The Cure

Chapter 26 - XXV (Final Chapter)

They have the same dark hair, the same build, the same voice. "It's your brother? I swear!" I'm fuming and want to step on the toe of the guy that's got my arms pinned behind me. "You liar!" I spit at Reese. "You set this up! You lied to me!"

"No! I didn't, I promise." He's looking at me with those blue eyes that sparkle, I know, but I refuse to glance his way.

"If they hurt Griffin because of you," I glower, "I'll not leave until I see you dead!"

"Oh, dear," Reese's brother steps up to me and I look fiercely at him head on. "You won't have to wait that long to see him dead...unfortunately, it seems you will be going along with him. Who knows? Haim may have mercy...or a worse punishment than death. He's known for his creative mind."

"Who do you think you are?" I shout. "I'm not going to do anything you say, not after you barge in here like you're Haim himself."

"No, I may not be Haim, but I'm his right hand. Fisher Hale," he bows, mockingly, "second in command, at your service."

"You're brother is second in command?" I turn back to Reese. "I have no reason to believe you now!"

"I didn't know he was Haim's right hand!" Reese pleads, "Honest!"

"Now, we've got to round up the rest of you, there's five right?" Fisher grabs one of the guards' guns and points it at my head. "I've shot so many of these, you know? However, I've never shot a girl. I wonder how it feels..." he cocks the gun and smiles. "Do they bleed more?"

"You sicken me," I spit at his face and he winces.

"Don't tempt me," Fisher orders the two guards to lead us out and I'm trying to look brave and unafraid in front of those that could kill me in an instant, and I know the only reason they haven't is because Haim has told them not to.

I look on last time at Reese who is staring incredulously at the floor. I follow his gaze and come to rest upon the wire I had almost tripped on the way in. He gives me a quick look and I know what he's thinking and I know what to do. It's a risk, but it's something.
When the guards lead us forward, very carefully avoiding the wire, I lunge to the right, breaking free from their grasp. I don't need to make myself fall by tripping over the red wire; it comes of its own accord and in a flash, the room is filled with a lightning blaze of fire as the place explodes.



When I open my eyes, the room is filled with dust and ash. I've never seen so much of it before and my lungs ache with the congestion. The force of the bomb was so extreme that it threw us all off our feet and to the floor, the walls and ceilings caving in on us. I don't know how long I've lived here, crushed under the weight of plaster and drywall. I manage to wiggle my way free and stand up, looking around. I see Fisher pinned beneath a bookshelf, his glasses crushed. A few guards are trapped under desks and file cabinets but the rest have fled through the door. I can't find Reese anywhere until he's at my elbow, pushing around bits of wall, looking for something.

"What're you doing? Let's get out of here," I say.

"I need the file," he mutters. "I need...where did...can't leave without...." He gropes around, like some crazy looking for his drug, before he finds the white folder and jumps up.

"The building on fire," I tell him. "What's in the-" and my voice is choked off by the feel of hands around my throat. I gasp for air but I can already feel my head getting light, pressure forming in my nose and eyes.

"Give me that folder, or she's dead." Fisher coughs the command at the side of my face, blood dripping onto my shoulder. I'm amazed he has the strength to manage and choke me like this.

Reese doesn't hesitate to put the file on the floor and kick it over to Fisher. The minute I feel him loosen the pressure on my neck I take both arms and elbow him in the stomach. He doubles over and coughs more blood onto the floor. I kick him in the head where he flops to the ground unconscious. I head out the door and start running down the corridor.

There are people everywhere, struggling to find a way out, but I know I'm going against the flow, headed in the opposite direction back toward the front. I'm stopped by a man trying to grab me saying that the fire is worse the way I'm headed, back towards the belts. He lets me go and I continue on till I come to the giant double doors where most of the people are spilling out. By both doors are two figures leading people out and pointing them in the direction to go. One of them is Griffin. I shout his name a few times, but he doesn't hear me.

I squeeze to the left where I make my way along the wall until I'm at his elbow.

"Adler!" He has to shout above the dine of the crowd to be heard. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be out? Where's Reese?"

"I don't know," I yell. "We set off the bomb, it was in the lab and I don't what happened."

"You set off the bomb? But it went off down here."

"What? No, it went off right there in the lab, the place is blown to bits!"

"I-" Griffins tops to help an older man through the doors and out the side exit. "You have to go, the fire's out of control."

"No! Not without you out too."

"I have to help everyone get out as unharmed as possible. Please. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you got hurt somehow."

I gape at him, amazed he would admit this and shut my mouth before he notices. "Reese, he's turned us in. His brother is Haim's right hand. He's here and he tried to kill us!"

"What?! I told you we shouldn't have trusted him."

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you." I start to cry. "I was just so convinced we could...I don't know..."

"You need to get out," Griffin tells me again. "We'll figure everything out after this is over, okay?" I feel his rough hand under my chin as he raises my head, then slides it out and taps my nose. I smile through my tears and run to the exit.

I'm lost among others all running to escape, pushing and pulling till we all burst through the factory's side door to somewhat fresher air. I stand amid the chaos, seeing if I can find Trix or Ciel, but can't spot them anywhere. I stand amid a small group, hoping to avoid attention in case any of the guards recognize me. The air is muggy and humid from the smoke as we huddle together, waiting for everyone to get out. Suddenly, someone screams as half the factory crumbles, flames bursting through the roof with a whoosh as the air gives fuel to the growing inferno.

We watch with batted breath, the few last groups of people staggering out the doors. I watch for Griffin but I don't see him and I'm grimacing so hard I think I might black out. Then, our worst nightmare is met with the entire place roaring as it is engulfed in flames as it crashes to the ground. Everyone makes to run farther away but I fall to my knees, a wail only I can hear escaping from my throat.

He's gone. I know it as surely as I know I'm alive and my parents are not.




I would have sat there until the fire swallowed me too if it had not been for someone grabbing my arm. At first, I'm sure it's one of the guards back to arrest me so I yank away and stumble backward only to be caught by Reese, covered in dust, his black hair blonde looking from the filth. His eyes are glazed over, almost if he's asleep and I wonder what he's thinking, having been given in by his very own brother. I'm tempted to pull away from him too but I can't. I don't know why.

"We
need to leave," he says.
"What about the others?" I ask, afraid they must be looking for us.

"We have a plan, remember? We need to go now before we get caught. They're looking for us right now, you know. Let's go."

"But Griffin," I start to say, my voice choked out by tears.

"Adler, listen. I'm sorry, but unless you want to be back in the same situation, being led off to Haim, I suggest we leave. Now." and he's pulling me away from the scene of dust and fire and scared people not knowing what's going on. How they must feel, I think. How would you feel if your world was crumbling around your feet? I understand I say to them in my head. I know your pain. I glance back at the fire once more before I let Reese pull me along.

We're walking away and the closer we get to the woods the faster we go till we're running, tripping, flailing over each other, but never letting go of each other's hands, sure if we let go that we'll be lost, like all the others, and there is no going back. Reese's fingers tighten around mine as we are nearing our bags and the fence. "Here," Reese hands me the white folder. "You need that," it's all he says and I'm so mad that he risked our lives for this. I throw it to the ground. "You're not even curious about what's in it?" he asks. I stare at his face, caked in dust, with scratches and scabs. I'm sure mine looks the same.

"Not really, no."

We're almost ready to stoop down and pick our bags up when a loud threatening shot rings out in the sky. I spin around, looking for the cause and I see one of the guards, the same from the lab, huddled in the trees, his gun pointing straight at me. I have my gaze locked on him, but I hear Reese yell my name and feel the weight of him on my body as he pushes me to the ground.




Eventually, I come to. I don't know how much later it is but I notice the world has gone silent. There are no more sounds of people whispering in worry. There are no more yelling guards chasing us out of the factory. There are no more crackles of fire, no more gunshots. Nothing. It is dead silent. I would believe in this moment I am the last person in the world alive.

I try to move, but I'm pinned under Reese, his body thrown over mine in a protective manner. I try to lift my head but a sharp pain shoots through my temples and I reach one of my hands to it and bring it away covered in blood. I see a rock a few inches to my left and realize that is what I must have hit my head on. I'm alive, thank goodness, but barely breathing. I try to lift my other arm to push myself upright and shrug Reese off but before I can move my right arm is refusing to do anything, pain throbbing like a heartbeat inside my veins. I look over and see it too is drenched in blood, and upon closer inspection, I see it has been grazed by the bullet.

I try to nudge Reese off me but he's not moving and eventually I move my legs enough to flop him onto his side next to me and I let my mouth drop in horror as he doesn't move or wake up, merely flops to the ground at my side.

I roll over, carefully, pain still shooting its way through my head and arm. I crawl over to him and place my left hand on his waist and turn him over onto his back where I see the damage.

The bullet grazed my arm, but it cut clean through his side.

There is a perfect hole where you can see it shot through and I start to breathe hard, gasping for air in my panic. I think he's dead and I don't know what to do. I place my left hand to his neck and am relieved to feel the faintest of pulse beating in his throat.

"Reese!" I cry. "Wake up! Don't die, don't!"

He doesn't move but I hear him grunt, slightly and I rest my head on his chest. "No, you aren't supposed to be hurt. This wasn't part of the plan...remember?" I start to cry, unashamed. There's no one to see me and I've been crying almost nonstop already, so it isn't hard.

"Adler..." he exhales through his cracked lips and I bolt up, ignoring the pain.

"They shot you," I say. No, duh, I think to myself.

Reese lets out another shaky breath. "Yeah, it would seem so. Listen, Adler. You've got to get out of here. If they find out you're still alive, they'll kill you faster than they already tried to. Get your bag, head for the fence. Leave."

"No," I protest. "Not without you."

"Do I look like I'm going to make it?" Reese urges. "Just go, now. Meet the others at the railroad. And if they're not there, get on the train. Go to Haim's city and find the Domes. Finish this." He stops to breathe and hands me the file again before he continues. "You're the one to do it. Though you might not believe it, inside of you there is everything you need to know to get by. I can tell. You...you know more about the Cure than anyone else. Loom at that folder, only when you're outside this town. You'll need to read it."

I stare at him, amazed he's saying this. "I can't leave, really. I'll just get killed. I'll be caught before I can even get to Haim's city, more so the Domes. I can't go on alone."

Reese grabs my hand, squeezing it ever so slightly, the pain too much, I'm sure. "Adler, remember what you said to me? About your father?"

I stare at him, unsure where he's going with this.

"There's a Cure, Adler, and they don't want us to know about it. That's what you told me he said, and he's right. It's out there, and the Growers want to bring it to everyone so everyone can live. But we've got to get the news to people and you're just the person to do it. So go, please. Do it for everyone in the country, do it for your father... do it for me, please. You can't wait for someone else to change the world." Reese let's go of my hand then and his arm slumps to the ground, his face drawn together in a distortion of pain. I can't bear to watch him like this; dying in pain, probably scared, and all he can think about is making sure the country doesn't die along with him.

He grunts and coughs up blood. It's so sad, so pitiful, that when he looks up into my face I have to look away. I finally manage to glance back, watching as Reese's head rolls to the side, eyes closed, his breath whisked away.

I cry. It's the first time I have cried so hard since the day my Mother died. I'm so furious with death, that I stand up, my arm on fire with pain, and walk to my bag. I pick it up, flinging it onto my good shoulder and glance back at Reese.

I hold a sudden firm resolve to not let Reese lie here like this. I carefully half-drag half-carry him deeper into the woods where I find a small patch of ground between two trees. No, I think. This isn't good enough. He said this place was ugly, and though it wounded me at first, it was true. I see the white fence peeking between branches and I know exactly where he'll lie.

Once I've got us to the fence, I set Reese down and throw my bag over the barrier, ensuring my arrival on the other side. Then, building up the entirety of my rage, at everything I can possibly conjure, I kick the fence with a force to match any other. I continue to lash out, crying, screaming, wailing at all the cruelty I've suffered until, with a loud crack, two of the boards' splinter away, falling to the dust below. Beyond the fence, lies not what I had expected; truth be told, I never really knew what to expect because until recently I'd never cared much. Now, though, I'm met with sight.

I step through, leaving all reality behind, walking through a plain of rolling hills, few trees spotted here and there, grass up to my knees, covering the expanse as far as the eye can see. This is the place where I will let Reese lie. A place seemingly untouched by the harsh world on the other side of the fence.

I bring him to the field, under a towering oak, where I wipe away as much blood as I can with my sweater and tie it around the hole in his side. I fold his arms over his chest and kiss his lips, tasting blood.

Then, after one last look at him, my eyes burning his image forever into my mind, I grab the folder and open it. Inside I see it is all about me. There is a picture and my name is everywhere, dotting pages and cards and newspaper articles. I swallow and shut it, stuffing it into my bag. Then, I run. I run as fast as I can because Reese was right. You can't wait for someone else to change the world, now can you? There's only one Cure.

And I'm going to live to find it.

THE END

Well, guys, that's all for this story and I hope you guys liked it! If you did, don't forget to hit that 'Vote Button' and follow me on Wattpad too! This is the end of the story and I don't know if I'm going to have the sequel to it but, comment at the comment section down below and let me see if you want the sequel to this story. But, again, as always what I said, oh bye there and see you on the future stories...

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