FULL OBLITERATION (Book #3)

𝕱𝖎𝖛𝖊

"Hey, Sylvester!" Jace walks back in. "Oh- Oh shit..."

Fuck.

I hastily peel myself off of Carmen. She desperately wraps herself in one of the fresh towels hanging on the partition while Jace stares for a moment in shock before abruptly turning around.

"Damn," he says with his back to us, "I didn't mean to intrude. I'll... I'll leave now, yup!"

I run a hand through my wet locks. I'm red-faced and beyond embarrassed. It isn't what it looked like! But it definitely was what it looked like. Fuck me dead.

❖

Dressed now in the same boring clothes we all put on and in a small room they gave me, I find a random blue cap lying about. Probs belonged to one of the workers here, maybe a janitor. I put it on backwards and take a deep breath in the vanity mirror before meeting up with the others.

"Some soup?" A girl with bright orange hair holds out an empty bowl for me.

"Sure, thanks."

I go up to the big metal soup pot and put in 3 scoops. I grab some bread and stuff a small OJ bottle into my pocket. I'm in an open space, like an auditorium. I'm standing on the stage and in front of me are a bunch of black seats. I scan the crowd to find Jace taking up 4 seats, lying down and with his head on Amber's lap. He's tossing a tennis ball up in the air and catching it again. Carmen's next to Amber. They're all lost in a conversation, giggling. Kinda makes me forget we're fighting a war outside of here.

"Hey, Dean," Amber smiles when I reach them. "Back at it with the cap, huh?"

Carmen doesn't make eye contact and just slurps her soup silently.

I clear my throat, sitting down in the row in front of them. "Jace?"

"Don't worry about it, dude," he continues playing catch.

Carmen is his ex, if anything, I broke the bro code. "Jace, I-"

"Dude, forreals," he stops and faces me this time, "it's cool."

Even though he's okay with it and he's with my sister now, it doesn't make me feel any better about it. I feel like a huge hypocrite and feel guilty too, because I only had one girl in mind, and she has jet-black curls.

"What happened?" Amber peers at me, and then the other two after not getting a response. "Hellooo?"

I just stare at her and Carmen purses her lips at her and Jace shrugs at her.

"Nothing – he stole my shirt," Jace ends up saying, then he lifts his head and lands a peck on Ambers's lips.

I take a sip of my soup, scrunching my face as soon as the flavours hit my tastebuds.

"It's not great but it'll keep you full," Nika joins us.

She's no longer in her lab coat now but in normal casual attire. An ID badge is hanging around her neck, it's facing backwards though. Nika's got dark olive skin and brunette hair. Judging from our initial meeting, she looks to be one of the scientists here.

I sack the soup and start drinking my OJ.

"How're you guys settling in," she asks. "I hope they gave you a tour, this place is quite big. We're in the auditorium now, kind of like the commons. You'll have your meals here. We have other sectors with rooms and offices. Safe space for all."

"Nika," Jace sits up on his elbows, "we won't be staying here for long, you know? Every 'safe space' goes to shit eventually, it's what the pilot said too."

"Jace.." Amber gives him the look.

"What? Truth hurts," he tells her blatantly.

"We're doing fine," I speak up because I can tell that Jace is still mad about how they handled the Amber check-in thing. "Thanks for asking. We're just going to have dinner then visit Bray."

"Of course," Nika smiles. "We have Bray in the meds bay. He's got all-around close supervision from the scientists here at the ARC. We have a limited supply of PH due to resources running out but as a thank you for your father's allegiance with us, we have saved a vial for your friend. The first vial we'd given to your father was for his wife – in case worse had come to worse."

And worse did come to worse but it was too late.

"PH?" Amber doesn't clock on.

"Purple Haze," Nika clarifies. "I engineered it. The closest I have to a cure at the moment. Alright, enjoy the soup, you lot. I need to get back to work," and she leaves after checking in with a few other civis.

Mum had already turned long ago. I still remember her in front of that herd like it was yesterday. Dad used that vial on Bray and it has given him a couple of hours. With this second vial, it'll give him more hours. But at the end of the day, he's still gonna turn.

"See, Jace," Amber nudges him. "Bray's alive because of her. She's just trying to keep everyone safe. So be nice."

"That was me being nice, Amber," he rolls his eyes. "Trust me."

❖

We're all in front of a glass wall with Bray lying on a hospital bed on the other side of it. He's hooked up to some stuff. His pulse is extremely low, 16 BMP but it's still beating. If I remember correctly from history class, the lowest ever recorded was about 27 BPM.

"The 2nd vial won't last him," Dad tells me sincerely. "You know, we have to put him out soon."

"I know, Dad," I murmur, standing right in front of the glass with my back to all of them.

"Kyle," Uncle Emmett utters. "You shoods tell 'em."

"Tell us what?" Jace questions curiously.

Dad clears his throat. "We can't stay here. I've seen how Zone 1 turned out and it'll happen to this one too. We're too out in the open and there's too much of 'em. There's another place – Arcadia."

"'Arcadia'?" Carmen repeats.

"Not to be confused with the ARC," Uncle Emmett clarifies. "Arcadia is a wee bit of land, an island. Permanent resources of food, fewer folks – we'll not just survive but live. My family is already there."

"So we're gonna leave everyone here to die?" I turn around. "Just so we can survive on coconuts for the rest of our lives?"

"Dean," Dad snaps.

"I'm not leaving Bray behind," I mutter, turning away again.

"You can't save everyone, Dean," Dad shakes his head.

"Dean's right, Dad," Amber says. "Besides, I'm not going back out there again. We just got here. We should take advantage of it."

"We can't save everyone and we can't stay here," Dad says more aggressively this time. "We need to think about ourselves and that island is the best shot we've got."

"But Dad, she's working on a cure though," Amber reminds him.

"There's no cure, Amber," Dad replies. "That's just false hope and 'false hope' gets you killed."

"I... I can't deal with this anymore," Amber puts her hands out in front of her. "I'm just gonna wait outside."

Jace exhales, "I got it," and follows her out.

"What makes us special and not them?" My breath fogs up the glass. I watch it subside gradually, akin to time running out.

"Naomi's kids, no doubt," Uncle Emmett tells Dad.

"Self-preservation isn't something to feel guilty about, Dean," Dad states, followed by a tired sigh. "You two, get to bed soon, we'll discuss the rest later when Jace and Amber are with us."

Us, two?

I turn around and notice I'm alone with Carmen.

Carmen Valentina.