35
I inhaled your rise. I’ll exhale your descent.
For some reason, she’d always thought the world would end in a grand spectacle. A cataclysmic explosion of fire and dust.
Khalani had once learned in school that a massive rock from space had hurtled into the earth’s surface and killed nearly every living being. Her teacher didn’t believe it was true, but Khalani thought that if it were, it might’ve been a good way to go out.
A quick death.
But this moment was agonizingly slow. Like a parasite had settled into her organs and was taking its time gnawing its way out.
Khalani’s unseeing gaze stared at the floor.
She didn’t blink.
Speak.
Was she even breathing anymore?
Her chest rose and fell in the barest movements, but she didn’t feel anything.
Completely losing control, not caring as the rope cut deeper into her wrists.
None of that mattered.
Why would it?
Khalani had no more tricks or plans.
All that remained was her bottomless guilt and the knowledge that her entire life was an elaborate ruse. She’d thought escaping to the surface would free her, but Alan had stolen Khalani’s freedom the moment she was born.
Until she died, that stain on her existence would remain.
And the only person who’d ever given her the strength to rise past her limitations was gone.
Takeshi stood like an inactive machine, arms stiff by his sides, his stare blank as he waited for his next order.
Completely lost to her. And to himself.
“Takeshi,” she whispered once more as the Governor hurriedly spoke with another woman.
But he didn’t acknowledge her. He gazed past Khalani as her meaningless words bounced off him.
“Takeshi…please. It’s me.” Her voice trembled, barely louder than a breath as she used the last of her will to save him.
His gaze narrowed, and she dared to lose herself in hope as he slowly shifted his attention to her. But Takeshi stared right through her. Like she was a stranger. A faceless criminal of no importance.
“Shut up or I’ll make you.” His dark voice pitched lower. He pulled his gaze to the back wall, like she truly meant nothing.
And in that moment, Khalani wished the Governor had put a chip in her. She wanted to forget everything too.
Maybe then, the pain would finally end.
“Looking fabulous, Governor. Are you ready?” the blond woman who’d entered the room asked with excitement.
She wore a blue pantsuit, her hair pulled up in a slick bun, nothing out of place. She adjusted the Governor’s tie and pressed some powder on his face.
“That’s enough, Cheryl,” Alan said as she kept fussing over him. “Is the camera set?”
“Yes, Governor.” Cheryl quickly put her products away and took post at the large camera set up on a tripod. “Will this message be going out to Apollo?”
“Not just Apollo. Every underground city,” the Governor quickly responded, reaching for the green button on his oval desk.
“Stop. You can’t do this!” Serene screamed, her face turning purple as she yanked on her bindings. The Governor’s expression hardened as he glanced up at the six of them, still bound in their chairs.
“Gag them,” he ordered.
Takeshi and the other guards moved at once, extracting lengths of rope from their pockets. Takeshi headed straight for Khalani, shouldering one of the men who marched in her direction out of the way.
But the territorial motion must’ve been due to him wanting to punish her himself, because he wasn’t gentle.
“Open,” he ordered.
Khalani kept her mouth sealed shut.
Takeshi gripped her jaw, applying pressure until her lips parted. Without hesitation, he shoved the gag between her teeth and knotted it behind her head.
Khalani glared at him the entire time, hoping he could feel the depths of her furious agony and snap out of the Governor’s control. But when he finished, Takeshi stepped back, out of sight.
But she could feel his presence, like a fleeting shadow she could only see but never capture.
“That’s better.” The Governor nodded as he sat. “Now, what do you humans like to say? Let’s get this show on the road?”
Khalani had no idea what he was talking about. The rest of her group was effectively muted while Takeshi and the guards stayed stiffly silent.
But the Governor merely shrugged. “No matter. Ready, Cheryl?”
She checked the camera one last time. “Yes, Governor. We can go live.”
Alexander Huxley cracked his neck on both sides, closing his eyes, muttering to himself for a moment. But in the next second, a fake smile lit up his face, and he pressed the green button.
“Greetings to you, Under-Dwellers.” The Governor folded his hands, his posture perfect and confident, looking every bit the charismatic leader. “I am speaking to you from Genesis, the domed city of Apollo.”
Outside, the faint echo of Alan’s voice rang across the dome. She was certain that he was playing on every station in the world.
“You might not know who I am, but I’ve had my eye on each of you from the very beginning.
Since humans first descended underground, I have been there, hoping for the day that one of your cities would break from the mold.
To be different from those that came before you.
” Alexander’s voice amplified as he leaned forward, his cold stare piercing through the camera.
“You see, I once had a theory. That a greater purpose might live beyond destruction. Maybe war and famine and terror had to happen to reset the world from chaos. I thought something better might rise from the ashes. But I was wrong.”
The Governor’s smile vanished, his icy blue eyes showing the true monster that lay beneath.
“You still worship money. You plot behind closed doors. You cling to corruption. And many of you still never learned how to keep your mouth shut and obey.” Alan’s perilous gaze sliced to her, and she swallowed around the gag.
“So, the time for second chances is over. A new dawn approaches, and your entire species will finally come to an end. But fear not. Your remains will return to the earth and feed the planet for an entirely new generation of machines to take care of this world properly.”
The air sucked out of the room as the Governor stood and placed his hands on either side of the table. Even Cheryl paled.
“The Final Cleansing has arrived,” he declared.
As soon as the words left his mouth, that’s when the screams started.
Khalani’s head whipped to the window where shots went off, and bloodthirsty cries reverberated all the way to his office. But the Governor let out a contented sigh, like the sound was music to his ears.
He pressed the green button once more, ending the broadcast. The light on the camera died as he turned to the six of them, still gagged, with pure fear and menace in their eyes.
“It won’t be long now. My soldiers will hunt down every human and slaughter them. By the time they are finished in about”—he checked his watch—“thirty-five minutes, the code will be fixed. And once humanity is extinguished, I will finally activate Project Helix. Just as I was built to do.”
Alan moved to leave, but suddenly, a huge explosion erupted around Genesis, shaking the entire building.
Dust floated around them as the Governor glanced at Takeshi, who was already staring out the window with wide eyes. When Khalani followed his vision, she couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.
The entire dome was coming down.