BOOK ONE: MIDGAR

FOURTEEN

Daddy and Cloud said I could tell this part of the story, about how I met Aerith, the nice flower girl that we all loved. They told me it was really important, and I wanted to help. I liked Aerith a lot even though I never got to see her that much. She was really special, but Daddy and the others will tell you why later. That's important, too.

I was all by myself in the bar, sitting at a table and playing with my dolls. I was hoping that Daddy and everyone else would be back home soon. It wasn't the first time I had ever been home alone, but somehow it felt different now. I didn't know why it was so empty, or why so many people had left. Johnny's mom sometimes stayed with me when Daddy and everybody else had to go away somewhere, but now she was gone, too, so I was alone when Aerith came to get me.

I looked up when the doors opened and Aerith walked inside. She had green eyes, pretty brown hair that was tied in a long braid, a bright pink dress with a lot of buttons down the front, a short red jacket with big pockets, old brown boots, two cute pink ribbons in her hair, a staff in her hand, and a smile on her face. I really liked her hair and thought that if I let mine grow as long as hers, I could ask Tifa or Jessie to make it into a braid so I could have one, too. Anyway, I didn't know who this lady was, but I just knew that she would be nice. It was just something about it her, how warm and bright she was.

"You must be Marlene," she said as she came over to me.

I nodded. "Yep! How did you know?"

"Tifa sent me," she answered. "My name's Aerith. We have to leave here for a little while, okay?"

"Why?" I wondered.

Aerith sat down in the chair next to me. "Because it's not safe here now. Tifa and Cloud are trying to help a lot of people before something bad happens. They asked me to take you someplace safe, and that's just what I'm going to do. Is that alright with you, Marlene?"

I held up my dolls. "Can I take these with me?"

"Of course," she smiled.

"Thanks! And you found Cloud? We were worried about him."

Aerith laughed. "Well, it was more like he found me. I'll tell you all about it on the way."

I was glad Cloud was okay. I had been a little scared of him at first, but even though he didn't say too much, he was still nice to me. I knew that Tifa liked him, and I think Jessie did, too. I remember seeing how they would just stare at him sometimes when he didn't know it, and all the little things they did for him. They talked with me about Cloud all the time. I still don't know what it all means yet, but that's okay. I asked Daddy once, and he said I'll understand when I'm older.

Aerith and I got up, and I was about to follow her outside when I remembered the pretty flower that Cloud had brought home. I know it was just a flower and I had thought I would be coming back later, but I still didn't want to leave it behind. So I went behind the bar, picked up the pot that Tifa had put it in, and walked back over to Aerith. It was a little hard carrying both the flowerpot and my dolls, but I didn't mind. I showed her the flower. "Can I take this, too?"

"Sure, honey," she said, and her smile got a little bigger. "You know, I sold Cloud that flower."

"Really?" I asked.

She nodded as we walked outside. "Yeah. And for just one gil, too! He was so nice that I lowered the price for him. But don't tell him that, okay? It'll be our little secret."

"I won't tell him," I promised. "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you over to my house for a while," Aerith told me. "My mom's there, and—"

She stopped as we left the slums and walked up to the place where that big pillar was. Everybody was gone, but I saw lots of people laying on the ground and not moving, and most of them were Shinra soldiers. I stepped closer to Aerith as she looked at everything, and I was scared. Then I saw Wedge, and I started to cry.

"It's okay, Marlene," Aerith whispered. "Just stay here for a minute. I won't be long."

I did, and she walked over and knelt next to Wedge. Why wasn't he moving? I didn't understand it back then. All I could think of was how he used to help Tifa in the kitchen, how he would always share yummy treats with me and play with me. And somehow I knew he wouldn't be doing those things anymore. I watched Aerith move her hand over his face as she whispered to him. "Thank you…"

Aerith had closed his eyes, and when she came back to me, she was crying, too. I hugged her, and she hugged me.

We kept moving, and it was so quiet now. We didn't say anything at first. When we walked past the train station, we suddenly heard a huge boom from somewhere above us and turned around to look behind us. We saw a big ball of fire near the top of the stairs next to the pillar for a moment, and then it went away. I held my dolls closer and wondered if someone else had stopped moving. I hoped not, but I was still scared. I hoped I would see Daddy and the others soon.

I thought about them a lot while I walked with Aerith through the gate to Sector 6. Biggs used to give me piggyback rides, and he showed me how to count with those funny cards that he and Wedge sometimes played with. Jessie always brushed my hair for me if Tifa was busy, and she would also let me sit on her lap and watch her while she worked on her computer. I was a lot smaller then, so I don't remember very much else about them or Wedge, but… I still miss them. I know Daddy does, too. Once in a while I can see a tear in his eye, like tonight when Cloud was talking about what happened to them inside the pillar, but usually he just brushes it off and tells me that he got something stuck in there. He didn't tonight, though.

Anyway, after Aerith and I walked into Sector 6, she started talking again, asking me all about Cloud and telling me how she met him. Just silly things, and I didn't know all the answers, but Aerith told me it was alright. I think she was trying to take my mind off of what we had seen at the train station and the pillar. And maybe she was trying to take her mind off it, too. So we talked for a while, and then we left Sector 6 and went into Sector 5. I had never been in there before, and Aerith said to stay close to her, so I did.

We were just going past a place with lots of stores and little houses sort of like where I lived when Aerith looked behind us and saw a man in a dark blue suit. He had really long hair, and it was black like the tie he wore, and he also had a weird dot on his forehead. Aerith told me to hurry and that we were almost to her house, so we went faster. But the man and the two soldiers with him kept on following us. When we got to Aerith's house, we went inside right away.

"Mom?" Aerith said. "I'm back."

"Thank goodness!" her mom said. She was a nice lady with a green dress. "Are you alright? And who is this?"

Aerith put her hand on my shoulder. "This is Marlene. I promised a friend that I would keep her safe. Shinra's trying to drop the Sector 7 pillar and I had to get her away from there."

"What!?" her mom gasped.

"Mom, we've been followed. It's Tseng. He'll be here any minute."

Right when she said that, the front door opened, and the man that she had called Tseng walked inside with his two soldiers. And I heard a loud noise outside, a big chopping sound that was muffled once Tseng closed the door behind him. It was a helicopter, but I didn't know that back then. He looked right at us. "You've led us on quite a merry chase, Aerith. And it seems you have a visitor."

"Leave her out of this, Tseng," she said. "It's me you want, not her."

"Why should I do that?"

Aerith looked at me, then back at him. "Because, if you do… I'll go with you. Just let her go."

"No, Aerith!" her mom said. "Don't do this!"

"I won't let them have Marlene, Mom. I made a promise. And she's my friend."

I was scared again, but this time it was for Aerith. I liked her and I really wanted her to stay with us, but I knew that she wouldn't. She put her staff down and went over to where Tseng and his men stood while her mom put her arms around me. Tseng nodded, and his soldiers put Aerith in handcuffs and started to lead her away. But before they took her out of the house, I put my things down on the table and ran over to her and hugged her tight.

"Bye, Aerith!" I said. "Don't worry, Daddy and Cloud and Tifa will come save you!"

"I know, sweetie," she smiled. "I'll see you again soon."

Then I had to let go of her, and I ran back to be with her mom. She looked ready to cry as she watched Aerith being taken away. "Aerith… please come back…"

"I will, Mom. Don't worry. Cloud will come for me. He'll bring me home, just like before."

And then she was gone. Tseng and his two soldiers took her out of the house, and we went to the door and watched as they got inside the helicopter. I saw Aerith sitting by the window, and she smiled at us as they took off. I waved at her and watched as the helicopter flew toward Sector 7, and I didn't look away until I couldn't see her anymore. Then her mom and I went back inside the house.

Cloud and I sprinted onto the circular platform of the mechanized tower, the massive bulk of the square-shaped pillar rising up alongside it until it met the underside of the plate a hundred feet above us. Barret was there, his back to us as he shot at another helicopter that was flying toward us from the direction of Sector 5. It was still out of range, but I knew he didn't care. He hated Shinra so much and so deeply, although he had never told me what they had done to him. I hated them, too, for so many reasons. And now, I had three more.

Three dear friends, gone forever.

I still… I still couldn't believe… they were dead. We had all known the risks involved in what we did, in our fight against Shinra, but I… I never thought it would really happen. I just hadn't wanted to believe it could, to any of us. But… it did. And now… they were gone. No matter what anyone says, nothing can prepare you for something like that, for losing someone you love, someone you care for.

Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie had all been like a family to me—no, they were my family—and along with Barret had gladly taken me in when I had been alone here in Midgar during those dark days after Nibelheim. They had given me a home and a purpose, a new focus for my life, and for the past few years, that had been enough. It wasn't exactly a normal family, I'll admit, but it was a family nonetheless. We were always there for each other, and that was all that mattered.

Biggs and Wedge, they were the brothers I'd never had, inseparable and in Biggs' case, incorrigible. He had always been a bit of a prankster, and you never knew what he'd do next. He scared me half to death one time when he left a rubber snake in the fridge, and the other day I saw him "accidentally" push Jessie into Cloud as he was walking by, forcing him to catch her. She had given Biggs a good chewing out for that, but I think she had secretly enjoyed it.

The sight of Jessie in Cloud's arms like that, even though neither of them had intended for it to happen, had sent a spark of jealousy flaring in my gut, but I hadn't had the heart to act on it. Seeing how happy and stunned Jessie was at that moment had drained away any resentment I might have felt. She was a tomboy, not really your typical girly girl, but I knew from our talks together that a part of her had also wanted to be seen, even just once, as attractive and desirable.

It wasn't something Jessie had ever spoken of often, but I had seen the loneliness there in her eyes, and the longing whenever she'd notice guys like Johnny fawning over me and not even glancing her way. Until Cloud came, and when she had fallen into his arms that day, it was the first time she'd been the center of a man's attention. But what had really shocked me was that he had been completely unable to take his eyes off her. And he had seemed just as surprised by that as I was. Jessie too, by the way she had all but forgotten how to talk.

Of course, that was when Barret had come storming in, shattering the moment as he informed us all about the plan to take out Reactor 1, and I hadn't known whether to be glad or irritated. Cloud and Jess had stepped away from each other in a hurry when that happened. But ever since then, things hadn't been the same between them. Especially after he had saved her in Reactor 1.

I had found myself torn as I watched Jess fall for him and how she would just gaze at him when he wasn't looking. I felt the very same way about him, but I couldn't bring myself to be angry with her. I had seen how she had tried to hide her feelings when I was around. I longed for Cloud just like Jess did, but I also wanted her to be happy. And if being with him did that, then I… I didn't mind.

I guess that's why I whispered to Jessie what I did when I… when I said goodbye to her on the landing. What she had told Cloud, that she loved him, it… it had both hurt me and made me happy all at the same time. I could hardly believe it. I loved him, too. I think I had for a long time. I had never admitted it to myself before, but… hearing Jess say it to Cloud… I realized I couldn't deny it anymore. But I had also known I couldn't deny Jess her time with him, either. And so I had whispered to her, so softly that only she could hear me.

"Jessie… be with him," I told her. "Be happy…"

She smiled sadly at me, her own voice a whisper. "Thank you… Tifa. I… never meant… to be in the way. I know… how you feel… about him. And I… I want you… to tell him… someday. The life… I wanted to have with him… it's yours now, Tifa. Live it… for both of us…"

Then my thoughts returned to Biggs and Wedge. Biggs and I had always enjoyed creating new drink recipes. It was a little hobby of ours, and it had left him passed out at the bar at night more than once after doing a little too much taste testing. He had always joked that he'd had to taste them a lot to make sure the flavor was just right. But he always found ways to keep our spirits up, and I think that was partly why he'd pull those practical jokes of his. No matter what they were, we usually ended up laughing by the end of it. I'll miss them.

Wedge was always quiet, but I'll never forget his kindness. He was there for me more than once when I was down, and while most people only think of his appetite when they even think of him at all, that really wasn't him. He loved to eat, of course, and especially if it was one of my dishes, but there was so much more to him than that. And I had never seen him so brave, so confident, as I had at the base of the pillar. Cloud had helped him somehow, and Wedge had responded with the greatest act of kindness he had ever done.

He and Biggs, they had given Cloud and me so much. And Jessie… she had saved Cloud's life, had shoved him out of harm's way and taken the shots that had been meant for him. Jessie had given her life, they all had, and all I could do now was what Biggs had told me on the stairs. I had to keep going, and keep fighting. Jess had told me that as well. And I was going to do it. For them as well as myself.

I'll keep going, guys. And I'll keep fighting. Always.

Shaking off my thoughts, I hurried to see Barret, Cloud at my side. I was completely at a loss as to how to tell him what had happened, but I also knew we couldn't spend time on our grief right now with Shinra trying to cause even more death. Barret would surely understand that, but even so, I knew how heavy a blow it would be for him. How… how do you tell someone their three closest friends have just died? How do you even say a thing like that?

Barret turned around when heard us, relief flooding his face as we ran to him. "Tifa! Cloud! You came! Be careful! They're attackin' from the helicopter. It jus' got here a minute ago, but there was another one flyin' around somewhere, too."

"That one's history," Cloud said. "I took it out."

"You what? All by yourself? Why'd you go an' do a damn fool thing like that for? An' where are the others? I sent Jess downstairs to keep an eye out for ya, but where is she?"

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I didn't have the words. My chest started hitching again, and I was barely able to keep the tears from bursting out of my eyes like a waterfall. I couldn't allow myself to do that now, even though I wanted to. Cloud just sighed and shook his head, Jessie's headband still clutched in his fingers. He tried to find the words too, but he had no more success than I did.

"No…" Barret breathed, clenching his fist and trembling with rage. "No! Don't you tell me that! They jus' can't be dead! No goddamn way! They jus'… they jus'… Tifa, they… they can't be…!"

Now the tears did start. I wiped them away before they could turn into a torrent. "I… I'm so sorry, Barret. But they are…"

Barret stumbled backwards as if he'd been hit in the face, the color draining from his skin like water swirling down the drain. Then, as the second helicopter drew closer, he spun around and fired, yelling at the top of his lungs. He kept shooting again and again as it flew past us but didn't score much more than a glancing hit, his grief and anger making his aim so wild and unsteady that most of the shots he fired at it didn't even come close. But considering who we later found out was on there, I'm very glad that he missed.

As it circled around the platform, the chopper hovered in place for a moment, just long enough for a red-haired man in a dark blue suit to jump onto the platform, and my blood froze when I saw him. He was one of the Turks, and I had heard enough rumors and stories about the killings, kidnappings, and other underhanded jobs they did for Shinra to know just how dangerous they were, and I wasn't surprised that they were involved in bringing down the pillar. But we still had to stop them somehow before it was too late.

He landed in front of us, a metal rod of some kind in his hand and a pair of sunglasses resting above his eyes. Cloud put Jessie's headband in his pocket and pulled out his sword while Barret shifted his aim, but before we could stop him, the Turk sprinted to the control panel on the other side of the platform and started inputting a sequence of different commands, and then the red lights displayed on the screen changed to green as he disabled Jessie's lockout.

"You're too late," he said, his hand hovering a few inches above the controls. "Once I push this button…"

"Don't do this! Please!" I implored him.

He touched his finger to the button, his pale blue eyes like chips of ice. "That's all, folks! Mission accomplished."

On the screen, a large digital timer began a countdown from 10:00 as warning klaxons suddenly blared to life all around us. I looked at the others. "We have to disarm it! Cloud! Barret! Please!"

"I can't have you go and ruin all of Shinra's fine work, now can I?" the man in the suit drawled, pointing that metal rod at us. "No one gets in the way of Reno and the Turks."

At the sound of his words, something in me snapped. In my mind, I saw Wedge charging at the Shinra soldiers, dying as he shot down his enemies to give us the time we had needed. I saw Biggs, yelling at them as he held them off on the stairs until they shot him so full of bullets he couldn't breathe anymore, until his life was gone. And I saw Jessie, hurt and dying, whispering goodbye to us before she had blown herself and her killers up so we could reach Barret safely.

Rage filled me, and I embraced it, welcomed it with open arms. My blood burned like fire, and then I was moving before I was even aware of it, smashing Reno's ribs with my fists in a string of vicious punches. I hit him as hard and fast as I could, holding nothing back, my grief and fury giving me a strength I'd never known before.

I heard Barret firing with his gun-arm, and Reno had to practically dance across the platform to avoid being shot, but even so, some of the bullets still grazed him. And while he was off-balance, Cloud smashed the flat of his sword against the side of Reno's face, spinning him nearly into a complete circle, and then I knocked him flat onto his back with a somersault kick to the face. Then I dropped him yet again with a sweep kick when he tried to get back up.

Reno jumped back up faster than I had expected this time, though, and caught me on the side of my shoulder with his metal rod before I could dodge the blow. I gasped and gritted my teeth against the pain as a sudden and strong electrical shock sizzled its way down my arm as if I had just touched a live power conduit. I ducked and sprang away in a quick backflip before Reno could hit me again, and when I looked up, I saw him fire a burst of energy from his rod at Barret, encasing him in a translucent golden pyramid of magical force.

Barret hit it with his fist, but it held and didn't waver. Then he tried to move but couldn't. I frowned, wondering how to get him out. Maybe hitting it from the outside would make a difference. So while Cloud hit Reno with a solid backhand punch that made me proud and jabbed the butt end of his sword hilt into the Turk's gut, I jumped up and struck at the pyramid with a series of swift downward kicks.

The construct shattered and disappeared, and Barret was free once again. He wasted no time, bringing up his arm and burning Reno with a searing blast of fire magic. Then I remembered my own materia, and what Aerith had given me, and let loose with a frigid burst of cold that left Reno staggering as spears of ice bit at his skin. Then Cloud kept up the magical assault with his lightning, striking at Reno with a shocking bolt that left him sprawling onto his back again as smoke rose from the scorched remains of his suit.

Reno sprang back to his feet, not done yet, and swept his metal rod at Cloud but missed. He recovered quickly, though, and dodged before I could punch at him again even as Barret singed him with another fire spell. When Reno fired another energy burst from his rod, he aimed it at me this time, but before I could get away, another pyramid coalesced around me and locked me down.

This time Barret was the one freeing me, returning the favor as he pounded the pyramid with his fist until it collapsed. As soon as I could move, I ran full out at Reno, bound and determined to finish this now, the rage still burning inside me like magma. Bringing up my fists, I hit him again and again, pummeling him again and again with punch after punch and kick after kick, high and low and everywhere in between. I didn't stop, didn't let up. I blocked out everything else as I fought, only dimly aware of Cloud at my side continuing his own assault while from behind us, Barret kept the pressure on with bullets and scorching blasts of fire. I hit Reno with another shot of ice, mixing up my attacks while Cloud did likewise with his lightning spells.

Reno crumpled under the force of our attacks, but before we could finish him off, the helicopter flew in again, and he ran and jumped into it. I swore under my breath, hating that he'd gotten away, but knew that we didn't have time to worry about it. I raced to the pillar controls, my heart pounding within my chest as I saw the timer slip below 5:00. Not knowing what else I could do, I pressed button after button in different combinations, desperate to stop the countdown, but to no avail. Then I hit the panel with the bottom of my fist, frustrated and in a near-panic now, but that didn't work either.

I turned to Cloud. "Cloud! I don't know how to stop this!"

"Let me try it," he said.

I watched, hoping against hope as he came over and worked on the controls himself and wishing that Jessie was here to help us. I knew she would have been able to stop it somehow. But… she was dead, unfairly taken from us along with the others. I hated even thinking it, but there was no helping it. And no helping us, either. My heart sank when I saw my own frustration mirrored on Cloud's face as he pushed one button after another without success. Still the countdown went on, the timer's digits the color of blood on the screen as the numbers continued their terrible and unstoppable descent.

Cloud shook his head. "It's not a normal time bomb."

"That's right," a new voice spoke. It was another Turk, stepping out onto one of the helicopter's landing struts, his long black hair tossed by the breeze from the rotors. "You'll have a pretty hard time disarming it. It'll blow the second some stupid jerk touches it."

"Please, stop it!" I pleaded. "If it's us you're after, then go ahead and take us, just leave everyone else out of it! Please don't make them suffer for what we did!"

It was the only thing left that I could try. I couldn't just let all those innocent people die, and if the price of saving them was that we had to turn ourselves in to Shinra, then… I could accept that. A look at Cloud and Barret as they nodded in agreement told me they felt the same way I did, and for a moment I felt hope fill my heart.

It died a moment later though, when the Turk shook his head. "I'm afraid our orders are quite clear. Only a Shinra Executive can set up or disarm the Emergency Plate Release System."

"Shut yer hole!" Barret yelled, firing a few shots.

"I wouldn't try that," the Turk said. "You just might make me injure our special guest."

He glanced over his shoulder for a moment and nodded, and from inside the helicopter, Reno forced someone else out onto the strut with the other Turk, someone I recognized instantly. Cloud's sudden intake of breath was as sharp as my own when we saw her standing there, her arms bound by a pair of steel handcuffs.

My eyes widened. "Aerith!"

"Oh, you know each other?" the dark-haired Turk said. "How nice you could see each other one last time. You should thank me."

"What are you gonna do with Aerith!?" Cloud demanded.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient. It's taken us quite a long time, but I can finally report this to the President."

"Tifa!" Aerith called out. "Don't worry! She's safe!"

Marlene! Relief flooded through me at her words even as I worried for Aerith. The moment she spoke, the black-haired Turk narrowed his eyes, shot her an angry glare, and slapped her across the face. I felt my blood boiling again at the sight, and I didn't need to glance at Cloud to know he was as pissed as I was.

"Aerith!" Cloud and I yelled, our eyes blazing.

She shook her head. "Don't worry about me! Hurry and get out!"

The black-haired Turk forced Aerith back into the helicopter, then looked at us over his shoulder and laughed. "Well, it should be starting right about now. Think you can escape in time?"

Without waiting for an answer, he ducked back inside the chopper as it rose up and flew away. My eyes went to the timer, and my heart all but stopped when I saw it flashing 0:00 over and over again and felt the whole platform begin shuddering beneath my feet. Cloud, Barret, and I all looked up at pillar, and my throat closed down to a bare pinhole as I saw it start to explode. I had always thought it to be indestructible, an indelible piece of the slums that would always be standing above us no matter what else happened around it. But not anymore.

Huge chunks of concrete blew out the sides, falling past us to land somewhere in the slums far below us. And as we watched helplessly in growing horror, the pillar was wracked with even more explosions, one after another, starting from the top and racing inexorably downward. I had no idea how we were going to escape, and I felt utterly paralyzed as more debris rained down all around us, some of it hitting the railing or landing upon the platform. As we stood there in the midst of it all, one thought raced over and over again in my mind.

We were trapped.

But then Barret's voice snapped me out of my paralysis as he called out to us. "Yo! We can use this wire to get out!"

I tore my gaze away from the crumbling pillar and looked at where Barret was standing by the rail. In his hand, he held a thick black cable, one of several that stretched from the underside of the plate to hook to the railing to help keep it in place. He had unfastened it and motioned frantically for us to join him.

Sensing what he had in mind, I hurried over and climbed onto his back while Cloud clung to his other side and grabbed onto the cable as well. As Barret climbed onto the railing, sweat pouring down his face, a huge roar louder than the largest blast of thunder could ever be nearly deafened us, and all of us looked up to see the wedge-shaped section of metal and concrete that was Sector 7 tear free from the rest of the plate and begin its terrible and inexorable descent as the portion of the pillar not so far above us exploded. I squeezed my eyes shut and clung tightly to Barret as he jumped, and as we swung away from the platform, the sounds of groaning metal and thunderous explosions flooded my ears as the plate continued to collapse behind us.

"Come on! Hurry! There's no time!"

I called out to the people following me, motioning for them to run through the gate and into the relative safety of Sector 8. The plate was trembling beneath us, shuddering like a dog with a bad chill as around us, buildings began to collapse in on themselves and sections of Sector 7's streets began splitting apart in jagged cracks and falling away. I had spent the last twenty minutes getting as many people out of the area as I could, but now there was nothing more that I could do. The plate was coming down, and we had to get out.

"Mr. Reeve, sir, where do we go?" an older man asked.

"Just go through the gate and get as far away from it as you can!" I told him. "Worry about the rest later!"

He nodded and did as I had instructed, and I was just preparing to follow him and the others when I heard someone calling out frantically behind me. I turned to see a woman running down the broken remains of the ruined street toward me, her eyes wide with fear and her brown hair flying behind her in a short ponytail. Beside her, his hand in hers, a man that could only have been her husband ran with her, pulling her along with him and urging her not to stop.

"Wait for us!" the woman called to me. "Please!"

I beckoned to them. "Hurry! It's going to fall any minute!"

They did, but then another tremor shook the plate, and the woman lost her balance and fell onto her stomach.

"Come on, Chloe!" the man grabbed her. "Get up!"

She shook her head. "Just go, Abel! I'm slowing you down…"

Abel grabbed her and pulled her to her feet again. "Not happening! We've got a son to get back to, remember?"

I was just stepping out into the street to help them when suddenly an ear-splitting screech erupted around us. Metal groaned and snapped as the entire Sector 7 plate started tearing away from the rest of the city in a devastating chain reaction of blinding explosions that raced along the wall separating it from Sector 8.

Then there was a massive jolt as the plate abruptly tilted downward at an almost forty-five degree angle, and I could hear the screams from people still trapped in there, people I hadn't been able to reach in time. I returned my gaze to Abel and Chloe as they struggled desperately to climb the slanted slope of the street and reach the gate before this part of the sector collapsed entirely. I ran to them, but then another tremor shook the plate, and the section of the street they were sprinting across cracked and crumbled away beneath their feet.

Chloe managed to grab onto the crumbling edge of the concrete as she fell, but Abel wasn't so lucky. He plummeted down to the slums far below, screaming as he did. His wife called out his name, tears running down her face as she hung there, and I cursed myself for not being fast enough to save him. I got to her a moment later and grabbed her arms, pulling her up and running with her back toward the gate.

Ahead of us, the line of fire sped closer, and in less than a minute it would consume the gate and trap us in this doomed place. We reached the gate just as the heat began washing over us, but before I could push Chloe through to safety, she put her hands on my back and shoved me ahead of her instead. I stumbled through into Sector 8, barely staying on my feet, and whirled around, wanting to help her as she had helped me. But I was too late.

As I watched in helpless horror, Chloe disappeared amidst another explosion, consumed in fire as the Sector 7 plate tore completely away. She had saved my life at the price of her own. With my legs feeling like rubber, I walked over to the gaping, burning hole in the wall and gazed out at the devastation as Sector 7 slowly sank into the ground, thunder rumbling in my ears as vast clouds of dust filled the air.

Sector 7 was gone.