It wasn’t until Roger was forty-nine years old that Veronica’s idea for controlling the weather was fully realized. A system was built, and although it was complex and hard for them to understand at first, they soon learned that through the right circumstances, temperature and water levels could be somewhat controlled. It wasn’t ever going to make the world like it used to be, but it was a start, and they used it to build a more stable outside world in hopes that someday the outside might be the only place for everyone.
Finally, there was Travis. He helped build another addition to the city. That took almost ten years, and after that, he simply rested. It was during that time when he found peace with everything he saw back when he went with Alex. Travis knew none of it had ever been his fault, and if he could go back, he wouldn’t have changed a thing, but with time came peace as the nightmares finally ended. He moved on, met a woman named Abby, and started a family of his own while staying close with the friends he had made during the hardest but somehow best time of his life. That was always an odd thought. How could it be so hard and be the best time of his life? The answer was simple enough. That was the time when Travis became the man he was supposed to be.
Of course, then there was Lee, though his ultimate resolution to that time came a long way from home with a person he had only dreamed of seeing again . . .
Chapter 28
Freedom
Four Years After the Attack
Alisa was looking over the city from outside her home, a small but sturdy hut. It had taken three and a half years to get it looking like normal, but here they were with New Vegas seeming the same, at least in sight. There were still lingering memories of what had been lost, and the citizens had grown more paranoid. They made militia groups for when the evil Raines army came back. Alisa had tried to tell them that no one was coming. She even tried to tell the truth. There had been no nations against them in the past. They were the aggressors, but nobody believed it. If you’re told something your whole life, then accepting the truth is almost impossible.
As she stood there on the edge of town, Alisa saw a truck approaching the city. She looked hopeful, like on many other days. Maybe a boy she had known quite a while ago would finally show back up. Then again, for all she knew Lee had died during the fighting in Raines. The army told the story of that battle very differently from reality. In their version, Alex and Sarah Morgan were dead, and so were many of the people of Raines. They had only come back because they heard about the attack on their own people. Alisa could see through their lies, however. Not many men even came back alive. It seemed to her if they had been victorious in such an outstanding fashion that there would be more of them left.
Alisa quickly looked away from the truck, knowing there was no use in hoping. Every vehicle she saw approaching was him in her mind for a brief moment, but it always ended in disappointment. It would be a merchant or some travelers looking to stock up before they headed back out into wherever the lone wolves of their region went. Alisa had often questioned if it would be better to be one of them. Sure, they were uneducated and poor, but was that really so different from New Vegas citizens? At least lone wolves got to decide what they would do every day. Her life had been laid out before her. It consisted of work, haggling, and if the new leader of their city willed it, a trip to the fighting pit to die a God willing quick death. She had been hopeful that New Vegas would change with Charles Boyd dead, but like many politicians, the next person in line simply fell in love with power.
Alisa started to walk away and head for the indoor garden where she worked, but she dared to look back at the truck one last time. It was already at the gate. She couldn’t see the man sitting in the driver’s seat very well, but he had a similar build to Lee. It could be him, but she wasn’t sure. Alisa halfway thought she was only setting herself up for disappointment, but she had to know. She walked toward the parking area for visitors at a fast pace at first, but then that turned into a jog as she began to hope even more. Finally, she rounded the corner and saw the blue truck that had been carrying the person she hoped was an old friend who wanted to take her away from all of this. Sure enough, however, it wasn’t Lee.
Alisa stopped, and her face immediately dropped into a scowl. Why had she let herself believe it could be him? She had once again tricked herself into thinking that there could be another life for her. It was cruel, and sometimes Alisa wondered if any of her past had happened the way she remembered it. Lee was practically royalty. How could she, a poor girl who was no more than a slave, have caught his eye, and if she had, then why hadn’t she gone with him?
“Looking for someone?” Alisa heard a man’s voice ask from behind her.
She thought she knew who it was, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up all over again. She was sure she would turn around and see a merchant, a guard, or maybe even a complete stranger trying to start a conversation with a pretty girl. When she turned around, however, it was the exact boy she had been looking for, only he wasn’t a boy anymore. Lee was twenty-one, and he had the look of a man with more confidence in his eyes than used to be there and some extra bulk around his arms and shoulders, showing that he had been doing some physical labor in his city. For a moment, Alisa just stood there speechless, knowing it had been real. The people of New Vegas called her crazy when she told them where she had been and who their leader truly was, but Lee was proof that it had all happened exactly as she remembered it.
“I’ve been in the city since last night. I’ve been looking all over for you. Are you okay?” Lee asked, noticing that she looked a bit shaken.
“I’m better now that you’re here,” she said and immediately hugged him.
“Me, too. I’ve missed you. I would’ve come sooner, but we agreed to wait until our cities were back to normal. It looks like things are going well here.”
“It wasn’t easy, but we pulled together and rebuilt. You should have come to see me before now, though. I thought you might be dead.”
“Well, it was tough taking back the city, but we all survived. We made a new addition to Raines, too, with plenty of room for everyone. That was what I came here to ask. I know you might have a whole new life here, and . . .”
“Yes!” Alisa immediately said, cutting him off in mid-sentence.
“Do you even know what I was going to ask?” Lee asked with a grin.
“Of course, I do! You’re going to ask me to come back with you. I’ve done my part helping everyone, but there’s nothing left for me here. I love New Vegas, and I always will. I need a new start, though. Can you give me that?”
“You know I can, but there’s just one thing I have to do first.”
“And what’s that?”
“I’ve waited a long time to do this,” he said and kissed her.
For Lee and Alisa, it was easy to pick up things where they left off. All Lee had ever wanted was the opportunity to love someone who loved him back, and Alisa just needed a safe place with someone who cared. They gave each other that, and two years after they got back, they made it official. Lee married Alisa, and they went on to have three children together.
Unlike Roger and Veronica, their lives wouldn’t consist of politics or armies. Instead, Lee decided to teach a new generation what they needed to know to survive. He became a teacher in the art of survival. It wasn’t as simple as English, but with his parents’ approval, they were able to schedule a mandatory class for anyone over fourteen where the new generation would learn to shoot, scavenge, and how to negotiate with people from other cities.
Alisa, on the other hand, started a movement to recruit more citizens. No one deserved to live in the elements if they didn’t have to. At first, they only recruited from the surrounding areas, but in time as more expansions were finished, they would recruit all the way to New Vegas where she would finally give her original people a choice other than forced labor and scraps from the elites.
Life was as it should be with love, freedom, and safety. Lee had wondered if the jo
urney was worth it when they went to New Vegas hoping to find his sister, but now he knew where the final destination was. It had been worth every heartache to get to live his life with someone like Alisa.
Epilogue
It had been twenty-one years, and Alex and Sarah were seeing something they never thought was possible. They were walking toward the outside world once again, only now it was different. Thanks to the weather system that had been perfected, a cloud cover with a light drizzle had been made. The normal temperature at that time of day would have been at least 110, but on this one, it would be no more than 100. Even better, the uncontrollable storms of the past could almost be completely controlled. Without the threat of tornados and unbearable heat and cold swings, they had hope that a new world where humans were meant to live was possible.
Alex was proud of so many people. He was proud of his daughter for her idea that might just save them all. He was impressed with Roger who had built the military into a force that no other settlement could take on. He had gotten to watch as Lee and Alisa flourished, too, in roles that not only fulfilled them, but helped so many others. Even Travis had grown into a man who accomplished more than almost anyone by helping build, thus giving more people homes who might have died otherwise.
Finally, Alex reflected on himself and Sarah. She had been the catalyst for all of this. Sarah had challenged the status quo when they met. She had been the leader Raines needed, but more than that, she had been the woman he always desired by his side. If he hadn’t loved her and gone after Sarah when she was taken, then none of this would have been possible. Raines still would have been ruled by evil men, he and Jake would be citizens of Norak, and the children he was so proud of wouldn’t even exist. His love for her had been the beginning of everything. That was something he would have never thought was possible in the past. Back then, love was dangerous, and only one thing mattered - money. Alex would soon learn the most important lesson of all, however. It isn’t credits that change the world. It’s people, and in his life, he had known quite a few amazing ones, but none so much as her.
As they were passing the final building on the way out of the indoor city, Alex caught a glimpse of himself in the storefront window. He was old now with wrinkles and scars to prove it. He remembered when he was in his forties just before the journey to New Vegas to get his daughter. Back then, he had seen an aging man in the mirror who was a disgrace to himself because he was no longer the person he used to be. Today, however, none of the blemishes were disgusting to him. Every scar was a reminder of hardships he had beaten with the people he loved, and every wrinkle was another one earned. Even his arms, no longer muscular and carrying as much strength in them, were a reminder of what had been. They were frail now, but it had been those arms that held up the weight of the world at times. He had fought and held his children with them. No, now Alex knew. He wasn’t losing who he was. He could never do that. He was simply being ushered into a new stage of his life where resting was finally okay. It was in this new place where he could just exist without worrying about hardship or what-if scenarios because he had done all the right things before. Every scar was a reminder of the city and children he had fought for, all of which now had the strength and resolve to do everything needed on their own.
“Are you ready to go outside again?” Sarah asked with a smile. She was obviously just as excited about making their home in the outside world as he was.
“I am. I never thought this day would come. I fought so hard to get into the city, but if we can make lives like humans should again, then this is the first step in putting the world back like it was before we were even born,” he said and took her hand as they stood in front of the gate.
It started to open, and then Alex and Sarah felt the sunlight on their faces for the first time in eleven years. It was the end of a long journey, but in some ways, it was only the beginning. That was the start of humans taking back control of their world and the earth finally recovering from a tragedy that had almost forced them to extinction. If that had been the end of civilized humanity, then it was safe to say that this was the rebirth of it.
With their struggles at their backs and nothing but clear skies in their future, Alex and Sarah walked out hand in hand to greet the new world. They would have a life of rest, happiness, and love ahead of them. The journey was finished, and for the first time they knew for sure. Every moment of grief and pain had been worth it to get to a destination that was nothing short of miraculous.
Author Notes
I hope you enjoyed The Divide: Legacy. It’s a project I’ve been working on for quite some time, and I’ve been thinking about it even longer. Back when I wrote Origins, a very distant prequel to the series that had nothing to do with these characters, I was always thinking about a finale to this series where we could see Alex and Sarah once again, only the timing wasn’t right then. I was maturing as a writer and trying to explore new themes. Thankfully, I was able to start this book at just the right time, however.
When I began, I felt like I wanted to get back to the basics of who I originally was as a storyteller and make a narrative that would put a neat bow on the series. The project became so much more than that, however, as new characters like Veronica and Lee seemed to jump off the page and become as real as Alex and Sarah had to me many years ago when I wrote the first Divide. It was a true joy writing this story, and I can honestly say that I found my passion in writing again somewhere in these pages.
Writing had become a job to me in the months that preceded making this novel, but I now know that I’m actually one of the luckiest people on Earth because I get to go on these mental journeys to worlds I never imagined were possible, and thankfully, you were willing to come along with me. Thank you for reading my work. It’s the readers who give people like me a reason to do the things we do. Here’s to another book finished in what will hopefully be one of so many more adventures.
Mitch
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