Page 11 of The Last Man on Earth
My chest feels tight as I head toward the kitchen, passing her while she checks on Crown. I lock in. Food. Water. Flashlights. Lighters. Fire extinguisher. I’m on autopilot.
Outside, the pile gets bigger.
Inside, Ariana’s coughing again, harder now. “We have to hurry up,” she rasps. “The fuel is leaking.”
“I know,” I say, but I didn’t until she said it.
Then I hear it. A crackle, a snap, then a sudden roar. Bright orange flames lick across the panel closest to the wing. My stomach drops watching the fire catch fast, racing up wires, spreading over the shine of fuel on the floor.
“Fuck—go!” I bark, grabbing more bags than I can reasonably carry.
We’re racing the flames now, ducking under smoke, dragging whatever we can. Her leg was slowing her down before, but she’s moving as fast as I am now.
“One more trip,” she coughs, throwing an armful of stuff outside.
The heat’s brutal, searing my skin without the flames even touching me. She grabs a first aid kit while I clear out the cabinets in the galley. We’re almost clear when there’s a deafening crack of metal giving way. A panel drops from above, slamming into Ariana’s shoulder and pinning her against the seats. She cries out, legs flailing.
I drop everything and lunge for her. The heat is unbearable now, flames climbing the walls just inches from my head. I grab the edge of the metal panel, every muscle straining, and heave it up. My hand slips, but adrenaline keeps me going.
“Move!” I yell.
She scrambles free, dragging herself toward the exit. I haul her up, wrap an arm around her waist, grab as much shit as I can, and half-carry her out as the plane screams behind us.
The second we clear the door, the whole thing goes. A blast of heat knocks me forward, throwing us into the dirt. Fire laughs behind me as I'm hit with a realization. It’s a heavy and suffocating feeling.
My family is really gone.
I move onto my knees, turning to see…although I don’t know what I’m looking for. My chest heaves, my face drenched with sweat. I watch as my fucking life burns. My friends. My cousin. Mynephew.
I close my eyes and hear a sound, something like a hurt animal, alone and dying. Turns out, it’s a wail that’s ripped out of me, raw and broken.
They’re gone. All of them. And I couldn’t save a single one.
Chapter 5
Villain
I don’t know howlong it’s been since I started crying. I’m lowkey embarrassed right now, but not because of that.
Because I was scared.
And she saw me.
I couldn’t even manage to make myself look at my boys before I left them in that fucking plane. Too fucking scary to see them. I just kept my eyes focused elsewhere like a fucking punk.
I’m exhausted.
What am I gonna say to Vanessa? Ja was her only son. She loved that boy more than she loved her own life. I guess all mothers do.
Well, notall.
And my aunt Avery. My uncle James. Crown was their whole world.
I’m starting to wish it was me instead of them. At least the pain would only last a minute. I can handle a minute. What I can’t deal with is this never ending pain, this feeling of being empty inside.
The only thing that snaps me out of it is Ms. K moaning. When I look over, she’s clutching her side.
“It hurts,” she says. “It’s starting to hurt real bad.”
