The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (138 page)

             
“I'll try to walk as best as I can.” He gasped out to me as we both continued t
o hold his wound.

             
“Or I could carry you. You carried me earlier and now, I owe you the same courtesy.” I told him in an effort to lighten the mood with a terrible joke. Sure enough, he chuckled weakly. The effort it took for him to force the laugh out pai
ned him severely. I knew by the way he grimaced.

             
We took small, labored strides to move forward, away from the battle we had just fought and won. I ignored the growing ache in my shoulders and back and focused on him, knowing his pain was turning to agony
and still, he would not show it to me. I focused on the tree line that grew closer very slowly with each step we took. I yearned for the shelter of the forest, where even the Bachums feared to tread. They had been spoiled by their open surroundings and th
erefore, knew nothing of the dangers within the trees. They would not risk their lives by traveling through the woods unless absolutely necessary. I knew that James was smart enough to hide Violet, Elijah, Penny, Alice and Quinn within their age-old shelte
r. In my mind, I saw him ordering Don to turn Savannah, Oliver and Ellie over to him. He had ushered them to safety as well. In the forest, he knew they would all be safe.

             
The hill was the most arduous part of our journey. While I supported most of his we
ight, I also pushed him gently, giving him just enough momentum to move his feet up the steep slope. When we reached the top, I was using him to support myself almost as much as he was using me.

             
“You could have left me, you know.” He whispered to me as we
both stood, catching our breath.

             
I looked up at him and scowled.

             
“Do you think so little of me?” My scowl dissolved into a dramatically disapproving frown. From the frown, a tiny smirk formed. Adam laughed the soft chuckle that was I was beginning to
acknowledge as his trademark. Then, he pressed his lips to my forehead for a long, tender, thankful kiss. I jerked away, alarm springing to life uncomfortably inside of my chest. I couldn't afford to grow closer to him. I couldn't even afford the lack of p
hysical distance between him and me. Our immediate closeness and our growing dependency on one another reminded me of James I cringed visibly.

             
“You and your adherence to feelings...” He shook his head slightly and tightened his grip on me for no other rea
son than that his legs were beginning to fail him. “That was only meant to thank you for saving my life. If I wished for romantic involvement with you, I would leave little room for doubt or deliberation.”

             
I spun us around to face the woods and walked for
ward quickly, leaving his feet struggling to move at the same pace.

             
“Keep talking like that and you'll be crawling behind me.”

             
“At least I will be at the perfect level to watch you as you walk ahead of me.”

             
“You are repulsive!” I exclaimed as I slapped
him very gently in the chest. Any more force than what I had used would send him falling to the ground. His bloodied hand came up quickly to grasp the one I had used to hit him. I looked up at him, entranced into silence by those beautiful eyes once again.
James, Maura, and the burning city behind us disappeared from my conscious thoughts and there was only that breathtakingly beautiful silence. There was only him, with his ruggedly handsome face, his muscular chest beneath my hand, and his strong body lean
ing against mine. There were no explosive bangs created by the sun's energy being thrust forcefully into the buildings Adam's people had labored endlessly to build. There was only the sound of our beating hearts; after we turned to face one another,
I felt
the strength of his thumping against the bones of my chest. I brought my hand up to rest on his scratchy, stubble-covered cheek. His rough hands moved my sweat and blood-drenched hair from my face. Rising up onto my tiptoes, I leaned into him...

             
Slut.

             
M
y brain broadcast the word on a spinning marquee. Without hesitation, I pulled away and closed my eyes when he rested his forehead against mine. A bang so powerful that it shook the very land beneath our feet made us turn our attention to the city. The sun
had disappeared from the sky but the blinding light of its flames lit up the space before us. From within its painful luminescence, I watched the shadows of buildings crumble to ash; I watched the ash disappear into nothing. People unfortunate enough to b
e in the midst of their escape were blasted away and I knew there would be no remains; not a bone, not a shred of skin...

             
I remembered another world, another time, another race being erased from existence in a thunderous display of God's power that rivale
d the one I was seeing unfold before me. From the ashes of our Earth, we had been meant to travel the universe to a brave new world. We were meant to rebuild civilization and create a new life. Yet here we all were, scattered, afraid, and once again, on th
e brink of extinction. Since our arrival on the purest of planets, we had desecrated all of our God-given chances to create a new world from the debris of destruction.

             
We were, I am very sad to say, the living results of a shattered genesis. We were, beyo
nd the forgiving shadow of doubt, failures of nature. No holy war could remedy such a persistent, painful truth. No lies or reassurances we would inevitably tell ourselves could change the certainty of our deficiency as a race or our impending, final demis
e.

             
When the last of that blinding light died away, the sun resumed its place in the sky only to be assailed by the black smoke of the fallen city. Its rays struggled to break through the blockade; as a result, an eerie haze was cast on the ashes and the f
ew scraps of debris that had managed to survive the blast. The sight was beautiful in its own way, though disturbingly bizarre to the point of chilling every last drop of my blood. I had always wondered what a nuclear holocaust would look like and the sun
harness being used as a weapon had produced such a scene for my viewing. I shook my head back and forth, reminding myself that so many of Adam's people and maybe even a few of my own had been killed. Whatever remained of their bodies now drifted away in th
e wind.

             
I was twirling through space, falling forever. There was nothing left. Every salvation, every moment of solace had been taken from us cruelly and without just cause. Every escape was merely an unnecessary detour on the road to the final scene, whe
re we would be slaughtered painfully and without mercy. We would be taken from the worlds and lives we had so dirtied and contorted.

             
“Adam?” I asked softly. Both of my hands held his firmly.

             
“Yes?”

             
“I believe we have reached the end.”

In my peripheral
vision, I saw him shake his head. He reached out and ran his finger along my jawline before turning my head so I could look into his eyes once again.

             
“My dear Brynna,” He whispered, “The darkest evil has not yet even broken the horizon.”

fin.