79. Seventy-Nine
Seventy-Nine
Aaron
Find her again.
I was at peace in the In-Between. Not quite gone but not solid anymore.
You have to find her. I kept thinking it. Over and over again.
Thump, thump.
Find her. You promised.
Thump, thump . . . thump.
I want to stay. Let me stay with her.
Thump, thump . . . thump, thump . . . thump, thump.
“Fucker. Wake up.” Will’s voice pulled me out of the void and . . . toward the sound of sobbing.
As I got closer to the sound, I felt pain. Sweet pain searing and aching in my chest. It was hot and cold at the same time. My stomach was sick, and my limbs felt like they weren’t attached to my body anymore. I tried to move my fingers but had no luck.
“Will, what are you doing?” Thane spoke. His voice was an echo.
Someone squeezed my hand, and I tried to move it again.
“He needs more.”
“But—”
“Not up for arguing right now. Just focus. Keep packing that wound. Dom still needs a tourniquet over there.”
“I can do it!” Another voice. The name wasn’t coming easily. “I don’t really know how though.”
“Switch with me,” Thane said.
“Yes, sir.”
The sobbing was getting louder and louder and was making me feel more than the pain in my body. It made me sad. Somehow, I knew that crying was for me.
“Alright. Alright. You two, try talking to him. Maybe that will make him move his ass,” Will said. “His heart restarted.”
Something hot and wet traveled down my throat. Once he mentioned another, I felt the tight grip of someone on my other arm.
“Please . . . w-wake up. Y-you to get up.” It was Kimberly. She was crying so hard I could barely understand her. “It’s over. All of it is over.”
“Yeah, dude, Zach and Luke aren’t up yet. Me and Kim really, really need you.”
Their words grounded me. I fought the invisible cloud keeping me down, and forced my eyelids to open. They needed me. That’s all I required to fight past the disorientation.
“Fucking finally.” Will leaned over me. He looked tired. Sick. Dying. He was paler than usual. His eyes sunken and hollow. He pat the side of my face with a relieved chuckle. “Good boy.”
A strong set of arms tackled me. Kimberly kissed my forehead, and my little brother had a death grip on my arm. I still felt light. Far away. I was back but on the edge.
“Keep pressure here. It’s already starting to close, but he can’t lose more.”
“What are you doing?” I mumbled, fighting to keep my eyes open.
“Saving you.”
I could barely move my arms to embrace Presley and Kimberly, who were both weeping in a collective howling echo. One was on my stomach and the other on my chest. I used the only strength in my arms to rub their heads to get them to stop.
“It’s okay now. Don’t cry.”
Their hair and bodies were covered in thick black smudges everywhere. My chest and my back were sticky.
William fell to his knees in front of Zach and made a long cut down his wrist with the dagger to drain the blood from his arm. With blood dripping, he brought it up to Zach’s mouth pouring it in.
“He’s . . .”
“Saving all you assholes. Someone’s gotta do it,” Will said.
“Will.”
“It’s fine, Thane.”
When the gash no longer produced blood, he’d cut another. Will’s hands were shaking, but he didn’t stop. He meticulously added his blood into my brother’s wounds. Next to him, sat Connell. His name finally came back to me. He was giving Luke blood and wrapping a cloth around one of his arms.
“Maybe we should help,” I said, trying to move my elbows.
“Fuck no. Lay down like I told you,” William snapped. “If your wound opens and your precious blood spills out, you’re dead, and I’m the one who has to bury you and comfort your blubbering loved ones. Give your body time to close up that wound.”
“Nice to know you care.” I barely moved, and searing pain sent my chest on fire. “Ah . . . Ow.”
“Yeah, that’s what you get for shoving a dagger in your chest.”
“He’s right. You’d totally kill me if I did something like that,” Presley said.
I lay my head back on the tile and mustered a smile. It was nice to hear his voice return to normal. “Worth it.”
“I feel really tired,” Connell said.
“It’s fine. Stop. You’re going to need to help Thane carry Dom out of here,” Will said.
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Zach’s gasped echoed through to the ceiling. He moved to stand, but Will held him down.
“Hey, fucker. Enjoy your nap?” Will asked.
“Fuck you,” Zach said, then reached for Luke. “Luke. I have to help Luke.”
“I got it. Hold here. Do. Not. Move.”
Will could barely use his legs anymore. It was agonizing watching. Something burned in my chest when I tried to move again, and I winced.
Will spun around. “Aaron fucking Calem, listen to me for once in your life.”
“Let me help.” Presley grabbed Will’s arm to help him over.
“No. You’re going to need your legs to carry some of the others out. You’ll all need blood fast.”
Every second, I saw more. Felt more. Life was coming back to me. Kimberly’s scent filled my nostrils.
“Hey, Mrs. Calem,” I said, trying to reach her face and wipe the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
She grabbed my hand and stared back at me with her blue eyes and a strained smile. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
Thane appeared with Dom draped across his arm. “I’ve got Dom. I need to take him. But . . .”
“Go. I got this.” Will didn’t look up while he continued to tend to Luke.
“No, I’m not leaving without you.”
“I’m not arguing.”
“No. I won’t go.”
“Fucking why not?” Will asked.
“Because you know why.”
William sighed.
Connell stepped forward. “I-I can take him. I don’t know if you trust me . . . but I want to help.”
Thane nodded. “You can take him. You know the land.”
Dom groaned, with his eyes still closed. “I know the way.”
William worked while they argued, forcing blood in Luke’s mouth, but my brother was still dead with no heartbeat.
“Let me do it,” Zach said, barely keeping himself up.
“You don’t have any blood to give,” Will said as he cut another gash on his skin to pour the blood into Luke’s wounds and mouth.
“Well, neither do you.”
“Do you ever fucking shut up?”
“Move. You’re doing it wrong,” Zach spat.
“I’m giving my life to save your brother; how could I do that wrong ?”
“Yeah, it’s supposed to be me. It has to be me.”
Zach said the words with a desperate heaving breath. His gaze locked with Will’s, which was more than anger. He was pleading. They’d grown closer. That much was certain.
Will shook his head. His whole demeanor softened. “No. It doesn’t. Not this time.”
Thane fell to his knees beside Luke and bit his wrist.
“Fuck. No. Someone needs to fly the helicopter out of there. Do you think dumbass can?”
Will motioned to Connell who was struggling under the weight of Dom’s body draped across his shoulder.
“Oh, I don’t know how to fly. I can’t even drive,” Connell said.
“Exactly. You’re going to take Connell and Dom and this dagger and get out of here with any of the remaining members that are alive. And the Calems are going to take their little happy family and go to the harbor, and you’ll go separate ways.”
“So you just planned it all out? That fast.” Thane glared at Will.
“Yeah. I did. And you’re gonna listen one last time. Kilian might be dead, but I’m still your superior.”
Kilian. Dead. It made me wonder who else was dead.
“Kilian’s dead?” I turned my head to see, but all I saw was a wall of bodies.
“Stay still,” Will said.
He was saving us instead of Kilian. The thought was unbelievable even as I watched him tend to my brother.
William swayed, but I had to get up to Luke’s side. He had to get up.
“I can’t let you do this,” Thane said. “Let me.”
“Will everybody shut up and trust me for a minute? He’s going to wake up. He’s . . . just . . . taking his sweet ass time.” Will continued his work on my brother. “The angels, or whatever the fuck, are probably trying to convince him to stay.”
“He has to get up.” Zach groaned holding his side. “I can’t—”
“I know ,” Will said through gritted teeth while he poured more blood in Luke’s mouth.
“Let’s do it together. Then we both die,” Thane said.
Will scoffed. “You have a lot left to do. You can’t die here. Plus, you’re not the one who owes them a favor. I do.”
“I promised I’d get us all out,” Thane said.
“And they will. You’re keeping that promise.”
Luke’s eyes fluttered open. His heart reacted with thundering loudness, and relief fell from my eyes. I could barely see what was happening. Kimberly helped lift my head.
“I’m up. I’m up,” he said it like a dad being pestered by his children, and I barely laughed. He took a minute to sit up.
My whole chest felt like pins and needles.
“Took you long enough.” Will smiled, wider than I’d ever seen.
Then he fell to the ground, and Thane and Zach grabbed him.
“Come on. We can make it to the chopper still.” Thane tried to pull William up with his arm.
“He’s right. We all can,” Zach said.
“No.” William pushed his hand away. “You’re not going together. You’re going to take all your brothers and Kimberly and go to the mainland from the harbor and get someone to drink. Thane, Connell, and Dom will take the dagger and give it to Anzola. You need to go separately.”
“How do you know about that?” Kimberly gasped.
“Because I know Kilian. He wouldn’t plan something like this without consulting her.” Will had his eyes closed but continued on. “I bet she loved you, huh? A girl who can use the dagger.”
“Yeah . . . She liked Aaron too.”
“She’s not dangerous, but you don’t want her to know you’re alive. She’ll try to recruit all of you, and she won’t stop. Don’t give them the chance. You died here. That’s what you need to tell them.” He groaned.
“I can still carry you,” Thane said.
“You can barely stand, and the boy over there is about to drop Dom any second. I’ll be dead by the time you reach the chopper. Now move for a second, I need to talk to the leader there. I have requests, and I need to talk to the person I know who can keep his promises.”
He motioned for Luke, and Zach helped him scoot closer.
Luke spoke in a strained whisper, “I’m here, brother.”
William shivered, and we pressed in around him the best we could. The wound in my chest was closed. Every second, I felt more coherent. The sound came back, but it was the rapid beats of hearts echoing in the silence of the night and the crackling of small fires that lingered on the marble floor.
“I need you to promise me that you’re going to get the fuck out of here. No more cults. Of any kind. Live your fucking ridiculously long lives being annoying somewhere. Everywhere. And maybe get a hobby. A selfish one. No volunteering or shit like that.”
“I promise.” Luke squeezed his hand, his face red. “You’re sure you don’t want me to try to carry you?”
Will chuckled. “No, fucker. Don’t you dare.”
“I won’t let you down,” Luke said.
“I know you won’t. And now we’re even.” He smiled and turned to Presley. “Presley . . .”
“Yeah, dude.”
“Try to be less annoying.”
Presley wiped the tears from his cheeks. “I’ll try.”
I laughed, holding my aching chest and leaning into Kimberly for support. Tears rolled down my face as he said his final goodbyes. I never thought I’d cry about William. The man who terrorized me a year ago, saved my life. He saved us all.
“Hey love.” He motioned to Kim. “I have a tiny request for you.”
“Hi,” Kimberly said with a sob but smiled. “I’ll allow it.”
“Plant some flowers for my sister in that big, beautiful garden your lover boy will undoubtedly make for you.”
She nodded, wiping her face with a smile. “What kind did she like?”
“Primrose. She loved yellow.” William’s heartbeat slowed. “Aaron, I know you’ll take good care of her. Have that fuckin’ wedding with the peonies.”
“I will,” I said. “And thank you . . . for everything.” For saving my life. For saving my family.
“And you . . .” Will turned to Zach and reached for his hand.
Zach clenched his jaw as a tear fell. “Fuck me, right?”
Will shook his head with a wide smile. “No. Try to be happy. Whatever the fuck that means. Don’t argue. Just try.”
“I don’t think I know how.”
“You’ll figure it out. You’ve got this lot here to help ya.”
Zach didn’t let go of his hand as Will groaned and moved to look at Thane. His eyelids stayed heavy, but he kept them open.
“Saved the best for last.”
Thane shook his head, and his chest heaved in a soft sob.
“It’s okay, Thane.”
“But I just got you back. And I’m . . . not ready. I know you want to go and you’ll be fine. But I won’t. I still don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”
“You’re ready. The Legion needs ya. Without Kilian, they’ll need someone with some sense. I know you won’t be alone. If I thought you would, I’d have found another solution. But I’m tired . . . It’s done.”
Thane nodded. “You’re right. Your and Kilian’s dream is done. She’s dead.”
Once he said the words, I realized it should have been obvious, but I blame it on the blood loss. The queen was finally dead.
“You know what I’m going to ask you . . .”
“I’ll protect them. Forever.”
“You’re gonna do a lot of good shit, Thane. I’m really . . . proud of . . . you.”
William struggled to get the words out. There was a pool of blood surrounding him, and he grew more and more pale.
“I hate this.” Presley said.
William’s voice grew soft and quiet. “Tell me, all of you . . . how was death?”
“Peaceful,” I said.
“Warm,” Presley said. “Like a bath.”
“Quiet,” Zach said.
“I didn’t feel lonely.” Kimberly squeezed my hand.
“I won’t be either. I’ve got three girls who are waiting for me.”
“If your little sister is anything like my brothers, she’ll probably give you an earful for keeping her waiting,” Luke said.
Will chuckled. “I can’t wait. I swear . . . I . . . I can hear her. Singing. She loved to sing.”
William hummed softly to himself, his face stayed relaxed and blissful till the humming slowed and his head fell. He was gone but still smiling. We cried, taking in the scene of carnage around us. The queen was dead, and Her Guard was no more.
And somehow, like I planned, we were free.
“What do we do now?” Presley sniffled.
There was a pause among us. The birds chirped outside. The sound of the night was alive. Bugs. The bugs of spring were singing.
“We live,” Luke said.