The Rise of Planet Rubicon - Part Three
Page 7
Ginger nodded, searching the woman's mind over and over a few times before being satisfied.
"I verified what you have said. It must have been hard for you."
The girls chatted for a moment, until they realized the battle was still aging. Then they heard a fierce roar, which caused more buildings and structures to tremble and shake. They were being pulled away to somewhere safe, but they couldn’t say the same for the others.
She looked up to find her love, Jackson, at the top of the field. He was blowing away everything he could in his wake, until he saw them.
"It's time for you all to leave. Whoever is truly part of the cause we want can leave with us -- but everyone else must be left here to face their own fate."
The voice gave no hint of discussion. This was an order, and everyone knew it. There was no time to argue or explain anything else. She scooped a weary Delise into her arms and looked at Alara.
"Can you walk okay?"
Alara nodded and frowned. "We don't have a gate!"
Jack tore at the sky with his hand and said, "I've put a command in the open that blocks anyone that doesn’t truly have a desire to see Reversia stand proud. That should give you enough time. Hurry!"
Delise and Ginger jumped in, along with a few of Delise's private guards that managed to pass the filter. Others who had malice in their hearts that tried to follow suit were promptly zapped and rejected.
They flew in every direction, trying to figure out why they couldn't just teleport out. Everything was blocked now.
Jack turned around to face Alara and said, "Let's go."
Alara shook her head.
"Everything has a price, you know. I can't go with you."
Jack sighed, seeing Bridget gone. He reached out to Alara one more time.
"Come on, Alara. Don't be like that."
"No, you don't be like that. Jackson, I have betrayed you. I have betrayed my City. I betrayed the very foundation that my family was built on.
I want to await my fate here. If I am to be destroyed, then I accept that. There is no going back for me, and I think you know it."
She is right, Jackson. She wants to make things right by accepting that she has committed treason. Blocking her from this is only going to upset her and make her realize that she will never thrive under you or anyone else. For once, allow her to be free. To be free?
The thought had never really crossed his mind. He had never not seen Alara as a free woman. She annoyed him and she hurt him deeply on numerous occasions, but taking her life had never been his idea.
He wanted to believe that they could have some sort of future. But then he remembered the beautiful red-haired woman that captured his heart. That woman had been stolen by the woman he was looking at. He nodded and said simply, "May you be reborn under more favorable threads, for a different purpose."
As he jumped into the gateway for Reversia, he heard a tiny sob. He didn't turn around. There was no need to go back, so why bother? After all, you just couldn't go back.
Chapter 11: Tangled Roads
There was nothing like looking at the City of Reversia at night. The bright lights appealed to both of them, and the sounds in the air reminded him that there was a festival going on. The battle in Schaler had been only the first, and Jack knew that. Still, it was one in their favor, and they gained a lot from it.
They took out a lot of Schaler's battle ready forces guarding the compound, along with getting to free many captives that would otherwise have succumbed to their injuries in the compound. The highlight of the moment had to be Bridget -- but he would have to remember to call her Ginger from here on out.
The time at the compound prison had changed her. It wasn't just the hair, or the eyes, or the new body. It was her attitude about life. She was much more open, and much more focused on him. They held hands as much as possible, not wanting to really be out of each other's sights. It was time to do a lot of talking, and they knew it.
There were still problems in the area. They would need to fix the hospitals and lay out new structures eventually. People wanted more options for entertainment. This meant that he needed to keep working for these solutions instead of getting bogged down in political minefields.
"Ginger…I know that we need to talk…listen. I love you. With all my heart. I was an idiot for neglecting you. I almost lost you and that would have turned my life upside down. I wouldn't be the same -- hell, I wasn't the same…I don't know what to say. I'm not good at this. Isn't that crazy? I can write a political speech that puts tears in everyone's eyes, but I can’t tell you that I love you. I can't live without you…and...Screw it. Ginger Garwicke, would you be my wife?"
They didn't need words anymore. As Dreamers, they could practically predict the other's moods and behaviors. As they linked minds, bodies, and souls together, the answer was in the air through each and every action.
They knew that marriage was serious. They would not be able to go back. They wouldn't be able to change anything. They wouldn’t be able to magically wish for a way out when things got rough.
But thankfully, they knew each other well enough to finally say that it wasn't what they wanted at all. They weren't going to give up something that made them happy. The loss of life in the battle was catastrophic compared to normal numbers in other territories. It was an awful time, but they could work together to make it better. Things would eventually turn around.
They would just have to work as a team and learn to trust each other all over again. But they had a foundation that worked really well for them, and that went a long way as well. For Ginger and Jack, there was no going back. After all, you could never go back.
Read The Part One
Read The Part Two
Read The Part Three
Copyright & Disclaimer
Copyright © 2012 by Dasrim Hasik
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Mental Gears
Chapter 2: Shifting Sands
Chapter 3: Stolen Grace
Chapter 4: Regrets and Reveries
Chapter 5: Count the Hours
Chapter 6: Consumption
Chapter 7: Dreamer Meet Dreamers
Chapter 8: Know Your Role
Chapter 9: Stay the Course
Chapter 10: Pawn Progression
Chapter 11: Tangled Roads