Apolonia

by Jamie McGuire

  Apolonia hugged me and returned to her father's ship.

  Cy stayed behind. "I know it's not enough, but I'm so sorry, Rory. You've had to give up too much."

  I stared at the fire and then looked to Cy. I offered a half smile. His gold eyes narrowed as he smiled back.

  "Thank you for everything," I said, hugging him.

  He hugged me back, kissing my hair. "You must know that they'll be checking back here for the parasite. If they detect it--"

  "They'll blow us out of the sky? Now that I'm not sure I can survive."

  Cy touched my cheek. "Don't worry. I'll come get you first."

  "Good-bye, Cyrus."

  "Actually, if you're going to embarrass me with my full name, it's Osiris."

  I nodded. "Egyptian god. Dr. Z would have loved that."

  Cy's face compressed. "You wouldn't give up two years ago, Rory. So, you can't now."

  I lifted my chin, knowing why he was worried. He was leaving, and everyone else I cared about was dead. Everyone. "I couldn't even if I wanted to. I think someone up there enjoys watching me suffer."

  "You can still come with us."

  I shook my head. "I have to make sure people know what Benji and Dr. Z did here. How many people they saved."

  Cy nodded. "Good-bye then. I will miss you terribly, Rory Riorden. You are my favorite human."

  "You're my favorite Egyptian."

  He hugged me once more and then returned to Hamech's ship. He watched me as the vessel rose, and the door shut. Then, they were gone.

  By the time I reached the first pieces of smoking debris, the morning sun was high in the sky.

  The gel fire from Hamech's warship had burnt itself out the moment they left, not scorching even a single blade of grass outside its existing area. But the main pile of warehouse rubble was still burning in some places.

  I sat on a large piece of concrete about twenty feet from where the warehouse once stood, touching my fingers to my hands. Dr. Z was gone. Benji was gone. It was one thing to say I wouldn't give up, but at the moment, I was likely the only living person left in Helena. The sole survivor. Again.

  I stepped over body parts and wreckage, half-hoping and half-dreading that I'd come across Benji's body, wondering if I would be able to recognize him if I did.

  "Don't cry," I said to myself. "Don't you fucking cry," I said, sniffing anyway.

  I heard a groan and stopped.

  The groan came again, and I followed it, walking carefully.

  "If you're not going to cry...can I?"

  My eyes widened when they zeroed in on where the voice was coming from, and I saw Benji lying under a metal door, his hair singed and parts of his clothes fried to a crisp. His arm, forehead, and cheek were all blistered and charred, but he was alive.

  "Benji!" I yelled, rushing over to him.

  "Hi, babe." He grinned through the fatigue and pain.

  "I don't believe it! How are you...how did you..." I wanted to hug him, but I wasn't sure what was broken or burned.

  "Think you could get this thing off me?"

  I nodded. "I'll try." I began to lift and pull, and then I found a pipe to wedge between the ground and the metal. It took me a few tries, but I finally pried it open long enough for Benji to roll out.

  He landed on his back again and let out a raspy breath.

  I fell to my knees, trying desperately to find a place to touch him. "Where else hurts? Is anything broken? I can't believe you're alive!" I cried the last bit.

  "I ducked behind this door. Luckily, when I was blown back, that huge piece of concrete and rebar broke my fall." He noticed my swollen red eyes and reached up to touch my face. "Have you been crying over me?"

  "Shut up." I sniffed, laughing once. "Don't ever do that to me again."

  "I promise," he said, his breath catching.

  "Ribs?"

  "Yeah."

  "I'm not sure where the nearest hospital is. Or the nearest car."

  Benji was trying not to move. He definitely had cracked a rib or two, but I began to worry he had internal bleeding.

  I could hear sirens, but they were all closer to town.

  "I'm going to, um..." I said, sniffing and worried all over again. "I need to find a car. We need to get you to a hospital."

  Just then, a car engine caught my attention, and my head perked up. It was an orange Mustang with Bryn at the wheel.

  "Benji?" she cried, slamming the car into park and jumping out.

  "Help me get him into the backseat," I said. "We need to get him to a hospital."

  Bryn nodded. "There's a hospital in Chester. Maybe twenty minutes away."

  Benji growled with every movement, crying out loudest when we stood him up. He held his right arm against his chest. Benji's dad was in the front seat, still not quite conscious. Bryn helped him lean forward, letting me crawl into the back.

  Benji cried out again as we maneuvered him into the back of the car. "I'm not sure all this pain trying to get to the hospital is worth medical attention." He rested his head on my lap and relaxed. "But this is definitely worth cracked ribs."

  I touched each side of his face as Bryn pulled away from the burning wreckage of the warehouse. Benji grimaced with every bump.

  "Sorry," I said, cringing every time he tensed.

  "It's not so bad. Maybe I can even get a date out of this?"

  I grinned. "No way."

  "No way?" he said, his eyebrows shooting up. "Cheese and rice, woman, what's it going to take?"

  I leaned down, just an inch from his face. "You can't get a date, but you can get a first date because I want more than just one."

  Benji lifted his hand to the back of my neck and pulled me the short distance to his lips. As he kissed me softly, slowly, and passionately, I knew that I finally had the unconditional love, safety, and security I'd been missing.

  I peered up through the back window at the smoky sky. Cy and Apolonia were somewhere up there, not knowing that I wasn't alone after all.

  "I have a feeling we'll see them again," Benji said.

  I looked down at his brown eyes and smiled. It was possible. Anything was possible.

  I looked at the road ahead. For the first time in a long time, it felt like good things were coming, and for the first time since I died, I felt alive.

  The End

  As always, I wouldn't be able to put in the strange hours that I do if it weren't for my incredible husband, Jeff.

  My children are so patient, and they understand that with great success comes great sacrifice. Thank you, my loves. Everything I do, I do it with you in mind.

  This book was one of two that I've written outside of my comfort zone. Thank you to Abbi Glines and Colleen Hoover for cheering me on, and thank you to Kelli Smith for making me feel like I accomplished what I'd set out to do with this book.

  Thank you to Miss Katy for letting me work all night and sleep all morning with nary a peep from the baby. You don't know how much that contributes to my finishing my books on time and sometimes early!

  Thank you to Jovana Shirley for editing this book with so much efficiency and professionalism and for working it into your already busy schedule. I won't forget it.

  Thank you to Danielle and the MP for being so excited for this book, and for your tireless efforts to help spread the word.

  Always last but never least, thank you to my readers who continue to support me so enthusiastically. Thank you for letting me live out my dream.

  Jamie McGuire was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Northern Oklahoma College, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Autry Technology Center where she graduated with a degree in Radiography.

  Jamie paved the way for the New Adult genre with international bestseller, Beautiful Disaster. Her follow-up novel Walking Disaster debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. She has also written apocalyptic thriller Red Hill, a novella titled A Beautiful Wedding, and the Providence series, a young adult paranorm
al romance trilogy.

  Jamie now lives on a ranch just outside Enid, Oklahoma, with her husband, Jeff, and their three children. They share their thirty acres with cattle, six horses, three dogs, and Rooster the cat.

  Here's where you can find Jamie:

  Website: www.jamiemcguire.com

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/Jamie.McGuire.Author

  Twitter: @JamieMcGuire

  Instagram: JamieMcGuire_