Final

It’s been weeks of aimlessly hiding in different places. We wanted to head towards the ocean, but any time there’s a large group of people that travel near us we have to hide and redirect. Even if they aren’t The Soulless, we can’t chance it.

I’m shaken awake in the middle of the night. At first I think it’s Aria, but then realize there’s a large figure looming over me. Scrambling backwards on the bed, I grab my gun and aim it at the figure, protecting Aria who lays asleep behind me.

“Stay back! I’ll shoot!” I yell, trying to sound intimidating, but I struggle to steady my tone.

“I cannot believe you are alive,” says a familiar voice.

“Roj?”

“I have been looking for you everywhere.”

Aria wakes up, immediately alert. She pulls her gun from beside her, but then is frozen from shock.

“Is that Roj?” she asks.

“Sure is,” I answer, grinning. It’s hard to tell in the dark, but I swear Roj is smiling too.

The three of us go to the dining room of the house we’re staying in to talk. More moonlight makes it into here, so I can get a better look at Roj’s face. His beard is now long and scruffy, his body dirty, and his face hollow, like a man who’s lost his drive for living.

Roj is the first to speak. “I looked everywhere. I knew you were still alive, but I was worried that the Soul Brothers would catch you first. I suppose I just know you better.”

We keep talking, exchanging our stories of survival. It seems like Roj has been having an even harder time than us. Not only did he have to avoid capture himself, but also track us, which our sporadic movements did not make easy.

Aria's face suddenly drops. “Where’s Phillip?” she questions.

Roj furrows his eyebrows and the delight from finding us fades away. “There were just too many of them on the road, we could not take them all.”

My mind goes blank. “What?”

“I am so sorry, Phillip said it was more important I survived. He left before I could even say a word.” Roj stares down at the table, unable to look us in the eyes. “It is my job to protect you all—I failed.”

Aria and I are too stunned to speak. I’ve never seen Roj this upset and dejected—I never thought I would. And I don’t even wanna think ‘bout the other thing. I can’t stack up my plate any higher, otherwise I’ll lose my will to keep fighting.

Roj continues, “Then there are Clara and Georgia; I have no idea where they are. For all I know…” his voice trails off, obviously not wanting to continue. It’s hard not to pick up what he’s trying to say.

It’s quiet. The cicadas can be heard outside, the occasional movement in a chair, a yawn, Aria inhaling snot back into her nose, Roj coughing, my own heartbeat—even the quiet isn’t really quiet. Just like the joy of seeing Roj again doesn’t really feel like joy.

“I’m going back to sleep,” I announce, standing up and heading back to bed. Neither of them stop me—not that they have a reason to.

I lie in bed, my eyes closed. My head is so empty. All I do is listen to my heartbeat, counting up for each one. Aria joins me when I reach 571, I pretend to be asleep so as not to disturb her. Laying on my side, I can feel her head on my back. I don’t know if she’s crying, but I’m sure she wants to.

I sleep a long time, dreaming of all my peeps together and flying in the airplanes of legend. I’m not with them, but I can see them from down here waving at me through the windows. Trey, Spencer, Harold, Aria, Phillip, Clara, Georgia, Roj, Sergio, Mum, and Grandmamma. I hope they don’t crash.

I jolt awake in a cold sweat, accidentally waking up Aria. I look out the window, the sun already at its peak.

Still groggy, Aria asks, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, I’m sorry to wake you.” I stop looking out the window and look down at her. “Feel free to go back to sleep.”

“Mmm,” is the only response she manages before passing back out.

I walk out to the dining room and find Roj sitting there, asleep with his head lying on his arms. The dining room taken, I go to the living room and lay on the one clawed up couch it has—a cat must have lived here. I try to fall back asleep, but I just can’t.

Eventually, I hear Roj get up. I walk to the dining room and find him standing by a window, staring outside.

Without turning around, Roj says, “We all slept too late; we must get moving. Go wake Aria up.” He really knows me well—even my footsteps.

As always, I do as he commands. Aria wakes up reluctantly; if this was still the beginning of our journey she would’ve been waking me, but I think she’s grown tired of everything.

When I get back to Roj, the first thing I do is ask, “What’s the plan?”

He takes a seat at the table again before answering, “The Soul Brothers have the entire coast locked down, it would be very difficult to get past them. We are heading towards the Uninhabitable Lands. Once our skin starts to burn, we will turn south and keep going until we find the ocean. This could take years, but it is also our only option left.”

“Is it really safe to go near there?” The Uninhabitable Lands is the area closest to the eruption from The Incident. Legend has it that the air will burn your skin so fast that you melt.

“Yes, you will be able to tell that you are beginning to burn long before it becomes too dangerous.” Frightening as it is, I trust Roj more than a legend.

Within ten minutes of our conversation, we’re travelling again. Roj had been using a bike, so we are able to keep moving at our usual pace.

As the miles count up and the days stretch on, the number of close calls with The Soulless begins to become absurd.

“It seems like they are starting to get nervous that you will actually get away. I have never seen the roads this busy,” Roj remarks.

Even with the ever increasing danger, we keep going—it’s all we can do.

One day, we notice a gray car far off behind us.

“Is it just me or have we seen that car before?” asks Aria.

“Yes, we saw the same car yesterday and the day before. It could be tailing us,” responds Roj.

I glance back to see it. Well, a bit more than a glance.

”Don’t stare, Terr,” commands Aria.

”Whoops.” It’s too late, though. The car picks up its speed.

As always, Roj makes sure everything is under control. ”Remember, we are just traveling between towns.”

The car pulls up beside us, lowering its window. Inside is a lone man.

“Can I borrow a minute of your time? I have a question,” the man says.

“Sure, no problem.” I’ve never heard Roj speak so casually. Maybe it’s a lot easier for him when putting on a persona.

We all slow down to a stop, getting off our bikes and walking over to the window.

”I’m looking for a certain individual, have you seen anything suspicious?” the man asks. “Perhaps a young man, traveling alone or with a couple of other people…” his voice trails off. Me and Aria give each other a look saying This isn’t good. “By the way, where are you headed?”

”There’s a town this direction that we’re traveling to,” responds Roj, slowly reaching for the gun in his waistband.

The driver’s face screams that he knows we’re lying. “I wasn’t aware there’s a town this way.”

In a split second the driver lunges towards the console, pressing a button. Roj draws his gun and shoots him—he dies immediately. We pull the man out of the car and check what he did. On the button reads “Emergency.”

Roj grimaces. ”They know that we are here now.”

My eyes widen. “We can’t be sure of that, it might not mean that.”

”Do not be naive, Terrance.” Roj gets in the driver’s seat and closes the door on us. “They must have this car’s location. I will drive it away from you.”

”Wait. Hold on. Whoa,” I say, grabbing the door to stop him. “Then they’ll capture you.”

Aria adds on, “Yeah, we need you to survive this.”

“You both survived quite a long time without me. I can get them off your tail for a while. Go, they are likely already on their way.” Roj closes the window, forcing me to pull my hands away so they don’t get crushed.

“Roj! Hold on!” I yell, but it’s too late, he’s already driving away.

“Terr, come on. He’s stronger than the two of us combined. He’ll be fine.” Aria pushes us to keep moving.

We bike away, the opposite direction of Roj, as fast as we can.

After biking only a mile we hear an explosion in the distance behind us. I brake as hard as I can, but my momentum makes me fly over the bike. I scrape my hands and knees, blood trickling out, and hit my head on the ground.

“Roj?!” I yell. I try to stand up—I’m too light headed.

Aria stops herself much more elegantly. She runs over to me and grabs my shoulders. Her eyes are watery, but a fierce determination keeps her from crying. “We need to keep moving, Terr. That could’ve been anything. There’s no way Roj could get hurt, right?” It feels like she’s trying to convince herself more than me.

I feel a familiar rumble under my feet, and a familiar hopelessness in my chest. A sharp pain pierces through my head, disorienting me.

“Terr, it’s time to leave!” Aria yells at me, but that just makes my head hurt worse.

Looking back, I see a line of vehicles making their way to us.

”It’s too late,” I whisper under my breath

”Terr! We need to go!”

”We’re out of time, Aria.”

”Huh?” She looks distraught, like giving up is an insult.

The vehicles partially encircle us and stop. The same man, with the same gentle smile and the same deceiving charm, gets off a motorcycle and starts walking towards us.

“We’ve been onto you,” he announces. “You knew you couldn’t run forever. From the looks of it you’ve finally given up. That was very smart of you.”

Aria draws her gun and aims it at the man. “Stay away from him or I’ll shoot!”

The smiling man throws up his arms. “I would prefer you didn’t. We are brothers through our souls; if you can play nice we won’t have to sever that sacred bond.”

Straining my voice, I whisper, ”Aria. Please don’t do this.” That insulted expression returns to her face.

The man starts walking towards us, slowly lowering his arms. I don’t know if he’s confident or cocky, but it could be the death of him if he isn’t careful. “Please lower your weapon, there is no point to you dying.”

“I said stay away!” she yells, her finger nearly pulling the trigger.

He stops and throws his arms back in the air. “Okay, okay. Calm down. I’ll stay away—”

Bang.

“—at least for as long as I need to.”

Aria falls to the ground beside me. Blood oozes from her head, a puddle slowly forming and heading towards me. I rush over and pull her into my arms.

“Aria! Please!” I slap her cheeks. “Stay with me! Please stay!” I scream, hyperventilating. Tears cloud my vision, but I can still tell that the life has faded from her eyes.

“You don’t have to suffer the same fate. If you hand over the Supernovacide we can take care of you. Come brother, make the correct choice.” He’s patronizing me, I can tell. His wide smile doesn’t come from love for The Soulless and its brotherhood, it comes from devouring others under the guise of love.

I lower Aria to the ground and take off my backpack.

“You’re a smart kid. Just take it easy and hand it over.”

Unzipping the backpack, I pull out the box and start opening it.

“Hey now, you don’t need to take it out completely. You can leave it in the box.” The man’s gentleness cracks a little, a hint of worry and a twitching eyebrow revealing just a bit of a real person.

They were all gone, all of them. I can’t let their deaths be in vain, I have to do something. A thought creeps into my head, What ‘bout Mum? I shake my head—I need to think logically. Mum will die either way, it doesn’t matter who activates it. But I can stop there from being more deaths, this can be the only time Supernovacide is ever used.

I quickly yank the Supernovacide from the box, ready to activate it. Screaming, I try to block out any other thoughts. Time slows, and for the first time, the deceiving bastard breaks, his ever-present smile vanishing. He turns heel and runs, the other members of The Soulless following in turn. It’s really too bad for them—their fear can’t save them.

But my lack of conviction does.

The Supernovacide falls from my arms, too heavy for me to carry any longer. I can’t do it. I just can’t. I ain’t no hero, I’m just some guy.

Bang.

My body feels heavy and my chest warm. I’m not sure what just happened—my head is a mess. I wonder if I got a concussion from my bike crash.

I fall to my side, my vision getting blurrier by the second. Grandmomma told me to never be afraid, she said fear only exists because you feel like you’re waiting on death. But what else am I supposed to do right now?

I vaguely recognize the sun glare off the lens of a scope in the distance—I don’t even hear it fire.