by E S Richards
Zahyra turned to see Cain walking towards her across their porch. A wide grin broke out onto her face as it always did when he returned from work, his presence making her life feel complete again. Cain wrapped his arms around her as he drew near enough, planting a kiss upon her forehead and then dropping down onto one knee.
“How’s the little one?” He asked softly, placing a hand on Zahyra’s stomach.
“Sleeping,” Zahyra answered with a smile, lifting Cain’s chin up with two fingers to look into his eyes. “How was work?”
There were still days when Zahyra couldn’t believe how much their world had changed. Cain had established himself as a prominent member of a nearby medical centre, helping to create new medicines from the blooming plant life. The centre had been set up about six years ago, round about the time when Sam and Hayden moved on and Zahyra had moved her little family to the area.
Cain had always been keen to help other people; his knowledge of medicinal plants outshining everyone else’s at the centre. The first thing they had properly formulated also helped him substantially. Finally a drug had been developed to reduce the effects of mutations, meaning Cain could completely be himself around Zahyra without worries of breaking down and losing control.
It was ironic actually, that the mutation suppressant drug as it was known, wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the safe haven. After the collapse of the facility, a few survivors managed to escape from the wreckage. Among them had been some of the lower level scientists, their morals completely different to those held by the likes of Professor Welbeck and Emerson. Thanks to them the medical centre had been set up and with the research used to develop the Tocsix’, reverse engineering was able to create the MSD, allowing Cain to finally be the man he wanted to be.
“Good,” Cain said in response to Zahyra’s question. “We still have a lot of people coming in from the outside, but the attacks are getting less and less each week.”
Zahyra frowned. Even with all the new developments in their world there were still groups of advanced mutants who followed the same prehistoric beliefs they had ten years ago. Less developed mutants were still hunted for sport and many Zero’s like Zahyra remained hidden in the shadows.
The medical centre was also a godsend for them. Offering sanctuary and jobs for Zero’s and lower ranking mutants who wanted to live a simple life. At times the centre had been raided itself because of this, but with an elite group of protectors, including Cain, Jonny and Dylan they had managed to protect the residents. Dealing with the raids in an effective, yet life-saving way.
Zahyra couldn’t be more proud of Cain and everything he had achieved. After the rocky start to life he’d had – much like Zahyra herself – the way he had turned his life around was truly inspiring.
“The twins did say it had been quieter, although they still couldn’t wait to get over here and blow off some steam.”
“Probably because they know you’re cooking,” Cain laughed. “I swung by their place earlier in the week – you’d think they were still teenagers by the state of it.”
“Well they’re not much older! You know why it is though, they’re just making up for lost youth. It can’t have been easy growing up in the safe haven. The place wasn’t exactly child friendly.”
“True,” Cain smiled. “Having Zander to play with certainly stops them from acting their age as well. They’re turning our little boy into a terror.”
“And what about when this next one comes along?” Zahyra mused, stroking her heavily pregnant stomach. “We’ve only got about another month. I’m not sure I’m ready for all those sleepless nights again Cain, we’ve only just got Zander sleeping through the night now.”
“Well you know I’ll be right by your side for all the interruptions. I’ve got some time saved up at work to take off. And we’ve been training up some of the younger guys, they’ll be able to manage without me for a while I’m sure.”
“Thank you.” Zahyra moved in closer to Cain once more and kissed his cheek. Every day she was with him she thanked her lucky stars for the MSD. Their relationship had suffered many hard days, although often she thought the guilt Cain carried for his actions afterwards was worse than what happened during his outbreaks. There had been one time when her arm had been broken and Cain had been beside himself with guilt and sorrow for months afterwards. Even with Zahyra constantly telling him it wasn’t his fault, that he couldn’t blame himself.
But now all of that was behind them and as Zahyra looked out at her son once more she couldn’t help but think back over everything that had led them to the present. Zander was still too young to know about everything his parents had been through. But Zahyra had all the intentions of telling him when he was old enough, and her next child too. She knew Cain was hoping for a little girl but for Zahyra it didn’t matter. Her family expanding was enough to keep her happy.
“So how is dinner?” Cain asked after a moment’s silence. “The others will be here soon and you know they’ll be starving.”
“Well Clarke was supposed to come by earlier and help me,” Zahyra rolled her eyes. “You know what those two are like though, they’ll undoubtedly be late.”
“Hey!” Clarke’s voice sounded from around the corner. “You’re never happy are you?”
Zahyra looked across her porch once more to see Clarke appearing. The young girl had changed so much since she’d first met her, distraught and alone after the safe haven’s attack on the warped settlement. Zahyra was so pleased that Clarke had become a part of her family as well; it made the pain of losing Adryan easier to deal with each day. She still missed the young boy though, even though she had never truly met him. The other boys spoke of him fondly but even that sometimes brought a tear to Clarke’s eyes.
“Well you are late!” Zahyra laughed as she wrapped her arms around Clarke, almost unable to hug the young girl properly due to her growing stomach. “Where is he?”
“Just parking the truck,” Clarke smiled in response. “He let me out before because I just knew you’d be complaining.”
“And I was right wasn’t I?”
Zahyra lifted her eyes once more as a voice carried over to her. Asher was so grown up now, his face and body permanently scarred from the events of that day ten years ago, but he was still beautiful in her eyes. As she always did Zahyra ran forward towards her younger brother, although it was more of a hobble with the state she was in.
“You’re always right little man,” she murmured as she hugged her brother. “Let’s go inside and catch up. Cain, call Zander and the twins in will you?”
Taking her brother’s hand Zahyra led Asher into her small home. It was something that she’d thought impossible at one point in their lives but now had become a regular occurrence, his relationship with Clarke blossoming.
On the day the safe haven had fallen, Zahyra had truly believed her younger brother had died. The collapse of the facility was so severe, so magnanimous that she doubted whether anyone could have survived. When Cain had driven them away from the wreckage she had been beside herself. She knew now that he just needed to get them out of harms way, in case any more of the mountain fell down as well and crushed them in the surrounding areas.
Once the final explosion had sounded though, she demanded that Cain drive them right back. The six of them: Zahyra, Cain, Jonny, Dylan, Sam and Hayden had then worked tirelessly for hours, searching through the rubble for any signs of life. As the first day gave way to night Zahyra refused to give up hope and while many of the others slept in the car she worked through the night, with Cain by her side, searching for her little brother.
The first survivor was uncovered just before dawn. A low coughing sound caught Zahyra’s ears and she ran towards the noise, not letting herself believe it to be Asher until she saw his face. Sadly it wasn’t. They helped pull a member of the red band from the wreckage, then another and then three other people who had resided in the safe haven. It was only several hours later when Zahyra fina
lly heard what she had been waiting for. A weak voice, calling her name.
Asher had been trapped beneath a huge portion of fallen rock. Once they found him it took another few hours to actually free him, Hayden and Dylan ingeniously fashioning a leverage device from other pieces of rock. One of Asher’s arms and legs were badly broken, his leg now finally recovered but his arm still bent out of shape. Even with the work Cain was doing at the medical centre, some damage was irreversible.
His face and body were also seriously distorted with scars, although Clarke often joked it made him look more rugged and handsome. Once Asher had been freed and transported to safety Zahyra had travelled back to the warped settlement a few days later. She had found Clarke, half starving and hidden in a pile of blankets. Clarke had never said what happened at the warped settlement, but with no one else found alive Zahyra could guess at what transpired.
None of that mattered anymore of course Zahyra realised, shaking herself from her flashback as her son and the twins arrived from outside. Zander ran towards her, jumping up onto her lap and burying his face in her chest. A few small tears pricked at Zahyra’s eyes with the embrace, truly experiencing a moment she never thought would be possible.
“I’ll get the stew,” Cain said softly behind her and disappeared for a moment before returning with the meal she had spent half the day preparing. It was after all, a special day.
With everyone seated Zahyra looked around the faces at her table. Jonny and Dylan sat opposite her, joking with one another as they always had done. They truly were her brothers now, just as she had told Asher the first day she met them. Asher himself sat to one side of her, his confidant face looking sweetly into the eyes of his girlfriend, Clarke.
Finally Cain took up the last seat, pulling Zander onto his knee as he sat down and planted a firm kiss on the top of his son’s head. That was her family and as the seven of them celebrated her son’s third birthday Zahyra allowed the tears to start falling from her eyes. From the darkest moments of her life, a true happiness had finally emerged.
THE END
About the Author
Thank you for reaching the end of The Generation Series. This is the first trilogy I've written and it's taken me on such a journey. I hope you've managed to see the characters as I intended and enjoyed how the story progressed throughout each book. If you did, please leave a review on Amazon and let me know what you thought. And remember to keep checking back - this might be the end of Zahyra's story, but the world of The Generation Series still has much more to offer...
Read more at E S Richards’s site.
