Derailed - 13. Choices

Chapter 12

I was lying on the ground, watching the shadowed men stand over my mom’s lifeless body. I was screaming in my head, but completely helpless to change it, no matter how much I longed to. All I could do was watch. The first of the men stepped forward and reached down to touch her face. It was over she was gone. It was then that I saw her face look directly at me and a total fear took over as a twisted, almost unnatural smile crossed her lips.

“You FAILED me.”

The words were knives to my heart, tearing it open. The second of the shadowed figures approached me, my heart and mind still in total turmoil over what was just said. My vision blurred and I now found myself on the truck, Seth’s beautiful eyes staring into mine as we shared our first kiss... and our last. And just as before, I heard a shot fired and I watched as those eyes became lifeless. His body left my hands and fell from the truck, to the ground below, causing my heart to ache again.

“NOOOOOOOOO!!” I scream, but nothing happened; I had no power here.

“You've learned nothing have you? First me, then your Boyfriend.”

‘No! This is impossible!’ I thought to myself, but as I turned to look in the truck, there she was, my mother was standing there. Everyone else was gone.

“You really are pathetic, you know that?” The words now came from Seth, who had reappeared in the truck he had fallen from a few seconds ago. Their words killed me a little bit more each time I repeated them to myself.

“HOW MANY OF US ARE YOU GONNA LET DIE BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?” I heard Seth scream at me, as I fell to my knees with tears flowing freely.

“Ohhhh look, the little baby's crying. You want mommy to come and make you feel all better? Oh wait, I can’t because my sorry excuse for a son was too weak to save me!” My mother sneered at the sight of my weakness. Never in my life had I felt so horrible, as the two most important people in my life verbally destroyed me.

“I'm sorry, God, please forgive me! I’m so sorry. I tried to save you I really did!” I sobbed in my hands before looking up, but my mother and Seth were now gone. In their places my mother’s killers now stood; their faces still covered by the memory wipe.

“You still are completely clueless.” And with that they reached down for me, grabbing me by both arms and dragging me kicking and screaming to the edge of the truck. And with one good push I felt my body falling further and further down as the truck disappear and the two of them continued to laugh.

“AHHHHHH!” I bolted upright in the small bed I had made in the tent. My body completely drenched in sweat. My heart was pounding almost out of my chest, to the point I felt it necessary to put my hand up against it to make sure it stayed in place. I sat there a few seconds, allowing my breathing to return to normal. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that I saw Mark standing outside of my tent watching me; a look of concern told me that he must have seen enough to know it had been a rough night.

“You need to come to my Lab. Something important come up, Corbin's orders.” And with that he left me to my thoughts. I was relieved that he wasn’t going to press me on details, because I really wanted to try to do everything in my power to forget it. I rubbed my eyes a few times to help them adjust and finally focus. Then, without even thinking, I stuck my hand out for my shoes, but got no response. I looked over to see them wobble a little bit from their position, but nothing more than that.

I still would sometimes forget that my power was no longer functioning and I now had to resort to doing everything manually. I had never realized how much I came to rely on it.

I grabbed my shoes and finished getting dressed in a hurry; something about the tone in Mark’s voice told me it wasn’t just my dream that had him worried, and the fact the Corbin had order everyone there made me feel even more uneasy. Corbin had, for the most part, been absent since Seth’s death. He barely said more than a few words to any of us. Even Andrea, who we all knew meant more to him than the world, couldn’t seem to really get through to him. So whatever it was, to bring him out of it, must be major.

All the lights in the station were still turned off and most of the refugees were still sleeping so I knew right away it must have still been very early in the morning. It was so dark that I almost stepped on a few sleeping bodies as I tried to make my way to the stairs. Up at the top I could see the faint glow of lights coming from Mark’s lab.

I didn’t even make it up the stars when I heard Mark’s voice coming from the lab. “Corbin, please listen; you’re not think through this clearly. You don’t know what you may be walking into. If what I’ve been hearing is true, then things are worse than we ever imagined.” It sounded almost like Mark was pleading with him.

I got to the doorway and inside the lab I could see Mark sitting in a chair beside a large screen. Andrea was sitting in the corner running her fingers through Bruiser’s hair, who was sitting on the floor by her legs, almost half asleep, still tired from having been woken up so early. On the other side, Adrian was leaning up against a table, biting on his thumbnail. He looked so completely serious and lost in thought; a dramatic change from his usual carefree demeanor. Finally I saw Corbin, who looked like he hadn’t slept in days, pacing back and forth. The level of stress was absolutely visible on his face. Mark was right; whatever was happening was serious.

“Cameron, you’re finally awake,” I heard Andrea say as she got up and came over to hug me. As she did, I heard her voice in my ear, “Mark told me you’re not sleeping very well. If you want to talk about it later, I'm always here for you.” And with that she uncurled her arms from around my neck and my face turned a shade of pink. 'Great, that’s just what I need... everyone to know.'

“So is anyone going to tell me what's going on?” I looked around but no one seemed very eager to speak up. Instead, we all stood there in silence as the tension in the air between us grew thicker and thicker. I looked once again to Adrian who looked almost visibly shaken. This was not the same joker I had known for the past ten years.

“Play it for him,” Corbin said, as he stopped pacing a few feet from where Mark was sitting. Mark looked back at him, almost reluctant. But finally, after a sharp look from Corbin, he turned his attention back to the monitor.

After fumbling with the keyboard for a second or two, the screen came to life. I couldn’t see anything at first accept a blank black screen, but in the background I could hear large amounts of noise and some yelling. It sounded almost like a war going on. After a few moments of unrecognizable noise, I heard a voice speak up as the picture focused to reveal Tim's face staring into what was apparently a camera. He was in a small, dimly lit room with graffiti covering the walls on the far side. In the middle of the wall was a door. Shoved up against it was what appeared to be a dresser and a bed, no doubt Tim’s attempt at a barricade. But from the sound of things, it wouldn’t hold for very long.

“I don’t know how much time I have. They’ve already broken into the house.” He looked down, away from the camera. He looked as though he had aged 13 years in the 3 months since we last saw him. My heart was beating almost as fast as it had this morning. I could only half believe what I was seeing. The last time any of us had seen Tim, he was being dragged away. A million questions began running through my mind in rapid succession. Could he have possibly escaped? Where had he been all this time? And the biggest question of all, was he still there? After a few silent sobs, Tim looked back up at the camera, looked back up at the monitor, his eyes coated with fresh tears.

“I saw what happened to Seth. They’ve been looping footage of it on the news. I guess as a warning to anyone else. I guess the warning must have spread pretty far. I got a message a few days ago... word has gotten back to Dante.” The tears that had been held up in his eyes finally began to fall, as he looked away once again for a second. I could hear more and more voices coming from behind the door. Tim looked over his shoulder then back. Now more frantic to tell us what he needed to. “He’s decided that it’s too dangerous to continue. He ordered one last ship to come and pick everyone up. It’ll be there in one week.

I’m sorry, but it’s over... we’ve lost.

And with nothing else to say, the video cut out and the monitor was blank once again. The words seemed to linger in the air as what he said brought the realization of it all to the forefront. 'We've lost.' But no matter how many times I said it to myself, I couldn’t accept it.

“That can’t be it. I mean, what are we suppose to do, just pack up and leave? And what about Tim? He’s still out there!” Adrian finally had spoken up. He sounded almost desperate in his speech, as if he already felt he had lost this argument before it started.

“Don't you understand what’s happening? Our cover is blown! They’re going to be looking for all of us in every corner of the city. It’s not like we can just sneak in,” Andrea said, leaving Bruiser’s side, who had now woken up and was rubbing his eyes.

“Not to mention we have to look at all the possibilities here.” I looked to see Mark, who was still staring down at his keyboard. He spun around now, looking at all of us. “What if this is playing right into their hands? What if they want to lure us out? What if Tim is bait?”

“What are you suggesting, Mark?” Adrian said with a true hint of anger at his voice. We all knew exactly what Mark was getting at. It was the same thing in the back of all our minds, but none of us could bring ourselves to actually say it out loud.

“We have to consider the possibility that he’s been compromised and we can’t risk ourselves on a betrayal.” The words hadn’t even finished leaving his mouth before Adrian was across the room, grabbing Mark by the collar of his lab coat. It took both me and Corbin to pull him off, but he was absolutely livid with Mark at this point and he was trying with every fiber of his being to get to his target. “Let him go,” Mark said with a calm expression on his face. As he swiftly removed his glasses and shoved them in his coat pocket. Without hesitation Corbin and I did as we were told and loosened our grip. In a bolt, Adrian cleared the distance between him and Mark, and with solid swift swing, cracked him in the face with a deafening Thud! Mark stumbled back a few feet before grabbing onto a nearby table to keep on his feet. Adrian, whose chest was still pulsing from his anger, just watched as Mark forced himself to stand upright again.

“Look, I understand that this is your brother, but you have to understand the danger going up there now would pose on all of us,” Mark said, fishing his glasses back out of his pocket. He smoothed out his lab coat before finally returning his attention to Adrian. “Besides, we don’t even know if he’s still there.

“But we have to try.” The words came from Corbin, who had remained silent up until now. “Tim’s been a member of our team and our family for as long as I can remember. Just because he hasn’t been down here with us doesn’t mean he’s any less important. It's no different than if any one of us were up there. But Mark is right; it’s too dangerous for all of us to go.” Corbin walked to the far side of the lab and stared out the glass at the stairs leading down to the trains. He didn’t say a word to any of us. He was debating something with himself, that much was obvious. We all just waited as our leader made his choice. Andrea already had her hand on Mark’s now swollen cheek, trying to undo some of the damage caused by Adrian, who had begun to replay the tape left by Tim. Deciding to join him, I sat down and began to watch it with him. It was a few moments before he finally spoke.

“He’s not really my brother, you know. We grew up at an orphanage together. We were each others’ only friend, so after a while we just told everyone we were brothers. I got my powers real early on in life. At 6 years old I could disassemble anything you could throw at me and put it back together without even knowing what I was really doing. Most of the care takers there just thought I was gifted. It wasn’t until years later they began to suspect. One of the elderly care takers had cancer in her right lung and one day I just happened to sense it.” He kind of laughed to himself as he looked down at the floor and began shuffling his feet. “I bet you thought I could only see what was wrong with machines, didn’t you?” he asked, not really looking up at me. “Well needless to say, she went bat shit insane, telling me how horrible it was for me to say something like that. That was until a week later when she got the diagnosis from her doctor. It funny, most people in her situation would have been so grateful that they were warned early on, but not her. She was absolutely furious with me. She began sneaking behind everyone’s back and beating me every chance she got. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear she blamed me for it.”

The recording ended again, but the two of us were in no hurry to rejoin the rest of the group. So instead, Adrian just hit the replay button and Tim's message began again. “One night when the other kids were sleeping, she came and got me out of my bed. She must have been drinking real heavy that night; you could smell the damn stench on her breath. She dragged me into the bathroom and I knew then something was up, because she had already filled the tub with water. I didn’t even have a chance. She grabbed my head and forced my face down in the water. I felt like I was in there for years, and I knew at any second that was it. I was gonna die. But then I felt her grip ease and my head came up. One of the other care takers had walked in on her... or at least she thought they had. She ran out of there screaming.”

“It was Tim, wasn’t it?” I asked, but as soon as I did, I wished I hadn’t. The mention of his name hurt too much for him to bear and I could see the pain in his eyes.

“That was the first time he ever showed me his power. We knew that she would figure out what happen sooner or later, so we both ran away together that night. We spent a few years on the streets, just taking care of each other. That was, until Dante found us and took us in. I wanted nothing to do with the smugglers, but Tim wanted so bad to help people, I guess he got some kind of a thrill out of it, and I owed him so much. He had saved my life so many times that I agreed, if anything happened, to just to stay with him, which is why it broke my heart when he agreed to become a collector. Every day I would sit and worry about him, but I knew if anyone could keep out of their reach, it was him.” I watched as he got up and left Mark’s lab. He stopped just outside the doorway before finally lighting up a cigarette and taking a long drag on it.

“Mark, I want you to trace where the message came from.” Corbin had made his decision and by the look on Andrea's face, it was one she didn’t agree with.

“Corbin, please, you can’t possibly be considering taking everyone back up there!” she yelled, her face becoming flushed as fear already began to set in.

“Mark's right, it’s too dangerous for all of us to go up there, that why I’m going up alone.” This statement only fueled Andrea’s panic more, her eyes grew wide as his words reached her ears.

“You cannot possibly be serious, what you’re suggesting is suicide! You are a wanted man. They will kill on sight! Do you not realize this?” Mark was trying his best to reason with him, but Corbin wasn’t having it; his mind was made up.

"Good. Then who better to take on a suicide mission than someone who can’t die?” He looked at both Mark and Andrea, but neither one of them looked very amused by his reasoning. “Look, I've made up my mind; I’m going to do everything I can to find him and bring him home. Now please, I need your help.” He had a more serious tone as he looked at Mark. And Mark knew that he would be going with or without his or Andrea's blessings. And without Mark's help it would be all that much harder. So with no more to say, he turned to his computer and began tracing the message.

“SO THAT’S IT THEN, HUH? YOU’RE JUST GONNA GO! GODDAMMIT, CORBIN, IT’S NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO GO AND GETYOURSELF KILLED!” Andrea was screaming now. It was obvious she’d had all she could take “HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL EVERYTIME YOU LEAVE... EVERYTIME ANY OF YOU LEAVE, HAVING TO WONDER IF THIS IS THE LAST TIME I’M GOING TO SEE ANY OF YOU?!? DO YOU EVEN GIVE A DAMN HOW YOUR CHOICES AFFECT US? BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T, THEN YOU’RE A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A LEADER!

The words hit Corbin like knives as I saw him turn from Andrea and clench his fist. “How do you think I feel? I’m supposed to protect all of you and keep you all safe, but I've failed so many times, I've made so many mistakes. But now I have the chance to fix one of them and you’re asking me not to take it?” He began to walk to the entrance of Mark’s lab. He got a few feet from the door before turning to face all of us who were left without words to say. “I need all of you to prepare yourselves. The ship arrives in one week and you all need to be ready... If I’m not back by then, all of you are to leave without me. That’s an order.” Having nothing left to say on the matter, he left.

I looked over to see Andrea, now in full blown tears. As she cried into her hands, I wanted so much to be able to just comfort her and tell her everything would be OK. But we both knew how much of a lie that was. There were no reassuring words to be had at this point and even if there were, she wouldn’t be willing to hear them. It had never occurred to me just how hard this was on her. It’s one thing being out there in danger, but another to be stuck back here with nothing to do but worry. I could see there was nothing I could do for her at this point, so I figured it best to leave her and let he sort out her emotions for a while.

I couldn’t take it anymore; the tension in the air was becoming too great. I needed to get away and clear my head for a bit. It was like everything I had grown up with, and what had simply become normal for me was being pulled out from under me. Could it really be possible to just give up and run? And what happens then, were we expected to just live our lives hiding in some remote part of the world? Xaven was a temporary solution and everyone knew it, we were all just too afraid to think of what came next. Eventually they would find us and then what were we suppose to do?

I made my way over to the destroyed passenger car. Since the refugees began adding names to the walls, there was almost no room left. Everyone had so many people close to them who would have been forgotten otherwise. Since then, it had become the one place I felt I could really clear my mind, and now the thoughts of leaving it here only made me sadder. Would it and all the names it carries just be forgotten?

As I got closer, I noticed that my sanctuary already had a familiar face in it, it wasn’t that someone was in there, but rather, it was who was in there that confused me. I ran to the door to confirm what I had seen.

“I didn’t think you ever left your cave.” I said, looking at Magashi, who was sitting towards the back. I saw his gray eyes meet mine and, for once, I didn’t see a complete cool and collected calmness. For the first time he looked as though something was bothering him.

“Perhaps I felt I needed a slight change of scenery. This is quite a display you have here,” he said, looking all around the train at the names and dates. “So, has Corbin already left?”

“How did you...?” but I already knew better than to ask, knowing everything that went on was always just a part of who he was. I walked over and sat a few seats in front of him. It was weird talking to him someplace other than the tunnel he had used to train us. Like seeing a fish swimming in mid air, it just didn’t seem to fit right.

“He’s leaving in a few minutes.” As I told him, he didn’t really seem all that distressed by the news. Maybe he had more confidence in Corbin than we did. “Is it true? Have things really gotten as bad up there as people say they have?” I asked, but was afraid to hear the answer.

“Fear is a powerful tool; it’s been used to justify evil acts for a very long time. I can feel it in my heart. The world is becoming more and more fearful of us every day. I’m not worried how bad it is, what worries me is how bad it'll get before it changes.”

Do you think things will change? Sometimes I feel that people will never change. And that we’re going to be stuck fighting and running forever.” I closed my eyes and began trying to picture a better world, free from the hatred and intolerance I had come to know and, somehow, anything different just didn’t seem possible.

“Things always change eventually, Cameron. It’s been proven time and time again throughout history. What you should instead wonder is will they change for the better?” He let his words just hang in the air for a moment before getting up from his seat. He walked to the front of the car and paused for a minute. He spoke again, this time not even turning to look at me. “A storm is coming, that much is certain, and with it, change will most certainly come too. And if things do end up worse, you should never lose hope. After all, things always get better before they get worse.” He stepped off the car, just leaving me there to stew over my thoughts. The one thing that worried me more than anything now was uncertainty. Uncertainty about the future, the world, my friends.

I got up and began pacing the floor walking up and down the aisle between the seats. For once in my life I don’t know where to go next or what my next task would be. Then it hit me, like flashes of lightning. The intensity of it all was enough to send me staggering to the floor. Images of my mother and two unknown figures standing over her. 'God not again, enough already!' And with the images, the voice began to make its presence known as well.

“Find the Truth, all is for naught without it!” It was pushing harder and harder now and I felt a searing pain growing and growing inside my head. It felt like knives, wrenching and twisting over and over inside my skull, as more images of me and my mother in the car were sent racing past me, the car crash the fight between her and Corbin, her friend Joseph and him running. And with each consecutive memory, the pain became all the more intense. I was now on my knees hunched over holding the sides of my head as if it would burst apart without my hands holding it together.

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?” I screamed out at the top of my lungs, desperate for an answer. The response I got was more images being flashed... but not the same ones as before. New images that I had never seen before; images of men in white lab coats all running back and forth through a solid white room. They were all yelling back and forth to each other, but I couldn’t hear anything. It was as if I was watching the movie on mute. It was then that the scientists disappear and I was shown an image of a single red rose, laying in some kind of glass enclosed container. Then images of soldiers shooting the same men in the lab coats. One by one they were all taken out. But right before the soldiers could make their way to the rose, a bright flash of solid white light filled the room. It was so intense that I was completely blinded by it. It took a second for my sight to finally return, but when it did, all I saw was an image of the same rose, now dead, and standing behind it was the only remaining man in white. He had a look on his face of total triumph, as if he had just made one of the greatest discoveries of all time. A second later he was being dragged out of the lab by the soldiers, but even then he looked absolutely thrilled with himself. It was then that I heard the voice speak up yet again.

“I need you to find what you mother had learned... I need you to save the world.”

“I don’t understand; this makes no sense. What does this have to do with my mother?” But I got no answer. The voice was gone, along with the images. I felt the pressure in my head ease up as I pulled myself into a seat. I sat there for a minute or two trying to make sense of what I had seen. How could my mom have anything to do with soldiers and a laboratory? But the more I thought, the more questions arose.

It wasn’t until I went to get up that I noticed a new name on the back of the seat in front of me I looked around and sure enough I was in the seat he had been sitting in I looked back down at the fresh red marker. And read the name out loud to myself...

Diachi Magashi

Born 2030

Killed 2041

Reading the name only made me realize how truly little I knew about Magashi. I had never really bothered to ask about his family or the people he’s lost. He seems so calm and in control that you never really thought of him having any real pain. Somehow, he just seemed beyond it all together. I ran my fingers over the name a few more times, wondering to myself who he was, if he was a son or nephew. Magashi never really talked about his family before coming here.

It was then that I heard more steps rushing up into the train. The look on his face sent a chill down my spine, like having cold ice water poured over my head. For the first time he wasn’t hiding his emotion it was plain that he was frightened, which told me I wasn’t going to like what was coming next.

“You need to come to the main platform. I think we may have misjudged just how desperate the world is.” He didn’t even give me a chance to respond as he left. I got up and chased after him, hoping to find out what was going on, but by the time I got off the passenger car, he was gone. My heart sank as the fear in his words hit me.

On the main platform I saw Bruiser and Jeremiah standing behind a large crowd of refugees. Up front I saw Mark standing by a large TV monitor, similar to the one earlier in his lab. He was standing facing the crowd, as if he were about to give a speech. I saw Andrea standing next to him, her eyes red and puffy, but now she looked more grim than I remember; she looked visibly shaken.

What’s going on? Has Corbin left already?” I asked as I went to stand next to her. It took her a few minutes to finally answer me and when she did, it was in between deep breaths she was having to take.

“He left about a half hour ago. Adrian went with him; Corbin argued, but he insisted.” She went to speak again, but she was interrupted by Mark, who began speaking to the crowd of people.

“As you know, a few minutes ago a message was sent out to the world regarding some recent events. I don’t need to tell you what it is; I’m talking about earlier today we got a message from a trusted source that you would be the last refugees to be taken out of the city. Dante, the one who helped first organize our operation has decided that it’s too dangerous to continue. Up till now, I don’t think we fully understood the gravity of what he meant.” Mark took a pause for a second as he took a deep breath and tried to keep his composure. “A few moments ago another message was sent out across every possible connection in an attempt to reach us. But not to warn us, this is sent to make a statement.” And without anything left to add, he began playing the video.

I half expected to once again see Tim, but instead we were greeted by a face I only recognized by the massive image I had seen on the century tower. I remembered Tim referring to him once as the enemy. He was a thin pale figure whose hair had been almost completely shaved off. Around his mouth he had the thick black goatee that covered his lips almost completely. But what stuck out the most were his pitch black eyes that showed no sign of compassion in them. Below his face the words

GENERAL MELBOURNE ENACTS OPERATION CLEANSE

were scrolling across the screen. We watched as he walked up to a podium. A hush fell over the crowd as he began to speak.

“Three months ago, an attack was launched against our people and against humanity, by forces of inhuman origin”

“Asshole,” I heard Bruiser quietly whisper to himself.

“I have been working closely with some of the top military and scientific research teams in the world for several years now, trying tirelessly to find a solution to the issue of the threat those infected with the Holmen Virus pose on our people and people all around the world. It goes without saying that we've requested cooperation from them time and time again, and time and time again they have refused. And recent events have shown that they have no intentions of doing so. So after much debate and consulting with my advisers, it has been decided that these events must be looked at... as a Declaration of War by the Infected.” I saw as both the crowd in the tunnels and in the video came to life as the words were spoken. I was barely able to comprehend what was happening. Part of me didn’t want to believe it was true. We had started a war.

The crowds began to quite down as he began to speak once again. “Rest assured we have exhausted every possible solution to this problem, but we cannot and will not stand by and wait for a solution or a cure while innocent lives are being lost. Especially when it’s believed that a cure may not exist. So it has been decided that, for the safety and betterment of humanity, we will begin the process of eliminating all infected.”

I saw Bruiser take a small step back from the crowd. He looked as though he was about to throw up. “What the fuck is that suppose to mean?” a man from the crowed spoke up, but no one answered. My stomach gave a jump as I felt I might join bruiser. All that continued to rush through my head was, 'We caused this, millions of people are going to die because of what we did!'

The camera panned away as we saw what looked like a large helicopter of some kind. It had four propellers on top and a large hull connecting the front two to the back two. It was then that we could hear Melbourne speak up again. “This craft, codenamed The Raven, will be pivotal in our fight. They will patrol the skies and scan entire city blocks for any sign of our enemies. Once found, they will be taken in and transported to our containment facility, where they will be dealt with.” There was something in the way he said ‘dealt with’ that cause me to shake slightly. “It’s been said that when dark times arise, bold men must make bold choices. I believe this is one of those moments, and I assure you we will do whatever is necessary to ensure that they do not win and that humanity is cleansed and preserved!” With those words the crowd on the screen rose to their feet with applause. It was like they were cheering for our death.

I couldn’t bring myself to watch anymore. As I stumbled away from the crowd, I felt more and more tears forming in my eyes. I felt such a mixture of sadness and anger that I couldn’t continue. And with all the hatred for them spilling out of me, I slammed my fist as hard as I could into the wall. “GOD DAMMIT!” I was shouting at the top of my voice and I was sure everyone could hear me, but it no longer mattered to me at this point.

It was then that my thoughts returned to Adrian and Corbin. They were walking right into absolute death and they had no idea what was going on.

'I swore I would protect them, all of them and now I’m about to lose two more!'

I couldn’t accept that; I wouldn’t! I had to do something... anything. I knew in my heart if I lost them that would be it for me. I looked up and saw it as my only chance. I knew Mark and Andrea would never forgive me.

I ran to the one functioning subway train we had left. I had no idea what I was doing. The only experience I had operating one of these things was watching Adrian when he drove them. Like the desperate fool I was, I began randomly pushing buttons, looking and hoping I would find a way to start it.

“What the hell are you doing?” I turned to see Mark standing behind me, an almost hurt look on his face

“They’re out there, Mark, they’re out there and they don’t know what’s happened!” I was crying, almost begging him not to stop me.

“What do you plan on doing Cameron? You don’t even have your powers!” I knew he was right, but powers or no powers, I would never forgive myself knowing I didn’t at least try.

“You don’t get it, do you? They’re no longer looking to capture us and make us weapons or use us, they’re out there to kill us! It’s Genocide!”

“Please... I have to.” I had never felt this exposed to someone in my life. It was as if he held my future sanity in his hands and I think part of him knew it. “Please don’t stop me,” I pleaded one last time as he walked over to the control board. He put his hand on one of the levers and pushed it. I felt the train shake as the engine came to life. Mark finally returned his gaze to me.

“I'm coming with you.”