The Ascent

Epilogue

Author's note: This chapter hasn't gone through as many edits as usual so I appreciate the potential corrections even more than usual.

Three months had passed since Jasmine stepped foot into the bunker, and she still didn't feel completely safe. Considering the whole world had turned into chaos, she never expected to have that feeling again.

Yet, there was hope. After all, hope was one of the things that humans lost last. No matter how bad things got, many humans clung to it with all their might because, without hope, there was no difference between being alive or dead.

"So, what's the news?" Asher asked Melissa while sitting next to Jasmine on the sofa in the living room.

Plague was there too, but even after all the time they spent together in the bunker, Asher still didn't trust the moody guy. He might not have thought that Plague was one of the aliens or that he would betray them, but he was still not over how the guy treated them when they first met. So, most of the time, Asher would only address Melissa when he needed information about what was going on outside the bunker because she always knew the same things Plague did.

"There are definitely other humans out there, hiding out," Melissa said, her eyes brighter than he had ever seen them. "Jasmine was right about using Morse code to communicate with as many people as possible. Even those who knew nothing about it have found a way to use it. And it's so low tech that aliens don't even seem to register it."

"What about the humans who were abducted?" Asher asked, holding Jasmine's hand in his own, needing the comfort of the person who was now his official girlfriend.

"There are many rumors about that," Melissa said, looking at Plague carefully, wanting to judge how her boyfriend felt about it. "But it seems they are alive. Some were sent off the planet as slaves, while others have been used to power up their technology or something like that. The same thing they tried to do with Jasmine."

"So, our families could be alive?" Jasmine asked, squeezing Asher's hand so tightly that her knuckles were white from the exertion.

The very idea was so overwhelming that it got tears into her eyes even though she wasn't sure if her family would even want to reunite with her. Whatever the case, she wanted them safe and sound. Also, she wanted Asher to have his much more loving family back. Now that they knew they were probably alive, there was at least a chance of a happy reunion.

"It seems very likely," Melissa said while Plague was cracking his knuckles, his eyes like a storm that was bound to lash out sooner or later. "The deaths that did occur were mostly accidents, like that Raven girl you mentioned and some other humans who fought the aliens."

"We. Have. To. Get. Them. Back," Plague said through clenched teeth.

"We will, but we need to be smart about it," Melissa said as she hugged him tightly. "Your mother wouldn't want you to do something stupid and get captured instead of rescuing her, would she?"

Plague grumbled something in reply and left the living room in a hurry. He needed the voice of reason that his grandpa was, but he also needed to organize a revolution. His grandpa could help him do both.

"Is he okay?" Jasmine asked Melissa gently.

She didn't like the guy, but Melissa was kind to them and basically saved their lives, so she was worried how Plague's volatile nature would affect her almost-friend.

"He will be," Melissa said, looking in the direction the love of her life had gone. "He is just afraid to hope again and feels helpless at the same time because there isn't much we can do to fight right now."