FULL OBLITERATION (Book #3)

𝕱𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

I sniff and drag my hands through my hair, making sure to slick everything back and out of my wet red eyes. I am not even close to being done with Ganika or whatever the fuck her name is but my dad needs my help and that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

"You and I," I point to Nika and myself, "we're not done."

I rush past Jace and find my dad at the same place I left him. He's on the floor and is leaning on the wall. Uncle Emmett is pressing his bloody hands onto my dad's stomach.

"Dad!" Amber drops down next to him. "Daddy, what happened?"

"It's okay, Amber," Dad manages to say.

"Amber, love," Uncle Emmett takes her hands. "Help me with this, will you?"

Amber nods, trembling as Uncle Emmett lifts her hands to Dad's wound.

"There's too many of them!" Sterlin pulls back. "The back roller shutters must've opened or something! That's how more could be getting in!"

"Hey, you," Emmett faces him in the chaos. "Keep shootin', laddie. Don't ye stop until I tell ye too!"

"Em..Emmett," Dad's voice is flat. "Go.. They need your help."

"Kyle, I..."

"Go! I'll.." Dad coughs up blood. "I just need some time with my kids."

Uncle Emmett gives Dad a curt nod and gets up, joining Jace and Sterlin.

"Dad..." Amber cries.

"It's just a scratch, sweetheart," he laughs softly. "Nothing a bandaid can't fix," and he wipes a tear away from her cheek.

"It's not, Dad," she holds his palm to her face. "I'm not a kid anymore. You're dying."

"Dean..." he looks up at me.

"Yes, Dad," I kneel.

"I want you to know that.." he coughs some more, "..that it wasn't your fault. Your mother is just stubborn at heart. Nothing would've stopped her from trying to get you two to safety."

"I know, Dad, I know," I hold my tears back. "Just don't talk too much. We need to put pressure on the wound."

"Dad, he's right. Don't talk too much," Amber murmurs. "You'll be okay."

"I'm afraid I only have just now to talk, sweetheart," Dad whispers. "Dean..." he says my name again, reminiscence glittering in his soaked eyes, "you were supposed to be named 'Sean'. Just one letter muck-up."

"'Sean'?" I chuckle. "Doesn't suit me."

"Yeah, well, your mother was furious with me," Dad chuckles, looking into the distance. "I told her side of the family the baby's name is gonna be 'Dean' when really it was supposed to be 'Sean'. But from Dean it became Zinedine and you responded to it so well."

What's he getting at?

"Just..." he continues. "I may not see your little 'Sean's' running around, but you two will always be the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"Dad," Amber sniffles, "there will be a Sean."

Dad looks at her, muddled. She lifts his hand to her stomach. Dad's smile disappears almost immediately.

"Don't get mad, please..." Amber sobs. "I was going to tell you."

"Amber," he shakes her head. Then he says her name again but in a different tone. In a tone where he doesn't have time to be mad at her "Amber, you'll make a great mother," he says. "Just like your mum."

"Thank you, Dad," Amber gives him a warm hug. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart. And you, Sean..." he faces me.

"Dean," I correct sadly, I can tell he's losing it.

"Sorry, Dean, yes..." his blinks become slower. "Take care of Sean and Amber for me, alright?"

"Always will Dad, always have," I give him a hug.

He takes his green shemagh off his neck and hands it to me. The softness of the material feels odd in my hands. Then Dad reaches into his vest and his hand falls back out with something in his grip.

Amber gasps.

"Dad, no," I shake my head.

"Kids, if I'm going to die, I might as well take some of them with me," he holds the grenade tightly.

"Emmett!" Dad yells. "Fall back."

"Alright, everyone, back it up, back it up!" Uncle Emmett orders.

Lurkers are closing in on us and Amber has glued herself onto Dad like there's no tomorrow. And perhaps she's right. There isn't a tomorrow. No tomorrows or yesterdays. It's just today. And today, I've lost far too many.

Emmett seizes Amber by the torso, pulling her off of Dad. "C'mon, love, we have to go!"

"No!" she tries to wrestle outta his arms. "Fucking let me go!"

I grab the Glock 22 outta Emmett's holster and execute the oncoming lurkers. Every bullet that leaves the barrel gives me a type of ecstasy that I am now addicted to. This is how I cope with pain now, by killing the very things that don't feel any of it.

"Amber, it's done, honey, it's done! We haveta go now, love!"

Uncle Emmett drags Amber off of Dad and hauls her over his shoulder. Amber punches and punches Uncle Emmett's back. Screaming, kicking, and crying for him to let her go. Dad's running on fumes and he's just got enough to pull a pin.

We get back to safety through another set of metal doors in the ARC. The ARC itself is becoming smaller and smaller with each section that goes crashing down. And no matter how hard it was for me to let Dad go, or Bray go, I still had that selfish comfort of knowing they were both waiting for me back in the non-apocalyptic world.

Amber frees herself from Uncle Emmett's hold and lands on her back. She gets up and sprints down the lane, as far away from Dad as she can get because the last thing she wants is to hear that explosion. Jace steps into the middle of the lane and grabs her from running past him. He spins her around and holds her tightly against his ribcage.

"I got you, baby, I got you," he coos into her neck.

"Jace," Amber sobs under his chin, "I'm pregnant..."

Jace's expression transforms into stone. For a good moment, he doesn't know what to say or do. "You're safe with me, Amber, don't worry."

He makes eye contact with me and I can see the tension all over him. He and I both know there's no 'safe' anymore and that's what fucks us up the most. Emmett shuts the doors, and as soon as he turns his back to it, an explosion goes off.

Dad's gone.