Marien's POV

Max had accelerated, and the truck was running at a speed I had never traveled. As we entered the city, he slowed down just a bit.

I heard gunshots and let out a cry of fright. Luckily, the truck was from the government, so destroying it would take more than that. Then, I realized that the bullets were not coming at us but at a horde of men running through the streets: evolved. How was it possible?

Max took the cell phone. "Repeat it. I didn't hear!" He paused and was stunned. "I'll be there right away!"

"What's going on?" I wanted to know.

"My brother says that Orion and a huge army of EHs are attacking the city. They have the Governor. He says they plan to kill him if they are attacked or something like that!" We crashed into the entire horde of evolved men, and it was no big problem for them to tip over and roll the truck.

Sirius covered me with his body as we rolled violently. We heard the buzz of the Army's planes, and soon, shots were added. Everything was screaming and chaos. The truck stopped moving. I was only aware of the force with which Sirius had me against his body and the noise of the tires turning at full speed when the vehicle overturned upwards.

"Let's go out!" Max ordered.

Again, I was unaware of things as Sirius moved fast, getting out and taking me with him. When I finally realized everything, we were already outside the vehicle and ran to shelter from the chaos. Some evolved men ran past and almost crashed into us, but Sirius dodged them.

Helicopters started to follow us as they fired, but Sirius was fast, and they couldn't hit us. Soon, many soldiers joined in pursuing us. We hide inside a half-destroyed building.

They had us surrounded.

"EH, turn yourself in and release the hostages!"

"Enough, I'll go out," I said, enraged. How could they believe we were his hostages?

"Don't even dream about it," Sirius warned.

"I'll show them I'm not your hostage! Besides seeing you well, they could recognize you. You have been in the news all this time..."

"We will blow up the building!" they warned.

Suddenly, I heard something terrifying: the growls of hundreds of evolved men. They had returned to the attack. Sirius shot out. I called out to him and wanted to run to stop him, but Max held me back firmly, and I kicked and screamed for him to let go.

The buzz of more helicopters in the sky terrified me even more. No. They would shoot everyone without discrimination! I nudged Max with all my might, and he let go of me, complaining. I ran desperately, and Max couldn't stop me.

I saw Sirius fighting some evolved men to prevent them from attacking more Army men. However, they all froze as they realized that the helicopters in the sky were targeting each of them.

And shots...

"NOOO!" I screamed with all my might, clinging to my Sirius's torso, covering him with my body.

I clenched my teeth, expecting to receive the impact of thousands of projectiles... but it didn't happen.

"Move!" I heard the man from the nearest helicopter order through a speaker. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Marien..." Sirius murmured.

"I'm not going away!" I yelled, facing the ships. "I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO TOUCH HIM!"

They lowered their weapons; the evolved men were also dumbfounded.

"It's the EH from the news!" exclaimed a young man.

A whole journalistic team was approaching with cameras, equipment, and weapons. The evolved people had stopped their attack and raised their hands slowly; perhaps seeing me protect one of their own had made them think.

More evolved men were getting closer at that time, but these were different. They had a slightly more careless appearance and more senseless hatred in their eyes. My eyes widened in horror. Were they controlled EHs?

"Sirius," I whispered.

He was already aware. He took me in his arms, and we ran out when the evolved men started to fight. He warned Max out and told him to follow us. We had to find the man who controlled those beings he had ordered to attack the others when he saw that they had decided to surrender when they saw how I protected my EH.

"It must be a strong signal to reach everyone!" Max suggested. "The radio tower, maybe!"

"Orion must be there. Somehow, he's gotten evolved to control apart from his warriors!" Sirius warned.

He pressed me closer to his chest, and I did the same, not only to make it easier for him to run but because I was afraid he would fight again. I insisted on coming, knowing that would happen.

The great tower was nearby, which increased the possibility that Orion was indeed there. It was the only one next to a lake, with an old mall nearby. Sirius skidded on the ground when he saw the man on the big screen and put me on the floor. Orion had the Governor by the neck.

"I know you are here. If you don't come right now, Sirius, I'll kill this crybaby, and you know what will happen if I do that. A war will break out, and your town will be destroyed!"

Sirius ran to meet him.

"No! Sirius!" I screeched.

I followed him along with Max towards the tower. I despaired when I couldn't reach him to stop him. But, to our surprise, Orion was not at the top but waiting for us near the entrance, and the Governor was a few steps behind him.

"I find you again," he said. "I hope I don't have to chase you from here anymore. Today, I will make you pay for your dishonor indeed."

Panic washed over me again.

"Well, there you have it. Can I go now?" asked the Governor, surprising us.

"Yes."

The Governor smirked and left. They had conspired to lure Sirius. The guy hadn't been in danger and even had given him more EH, knowing that it would destroy the city and threaten to start a war. Coward!

Without further ado, Orion lunged at Sirius, to my horror. I screamed when he hit him, and Max pushed me away.

"No, Max, let me go!" I screamed; I didn't want to get away from him.

Sirius had gotten rid of Orion before he managed to wound him to death, and now, he leaped and moved with agility, dodging him.

"Stop running away!" his attacker snarled.

Max had also been watching.

"I'll get the electric cord gun you like so much," he whispered.

I prayed that he would not take long so that we could help stop Orion, and I also prayed that the man would not manage to hurt Sirius until Max returned.

Orion was struck by the door of a car that Sirius threw at him, which made him furious and even more so because he couldn't catch him. He wanted to run, but a tire fell on him, making him grunt. He was somewhat stunned, and another door fell on him. I felt that Sirius's advantage with his speed was excellent, and I felt some relief, but it didn't last long.

Orion walked towards me when he saw that he wouldn't be able to catch Sirius. I panicked more and wanted to run, but Sirius managed to pull me away before. I felt like flying and started screaming. Everything was spinning. I felt an impact and the sensation of falling. Suddenly, everything stopped. Sirius had prevented my fall by taking me by the hands, and Orion rammed him hard.

I fell the few inches that separated me from the ground and stood up immediately, desperate, hearing the cry of my beloved. Orion had caught him because of me, and he was hitting him against the asphalt. Sirius managed to slip away and kicked him in the face when getting to his feet before his heavy attacker, then growled in fury and savagery and lunged to bite, but Orion pulled and slammed him to the ground with a brutal blow.

Orion grunted and grabbed him by the neck, emitting a heavy and savage growl. I was scared. He could kill him in seconds, but Sirius was slippery as a cat, getting away with agility. Orion caught him as he could and threw him at a nearby car, causing it to dent and the windows to shatter. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I ran towards him, but Orion was faster, grabbed, and slapped him savagely to the ground.

"No!" I cried out between sobs as I ran.

I groaned in frustration for not being faster. Orion arrived first and lunged to bite him, ripping his flesh instantly and making me squirm with his scream. He bit him again, and I brought my hands to my head while clenching my teeth and sobbing helplessly.

Orion began to laugh sinisterly. "Are you going to beg me to stop this time? Come on, say something!"

Sirius growled at him and breathed with some difficulty. The huge man held him against the asphalt.

"It's good that my mom rejected you," my husband muttered.

Orion growled and slammed him against the hard ground.

"Leave him, damn it!" I screeched and ran. I hit him, but it seemed to do absolutely nothing, no matter how hard I put into it. "ENOUGH!" I screamed with all my might as I hit him harder.

"Marien, run!" Sirius ordered.

"No!"

Orion turned and winnowed me about seven feet in one fell swoop. I felt the air rush out of my lungs as I hit the ground and scraped my skin as I slid across the asphalt. The pain shot up.

I sobbed and pushed aside the intense pain to stand up, my body throbbing from the fall. Max appeared and beckoned me, scared, to look around me. I began to see many evolved men around us. They had come cautiously, silent. Sirius and Orion were distracted. The evolved men were already too close. I started to hyperventilate.

Orion hit Sirius, and to my horror, he lunged for his jugular, but Sirius narrowly dodged him, failing to stop him from biting him on the shoulder. The EH got closer; they were the controlled ones, which scared me. If they were the ones controlled by Orion, they would tear us all to pieces.

"Sirius," I muttered.

He heard me but was still trying to get rid of Orion as he growled furiously. Orion tore more flesh from him, making him scream, and I was terrified as more tears leaked from my eyes. He grabbed him by the neck, trying to choke him.

"They will tear her to pieces, and I will let you see how she suffers," Orion threatened with his sinister smile. "Then I'll bust your head against the asphalt."

Sirius growled angrier at him. I looked to my sides, horrified. The evolved men had us surrounded. Max was back-to-back with me. He already had the gun ready to shoot, but that would not save us from all of them.

I looked at my Sirius, and he, too, had his beautiful eyes on me, filled with anguish, as he desperately tried to get rid of Orion. But that guy was too strong, with all those muscles. My tears kept coming, and he didn't look away from me.

The EH launched for the attack, and, for a millisecond, I could see the moments we had lived together in my beloved's eyes. I could see the depth of his love, the anguish, the desolation, and even the same question that I asked myself: did we deserve this just because we met, traveled, laughed together, fell in love, and loved each other?

No.

Another thousandth of a second, and I could see his determination to get out of this so that they would leave us alone at once and be able to live in peace.

He gritted his teeth and directed his fury towards Orion. I ducked suddenly, dodging the evolved that was about to catch me, turned, and Max gave me another smaller electric shock weapon he carried on his belt. I immediately looked for Sirius and heard a scream.

Sirius had managed to free himself from Orion, breaking the joint in his arm. Now, they were fighting again. He pushed him away with a kick, and to our surprise, the evolved men also went against Orion, and he was hitting them with force, but one arm was not enough. Sirius was dodging and beating those who wanted to attack him. We ran to meet him.

"Damn!" cried Orion. "Don't attack me!"

The evolved men also pounced at me, but Sirius punched and threw them away. I was so distraught because he was bleeding too much. Orion hit one, biting him, and lunged at me, but Sirius cut him off with a lunge.

"Never touch her or threaten her again!" he yelled at him in fury as he knocked him back with heavy punches, perhaps the strongest he would have ever given.

Orion fell after a kick and tried to stand up, but the evolved were already on him. I was distraught, as Sirius was caught fighting those EH as well.

I heard a voice coming from the tower speaker, "Illusive EH. Did you think I would support you just like that?" It was the Governor. "Now I have the toxin under my power..."

"Traitor!" Orion roared as the evolved covered him in his attack, causing him to scream.

I became increasingly desperate; Sirius was fast and stopped them before they covered us, too, and killed us. Max knocked several unconscious with the weapon, and we managed to get out of there.

"Let's go to the top of the tower!" he exclaimed. "The governor must be stopped; I am sure he has put the toxin in that experimental missile that the Army made!"

"Experimental missile?" Sirius asked.

"Yes! I think if you try to stop it, it will explode!"

We entered the tower, and they closed the door. Sirius stopped me.

"Stay here," he asked.

"What? No!"

"Marien, listen to him. We're in a hurry!" Max ordered. "If that thing releases the toxin, everyone in the capital will die."

"No! No!" I clung to my husband's body; I didn't want to leave him.

He was almost drenched in blood, and the Governor was upstairs with that deadly toxin.

"I'm not risking that thing exploding with you there!" Sirius exclaimed as he took me by the shoulders and pulled me away.

"Do you think knowing you are there makes me feel relieved?!"

Max looked up desperately.

"If it explodes, I can endure it," Sirius murmured, trying to calm me down.

I shook my head, quickly denying it.

"Let's go together, please," I asked. "We are one, remember? And I love you too much to leave you. I could see how to stop the missile without exploding or neutralizing the toxin, please," I begged him, tho it was a lie. "Whether we finish this or not, it will be together. We are a team."

He drew his eyebrows together in anguish and hugged me tightly.

"Yes... together," he agreed almost in a whisper.

"I'm getting old!" exclaimed Max.

We ran, and so did he, relieved we were finally moving forward again.

Upon reaching the last level, we find the Governor next to the machine.

"Governor," said Max, "stop."

"It's my big-time, sir," he replied. "If everyone in the capital dies, the president will order to erase the evolved people from the face of the earth."

"Think about it. If that thing releases the toxin, you too will die," he tried to reason with the man.

"As long as all the damn EH also die, it doesn't matter. They are a dangerous species, and nobody wants to take them seriously. They killed my family. It took me years to make all this happen. The evolved inadvertently helped humans hate them, but with my successful project of being able to control them, things got better." Sirius stepped in front of me, and I clung to his back. I didn't think of walking away. "You threatened to expose it. Happily, they captured me that day, and I could reason a little with that savage and thus manage to put things in my favor again. By the way, what became of him? Has he already died at the hands of his own species?" he finished mocking.

"Death is not something to be celebrated," Sirius scolded him, surprising and infuriating him somehow.

The man put his hand on the activate button.

"No!" yelled Max. "I'll shoot you and disable it!" he threatened with his gun.

"Sorry, kid, but it will explode if you try to disable this machine. You may save the city but not yourself."

Max moved fast, shooting him. Unfortunately, the Governor also acted quickly and pressed the button before falling unconscious.

"NO!"

The machine began counting down.

"Let's get out of here!" I screamed.

"It won't do. It'll release the toxin before we peek through the building's exit!"

This couldn't be happening. I couldn't believe it. We had come this far for nothing. Sirius ran to the machine, and I went after him.

We got to the board, and I tried to see if we could do something to stop it without exploding. Max deactivated the evolved men under control and took the microphone to begin ordering everyone to flee.

"There is nothing left but to deactivate it and hope it doesn't explode," Sirius murmured.

"No, no. There must be a way to disarm it," I said desperately.

The count was already thirty seconds.

"If I don't stop it, know everyone will die!"

Time seemed to stop before my eyes again. The count was going down, and we couldn't do anything. There were only two options: everyone in the city died or just us.

Fate didn't seem to have wanted us to be together from the beginning. Some problem or excuse always appeared, and now this. There was no way out. The thing was made of metal, a single cylindrical volume, without joints, without screws. There was no way to disassemble it.

There was no way to push it and toss it out one of the windows into the lake. It was welded to the floor. We couldn't let everyone in the city die, and if a war broke out because of that, they would attack the EH and, among them, the town of Sirius. His parents, the twins, Ursa, and everyone would die. I was partly relieved that they weren't here.

"Marien," he murmured next to me. "I'm going to push the button. Please, run."

I looked at him with anguish, and he saw me the same way. Again, I lost myself in his beautiful eyes, which I perhaps saw for the last time. Tears ran down my cheeks again, but I tried to be strong.

"No," I whispered and took his hand. "We are together in the end, after all. I wouldn't have wanted to end up anywhere else."

He gave me a sad smile and brought his forehead to mine as he put his hand on the button—the countdown beep in reverse. Max was yelling for everyone to run away. The sound became neutral, and only we remained silent. I got up and kissed him.

"Thanks for everything," he whispered. "I love you, and if there is anything after this, I will look for you, I promise."

At least, somehow, everyone would remember what was between us. Everyone would remember that the evolved people were not so wild after all, and they would remember those who stopped the war: a simple couple who all did was fall in love, going against the rules.

The time returned to its normal speed. I hugged him tight and closed my eyes, letting out a desperate groan.

I felt the strongest blow I could have felt in my life, as if a powerful force had struck me, followed by thousands of crystals breaking, an eternal fall, and another strong blow.

Everything turned to darkness.