It was obvious from his attitude right from the start; he’d rallied against the idea of bringing Jess to the doctors, despite his orders. Unlike the others, who I now knew had been acting on the journey from Exeter, when we explained the doctor’s plan it should have been clear he was the one who could help us to stop them.
I still couldn’t get over how they’d swum ashore, a feat of strength like I’d never witnessed in anyone still living.
In such a short space of time he’d rallied the remaining soldiers to our idea, along with their detachment doctor to take care of the injured. Only Ellie, Jack and Tish needed their help; the others were past saving after Jess had finished in those few moments.
I’d left the round room, leaving the doctor to tend to Ellie with Cassie watching as they injected her with what we all hoped would be the cure. Once I was told Jack and Tish were okay, I didn’t want to be a spare part as Cassie leaned to the bed and held Ellie’s hand tight.
Staring off into the distance, the crowd filling my view answered my question of hope as I only half listened to Jess’s well-pronounced words while she told the truth to the nation so they might prepare for what would come their way, if it wasn’t too late already.
With footsteps climbing the steps, I turned to a fresh light brightening Cassie’s face as she raised her brow in my direction. Shadow followed behind with his tongue hanging out, panting.
Taking slow steps, she walked toward me and I couldn’t tell by her expression if she would hit me or deliver terrible news about Ellie. Perhaps she’d push me over the edge to the concrete below for giving the children to that awful woman. Could I let her have the moment and dish out the punishment she saw fit?
As she drew closer, her mouth turned to a smile, and she opened her arms, beckoning me into a hug. Despite the confusion, I took the step and ignored the ache across my body as I gripped her tight with my arms around her back.
After a long moment she relaxed her embrace so I could breathe again.
“Ellie?” I said, and felt her nod as she spoke.
“She’s doing well, so far at least.”
“So you’re the cure?” I said, but she didn’t reply; instead, I heard her sniff as she spoke.
“I thought I would turn. Every time I felt my emotions rise, I thought I’d burst open and lose control, taking you with me. That’s why.... That’s why...”
“You’ve been so withdrawn,” I said, finishing the sentence she couldn’t. As I struggled to stop the rise of my emotion, she spoke again.
“I thought I would turn and so I stayed back. I was ready to leave when I felt any urges. Like Jess.”
She pulled me in tight again.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “It’s all my fault. I don’t know how you can stand to be near me.”
Cassie let go, pulling back and looking me in the eye. “What do you mean?”
“I brought the kids to her. It was my decision.”
She shook her head. “No,” she said. “I was in that room, too. She’d given us hope. We didn’t know what she could have meant to do. I urged you on, but it’s not either of our faults.”
She grabbed me again and pulled me in close. Then when I could no longer hear Jess speaking to the camera, we separated, turning across the roof to see Alex and Jess holding hands and walking towards us.
Drawing closer, Alex spoke.
“Is this the end?” she asked, looking to me, then Cassie before turning back to Jess.
I twisted around, gazing across the grass to the horizon. I didn’t speak, instead lingering on the massing crowd in army fatigues who were jumping high into the air, the others stumbling our way as a waft of that foul stench blew across from their direction. Our future was inevitable.
“Of sorts,” I said. “But not in the way we would want.”
Jess spoke. “It is for me. Logan, you were right. What Toni put in my arm changed me and although it gave me the strength to break free, I can’t... I won’t live as one of her experiments for the rest of my life.”
Turning back to face the three of them, I expected to see Alex complain and fight for her to see the life she could have. Instead, I watched tears roll down her cheeks, and she nodded in my direction.
“But I can give you each a chance,” Jess said, pulling Alex in close before taking Cassie in an embrace.
Patting Shadow on the head, Jess opened her arms and as I drew near she spoke again. “Thank you all.”
“What for?” I asked as she let go.
“For making me feel human again,” she said, walking to the edge of the roof and peering down to the ground below.
“No,” I shouted, not hiding my alarm as I realised she would jump to stop herself from attacking us if she lost control.
Before I could reach out, she stepped over the edge and disappeared. I closed my eyes, pushing my hands to my face at the thump of flesh hitting the concrete.
Despite knowing what we would see, pulling my hands from my face, I stepped with the others to peer over the edge. Rather than seeing a crumpled heap of flesh, Jess stood looking up with a solemn smile.
“Get to the boat,” she called up, then didn’t linger before turning away and rushing to a blur toward the massing crowds heading our way.
“I can’t believe she’d do that for us,” Cassie said. “It’s suicide.”
I shook my head, and Alex did the same as I spoke.
“Don’t
