Instead of fighting back against the cables that were closing in around her like a well-fed and growing ivy plant, Rae simply stared at her babies and felt the most love anyone could ever feel, a burden that caused her heart to swell. Oddly enough, the pressure felt like drowning.
“I love you,” she said, voice muffled by the glass. “All of you. I can’t separate myself from you now. No matter what happens, no matter where I go, I will be here, with you.”
The water swelled and swiveled around her navel. Within a few seconds, her body would start to release air and sink under. But what would happen next? Death? She wondered but knew that giving herself over was the right move. She had empathy for the hunted, for the other omegas of the world who suffered as well, but she was nothing like the blackbird her sister shot in that forest. She would soon come to understand everything.
The cables entwined, finally coursing over her mouth before the water could.
She thought of how she must have appeared to them. For years, she tried to gain her freedom back. “Look at me now,” she said. “I am lost, always lost. Back in the womb.”
Rae fell forward with a heavy sigh, but a thin smile pressed against her fluid-covered face. Embryonic sac and bits of earth floated around her. A plume of smoke rose in the distance. The alphas stood behind her, wielding their heavy metal weapons. They were a team, and anyone who stood in the way had to be annihilated. Only, this time, there were no clear enemies.
Rae could feel the life drain from her, and pretty soon, she’d be reduced to a floating specimen. She had one last thing to say, a few words for them to understand her story before she passed away. “I was born a captive whore, and I don’t give a shit what that makes me to the world,” she muttered, eyes facing the cold asphalt of the darkened road. “I made my life into something meaningful.”
“The next rapture has started,” the clone muttered. The pupils in her eyes seemed to glow a different color. Everyone must have felt it—the change in the air. It was as hot as a pressure cooker.
“What the fuck?” Killian grunted. “We have to save her, goddammit!”
Rifle outstretched, he took aim and fired, but it was just like before. The bullets did no damage. Whoever engineered the giant weapon knew how to build. It couldn’t have been Severin. He must have had help.
The cables continued to twist inside the capsule, turning like strong tentacles. After just a few seconds, they seemed to take up as much space as the water inside itself. Coiling around her mouth, they pried her lips open and took hold of her tongue. Like snakes, they circled and opened her throat. Each ripple of pliable cable formed the inside and outside of her body. Rae let out a scream that was quickly cut short. It was the most awful sound in the world.
“There’s no time. We need to get to the bunker, or we will all suffer the same fate,” Noah said.
Soon, the blue took over her eyes. Gently, the water engulfed her, while the cables provided her air, sustenance, and most importantly, an undeniable energy that she had never felt before. It was as if she had found the way into the heart of the universe.
Eyes closing, Rae gave in like a young babe near her mother. Her mother was not of the earth. Hers was unnatural and robotic. Her mother was a suffocating and deadly weapon.
The importance of her life drifted away like a soft dream. Yes, she was vital, but her death seemed to be the only thing that could fuel the next rapture. If she could speak again, she’d say, “Don’t worry. Everything works out in the end.”
Just like clockwork, the machine began to rumble. Pins, screws, and other metallic plates bent with pressure until they popped around her. The underground maze they had gotten so used to started to fall apart. The floor soon gave way and dropped lower as the sound of rusted metal pieces scraping together filled the room. Noah took the children, hopefully in good faith, and ran in a separate direction, toward the bunker none of them would follow into.
Rae could still hear every single word uttered, albeit muffled behind the glass. She could feel the sway of the water, the hushed splashing from within her new home. With her senses numbed, and her airway full, she thought she might drown, but low and behold, she was kept alive.
A strange, warm, and viscous liquid drained through the cables. As it glided down her throat, her body started to react violently. Limbs twitching, she wondered if this was going to be the end. But, again, it was not. Well, not technically.
Once the liquid filled her pathways, she could breathe again, and this time, she felt connected to something much bigger. Though she could not form the words, she took it as a deep connection to the earth. The flow of energy felt so different. Peaceful. Equal and balanced.
“What is happening to her?” Lucas asked, turning away.
Vash bent down, shielding his head from any incoming shrapnel. Retching, he vomited across the floor and fell into his knees. “Don’t die on us, dammit…”
“Look around you. It’s time,
” Killian said. “All of this has to happen.”
Vash twisted his head and fought frantically to decide his next move. Darting back to his feet, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of cuffs. Without hesitation, he cuffed himself to the structure and leaned his head against the glass. He allowed a smile of relief. His skin was glazed with the sweat of hard work and dedication. He deserved this, deserved to take the night off. What did he care? If the bomb blew, he had still managed to find an ounce of luck in this world. Didn’t that count for something?
“I’m not leaving,” he said.
The underground facility started to crumble around them, shaking, with Rae in the center of it all. Sweet Rae. Omega Rae. Their person. Taken, claimed then trained. And then, lost…
She was stationary. If she was breathing, it was impossible to see her body.
She was gone.
Really gone.
But to where?