He nods. His chin is smooth—he shaved before he came down, knowing I like it best. “It was pretty quiet though. We did run into a few scouts from Birmingham. They’re helping Augusta get up on their feet.”
After the battle in Winston-Salem, agreements were made between the cities of Birmingham, Winston-Salem, and New Hope. A three-part council was created and it was agreed that the Mutts were not a threat. In fact, all parties agreed the Hybrids are an on-going issue, but the Mutts, if willing, seemed to be the answer.
Paul agreed to command these soldiers—
or rather, bounty hunters. Hamilton wasn’t mistaken about the threat of the Hybrids—his ideology was wrong. The Hybrids and Eaters are still a problem, but as a society we have to accept the changes. And the Mutts are part of us now.
Jane and my father are back in Augusta, reclaiming the old PharmaCorp building as a new Safe City. Parker and Jude went with them. Much of the work had been done by Jane before Chloe’s coup and although it hasn’t been easy, it sounds like, from the news we occasionally get, things are moving forward.
“Any word about Jane or Dad?”
“Just that they’re making vaccines again.”
Worry tugs at my chest. “Nothing new I hope?”
“I don’t think so.” There are fine lines by his eyes. We both know anything is possible with my sister. “The guy I talked to said they were sending teams out soon—out West to look for more viable cities.”
“Any word on Cole?”
He shakes his head. “I asked, but no. He’s a ghost.”
Cole disappeared after the battle. Walked off the stage and none of us saw him again. Not Paul or the other Mutts. None of the soldiers that edge our island on their patrols. Cole simply vanished.
Wyatt squeezes my hand. “He went through a lot—probably more than the rest of us. He may just need time. It’s what I had to do after Liberia. Sometimes the only way to rest your brain is to get away from everything and everyone.”
I bite my bottom lip. The guilt and pain I feel for Cole is ever-present. Most of us made it out in one piece—at least physically. Cole is broken and I’m terrified he’ll never find his way back.
“Wyatt! Wyatt!” Kori calls, racing from the shoreline. She holds a green plastic bucket over her head and water drips down her skinny arms.
“What’ve you got?” he asks when she makes it over. Most of the water is gone but down in the bottom is a small crab. It holds its pinchers up menacingly. “That thing looks pretty scary.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not afraid.”
Kori doesn’t remember much about life before the island. Neither does Garrett. We’ve made an effort to keep the real monsters out of their lives. Devin is almost fifteen and Wyatt has taken him and Zoe under his wing for training.
She runs off, kicking sand, and I lean into Wyatt’s side.
“It’s weird, isn’t it,” he says, eyes scanning the horizon. “The normalcy of it all.”
“Definitely.”
“Do you think we can stay here?” he asks. It’s not the first time. Sometimes I’m the one that asks the question with no answer.
“As long as we can.”
“Do you think it’s wrong we left it all behind?”
I shake my head. The wind whips through my hair and I push it behind my ears. “We did what we could. We fought our battles. We killed and watched people we loved die. The future relies on many people, Wyatt Faraday, not just us.”
He squeezes my hand and hops up. “Come on.”
I raise my eyebrow. The water’s not really my thing. The Atlantic is too dark and filled with predators I can’t see. Wyatt knows this and he yanks me from my seat and flips my legs into his arms.
“You’re pretty demanding, did you know that?” I ask.
“Someone taught me not to run away or give up.”
He carries me down to the water, wincing when the cold water hits his feet. The children shout and surround us, pulling at me to let go and swim. Even when we’re waist deep I keep my fingers linked to Wyatt’s. We learned one thing in all of this: We need one another to survive this broken-down, dangerous world. That even though people can be as terrifying as the monsters, we don’t have to succumb to the darkness.
~The End~