The Program [COMPLETED]

Chapter Fifty-Five

No.

No, no, no.

She would be okay. Rania was fine. She would live. She had to.

"Rania!" Aiden screamed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maddox raise the gun to fire another shot, laughing, but Aiden was faster.

He fired four bullets at the former Programmer, each one striking him in the chest and abdomen. Maddox's sneer disappeared, his gun clattering to the ground. He made a grunting noise before falling backwards and landing on his back in the dirt.

With that, Aiden fired one last shot that rang out in the tunnel, directly at the man's head.

With that, Maddox Isaias was dead.

Aiden immediately crouched over Rania, her green eyes spilling with tears. He pressed his hands to her chest, applying pressure to the ugly wounds that racked her body, his hands covered in her blood. He didn't care if anyone had heard the shots being fired. His only focus now was saving the life of the person who had constantly put hers on the line for his own.

And now, for yet another time.

"Stay with me, Ran," Aiden urged. "Just hang in there. We'll find you some help."

"Aiden," Rania whispered. She shuddered with each breath in and out, while Aiden fumbled for medical equipment in his jacket pockets. Cursing, he realized that they'd left their things back in the abandoned building, until Maddox's soldiers had ambushed them.

"Shh, don't speak. You need to save your energy," he replied, gritting his teeth.

But he knew the extent of her injuries far too well. He knew, with a sickening pang of anger and grief, that there was nothing he could do to save her.

That didn't stop him from ripping the sleeve of his shirt with his teeth, attempting to use the thick fabric to staunch the wound in vain. It continued to bleed, seeping into her clothes and soaking her skin red, merciless and hungry for death.

"Aiden," Rania repeated, pulling his hands away. Her speech was shaky now. "You... have to... let me go."

No. Not like this. Not again.

Images of Jayda's tragic end flashed before his eyes, and he squeezed them shut. "I can't," he growled, tears threatening to overtake him. "I'm not going anywhere. We're going to meet with the others, and we're going to take down Orion."

"You... have to," she insisted weakly. Her breaths came in ragged intervals, her strength rapidly depleting. She reached for his face, drawing him in with what little energy she had left.

And then she kissed him, tenderly and full of all the love she could not give him, and the love he was never able to return.

Aiden pulled away, tears rolling down his cheek, shocked and trembling with emotion.

"Sorry," she murmured. "I had... to do that... just once."

"Rania," he mumbled, his voice breaking. The tears wouldn't stop now, a constant stream of sorrow and guilt. This was his fault. Why had she saved him, at the expense of her own life? Rania had her entire life ahead of her. It didn't deserve to end here, like this, at the hands of someone so evil and insignificant.

Rania deserved more. More than Aiden, more than a sickening death, and more than the terribly forsaken world they found themselves living in.

"Please... don't... cry," Rania smiled sadly. She sobbed slightly. "Please," she begged. "You have to be strong... for me. The others... they need you. Creatan... needs you."