“Because he was a part of your crew. And maybe he wasn’t a good leader, but he tried his best. I just wish he heeded my warnings,” I say, sighing.
“Is that why you let Fassbender live?” she asks.
“Fassbender won’t be a problem for us anymore. He is injured,” I say.
He was the man responsible for my life. But he was not my father. He was a fool who made two devils. A devil I once trusted would lead me out of here. And me – someone able to see more. He thought we’d work together, but he was wrong.
All of us were used and lied to. All of us were treated like we were worthless. But in the end, this planet is ours.
And now we must say goodbye.
I take Naomi’s hand.
“Why are you leading me to the shore? There’s nothing over here for us,” she says.
Pulling her toward a canopied area of the beach, I say, “There’s something I want to show you.”
The rest of the crew follows, silent and worn out.
They have been through a lot, and I feel it’s worth showing them one more place.
I push through and hold the leaves away as they walk through to a small section of the jungle where the trees have been uprooted, and the land has been dug up.
Sizable piles of earth hide what is buried underneath.
This is Zakar’s doing. It is the site of our shame and undoing, a place I never wanted to return to.
Yet, here we are.
The bodies of the scientists rest underneath the soil. These are the atrocities Zakar committed, hidden but never forgotten.
Zakar is not the only one to blame. I bare some of that, too.
I stood and watched as he murdered them. I could have helped, but my rage was too strong. I couldn’t get it under control.
Even now, as I glare at the graves, I feel that rage. Except, it’s starting to slip away. Maybe not fully. Maybe a part of that anger will always remain. But I’m learning how to ignore it.
I’m learning how to forgive.
Naomi squeezes my finger. “What is this place?” she asks.
“Avalon Cemetery,” I reply without thinking.
There are two open graves where Zakar stole the alien corpses. I walk forward and look down to see the fuel barrels, stacked inside.
I can’t believe it. Zakar didn’t dump the fuel. He hid it here, thinking I wouldn’t ever come back.
“It’s the fuel barrels,” I say.
Roy rushes forward, stopping at the edge of the open grave. “No shit. So, the son of a bitch didn’t drain them after all?”
He reaches in and shakes one barrel. The liquid splashes loudly inside.
“Apparently not,” Hugh says.
Naomi isn’t staring at the fuel. She couldn't care less. Instead, her attention is fixed on the graves.
“So this is it,” Naomi mutters. “The first astronauts to land on another habitable planet.”