World's End

by D. B. Green

  “I remember.” Emma places a hand on her chest. Her heart is pounding too. “I remember.”

  Her beautiful eyes sparkle even brighter. She steps forward and places her hand back to my face, gently this time. Her touch makes me tingle all over, my stomach ties up in knots.

  Pulling her close, I feel our hearts begin to beat at the same tempo. “It’s happening again,” I whisper in her ear. “Affinity is coming.”

  Voices, faint at first, signal the oncoming torrent. Our surroundings blur together; the only constant in this swirling madness is our touch.

  Emma pulls apart from my embrace. “It’s here.” She grips my hand tight and looks up to the sky. I follow her gaze.

  Billions of voices rain down on us like a thunderous waterfall. We blend with them all. We are these people. Their joy, their sadness, their very lives, are in our hands.

  Then, like the first time this happened, the voices become too much, too hard to decipher. Emma squeezes my hand. I pull her close and we kiss.

  Emma’s memories flood through my mind like a compressed flip book of her alternate life. I see her mum, her dad. The parts of her life when I was supposed to be there. All the dreams that I missed. The Fall. Jimmy, their life together, then the wedding. His collapse into a coma. Her confusion. The memories slow to a stop. We’ve synchronized. I am her. She is me. We are one. Complete bliss.

  The background voices fade into a serene melody, like distant church bells. Each one with its own distinct, magical, tone. Every living soul on the planet sings to us in a rapturous chorus of delight. Their life force runs through our veins, giving us access to unimaginable magic. We are everyone. We are everything. We are Affinity.

  A voice, stronger and louder than the others, pricks our serenity like a thorn and bursts our blissful bubble. The chorus fades and our brief second of Affinity is over.

  Time moves forward again.

  “Kathy Meadows,” Emma says. “You kissed her… again?”

  Her mouth curls into the cutest of grins. “It’s okay.” Her grin fades. “I did worse. I’m so sorry you had to experience all that. I feel like I cheated on you.”

  “We are back together. That’s all that matters,” I say, hiding the fact the memory of her and Jimmy together is seared into my mind.

  She wraps both arms around me. Her eyes still sparkle with Radiance, like beautiful stars in a night sky. She stands on her tip toes and leans closer. The hint of cinnamon from her perfume is alluring, drawing me in. I brush the hair from her eyes. Her eyebrow lifts, in the cutest way, like it always does before she… kisses me. Her soft lips touch mine. Not an Affinity kiss. A wondrous, normal kiss. I’m home.

  “What’s going on?”

  I’d forgotten anyone else was here. Reality crashes back in.

  Emma pulls away. She turns to her bewildered friend. “This will be hard to explain,” she says. “This whole place is wrong, Grace. I see it now. History has changed.”

  Grace points at me, narrowing her eyes, Emma’s statement seeming to go over her head. “Who’s he?”

  “This is Dean.” Emma puts her arm around me and gazes into my eyes. “My fiancée.”

  Grace gasps. “What about James, your husband?”

  “Yes, what about James?”

  We both turn. I recognize the new voice from our Affinity kiss. It’s the voice that broke the connection. It’s the woman in the white suit from back at the hospital. What did Luther call her…? Andrea Shaw.

  Emma steps forward. “You!” Anger and recognition spread across her face.

  Shaw runs a hand through her hair. “Such an intense rush of power. I never imagined it would feel that good.”

  Her eyes sparkle orange. Radiance… Affinity Radiance. No, it can’t be. That’s impossible.

  “I could feel everything,” she screams. “I was everything.”

  She’s got Affinity, but she’s got no soulmate, no focus.

  Emma grips my arm. “Keep behind me,” I whisper.

  A wave of pressure hits me like a force ten gale. I can’t move my body. My eyes are the only part left free to move. Emma is the same, rooted to the spot. Our hands almost touch. Frozen like statues, an inch apart. It’s the same magic from at the hospital. Mel, Shaw’s dark-suited colleague, must be close.

  There’s a rustling noise from behind Shaw. Luther sneaks out of the trees, holding the journal.

  Yes.

  Luther.

  A twig snaps and my hopes of salvation disappear. Shaw’s other colleague, Kim, steps out of the trees behind Luther. She covers him with two guns — his guns.

  She forces him towards Shaw. “I found this one hiding in the trees like a sleazy pervert.”

  Shaw doesn’t seem to hear. Her sparkling eyes are wide open. Her head twitches to the left, like she’s in a trance. She’s muttering under her breath. “I don’t need this anymore.” She rips a Sunburst from her wrist and tosses it in the air.

  Luther grabs it as he’s forced past and slips it in his jacket pocket.

  Shaw pivots on the spot, awoken from her trance. “You want this, too?” She throws her phone at him. Luther leans back and it bounces off his chest, onto the gravel.

  “Don’t waste your magic on him, Melanie,” Shaw says, drawing out the name. “Kim will shoot him if he moves.”

  Shaw stands right in front of my face. Orange veins suddenly shoot out across her cheeks, matching her sparkling eyes.

  “You need to let the power go,” I say. “You’ve got no focus… You can’t control it.”

  Shaw cocks her head to the left again, like she’s got water trapped in her ear. Disgust is etched on her face. She’s mumbling fast, incompressible words. “You don’t know how long I’ve had to endure your filth in my body,” she shouts. “I’ve waited years for this, maneuvering your life to this exact point.”

  “You had nothing to do with this,” Luther shouts. His voice is strained. I can just see him standing to the right of Emma. He’s gripping the journal close to his chest.

  Shaw twitches and snarls. “I had everything to do with it! You and your terrorist friends were allowed to run free just to get me to this point. Who do you think let you know where he was?” She walks behind me, clamping a hand down on my shoulder.

  I feel our minds connect. It’s a jumble of different lives all stitched together.

  “Get out of my mind,” she screams, cupping her hands to her head. The orange veins are gone… Her sync with me gave her a temporary focus.

  “Where was I?” Shaw speaks calmly. She turns to Luther. “I brought him out in the open when I was ready. And then it was easy to get you all here… To this tree.” She turns back to me and smiles. “Granted, I didn’t do it all myself. I had a little help.”

  “Yes, we found the Emitter,” I say.

  Shaw’s smile fades. “An Emitter… So, that’s how they knew.” She taps at her neck. “I’m sorry about Miss Meadows. I would have preferred she remained alive.” She suddenly turns, scouring the trees where Luther came from. Her head twitches to the left again.

  The focus didn’t last long.

  “At least one of your friends saw sense.” Shaw cups a hand to her mouth. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she sings.

  Amber walks out from behind the oak tree. Nicci tries in vain to drag her back, but she shrugs her away.

  Shaw claps her hands together in glee. “Thank you my dear. Your help proved invaluable.”

  Amber.

  Nicci drops to her knees. “Amber.”

  “I’m sorry,” Amber says through her ELC. “But she can bring Mum back.”

  Shaw holds up a hand. “That might not be entirely true.”

  “But I saw you do it,” Amber says. “She spoke to me… remembered me.”

  “You saw what I wanted you to see.” Shaw shakes her head. “But fear not. Everything else was true.” The veins are back around her eyes. She scoops Amber up in both arms and dances with her in a circle. “I can bring peace to th
e world. You wanted to be a part of that,” she says, hugging her tight. “And you still can.”

  Amber shrugs her away. “You lied to me… You used me.” She slaps her across the cheek.

  The veins fizz further across Shaw’s face, pulsating like an out of control heartbeat. For a second, Amber and Shaw stand staring at each other, like they’re frozen to the spot, almost like they’re syncing, then Amber runs to Nicci and collapses into her arms under the oak tree. “I’m sorry.” Tears run down her face. “I did it for Mum. I miss her so much.”

  Emma’s friend, Grace, strolls over. Shaw smiles and kisses her forehead.

  “And thanks to my seductive Grace, I got you both here at the right time,” Shaw says, her head twitching.

  Grace steps back. “Are you okay?”

  Shaw kisses her on the lips. “I’m fine. It’s just taking time to get this power under control.”

  “You will never control it,” I say. “Affinity chooses you. You can’t just steal it.”

  Shaw grins. “Oh, but I have stolen it.”

  “You used that watch thing to hijack our Affinity spark.”

  Shaw’s glowing face twitches from side to side. “Yes, and with about five liters of your blood running through my veins.” She glances over to Amber, curled up in Nicci’s arms. “She was so easy to manipulate… I had hoped she would join us,” she licks her lips. “She showed promise.”

  “How dare you take advantage of an innocent girl!” Luther shouts, rage etched into his face. “You fucking, evil bitch!”

  The veins on Shaw’s face explode, sending a cloud of fizzing sparks around her like a halo. Turning on the spot she advances on Luther. “What did you call me?!” she screams.

  Luther lunges with his fist. He swings for Shaw’s face. He connects with the fizzing halo and he explodes in a cloud of burning ash. His empty jacket falls to the ground; the journal lands on top. Glowing cinders slowly settle onto the gravel where he stood.

  “Luther!” Nicci screams.

  Emma looks at me, tears bursting from her eyes.

  Shaw stumbles back. The fizzing aura now radiates from her entire body. The gravel glows as she stumbles towards me. “I can’t control it.” Her hands grip my shoulders. “Help me.” She pushes me and I fall onto the glowing gravel. I’m still unable to move as she falls on top of me. Her hands feel like they’re burning into my shoulders.

  Pain. Intense pain. I can’t breathe. Heat, every cell in my body feels like it’s on fire.

  “Get away from him you bitch.” Emma screams. “You’re not stealing him too.”

  Emma.

  My wonderful Emma. She sounds so distant. So far away.

  The magic holding me eases. I can stand. But I feel dizzy, like I’m drunk. My legs give way and I fall back over onto the gravel. Something sticks into my side. It’s Shaw’s phone. An old man’s reflection stares back from the cracked screen. I reach for my face and the aged reflection does the same. My hands look so different, withered and swollen.

  I’m an old man.

  “I said get away from him!” Emma pulls Shaw back.

  “I can control it. I just need more magic.” Shaw screams as they struggle. The air around them fizzes, orange and angry.

  Emma glances at me; the shock on her face turns to a frozen, sad smile. Then she erupts in a shockwave of orange burning ash.

  I fall to my knees.

  “No. No. No!”

  There’s a scream. It sounds a million miles away. It could be mine.

  Emma.

  Everything seems disjointed, like an old movie. Shaw sweeps past me and runs to her friend. She lays motionless on the gravel covered in ash.

  Emma’s ash.

  Shaw screams in pain and checks her other friends. Both are smoking corpses. They were too close to…

  Emma.

  Still fizzing, Shaw stands, holding one of Luther’s guns triumphantly in the air. Turning on her heels, she crunches across the gravel, twitching like a broken marionette. She points the gun at me. “Look what you did.” Her words slur together. “Look what you did!”

  I don’t care anymore. I stand up, ready to join Emma. “Come on then,” I shout. “Do it.”

  Shaw’s finger squeezes on the trigger. I close my eyes and think of Emma.

  A bang, but not from the gun. I open my eyes to find Shaw sprawled out on the ground, with Nicci stood over her, holding a thick tree branch.

  “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here,” she shouts. “Amber, help me with him.”

  Nicci grabs my arm and half drags me back onto the path. But the rage inside me erupts. My face burns. I can’t stop it. I don’t want to stop it.

  “What did you do,” I shout. “What did you do?!”

  Amber runs away to the path. She turns and points at me.

  Nicci lets go of my arm. “What the hell?”

  I hold up my hands. They’re covered in orange veins, pulsating in rhythm to my speeding heartbeat.

  “What. Did. You. Do?!”

  I drop to my knees. The rage is too strong. Raising my arms about my head, I smash both fists down. Gravel and earth explode in all directions from the impact. A crevice opens under my fizzing hands. Glowing like my veins, it zig-zags through the gravel, spewing smoke in its wake.

  A fierce wind follows, ripping up from nowhere, swirling the smoke into tiny tornadoes. I fight through the gale and stand up. My anger has gone. Leaving me cold and empty inside.

  “What’s happening?!” Nicci shouts above the wind.

  I ignore her. One of Luther’s discarded guns has my full attention. It’s buried in the gravel next to Shaw unconscious body. I bend down and pick it up. My heartbeat is slow. I know what to do. I lift the gun. It’s cold and heavy in my hand. Slowly, I tilt the barrel towards my head. The cold metal gives me a sense of calm.

  A sudden wheezing, groaning sound makes me turn. The wind and smoke disappear down into the newly opened crevice. It stops at the spot where Emma… where she died. I pause on the trigger.

  A huge tremor knocks me backwards, pushing my feet through the gravel. I regain a foothold as a thick column of smoke bursts from the crevice, rising high into the sky.

  A shadowy figure walks out of the smoke. “Emma!” It is her. Naked, but alive.

  Dropping the gun, I stagger forward. But she falls before I can get to her. “Help me,” I shout.

  Nicci runs over. “What the hell.”

  “Don’t just stand there,” I say. “Help me with her.”

  Nicci picks up both guns, the journal, and Luther’s jacket. She dusts away the ash and slips the jacket over Emma’s shoulders. “This will have to do until we get back to the van.”

  We struggle back to the car park. I’m getting weaker with every step, as Emma gets stronger. She starts supporting me as we walk. The salvation of Nicci’s camper van looms in the distance.

  Another tremor. Like an earthquake this time.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Nicci says.

  Suddenly, there’s a massive explosion behind us. The shockwave knocks us all to the ground. Gravel and earth pelts against our backs. I roll onto my side in time to see Amber’s startled expression. Her mouth is wide open in terror as she points behind us.

  A huge column of dark smoke roars upwards through the trees. Rising into the sky.

  “Come on,” Nicci shouts.

  She slips a hand under my arm. I feel so diz—

  12:23 GMT

  NICCI BELL

  LONGSTONE PARK | NEW BAKEWELL

  Dean collapses, dragging me down with him. My knuckles scrape across the concrete. I’m too numb to feel pain. I can’t feel anything.

  Dark patches appear on the concrete. Another splash. But it’s not raining. Several more splashes. What’s going on? It’s me. I’m crying.

  He’s dead.

  Luther’s dead.

  Emma extends a hand, helping me up. “Are you okay?”

  Her accent is there on every word,
unlike Dean’s. Her voice is soft and soothing. She’s got the look of a Paris catwalk model. Her long, slender legs disappear into Luther’s jacket, turning it into a weird kind of dress. I bet she’d make a plastic bin bag look glamourous. Just like…

  Jenny.

  Buried for so long in my mind, Jenny surfaces again.

  Stop it.

  Luther’s Dead.

  Why does my mind wander at the sight of a gorgeous woman?

  Emma pulls me up. But how is she still alive? She was dead, a minute ago, I saw her explode.

  Explode.

  Frick.

  The volcano.

  I wipe away my tears and grab Dean’s arm. Over his shoulder, it looks like Autumn while behind us glorious sunshine warms my back. The column of ash thunders up into the sky like an upside-down waterfall. Pulsating and getting stronger with every passing second. I’ve got no idea what magic Dean did to bring Emma back to life, but the consequences don’t look good.

  A sudden cold breeze howls around my legs, followed by a low rumble. The ground tilts to the left, like the floor in a fun house. A blue Mini Coupe slides out of its parking space, dislodged by the shaking ground. An eerie silence drifts over the car park, broken by the sudden sound of several car alarms chiming in unison.

  A flock of birds fly out of the trees like a flapping blanket racing away from the ever-growing ash cloud behind. They streak over my rusty pride and joy near the car park entrance. “Come on,” I say.

  Suddenly, something hits the bonnet of the dislodged blue Mini in front of us, thudding against the metal.

  Shit!

  A glowing red hole smokes through the metal.

  “What the hell?!”

  I look up to the sky as a small glowing rock, fizzes down onto the bonnet. It lands right next to the smoking hole. The rock melts though the metal like it was butter.

  “Shit. Come on.”

  Amber.

  “Where’s Amber?” She’s hiding behind the Mini. Hands clamped over her ears, like back at the café. Tears stream down her face. “Amber, get up.”

  She taps at her ELC, shaking her head. It’s out of power. She can’t speak.

  “Look out,” Emma shouts.