I posted 2 chapters together so make sure you haven't missed one!

Present day

It had been four long days since he'd sent Stasia back to Sector Center to prepare herself ahead of her departure. Four long days of wandering the empty house like a zombie. Four even longer nights without a wink of sleep. The nightmares were now so vivid he was scared to close his eyes in the dark. There was nobody to shield him from them anymore.

CLICK!

The sound made the hairs on the back of his neck immediately rose.

The house was empty.

Had he left the front door open again? Now that Stasia was gone he kept forgetting to do things like that.

Or was the sound simply a hallucination from his sleep deprived brain?

No!

It wasn't. He knew it wasn't. And he also sensed the presence of a someone standing not far behind him.

The click resonated around his brain like an echo. A noise he hadn't heard for longer than a lifetime but one he would never ever be able to forget.

The unmistakable universal sound of a safety clip being released on a gun. Specifically a pistol. If Sam thought about it hard enough he would probably have been able to work out the make and model. Instead, the click rang through his ears just as if it had been as loud as a gunshot. His heart pounded like a drum while his body froze solid like a statue.

"Aleksander Kolitczev!"

It had been years since he'd heard that name. It was alien to him. And yet it wasn't.

My name is Sam Eavans! His brain screamed out at him.

I am Sam!

He slowly raised his hands, high above his head with fingers spread wide as battled to find his words. "Who's asking?"

The question was ignored. "Are you him?"

Sam turned slowly, carefully keeping his hands raised and in full view, to see the tall well-built young man who addressed him. He looked to be about thirty and had the same light brown hair and green eyes that were typical of men from his Sector. He responded immediately. "Yes. I was known by the name Aleksander Kolitczev."

The man looked almost disappointed by his response. Then he straightened his spine and steadied the gun in his hand as began to talk. "My name is Pejter. My father was Mikhail Cszink. He was framed for fraud of which he was entirely innocent and was executed in cold blood. He'd been trying to get out of the crime game because he had a young family but he had so called friends and associates who would rather see him dead than leave their lifestyle." The man's voice sent a shiver down Sam's spine. It had been years since he had heard his accent spoken in another voice. "I have no memory of him and he had no knowledge of me. I was born eight months after he died but my brother will never forget the last day he saw him. He was five years old and dad had just dropped him off to school as he did every day. Only this particular day, my father was found dead by his car thirty minutes later."

An image of a man's face flashed into his memory and Sam gasped. The name meant nothing but the scenario did. He remembered the assignment clearly. It was the last one he did before being sent to the diner where he'd met Mercedes. It had been straightforward, having tailed the car, ready to take the target out as soon as he got out, but then he noticed the child. Others in his profession would have simply taken out man and child to ensure no witnesses but that kind of behavior was against his moral code. So he'd watched and waited as the man walked the child to school and said his goodbyes, biting back the sense of envy. Usually his targets did not have the chance to say goodbye just as he hadn't been able to with his own family but even though he was cold he wasn't entirely heartless.

He'd caught up with Mikhail as the man reached his car. Sensing a sound behind him he'd turned and suddenly the two had been face his face. Both men knew the inevitability of the situation. Only one of them was carrying a gun. It was supposed to be a bullet between the eyes but now that it was revealed the man had a family, he'd gone for the heart instead.

It was a kindness. At least there could now be an open casket.

Pejter was still talking. "Mama was distraught. That morning she'd discovered she was pregnant with me and immediately packed bags for us to leave that same night. They were going to travel as soon as my brother returned from his day school to start a new life somewhere else but they never got the chance. My brother had to live every day with her hurt and resolved that when he grew up, he wouldn't rest until he had avenged the death of our father. It took several years to get through the web of lies and find all those responsible but one by one he made sure that they all paid, right up to the man who hired you until eventually they were all gone.

"Rumor had it that you were dead, killed after hunting down and murdering an innocent girl who'd witnessed one of your cold blooded killings, but he never believed it. You were far too slick and professional and even now, years later, people still say that you were the best. There was never a body found and your ability to negotiate the Transit Sectors made it very likely for you to have escaped but the trail was cold right from the start.

"Only by a freak coincidence did he happen to be in Sea Sector 5. He suffered from a life-long lung condition which worsened over the last couple of years and was told the Sea air would do him good. It didn't and he developed pneumonia. He eventually died just over two weeks ago. I was with him at the end. He told me that one of his nurses had met a man with green eyes who had the same accent as him one of the days that she'd been in Sector Center. His age would have put him at about the same age as Aleksander. She also mentioned seeing a partial tattoo on his neck."

Sam definitely couldn't hide. He was only wearing a tank and even more of the tattoo was currently exposed. He breathed deeply as the man continued his explanation.

"I'm not like my brother, I'm an academic. I love books and I love travel. Sokol dedicated his life in the pursuit of justice for our parents so that I could have the life he never would. But on his death bed he made me promise him one thing. I was to find this green eyed man and see if he was the nan my brother believed he was. He gave me this gun and said that if it was, I had to finish his life's work for him. If it wasn't then I was to throw the gun in the Sea and it would all end with his death.

"You have no idea how much I wish I'd never found you. You have no idea how much I hoped you that you would not confirm who you are. Then I could have walked away with no blood on my hands. But now…" his voice strengthened and he gripped the gun tighter, suddenly more confident, "…now I'm bound by honor and duty and we're on a path that cannot be altered!"

Finally, Sam finally found his tongue and for the first time in years his original accent returned, thick and strong as if he'd never left his home Sector. "I always knew you were coming. Maybe not you specifically but someone from my past and I have already accepted the inevitability of what is going to happen. You gave your promise to a dying man and you must keep it. I've lived here in self-imposed exile with thirty years to think over my crimes. I know that I've committed many wrongs, and I know I didn't deserve the years that I've had here. But let me tell you one thing. I remember your father. I remember watching him say goodbye to your brother. I wanted the little boy's last memory to be a good one which is why I waited. I know you may not think of that as a kindness but in my mind it was. All I ask in return is for one final request."

"What is it?"

"I want to see the Sea one last time. My wife loved the Sea and I want to die where I will feel closer to her."

"Where is she?"

"She died."

Pejter looked hard at him them shrugged. The man he was after looked to be around sixty and he could easily take him on if he struggled judging by the way that he painfully moved. But his final request was one he couldn't find fault with so he agreed.

The pain had been getting progressively worse each day despite using Mercedes's pain medicine for himself. With Stasia around he had hidden the discomfort, but with another man he didn't bother. He slowly led the way, Pejter's gun carefully trained on him, on the lookout for any false move. But there wasn't going to be any.

Sam picked up the keys to the house. "Do you still see the nurse that met me?"

Pejter frowned at the question. "No, but I know where she lives."

Sam handed him the keys. "Give this to her and tell her it's a wedding gift from the man she met on the street. She'll understand." The other man frowned as he took the keys and a piece of paper with the address written on it, but it wasn't for him to understand. There wasn't time for Sam to write a note, so he scribbled the two words 'welcome home' underneath the address. Mercedes was always saying the quote 'you received free, give free'. Oscar had been given the house and gave it to them on his last day in the Sector. He was only carrying on with tradition. The fact that the recipient had unwittingly signed his death warrant was irrelevant. She was a nurse, a carer and a woman in love. As his last act he wanted to do something good to make Mercedes proud and this seemed entirely appropriate. This was a house that needed to be filled with love and he knew just from those few minutes of meeting her, that she would do that.

The fact that she'd brought him swift justice made her an angel of mercy.

By the front door stood his single solitary suitcase which represented the last of his personal items. He never did get to confirm on that bungalow to move to the next Sea Sector. Maybe deep down he'd known that he was never actually going to get there. He indicated the bag to Pejter. "Get rid of this. Burn it, bury it, I don't care. If people think I moved away there will be no questions."

Casting one final look back at the empty house he silently led them to his favorite spot, the place where they'd been married. Sam was relieved that Mercedes and Stasia weren't there to witness him finally having to face the justice that he deserved. He'd already said goodbye to the only two people he cared about.

Clearly uncomfortable with silence as they walked, Pejter talked, and talked, and talked. By the time they reached the grassy outreach Sam was more than prepared to die, if only for the silence it would grant him! Then suddenly his words started to grab Sam's interest. "So I was thinking after this I want to travel the Sea. I need to leave this place behind because of the bad memories. And there's this girl, she's so beautiful I can't even begin to describe her. We've only been on a few dates but I think I've got it bad. She's really clever and says she's heard that across the sea people live without Sectors. She already bought her ticket and asked me to come with her. She told me that she loved me but I told her I couldn't deal with it because I didn't think I was ready. That wasn't the truth. I was just overwhelmed with my brother being sick and the idea that this girl could actually be feeling something back for me. But now, now I'm going to head straight back down after this and buy my ticket.

"Up until last night I thought I was doing the kind thing by letting her go. But today I realize that I was wrong. I haven't told her this but I love her too. Whenever I look at her and she looks at me I feel something, like I'm lost and I'm found at the same time. And her eyes, not only are they the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen, but they give me this feeling. Like calm, inner peace. It's so strange. Her eyes have this sort of mesmerizing effect over me. I feel like whatever craziness has to happen today, if I can just get back to her and look into her eyes I can have some peace. Do you know what I mean?"

"More than you'll ever know." Sam muttered, quietly to himself, fighting a smile. Mercedes had eyes like that. And there was only one other person that could actually have eyes like her.

"I need to get my ticket, find her, tell her I love her and that I want to spend the rest of my days with her and have a family with her!"

"Then you'd better hurry," said Sam, "The boat leaves in a few days."

"Yeah." Pejter looked thoughtful for a moment before his eyes narrowed, wondering how this man knew when the boat was supposed to be leaving.

Sam realized there was one last piece of good that he could do. "Make sure you look after this girl to the best of your ability. She sounds special."

He nodded. "She is."

"Good, because I bear you no resentment or ill feeling for what you have to do to me, I've been looking over my shoulder for years in expectation of you or someone like you. Take courage, you already have my forgiveness and acceptance over the death I rightly deserve, but I'll haunt you for the rest of your life if you fail step up to your responsibilities to this girl and care for her with everything you have!"

The mam frowned, confused as to why Sam would be so passionate about this random woman, but he never got the chance to question him about it further.

They'd reached the top of the hill.

Sam clenched his jaw. This was already taking too long. He stopped in front of a patch of freshly dug earth. As he was unable to visit Mercedes' burial site due to it being Outside, she'd dug a flowerbed for Sam and planted seeds in the shape of a small angel. They hadn't had a chance to grow yet, but when they did, he hoped that it would look like the outline of an Angel. Stasia had worked hard to plan carefully plant each seed into a pattern. Sadly it was too early to see anything grow from it.

He'd had enough. "Just finish this! I want to join the love of my life and I'm sure you want to join yours!" He didn't mean to snap but this wasn't exactly the most normal situation to be dealing with. He was ready so it had to happen now or never.

I would rather die than have to watch your former life catch up with you…

Her voice carried in the wind and he had to turn to Pejter to make sure he hadn't heard it too. At the time, Mercedes' words had upset him, but now they brought him comfort. As much as he hated being left behind, he knew it was a kindness that she'd gone before him. She wouldn't have wanted or deserved to see this day and he would be eternally grateful that she didn't.

But he did deserve to feel the pain of loss after having caused it to so many others.

Although he was ready, it seemed that Pejer was going to need some help. Not everyone was a natural born killer. Tilting his head forward Sam pointed to the base of his skull. "One shot here severs the spinal cord and obliterates he brain. Painless for me and straightforward for you."

He heard the other man gasp but eventually he felt the cold metal press against the base of his skull and the click of the safety being released again. Sam let out a long ragged breath. This is finally going to happen at last!

Instead of fear he felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

"Any final words?"

He shook his head. There was nothing left to say. He was guilty of the crimes and now with Mercedes gone and Stasia's life sorted he had nothing left to live for. What happened on this hill would stay on this hill. Stasia would never find out. Pejter may or may not work it out, but even if it did, the guilt would just lead him to treat Stasia well. He'd given them his blessing. Of all the people on the planet she loved him and was carrying his baby. Who was Sam to judge? One thing he could tell from this man's dealings, was that he wasn't cold and heartless. His actions towards Sam were done from a sense of duty and familial loyalty, not pleasure. It was a trait of his Sector and it would be disrespectful to go against it.

Besides, after this, the gun would be thrown into the Sea, just as he'd done with his the first time they had managed to drag themselves from the house after consummating their marriage over and over again. It was a gesture for Mercedes to let her know that everything from his past was behind them and Pejter would put this behind him too. There would be nightmares, that would be inevitable, but Stasia by his side would help with that. Sam had no doubt that she had the same dream curing qualities as her mother.

Sam closed his eyes and saw Mercedes. She was young, her eyes were smiling and her body was soft. In her arms she clutched a chubby six month old Coral who was also smiling up at him with a gummy grin. She clung tightly to her mother, one chubby dimpled deep in her mom's thick locs, the other gripping a fist full of fabric on the front of her dress, making it strain even tighter over her large breasts.

He felt the cold metal press harder against his neck and knew that Pejter's hand was shaking. He hoped the man had enough strength to hold it together and do what he needed to do. Squeezing his eyes even more tightly shut he focused back on Mercedes, her soft smile and her soft eyes staring straight into his, those deep sticky pools of molasses he'd first encountered that fateful first night in the Transit Sector. And he smiled right back at her, sensing her welcome drawing him closer.

He leaned forward towards woman who held his heart and gave him life, gently brushing his lips against hers in the softest sweetest kiss they'd ever shared.

And felt nothing but freedom, happiness and peace…

THE END

Special thanks to my regular reviewers on this fic. You know who you are and you kept me super motivated. I stepped out of my comfort zone with this story but it burned in my head for a long time and demanded to be written in this style so I hope it didn't upset anyone too badly. There was supposed to be a sequel, tentatively entitled The Journey Across the Sea which is based on the story of Sasia and Pjeter who travel the Sea to the Other World and find it isn't as they expected, but I haven't actually written it yet. Maybe that one will one day become my published story instead of this one.

Thank you for reading!

Vicky x