I turn to Charlie. “Are you okay now? Good enough to get out of here anyway?”
He nods. “Yeah, I think so.”
I look over my shoulder to Eliza. “Charlie goes first. I'm not leaving here until I'm sure he’s safely gone.”
“Fine. But you’re going right after him.”
She walks over to Charlie. “When I lift the veil of the darkness, you’ll need to act quickly. I can’t hold it up for long.”
He nods. “Got it.”
He looks at me. “Why can’t you leave at the same time as me?”
“Because I have to know you made it out of here, Charlie.”
“What about you? What if something goes wrong and you can’t get out.”
“I’ll be fine. Eliza will get us both out.”
He takes a deep breath before reaching his hand out and resting it on my cheek. The roughness of his skin on mine feels wonderfully familiar and I lean into his touch. He pulls me in for a kiss. I consider resisting but I can’t fight my true feelings. I have never wanted anything more in my life. His soft warm lips brush gently across mine, testing my reaction. I surrender to my heart and lean in, pressing my lips hard against his.
Three hundred years of love and devotion flow through me. Lifetimes of love and loss course through my veins with every beat of my heart. I run my fingers through the hair on the back of his head, pulling him closer, losing all sense of where we are or who is with us.
“This is a lovely, precious moment, but we really don’t have time for this. You guys can do this at the colony.”
I abruptly snap out of my trance and break the kiss. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s get this over with.”
Eliza instructs me to step away from Charlie and closer to her. I do as she says and brace myself for whatever is about to happen. She recites the same words that Zoë did to send Natalie home. The wind intensifies and eventually becomes a swirling cloud of silver dust encircling all of us. The darkness of the sky slowly dissipates and the warmth of a peaceful summer day overwhelms me. Birds chirp and flowers blossom. Leaves rustle in the breeze. Everything is so different without the veil of darkness hanging over it.
Charlie gives me one last hopeful look before vanishing in a puff of white smoke. I close my eyes and think of home, of waking up in my bed with my mother throwing the curtains open to wake me up. I think of Jonah and how badly I want to see him, give him a giant hug, and lose every video game in our collection to him. I think of my dad. I have so many muddled feelings surrounding him right now that I don’t know which to start with. I’m hurt, angry, confused, and yet I still miss him. I think of Charlie and how much I want to be back in his arms, how much I really do love him, how badly I hope he is at the colony waiting for me when I wake up.
Everything goes dark. My brain feels like mush as it fights to bring me back to reality. And then I feel it: the touch of the bed behind my back. My hearing comes next. The room must be full of people. I can hear them all talking and rushing around. My eyelids feel glued shut, but I manage to open them. At first everything is blurry. I expect to see a slew of faces surrounding me, but there is no one. I suddenly realize that the commotion I hear is surrounding the bed next to me.
33. DON'T LEAVE ME
I turn my head as much as my sore muscles will allow me to, toward Zoë's bed. Doctors and nurses surround it calling out commands that I have heard countless times on television.
“Where’s the A negative?”
“Her pressure is dropping.”
“Get the crash cart.”
A long, monotone beep pierces my eardrums. I feebly try to prop myself up in the bed, but my arms are useless. I call out Zoë's name but my throat is so dry that speech fails me.
This can’t be happening. Not Zoë. Not like this.
“Clear!”
The sound of an electrical zap against Zoë’s skin fills the air. The monotone beep jumps and then continues.
“Clear!”
Again. The same.
“Clear!”
Nothing changes.
“Push the A negative. Resuming compressions.”
I’m weak and fighting to keep my eyes open. I fall back against the bed, losing what little strength