Page 134 of Beyond The Maples
He grunts. I put as much pressure as I can on the wound that's bleeding the most, willing it to stop. I look behind me to where Deacon is standing, frozen.
"Get me something to stop the bleeding," I scream at him.
He stands there just staring at me, shaking his head.
"Deacon! Now!" My voice cracks as I look to the ground beneath me, where a pool of blood is forming around my knees.
"No. No, no, no. Hey! You gotta hang on. I'll go get Leo, and he can try some of his fancy new tricks on you." I clench my teeth, trying to hold back tears.
Berkley’s hands come up to cover mine where I'm leaning into the wounds on his chest.
"It's ok, Maple," he croaks out, and his voice is gurgling and quiet and… wrong.
"No. No, it's not ok. You're coming with us and you're going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine." I put more pressure on the wound, bunching up the rag that Deacon finally hands to me. Willing the blood to slip from my hands, back into my friend.
"Thank... you. I have something good to tell them now... Was all worth it." He taps my fingers, and I know he wants me to look at him. To say goodbye. But I can't. He said he wouldn't leave me behind. My eyes find his, and he gives me a look that says a million things. I watch in horror as they go peacefully blank. Tears fall heavily onto him and I try to blink them away enough to see.This can't be happening.
"Berkley?" I cry out his name.
When I look back at him, I know he's gone. His eyes are open, but he's not there.
A sob wracks through me, ugly and sharp, and I feel my heart fissure inside me like the shattering of amirror. Angry, gaping.
Tarius says something, but I barely hear it. He's got the captain—who is grinning,fuckinggrinning—pinned underneath him.
"Maple, I'm so sorry, but we have to go," Deacon says from behind me, gently pulling my shoulder.
I bend, covering Berkley's body. I hug him one last time, before closing his eyes and standing. He deserves so much more.
My body moves as if through water, as I walk to where the gun lays abandoned on the floor. Kethler's smug smirk fades as I pick it up.
"Tell me!" I shout at him, gun pointed at his face. "Tell. Me. Why!? Why are they lying about everything?"
The look that takes over his face is manic.
"To level the playing field. We're almost there... you can't stop it. All those with dirty magic in their blood will be weeded out and the world will beright. Pure." His eyes are wide, defiant, as he spits the words at me.
Those neatly stacked barriers—the walls and boxes where I’ve carefully kept a lifetime of myrage and pain—no longer seem sufficient against the yawning void of Berkley’s death.
There's no hesitation as I cock the gun, and pull the trigger, painting red through his white hair.
If time had slowed down in the hallway with Kethler, it sped up afterwards. Running through the halls, soaked in Berkley's blood. My ears ring the whole time, or it could be the alarm that keeps blaring at us, like a beast in agony.
Someone in a white lab coat comes out, no doubt hearing the siren and our heavy footsteps. He startles as he catches sight of us, stumbling back against the door, and attempting to go back into his lab.
Something dark and twisted takes over Tarius's face at the sight of him. He lengthens his baton, before smashing it over the man's head furiously. Deacon looks over at me in shock. I shake my head, unable to speak. Tarius doesn't look at us as he continues on through the halls, his movements erratic and angry.
The hallways take a slight incline, and my breath comes out in short desperate pants as the last corridor finally opens into the bay area. It's completely empty, except for Leo and Farra.
Farra is covered in soot, her face smudged with dark streaks and what appears to be someone else's blood. She looks me over, panicked at the sight of me.
Leo searches our group. I look over at him, his big eyes meeting mine, and I think he sees the answer to the question he's about to ask. His face drops as he shakes his head.
"Where's Berkley?" Farra asks, her voice desperate.
I feel Deacon rip off my pack, loading everything into the buggy frantically and silently. Tarius hurries to open the bay doors. They move like machines, while the three of us are unable to do much else as Farra looks between us with panic.
"He's gone, Farra," I get out, my voice not sounding like my own.
