until the very end

part 34

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because when I woke up, Gaia was staring at me from the other side of the cave.

“I hit Nemesis,” was the first thing she said to me as soon as I opened my eyes.

“Good morning to you too.” I rolled my eyes, stifling a yawn. “How did you sleep?”
“I had to hit him in order to teleport both of us to the cave.” She jumped up and started to pace through the cave, ignoring me. “Even in the FAYZ, there are certain limitations. Certain laws of nature – like the fact that I can’t use my powers on people other than myself – that can only be broken by challenging the person who made them: Nemesis. In order to break those laws, I have to hit him. It was necessary.” She bit her lip nervously. “But I’m getting the feeling he’s pretty angry about it now.”
“So Nemesis is still there? Even after Astrid killed him?” I frowned, carefully forcing myself to sit up. My body was bruised in various places from the wrestling with Skyler and stiff from sleeping against the hard rocks. “Is he… is he able to harm you?”
Gaia stopped walking to give me a questioning look. She hesitated for a moment, then she clutched her stomach, wincing. “I’m hungry.”
“Yeah.” I stretched my sore limbs. “You need to eat something.”
“Then why are you still here?” She raised an eyebrow at me impatiently. “Go find me something to eat.”
And so, I walked out of the mineshaft, stopping to an halt as the bright sunlight momentarily blinded me. A part of me was annoyed with how she thought she could boss me around like that, and even more annoyed with myself for tolerating it. But at the same time, it was relieving to see she had her attitude back.

Luckily, there was an old pick-up parked next to the mineshaft, so I wouldn’t have to walk all the way through the desert – with the current state of my body, that would have been an incredibly unpleasant walk. Maybe Lana or one of the others had left it there.

With a deafening noise, the pick-up started and I slowly took off, way too slow for my liking.

The chances of finding something edible in the desert were small, and I was too tired to put in that much of an effort. So instead, I went in the direction of Perdido Beach.

The prospects of what I would run into were exactly something to look forward to. Clifftop and the hospital in the town would be crowded with injured kids, without a doubt. Aria would be beyond furious upon finding out I not only ruthlessly manipulated her, but shared one of her darkest secrets as well – not to mention Calum. I needed to check on Brend, to see if he was okay, even though I didn’t doubt Aria would be have led him to Clifftop safely. And Jax – Lana probably wouldn’t be willing to heal his shoulder after he had fought on Gaia’s side. I needed to find him and take him to Gaia. Images of Ivy flashed through my mind – what would Gaia do to her now, after her ruthless betrayal? Even though I was angry at her for what she had done to Gaia, her daughter shouldn’t pay the price for that.

But first of all, I needed to make it into town without being seen – after the bloodbad Gaia and I had caused, most of the citizens in Perdido Beach would probably rather see me dead than alive. My fingers reached besides and behind me in the car, looking for some kind of hoody or jacket I could use to cover my face at least a little bit, but I only found a pair of boots. Great.

Lost in thoughts, I drove over the highway. Before I realised, the outline of Clifftop arose at the horizon. I lifted my foot off the gass a little, trying to think of a plan. I couldn’t get too close, there were too many kids out there. The best option would probably be to park the car just outside of the town and walk the last part, making a detour through the mountains before sneaking into town.

“Gwen!” I abruptly hit the brake at the sudden sight of the figure on the road ahead of me, about half a kilometer before the cliffs between the desert and the town. I had not noticed him until he called out my name. He was awkwardly clutching a blood-stained bandage on his shoulder, but briefly lifted his arm to wave enthousiastically. I stumbled out of the car.