C James - Dome Six

They set Tosh back down on her feet, still supporting most of her weight. She took a couple shaky steps forward until her feet shuffled into the cold water on the downstream side of the little peninsula.

“Does that feel better?” Owen asked.

“A little.”

They helped her further into the river. Tosh’s weight seemed to diminish with each step as she became more buoyant. She let her arms fall away from them, though they continued to hold her by her upper arm for balance. The group waded in after them, ever mindful of their distance from the pendant.

Tosh turned to Owen, shaking, and said, “Keep everyone safe. I’ll try to stay afloat long enough to give you the range.”

“Mom, no,” Owen said, tears streaming down. “We can still find help.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “This is what I want. It’s okay.”

“There has to be another way,” he pleaded.

“Not this time,” she said. “I’ll slow you down.”

He threw his arms around her. “I love you,” he said, his voice cracking. “I probably didn’t say that enough. Or thank you.”

“I know,” she said. “I love you, too. You’re gonna be okay.”

She turned to Byron.

“Guess this means we’re… breaking up,” she said.

He smiled through tears. “I fell hard for you.”

A smile pushed its way through the pain. “Yes, you did.”

“I love you,” he said.

They embraced. Elle’s eyes met hers, and her expression said it all. I’m sorry, it said. For everything. Everything that happened or didn’t happen between them fell away. None of it mattered now. Everyone muttered their own goodbyes as Tosh’s eyes met theirs in turn, ending with Dee and Vi. She wanted to assuage the girls’ grief but she couldn’t. All she could do was tell them they would be okay. Everything would be. She felt it in her soul.

A fresh wave of pain tore at her nerve endings and her face contorted in pain. Owen and Byron eased her into the chest-deep water. They lifted her legs up and supported her head and lower back, then slowly pulled their hands away. She floated like a champ.

“So much water,” she whispered, then turned her head to each of them. “It’s okay. Just let me go.”

Their hands released her, and the slow current pulled her away. Her face remained fixed on the sky as she turned in a slow circle. The group stood with their arms around each other, Dee and Vi at the front, sobbing uncontrollably.

Tosh was done with tears. She turned her face up to note the bright streaks of daylight that spilled over the edge of the nearby cliffs. It was so easy to lie there in the river’s cool embrace, to simply surrender to it as she stared in wonder up at wispy clouds overhead. Art would’ve been so jealous.

The water eased her pain somewhat, but she was still ready for it to be over. Owen could handle himself. With luck, they’d all make it through this day, and the next, and the next after that. They’d already seen more than any of them could’ve imagined.

It felt good to know Byron loved her. Only now, at the end, did she realize that he had for quite some time. It would’ve been hard for him to say, but now it came so easily. Hopefully, he’d find it again with someone else. If not, well, then maybe she’d gotten the best of him.

After a short while, she felt it — the punch of an icy hand to her chest that seized her muscles and stole her last breath. The morning light went black, and for one final, delicious moment, she felt no pain at all.

Owen watched her intently. Twenty meters. Twenty-five. Thirty. At about 40 meters, his mother’s body suddenly jolted then went limp. She slipped below the surface as the current bore her away.

He collapsed to his knees, the water just above his waist, as his body heaved with sobs. His entire family, such as it was, was gone and he’d never felt more alone. Still, everyone there lost someone in the Dome’s destruction. Parents. Grandparents. Friends. He didn’t have a monopoly on sorrow.

He felt Aaron’s hand on his shoulder but it only turned him into more of a blubbering mess. Even if you’d been to a hundred Quietus ceremonies, you never actually had to see it happen. A door closed and that was it. This was visceral and it hurt like hell. Releasing his mom into the current was the hardest thing he’d ever done. Resisting the urge to try to save her, even knowing he would surely drown in the attempt, was the second hardest.

At least there was meaning in her death. He knew the device’s range now, and that information could keep them alive. Plus, no one wanted to say they’d be able to move much faster without her. Maybe, just maybe, the people now hunting them would find her in the river and conclude they’d all met the same fate.

Of course, she wouldn’t have seen it as sacrificing herself. She would’ve seen it as giving as many people as possible the best possible chance of survival. That Yamamura logic was alive and well. It all just happened so damn fast.

“We’re exposed here,” Byron said softly.

Owen nodded and wiped his tears on his sleeve. Aaron’s hand remained on his shoulder as they sloshed through the water and climbed, dripping, onto the muddy bank. The engines of the aircraft rumbled in the far distance.

They ducked under a large tree, which was enough to hide them from sight but probably not from whatever devices Cytocorp would deploy to hunt them down. Whatever they did, they needed to be smart and decisive like his mom, and he had to be a man, even if he didn’t feel like one.

He turned to Elle and asked, “What do we do now?”

Elle looked every bit as frightened and confused as the rest of them. Still, it was hard not to wonder if she was showing all her cards. She was Administrator, Dome Six’s highest executive. Was it still possible that she was as much in the dark as the rest of them? If so, could they trust her to lead?

“We don’t know how long that thing will last,” Elle said, nodding toward the pendant around his neck.

“No, but thanks to Mom, we have an idea of the range,” Owen pointed out.

“But it’ll shrink over time,” Byron noted, “and we don’t know how quickly.”

“We’re at a huge disadvantage,” Elle said. “We don’t know the lay of the land, where we could hide, where we could go…”

“We don’t have time to hide,” Owen said. “We need to get these Macros out of us somehow. They can probably use them to track us, or our CHITs. We need to find help.”

Elle asked, “What do you suggest?”

He nodded to the southeast and said, “I say we follow the river as best we can to the east. At least we’ll be close to a water source.”

Without any knowledge of the outside world that the Company hadn’t provided, they might as well be stumbling in the dark. In any event, the decision couldn’t wait.

“Owen’s right,” Elle said. “We won’t last long without help. Until we find it, the river gives us cover, water, maybe even food.”

Everyone nodded, seemingly accepting this appraisal.

“Wait,” Susan piped in. “Can we have just a moment? All our families. Our friends…” She trailed off. Vi hugged her tightly and she cried into Greg’s shoulder.

There was no time to grieve properly just then, but they could do this. Until they were safe, they couldn’t let it sink in or it would cripple them. They joined hands and lowered their heads for several seconds.

Owen was the first to open his eyes. The key to their continued survival hung around his neck but it wouldn’t last. If there was a solution, it wouldn’t come to them — they had to find it for themselves.

“Let’s go,” he said, and he started through the brush.