by T. C. Edge
“Chloe! Chloe!”
“Jeez,” Chloe said, lurching uneasily down the passage. “I’m…right here.”
Both of them swept straight forward at that, gobbling her up into a three-way embrace.
“You’re awake! Honey, you’re awake!” said Nadia.
“Yeah…” croaked Chloe. “Er…I can barely breath, Nadia.”
“Oh, right.”
Nadia drew back, eyes covered in a watery sheen, lips split wide by a beautiful smile. Tanner’s expression was no less fetching.
“You look…happy?” Chloe said. “What have I missed?” She glanced to the door, seeing the lineup of planes and jets outside.
“It’s over,” beamed Nadia, those gleaming eyes accumulating a couple of larger droplets, ready to trickle. “We won. It’s over.”
“The facility? It’s…”
“No more,” grinned Tanner, mimicking an explosion with his hands. “Just a wreck at the bottom of the lake.”
Chloe felt a muted feeling of relief at that. It took a moment to realise the grander meaning. The data gone, the threat of the synthetics…over.
And…Ragan…
“Ragan!” Chloe said, voice coming to life. “He’s…
“Fine,” said Tanner immediately. “Just fine. Not a scratch on him…”
“Where is…I need…” Chloe’s words heaved up her throat with some difficulty, as if too big to get through.
She gave up on words and began moving for the door, the sun outside doused now, suggesting the morning and afternoon had passed, and night was on its way. How long had she been out? Hours. Not days, surely?
She stumbled a little as she went, her entire body feeling empty. She’d felt effects like this before, but never this extreme. She’d expelled every last vestige of energy from her body during that attack. That attack that…killed a synthetic.
Did she? Did she really do that?
She reached the door, stepping weakly down the ramp into the low glow of the setting sun. A shadow, drawn long across the earth due to the descending light, appeared before her. She looked up, and found a silhouette there, the shape of the man she loved.
“Ragan,” she whispered, all but falling to her knees.
Ragan flooded towards her, scooping her up into his arms. He hauled her into a devastating kiss that threatened to have her swooning into unconsciousness once more. But it was his hug that said more, a tight grasp that stated unequivocally, I’m never letting you go.
Please don’t, Chloe thought. Please don’t ever let go.
A hundred questions bloomed in Chloe’s head, but suddenly none of them seemed to matter. What else did she need to know? The facility was destroyed, Ragan was safe. The rest was just…details.
“I heard what happened,” Ragan said, still holding her tight, a crimson glow spreading across the plains around them. “You killed one of them.”
“I…yeah. I don’t know what happened. I just expected to hold him off.”
Ragan took Chloe’s face into his palms.
“You were going to sacrifice yourself,” he said. “To save the others.”
“I…”
He kissed her again.
“It’s things like that,” he said, “that make me love you.”
Love. That word again, the four letters that had such an impact, swelled her heart, caused her skin to burn and blush and glow brighter than the setting sun.
She grinned, her weary body held up by his strong arms, and glanced beyond him. There were people there, gathered between the jets. Lots of them. Children, families, the residents from the facility. And the others, the soldiers who’d completed their mission, and those who’d escaped from Cincinnati; President Rashmore, General Linklater, Colonel Slattery.
And…Martha Mitchell. Yes, she was there too, in her blue coat, trailed by her two large bodyguards. And clasped to her hand, a little girl. A beautiful blonde girl.
“Sarah,” she found herself whispering.
Ragan pulled away and looked back.
“She started all this really, didn’t she,” Chloe said, thoughtful. “It’s funny. How such pain and terror can some from something so…innocent.”
“She’s a sweet girl,” Ragan said softly. “And Martha…you can see it in her eyes, the conflict. I feel sorry for her. She’ll carry the burden of this forever.”
Maybe she deserves it, Chloe almost said, though didn’t. Maybe that was true, but how could she possibly judge Martha for seeking to save her daughter? She couldn’t possibly know what you’d do to save the person you loved most…
Then she looked at Ragan, and imagined that she’d do a lot to save him. Or Nadia, or Tanner. And she barely knew them, not really, not like a mother knew, and loved, her daughter. No, she wouldn’t judge Martha. She was just another victim of all of this, and she’d suffer for it from the rest of her life.
“What will happen to her now?” Chloe asked, looking on as Martha began speaking with the stricken crowd.
“I…don’t know, honestly,” said Ragan. “It’ll take time to untangle this mess.”
“And…the other synthetics? How many are left?”
“They won’t be a problem now,” Ragan told her. “You showed us the way, Chloe.”
“What, hit them with strikes of lightning? That’s not too easy to arrange, Ragan.”
Ragan smiled.
“We’ll figure it out.” He inspected her closely. “Do you know what did it? Killed him?”
Chloe shook her head, too weary to try to work it out.
“That chip you saw in Cal’s head when Remus analysed him,” he said. “It wasn’t for enhancing their senses and mental acuity. It was a failsafe. Martha confirmed it to me. They all had them inserted into their heads in case they went rogue.”
The truth dawned on Chloe, the pieces coming together.
“I…triggered it,” she said, breathing out. “It was an explosive charge.”
Ragan nodded, smiling.
“I guess they didn’t realise that they could be activated by a powerful surge of electricity. Unfortunately, that’s not easy to replicate, and the ‘normal’ way of triggering them was just blown up back at the facility. But…”
“Don’t tell me you want me to go out hunting them,” Chloe said. “At least let me have a good night’s sleep first.”
“No,” Ragan laughed. “I’m not letting you near one of them ever again.”
“Not letting me? Don’t tell me you’re going to be one of those boyfriends.”
Ragan grinned at the word, a hint of a blush appearing behind his thickly stumbled cheeks.
“Not that I know anything about what boyfriends are meant to do,” Chloe went on, covering her own sense of awkwardness at discussing the topic.
Boyfriend. Chloe hadn’t thought that possible anymore. They were like unicorns or dragons. Mythical things that didn’t really exist.
“Cal is adamant that he be the one to hunt them anyway,” Ragan said. “I’m inclined to see what he can do. Best to let him have that distraction…” He trailed off, eyes glancing away.
“What?” asked Chloe, noting a hint of evasiveness in Ragan’s expression. She knew something was off about Cal, something familiar about him.
Cal…she thought. The name even sounds familiar.
And then, like a spark of light in the night sky, it hit her.
Mikel. Cal was…Mikel!
Her eyes widened at the thought, the realisation. Ragan seemed to realise. He lifted his finger straight to his lips, and then looked pointedly towards the falcon. Nadia and Tanner were sitting on the edge of the opening, Tanner’s arm over her shoulder, talking quietly.
Chloe almost melted at the sight. They looked so cute together.
But no…Mikel!
She turned back to Ragan with a fiery expression, and he swiftly drew her a little away. The others didn’t seem to notice, besotted as they appeared to be.
“Jeez, Ragan. It is Mikel,” Chloe hissed. “Cal is M
ikel.” She repeated, shaking her head, as if praying for Ragan to tell her otherwise.
“Yes,” Ragan said.
“Where is he?” Chloe asked, eyes turning for the large gathering between all the jets. She scanned, but couldn’t spot the annoyingly handsome synthetic face. A monster like Mikel didn’t deserve to have a face so nice.
“He’s not here,” Ragan said. “He’s already left. Cincinnati, I think…”
“What! You just let him go?”
“I couldn’t exactly stop him, could I? The man does what he wants now, Chloe. You know what he’s become.”
“Ragan, he did…that to Cliff,” Chloe whispered harshly, nodding over her shoulder at the couple by the falcon. “And you…” She looked at his chest. “He stabbed you, killed your friends. Hell, he almost ate me! You’re going to let that go? And what about all the other innocent people he’s…”
“He saved my life, Chloe,” Ragan said, voice low.
Chloe started.
“He…what?”
“It’s true,” Ragan said. “He saved me out there today. I’d probably be dead if it wasn’t for him. I…I know this sounds weird, but I don’t think he means us harm anymore.”
“And you believe that?” Chloe scoffed. “His mind changes like the wind, that one. None of us will ever be safe while he’s alive, you know that.”
Ragan drew a long breath, and then began to nod.
“I know,” he said softly. “And I do want him dead still. But…I couldn’t stop him leaving. And, I didn’t want Tanner knowing. He’d only get himself killed. And Nadia would go with him. Look at them, Chloe. They look happy. I don’t want to ruin that.”
Chloe grumbled as she gazed over at them, utterly adorable as they sat there, smiling, chatting, flirting like teenagers.
Very clever, Ragan. Using their happiness like that…
“Maybe you’re right,” she admitted eventually. “But if he comes after us…”
“Then we kill him,” Ragan said. “You kill him.”
“No pressure, then,” Chloe muttered. “I guess Remus knows all about him now.” She looked over at Remus, still reclining lazily on her shoulder. “Right buddy. You can track him for us if we want to take him out?”
Remus nodded, flapping silver wings.
“There you go, then,” Ragan said, grinning at the drone. “We let Mikel hunt the others, and then we take him out after. Deal?”
He raised his eyes, hopeful, and spread out a hand.
“Very formal,” Chloe murmured.
She reached out and took his hand, and Ragan pulled her right in for a kiss.
Not so formal, Chloe swooned, knees weakening.
They stayed like that for a little while, doused in the red of the setting sun. A light breeze fluttered past them, bringing natural, earthy scents their way. Chloe breathed in deep; the open air, the sprawling lands, the beautiful man before her. She wanted to remember this moment, this perfect moment.
Yes, they’d suffered losses, endured much pain. But this moment was of its own, a single snapshot in time that Chloe wanted to recall forever. Revisit when she was feeling low. Step back into during her dreams.
The setting sun. The ramblings lands. Her friends cuddled up nearby. And the man - her man - Ragan Hunt, in her arms. And on her lips.
Perfect.
Eventually, they drew apart, the spell broken. Chloe settled next to Ragan, leaning against his strong frame, head to his chest as they gazed out over the jets, the people, the future.
Chloe could see Rashmore, Linklater, Slattery, and others in conference. Martha Mitchell was even there, representatives from the NDSA, WSA, and MSA. Only the Southern Republic seemed absent of a voice. Surely, soon, they’d be brought in. Surely this was just the beginning…
“What do you suppose they’re talking about?” Chloe asked, looking on.
“What happens next, I guess,” Ragan said. “This could be the start of something important, you know. This meeting out here on the plains, here on neutral ground. Perhaps this is where the future of this continent begins. A new page turns…”
“And…us?” Chloe asked, gazing into Ragan’s bright blue eyes. “What now?”
“Now, we live,” Ragan smiled, his eyes lit so wonderfully. “We live free.”
Free, Chloe thought. Free from running. Free from hiding.
She pulled Ragan into a longing kiss.
Free…to build a future, together.
And together, they clasped hands, and returned to their friends. Excited to see where their new lives, and adventures, took them.
THE END
What’s Next?
Thanks for much for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
At the moment, there are no plans to continue the story from this point. However, you never know what the future might hold!
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Also by T. C. Edge
THE ENHANCED SERIES (MAIN SERIES):
The Enhanced (Book One)
Hybrid (Book Two)
Nameless (Book Three)
Assassin (Book Four)
Captive (Book Five)
Renegade (Book Six)
Invader (Book Seven)
Avenger (Book Eight)
Defender (Book Nine)
Nemesis (Book Ten)
Sequel (to main Enhanced series, and Warrior Race series):
The Enhanced: Awakening
The Enhanced: Conquest
THE WARRIOR RACE SERIES (ENHANCED UNIVERSE):
The Warrior Race (Book One)
The Red Warrior (Book Two)
Angel of War (Book Three)
CHILDREN OF THE PRIME SERIES:
The Chosen (Book One)
Trial of the Chosen (Book 2)
Blood of the Chosen (Book 3)
March of the Chosen (Book 4)
War of the Chosen (Book 5)
OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR:
THE WATCHERS SERIES:
The Watchers Trilogy:
The Watchers of Eden (Book One)
City of Stone (Book Two)
War at the Wall (Book Three)
The Watchers Trilogy Box Set
The Seekers Trilogy
The Watcher Wars (Book One)
The Seekers of Knight (Book Two)
The Endless Knight
The Seekers Trilogy Box Set
THE PHANTOM CHRONICLES:
The Last Phantom (Book 1)
Phantom Hunter (Book 2)
Phantom Legacy (Book 3)
Phantom Unleashed (Book 4)
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