After The End

Contractions

When I wake up I take a deep breath but it is still hard for me to breath. I look around the room to see if anyone is there, but the only person I see is Jackson, who is looking over something on the computer a few feet away. As I try to take another deep breath, I cough, getting Jackson's attention. He turns and smiles to me softly, moving over next to me and takes my hand, "Hey, it's okay."

I take a few more breaths, responding weakly, "I think I'm over passing out. It's not fun."

Jackson chuckles, "Yeah, I know it's not. But once we are cleared to move we will get you to a real doctor and we'll be able to get Max's credit card back to him."

I chuckle and cough again, "Did they really use that? I thought Mitch was joking."

Jackson shakes his head, "No you really have Max's credit card taped to your back."

"So that's that weird feeling, okay." I glance over to the computer screen, and see a screen that says 'Internet Access Unavailable.' "I haven't seen that in a while."

"Yeah, our Internet is down because the power is off."

As I look back up to Jackson one of the phones go off and Jackson answers it, putting it on the com in the lab. Darieal is on the other end, "Please tell me you've found something. We have a team moving in on the Tokyo beacon right now."

"We have not internet right now, since the powers off."

"Yeah, so?"

"Abigail's beacons must have a power source, okay? If we turn it off."

"No internet, no signal." I cough again, sitting up with Jackson's help.

Jackson nods, "we don't have to destroy the beacons, we just have to cut their power. Does your team have EMPs?"

"They have shock grenades that double as EMPs." Dariela seems to perk up by the tone of her voice, "Stay with me. The team is closing in on the signal. As soon as we shut this thing down the team will head to Seoul and evac you guys." We hear some kind of commotion on the other end of the call, "That thing is massive. Guys, you've gotta see this." Dariela sends a live feed to Jackson and I, showing us the massive beacon.

Jackson sighs, "that explains how the signal is reaching so many nests."

I look over to Jackson, "The same principle should apply. We need to cut the power somehow."

We watch as we hear Dariela speak to her team, "Team leader, do you see a power supply?"

"I found a power cable!" I female soldier shouts.

"Cut it now. Do you copy?"

"Copy, cutting the cable." The team leader replies.

Jackson and I watch as the team cuts the cable. When they do there is what looks like an electrical pulse that cuts out the cameras on their side. We wait and listen for someone to tell us what going on. After what feels like hours we hear Logan, "We just lost Toyko."

Jackson hangs his head and walks away. I give him a few minutes before I go after him, although it's not like I had a choice in my condition. When I find Jackson he is still in the stairwell, on the stairs. It is dark and he looks as if he is completely broken. "Hey."

Jackson looks up to me and then forward again, "I couldn't do it, Kat. I tried but I couldn't stop Abigail."

I walk over to him and sit a few steps below him, placing a hand on his knee. "It's okay. We all tried, but we have some time to figure things out."

"No, we don't..." He pauses taking a deep breath, "It's really happening. Abigail's beacons are going off all over the world, thousands of hybrids about to attack, and we can't stop 'em."