through the eyes of a random animal in the woods, but who knows what might happen in the future? For that matter, maybe the reason why you’re attracted to me is actually because I’m telepathically manipulating you? Maybe I’m some sort of fucking succubus and don’t even know it yet?”

Eve didn’t retort. She just stared at me for a minute or so before eventually nodding her head, “It’s not impossible. Just unlikely. It took me over a decade and even now, I still have trouble controlling my ability. I have to meditate and do breathing exercises just to keep from letting my emotions fluctuate too much. When they created us, we were designed for specific purposes. To test the limits of humanity. But also to perfect humanity. Or so they claim. Ultimately, we’re just experiments. I had a friend once, umm, Eve-60. She originally lived in Georgia with her partner… Her ‘Adam’ or Father. At first she didn’t show any signs of being superhuman at all. Then one day, when she was five and fully grown, it was finally time for them to undergo the most important ‘test’.”

I sighed and grumbled, “It probably sounds way more fucked up than it actually is… But still, that’s fucked up.”

The giant woman frowned, “I didn’t even get to the disturbing part yet. She told me that having sex didn’t hurt or feel bad at all. Instead, it was even better than she expected. Then she had an orgasm and her father burst into flames. She didn’t know how or why, even ‘They’ didn’t seem to understand. Ultimately… You might have seen the ruined building on the other side of your house? She used to live there. I don’t know if it was suicide or an accident, but she died there about ten years ago. Supposedly from her own ability going out of control.”

“Terr-fucking-riffic…” I smirked, but honestly didn’t feel too worried. Eventually I yawned and said, “I’m sorry for your loss. But well, shit happens. Some people survive getting shot in the head, other people die from bumping their head on a wall. I’ve heard of people surviving multiple tours in Iraq, only to come home and get hit by a car a few months later. The moral of the story is that you never really know what’s gonna happen, so you might as well enjoy what you have while you have it, because everything can disappear in the blink of an eye.”

Eve suddenly grinned at me and nodded her head, “I agree. And I’m not afraid of you, Ana. I’ve been alone for so long… I know we’ve only really ‘known’ each other for a few hours, but I really have been watching you for months now. I’ve had friends come and go, otherwise I don’t think I could have lasted this long… I just, umm, thank you. I’m glad that you decided to come over to my house today. And didn’t get scared off when I passed out… Or confessed that I’ve actually been stalking you. I’ve seen enough movies and television shows to realize that literally everything about this situation should be filled with red flags and make me seem totally insane.”

“Well, red is my favorite color after all. And I’m usually the one people call crazy.” I snickered and then said, “It’s definitely been at least five minutes though, so I think we should eat now. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

“Ah, almost forgot.” She hurriedly got up and went over to the kitchen. Then Eve opened the lid of that large silver pot and started stirring the soup with a huge white plastic ladle. After a while she took out a huge glass salad bowl and a much smaller, ceramic bowl, then rinsed them off in the sink. I’m pretty damn particular about that kinda shit, so I was fairly impressed by her attention to detail.

Although I wanted to get up and help, she immediately told me: “Stop, just stay there. Please… You’re the guest, so it’s only natural that I serve the dishes myself. More importantly, you’re practically naked and I don’t want you to distract me…”

So I ended up having a beautiful giant woman cooking and even serving the food for me like a waitress. It was kinda hot, but at the same time, I felt really awkward as well. When I was dating my ex, long long ago, I was always the one doing that kinda stuff… Not to mention that I was used to cooking for myself in recent history. I guess that’s the thing though. Eve probably had that same kinda complex, but magnified by a thousand times. After all, she was a true loner, while I’m only an amateur hermit at most. The fact that she could have a conversation with me so comfortably after only a few hours was either impressive or…

Anyway, when she brought the bowls over and placed them on the table, I complimented: “Wow, you really are like a chef!”

Button mushrooms, scallops, oysters, mussels, crab meat, a fucking lobster tail, fettucine noodles, shitake mushrooms, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, cilantro, bean sprouts, green peppers, onions, spring onions… And that was just the ingredients that I could notice at a glance. Once I started eating with the shiny metal fork she provided, I noticed that it tasted even better than it looked.

“Holy shit, this is spicy as hell!” Of course, I was a little taken aback by just how ‘hot’ it was.

However, she just smiled at me and said: “I used some fresh jalapeno peppers, but I wouldn’t really consider that ‘spicy’. Usually I would add habanero or something a bit hotter… Does it taste good?”

“It’s definitely delicious.” I nodded my head and kept eating, realizing the problem: “Ah, I didn’t really think about it before, but what about drinks? Do you have any iced tea or lemonade? I normally drink like a gallon of ice tea per day, per body.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t know how I could forget something like that.” Eve got up and grabbed two glasses from a cabinet, rinsed them out and brought them over to the table. Then she went into the refrigerator and picked out a gallon pitcher of sweetened iced tea… And when I say sweetened, I mean it almost tasted like liquid sugar. 

I choked a bit after drinking a little of the tea and asked, “Uh… Serious question Eve: How much fucking sugar do you put in this stuff?”

“Ummm…” She took a few gulps and frowned, “It does taste a little weak. I only used a few cups of sugar, but I can add more if you want?”

“No, definitely don’t add more!” I sighed and explained, “Long ass time ago, I used to drink super sweet tea like this, but somewhere along the line, I cut back. Eventually I ended up dropping to less than a quarter-cup per gallon pitcher. I do like to add some fruit juice or lemonade to my mug every time I refill it though. Gives it some flavor and a bit of sweetness, but not too much.”

Aside from that, I could tell that she added actual lemon juice to the tea. Although it took some getting used to, the tea was still pretty good. It felt a little awkward drinking it without a straw, but I was kinda used to it from when I drink fruit-juice or lemonade to quench my thirst in the middle of the night.