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...'

smile. Her gaze took him in for one last time as if Ezra was a beautiful

in them. It was as if

force. His fists met the concrete with relentless fury, each punch shattering his own bones,

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

Just show up and I'll forgive you... don't you fucking abandon me now...' he

help was coming, Ezra's world imploded into a void of ringing silence.

as though the name itself would revive her. 'Stay with me, Ellery. We can still

her lifeless body on his back. At that moment, her weight seemed both impossibly heavy

distant, broken. 'You heard them, didn't you, El? It's

my head, biting down my

Ezra... please... stop... just

a deep breath and spoke

carrying her dead body for days... until her body started to

each shaky breath felt like it might be my last. I shut

mine to bear. It was his, and

more dead. An ominous

I called, reaching out toward the clouds of memories, as though I could somehow

Asher's hand gripped

he..." I hyperventilated. Three words exploded in my mind with

past from the present. All I knew

overcoat, my ears ringing from the deafening impact of

***

hear the events that happened in silence - in the dark, empty memories that followed. I didn't

and screeched in my mother's private office. I didn't see my mother frantically looking around at the

to suppress whatever had gotten

her home to the FA facility, as though she was running

me to see, but those memories remain in

embrace was a comfort in all the turmoil inside me, but I no longer knew if they were to hide me from the painful memories or to hide some integral memories

***

all in ruins. The walls were shattered; the ground

out of the walls walking amidst the raining embers. Flames of disasters consumed everything and everyone that

were standing on the ruined

just like my healers. Prove your worth. Go, bring Ezra home.'

fire was constantly spreading, faster

military troops diving in the fire to stop Ezra were reduced to ashes in a

swirled around Ezra like looming shadows, dancing with the flames that boiled

mutating at an alarming

is breaking

wait! It's rearranging,

read out

first time, I saw

subject body is showing a power surge. The source

is showing a rapid

assembling into the

yelled above the

body is too weak to contain the

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