The Last One Standing

Chapter 10

I take Josh's hand and stand up. "C'mon Myra, we should take some of those bastards out before this base explodes in 10 minutes." Josh says shortly.

"10 minutes!" I ask incredulous as me and Josh fire our mini guns at the Dark ones that come in our way down the corridor.

"Yes, now let's move out!" and with that he takes off, continuously firing his mini gun in all directions at the Dark ones. We both continue to kill the Dark ones surrounding us until we make it to the interior courtyard. Like the previous one, we find ourselves surrounded by the Dark ones in a circle. Directly below us, carved on the rocky ground, is a carving of the portrait of Darkles, and underneath are carved the words, Human Scum. Without hesitating, me and Josh stand back to back and fire at the Dark ones, revenging on them. For killing billions of people just for the sake of their blood to keep their systems running. For taking away my family. But most importantly, for destroying humanity.

We continue to fire until a voice speaks up from behind the thick smoggy smoke surrounding me and Josh. It is the voice of Mitchell.

"Enough! Without human blood, our race will explode into nothingness less then a minute now. Is this how we are really going to end our reign? By two stupid teenagers in love?" Mitchell says, holding up a hand, and speaking in disgust. I instantly  aim my mini gun at him as he turns his head to face me. My finger is merely an inch away from pulling the trigger when my instincts become clouded with the painful, better yet heartbreaking memories of me and Mitchell. God, all these years he pretended to be my friend only to lure me out to the Dark ones. I shake off the thoughts as I pull the trigger. But then, one heartbeat to the next, less then in an instant, the last thing I see before sinking into unconsciousness, is Mitchell opening his mouth to say something, when a vast cloud of flames and explosion engulfs the view.

                                                                                          *****

I find myself laying in an empty bed in a completely empty blank room except that there is a brown table at the far end of the corner. I try to get up but it's like all my muscles have become paralyzed. Did the explosion kill me or is this just another one of my hallucinations and flashbacks? But before I have anymore time to think about it, a face suddenly appears out of nowhere above my head. The face of my mother. "Oh my dear child, you have done so well!" she whispers. Then the face of my father pops up next to hers and says, " You did it  Myra!". Finally two more faces pop up, one of Neil and the other of Pamela.

" I guess I died for something meaningful then." says Neil.

"Thank you for giving me a proper burial, Myra. I will miss you forever." says Pamela.

Then in perfect unison everyone whispers, " We will always watch over you!" and with that my view fades into blackness again.

I fade in and out of consciousness as I hear the muffled voice of Josh. "Myra oh god please don't be dead. You can't be dead. If you die I die! There's no life here on Earth without you!" he says, as if almost bursting into tears.

I finally manage to open my eyes and see Josh kneeling in front of me, one hands stroking my hair. He jumps the moment he sees my eyes open and pulls me tightly into his arms as I wrap my arms around his neck. " Oh god, Myra, I thought you were dead!" he says as he buries his face into my hair. He cups my face into his hands and then gives me a long passionate kiss. I pull my lips apart and ask, " Josh where are we? Are we dead? What happened?"

Josh smile quickly fades at the sound of my question and presses his thumb on my cheek. " Myra we did it. They are no more. It's just you and me!" he says shuddering.

I take a moment to process all the information and then very slowly I ask, "Did the explosion really destroy every Dark city and killed all of the Dark ones?"

"Yes Myra! We are finally free! We can start our life together! In peace! We can repopulate the world!"

Before I have time to reply, he picks me up from the bed I was laying in and takes me to a balcony. He puts me down and stand beside him as I admire the view of the stunning sunset from the balcony of a skyscraper in Austin. But this kind of sunset is different. It's not like the ones I've seen before.  It's not the kind of sunset that would tell you that you got lucky enough to live to fight another day. Not the kind of sunset that would tell you from a distance that the Dark ones are waiting for you. This sunset, painted in all shades of bright golden yellow and orange tell me that it's all over. Over. No more aliens, no more hiding, no more nothing. Peace is restored. I am slowly drawn back to reality when Josh rubs my back gently with his hand as he leans into my ear, " What are you thinking of?" he whispers softly.

I turn my eyes to catch his gaze and squeeze his hand as I say, "I just can't believe it. There are no more Dark ones. It's just us two. Finally, we will never have to hide and run from them. We are free." I say lightly. Josh laces his fingers with mine  and whispers, " We can rebuild civilization, you know. You, me we can do this."

I nod. "Yes we can!"

"That's my girl! I love you!" and with that, he softly kisses my lips.

"I love you too!" I whisper as I wrap my arms around his neck just as Josh slides his hand on my waist. We just stay there, cherishing our love. Departing from our old lives and starting the new chapter of our lives.