Requiem

Chapter Seventeen:

The creature hisses venomously. 

My blade rakes across its front, slashing through thin cloth. Flesh tears, but instead of blood pouring out, millions of nanobots stream out with a shrill, metallic scream. The sound scrapes across my eardrums, like a fork screeching across a glass plate. 

I scramble back, crying out when sharp claws dig into my face. 

With a swift jerk, I slam my sword into its torso as it topples on top of me and use it to fling it off. Nanobots dig into my skin, trying desperately to take control. Pain surges through my body and I swipe at them feverishly. 

The creature's lips curl back and it lets out a loud, ferocious sound. 

It chills me to the core.

The sound screeches through the air again; the sound of the nanobots crying -the horrid, fingernail curling shriek -magnified tenfold. 

Fear embeds itself deep into my abdomen. I scream and whirl around, racing off into the trees. The muscles in my arm strain, aching against the weight of the sword. But I can't drop it. Dead leaves and grass crunch beneath my shoes, adding to the sound of pursuit that echoes behind me. 

"Think, think, Scar!" I gasp around heavy breaths, "Where can I go?" 

I slam full force into something harder than diamonds. 

My back hits the earth, lungs collapsing inside my chest. All the oxygen inside bursts past my lips with a ghastly wheeze and my lips move robotically, gaping like a fish's out of water. I suck in air like a fish, gulping the icy coldness down. I struggle to sit up, to grab my sword, to move. 

And finally my body works. 

I jerk up and scoop up my sword. A loud snarl rips through the air behind me and I whirl around, screaming when familiar, dull azure orbs lock with mine. 

His chest is completely mended -not even a scar marks where the skin had been split. Honey colored hair hangs limply around his face, curling slightly at the ends, matted with dried blood. His mouth hangs open, a small trail of drool trickling down his pasty skin, onto his chest. 

Little nanobots glint inside the sticky substance. 

"Jasper."

Tears swell up again behind stinging eyes. I stare at him, at his face, and everything falls back –every emotion, every fight, and every word. Those last words echo through my mind. 

Suddenly I'm dying to hear his voice again, to hear him say those three little words. 

Sharp pain digs into my skin, pricking like thousands of needles sticking me all at once. My eyes widen in shock and I fumble back, crying out when pain shoots through me as I swipe at my arms, my torso, trying to scrape all the nanobots off. Jasper lurches forward, razor sharp nails slashing out at me. 

I try to dodge. 

My back slams against something hard, the very hard thing I'd run into earlier. Nails scraping at the hard, clear material, I realize that I'm leaning against the Dome. Shock bristles through me, jaw dropping to the floor.

I did it.

I found the Dome. 

My vision blurs. 

I gasp brokenly, sinking down, sliding against the thick material. Jasper and Sebastian stand before me, sharp nails reaching towards me, clawing at my face. They hiss and snarl, lips curled back, almost animalistic like. And tears stream heavily down my face as I look up, unable to see anything but dull, lifeless brown and black. 

I can't scream. 

I can't breathe. 

It all goes black. 

And I die.