The Gunslingers #9: Jace and the Final Goodbye
Not a single person stirs in the empty courtyard. Well, not completely empty. The mangled corpses of Paladins and infected are everywhere, clearly something big went down here. Near the hole in the wall that came from our C4 blast is a pile of bodies surrounded by bits of burning metal. Even though there are an incredible amount of bodies here, I know none of them belong to Annie, Alex or Saul. They’ve made it out alive.
“Leaving so soon, Firebringer?” I turn and see the one-eyed Paladin who’d kidnaped Annie in the first place. My hand reaches for the hilt of the blade strapped to my back. The one I took from the Paladin I’d just killed.
“What do you want from me?!” I shout, pulling the blade free from its sheath.
“I wanted the girl, but you just couldn’t give her up, could you?” He has a smirk on his face, like he’s trying to egg me on.
“She’s one of us, not one of you, you don’t deserve her!”
“You speak as if you deserve her, you don’t even know what she is!” His tone grows louder and more intense. “You think much higher of her than of the other two, the one with the bow, and the one who will betray you.”
“Stop it!” There’s a burning passion in my voice, “You don’t know anything!”
“I do know that if you don’t run back to your little home, the man in the suit will kill Annie, and he will most likely have you killed as well.” He isn’t drawing any weapons.
“Are you just letting me go?”
“We will fight one day, Firebringer, but not today. Annie is a major player in what’s to come. Without her, we will not be able to cure the world of its plight. So go, save her.” His smirk changed into a solemn, emotionless expression. “Just know, that no matter how many times you save her, she will never love you in the same way you love her.”
I don’t respond. I know he’s wrong. About everything. How could he possibly know any of that? But I take off running all the same. I don’t believe in luck or coincidence. God, Annie, please tell me you’re okay.
I try and preserve ammunition, taking out the infected that surround me with the Paladin’s Blade. When I try and create fire, nothing happens, so instead I just hone my skills with the blade. It feels like an extension of my arm as it slices through the undead beasts trying to bite me. One after another they fall before me. With this blade I am judge, jury, and executioner. With this blade I am king. Swing after swing after swing, they all fall just the same. Nothing can stop me. And then I see the apartment building where I’m hoping Saul, Alex and Annie are waiting for me. I pull the Katana out of a Rager’s skull and clear the blood off of it with a swift flick of my wrist. It slides back into place, and I sprint towards the apartment complex.
The stairs fly under my feet as I barrel up towards the room. I know that the one-eyed Paladin was wrong, Saul will most likely be sitting on one of the couch while Alex and Annie look out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of me racing towards them. Maybe they’ll have worked out what we should do next, scour for food? Search for supplies? Infiltrate the Paladin Complex? I know everything will be fine.
When I get to the door of the apartment I can hear Saul talking to Alex.
“Alex, progress is a way of life. You need to accept it.”
“This is bullshit Saul! You caused all of this! You need to use that cure you have to save all those people out there!”
“I can’t do that Alex. The Organization wouldn’t like that.” I hear a sharp smacking sound, and push the door open. “It’s all part of The Plan.”
“What’s going on here, Saul?” He turns towards me, his face turning white. “Answer me, Saul!” He doesn’t, instead he picks up Annie and bolts out the window. I follow him and the clanging sound of the fire-escape under his feet.
The cat and mouse chase goes for several floors before I realise that he isn’t picking a floor to stop on, he’s going to the roof. What could he possibly need on the roof? He’ll have nowhere to go. I will get the answers out. I make the last turn and step onto the roof. Saul stands several feet away, with Annie kneeling in front of him, facing me, his shotgun pressed against the back of her head.
“Saul, I’m going to ask politely once,” I take a deep breath, “What are you doing?”
“If you come any closer, Jason, I swear to god…”
“What the fuck did you just call me?” I interrupt him, my heart beat increases.
“Oh, you think I believed the whole Jace shtick?” He lets out a small chuckle, “I know who you are Jason Abernathy, and I know all about poor Angela and cute little Jack.” His devious smile makes me want to pounce and rip it off of his stupid god-damn face. He has no right to even speak those names.
“You don’t know anything!” I yell at him, I can almost feel my blood boiling.
“Calm down, Jason, I wouldn’t want you to put a bullet into me to!” My hands clench into fists. “It’s a good thing we didn’t find any grenades in that gun store eh?” I can feel my eyes widen, all of the blood drains from my face. He knows everything.
“First a woman and child in Afghanistan, and then your own house? My, my, Jason. That is quite the rap sheet. No wonder you have those nightmares, no wonder you have that heart condition.” As if on cue I feel the pulling in my chest, it brings me to my knees. This was his plan all along, get me so worked up I wouldn’t be able to fight it. I reach for my inhaler but instead find an empty pocket. “Looking for this?” He pulled my an inhaler out of his pocket, I know I left the extra one in the apartment. “Here.” He tosses it towards me, but it soars over my head, just out of my reach, and falls off the building, down past the fire-escape. “Oops.”
“I’ll fucking kill you Saul, a million times I’ll kill you.” It hurts to speak, the attack is worse than usual because I’ve been fighting them off for the last couple days. I didn’t want to look weak in front of Annie, now look at me.
“Jace…. Help…” Annie speaks for the first time and I can feel my heart breaking, she can feel the shotgun against her head. “Please.”
“Annie, it’s gonna be fine.” I lie to her, I don’t know what Saul plans to do to her, but I know it won’t be good. “Everything will be fine.”
“Yes, good, Jace. Lie to her, tell her she isn’t going to die tonight.” I crawl forward a bit, and look into her eyes, she looks so scared.
“You can’t kill her, you need her, for whatever the hell experiments you’re doing.” I slam my fist against the ground. “I won’t let you take her.”
“Oh, Jace, poor poor Jace. It’s well beyond that.” He taps the shotgun on her head and sighs. “The Paladins are far too close to coming up with a cure, and if a cure is developed by them, then The Organization won’t be able to continue our testing.”
“What organization? What are you talking about?” My chest still feels like it’s going to explode. I wish it would, anything to stop this agonizing pain in my chest.
“Jace, there is still so much you don’t know. You don’t need to know anything though. You are nobody, I would have killed you after I took your blood if it wasn’t for that fact that Annie and Alex were in the area. I figured you could help, and hey, seeing a real guardian in action was pretty exciting, but now it’s time for you to go. I’m going to let you live Jace, but that’s just because I’m feeling generous, don’t waste it by coming after me, or anyone else in The Organization.”
“Don’t come after you? Of course I’m coming after you, Saul, I’m going to kill you. Now take your gun off of her head and fight me.” I somehow managed to pull myself to my feet. “Bring it, asshole.”
“No, Jace!” He seems aggravated now. “I need to kill her so the Paladins can’t take the cure from her blood! She’s the cure to all of this!” He span around with his arms stretched out. “That’s why she has to die.”
“If you kill her, than you will be killing millions of people…”
“More like billions,” He says matter-of-factly, “But it’s necessary if we’re going to excel our race into the next millennium Jace. You can control fire! What if everyone could? Ages ago, we didn’t even know what fire was, and now you can create it? Manipulate it? You could be the poster boy for the Guardian Project. You could be a hero to The Organization!”
“You honestly think I’ll join you?” I spit at him.
“What? No, of course not!” He looks puzzled, “You clearly hate me, no im not going to pull a Darth Vader and offer you to join me on the dark side. I know where your allegiance lays, Jason.”
“When I kill you, I’m going to bring your whole Organization down with you, and then you know what?” I manage a slight smile, “I’ll piss on the ashes, you fucking disgrace of a human.”
“Jace, I don’t mean to point out the obvious,” a splash of light passes across his glasses, “but I’m the one holding the shotgun here. You are in no place to be saying things like that. The Organization is huge, Jason, spanning all across the world. How can you alone stop us?”
“The Paladins will help me, and there’s Alex, and the others who were Guardian Positive. We will stop you.” I feel tears in my eyes, my legs are weak and my chest feels like it’s going to explode.
“Death, Jason, that’s what you’re chasing. Live your life. Hide, keep safe, eat everything you find. This whole thing will be done sooner or later, and then from the ashes of the world, a new one will rise. A new one that does whatever The Organization asks of it. A world that you can live in, Jason. Please, there’s no need to be a martyr.”
“I won’t be a martyr, Saul. You will be. I’m not the one who’s going to die.”
“If you say so, but im afraid Annie here is going to die as well. I think it’s time.” He loads a shell into the barrel, when he looks up and sees me standing, he’s caught off guard. “Oh, look, someone’s getting over the hurt, that’s good for you.” I feel the fire pulling at my lungs, I can feel my oxygen burning away.
“You aren’t leaving this rooftop alive, Saul.” The flames whip around my hands, flying around my body, singeing my clothing.
“Calm down Jason, you’re going to explode at this rate.” He still has that cocky smile under his beard. I raise my arm and the fire surrounds my fingers and swirls around my palm. “Jason, stop. You don’t want this on your conscious, you need…” I let go. The fire flings forward and is silenced by the gun shot. The fire dissolves into smoke before it reaches Saul. He lifts his arm to cough, and then wipes Annie’s blood from his suit. “I told you.”
Saul stands over me as I crawl and collapse onto Annie’s body. Her blood is everywhere. All over the roof, all over my clothes, all over her lifeless flesh. I wish I could see her beautiful face one more time, but all that’s left of it is the disgusting, bleeding flesh that surrounds the gaping hole. All over the ground is what used to be her head, face, brain. Everything she was, everything she stood for, everything ever is gone. Even her beautiful blonde hair, now matted with blood, seems to have lost its lustre. Her soul that must be it, her soul is gone. Saul has taken her life, her soul, and my love. That’s it. I loved her. She was everything I needed in this broken world.
“This is your fault, Jason. You selfish bastard, this is your fault.” Saul just shakes his head at me. I look at Annie’s blood on my hands, and then up at him.
“I’ll never stop, Saul.” I grab his suit, leaving bloody streaks on it, “I’ll never stop chasing you. To the ends of earth, to hell and back. I will kill you.”
“No Jason, “He says, raising the butt of his shotgun, “You’re never going to see me again.” The shotgun slams into my forehead, and the familiar darkness surrounds me. This time I don’t fight it, I embrace it. I let it encircle me. This is it. This is the end. No Annie, no Saul, no urge to fight. Nothing matters anymore. So I let the darkness cover me, hug me, hold me close. It licks my lips and kisses my cheek. Just me and the darkness, together forever. I hold it close, I never let it go.
And then sleep.
I don’t dream though.
Dreams are for the dead.
Dreams are for people who haven’t been wronged.
No, I won’t dream again for a very long time.
I go to sleep, the dreamless sleep that only the broken can achieve.
I go to sleep, and I plan, because if I’m going to take down Saul I’ll need a plan.
And an army.
Saul can run forever if he wants, but I’ll chase him.
And find him.
And when I do, he will burn.
Run Saul, go ahead.
Because now,
It’s my turn to chase you.
The fire is relentless, Saul.
The fire will find you, Saul.
I’ll give all my oxygen, Saul.
And I’ll let the flames begin.
Burn, Saul. Burn.
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