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Dean’s right, and I hate him for it.
The man I thought I loved once, who I always thought might have some good left deep down, has proven to me that there’s nothing but evil left.
And I’ll help him perpetuate his evil because I would burn down what’s left of this world to save my kids.
They drag Sam to the edge of the cliff by his arms, his body limp, and turn him to face me.
There’s a part of me that gives up, letting myself accept that we’ve lost.
Sam’s head rises as he mouths through the rain, “I love you.”
Rain and tears stream down my face, and Dean smiles at the wrecked cry that escapes. My chin shakes so hard, I can barely say the words back, but I do.
I tell him I love him for what I’m sure is the last time.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Madness
Deanturnstohismen to give the order, just as the earth shakes violently once more, sending us all tumbling to the ground.
The large man holding me loses his grip, the earth we stand upon loosening underneath us. I take the chance to kick him, sending him backward on his ass while I hoist myself forward. My hands dig into the earth, and I crawl, desperately trying to escape the devastation from this explosion. I feel the ground underneath my stomach loosen as the shaking continues.
It’s crumbling down into the ocean, falling out from under our feet, and I have to escape. The edge of the cliff can’t withstand the explosions, and it’s falling out from underneath us. “Sam!” I scream, hoping he broke free as well.
Another clap of thunder rings out, and I make it to my feet and run. The entrance of the underground is too far away to see what’s going on, but they have to be getting out. There’s no way the Eminent doesn’t feel that, isn’t terrified of what’s happening. He’s a coward, and he’ll run.
Dean’s men, who are further inland, scatter when the shaking starts again, but it’s too late. They’re standing on top of the cave in, thinking the dip in the earth was the underground’s entrance, and that mistake seals their fate. I see them sink into the ground, and my feet stop so fast I almost fall forward, my arms pinwheeling to stop me, and I watch them tumble into the hole the second explosion created.
I can’t make out anyone’s voice, but I know their screams. The final cries of hundreds of men as they fall to their death and not by an earthquake, but by the underground’s attempt at escape. They’re blowing up the tunnel that men spent years digging, forcing the Eminent’s hand, making him open the doors to freedom.
It’s maddening when I think of what Dean’s taken from everyone. A single man’s tyranny destroyed so many lives.
I turn to see Dean and Sam close by, fighting in the dirt, their bodies rolling back and forth. His men left him or fell over the edge.
Madness rises within me, and I’m running toward them without thinking if that ground is about to break off as well. My mind is blank, and just when I reach them, I see the vision of the figure falling from the cliff.
It’s not Sam.
Maybe it was once, but not anymore.
Dean’s on top of Sam, throwing punches across his face, and I pull the knife Frederick gave me from my pocket, taking off the sheath and slamming it down into Dean’s back.
He rears up, screaming above the storm, and I yank it out. When he turns, I don’t hesitate. I look into his eyes when I do it, making sure he sees who I’ve become, what he made me.
The girl who lost a sister but found herself.
The woman who protects her family from monsters like him.
The survivor, who chooses her fate no matter what the visions show her.
The blade slices across his neck, and when his hands reach for the skin, blood pours around and between his fingers.
He stumbles up and toward me, but I push him down. He falls backward over Sam’s limp body and scrambles up again. I lift the knife, and Dean steps backward, running from it, knowing he’s dying. I see it in his eyes, the fear there, knowing he’s been beaten.
I’ve never seen that before.
This will be the only time.
