Sara held onto Tim as tightly as she could. She was getting feeling back in her body, but it was like she was a giant pincushion. She stayed still, letting Tim guide her body amidst the debris that hovered around. When the tether was destroyed, they had reduced to using emergency jetpack, which Tim was not experienced in. It was a miracle he could catch Sara when he did. She thought she was dead for sure.
"I feel like an idiot," Sara said.
"Why?"
Tim grabbed a large piece of a ship to hold himself.
"Haas had no known motive to kill, but it never dawned on me."
"Neither did the captain," he said. "And he had help from his sister."
"I feel like I should have seen what was happening."
"You were onto him from the very beginning. He used you as an alibi."
"He was playing me the whole time, and I walked right into it."
"Don't put yourself down, laddie. This wasn't his first time. I can guarantee it."
He looked around, feeling lost.
"Alright, I'm going to need your help on this one. When you were zooming about, did you see any ships airtight-like?"
"No. It's desolation out here. I didn't want to say anything, but... there's not much hope finding one. That blast was huge."
"There's bound to be something we can use," he said. "Don't lose hope."
She wasn't putting much faith into it. She checked her O2 gauge.
"We have thirty minutes of air left," she said.
"Well... you have thirty minutes of air left."
"Tim..."
He stopped and showed her his gauge.
"I only have about five."
"Tim, why didn't you say anything?"
"What's the point? If we can't find air, we can't find air. I didn't want to make you worry."
"But I want to be worried! Jesus Christ, it feels good to worry about someone! I have no one left except for you!"
"I'm sorry, laddie..."
"We'll have to improvise," she said. "We can trade Oxygen every few seconds."
"That will just waste more time we don't have to spare. Can you move?"
She wiggled her toes.
"Yeah, I can move, now."
"Good. You need to go and find a ship while you still can."
"I'm not leaving you," she said.
"There isn't time," he said sadly. "You need to save yourself while you have the chance."
"There's no point! I don't want to be alone out here!"
"You have Maria," he said. "I know you treat her well. Like blood. Someone needs to look after her when I'm gone."
"Tim! Stop talking like that! You're not going anywhere."
"Three minutes," he said. "Only three minutes left."
"Stop it!"
She looked around desperately.
"M-maybe I can find another tank somewhere. We'll go back to that ship!"
"It's too late," he said. "I don't want you to see me when... Just go."
"Tim, I don't--"
"I said go, dammit!"
She closed her mouth. He turned away.
"Let me pass on in peace. I don't want you to see this."
"Don't do this. I have to do something."
"Do us both a favor and survive, Sara. You have to survive. The fate of the crew depends on it. You need to lead them to safety."
"I'm not a leader."
"Leaders are not born, Sara. They arise when they are needed. Your heart and your mind are right where they need to be. Take a stand."
He checked his levels again.
"Two minutes. Honor be with your survival. Please. Let me die with a clear concience."
Sara knew she was wasting time. She didn't want to run away. Damn it, she hated running away! Her lips trembled, and her eyes got blurry.
"When I get on the ship," she said. "I'll come back for you. I promise."
He sniffled. A sob caught his throat.
"Thank you for everything, Sara."
He turned around, cheeks wet with tears.
"You gave me hope."
She swallowed and nodded.
"Go."
She turned and left. She felt sick. She was so tired of losing people she cared about. She hated war. She despised it.
She didn't hear Tim anymore. He turned off his comm. He didn't want her to hear him choking on his own air.
She moved forward a few hundred feet and stopped.
"What the..."
Sara stared at what should have been a blank space. It definitely wasn't blank.
It was the school's courtyard, fully intact. It wasn't free-floating in space like everything else. Leaves were lying on the ground. She could see the front of the academy, doors opened wide. Nothing was floating around. It had gravity.
She moved backward with her jetpack. It was like looking at the other side of a one-way mirror. From an angle, the courtyard looked like a hidden room frame. From the other... empty space. She hovered in front of the floating courtyard. She was scared but curious. She reached out to touch it. Her hand went through. It felt like she was reaching through the barrier between air and water. It was the most bizarre sight she had ever seen.
What if I just...
Her jetpack thrusted her forward. She landed on the floor. Space was just behind her, divided by a wavy invisible barrier. She reached for her helmet and stopped. What if there's no air? Just a hallucination?
She was willing to take that risk. She took off the helmet. It hissed. She took a deep breath. She laughed. It was clean air.
Then she frowned.
"Shit! Tim!"
She threw on her helmet and jumped through. She activated her jetpack. Maneuvering at a high velocity was difficult, but she was doing it somehow. She saw Tim floating free, hands wrapped around his throat. Time was up. She grabbed his suit and whipped around.
"Hang on, Tim!"
She couldn't hear him, only saw his face changing colors. She weaved around the debris. She didn't have much control dragging Tim and hit against a large piece of rock. Her jetpack went out of control, spinning them. Alert sounds went off in her helmet. She was losing Oxygen, and fast. She started choking again.
She could make out the courtyard when they passed it. She tugged on Tim's body. They turned. Her vision was going out when they broke the barrier. They slighshotted and went tumbling inside. Sara smacked her helmet into the tree. It was all she needed. She blacked out.
~~~
Aiden was freaking out. They were banging on the outside of the bulkhead, shouting at him.
"Time is almost up!" The guy screamed. "Tick-tock, Aiden! Tick-tock!"
"Go away!" Aiden shouted.
He went over to Kole, who was shivering. He wrapped him up in another blanket.
"They're innocent people!" He screamed. "Leave them alone!"
His eyes darted to the clock on the wall. The door was seconds away from opening. He looked at Kole in the eyes.
"Listen to me," he said. "You need to hide."
"W-where?"
He pulled Addison's bed away from the wall and opened the shaft. He took off Kole's restraints.
"Down here," he said. "Hurry."
Kole was in pain, but he managed to crawl inside.
"Stay here until they're gone," he said. "If I don't come back to get you, run and find Vera. She'll help you."
"Wait, but--"
He shut the door. He rolled Addison's bed back. The lights went off. He grabbed one of the I.V. poles and wielded it like a staff. The bulkhead released. The convict that killed the infected girl cam rushing in first. Aiden smacked him across the face. Another one, the girl, tried to hit him with her makeshift machette. He caught it and kicked her away. Someone grabbed the I.V. pole and wrenched it away. He fought off the onslaught of fingernails and fists, but they overpowered him easily.
"Get off of me!" He shouted. "Get off!"
"That's enough."
A
iden recieved one last punch to the nose. Blood traveled down his face from a cut on his forehead. He was let go. Everyone moved back. The guy he knocked down first, Trey, made his appearance like a supervillan. He threw a right hook at Aiden's face.
"Where's the bitch?"
"She's gone," he said. "You'll never find her."
"That's impossible. The Med Ward was under quarantine."
"He's right, Trey," his sidekick girl said. "She's not here."
He grabbed Aiden's shirt and pulled him up to his face.
"Where is she?"
"Away from you monsters," he said.
Trey kneed Aiden in the nose. His face hit the floor.
"I don't give a shit what you think I am. All that matters is that we're going to live. You were supposed to protect us. Now I have to pick up after your mess.
"You ungrateful pricks," Aiden coughed. "I got rid of the ones responsible for the sabotauge, and this is the thanks I get?"
Trey snorted.
"You want us to thank you? For what?"
"I killed Mark and James. They're gone because of me, and you want to kill me?"
"Oh, please. Do you expect us to believe that? You would have killed him if that were true."
Trey pointed to Dominic, who was still passed out from fever.
"I kept him alive for Vera," he said. "That's it."
"Get him out of here," Trey said.
They picked up Aiden and dragged him out the door.
"We'll take care of the infected later," he said. "For now, I'm eliminating the competition. He put our crew at risk. I say we kill him!"
They started cheering. Aiden felt chills run down his spine. They wanted to see him dead.
"Let's find a nice, tall tree somewhere outside," Trey said. "We'll have him hanged so we can watch him squirm."
They cheered even louder. He tried to fight them off, but it was no use. He didn't have any fight left in him. He was sure his nose was broken, and his cut was throbbing.
Someone threw a rope over a large branch. Trey tied the knot himself.
"When I didn't like my bunkmates in prison," he said, "I would fake suicides to get a new one. Gotta do what you gotta do to survive."
"This is insane," Aiden said. "You're all crazy! I was the one protecting all of you!"
"You were bossing us around," he said. "Don't get me wrong. I'm glad O'Connor and his friend are gone, but you're just like them. We can't have that. Bring him here!"
They threw him to the ground. Trey wrestled the noose over Aiden's head.
"Stop!"
The shouting ceased. Trey and Aiden looked up. Vera, holding the gun, stood out in the open a few feet away.
"That's enough," she said. "Let him go."
"Decide to come out of hiding, little dragonfly?" Trey taunted.
"Shut up!" She said. "I know who you are. Rocco told me about you."
"And I saw you around, too. That's what your dad called you, right?"
"You shut the hell up. You're on the other end of a gun. I'd suggest my next words very carefully."
"It wouldn't be the first time," he said. "Do you know those bullets are non-lethal?"
She took a few steps forward.
"Not unless I'm up close."
"Vera, don't!" Aiden warned.
It was too late. Trey's sidechick tackled her and grabbed the gun. She got up and pointed it at Vera.
"You're so stupid," she said. "Stupid bitch!"
Vera wiped the blood from lip.
"Now, let's start this over," Trey said. "Looks like we have two people to watch die, today. Double the fun!"
Trey laughed maniacly.
"You're insane," Vera said. "You're okay with killing innocent people?"
"No one is innocent, dragonfly," he said. "Even you. Daddy would be so disappointed if he were still alive! Ha!"
Vera snarled.
"I swear, I'm going to kill you."
"There's the girl I was waiting for! Hope you're ready for a show!"
The girl grabbed Vera and forced her to Trey. He wrapped her wrists together with some vine.
"Care to do the honors, baby?" He asked.
She smiled. She took the rope. Several other people grabbed it and helped her pull. Aiden tried to stay on his toes, but they hoisted him too high. He felt the pressure tighten on his throat. He struggled with his bound hands, swinging around wildly. The cheering permeated his brain. He felt so sickened and horrified at the same time, he couldn't tell which was worse.
I need to breath. I need to breath!
He couldn't get his hands unbound. He struggled as much as he could, but he was already seeing stars.
"Let him go!" Vera shouted.
Her voice was overshaddowed by the crowd. Trey just laughed.
"This is so much fun!" He said.
Aiden couldn't hold on much longer. His vision was darkening. Vera fought her captor with no success. She felt helpless. She wished Rocco was here to save her.
There was a flash of light, and Aiden fell from the trees. Vera gasped. Everyone stopped cheering.
"What the hell?" Trey said.
Vera broke free. She wrestled with the weak bonds and pulled the noose off of Aiden. He wasn't breathing. She started CPR.
"Come on," she whispered. "Don't go."
He gasped for air and coughed. She sat back and relaxed.
"Thank you," she mouthed.
Movement from the woods caught her eye. She watched James step out.
"Vera?"
"James?"
He ran to her and embraced her.
"You're alive?" Trey said in disbelief.
Juno ran around them and sniffed Aiden. He pushed the wolf away.
"Get off of me," he said.
"What's going on here?"
Mark walked out, Blaez and Edon by his sides. Trey stared. Murmurs traded between the delinquents.
"Mark!" He said cooly. "We thought you were dead!"
"Not this time," he said.
"We found out what Aiden did to you," he said. "We-we were only doing the right thing."
"He's lying," Vera said. "They were trying to kill the infected."
"Is this true?"
"No, no! Of course not!"
"Really? Because that's not what I heard a minute ago."
"W-what?"
"I believe your words were, 'no one is innocent'? I have really good hearing, you know."
"Uh..."
He waved his hand. Blaez and Edon dashed right into Trey. They tackled him and grabbed his clothes, ripping them to shreds.
"Aah! Get them off me! Get 'em off!"
He snapped his fingers. They retreated back to his side. Trey's clothes were all torn to pieces, but he didn't have a single scratch on him.
"You are to be confined to your quarters," he said.
Vera pointed to the girl.
"She's responsible, too."
Caught in the act, she ran away into the woods.
"Let her go," Mark said. "She won't get far."
"She has a gun!"
"I saw it. She's the least of my worries."
James took out the container and gave it to Vera and Aiden.
"It's the cure," he said. "We can cure the Rise."
"Rise?" Aiden said.
Mark cleared his throat. He looked back.
"Aw, shit."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'll be fine."
He was expecting swift punishment. Instead, Mark held out his hand.
"We'll get you checked out in the Med Ward," he said. "First, let's get those people cured."
"I'm sorry. The Rise? Where did that name come from?"
"It's a long story," James said. "We... should talk later."
He glanced back at Mark. Vera looked and saw the bags under his eyes. He looked tired. She thought he might have cried at one point.
"Yeah. okay."