AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stop,” she muttered.
“He’s going to shoot at you again,” he said, as if more bothered by that than his own situation.
He groaned again, his eyes glaring at the gun he couldn’t grab. She saw his shoulder moving, his eyebrows frowning under the effort, but everything else was completely still. His own body had given up, and she couldn’t stand to watch him struggle anymore.
“Dante, stop it!”
He froze, visibly surprised by her cry. Eden sniffled, and leaned against him, hugging him. She knew it was already too late. She could only hang on to him, hug him tightly. Eventually, she heard him sigh.
“...Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” she cried. “Don’t be...”
“I wanted to protect you until the end. …Don’t get shot, okay?”
“I won’t. I promise I won’t...”
“Shit, I think I’m... cold.”
Eden trembled. He wasn’t just cold; his whole body was as cold as ice. She was trying hard to hug him, all of him, but Dante wasn’t hugging her back. His arms were simply lying there, against the floor. She hugged him even tighter, her tears silently soaking his shirt.
“Hug me.”
She nodded, and hugged him even tighter, hoping even just a little part of him could feel that. He sighed again against her neck.
“Sorry, my songbird,” he muttered. “I think I just need to rest. Just... a minute.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry. …I’ll be alright.”
Eden waited, and hugged him as hard as she could. Never had Dante’s body felt smaller, weaker than hers. She hugged him as if she was hugging herself, holding on to what she could, and letting herself cry silently. She could still hear the Governor grunting and screaming in pain, somewhere farther up front, but she couldn’t have cared less. Right now, she just wanted to hold on to Dante, for one more minute.
One last minute.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
“You bastard!” shouted the Governor. “I should have gotten rid of you long ago!”
His words woke Eden up. She hadn’t even realized she had passed out, perhaps for a few seconds. She slowly sat up and glanced down at Dante’s body in her arms. He was truly gone. She could feel her tears, still hanging on her cheeks, and that tight throat choking her up with sadness. Her hands moved, from around him to grab his shirt so tightly, the blood squirmed in between her fingers.
“Dante...” she cried.
He was simply laying there with his eyes closed. It looked as if he was merely sleeping, aside from his cold body and the lack of breathing. Eden sniffled, staring at him with that deep feeling of loss inside her heart. She could see Dante, but what she felt was a large void. A horrible, deep, and large void that was threatening to consume her whole being with sadness. She had lost people before, but this time felt even more cruel. He hadn’t even felt the pain, but the way he was gone felt just absolutely unfair. Inhuman.
Bit by bit, she felt the anger rise in her heart. She was sad, sad beyond words, but so many emotions were right behind that sadness, knocking on the back of her mind like a storm about to pick up. Anger. Rage. Madness. Determination. Boldness. Bravery. It was as if his strength was passing on to her. One of her trembling hands slowly moved, letting go of Dante’s shirt to grab his gun instead. The other refused to move, but it didn’t matter. Eden only had to raise her head a bit to see the man responsible for all this. She could hear him, his vociferous voice reaching her like an annoying crow in the back.
“You failures from the Suburbs have no idea what we are capable of! You’re nothing but the remains of a deceased world! The waste of a generation!”
Eden closed her eyes. She was so frustrated, she couldn’t even utter a single word. This man was mad. Just... mad. He had murdered hundreds of people from where he stood, and now, from a single bullet, he had completely lost it. A bitter smirk perked up her lips. There were still some men made of flesh in his world, after all. Eden was glad he could suffer. Someone like him who was entirely numb to the pain of others deserved every single bit of pain he endured.
Her teary, hazel eyes went back to Dante. He was gone, but her hand just would not let go. She took a deep breath. She had to keep her promise and survive this, somehow. She didn’t want to die here with him. Eden herself realized how strong her own will to survive had grown now, and moreover, that would have been the opposite of what Dante wanted. She couldn’t do that to him, not after his sacrifice. No, in fact, he had given her the willpower she had always lacked. With another wave of tears, she reluctantly let go of the blood-soaked shirt. As soon as her fingers had let go, she was dying to grab it again, but she kept herself from it. A part of herself already couldn’t endure the sight of his inert body, and she didn’t want this, those sensations of his cold body, to be the ones that remained engraved in her head. Dante was gone. Eden took a deep breath and grabbed the gun with both hands. It was time she ended this.
After glancing above the table that separated her from the Governor, she realized he was hiding behind the other end, and a medical bot had come out of nowhere, probably healing him at record speed.
“Are you alright?” suddenly asked Pan’s voice.
“I’m not.”
Eden was telling the truth. She was in a whole storm of emotions right now and wasn’t sure she could handle much more. All she wanted was to end all of this.
