by Anne, Melody
Falcon nodded. He clasped Phoenix and Jayden on the shoulder in farewell before hurrying through the forest to his love.
“Jayden, that’s a possibility for you as well,” Josiah stated, although he had a feeling he’d turn that option down.
“Can we have time to decide on what we want?” Jayden asked, looking toward Phoenix. “I think we have some talking to do before anything is finalized.”
Phoenix nodded, feeling conflicted. Did Jayden want to go to the heavens? Would she be able to go, or would she be left to an existence without him? Would he resent her for not going? There was quite a bit she needed to talk to him about.
“That’s acceptable. Call me when you’re ready,” Josiah said.
He nodded goodbye before fading away, leaving the clearing in darkness after his bright light vanished with him.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“For right now, we go home. Then we rest,” he told her with a gentle smile. “After that we can decide.”
“Let’s go home,” she replied.
Hand in hand, with Ali cuddled up to Phoenix, they finished their journey home.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Phoenix
Phoenix never imagined how happy she’d be to see the makeshift shacks and fields of green that made up her new home.
“You coming?” Jayden asked, stopping a few feet ahead and turning back to face her.
“Yeah,” Phoenix replied, moving forward to stand beside him. “It’s just crazy to think how far we’ve come, and to think that we’re now in the final stretch.”
“I told you we’d get our happily-ever-after,” Jayden said.
He stretched out the arm that wasn’t holding Ali’s sleeping form and grasped Phoenix’s hand so they could walk back as one.
Phoenix wondered what her parents had been doing during her time away. Although she didn’t see her dad much, he was phenomenal. He was smart and so wise. He had the best interest of the world, and he would do everything in his power to create the perfect environment for a future of prosperity.
“Jayden, what’s going on?” Phoenix asked from their vantage point on a hill, overlooking their sanctuary a mile away. Down below crowds of people were rushing from their homes and fleeing from what they were doing, moving rapidly toward Elise and Drake’s home. Something big must have occurred.
“Let’s check it out,” Jayden murmured. It didn’t sound as if anything was wrong, but usually large gatherings happened when hearing extremely good or extremely bad news, and the odds could be against them.
Phoenix moved toward the group, surprised by how many more people were now calling this their home. It looked as though the group had doubled while they’d been gone. She skirted through the crowd, followed by Jayden who now cradled Ali.
“Elise?” Phoenix asked, seeing the long brown hair and familiar smile ahead. Phoenix hurried forward.
“Phoenix! Everyone has been wondering when you’d be back,” Elise shouted, hugging her tightly. “There’s been a whirlwind of activity lately.”
“I’ve noticed many new arrivals,” Phoenix replied, glancing around again at the unfamiliar faces.
“Sadie and Brian found them,” Elise exclaimed. “It’s nice to see so many hopeful survivors. It’s beautiful knowing there are other groups among us who have banded together, and more who might still be out there. This country will have a big enough population to create a new generation.”
“That’s wonderful,” Phoenix said, feeling incredibly proud of her best friend. She had always known that Sadie had it in her; she would shine, no matter the amount of pressure placed on her.
“It really is. I want to once again live in a world where I don’t constantly worry about my children day in and day out,” Elise murmured with a strained smile.
“Soon that will be our reality,” Phoenix promised. If it were the last thing she did, she’d work to make it happen.
She was sick of living in fear and more than done with the fighting. She wanted the white picket fence, her own children to scold because they were drawing on her freshly painted living room wall, and she wanted a loving husband she’d look forward to coming home to each and every night.
“I hope so. Are you here to see your brother?” Elise asked, glancing at the crowd of people who stood all around them.
“My brother?” Phoenix asked, feeling her heart leap. “What about my brother?”
“He and a lady just arrived. I don’t know much about it,” Elise explained. “I figured that was why you were here. Hasn’t it been a while since you’ve seen him?”
“It’s been a bit,” Jayden cut in, knowing Phoenix was having trouble responding after such news. “We should probably go say hi.”
Jayden gently grasped Phoenix’s shoulder with one hand and led her toward the crowd and away from Elise, leaving her confused on what had just happened.
“Are Jessica and Johnathan here? Why would they be here? He wouldn’t try and destroy his family, would he?” Phoenix questioned, terrified to hear Jayden’s response.
“We will find out,” Jayden answered. He wished he could take away her worry. “But if he were here for malicious reasons, I believe we would’ve discovered that by now. We just need to move forward and figure out what is going on.”
Phoenix nodded and continued through the crowd, grasping Jayden for support and comfort, wondering what was in store for them. Finally the crowd parted.
And there he was. Standing there smiling, as though the past few encounters had never happened, as though the dark patch of Cassidy’s death never happened.
Phoenix stared a moment more before sprinting forward. Right now she needed to make sure it was real, that he was there, and that he had really changed despite everything he’d been through.
“Johnathan,” she shouted as she ran forward, moving through the rush of people.
Johnathan turned to face her just in time to catch her in his strong arms. They stood there, and he held her exactly the same as he had when she was younger, when he was her rock to lean upon.
“It’s really you,” Phoenix whispered after releasing him.
She pulled back and looked at his face, searching to make sure this wasn’t a horrible lie. It was the same old goofy grin. That same sparkle rested in his eyes.
“Same old,” Johnathan said. “I’m sorry about everything. I was wrong, and you should’ve never seen me that way.” Johnathan turned toward Jayden, who was still gently holding Phoenix. “I’m sorry about . . . well, about trying to kill you,” he said with a sheepish grin. “I was hurt and angry, and it was easier to blame you than to deal with my guilt for not saving Cassidy, and dealing with the pain of losing her.”
“All is forgiven,” Jayden said.
He moved forward and pulled Johnathan into a hug, careful of the precious girl he held. “I’ve been missing my friend, and I would be more than happy to have him back.”
“If you’ve been missing your friend, I’m sure you’ve been absolutely dying for your sister,” Cassidy chimed in, stepping from the crowd.
Phoenix and Jayden stared wide-eyed. They’d been there when she’d died. There was no doubt she was gone.
“How?” Jayden croaked, taking in her soft feathery blonde hair, and her sparkling crystalline eyes that shined so brightly.
“It’s a long story that Johnathan and I will be more than happy to tell. All you need to know for now is we are back for good. We’re a team, and nobody on this team will abandon one another again,” Cassidy said. “No matter what happens.”
She moved forward and pulled Jayden and Phoenix into a hug.
Though Cassidy had no sense of how long she’d been gone, she knew that wasn’t the case for her loved ones. They had all felt her loss, and she was happy she’d been given a once in a lifetime chance to reverse that.
“Who’s the child?” Johnathan asked. He stared down at her face as though he were seeing a gho
st.
“Ali, a sweet girl we discovered in the forest. You look as though you know her,” Phoenix said quietly.
“I saw her in my travels,” Johnathan murmured, staring at her angelic face. He felt deep-seated guilt that he hadn’t done more, but at the same time relief flooded through him that she had survived. He hoped she could forgive him for walking away.
“Don’t ever leave me like that again, Johnathan,” Phoenix demanded.
He was quiet for several moments and then pulled her back into his arms.
“Never again will you have to experience my absence,” Johnathan promised.
“We are sisters for life,” Cassidy agreed.
“We have to leave for a while though, to finish what we’ve started,” Johnathan told her.
Phoenix felt a moment of panic, but she pushed it away.
“I’m going to go with them,” Jayden told her.
“I know,” she said. “I’m so proud of you,” she said with tears as Jayden handed Ali back to her. The child began to stir.
Johnathan and Cassidy moved to the front gates while Jayden looked into her eyes.
“I promised you a future, my darling, and that’s a promise I intend to keep,” he whispered, gently pressing a kiss to her lips.
“I will hold you to that.”
And with a heavy heart, Phoenix watched them leave to fight what she hoped were the last battles.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Larry
My father had always been busy. When I was a child it seemed like he worked non-stop. Sometimes that really bummed me out, because I just wished he would spend some time with me. But as I grew older I realized he did that not only to provide for my family and me, but also to help other people, and he always did an amazing job of it.
Whenever our family went out it seemed like Dad would somehow or another get stuck in a long drawn-out conversation with one person or another we ran into. He knew just about everyone, and each and every one of them had so much respect for him; you could see it in the way they addressed him, the way they stood around him, and the way they looked at him. He earned that respect, and so much more.
When the world collapsed, he went above and beyond, and the level of respect from others was greater than anything I’d seen before. He wasn’t just a respected and loved member of the community.
These people stared at him with such need, with such devotion. He had a mass of people who were alive because of him, yet he never abused that power, and he never acted as though he were better than any other person he encountered. As I grew older I hoped I could one day be half the man he was, make half the difference in the world he had, to be cared about by so many.
I knew someday he would change the world. I knew it was only a matter of time. He was a natural born leader. I love my dad so much. What a blessed life I’ve lived even in the face of all the tragedy around all of us.
Larry glanced around his office, amazed by how far the world had come in only a year. It was crazy to think of himself as the President of the United States, and it was insane to imagine the responsibility now placed on his shoulders, to think about the people who relied on him. But he’d do anything within his power to never let something like the last president had created happen again.
He had always been a leader in his community. As an elder and partial creator of the underground cave system that had kept so many safe for such a long time, there had been many staunch supporters for him to be President. He had never actually thought that would lead to this position.
Larry sat in his desk chair and stared at the computer screen in front of him, feeling overwhelmed. He and his team had been working to create order once more in the country.
A court system was being implemented, with a jury and judge. More people were being placed into positions of power, so the country could run the way it was meant to.
Recently the team had just finished their communication agenda. Once the remaining enemy bases had been overtaken, a search and rescue mission had been implemented. A company was released to fly over the land and radio coordinates of any survivors to the ground troops. The ground troops would then go to the people, explain the new world order, and offer to escort them to one of the new cities.
At first everybody had merged to central locations, but as more and more victims were found, they began branching out. Seven large cities were now populated, and there were farms back in production. Stores and schools were beginning to open, homes were occupied once more, and families were starting to get into a more normal routine. More importantly, the country was getting cleaned up, the dead buried, the garbage thrown out.
Larry made sure each populated area had a town center, which contained a government official for directives and help, a board that contained any official announcements pertaining to the welfare and livelihood of the country, and a radio system so each area received news in a timely manner.
He felt run down to the bone, and definitely as if he was neglecting his wife, but she was supportive, and they did have their own time to enjoy each other at night.
Despite the inconvenience and the amount of work, Larry wouldn’t change his position. He was helping people and making a difference in their lives, and he would do everything in his power to keep doing that, to create a world his grandchildren could thrive in.
“It’s time to put away the computer.”
Janet stood in the doorway looking just as beautiful as she had thirty years before when he’d asked her to be his wife.
“I was just thinking about you, darling,” he said, ending what he was doing and swiftly moving to his wife.
“I hope it was wonderful thoughts,” she told him as they walked hand and hand through the hallowed halls of the White House, bringing back the building’s former glory.
“I was just thinking what a lucky man I am to have married such a brilliant woman,” he told her.
“Mmm. I like that,” she said with a smile.
“If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t hesitate,” he promised.
“Neither would I, my darling; neither would I.”
They shut out the rest of the world for a few precious hours.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Phoenix
“I can’t believe my baby is all grown up,” Janet whispered, feeling her eyes fill with tears.
She quickly wiped at the corners, trying to halt the flow. She’d already spent a good half hour on her own makeup, and it would be a shame if all that work were for naught. Everything had to be perfect for her daughter’s special day.
“You look breathtaking.” Janet grabbed the lipstick and ran it along Phoenix’s lips. Janet still remembered the process of a makeover; she’d certainly done them enough to be an expert.
Phoenix looked ethereal. It was strange to see her daughter with a face full of makeup after all the years without having any. Just another reminder of how life changing this day would be.
“Can I see?” Phoenix asked. Her mom had spent the last several hours making this the most special day of her life.
She was glad she had her mom with her to share in her special day. Janet held a mirror out to Phoenix, and she grasped the handle and stared. It took her breath away. The person staring back couldn’t possibly be the same person who’d walked into this room several hours ago.
“You make a spectacular bride, baby girl,” Janet whispered, gently hugging Phoenix from behind.
“This isn’t me,” Phoenix whispered back, her eyes wide. They looked much bigger and brighter. Her cheeks were more defined. Her lips looked extremely kissable. The length of time it had taken was crazy, but she was glad she’d agreed.
“It’s all you, baby girl. You were already gorgeous, I just had to emphasize your pretty features,” Janet said, gently pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Go change into your dress. I need to get to my seat so I don’t miss seeing you walk down the aisle.”
Sadie walke
d in as her mother walked out, and together they put her gown on.
“We made it through this, Phoenix. And we’re both still standing,” Sadie said as they gazed in the mirror, side by side.
“We did, and I can’t believe I’m getting married,” Phoenix gasped.
“I felt the exact way on my wedding day. It was surreal. Of course, the groom almost didn’t make it,” Sadie said with a laugh.
“I would marry Jayden in a potato sack, and I wouldn’t care,” Phoenix said, love shining from her eyes.
“Who wouldn’t marry him? He did propose to you atop the highest mountain in the world and then took you on a flight through the stars,” Sadie said with a sigh.
“Yeah, that was pretty special,” Phoenix agreed, unable to keep the silly grin from her lips.
“I love you so much,” Sadie said, getting choked up.
“You’re my sister,” Phoenix replied, her own eyes filling.
“Okay, we have to stop this right now, or your mother will murder us,” Sadie said with a giggle.
“Yes, you are very correct,” Phoenix said before turning toward the door. “Where’s Dad? I can’t get married without him here.”
“Don’t worry. The ceremony isn’t starting for a little while. He’ll be here. He’s never let you down before, right?” Sadie asked.
She glanced out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. He’d promised he’d be there early. Yes, he was busy getting the country back in order, but she was his little girl, and it was a big day for her.
The door slammed open and in rushed Larry, looking as flustered as could be. His tie was hanging over his shoulder, his hair was a mess, and his usually composed face was flushed bright red. “I’m so sorry, honey!”
“You’re here. I was starting to think you wouldn’t make it,” Phoenix admitted, again fighting tears.
“I’d never miss my chance to walk you down the aisle,” Larry replied. “You look like an angel. Jayden’s a very lucky man.”