He comforted me, and he gave me the strength to go on when I faltered. Doc saved my life so many times over the turns. I can only bear the scars, as I have always done, as I ever do. I shake my head, but I can’t change this. I consider now the cost to future progress, and the promise I made to Loras going unfulfilled. Our survival came at the cost of theirs, and they possessed brilliant, inimitable scientific minds. Pain and grief dawns in her dark eyes I can tell she gets it. Afterward, I wish I hadn’t said anything. I think our message drew them out of hiding.” There’s no way to be sure, of course, but nothing else makes sense. “The Morgut caught our signal this time,” Hit guesses, pushing upright. I can’t remember where I read it or who wrote it first, but it seems apropos. An orphaned quote stirs in my mind-wars, terrible wars, and the Tiber foaming with so much blood. I flex my fingers in the water, stunned, and watching the ribbons of red trail away. I land in the shallows of the river that feeds my mother’s water stores and lie there for a moment, my blood washing out into the current. Even at this distance, the impact sends us flying head over ass toward the fires deeper in the jungle. I don’t see them die, but I feel it in my bones. We reach the outer edges of the burning trees as the explosion rocks the hangar yard.

The light expands, swallowing the ground, leaving me with a picture of their last moments in my mind’s eye. Tears stream down my face I suspect I’m to blame. Even from this distance, I can see his resolve. Doc glances up, then takes Evelyn’s hand. “Saul, run!” They’re almost to the skiff now. Better if I hadn’t, then I wouldn’t know the collateral damage. Looking backward, I stumble, and Hit pulls me on, not looking back. “Jax!” At first, I think I’m imagining the call, but I look over my shoulder and spot Doc crossing the hangar yard, Evelyn not far behind him.

Aftermath by Ann Aguirre