BEYOND THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETE

Thirty-Eight |

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Thirty-Eight |

Fuck, fuck.

Fuck!

All this time it's been Cora.

I've been giving her a fucking tour of each settlement to destroy. Like a cursed tour. I had shown her exactly who to kill and what our plan was. Horror filled me like a bag of rocks. She's already killed Reia and taken out Sky City and it was all my fault.

For all we knew, I had just gotten us all killed.

I'm sobbing and screaming as I run, my shoes slapping against the pavement. My lungs are burning but I don't care. My muscles ache and I can't stop running. At the end of the dock is a boat—it's one of the ones from the island and my heart picks up. Is she on that boat? Is she already on her way to the island? There are clouds in the sky and a thick morning mist rolls in over the water so I can't make out any boats in the distance. I reach the dock and as I run towards the boat, I trip. My chin slams into the metal grate, and my teeth are stunned.

I don't even think to see if Persephone is following me.

It doesn't matter. Even if she was on the same side as Cora, I'd consider her such a lower threat. I felt foolish—how could I not see this coming? She had clear disdain for the settlement leaders and I had brushed it aside instead of questioning her.

Weak.

I was weak.

"Eero!"

I looked up, my feet tying together like they were made of sticks, and I stumbled. My pace slowed. There was a boat docked on this side—right there. It was one of the island boats, the slower one used specifically for supplies between the settlements. Hell, there were people on it too. A whole group of people. I could see them from here, moving around doing god knows what. That's not what had my attention.

What caught my attention was the two people who stood on the dock. My bottom lip quivered, and I didn't care for the sob that broke from my lips. I was moving then, running and sobbing even harder as I reached them. My body slammed into the two, my arms wrapped tightly around them and I just breathed in their scent.

They were alive and safe.

"Mom!" I cried. "Dad!"

Dad chuckled, I could feel his body relax as he hugged us both. This should have been my happy ending. This is how my adventure should have ended and yet, I was standing here in front of them all the more failure and all the more weaker than I was when I left.

"Bunny," Dad whispered, his hand on my head.

I sniffled, too ashamed to look up at them. "I'm sorry. I-I ruined everything."

"Yeah, you did," Mom snapped.

It made me sob harder. I deserved that.

"Love."

Mom sighed softly, squeezing me tightly. "But I'm glad you're alright. That's all that matters Eero, that's all that I care about—that we care about."

I sniffled, my tears dying down. "E-even if I destroyed the world?"

Her fingers moved to my chin, and she lifted my gaze to look at her. There was so much emotion on her face—far more than I'd ever seen on it before. I understood the anger, fear and worry but the mischievous glint in her eye was something new. She leaned forward, pressing her lips to my head and in that moment, I knew everything I'd done was forgiven.

"Even if you destroy the world," she whispered.

My eyes widened as she pulled away.

"Plus, it wouldn't be a first for me," she chuckled.

I blinked. What did that mean?

"Come on. Let's go home," Dad sighed.

Reality hit again, and I grabbed their arms. It had them pausing and I knew I had to tell them everything. However, that became harder than I thought as my mouth dried, and a new wave of terror filled me. I hated how my arms shook, I hated how afraid I was.

I hated that Cora had betrayed me.

"Bunny?"

"D-did a girl go ahead of me?" I whispered.

He hummed in thought. "Sure did. I got one of the men to take her forward on the speed boat, she said you were on your way. What's going on?"

My eyes widened.

Oh no.

"She's," I paused, hoping they wouldn't hate me. "Subject Delta. She can turn people into those monsters—she can turn illicit blood into Deltas. I-I went beyond the dome. She killed everyone there. She killed Reia and Spencer and a lot more."

Mom's eyes narrowed. "It seems like you have a lot to tell us."

My hands dropped from their arms, and she sighed. "But it can wait."

"I-I didn't know. I promise!"

Dad nodded, ruffling my hair. "We believe you. Does she know you know this?"

I shook my head.

"I'll radio forward," Mom muttered.

I watched her go. That tension was back in her shoulders, and I could see how she pulled her leather jacket tighter in the front. She was mad—beyond mad. I rubbed my palms on my knees and looked at Dad who watched her like he was falling in love all over again. My eyes moved to her, and I watched as she pulled out her radio, speaking loudly. I could almost gather bits and pieces of the conversation.

"Have the girl meet us in the clinic. No one comes in or out. Do not alert—I don't want her thinking there is anything wrong and do not put her near Ophelia."

It warmed me slightly to know Ophelia had been caught and now, there was a plan to corner Cora. The question was, would it be enough? I didn't know how she was doing it, but I did know no one was safe. Not me, not dad, not mom—no one.

How could we catch someone who could turn all of us into monsters?

The dread in my stomach told me my answer but I didn't want to hear it.

"Dad?" I whispered.

He glanced at me with a small, tired smile. "Yes Bunny?"

"W-will everything be ok?"

Silence fell over us and he moved his gaze back to Mom. "I don't know."

There were a lot of things he was but out of all of them, my dad was an optimist. There has never been a time that my dad didn't have the best mindset or the most hope. Which is probably why his answer had me doubling over and throwing up off of the dock. Chunks of nothingness into the murky water.

If he didn't know, then we'd all be dead by nightfall.