We passed the diner from earlier in the night. Looking at it gave me the chills, which somehow transferred to Eve. Even though she was blind, she understood my emotional distress at seeing the exterior of the building and the car I’d hid in during my hallucination.
“What is it?” she asked telepathically.
“Nothing,” I answered. I pushed away the memory since it might drive her into an emotional craze.
I switched my mind back to the horde and their screams rose again. The thousands upon millions of others protested back to their original ideas. They wanted to be free from the darkness, free from the pain. I tried to share my concern, but for some reason my voice didn’t have the same echoing ability from before.
Moving closer, we approached the others. They were as close as they would get to the barrier, which was probably still a few hundred yards off. Even from this distance it was completely black.
I didn’t know how to start, but I needed to gain some control over the situation.
My eyes started to morph colors as I looked back toward the center of the city. I saw a red hue pulsate along the ground, which I assumed was the power emitting from the core. It moved through the ground, keeping objects powered. But the pulsating was slowing. It was happening. It was happening now.
“Damn it!” I screamed. There wasn’t enough time, and my shout bounded through the horde and caused a panic.
“Listen to me!” I thought. My voice fell on deaf ears now. The sound of so many screaming was too loud to hear my plea. I wouldn’t be able to get through to them now, not like this.
I thought about things for a second, how things were about to get worse, how those who needed me to handle this situation were about to be let down. And I thought of Olivia. How I ruined her life. Destroyed her future. All I ever wanted for her was the best, but I committed the exact opposite. She died, scared and alone.
A deafening quiet shook through the crowd. Millions were watching, feeling, and seemingly understanding what I was going through. I could hear some of them crying. Some chanted the name Olivia. They were sad because I was sad. It overrode their need to be free, at least for the moment.
My mind pushed further on. I thought back to the moment when the board approved the cure for more testing, even in my protest, even with all the evidence saying it was fatal to humans. The horde cowered in shame and anger. That pain ran rampant. They shook with nervousness and even a few ran to take cover from this grouping.
In my mind’s eye I could see the test tubes filled with the ‘Cure’. When I’d first discovered it, these were the only samples of the virus. I could have destroyed the samples after the first human testing. My hands shook over the button that would have incinerated all known evidence. The entirety of the horde, millions of them, felt the agony as I waivered to push the button.
“Whhhhatttssss gooooinnnnngnggggggg onnnnn!” Eve Shouted.
“Just keep watching!” my voice echoed back in my mind.
I recalled seeing the plague spread from city to city on a television set. Countless dead. The others, the ones who turned, began to slaughter all of those who remained immune. War broke out. The television showed the pure and utter annihilation that the world was going through. The horde shared in my blame, shared in my sorrow. The silence was unbroken. Now was the moment to speak.
“Listen to me,” I thought. I spoke with earnest sorrow and commanding authority. I needed them to realize what was going to happen. “We don’t need to be afraid anymore. We are one. Stay with me. And focus!” I shouted.
Only a few voices stirred, but they were drowned out in my echo.
“Stop,” I ordered those few lingering voices that tried to overthrow my command. Those who refused to quit were soon silenced.
“I’m here,” Eve moaned. She sounded near hysterical, but resolute.
“Good,” I sighed. “Now let me show you what you need.” I don’t know how I did it, but I let them see through my eyes. All at once, a million blind creatures were able to see what they’d lost. I felt the million souls linked to me, staring, gawking as if their vision was mine, and mine was theirs. We were one.
“Stay with me!” I screamed in my mind. Millions replied in one single, enduring cheer. Finally one of them was directing, and it was me. I felt connected to them like they were my children. Together we found the chains to hold us together, and we understood one another. From here on out, never again did they have to exist without a voice to guide them.
I looked at the ground. The red pulsating of the core had stopped. We felt the barrier drop throughout the crowd. Daylight started to break through the darkness. A high-pitched whine sounded deep within the center of the city, followed by something like an explosion. The core had finally run out of power. Thunder and lightning burst out as if they would only do so for one last time. The beginning of the end was underway. What happened in the next few moments was completely up to me.
Epilogue
If my memory serves me, and my math is correct, today is August 18 of 2020. As I write this it’s been a long six months since the barrier fell. A lot has changed, yet some things remain the same. There is no cure for the Alaco Virus and the transformation process still takes place on a person’s twenty-sixth birthday if they aren’t completely immune. Thus far, I am still the only one who has turned but remained physically the same.
We still are forced to live in this broken city that is still surrounded by an unending desert. Life remains difficult. Things I used to take for granted back before The Forgetting are everyday difficulties. Water especially. But even more-so with the dark walkers living among those who haven’t yet turned of age.
The transition for the “unhuman”, I just can’t call them creatures anymore, has been rough to say the least. There was a lot of fighting and warring over what many called beasts, demons, and monsters. The few dozen, out of hundreds, left Downtown refused to accept my unhumans from beyond the barrier. Instead, I led them Uptown, where fewer people lived. We carved out a niche, trying to exist without chains. It wasn’t easy for my kind to be accepted so quickly. Though they realized after a time that they were, after all, human before.
“Jackson,” a shrill little voice came calling. “What are we doing today?” I looked back. The dirty blonde-haired girl stared at me with a smile that could melt any heart.
“Give me a few, sweetheart. Then we’ll go see how our friends are doing,” I replied.
Olivia nodded in agreement and bounded out of the room.
Olivia is well, has been ever since I left her in the care of our dearly departed Susan and Kyle. That reminds me, I should at least recount for her few weeks without me. Her boldness never failed, and in fact, was the only thing that saved her life in the end. She managed to follow my tracks Downtown when I hadn’t arrived that night like I promised. She even tried her hand at the rope bridge on the highway. Thankfully, Glasses found my girl before she got the chance to take the full crossing. She had been in his care ever since. Also, Glasses is completely okay. He never really explained what happened that day down in the alleyways, but he never really had to. All I knew was that Olivia was okay, and I found my renewed vigor to exist.