Final Truth

Chapter 69: Revenge

Julia's point of view:

For a moment, everything is fuzzy.

Sounds distort their comprehension to a silent roar, a buzz of sorts that one knows means something big is happening but isn't quite sure what it is yet. Sight is little more than colored shapes moving in slow motion, objects being thrown and exploded as the blurred forms dance around each other. Everything feels like a waking dream, a moment of delirium to be experienced right before a person can truly open their eyes and realize what's real and what isn't.

Yes, everything is fuzzy.

But then, a face swims into view and eases into the haze of the unclear, a face that would explain the mechanics behind every living thing if he was given the time.

He seems to be frantic about something. I think he may be shaking my shoulder. Perhaps he's calling my name, asking if I'm alright, but I can't be sure: his lips move but the sound is distorted.

It doesn't matter though. I don't have to know what he says. The fact that he's here, now, here with me, is enough to tell me that this is real. That I'm not dreaming. That I passed. That I'm alive.

"Adam."

He's looking at me strangely, an edge of anxiety to his eyes before he glances over his shoulder, but my voice brings him right back. Oh, I hope he understood me. I'm sure I don't sound quite right. I'm sure I don't look it, either.

He's saying something back now, and sound is slowly beginning to come back to me in broken segments. I hear him say my name in reply, and then accompany it with a phrase resembling, "You're awake!"

My surroundings are coming into focus, the blurred edges smoothing once again to form a picture that's conceivable. Yes, that's Adam alright, hovering over my body as if he could shield me from whatever is happening behind his back. And beyond him, sounds of screams, of things breaking, of chaos.

"What's happen-"

In the process of rising, Adam quickly pushes me back to the floor and shields me completely, blocking out my sight in doing so, and the sound of something crashing near us is enough to jolt me back to my senses.

"You okay?" He asks, backing off just enough to let me see his face again.

I nod.

He cracks a small smile, and I can feel the waves of terror and worry melt away for a moment as he holds my gaze.

He missed me, too.

"Let's get you up," he says, rising away from me before quickly extending his hand, helping me off the floor to see what's going on.

The lab is in utter chaos, unconscious guards and nurses littered amongst broken glass and upturned tables like remnants of a storm. I spy Jacqueline of all people thrown through the air to crash into the wall, grimacing as her body goes still from the shock. Genevieve and a boy I don't recognize are attempting to hold off Henley, but they are soon swept away with the flick of her wrist as she spies me on the other side of the lab.

Only this time, there is no cool indifference in her demeanor. Her eyes are wild, glowing gold, and there's something almost feral in the way she holds my gaze, hands shaking with fury.

She knows I passed.

"Get Jacqueline and Genevieve out of here," I tell Adam before charging toward her, intent on ending this here and now.