by Cara Swann
When Ben learned from Fillinger’s security staff that Fillinger had insisted Ben be assigned as Samantha’s personal body guard, he was relieved. Some of his staff stated Fillinger must have been planning this for some time, that he’d been acting erratic, paranoid. In interviews with investigators, the staff also reluctantly revealed the abuse Olivia had suffered; that she must have had evidence in the facility. Some even said they had caught Fillinger talking to himself, as if he was conversing with his dead wife.
When Fillinger’s lawyer insisted Ben should still be hired, Ben acted as if he wouldn’t take the position at first, but then relented and accepted.
He flew to the island in July and quickly settled in, finding the little girl a sweet child. Carmilla had been at his side during the investigation, and they had continued to grow close. By Fall, he’d arranged for Carmilla to visit the island and then he proposed to her. Their wedding was to take place exactly one year after the explosion that destroyed Mountainside Infinity. His entire family, as well as Carmilla’s, and friends like Tom, were on the island the week the gamma ray burst occurred (though the public had never been warned, perhaps unknown even to the professionals). They safely made it into the extensive underground bunker, and Ben knew, at that point, that Fillinger was indeed the liar, not Olivia.
He and his loved ones, along with Samantha, were survivors – though the world they would inherit was damaged, wrecked, it was not beyond remaking itself in time. The Earth had regenerated before; it would again, as humans would too, Ben vowed as he stared at the brilliant glare in the skies above the island, watching safely from the bunker on a protected outside cam.
Life: It was worth fighting for, Ben knew, grateful that Olivia’s spirit had guided them to safe passage as future survivors of the apocalypse.
The End
Link to Cara Swann Novels