Chapter One
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Zakr, what folks on Earth would call “extraterrestrials” or “aliens”, but to us, they mean much more… their people, culture, and lands have become our home, and I’d like to think… our new family. None of us can be sure how long it has been since the inauguration, which eventually led to what could have been our ultimate demise, flinging us out into space and leaving us for dead. I still see the faces of everyone as each hour passes, watching each person come to the same conclusion about our situation and the fate that shortly lay ahead. The certainty of death has a morbid effect on every single person I’ve ever come into contact with. Some of us deny, deny, deny until the final moment, refusing to give ourselves some grace to accept our next move and attitude as we take our final breath. It is all I can control in the end. Others fight until their last breath, vowing to themselves to never give up, even in the face of imminent death. I found out at that moment I am neither. There was no conscious acceptance or fear of losing the life I had lived thus far or wanting to control the last few moments of my life. All I could think about was them… the few people in the world that mattered to me were now broken, utterly devastated by the outcome of our decisions, my decisions.
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Dex Clayton was the first I noticed… under that rough exterior, cold expressions, and genius mind filled with battle strategies, the only warmth this man ever experienced was the blood that stained the recesses of his past, has finally begun to torture his heavy heart, seeping into the soul he thought was all but gone. Ze was next; from the small amount of information I’ve gathered over our time together, she was a protector at heart. Her known history holds the opposite, impossibly brutal tasks achieved by wicked means that the common folk would never understand or, frankly, even want to entertain. I could interpret the pain in her eyes when she looked at me, but also a sense of relief, knowing that she didn’t have to continue being the mortal weapon for death. In my mind, I learned I should have been more aware of my demise, my thoughts, and what my regrets were before this life.
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My eyes became fixated on Quin as I scanned his lab coat from head to toe; I could see his eyes darting from side to side, his right foot tapping against the cold metal, and his head was parallel to the floor as his hands gripped tightly on the back of his head. It seemed like his mind was going through every experiment, study, and sacrifice made to uphold his personal conviction to question, answer, and protect the truth about the beautiful life that encompassed every corner of the Earth. Lee was the only one trying to figure out a way out of our grim situation; if there was anyone who could slow our descent into the next life, it was LJ. He’s been my best friend since High School, but is a brother to me now. I hoped he wasn’t blaming me for everything; he had every right to be because, at that moment, I remember feeling like I took a bite from the hand that feeds. Lee deserved more; he deserved a long life with family, a long life filled with people who smiled when he walked into the room and could appreciate him in a way I never could.
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As I continued to analyze, it became harder to swallow the truth, to accept it, and then forgive myself in hours, a day, if we got lucky. I hesitated momentarily, thinking about our memories together, dwelling on the fact that Alexis and I would be nothing more than what we were at this moment. I was trapped in my thoughts until she put her arm around my shoulder, laid her head on me, and gently held my hand, caressing it. In my heart, I already knew I loved her since the day we met, but I was afraid of her not loving me back, of losing someone so loving and brilliant. I suppressed feelings and forced them into submission; her presence was priceless. I actively chose to sacrifice and betray this heart of mine, but there was nowhere I could run, nowhere I could retreat for solace, so I held her hand in mine.
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“You are beautiful in all forms; you act selfless when most would act selfish; when you smile, the world slows down just enough to remind me I am better when I am with you; a world without you is one I would never want to know or wish on my worst enemy, I have nothing without you, so I have everything when I am with you, every moment we’ve had is a small piece of infinity I will tuck away and forever cherish, in this life and the next… I only wish we had more time.”
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A tear ran down her face; I could see this was not only what I felt, what I wanted, but the way she looked down, then back up at me, told me everything I needed to know. I was never one to pray, devote my time, or share my Fatih with anyone. I thought my belief in a higher power was gone, sometimes foolish even. Still, I found myself searching for that mustard seed of faith. As each second passed, the more I recited the fragmented passages I somehow knew from the Bible to this day. As the air became thinner and thinner, the room became colder and colder. Each breath was more shallow than the next until, one by one, Dex closed his eyes and slumped over; Quin was next, followed by Alexis and then Lee, leaving Ze and me as the last two standing. We both looked at one another; the silence was deafening. "Thank you…", Ze said with all of the strength she had left. "Why?" I responded. "For… giving me… another… chance." Ze laid her head on the steel bar behind her. She smiled; I saw a tear rolling down her face as she closed her eyes. I said, "You're welcome, but Ze… you have done the same for me."
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My head became heavier and heavier to hold; I could barely continue to stay conscious. I took one last look at everyone lying on the floor, and just as I closed my eyes, I heard what sounded like a vacuum sucking us even further into space. Somehow, I continued going in and out of consciousness, seeing flashes of light and purple streaks moving from left to right, right to left. I was sure this hallucination would pass in a few moments, but at the time, I mustered the last of my strength. I managed to stand on my two feet, struggling to keep balance, when I heard a gentle voice say, "It's Okay. You must rest. Your people will need you." then I took a few steps and blacked out.
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