Chapter 45 - Finale

Grace gently pulled back the curtain to reveal Hal's motionless body, lying on a cot in the middle of the room. Still not awake. He had stumped Doctor Glass; his vital signs were normal and he was breathing on his own, but he was in some kind of deep sleep with no sign of waking up. The only thing they could do was wait.

She hated waiting. She hated not knowing what exactly Karen had done to him. But they had no choice. Karen was in the wind, probably plotting her next steps now her precious overlord was no more. Grace made a silent promise to herself that the next time she came across her, she would put an end to her once and for all, so that she'd never have the chance to hurt anyone ever again.

"Still nothing?"

She felt a presence softly approach and take up a place beside her, making her heart rate fluctuate and her cheeks warm. The effect Miles Wray had on her was getting absurd. Nonetheless, she was glad to see him. She gently shook her head.

"Well, he'll bounce back. Your family is insanely resilient."

"And it's about to get bigger apparently," she dryly replied, recalling Karen's revelation about Anne's pregnancy.

"Ah, right. Still absorbing?"

"Still absorbing."

"If it helps, that kid's gonna be in safe hands with you as their big sister."

She glanced over at him to see that dimpled smile, the kind she was sure would make girls like Zoe melt into a puddle. Instead, she raised an eyebrow at him, but she couldn't help smiling back at him.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked him, finally turning to face him. "Thought Bressler would be disciplining you for sneaking out on that mission with us."

"He has bigger things to worry about - civil rule has been reinstated."

Her eyes widened. "So we're stuck with President Manchester again?"

"Not exactly."

She squinted at him, confused, when a cough interrupted them. Grace turned her head to see her dad behind her.

"Hope I'm not intruding."

"Not at all," Miles smiled at him, before winking at Grace. "You know where to find me."

He started backing up when Grace surprised herself, grabbing his wrist. "Wait. Uh. Thanks for your help tonight. It's appreciated. Really."

He nodded. "Thank you for trusting me."

She released him, smiling awkwardly as she let him go. Her father replaced his spot next to her.

"Nice to see you're making friends."

She rolled her eyes. "He's not…we're not friends."

Tom paused a beat. "Maybe that's for the best. You know the plan."

She sighed and nodded, glancing back towards her unconscious brother. "As soon as Hal's better, we're out of here."

"He's strong. He'll pull through."

"I know." She smiled at him. "Remember when he broke his arm during that lacrosse game? You dropped everything at work to meet him at the hospital and made him promise to quit if he wasn't going to take his safety seriously."

Tom's gaze met the ceiling. "Few weeks later, he was back at it. Your mom and I were furious."

Grace chuckled. "He never did injure himself again, though."

Tom's amusement quickly transformed into guilt. "I should have been at that game."

She frowned, sensing his disappointment in himself. "You were a great dad. You still are, and you will be to this baby."

He smiled meekly. "I wasn't a great dad. Not when it mattered. All the recitals I missed, the birthdays. Your sweet sixteen. I missed it because I was lecturing someone else's kids."

"That stuff was important."

"No, it wasn't. That stuff doesn't matter anymore. What matters is you four kids…five kids." He blew air from his mouth. "Now that I say it out loud, it's kind of overwhelming."

Grace smiled sympathetically and linked her arm with his, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "How does Anne feel about it?"

"She's scared, but we're happy."

"Good." Grace knew how daunting it was to bring a child into this world, full of danger and terror. She had already thought about whether she would start a family herself, but clearly, accidents happen and in the case of Tom and Anne, the choice had been made for them. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Kids like Etta were thriving, despite everything. Even though it was hard, raising a child was possible in the apocalypse.

Plus, like Miriam had said, kids were their future. When they won the war, if they were to have any future at all, they would need the children of today to rebuild the world of tomorrow.

Tom squeezed her arm this time, turning his head to study her. "How do you feel about it?"

Grace took a beat before answering, still processing it. "I admit, I was taken aback. I sort of closed the door on the idea of having any more siblings. Especially with Mom gone…But I'm glad Anne is going to be this kid's mom."

Tom's face brightened as she continued,

"Dad, this baby is going to be the happiest kid in the world. Because you'll be their dad. And I'll be their big sister, and you know I take that very seriously."

They both chuckled.

"We'll be just fine."

Tom grinned at her, the emotion brimming in his eyes. He kissed her head.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not gonna be Charleston's new leader, are you?"

He chuckled. "No, sweetheart. We're sticking to the plan. Arthur already knows."

She rested her head on his shoulder, content with his answer. Charleston didn't suit them, she'd accepted that. And now Ben had decided to come with them, she didn't mind where they went next. As long as they were together.

As Tom began leading her away from Hal's room, she felt something land on her face. She dusted it away, looking up to see the ceiling was crumbling above them.

"What the-?"

A rumbling noise echoed through the hallway, followed by vibrations. Ceiling tiles fell, furniture toppled over, walls cracked, overhead lamps swung back and forth. Then the alarms blared around them.

"Earthquake?" Grace yelled over the noise.

Tom looked around him as soldiers ran past, the shaking intensifying. "No, not an earthquake."

Grace followed him as he ran for the doors up towards the surface, a large group of Second Mass and Charlestonians following behind him. Outside, they were met with thunder claps and blinding flashes. It was some kind of storm. The force of the wind hit Grace's face like a wave and took her breath away. Captain Weaver was already halfway up the slope to the outside, as were several Charleston soldiers who were shielding their eyes from the lightning bolts brightening up the sky.

They ran into the nearby street where they could get a better look, leaves and dust and rain tornadoing around them, the thunder crashing through them, the dazzling lightning bolts blazing across the sky, illuminating everything in a brilliant blue glow.

This was no average storm. Everyone knew it.

There was something up there.

Suddenly, a high, electronic-like trilling sound pierced their ears, causing everyone to recoil and scream. Thankfully, it quickly cut off, though Grace could still feel the vibrations in her ear canals.

Then, she saw them. Dozens of blue glowing pods, falling from the sky towards earth. She reached for her rifle, her pulse racing.

She held her breath as one descended right in front of them.

It was thin and long like a metal drill. On the top was an umbrella of jets that slowed its descent with blue flames, causing a whirlwind of dust to form below until the bottom extended out like the legs of a tripod to land softly on the ground.

Squinting through the chaotic dust and wind, she shared a fearful look with her dad. This didn't look like anything they'd ever seen before. Not skitter. Not espheni. Where the hell did it come from?

Everyone watched in awe as the umbrella-like top of the pod extinguished its flames and closed in on itself. The metal pieces retracted to form a door, letting out a stream of white light.

Grace raised her weapon, her eyes squinting in the brightness.

A tall and muscular humanoid figure stepped out from the light, dressed in form fitting armour. Two arms, two legs. A small head. Not skitter. But not an overlord either. The armour had wings protruding out from what she assumed would be the elbows and the shoulders. And this thing wore a helmet.

Nobody said a word, nobody fired a shot, just waited, and then the figure's visor retracted to reveal a face.

Holy crap, Grace thought, lowering her rifle. Is that thing smiling at us?

To be continued.