The Altered.

Chapter LXXIX.

Miles waited. The group waited. Sitting on the floor, in silence. The only noise was the synchronization of everybody's heavy breathing; the tower and everything in it had fallen completely still and soundless.

The elevator wasn't working.

Miles wanted to get to Aaron. And Eira, and Bri. He needed to know that they were okay.

But here he sat, in a dark hallway, surrounded by sleeping devices.

Ten minutes passed excruciatingly slowly. If Miles didn't know any better, he'd have said he was waiting hours. As more time passed, his worry started to wear away into anger.

The group had succeeded. At least, they'd succeeded in shutting off the virus. But had they killed all of the Altered and all technology in the process? It was hard to tell yet.

As he waited, he rocked back at forth, his arms around his knees and his chin resting on top. He could feel warm tears trickling down his cheeks, but he didn't care enough to wipe them away - half of the group was crying, too. Those who weren't crying were either pacing or talking frantically to themselves, trying to reassure themselves that everything was fine. Nobody was talking to anybody else; everybody had something different on their mind. All thoughts revolved around the central one, though - and that was something like we're all going to die if this doesn't work soon.

A month ago, Miles would never have dared cry in front of his friends. He'd been popular at school, and that reputation was easy to lose. Sometimes he'd cry in front of Ty, but such a thing was rare and would only happen because Miles had known that Ty would support him no matter what.

Miles was realising slowly that everything he'd ever felt towards Ty - any and all of the fierce emotions that had been involved in their relationship - had died completely out when Ty had been Altered.

The Alteration, Miles decided, fucking ruined people.

Since the year that the Alteration had been created, the earth had been full of walking, talking human shells; devoid of imperfections. It was disgusting.

But at least now, Miles wasn't scared of crying. At least he didn't feel like his emotions were his only company. At least he had friends now that had stayed with him, supported him, dealt with him, while also fighting for their lives.

The tower lit up.

The lights came first. Those that hadn't blown their bulbs crackled back to life. Robots lifted their heads. Security cameras zoomed and focused. Computers flickered on and off a few times before returning to their usual state.

Miles' breath caught in his throat.

"Am I dreaming?" Lia whispered from beside him, her words faltering.

Percy, who had been relentlessly clicking the elevator button even though it had obviously been out of commission for the past twenty minutes, jumped to the side as the doors suddenly opened.

Miles half crawled, half staggered, to the elevator, feeling the warmth of Lia's hand grappling for a hold on his own. He took her hand and held it tight, stumbling into the elevator with his friends pouring in after him.

Percy, who was now profoundly experienced at flicking elevator buttons, waited until everybody had piled inside before slamming his hand repeatedly against the button labeled Floor I.

As they descended, Miles held his breath. Aaron would be alive. He had to be.

"The Altered are waking up," Spike muttered beneath his breath, watching out the glass of the elevator as Altered started to stand groggily. Miles watched them intently, waiting for them to attack one another or to reach for weapons. But as they all pulled themselves wobblily to their feet, some immediately started to help others. Some started panicking. Some rubbed their eyes and spun in circles, disbelieving.

Miles wondered if the Altered would remember what they'd become. On one hand, it would be hard to convince them of it all if they didn't recall it - but on the other hand, it would be heartbreaking for them to remember everything horrible that they'd done in their state of insanity.

There was some sick part of Miles that hoped they remembered everybody they'd hurt, everybody they'd killed. If the Unaltered had to remember it, the Altered should have to, too.

A thought struck Miles as the elevator reached the bottom levels. The Altered... wouldn't be Altered anymore. After seeing the way that the lights had blown and computers had died completely made Miles certain that the microchips in the Altered's heads would have no chance at still working.

The entire world was Unaltered.

The elevator doors slid open. For a few moments, Miles' feet were glued to the ground. Even as the rest of the group poured out of the elevator, pushing one another and shoving to get past, Miles couldn't move.

Then, he finally caught up with everything that had happened. He took a few unsteady steps, feeling almost like he was learning to walk all over again.

Then he was moving easily, shaking his head to free it of all the thoughts it was full of. Outside, the Altered - rather, the previously-Altered - were beginning to get their bearings. They were alive, Unaltered, and no longer dangerous.

Miles sped up, brushing past his friends until he reached the room where they'd left Aaron, Bri and Eira. He didn't hesitate; he slid the door open.

Immediately, he was met with a familiar face. Blond hair, freckles, and eyes the colour of the sea. One eye the colour of the sea, rather. Aaron's other eye was swollen shut, and the jagged scar that ran through it was still bleeding. Aaron looked unsteady on his feet. One of his hands was lifted, as if he'd been just about to open the door when Miles had gotten to it first.

Behind Aaron was Eira and Bri, looking worried.

"Did you do what you had to?" Aaron asked hoarsely.

Miles almost laughed at Aaron's obliviousness. Instead, he took Aaron's bloody, dirty face in his hands, ignoring the sticky crimson fluid as it stained his own skin, and pressed his lips hard against Aaron's.

They stood in the doorway for half a minute, just like that. The kiss wasn't soft or pleasant. It was raw and fierce and desperate.

Miles finally pulled away to stare at Aaron and firmly nod his head.

"We just saved the whole fucking world."

______________________

+1075 Words.

I can't believe I'm finally done. This is the last chapter. Last chapter of this book with these losers. It feels like I'm losing family when I say goodbyes to these characters - the plans for the sequel is keeping me going, though.

Gosh, it was fun while it lasted, writing these dorks.

For the last time:

-Reb <3