After Destiny

by Tanya Lisle

  Kitty kept a close eye on it as Jovah removed his finger from the trigger and dropped the phone to turn and see what was happening. Kitty jumped in, swinging her crutch down on Jovah’s arm and the gun popping out of Brady’s mouth. She dropped the crutch and landed on him, forcing him back down to the ground.

  She needed a weapon and she had one that had already caused her enough pain with every movement. Reaching behind her, she grabbed the knife out of her back and stabbed it into Jovah’s neck, dragging it across his throat and turning her head away from the blood that came pouring out.

  Kitty looked back at the people, now all staring at the scene in silence. She could hear sobbing and a scream, but she found herself very tired. She was not in nearly as much pain as she should be. Thinking about it, she probably shouldn’t have been physically capable of that with her body the way it was. Panting, she sat back and picked up the phone, reaching behind her with her other hand.

  Yep, she was bleeding.

  “Medic!” she yelled into the crowd. Someone would come to deal with that. Meanwhile, she looked at Brady’s phone and saw the name on it. She should deal with this.

  “Liah?” Kitty asked. She could hear something in the background on the other end. “Name’s Katima Grace. Ed’s told me about you.”

  “So you’re Kitty,” Liah said. Kitty could hear her smile. “Okay, look, we’ve got most of the way down here cleared in that tunnel you’re taking, but we haven’t gotten around to the top couple blockages. If you can get your people through those, we’ll meet you and get you the rest of the way down. Can you manage that?”

  “We’ll have to.” Someone came to her side and started to move her onto the ground so they could deal with the bleeding.

  “How’s Brady doing? It didn’t sound good from this end.”

  “He’ll survive,” Kitty said, remembering that she had former a hostage to check on. “He didn’t look hurt. Let me just…”

  Kitty looked around at the alarmed and panicked faces, all of them trying to slowly back away from the bodies on the ground in front of them.

  “So long as he’s in one piece,” Liah said. “I can see him on my end. You just get your people down here.”

  Chapter 24

  The mountain was much like she remembered it. It felt like ages since she had last breathed in the fresh air of her home or walked in the sun. The cool grass wormed between her toes as she walked and the sound of bird chatters was a pleasant change from the low hum of air conditioners.

  Still, the Janus Complex was an experience and she would not forget it so easily. The people there had treated her in so many different ways than as an idol and a prophet. They looked at her with contempt and pity and kindness as well as awe, though she had to prove herself before she gained that familiar expression. They did not know what she was or did not believe the words she said.

  She also said her own words. For the first time, she spoke her own words.

  She did not like that they suffered now. Caught in a conflict that they didn’t ask for, they were stuck having to fight for their lives. Snow knew some of them cursed her for it. She knew what they whispered before the words came out of their mouths. She knew there was some truth to their words, but she knew that she didn’t know this would happen either.

  They taught her so much and she did what she could to keep most of them from dying in the fight. Some of them would still never forgive her for what she brought on them but she would help them anyway. For what they gave her, she would save them and help them.

  More importantly, she would save herself and any others that the Fates would claim after her. She saw that they did this before, but she would ensure they would not be able to do so again.

  As she could see them suffering in the Janus Complex, fighting so hard to survive and still not always able to, she could see one more piece come into play. She learned that it was best to try and solve many problems at once from Brady, so Snow had chosen someone in particular to play the final part. It was her first plan she created on her own and she hoped that she did it well.

  Her chosen one left the Janus Complex on time and found the abandoned bikes in the wastelands outside of Section I. She took one of them and drove furiously back toward the mountain. She wanted only to destroy it once and for all. She was already at the base of the mountain and ready to find her way to the top.

  Snow hoped this would work.

  The mountain remembered her, moving to accommodate her wishes. She was always the one to make the changes, the Fates having trouble agreeing just how to alter it. They argued over the paths, though they didn’t quite understand what was actually needed to allow a human to access it. They would make paths of trees too dense to walk through or widen the mountain without realizing that a human could not walk through rock.

  They figured out something for the latest group they brought, though. The mountain was filled with holes and groaned under the weight of itself. Snow moved gently as she made her way up, urging every hole closed and leaving a single path behind, straight to the cave of the Fates.

  As she drew closer, she realized how accustomed she was growing to regret. She should have left all this adventure alone and stayed the tapestry of the Fates forever. She could have been different from those that came before her. She could have survived and not learned what it was like to be anything other than their tapestry. If she were obedient, life would be simpler.

  Still, Snow knew there was no changing it. While she would have never known what it was like to have her own name and speak her own words, to make her own fates for people and to have people ask her for help that she could provide herself, now that it had happened, she would not go back.

  The sun was warm on her skin as she finally reached it. This place where she’d allowed herself to be stolen away. Where the Fates decided to allow her to be stolen away so that they could play their little game. As much as she wanted to believe that she’d left on her own, she knew it only happened because the Fates allowed it. They knew it would happen and they were all too ready for it.

  “She returns.”

  “I hoped she wouldn’t. It’s been much more fun than the others.”

  “It is time for this to end.”

  “The next is ready.”

  “The next will not be fun like her.”

  Snow didn’t flinch as the voices echoed around her and filled her mind. She had grown up with these three always talking to her, commanding her and moving her when they desired it. The Fates were familiar and maddening and already pulling her closer.

  Snow obeyed out of habit, letting herself be drawn into the cave and letting the Fates do what they always did. They inspected her so carefully; making sure that their property had not been damaged in the mess of everything. They liked her clean after she associated with the outside world, even if they were the ones who ensured she would be made a mess of.

  “She’s too much hassle,” Tavorian said, bored with the whole matter. “Just get rid of her and be done with it.”

  “You never have any fun,” Niyati and Kumari said. “No other has fought so hard to avoid death as this one. Such chaos. It’s been marvellous!”

  “It’s been a hassle,” Tavorian repeated. “The next is obedient and dies when we say.”

  “There is no next,” Snow told them. “I am the last.”

  The silence was strange. The moments stretched on and everything seemed to go very still. When she was younger, they ignored her words, but they seemed to be listening to her now, and Snow could tell they were not pleased.

  Niyati and Kumari was the first to break the silence with her laughter. “Still she protests!” she said. “She knows she is to die here and she thinks we will not replace her. We grow so tired of her, but she still wishes to stay and serve us. She doesn’t know that her death has already been written into the next.”

  “There is no next,” Snow repeated. “I am the last.”

  “She keeps saying that,” Providence said. �
�Why does she keep saying that?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Just get rid of her. The winds are already moving. Her allies will be gone soon enough and we can move on.”

  “I don’t see why we have to get rid of all of them. They can still be so much fun!”

  “That’s why I’m getting rid of all of it,” Tavorian told her. “So we don’t keep bothering with this game anymore. We will have a new one. At least play a different game.”

  “But this one was so much fun! Shame she gave herself up in the end. I was hoping there was still a bit more fight. We could keep her longer. Yes, we could keep her just a little longer. Maybe we do and that’s why she thinks she is the last. No, that would mean she wouldn’t be worn out.”

  Snow let Niyati and Kumari argue with herself, her attention on Providence. She could feel Providence combing over her, looking for something and finding nothing. “She does not know what we have not set into her,” Providence muttered, continuing her inspection. “She does not know how to lie. Why does she think she is the last?”

  “Ask her,” Tavorian said. “I tire of this. Both of you continue to obsess over this one when there is another child waiting. Find your answers and get rid of her so we may move on.”

  “Child, why do you say you are the last?”

  Snow blinked, allowing confusion to cross her face as it had so many times before. “You know all,” she said. “You can see that I’m not lying. I am the last.”

  “I see you dead in a short time, child,” Providence told her. “You will not even have a body to mourn.”

  “Yes.”

  “And then we will get another one.”

  “No. You see how I die. That is why there will be no others.”

  “Listen to her!” Niyati and Kumari said, amusement in her voices, now joined once more. “She truly thinks we see all, but think what a bore that would be! We say we see all, but we did leave one large spot where we could still have our fun.”

  “Remember your place!” Providence snapped at her. “She is not privy to that.”

  “I am above her and she will be dead. I can say what I please. The fates have never concerned Tavorian, but Providence is still upset that I did this so many ages ago. I was so bored with always knowing all and only ever having to deal with these two for my amusement, so I let our tapestry live. To make our tapestry human was to have to replace it and was to allow it to exist outside of our sight. On this day, I am most pleased.”

  “Your game has caused nothing but trouble,” Providence said.

  “You cannot see my actions,” Snow said.

  “So many people in that place,” Tavorian said. “Providence and Niyati and Kumari were too busy trying to kill you to notice, but there are many in that place that we cannot see at all. I won’t allow it to stay. We cannot allow that kind of blindness.”

  “It does make it more fun, though. They could appear at any time! Imagine what they could do to our plans.”

  “Your carelessness must be stopped,” Providence said. “You are the reason our tapestry causes so much trouble. You always set them free when they start to wear out.”

  “And we have fun!” Niyati and Kumari was proud of herself. “You grow bored playing only against me and Tavorian. The tapestry always creates the most fun games. And this one has gone so far as to think she will win.”

  “How did she think she would win?” Providence asked. “Child, how did you think you would win this game?”

  Snow could feel the last piece fall into place. “You would bury me in this mountain,” Snow said. “You would crush my body and hide me away in the depths of this place like you did to so many before me. Doing so will leave a body to mourn, however insignificant it may be when you’re done. That is not how you said I would die.”

  “Insignificant,” Providence said. “You will be gone one way or another.”

  Snow let herself smile. “What happens if this mountain is no more?” she asked.

  “The mountain always will be,” Providence said. “You cannot destroy a mountain.”

  Snow let her eyes drift to the path up the mountain where she could see the bright red hair coming before the small woman it was attached to. She fiddled with something out of sight before standing back up and charging over to Snow. “An angry mother will destroy what she pleases.”

  Miranda looked winded and walked with one hand against her back, though it didn’t dull the anger in her eyes. She stopped after a few more steps on the plateau, doubling over to catch her breath.

  The Fates were all the things they never were. Bewilderment and curiosity and surprise drifted through Snow’s mind in a cacophony of noise that only she could hear. She was kept firmly in place, not moving as the Fates tried to figure out how this woman had managed to get there without them seeing her. They looked through Snow’s eyes, finding the large mess of marks along her bare arms.

  “She marked one for herself!” Niyat and Kumari said. “I thought she could only leave our marks! Who gave her a mark to use for herself? Did I do that?”

  “Remove them!”

  Snow refused to move, fighting back against the pull of the Fates as they tried to move her body. They wanted the marks gone and wanted Miranda dead, but Snow needed her more. She could feel the razors slicing through her insides, but she had grown almost accustomed to the pain now. She would not move.

  “You,” Miranda said, still winded as she looked back up at Snow. “Don’t think bleeding all over the place is going to make me feel any sympathy for you. You and this mountain have been nothing but trouble since you got here! Every time this fucking mountain shows up, everything goes to shit.”

  Miranda looked at Snow like she was waiting for a response, but Snow couldn’t move. She could feel the blood dripping down her face and the bruises forming on her skin again. The Fates were careful this time not to kill her, their confusion raging on in her mind and the fear of what this woman was planning. They may need her or Snow yet, but they couldn’t see why.

  “And you think you can bring all that to my home and my son? Ed might’ve been willing to put up with all this crap, but you’ve been nothing but trouble. I don’t know how you managed to convince Mac to not kick your ass back out into the wastelands, but I’m going to make damn sure you and this mountain never come back to bother us again.”

  Snow stared back at her. It was getting hard to see with all the blood in her eyes.

  Miranda slapped her hard across the face. “Say something!”

  “You set the timer for one minute,” Snow said.

  The look on Miranda’s face as she turned back was nothing compared to the backlash she felt inside of her as the Fates tried desperately to figure out what was going on. They wanted answers. Niyati and Kumari laughed, but Providence was desperate to know what was happening.

  Providence finally looked deep inside her mind to find what Snow was hiding. Miranda had been marked with a very specific task. She would go to the kitchens and remove the particle bomb they used to dispose of waste. She was skilled before this in bomb work from her time with the raiders. She would bring it here and she would use it to destroy the mountain.

  There was no pain as Snow felt herself fade away. She watched as Miranda faded as well, stretching out into a red mass of fog and then fading away into the rest. Around her, the rocks and grass did the same, coming apart and apart and apart again until they were in too many pieces for Snow to count. She didn’t move when it came for her, feeling it tickle over her skin and taking her gently apart. She made no sound and did not protest as she became nothing, fading away with the mountain, never to be seen again.

  In her mind, The Fates continued to scream until it was all silent.

  Chapter 25

  His feet couldn’t move fast enough to get out of there. No crowd of people or locked doors or dead bodies were going to stop him from getting as far away as possible. He didn’t look back and didn’t dare stumble. Doing that would only slow him down.

 
; Brady didn’t care what he was running from. His heart pounded in his chest as it played over in his mind again and again. He was still there and he couldn’t get away from it. He couldn’t close his eyes or he’d see that man again.

  He could still taste the metal in his mouth and the pain in his teeth from where the muzzle of the gun hit them as it flew out again. He could still feel the eyes on him, watching on in dread and terrified to act lest they watch a small child murdered in front of them. More than anything, he could hear the silence where he should have heard his mother’s voice saying something.

  Yes, that’s why he was running. He needed to find his mother. If she wasn’t in there, then she must have gotten lost on the way to the doors. She was around here somewhere. That’s what he was doing. He was looking for her.

  It was hard to breathe but he forced himself to keep going. He had never run so fast or so far, but he needed to keep going. It was the only way to find her. To run far away from there.

  He ran until he heard voices speaking in a foreign language. His body wanted him to keep moving, to get away, but his mind commanded him to stop. His feet skittered forward on the loose rubble and he fell loudly on his back, smacking against the floor and the wind flying out of him.

  The foreign men went quiet and turned. Brady saw them, covered in dark marks and looking like the man from before. Brady shook as he tried to push himself backwards and out of sight, but they already spotted him and were coming to look.

  He couldn’t tear his eyes away from them. They spotted him easily and looked around for someone he must have been travelling with. They asked him something he didn’t understand.

  He didn’t understand what he saw next. The dark marks covering them disappeared slowly, like they were dissolving off of their faces into the air. As they did, the men fell to the ground, followed by the sound of several gunshots from above him.