by G J Ogden
He lowered himself down the side of the tooth-shaped rock and approached Summer, taking care to move in a wide arc so that she would be able to see him coming. Ethan was still not sure if her intention had been to leave, but as Ethan got closer, Summer glanced over at him, and then back towards the darkening horizon, showing no sign of running. He reached her side and stood silently with her, sharing the sunset for a few tranquil minutes.
“I was afraid you had left,” said Ethan as sun dipped fully below the horizon and the sky took on a crimson luster.
“I tried, but I don’t have anywhere to go,” said Summer. Her voice was flat and lifeless.
“I don’t blame you for what happened, Summer.”
“I do.”
“We all made choices. We all have to live with the consequences. I could have stayed with you, by your side. I could have fought them too. Perhaps if I had done, none of this would have happened.”
“And I could have left when you asked me to. But I didn’t. And that’s why they are dead.”
“They are dead because Kurren killed them.” Ethan felt anger swell inside him again at the mere thought of the man. “You fought for something you believed in, and so did Elijah and Katie. So did we all.”
“I know what you’re doing, and you can save your breath.” Summer’s voice was now laced with anger. “You will never convince me that this wasn’t my fault, and I don’t want you to. So, if that’s all you have to say then you can go.”
“And then what?” snapped Ethan. “You’re just going to walk away? Pick a fight with the nearest roamer and let yourself be killed as some sort of penance?”
“What do you want me to say, Ethan?” Summer yelled. Her faced had flushed red and her hands were clenched into fists. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to keep fighting!” Ethan snapped back. “You’ve been a fighter all your life, and you’ve never given up! Don’t give up now!”
“Damn it, Ethan, there’s nothing left to fight for! It’s all gone! They are gone!”
“But we can still have a future; we don’t have to die too,” said Ethan, trying to speak more softly and calmly.
Summer shook her head. “I can never make this right, Ethan. I could kill every last roamer and maddened creature on this rotten planet, and Elijah and Katie would still be dead.”
“You’re right,” said Ethan, “you can’t bring them back, and neither can I. But if you quit now, you’re giving up on everything they fought for, and died for. That’s not the Summer I know.”
The fire had returned to Summer’s eyes; the steely expression that she always took on when she had been challenged and wanted to fight back. Ethan knew he had reached her.
“It’s not the Summer I love.”
Summer turned away and shut her eyes tightly. “You can’t mean that. Not after what I did.”
“I do. And I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to.”
Summer opened her eyes again, and focused her gaze back out to the smoke on the horizon. But the fire in her eyes was still there. Ethan watched her for a few moments and then looked out across the scorched planet with her. A bright light appeared low on the horizon and shot upwards, cutting through the haze and climbing higher and higher into the darkening sky until all that was left was a trail of white vapor, like an arrow.
“So what do we do now?” she asked.
Ethan fixed his eyes back on Summer. The wind was gently moving her vibrant red hair away from her face, and in the fading glimmers of twilight she looked somehow different to the woman he had known all his life. Perhaps she was different. And perhaps he wasn’t the same man either. So much had changed and so quickly that the memory of their lives as they used to be, before the UEC and GPS, seemed like a dream. But it was time to forget about the past and look to the future, and to a civilization free of the UEC, and of the Maddening. A future for their family.
He looked back towards the horizon and imagined that he could see his tree, standing imperiously in the grounds outside the walls of Forest Gate, silently observing the world as it had done for centuries before, and would do for centuries more to come. Ethan took a deep breath of the cool night air and exhaled slowly.
“Now we go home.”
The end.
EPILOGUE
Far below Ethan and Summer, out on the barren plains that stretched from the foot of the flat-topped mountain towards the smoldering megacity of Green Haven on the horizon, and already far too distant for either of them to see, a lone figure made its way into the darkness. It was clad in blue armor, smashed and broken, blackened by fire and stained red with blood. The thing inside it, corrupted and twisted, no longer a man, and with no memory of who it once was, lurched forward into the wastelands and disappeared under the blanket of night.
The Last Of The Firsts
Read the thrilling final installment of The Planetsider Trilogy, available to buy now from Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
At school I was asked to write down the jobs I wanted to do as a ‘grown up’. Number one was astronaut and number two was a PC games journalist. I only managed to achieve one of those goals (I’ll let you guess which), but these two very different career options still neatly sum up my lifelong interests in science, space and the unknown, and computer technology.
School also steered me in the direction of a science-focused education over literature and writing, which strongly influenced my decision to study physics at UMIST, now part of Manchester University. What this degree taught me is that I didn’t like studying physics and instead enjoyed writing much more, which led me to become editor of the University magazine, GRIP. This was a stepping stone into the first of my careers in IT journalism. The lesson? School can’t tell you who you are, or what you want to be!
During my professional career, I spent seven years as a technology journalist, including creating and launching Custom PC magazine for Dennis Publishing, the most successful enthusiast PC magazine in the UK. I then moved into PR and marketing for world-leading technology brands. But, my passion for Sci-Fi and writing only grew stronger and more than twenty years after choosing to study physics instead of writing, I came full circle and now write and independently publish science fiction novels.
When not writing, I enjoy spending time with my family, walking in the British countryside, and indulging in as much Sci-Fi as possible.