Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) (46 page)

“Don’t do it,
man.” Harper’s voice was a low warning.

“You don’t get
it. I
have
to do it,” Ky said, right before he pulled the trigger.

CRACK.

Jason’s body jerked,
and I screamed.

CRACK.

CRACK.

Ky stumbled,
knocking his chair backward.

I didn’t
understand what the hell was happening. I pulled my own handgun, but I didn’t
have anywhere to aim it.

Ky slumped on the
ground, his arms hanging uselessly at his sides, his legs sprawled in front of
him akimbo, and his chest rising and falling rapidly as he gasped for breath.
Blood stained his lips as well as the front of his t-shirt, turning fabric that
had once been faded green almost entirely crimson. He was staring past me, at
Jason.

I glanced over my
shoulder as horror knotted in my gut, a writhing, visceral feeling. Blood
streaked down Jason’s sleeve, and my stunned brain finally processed Zoe’s
words. Ky was
one of them
—a Monitor. And something had triggered him,
and he’d attempted to carry out his mission…to
kill
Jason.

If Harper hadn’t
seen
,
if he hadn’t been ready…

I shook my head,
unable to believe what was happening.

Ky was a Monitor.
Ky tried to kill Jason. Ky…my friend.

“Sorry…man,” Ky
managed to say between gasping breaths.

“I know, Ky. I
know,” Jason said. “Fuck!” There was so much hurt and rage and desperation in
his voice that it shredded my heart.

“Do it,” Ky
whispered. “Kill…me.” He let out a ragged breath, and blood bubbled on his
lips. “I won’t…stop…”

“Damn it, Ky!”
Jason shouted, finally losing the battle with his emotions. “God…”

“Oh, God,” Zoe
groaned and met my eyes. “It was me, in the stable, when I mentioned my mom…he
was listening…” Her eyes closed, and tears broke free, glistening on her
cheeks. “
I
triggered him.” She slumped lower in her chair, hanging her
head in her hands. “It was me…”

“Zo…” I wanted to
go to her. I
yearned
to go to her, just like I yearned to go to Ky. But
I couldn’t. Not yet.

“Alright, this is
what’s going to happen,” Jason said, raising his unsteady voice. “We’re going
to remain nice and calm while I explain how this extremely fucked-up situation
isn’t what it looks like. Harper didn’t just shoot Ky in cold blood.” He looked
at Harper. “Please, see if there’s anything you can do for him.”

I watched as Harper
made his way to Ky while the others exchanged nervous, confused glances.

Beside me, Jason
took a deep breath. “Here’s the truth. My
mother
”—he practically spat
the word—“is Anna Wesley, the General’s pet doctor.”

I watched the
others’ faces as he spoke, shock and horror widening their eyes, twisting their
familiar features into masks of outrage and disgust.

“The General
keeps her on a leash by dangling the constant threat of death—mine and my sister’s—in
front of her. He placed Monitors close to us, people with hidden commands to
eliminate us if she ever tried to contact us.” He paused, letting his words
sink in. “Well, she contacted us, Ky found out, and he just tried to kill me.”

“It’s…true,” Ky
wheezed, and I risked glancing down at him. He was staring at Jason, his eyes
both empty and imploring. “It’s true.”

There was a long
moment where nobody said anything. Crickets sang. Frogs croaked. An owl hooted.
But nobody said anything.

“And if any of
the rest of you are like him,” Jason said, “if any of you come after my sister
or me, I
will
kill you.” His threat hung in the air until the others
lowered their guns, and I did the same.

My eyes drifted
to Ky and Harper, and I finally got my first up-close look at Ky’s wounds. My
throat constricted, and my eyes burned with the need to shed more tears than I
already was. Ky wasn’t going to make it. I didn’t think even a transfusion of
Jake’s blood could fix him…he was just too damaged.

I felt a hand
grasp mine, and I looked to my right to see Zoe standing beside me, her face a
mask of grief that mirrored mine. I gave her hand a squeeze, then reached for
Jason’s with my left and threaded my fingers through his.

But he didn’t
look at me, didn’t tear his eyes away from Ky. His Monitor. His best friend. Who
was dying.

Ky coughed,
drawing my attention to him. His lips curved into a sorry attempt at a smile
that lasted about a second and was driven away by a grimace. When his features
relaxed once more, he stared up at Jason. “Not…your…fault…”

And then he
exhaled for the final time.

33

ZOE

MAY 28, 1AE

The Farm, California

“It
is
our
fault…it’s
all
our fault,” I breathed. Seeing Ky lying there, another
friend bloody and lifeless, was too much. “Sarah…” I closed my eyes, the image
of her lifeless body still fresh in my mind. “And now Ky…”

“What about
Sarah?” Biggs said.

I spun around to
find him standing behind me, shocked and confused, with a crying Everett in his
arms. “I heard gunshots…” As he registered the horror on my face, my regret,
his grip on Everett tightened, like he knew to steady himself for another blow.

I lost what final
shred of composure I had left, and my silent tears turned to violent sobs.
“Biggs, I wanted to tell you—”

His eyes darted
around the group; everyone was quiet, shocked and waiting. “Tell me what?”

Fists clenched
and my heart pounding emphatically, I took a step toward him. “Sarah was one of
them, a Monitor. I’m so sorry. I saw everything right before…”

His brow
furrowed. “A what?”

“She was going to
kill me—she was trying not to—right before she went into labor, but she—she
couldn’t.” I took a shaky breath. “She sent you away because she knew what she
had to do.” My chest felt so heavy, so tight, I struggled to breath.

“What the hell
are you saying, Zoe?”

I tried to swallow
back my cowardice. He needed to know, Biggs
deserved
to know. “Sarah
killed herself to protect me.”

His eyes hardened
with understanding. The burn of guilt only intensified as I watched his
features twist with anger and felt his mounting sadness all over again.

I closed my eyes
and took a deep breath, bracing myself for what might come next. As I exhaled,
I opened my eyes and said, “It wasn’t depression, I—”

Biggs glared at
Harper. “You lied to me?”

“He didn’t know,”
I croaked. “No one did but me and Jason.” Although that wasn’t exactly true,
there was no reason to share the blame. Our friends were dead because of
us
.

For a fleeting
moment, Biggs’s features softened, and I knew he was thinking about Sarah,
relieved she hadn’t taken her life because of the babies, because she’d
regretted having them. But then his eyes found mine, and I held my breath. “I
blamed myself…I blamed
them
, and it was
your
fault. You allowed
me to think—”

I let out a
choked sob and took another step closer. “I wanted to tell you, Biggs.” I let
the tears fall freely, let his anguish fill me the way it was filling him. “I
wanted to, but I couldn’t. I—”

“You could’ve,”
he growled. “You could’ve, but you didn’t.” And before I knew what was
happening, Biggs was storming back toward the house, Everett’s fussing turning
to bloodcurdling screams.

Body numb and
clumsy, I ran after him. “Biggs, please don’t—”

“Leave me alone,
Zoe!” He stomped up the stairs and flung open the screen door. “Stay away from
my children.”

I froze. “Biggs,
please…”

The screen
slammed in my face.
What’s he going to do?
When I heard him march up the
stairs, when I felt his resolve and disgust and hatred for me, I knew. Sadness
flooded through me.

Flinging open the
screen, I ran in after him. “You can’t leave, please don’t leave. We can help
you.”

Biggs ignored me
as he strode into his room, placed Everett in his crib, and pulled out his
duffel.

“Please don’t do
this. Please don’t leave. I want to help, I want to—”

“Get. Out.” He
stopped and glared at me. “I said,
get out.
”

My presence was only
making him more despondent, more outraged, so I reluctantly straightened and
backed out of his room. I wished he would listen, wished he would stay. “I
am
sorry,” I warbled. “I am so, so sorry.” Biggs was going to leave, to take
the twins, and there was nothing I could do to change his mind.

“You’ll never come
near my children again,” he said so evenly I knew it was true, and I sobbed
harder as he slammed the door in my face.

JUNE

1AE

34

DANI

JUNE 16, 1AE

The Farm, California

“I can see why
the dream freaked you out so much,” Zoe said. She was kneeling beside me in the
overgrown grass surrounding the mound of dark earth over Ky’s still-fresh
grave. A simple wooden headstone with his name and dates marked the head of the
grave. Jason was working on gathering the tools and materials needed to create
a more permanent, granite gravestone, but it would still be a while.

A couple of blessedly
quiet weeks had passed since Ky’s death and Biggs’s retreat to New Bodega with
the twins. We felt the loss of all of them deeply, but we couldn’t afford to
dwell on what was gone; we had to focus on what we still had. We had to keep
going. We were slipping into a routine of long hours and hard work that felt a
little more natural every day. The Farm wasn’t quite a
well-oiled
machine,
but it was getting there.

Thinking about
the nightmare that had left me clammy and breathing hard early this morning—a
vivid replay of me shooting the child-Crazy a few months back—I nodded to Zoe.
“I mean, I know the little girl was a Crazy and was pretty much about to rip
your face off, but…I just…” I groaned in frustration, reaching out to rearrange
our daily offering of wildflowers over Ky’s grave for the third time. “She was
barely older than Annie…and I killed her.”

Zoe took a deep
breath, exhaling slowly. I could see that it was practically painful for her
not to take over my meager efforts to create a visually pleasing pattern, but I
appreciated that she restrained herself. I needed to do this, but I was
grateful that she made time to visit Ky’s grave with me every day.

“Personally, I
like having my face,” Zoe said. “You did what you had to do to protect me when
I couldn’t protect myself.” She grabbed my wrist and squeezed. “Thank you for
doing that, D.”

I bit my lip,
then squeezed my eyelids shut and nodded once. “You’re welcome, Zo. I don’t
know what I’d do if—if—”

“I know, D. Me
too.”

I opened my eyes
and stared into hers; they were so startlingly blue, so wonderfully familiar.
“I love you, Zo.” I loved Jason with all of my heart, but in so many ways, Zoe
really was the other half that fit perfectly with my soul.

Zoe’s arms were
suddenly around me, and we were both stifling convulsive sobs. “God, D…I
couldn’t do this without you. I really couldn’t.”

I pulled away and
wiped my cheeks, not the least bit embarrassed at my impromptu display of soppy
affection. After all, what was the point of surviving the apocalypse if I
couldn’t tell my best friend how much I loved her every once in a while?

My eyes drifted
to Ky’s temporary grave marker. We’d erected one for Ben, too, right beside
Ky’s, though we didn’t actually have Ben’s body; we had his memory. At least it
was a way for the brothers to be together. They deserve that.

Zoe grabbed my
hands. “D…”

I leaned away a
little and eyed her.

“D!” she
repeated, practically bouncing on her knees.

“What?” I shook
my head, totally confused.

“You just spoke
in my head!”

I continued to
shake my head. My latest period of electricity-induced Ability burnout had proved
to be the longest yet, lasting well over two weeks. It had only just ended a
few days ago, and it had been fluctuating unpredictably since it had come back
online.

Zoe squeezed my
hands. “You said, ‘At least it’s a way for them to be together, they deserve
that’—but you said it
in my head
!
”

As I continued to
shake my head, I realized that something inside me
had
changed—I could feel her mind. I felt an enormous, wondrous
grin spread across my face. I could sense people again. For the first time in
months, I could speak to them telepathically. My Ability was fixed.
I
was
fixed!

I searched the farm
for one specific mind and found it within seconds.
“Guess what, Jason? I’m
back…”