I close my eyes, not wanting to see the fire and the destruction. Behind me, I can feel the flames slowly eating away at my clothing, at my skin. I can feel them tickling the tips of my fingers. It burns, stings. But strangely, I don’t feel any need to run away. Maybe this is what happens when you completely accept your fate.
But then something shifts, and there’s a scraping noise, followed by a crash. I open my eyes as much as I can, and although my vision is blurred and framed by tongues of orange fire, I can see someone -- wait no, two people -- standing above me. One of them leans closer, their face coming into focus. Bear.
It seems Elliott did get help after all.
A pair of hands slide underneath me and then I’m lifted off the hot ground. Someone’s coughing. I think it might be Arden. I hear Jessix’s voice but I can’t make out what they’re saying, but then I’m being carried away. I ask for Arden but I think it comes out as more of a croak. Bear doesn’t seem to understand, and says everything’s going to be okay. I ask for Arden again, more urgently. I have to know if he’s okay. Bear shushes me and carries me to the door.
There’s a woosh and then my face is engulfed in cool air. We leave the suffocating heat behind and walk for a while. I don’t know where we’re going. I’m too tired to ask.
Bear puts me down on some sort of soft but scratchy surface. It kind of feels like dirt. I lie there for a while, running my fingers through it. Yes, it is dirt. And although my skin still burns, it’s no longer hot. I can breathe properly too, and there’s no crackling of the fire and coughing of people around me.
My eyes fly open. At first, I panic. With my blurry vision, all I can see is the glowing of fire in front of me. But it makes no sense. Unless I’ve somehow lost all my senses, I’m nowhere near the fire anymore. But then I wait, and my vision clears and my head stops spinning and I see that no, I’m not near the fire. I’m lying in a patch of cool earth in the field, and on the other side of the fence separating the Core from where I am now, are its five buildings, ablaze with orange and red and yellow and blue. They’ve completely engulfed each building now, the tips of each flame reaching one, probably two metres above their roofs. There are a few still wandering around in the courtyard, but a steady stream of people flow through the gates, down the path, and into the field.
Arden.
I jump to my feet, sending a wave of nausea around my body, and hurl myself toward the fence. I grab it with both hands, yanking at it in my crazed state. He’s still in the building. He’s probably burning to death right now. “Arden!” I scream, tears undoubtedly streaking down my cheeks. “Arden’s still in there!”
But then I feel a hand on my shoulder, and a hoarse voice speaks from behind me. “Arthemis, I’m right here.” I turn around and find him standing there, looking as burned and injured as I probably do. The foot that was stuck underneath the beam is raised gingerly above the ground, and he’s leaning heavily on Jessix, who’s next to him. I have no idea what to do and my body doesn’t seem to react fast enough, so I just stand there and burst into tears. He limps over to me and gives me a gentle hug. “You’re okay,” he whispers, crying as well. “We’re okay now.”
Bear comes over, holding something out to me. “For you,” he says. “Fawn found it in your room.” I take the object, turn it over. It’s Sniper’s sketchbook. “He would be proud of you,” Bear says. “We all are.”
“Thank you,” I say hoarsely. Bear nods and him and Jessix retreat into the crowd.
“Is that the sketchbook?” Arden asks, taking it gently from my hands. “The one that belonged to the one that died?”
I nod. “I promised him I would make a difference. It was the last thing he asked of me before he died.”
Arden smiles and turns to the burning Core. “Well… I think you did a pretty good job of that.”
I smile and choke back another sob. “Yeah, I think so too.”
“You know, a month ago, I would’ve never thought I would be here,” Arden says, watching the flames. “I’m going to have to adjust, and I’m definitely going to have to re-learn a lot of things, but I think I can do it. I’ve realized that even though they tell us everything’s perfect now, we still have so much further to go.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I’m glad you can finally see that. It sucks that you had to go through everything you did in order to get to this place, but now that the city is behind us and the Core is too, we're going to be able to lead a much better life, you know? We're gonna finally be able to do what we want, for once. And although we definitely haven’t freed everyone, we gave so many people a choice. That alone is so much better than any Core can provide.”
“So what now?” he asks, the glow of the flames lighting up his face. I can see the sun rising slowly behind him. It will be morning soon.
I tilt my head to the side, inspecting the flames. They’re starting to glow a bright yellow, blue creeping its way up at the base of each one. A loud crack resonates from one of the buildings, and it caves in. I turn back to Arden, smiling.
“Now I show you how to live.”
THE END
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The Normals | ✓
Science FictionWhen Arden stumbles across a half-conscious, bloodied girl at his local train station, he doesn't know what to think. But once she tells him what happened to her, he gains a whole new perception of his world. Arden lives in pretty much the perfect s...
