Hitori Nojima: Death Stranding: The Official Novelization, Volume Two

Her dreams of extinction were collected memories that resisted the truth of the universe —that it sought to return us to nothingness —and brought her the revelation that could reweave Bridges into something new.

What Bridget did was discover a third alternate side to extinction.

—It was me who made you a repatriate. It was me who tried to sacrifice you—as a Bridge Baby, as the savior of this world, as a human offering. And it was me who killed you.

The phase of this world had begun to shift ever since Clifford Unger’s wife had attempted suicide and been rushed to hospital. But for her it was already over. Once she was pronounced brain-dead, the doctors tried to resuscitate her, but it was impossible. There was an argument over whether life support should be continued, but in the end, she was taken down a different path. A direct order came in from a source close to the president.

Cliff wasn’t informed of the details. He was fobbed off with lies about how his wife closely resembled a case from the Manhattan voidout one year earlier, so she’d need to be transferred to a government facility for the appropriate care. The woman was seven months pregnant.

Once her fetus was extracted, he became the subject of the Bridge Baby experiments.

Cliff believed that both mother and child were being cared for at first, but once he learned the truth, he tried to retake his son. He failed. Both Cliff and his baby died. According to the records, the one who killed them was the president’s aide, John Blake McClane.

—But it was me who pulled the trigger. I killed you and Cliff. I didn’t mean to. How could I? How could I wish to kill our savior? (I wanted to save Sam instead of saving the world from extinction—Wasn’t that what I wished for? To save Sam so that we could watch the extinction together from this Beach?)

Bridget wandered around the Beach looking for Sam’s soul. Just like in the real world, his abdomen had been torn in a cross by the piercing bullet. He had been left on the Beach, all alone. When she found him, she picked Sam up, restored his soul, and repatriated him back to the world of the living.

Bridget had trampled over the very laws of this world.

Bridget had killed a fetus. A fetus that may have been extracted from its mother’s womb, but was kept artificially alive in a pod and hadn’t even been born yet. Then she brought it back to life. Sam’s body wasn’t one that could be returned to. Amelie had restored his soul and now his body had to adapt. It was an action that flew in the face of the entire flow of time. She had forcefully applied the laws of that world to this one. It made the world scream.

—But in doing so, I upset the fundamental balance between life and death. I just wanted to save you. I am an Extinction Entity. It’s my fate to lead our species to extinction. But that moment, you became part of that fate. You became a “repatriate.” And DOOMS started spreading my nightmares to others throughout the world. It was I that got you and everyone with DOOMS into this. Not long after, the Death Stranding occurred. The dead clung to our world. Until then, voidouts affected all creatures. This world made everything disappear. But after that it was only humans who necrotized, only humans who became BTs, and only humans who caused voidouts. I had pulled the trigger on the “Sixth Extinction.”

I may have been able to avoid the complete annihilation of the universe, but the extinction of humans was set in stone.

Sam couldn’t look Amelie in the face, but wherever he looked he was reminded of her story. A strangely shaped Earth hung in the red sky, now so big that it looked like it might fall down at any minute. The sea was calm, but silently reflected the blood-colored sky.

The shoreline went on forever. Just like Amelie’s confession seemed to eternally go around in Sam’s head.

“The Last Stranding has already begun. A Seam has formed from my Beach and the Beaches of every soul in America. And soon, it will be inundated by a vast surge of antimatter, starting here. Stay here with me and bear witness to the very end.”

Amelie sat down on the sand. Her golden hair swayed slightly. Sam could smell her scent. It was the same Amelie he had played with since he was a boy. He still didn’t understand what it was that connected her to extinction.

“You mean just watch it burn?” Sam asked.

“Together, with me, until the last flame winks out. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?” Amelie asked sweetly. Sam had no words in response to her casual tone. “The gates to the other side are already open. You can’t stop what’s coming. But… if you cut me and my Beach loose, perhaps you can stop it from spreading. You might just prevent the Last Stranding. And mankind will live to die another day.”

“Then it doesn’t have to end here?” Sam asked.

“But it does,” she replied. “This Beach is doomed no matter what. One look ought to tell you that. Which is why we must sever our connection. But you can’t stop the inevitable. The Sixth Extinction will happen, either today or tomorrow.”

Amelie handed Sam a gun.

“You can either end it with dignity, quick, clean, and in a flash… or you can struggle in vain, knowing full well what’s waiting come the finish. Those are your choices.”

Sam couldn’t tear his eyes away from the gun as it dully reflected the light. Until he arrived at the Beach, he was certain that he would take out the Extinction Entity. He tried to make himself believe that the person calling itself Amelie was a sham. An evil being that brought calamity.

To “close the gate” all Sam had to do was take the gun and blow her away. But that wouldn’t change the course toward extinction that humanity was already on. Knowing that now, what would be the point of taking that gun? Having just heard Amelie’s confession, she wasn’t the only Extinction Entity. Repatriates, those with DOOMS, and even Bridge Babies—if they had been born to resist extinction, then he also had to acknowledge that they were used to arrive at extinction. Sam gingerly reached forward and gripped the gun.

He had to choose. Had to decide. Had to make a move one way or the other. If he didn’t, nothing would ever change.

He adjusted the weight of the gun in his hand. It felt heavier than any other cargo he had ever had to carry, and much more fragile.

The wind blew and the dreamcatcher hanging by his chest swayed in the breeze. It felt like the wind was blowing right through him, freeing him from all the weight. The gun dropped out of his hand and fell into the sand. These human hands that had forged so many tools over the ages to keep enemies away now held nothing.

Instead, Sam reached out both arms like a newborn baby grasping out for anything it could get its hands on.

He embraced Amelie.

He felt her warmth, smelled her scent, and felt her heartbeat through her chest.

“We’re always connected, no matter what. You taught me that.”

Amelie hugged Sam back tightly. Sam responded. Their physical barriers dissolved and their kas connected.

—Here. It’s a dreamcatcher.

Sam was a young boy when Amelie had given him the dreamcatcher on the Beach.

—Wear it when you sleep, and I’ll keep the nightmares away. I’ll always be with you. When you’re all grown up, you’ll need it to make us whole again. And when the time comes… you’ll have to stop me. You’re the only one who can. Promise you’ll remember, Sam… I’ll be waiting for you on the Beach.