Chapter-102. The Last Survivor
[Xanthea]
'We'll make it..."
Words stabbed out of Ezra's dry throat.
'We'll make it...'
His legs buckled under the unbearable weight of exhaustion and starvation, but he gritted his teeth, refusing to fall.
'We're almost there...'
His every step was a cruel punishment, as he pushed through the pain, punishing himself for his own weakness, but determined to keep going no matter the cost.
'We'll make it. Stay with me, Ellery. A little longer. A little further.'
His voice cracked, as hope and desperation bled into every word.
He had chanted the same words like prayers over a thousand times during their ten-day journey through a hell called hope.
And when they finally reached the gate, it was just the two of them - the last survivors. Everyone else had fallen.
Ezra collapsed against the gate, his breath ragged and uneven. With trembling hands, he gently eased Ellery to the ground, her back resting against the cold wall. Impatience surged through him when minutes passed, but the gate didn't open. 'We made it! We're here!' Ezra's fist slammed against the gate. 'Let us out! Open the gate!'
Ellery just stared at Ezra, her hollow eyes brimming with tears, silently begging him to stop.
'The gate... will open for... the last survivor...' Ellery mumbled, her voice barely more than a whisper.
Panic sank its claws into Ezra's dying hope, tearing it apart, but the gate didn't budge. He turned, frantic, searching for the hidden cameras, the eyes that monitored them.
'J-just take her out! I'll stay here. Help her. Please! I'm begging you...' he cried, his voice breaking as he got to his knees. Tears streaked his grime-covered face. Ellery weakly shook her head.
'Don't kneel... don't beg...' Ellery reached out to him as tears streamed down her hollow cheeks.
Scrubbing his tears away with the back of his hand, Ezra took Ellery's frail hand in his, his fingers shivering as they closed around hers.
'I'm sorry... Ezra... I-I...' Ellery took in laboured breaths.
'Don't talk. Save your energy-'
'I w-w-won't make it-'
'You will...' Ezra shook his head, refusing to accept the truth, his grip tightening around her hand as she caressed the dirt off his cheeks. 'Listen to me for once...' she smiled faintly through her tears, her chin quivering. 'You are our last hope.'
'No-'
'Live a long life, Ezra-' 'No-'
'Live for me...' Ellery struggled to breathe. 'Live for all of us... for e-everyone who couldn't make it. Ok? P-promise me... you'll live. Live a long happy life...'
him in for one last time as if Ezra was a beautiful dream she
in the wheel of time as the light dimmed in them. It was as
with relentless fury, each punch shattering his own bones, blood splattering from his fingers and knuckles on the gate. 'MOM! MOM! AHHHH!' He roared in pure, raw frustration, his voice splitting the air with a
break out of my ribcage. It was a pain I had never known, and now that I did, I couldn't endure it. Blood smeared down the walls, leaving dark trails
forgive you... don't you
world imploded into a void of
He called out in a soft voice, as though the name itself would revive her. 'Stay with me, Ellery. We can still make it.
body on his back. At that moment, her weight seemed
voice distant, broken.
my head, biting down my
do this to yourself, Ezra... please... stop... just stop now..." I choked on my
a deep breath and spoke
kept carrying her dead body for days... until her body started to
might be my last. I shut
bear. It
Ellery's dead body on his back. Eventually, his mind shut down, and he fell," Asher said, staring at Ezra's eyes peering at Ellery's dead body with eyes more dead. An ominous panic bubbled inside me,
the clouds of memories,
hand gripped mine, pulling
Three words exploded in my mind with every
process the past from the present. All I knew was the truth of the moment and it was that
clenched his overcoat, my
***
silence - in the dark, empty memories that
office. I didn't see my mother frantically looking around
everything she could to suppress whatever had
panic as she drove from her home to the FA facility, as though she was running away
see anything that Asher didn't want me to see, but those memories remain in
knew if
***
were shattered; the ground scorched black like charcoal, and everything had scattered like
walked out of the walls walking amidst the raining embers. Flames of disasters consumed everything and everyone that
and Raven, who were standing on the ruined grounds at
bring Ezra home.' Deimos urged Raven to enter the
fire was constantly spreading, faster than the
troops diving in the fire to stop Ezra
and doom swirled around Ezra like looming shadows, dancing
mutating at an
DNA is
It's rearranging, it's
read out the data loudly
saw carnal fear in
is showing a
is showing a rapid increase in negative
is assembling
yelled above
subject's body is too
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