Matthew Silver and the Monster Hunters, Book One: The Darkest Waters

Chapter Thirty-Six

SilverCHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

The last month, the four of us tried to do as many things together as possible. We tried synching our schedules, we all had picnics together in the gardens, and we spent hours in the library, reminiscing of past adventures.

But good things can never last forever. The month passed by in the blink of an eye.

Throughout the month, we were constantly updated of the world situation. The attacks were worsening in some places, but lightening in others. It all really depended on what resources the CCU had in the areas. Populated cities like New York City got a lot of attention, but smaller, rural areas like Oklahoma or Iowa were more difficult to handle. Not to mention the many third-world countries scattered throughout Afro-Eurasia. We just didn’t have enough Hunters to handle everything.

The world knew something was up, but I will never cease to be amazed by the government’s manipulative powers. The CCU used its unseen hand to twist everything to crime waves, natural disasters, and coincidences. The public, of course, gobbled it up. Who would chalk it up to monsters warring against a secret government organization of monster hunters?

Faster than I could even put a handle on the fact that Jay really was leaving, the morning for her departure came. Jay had spent the last week gathering up what little she actually owned. We had spent long hours going past common sites of the Sector. We looked around buildings we’d passed by every single day and portions of the Garden that we had always ignored. She soaked in as many memories as she could. She wasn’t aloud to take pictures of anything, but her mind was a built in digital camera.

I found myself on the outskirts of campus walking with Jay, Scott, and Sandy towards the exit for the very last time. The only noise was the sound of our feet crunching on the gravel. She had already said her goodbyes to her other friends, teachers, and trainers, but she would still be leaving a huge gap in the Virginia Sector’s heart.

We trudged up the path towards security and finally came to the boundary. I didn’t know where Ricky was, but Jameson was back on as the Chief. He didn’t do much other than sit in his little booth, reading a book. He must’ve known about what was going on, because he left us alone, which was a good thing, because I was in a stormy mood.

Jay hugged Sandy tightly. “I hope I can find another friend like you.”Her voice shook. I didn’t know how she had the strength to keep doing what she was doing.

Sandy was tearing up, but she was trying to hide it. “You’re a good kid. You’ll make better friends.”

“I doubt it.”She released Sandy and hugged Scott too. He stumbled backwards for a second. “You may be annoying sometimes, but I’ll miss you so much all the same.”

Scott looked surprised at first, but then hugged her back. “Like Sandy said, you’re a good kid with a great life ahead. You’ll be alright.”

Jay picked up her suitcase and backpack, carrying her only possessions in the world, and looked at the road ahead. I stepped right beside her. She didn’t turn her head, but asked, “Walk with me?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Without looking back once, she took her first uneasy step past the boundary. With each step further away from the borderline, the more urgent her stride became. Soon, I was running just to keep up with her. But as Scott and Sandy began fading in the distance, we both heard them shout as one, “Bound by blood!”

“No fear!”Jay and I returned together.

We finally got to the elevator, and I punched the Up arrow.

“So this is it,”she said calmly, as the elevator made its long descent back to ground level.

“This is it,”I repeated. I had planned on saying a huge speech and all, but my mind went blank. Then I remembered something. “You know, I won’t be able to buy you that steak dinner after all.”

“Wha—? Oh! And I said I wouldn’t forget about it!”she laughed at herself. “I guess I’ll let it go this time. But seriously though, we’re probably never going to see each other again. Is food what you really want to talk about?”

“No. I wanted to say that you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me…And that I won’t ever, ever forget about you,”I said with the most feeling I could.

“But you will,” she said with a furtive look.

“No, I promise I won’t!” I insisted.

“You’ll meet a lot more people and be with them for much longer times. Fourteen years isn’t that long, Matthew, but the rest of your life is. At the age of forty, your brain’s capacity for remembering will already have decreased by—”

“Just shut up, Jay!” I hugged her for what seemed to be the last time ever.

Her head was against mine, and she started breaking down. “I don’t know what I’m doing…I’ve always had someone else to help me along the way, but doing this alone?” She shook her head, brushing her hair against my face. “I can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can! You can do so much, because you’re just amazing, and that’s why I’m so proud to be your friend. And I don’t care if I have a friend who I’ll know for eighty years, because you’ll always be my best friend.”

She looked both grateful and miserable. “I won’t see you—any of you—ever again…I don’t suppose I can still convince you to come with me?”She gave me an owl eyes look.

Time seemed to stop, similar to the way it did in combat, as my mind considered a million different things at once.

A normal life. It sounded so foreign. What I was living seemed normal to me, but to live like an actual everyday teenager? It seemed too good to be true. I could escape everything. The world crisis, the Shadows, the upcoming Awakening—I could escape them all. All I had to do was take her hand and say “yes”.

But I just couldn’t.

“I…I can’t.”

She didn’t look mad. She didn’t look surprised. She might have looked a little disappointed, but she just nodded understandingly. “I never did think you’d go with me. A life outside of the Hunters never was meant for you.”

“Jay,” I said, trying to get out the last thing I’d been wanting to talk to her about alone. “I—I just—”

She laughed. “You’re not going to say that stupid code to me too, are you?”

“No, I just—”

She kissed me on the cheek and whispered in my ear, “Bound by blood.” She stepped backwards through the open doors of the elevator. “Call me, if you ever decide to stop hunting monsters and stopping bad guys, and I’ll be waiting.”

“I’ll do that,” I said.

And with that, the doors slid shut, leaving me with one final image of her. I stored every single memory of her into a safe place in my mind. The thought of forgetting about her terrified me, because I knew that she was right. Sooner or later, I would wake up one morning and try to visualize her, what she was like, or what our conversations had been like, and I wouldn’t remember.

“No fear, Jay,” I said. “No fear.”