Last Light Falling

by J. E. Plemons

  “You know, for years, I’ve always said my wife talked too much, but I would give every ounce of my life to hear that pretty songbird voice again,” he says with trembling lips.

  The old woman comes from the back and hands Gabe and me a bag of clean clothes to wear. “Thank you so much. You are too kind,” I say, holding her hand with admiration. “I’m Arena.” The woman looks at me and uses sign language I can’t quite make out. She points to the sky and places her hands on her shoulders, turning them out and waving them.

  “We know who you are. She says you’re an angel sent from God. News travels fast from the west. I’ve prayed every day and night that He would bring someone to deliver us from this suffering,” says the old man.

  As we leave, the man grabs my arm and says, “Wait.” He tries to hold back tears from his red, irritated eyes. “If my granddaughter was still alive today, I know she would fight with you. You keep the course, you hear? God be with you both,” he says. I’m too heartbroken to know what may have happened to his granddaughter. I try to convince myself it wasn’t anything that his wife experienced.

  I can barely hold back my emotions as I leave the store, but before I cross the metal threshold, I quickly surrender those feelings when I notice a video camera in the upper corner following my every step. I ask the old man if the camera belongs to them for security measures. He tells me that the camera was placed there by the federal government just like all the other cameras in the city. He looks at me, shocked, as if I should already know this. It makes me wonder how many cameras back home were secretly watching us. The camera gives me the creeps, so we quickly leave.

  There is a sudden commotion gathering outside, and I hear a young girl screaming for help over by the wall next to the library. She is lying next to a woman with her arms wrapped around her, but no one can understand what she is saying.

  I quickly hand Gabe the bag of clothes and tell him to meet me back at the hotel as I run over to the young girl. The woman she is embracing has a fatal headshot wound, and just then my body freezes up, leaving me a little lightheaded. At that moment, I think back to the day I held my mother’s face while she died in my arms.

  I grab the girl and pull her closely to my chest; she clinches onto me, crying out in pain. After a few minutes, her hyperventilation slows down to a few bumps of breaths, and she breathes in deeper, calming down just enough to release her claws from my arms. By the time her body soothes, a few women from the crowd come over to console the young girl.

  When I get up to leave, she insistently points to the back of the library, shouting, “He went that way!”

  “What did he look like?” I ask.

  “It was one of them,” she says, pointing toward the hole in the ground where the soldiers fell.

  I run toward the side of the library and around to the back, where the streets connect to the back alley. My adrenaline is pumping too much for me to even care if this man is armed, so I race down the alley, looking around every corner. I stop for a moment when I hear a scratching sound coming from my right side.

  Now is the time I could use Gabe’s eyes. The scratching gets louder and louder as I walk closer to the wall by the garbage bin. I slowly pull my dagger out, ready to strike whatever is making that sound. I wait for a few seconds before moving in on the target with my dagger. As I grip the blade tight, I rush over behind the bin and strike down with force into a rat the size of a cat gnawing on an apple core.

  My heart slows back down to a normal pace as I breathe out a sigh of relief. I remove the rat from my dagger, but before I can walk away, standing before me is an officer with a loaded pistol pointing directly at my head about ten feet in front of me.

  “You think you can just walk out of here alive? Killing my men like that. Well, I have a surprise for you, little girl. You are not immortal; you’re just flesh and blood like the rest of us,” he says, gawking at me with perverted eyes. “You’re a fine specimen, I admit, but can you outrun a bullet? Oh, I’m going to have my way with you whether you like it or not, you bitch,” he says, licking his lips, “and then my friends are going to take turns spoiling that young body of yours.”

  My heart pumps fast and my blood boils with rage, and if I can just get him to take one step closer, I will take him down like the rest.

  “If you want me that bad, then come take me,” I say.

  He takes a step forward and says, “Oh, don’t you worry, I’m going to …”

  I quickly block his left arm with the gun, while I pull out my scorpion dagger and thrust it into his chest, and then into his throat. I turn the knife as he falls, breaking his elbow, and pulling the gun from his stiff fingers. As he lies there gurgling on his own blood, I leave nothing left for my emotions to cling to as I stare into his dying eyes.

  I walk away, burning with ferocity, but I have to stop myself for a moment, because my rage has turned to hatred. I stare out into the darkness, shaking, and wonder whether or not if my conscience has started to wither.

  I race back to the hotel as fast as I can, but when I come rushing through the room, I only see Henry and Gabe. “Where’s Finnegan?” I ask in a panic.

  “He said he would be back shortly. He is on the roof doing some reconnaissance,” says Henry, staring aghast at my bloody clothes. “My God, Arena, you’re soaked in blood.”

  “What the hell happened to you guys when the soldiers were deployed?” I ask.

  “Finnegan and I had already left for the hotel when they were coming in. We thought you would be back here by then since it was already getting late,” says Henry. “Gabe told us about the soldiers. You better know they will bring in backup after hearing what happened.”

  “More than you know. Gabe and I spotted cameras monitoring all the store merchants, as well as cameras on the streets,” I say.

  “Finnegan and I noticed too—that’s why he’s been on the roof watching out. We stumbled on the building that houses the security for this city, but it was too risky to proceed when the soldiers showed up,” says Henry.

  “Shouldn’t be a problem now,” I say.

  “Show me where this building is,” says Gabe.

  “It’s just too risky right now,” Henry says.

  “I don’t care; we need a link to those cameras. It might help us shed some light on this city,” Gabe insists.

  “I’ll go with you,” Finnegan says as he stands by the door, listening.

  “Let me get some things out of the car,” Gabe says.

  I grab Gabe’s elbow and stare into his eyes for a few seconds with fear in my heart. “Don’t do anything stupid. You get in and out as quick as you can. If whatever you are trying to do doesn’t work, don’t force it, just get the hell out. You hear me? You run.”

  When they leave, I quickly get in the shower one more time, knowing that this might be the last hot water I will encounter. The bottom of the shower turns red as the water runs over my body. I stare down at the murky water and think about all those who I have killed. I feel somewhat ashamed of my behavior back in the alley with the officer, knowing that person was not me. I let my hatred get in the way of God’s plan and it nearly cost my life. I pray for forgiveness in the shower until the water runs cold and my toes and fingers are pruned.

  After washing my clothes, I go outside onto the balcony to let them dry out, but as I’m shaking out my pants, I look up in the sky and notice a helicopter in the distance. I wonder if that helicopter is one of many backup teams deploying to this area. I suddenly feel flush when I don’t see Gabe or Finnegan in the room.

  Just then the door slams open and it’s Finnegan rushing in yelling, “Pack up everything now, we need to get out of here.”

  “Where’s Gabe?” I ask, panicking.

  “He’s right behind me,” says Finnegan. “We have to go right now! They are sending in gas units to exterminate this city in response to the massacre.”

  CHAPTER 19

  I feel absolutely wretched inside— the lives of the people in this
city are now at risk, and it’s all my fault. I don’t think I can live with myself knowing I’m responsible for the death of thousands that innocently dwell here.

  My nerves are rattled and the adrenalin has worn off leaving me in flux for a moment. I’m not sure what to do as I stand there staring through Finnegan while he speaks to me.

  “Arena.” I hear him, but I’m too distraught to respond.

  “Arena!” he snaps more assertively. “We have to get out of here, now.”

  My mind suddenly resurfaces. “What?”

  “They have been ordered to terminate the city immediately.”

  “How do you know?”

  He shows me a portable wave radio set up he used on top of the roof to dial in the same frequencies as the aircraft.

  “Sweetheart, it didn’t take long for you to go viral.” Suddenly, I’m fixed on my brother’s absence.

  “Gabe, where’s Gabe, is he okay?”.

  “He’s fine now, a little shook up. We had somewhat of a close call,” says Finnegan.

  “Close call?”

  “We encountered two armed guards in the building, one of which shot at Gabe and nicked his shoulder.”

  “What?”

  “He’s fine, more of a scratch than anything. I shot them both, but it’s a sure bet they know we’re here now. Your brother networked a satellite link from the security monitors in the building to his laptop. We have a live feed of every camera in this city now.”

  Right then, Gabe races in the door, grabbing supplies that we may need. I stop him abruptly and tightly embrace him.

  “I’m okay, Arena,” he reassures me.

  I look down at the floor and realize I can’t be responsible for all these people’s lives. No! I will not let this happen. I may be responsible for killing in the name of our Lord, but I will not let innocent people die. Not like this. I realize tens of millions will lose their lives through this bloody war, but today we make a defining statement to this administration.

  “Gabe, what do you have for me to take this chopper out?” I ask.

  “What the hell are you talking about? We need to get out of here. This place will be non-existent in a few minutes!” shouts Finnegan.

  “I’m not going to just let these people die,” I say.

  “I’ve got a heat-sinking rocket launcher in the trunk of the car that should reach up to six hundred yards or so. And if that doesn’t work, I have plenty of explosive-tipped arrows that will be more than enough to take out a chopper,” Gabe says.

  “Get the launcher and the arrows and meet me on the roof,” I say.

  “Are you insane?” shouts Finnegan. I pause for a moment to absorb the possibility before I answer.

  “Maybe.”

  I wait on the roof for Gabe as the helicopter approaches closer to the main part of the city. The rocket launcher will be ideal, since I’m not sure what part of the city the chopper will fly over. We’re going to need long-range weapons for this. Gabe races back up the stairs and onto the roof. I take my time to aim the heat-seeking launcher and wait until the chopper is close enough to strike. We may only get one shot at this. If we’re exposed, they may prematurely release gas bombs into the city.

  Just as I steady myself, Henry yells over from the other end of the roof, “Hey, we got company!” He’s pointing down and over to the left.

  I quickly hand the rocket launcher over to Finnegan. “Here, you take the shot, I’m going to do some duck hunting over here,” I say, patting him on the shoulder.

  “Thanks, no pressure,” he says sarcastically.

  Over the edge, we spot two tanks and four large trucks carrying soldiers in from the south entrance. “Gabe! You got my quiver? Now would be a good time for those explosive tips,” I say, waiting anxiously.

  I take the first arrow out and aim for one of the trucks below. I’d rather take out the soldiers first, since they scatter like ants and are much harder to kill when spread out. My first shot is a direct hit, killing everything on board—and as an added bonus, the explosion from the gas tanks causes a chain reaction that sets off a second explosion to the truck behind it.

  I lift my next arrow, aiming for the truck behind it, but Henry yells out, “Arena! No, the tank, the tank!” They must have noticed us, because the turret on the tank rotates over and up, aiming for the roof. I quickly change my position and aim toward the tank. As I let go, the arrow pierces the tank’s armor, taking off the turret, and sending metal flying in all directions, but not before the tank gets off a shot. The side of the building where we are standing is hit, and half of the roof begins to collapse on our side, sending everything sliding downward off the edge. I leap up to the top corner to brace myself as Gabe holds my leg to avoid sliding off the roof.

  Henry’s body slides over the edge. “No!” I scream. My insides turn on me as my heart tightens up. I watched Henry die and couldn’t do anything about it. I try not to cry while the strength of my grip on Gabe weakens. I look over and see that the second tank is turning its turret toward us, but if I try and take a shot I will slide down with Gabe, but if I hang on we die anyway.

  I take my chances and release my hand from the metal flashing. I quickly pull back the arrow, and as we begin to slide down toward the edge, I release it. Before the tank gets off a shot, it explodes and sends shrapnel flying across toward one of the trucks, killing most of the men inside. I grit in pain as my hands slide across the sandpaper roof. I desperately try to cling to anything I can, but there’s nothing my hands can grip on to. I turn over and see an air vent pipe to my left. I stretch out my arm as far as I can and grab the pipe, clinging for dear life.

  As we come near the edge of the roof, the pipe I’m holding breaks and sends me sliding down further. I slowly slip down, scraping my hands across the rough shingles, but I fail to grasp onto anything worth gripping. When I turn to look at Gabe, I see that his legs are just hanging off as we begin to plummet to our demise.

  CHAPTER 20

  Just as I reach the edge with Gabe still hanging on to my foot, I scream out for Finnegan. Suddenly, the sky lights up orange in the distance, and a fireball of metal falls from the clouds. Finnegan’s successful shot destroys any chance of another nightmarish genocide, but I’m less excited about the exploding chopper now that I’m clinging ever so helplessly to the abrasive shingles for dear life. He quickly turns and scrambles toward the edge of the roof, but he is much too far away to help us, and it’s only a matter of seconds before we fall to our death.

  Suddenly, the top part of the building collapses and caves in to the rest of the floor below, leveling out the roof. With my knees hanging off, and Gabe still dangling below, I stop sliding, but my grip is not enough to carry the weight of Gabe hanging off me. I begin to slip, yelling for Finnegan to help.

  He gets a running start and leaps over the split roof onto the other side, but he only managed to clear most of the jump, missing the other side as his feet dangle and his hands grip the asphalt shingles. I slip further, trying to grab on to anything at this point. Finnegan manages to pull himself up onto the roof and quickly sprints over to me as I slip further off the edge.

  He grabs my arms just in time before I completely go over, and pulls with all the strength he has left. As my chest clears the edge, I pull my leg up and over, which gives me some leverage now to help pull Gabe up, who is still clinging to my other leg. With extreme exhaustion, I hang on to Finnegan’s grip as long as I can until Gabe finally pulls himself up far enough to roll over onto the rooftop edge. We lay there for a few moments until the level of carbon dioxide decreases in our bodies as we struggle to catch our breath. The only thing that persuades us to get up and move is the creaking of the roof moving.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” pants an exhausted Finnegan.

  The roof slightly shifts, so we quickly, but carefully, move toward the rooftop door and race down two flights of stairs.

  The room trembles like an earthquake for a few seconds as we pack up our thing
s. When it stops, we look at each other in silence, knowing what is about to happen.

  “Go now!” Finnegan shouts. By the time we get to the third floor, the roof caves in and breaks through the floors above. As we race down the stairs, dust fills the air, and the debris from the crushed sheetrock falls down on us. We manage to get to the first floor and out through the lobby when the entire right side of the building collapses. We sprint out to the car, jump in, and take off right when the entire building comes crumbling down. I look back at the massive wall of dust from the wreckage and sink down into my seat, knowing that Henry is no longer with us.

  “I’m so sorry, Henry,” I say as I put my hands on my face and my head in my lap.

  “Sorry for what?” asks Henry, popping up out of the back seat. I turn around and scream in shock to see him still alive.

  “You’re alive!” I shout. “Why are you all wet?”

  “I fell down into the pool below when the side of the building was shot. A tree branch slowed me down a little before I plunged into the icy, cold pool. I’m just glad there was water in it,” says a shivering Henry.

  We travel about fifty miles outside of the city until we find an old state park that has been abandoned for some time. Maintenance has been neglected for many years, and grass and tall weeds cover the entrance and most of the inside. Before it gets too dark, we decide to drive as far as we can up to the top of the hill to set camp. It’s secluded enough to make a fire without being seen, and there is enough wild game to hunt when we get hungry.

  I lay my clothes out on a nice flat rock near the flames to finish drying them out while I go exploring near the tops of the tree line that overlooks the vast valleys below.

  I sit upon the hill, pondering our recent escapade, and enjoy the ever-changing colors in the sky during civil twilight. It’s moments like this that remind me to thank our Creator for such a glorious snapshot of His power. Many of us have become what we despise, yet in the midst of our struggles when we least deserve His Grace, we are instantly humbled and transformed by the beauty of His love. I take in every minute of His wonder illuminating above as I rest my head against a padded branch and rest.