“We need to get out of here.” Jane nods in agreement. “Any idea where Finn and Mary Ellen are?” Paul and Cole are actual super-soldiers and can take care of themselves. I learned that long ago.
“I saw them last on the bridge.” She shouts this because the tank is rolling closer.
“I’m going for Wyatt.” I grip her arm and pull her close. “Can you and Jude get back to the farm? It should be cleared of Eaters by now.”
“We can try,” she says.
“I’ll meet you there.” I pray Wyatt’s still up on that bridge and jump off the tank to find him. I’m pushing against the injection, repeating to myself that I need to get to safety, no matter what my inner Mutt wants me to do.
That’s the difference between a Mutt and Hybrid.
We can choose.
The clock is ticking on my temporary enhancements. I feel them slipping away like sand. I use a burst of speed to get through the mass of fighters on the ground and for once I’m thankful for the Eaters. I understand why Erwin set that horde on us and why he used us as bait. He needed Chloe’s army in a certain place under
particular circumstances. The Hybrids can easily fight the Eaters off but they’re a constant, singularly-focused nuisance. Since I’m not fighting at the moment it allows me a chance to get through the fray.
I climb to the top of the bridge, past the metal door of the bunker. I step over bodies, getting tangled up with a not-so-dead Eater, looking for one last chance to infect. I kick him in the face and scramble up to the road. At first glance the fighting is over up here, only the mangled bodies of the dead and severely injured remain. I run through the bodies, scanning faces, searching for something familiar.
I push over a Hybrid collapsed over another person. The dirty, pale face of an Eater shot through the head stares blankly back with dead, spidery eyes. I move to the next fatigue-clad body and flip it over. I do this again and again, until my hands are sticky with blood. My hands are dirty, so dirty, with the blood and grime of so many people. Hundreds of Eaters, dozens of Hybrids, Chloe and my mother. I try to wipe them on the back of a body, knowing the stain will never truly come out. I catch a blur of movement down the road. I look up and find two people huddled. Mary Ellen’s blonde hair waves in the breeze. I race over, jumping across bodies to reach her.
It’s only when I get close enough I see Finn. A dark red stain spreads from his chest. The worst part of the Mutt enhancement slams down on me. I know he’s dead before she says it. There’s no heartbeat. No breath.
“He’s gone,” she says, voice devoid of appropriate emotion. The darkness in her eyes is fading though, blue peeks through and soon enough the trauma will hit.
“I’m so sorry.”
“He had my back. We were doing really good, but this Hybrid, he just got past me. Fired the gun and he was gone.”
“He was a good man and he loved you so much.”
I squat in front of her and try to pry her hands off of his. “The EVI-3 is wearing off. Erwin’s still fighting down there and it’s getting nasty. We’re meeting the others back at the farm.” I swallow. “Have you seen Wyatt?”
“He was fighting up here.” Her eyes glaze over but I’ve finally gotten her to release her grip. Another explosion rocks the bridge and I wonder what Erwin’s plans are. Destroy everyone? Mutt and Hybrid alike?
I wonder for a second, as gunfire explodes, if he just can’t stop? Like Cole and Paul constantly diving back into the fight. I feel the tug myself.
I’m helping Mary Ellen off the ground when I hear a groan behind me.
“Dammit,” I mutter, so sick of it all. I turn, hatchet over my head and mid swing. “Oh my God.”
I pull back on the blow and reach for Wyatt, who can barely stand. He’s bent over at the waist and I think he’s injured—or maybe just exhausted.
“I was looking for you,” I say, wrapping an arm around him. Mary Ellen is with me but her eyes keep shifting over to Finn. Wyatt grimaces when he sees him. “We’ve got to get out of here. The EVI-3 is wearing off and you’re, well you’re not doing well and—”
“Is she dead?” He cuts me off with the most important question.
“Yes. I killed her.”
“You’re amazing.” He kisses me, using a burst of energy I didn’t know he still possessed. I feel it all the way to my toes and a bit of the numbness from my act washes away. It was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.
Mary Ellen moves to the other side of Wyatt and we make the slow walk over the bridge. I glance down the road, to the west where the sun is setting, away from the fight. Erwin came from that direction and there’s nothing but death and destruction in his wake. It’s unreal. Like a video game or a newsreel. It’s what Jane developed the E-TR virus to stop, yet we’ve come full circle into something worse.
I stare at the wasteland but stop short and narrow my eyes.
“What?” Wyatt asks—or sort of grunts.
“I saw something. Like a reflection.” It blips on the horizon again. “See! It’s moving!”