Centuries after Romeo and Juliette… Alonzo and Julia…
They were alone, in this cave, lost. They have been here for several hours now. They were supposed to find an herb that would be the cure to the venom that was slowly killing True. There were miles away, dozens of miles away from the camp. They had insisted to go alone, because they knew these caves were full of those dark-red snakes, like the one who bit True the same morning.
Julia closed her eyes as she remembered how everything was perfect before that…
Alonzo slowly woke her up, as he always did, since the day she started sleeping in his tent. He kissed her shoulder, then went up to her lips, kissing them, with the feeling that he was kissing her for the first time, even after all these weeks spent doing the same thing. They were warm, delicious.
She opened her beautiful blue eyes. She smiled to him, and kissed him again, pressing the palm of her hand on his dark and silky hair.
- Slept well? he asked her.
- Never better.
He brought her the breakfast – some bread they had made with a lately-discovered kind of plant that looked like corn, with artificially-grown blueberries jam, and a pot of coffee.
- How sweet from you, Alonzo, Julia said, kissing him again as he was putting the plate on her knees.
She had barely eaten a bit when she heard screams coming from outside.
- JULIA! COME!
It wasn't Devon. It was Danziger.
- Sorry, it was really an adorable breakfast… But I'm the only doctor here, she said, quickly, while putting a sleeping robe and taking her diaglove with her outside.
- What's going on? she asked the group, gathered near a body…
It was True. She wasn't showing any sign of life. On her hand, Julia saw a circle red mark, still bleeding… She could recognize it between thousands.
She quickly ran to her tent, leaving the others stupefied. Why did she leave?
She came back with an antidote and injected it into True's organism. Danziger looked at her – tears were running down his face.
- What is this?
- It is only going to slow the poison, John, Julia said.
- What is this, Julia? asked Devon.
- It's a Blood Snake. There was a little bit on Earth, in desert and unknown places. They live far from human beings. But in this planet, they live probably everywhere…
Fear could be read in her beautiful blue eyes.
- What do they do, Julia? Devon asked.
- They pump the blood of their victims. That gives them a red color. Otherwise, they're black. Like the one who bit True this morning.
- Is she gonna wake up? asked Danziger.
- Yes, fortunately. She's still a child, so it doesn't have the same effect. Their venom kills adults in ten minutes, nothing to do.
She went back into her tent, and went out, wearing her clothes.
- They live in caves. Like the ones we found yesterday, on our way here.
- Why are you going there?
- To find the antidote. It's a plant they eat when they have no human blood, and it's the antidote for the poison.
She couldn't loose time, she couldn't loose time…
- I really must go, Devon, no time for questions. True will only live for about twenty hours. If I'm not back with the plant, it'll be too late.
- Go, then, Devon said.
She had barely made a few steps when Alonzo appeared, wearing his clothes, holding his weapon.
- What… she started.
- Don't you think I'm letting you go alone…
She knew she didn't need to insist, he was going.
- One last thing: if one of you gets bit, kill them immediately with a fatal shot. Their cap is green. The last ten minutes would be the most painful ever… You'll feel like you're burned from inside.
An expression of terror landed on their faces as Julia and Alonzo left.
They were now in the cold, humid caves. They didn't have too much time… In front of them were two paths, one at their left and one at their right.
- We must separate, Julia said. We don't have much time…
Alonzo didn't say a word.
- You take left, I take right. Alonzo, we don't have much time!
- Okay. Let's hurry, then.
The passage was dark, cold, scary. She could feel creatures watching her, ready to jump… She walked alone, for more than fifteen minutes, then she heard a scream.
- JULIAAAAAAA!!!
- OH MY GOD, ALONZO!!! she screamed.
She went back, running, scratching her bare skin on the rocks, and took the path Alonzo had to search. After five minutes she found him on the floor, shortly breathing…
- Alonzo, what happ…
She stopped talking. Her heart almost stopped. On the back of his hand was that red circle wound she'd recognize between thousands…
- No, she said, tears filling her eyes.
She fell near him.
- Don't leave me, Lonzo, not now!
His eyes were closing. She kissed his warm lips for a long times, her tears still running on their faces. Then, she felt he was pushing her. He moved his lips to say something.
- The… pain… is… going… he said, in a last effort.
- Alonzo, please don't leave me, don't! Julia said, sobbing.
- I must go… I love you…
His head fell on the side. His eyes stopped moving. He was dead.
- No!! Julia screamed, sobbing even more.
She kissed him again.
She had lost him…
After all this time, her worst nightmare was becoming true…
Always the same one…She remembered how he'd wake her up when she was screaming in her bed, he'd take her in his arms and she'd instantly feel better… He would kiss her and the fear would leave her…
But this time, she knew she'd never wake up and hear him telling her "Calm down, amore, I'm here…It's just a bad dream…"
She was alone, in this cave, over his dead body…
She always knew that if Alonzo would die, she'd never live. From the moment she saw him with the gun when the ZED was shooting at them. That was the reason she took a gun herself and shouted "take me, ZED!".
Then she told him this in the tent, while tears were filling her beautiful blue eyes.
"I couldn't lose you… No one ever believed in me like you did, this morning…"
She couldn't loose him. There was no future without him. Her first minutes without him were unbearable.
She took from her pocket one of the fatal injection shots she'd prepared in case one of them would get shot. She adjusted it on her spine.
- Alonzo… she said. I'm… coming.
She lay down, close to him, hold him and pressed. The fluid ran into her veins and she froze.
For the first time, her blue, shining eyes were empty from all life.
Later…
In Alonzo's bag, they found the herb. True ate it and she recovered very quickly. But despite all this, they were all sad, and depressed, especially the young girl. Julia, the youngest one before her, was like a sister for her. True felt responsible for her loss.
On their way to New Pacifica they had lost two members of the team. Right now, the funeral had ended. Alonzo and Julia were buried in a field, down a rock where, after wondering what to write, Danziger carved these words he remembered from an old Earth play:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Julia and her Alonzo
CAST
Jessica Steen as Julia Heller
Antonio Sabato JR as Alonzo Solace