YP – B3: QtnoWLM – Chapter 23 (Chapter 120)

177 Days Until Confrontation And the Uncertain End (part 4) 

They made it outside the horror hospital as it went up in flames. Evester first, followed by the others, watching the outside world to make sure that they were not ambushed in the process. For moments they wanted for Zedyar. In her hands, Heia held his drug box, slipping it into her bag, telling herself she’d give it to him never. They needed to control him better for his own sake. The explosions grew around them. The heat of the hospital grew with the color of the flames. It was a second later that Zeydar walked out of the doors completely unharmed.

“How could anyone do that?” Kony cried to Kim. He was no longer unable to stand, no longer right of mind.

“Absolute terrors of humans.” Kim answered him, holding him close as they tried to figure what to do next.

“Do Circles hate X’s that much?” He begged her grabbing her sleeve.

“No—“ Kim said as Evester said, “Yes.”

All eyes were on Evester as he watched the flames lighting up the sky. “Circles hate X’s or most do. Perhaps its not active hate where they seek harm. But it is the hate that comes with passivity. It is the disregard for X’s struggles. It is the irritation with their actions. Its the fear that comes when they ask for more.” He looked to Kony. “Yes. Circles hate X’s this much.”

“Why are they experimenting with Aralax?” Zeydar asked keeping his voice even, however Heia could hear the doubt in it. He too believed that the Stars had made the Aralax. “That’s what I want to know.”

“Figure out ways to kill them?” Kim suggested.

“No that was making.” Heia shook her head. “They were trying to combine us.” She looked to Zeydar. “To make weapons?” To make Aralax to begin with?

“If you can make weapons to protect you as you try to escape, that’s what I’d do.” Zeydar nodded. 

“You said the magic was a mess?” Evester asked him.

“It wasn’t natural, that’s for sure.” Zeydar answered. “the magic of our world has always been chaotic, but this was…” Heia watched as he struggled to find the right words. “It was like the way magic swirls in catastrophe.”

“Disruptive?” Evester asked.

“Powerful.” Kony answered looking to Zeydar. “Do Stars hate X’s this much?”

“Stars don’t hate X’s.” Zeyar answered after a moment. There was a bit of relief that Heia felt as she watched her brother relax. However as Zeydar’s expression darkened she felt ill once more. “You can’t hate things that are worthless. To most Stars, even if they won’t admit it, X’s are worth less than most animals. Would you hate an animal? It does not know better.”

Heia wanted to scream at the way he spoke, but she had seen the Stars. She had seen their world. She had heard how they acted and knew how they reacted to Zeydar. She wanted to tell him he was wrong, and that they knew her people were people. However they had destroyed Towers. And then had collected civilians to test on.

“I hate them.” Kony’s expression darkened. “The X’s are my people.”

“The X’s are all people.” Zeydar agreed. “Stars may not hate X’s, but they will learn to fear them.” He turned back to their path to the children. “Perhaps they never realized that animals fight back and are worthy of fear.” He then laughed darkly. “But X’s are people, like Stars. It makes them all the more worthy of fear. For people are the scariest of all.”

Zeydar was the first to step forward as they headed towards their path to the kids that they had found before. To save them. They had to save them from another city like this. The shot was a straight one, Zeydar and Kony working to destroy the buildings that they  could in time.

“Military incoming.” Uly warned them.

“We need to get to the kids.” Heia told them all.

“Kids?” Karla asked.

“Survivors.” Zeydar answered.

“Light the world in flames.” Evester gave the code for the final assault and retreat. 

“How do we save them and get them to safety?” Kim asked. “We can’t ensure that.”

“Yes we can.” Heia disagreed. “The whole world is watching us.” The whole world had heard their every word. “We will make them save the kids.”

They had thrown open the door to the end of the world in a different way and Heia was not sure how she felt about it. Not anymore. She only knew that in that moment, they had to make the world know about the children. Care about the children. Save the children. And not let them go to another city. They had to be held accountable.

They continued to run.

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