"Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in the grave. Our birth is nothing but our death begun."

-Bishop Hall

Ana jumped on the boat with Kenneth's help and placed their bags down beside one of the seats, her heart was still racing and the smell of burning gas and salt water tickled her nose.

Ana looked around...Terry and Nicole had Chips...Kenneth was pulling the boat lines to the right...now all they needed was Michael.

Michael was still on the dock undoing the lines and throwing them onboard.

Ana then faced him and reached out her hand.

"Come on let's go."

Michael stopped what he was doing and faced her.

"I can't."

Ana stopped head...she couldn't have heard right.

"What?"

Michael then turned over his left arm and showed everyone on the boat.

He had been bitten.

Ana's eyes grew wide and her heart skipped a beat.

The bite was ugly looking and dripped his warm red blood down his arm.

"Got it down town when they jumped on us."

"Oh no...Michael."

She couldn't find the words...how could this of happened?

"No..." She cried out again looking him over. He couldn't have been bit...she loved him to much and he was the only reason she was still going.

"I have to stay here." He said and undid more of the boat lines, trying his best not to look her in the eye.

Ana couldn't let this happen, her legs felt like they were about to buckle.

"You...you can't." She followed him up and down the boat as he worked on giving the lines to the boat.

"Sorry Ana..." He said in a soft hurt voice.

Ana then felt tears starting to form in her eyes.

"I can help you..." She begged, anything to get him to come with them.

"No, you can't...you can help them by staying on the boat."

Michael then did the final line and handed it to Terry who looked just as shocked.

"I can help you..." She was crying now.

Michael then faced her and locked his eyes.

"It's okay...it's going to be all right."

"No. It wont."

The only hopeless words she was able to choke out as she spoke to Michael who was still standing on the dock looking into her eyes.

Michael raised his hand and touched the side of her cheek, the feeling of his warmth and his smooth palm made Ana raise her own shaken hand and cover his.

Both starred into each other's eyes for what seemed like a lifetime, His sad dark gray eyes and her tear filling wide blue ones, seemed to melt together and know what they were thinking right at that moment.

After all that they had gone though he had to stay behind and die...Hadn't she lost enough people...Was God's plan to see how much loss and pain she could take before she lost her own mind?

"Hey..." He said in the same calm voice he had used when they were both laying together on the bus floor that day.

He tried his best to smile but nothing was working...both of their hearts were breaking.

"It will." He said in a stern voice and tried his best to make her believe that was true.

He then used his other arm and pushed the boat away from the dock, it make a small jerk and Nicole and Terry both held each other watching them.

As the boat started to pull away, Michael brought her hand and kissed it, they clasped hands as tight as they could but the boat pulled ahead and make them lose their grip.

Ana's heart was being torn apart...this happened way to fast for her and she couldn't understand...why Michael?

She knew the second that their grip pulled apart, it was going to be the last time she would ever feel his smooth warm hands touching hers, the last time she would ever feel him against her...the last time she would ever be close enough to see the swirls of dark blue in his gray colored eyes...almost as dark as the lapping water that hit the sides of the boat.

The boat slowly got further and further away...she was frozen and she knew it was killing him to see her like this. Why would God want them to be apart? Why was he taking him away from her?

Her hands held the metal lines as tight as she could and watched him...trying to snap out of his ugly awful nightmare that was trying to make her believe that Michael was bitten and was being left behind as she watched.

"You sure you want to do this?"

Kenneth asked, Michael smiled at Ana as she tried to hold back the tears watching him.

"Yeah...I think I'll stay here for a while...Watch the sunrise."

Those were the last words she ever heard him say...those words would ring inside her head for the rest of her life.

The boat then started up and they slowly started to pull away, Further and further away from the dock.

Ana watched from the back of the boat, tears making the vision of him starting to blur.

He looked at his arm and then slowly took out the handgun that was in the back of his shirt and started to raise it to his head, His eyes still strong watching her.

She was dying just then watching him.

He then pointed the gun under his chin and looked up towards the clear blue sky...almost as if he was thinking of something.

Kenneth had turned away...he was steering the boat and making sure he kept his mind straight ahead, Deep down inside Kenneth liked Michael and knew he was a good man...now he was dead like everyone else and didn't wanna see it happen.

Nicole and Terry were the same, they faced forward holding each other tight as Chips gave thin cries to his masters...almost as if he was trying to tell them they were forgetting Michael and needed to go back.

But Ana was the only one that watched...

Ana started to shake knowing that he would be the last man she would ever love. What was this all worth if mankind was over, What was her life worth staying on the boat and watching him die...and then waiting to die herself on that island, It was a waste, They were all dead in her mind and if she was going to die she wanted to die with him?

But the truth was...she was scared and didn't know what to do.

This was his last wish, the reason he gave up his life, to watch her heart break as they pulled further away...that reason was to make sure she made it.

That was all he wanted.

She sat there, her mind blank and nothing left as she watched him...trying to keep her eyes on him as long as she could.

She loved him so much it hurt, she wished they could have had a further together, she wished for a second chance...but it was over.

She didn't know...much like himself that she carried his unborn children that were only a few hours old.

She didn't know that it got worst and the pain of losing him would hit her every day...

She didn't know why she wasn't stopping him.

Tears started to form in the corner of her eyes but she blinked them away, she looked at him for the last time and sighed.

Then, almost in a soft breathless voice...loud enough for her ears only to hear, she said...

"Michael...don't do it."

But he looked up at the sky one last time and closed his eyes...then she watched helplessly as he pulled the trigger and the loud gun crack filled the morning air.