After Armageddon (Finished)

Ch 32 - Belive Me Next Time

I lifted the cloth that was wrapped around Tad's face. Crystal wanted to see her brother one last time. But this wasn't her brother-this was just a vessel he once possessed until a monster had cut him out of it. His face alone was extremely misshapen from the wounds and only his left eye wasn't completely coated in hard blood. Even his once dark brown hair had become a crumbling red dust.

Shaking my head I covered him back up and brought Crystal farther from him. She stared at him. If there had been any possible way to see him again she would do it at that second.

"He was my friend for as long as I can remember." Casey began to say from his part of the circle around the grave, "Tad was a good guy. He gave his life as a hero, just minutes before he passed on to a better place, he saved my life. Not by killing anyone, he could never do that, but he told me something. Something that keeps replaying in my mind. He said 'don't focus on hurting the bad people, focus on saving the good ones.' I really wish I had been better at that. He was. I will be. In his memory."

We waited and took in Tad's last words. They would have been in an inspirational book had the world not fallen. The darkness slowly faded away into morning light. As it did so, El and Casey picked up the corners of the stained sheet we had wrapped him in and slowly carried it over to the grave. Just as they were above it, Tad's cold pale hand fell and began to lightly dangle from the side of the cloth.

Crystal choked on tears she had been holding until this point, and burst again. This was the first time anyone has seen her cry so much. Strong Crystal had never cried in front of anyone besides Casey and Tad before her first brother had died.

Nina pulled on my arm, "Lei, what are they doing? He's just sleeping." I stroked her hair and pulled her next to me. "No, Lei we can't let them, he's gonna wake up soon! How can he come play with me again if they trap him down there?" She whimpered as she began to break out into tears.

They lowered him slowly, eventually having to lay on the ground. Finally they dropped him the last foot or so. Casey led Crystal up to bury him. Rachel had recommended it for closure, but after one scoop of dirt, her brave face began to wear away again and Casey pulled her away and handed the shovel to me.

I walked to the edge of the grave and began to bury my boyfriend.

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After the funeral, we had all gone off on our own. Not wandering too far from camp. I had climbed up in a tree that had enough branches for me to manage my way up it, and stared at the bolder El and Cecil had rolled onto the grave. I had made sure no one saw me. Not that I had anything to hide, I just preferred to be lost physically too for now.

Suddenly, Cecil emerged from the bushes not far away from me and gracefully carried a long, thin, black case towards the bolder. He walked with much less of a limp than he had before, in fact, he had none at all. Looking around suspiciously, he pulled something silver from a black hilt and stared at it adoringly. Like a father to the perfect baby.

I leaned closer to see what the engraving on it was. On the long blade, a thin black dragon flew to the tip which was unusually reddish. In that moment I had epiphany.

Cecil killed Tad.