THE END

Chapter 11

I reach it and open the door. "Hello?" I call again. "Is anyone here?"

Movement catches my eye, and people start popping up from all corners of the room, coming out from behind boxes of supplies, and out from under the weapon storage. Soon there's about 200 people, maybe more. And they're all talking at once.

Some of them ask me questions, "How many of you made it downstairs?" "Can we get back inside?" "How did you get out?" "How long has it been since the bombs stopped?"

I ignore the questions and search the crowd for one particular face. "Has anyone seen Neil?" I call. I see Natalie and Mark rush forward. The crowd quiets a little, from yelling to just talking.

I hug them both and say, "Are you alright? Where's Neil?"

Natalie says, "We got separated in the mob. Is he hiding in one of the other metal heads?"

"Maybe, but they all seemed abandoned." I say. "Oh god, I thought he was with you guys!"

"You don't think..." Mark doesn't finish the sentence.

"I've got to find him." I rush back outside and sprint to the next skyscraper. I check every single one, even those turned on their sides. And as much as I hate it, I even check to see if any of the bodies resemble his.

I've only got one skyscraper left to check. I run inside and turn over all the supply boxes. "Hello?" I call. "Neil?" I hear a slight noise from somewhere.

Then a sleepy response, "Cecy?" I gasp in relief and run to where he had been hiding in the back of the room. "Cecy!" He cries, jumping up and pulling me into his arms. I hold him tight and start crying.

"I thought you were dead!" I say. "I looked everywhere for you!"

 "I thought you were dead!" He says. "I hid in here all night after the Metal Head fell over the door. How many others are okay? How did you get out?"

"I shimmied out under the metal, there was a little space." I tell him, "There are about 200 hiding in one of the other skyscrapers but that's all I found. A tenth of what Jupiter once was. And the bodies-" I start to cry.

"Shhh." He smooths down my hair and holds me closer.

"You can't even recognize them; they're charred! No one will know who they were!"

"Shhh." He says again. "It'll be alright. We'll figure this out." After a few minutes I pull back.

Wiping at my eyes and trying to gain my composure, I say, "We should probably go to the others. Natalie and Mark will be wondering where you are. They were hiding with the 200." Neil looks visibly relieved when I say that Natalie's okay. He's lost enough people, he doesn't need her gone too.

We walk out and see that the Metal Head is already being moved away from the trap door, and everyone is out from hiding. Once the skyscraper is out of the way I see Austin and his family climb out.

The instructors and the Rebel leaders, including Allon, start to go inside to inspect the damage. A man with a bullhorn shouts, "Once the area inside is cleared and fixed, there will be a city meeting for all of those who are left. We will identify bodies and give them a proper ceremony, and we will sort out how to make this city thrive once more, even with fewer people." He paused and spoke quietly with another Rebel Leader for a moment. "Plan on meeting in the center of the main room at around 4pm."

For the next few hours, we sit around and watch as Jupiter is cleaned up. It still freaks me out how these people are so efficient. Even with only 200ish of us, they manage to turn the fallen skyscraper into scrap metal and store it in one of the other buildings. Then they clean out and rebuild everything in the main floor, and set up new tents taken from the lower floor. After that they bring all the bodies to one area, and people start identifying them. Soon Jupiter looks exactly as it did before the bombing; minus one skyscraper and plus a lot of bodies.

People scream and cry as bodies are identified as friends and family. I watch as people sob and hold the blackened remains of loved ones. Who would do this?

No. I know who. The officers.

Better question; why? We haven't bombed them in a long time. This was an unprovoked attack, and it caused more damage than I would consider humane. I always thought the officers were the good guys. I thought Jupiter was just a bunch of rebellious, crazy people.

I remember that Allon told us that when Jupiter attacks, they're out to scare more than hurt. They never bomb major cities, and they're never the first to attack. It's the officers.

I have a sudden realization. The officers aren't the good guys. They're not the ones controlling the rebels. They aren't the ones trying to stop the war.

They started it. And I have a feeling they want to finish it.