EVELYN

It pained Evelyn to admit it but she had expected a somewhat warmer reception from Beth, especially after having been separated for over two years, by all accounts, should she not be feeling elated? Relieved at least? She'd been so emotionless when Evelyn had told her about SFU's bunker, the thunderstorm, River District, the Serenity Society and Guy. The only details she'd left out was Adam, the particulars of the radio, Jonathan's broadcast and the night in the Skytrain station... but she couldn't bring herself to talk about those parts just yet.

Perhaps everyone experienced shock in different ways and this was just the way Beth was handling things. Evelyn tried not to blame her sister for that. How could she when she, herself could barely describe how she was feeling? Evelyn knew her sister and Beth never did anything without reason, so she sidelined her concerns and trusted Beth's lead. After all this time, Beth was alive. Her family was still alive.

As they exited the jeep and followed Beth through the fortified gate blocking off the entrance to the building, she snuck a glance over at Jonathan. Even though he no longer seemed to be experiencing the panic attack she was almost certain he'd been having in the car, she could tell he'd retreated into himself again as he walked with his shoulders hunched, and his arms folded tightly across his chest. The chevron tattoo on his forearm rippled as his muscles tensed and she knew that even though his face didn't show it, he was far from okay. It hadn't been obvious before, but she was starting to wonder if he had some form of phonophobia, or fear of loud sounds. It seemed like a strange fear for an avid music lover like him, but she had started to guess that his interest might also be a sort of coping mechanism.

Evelyn was trying her best not to bring it up, but things had been awkward between them since last night. They'd stayed up talking until they couldn't keep their eyes open anymore and she'd fallen asleep with her head on his chest. It would probably have been the best sleep she'd had since before the Blackout but then he'd woken up screaming. She knew it wasn't in her nature to keep secrets, she'd never been good at it, but she knew this was something that she had to wait for him to address. If he wanted to talk about what happened, he would. She would give him space and she would be patient. She could offer him this kindness even if she couldn't consol him when he'd bolted upright with a look of terror etched on his face so haunting and painful that it killed her that she didn't know how to help.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" He had hysterically begged the invisible gunman on the floor of the empty train car, his hands clamped over his ears as if waiting for the sound to strike.

He had opened up to her about his mother and what had happened to her, but Evelyn couldn't shake the thought that tugged fearfully at the back of her mind; what if it's my fault? I am a killer. I killed Adam. What if he thinks I'm a monster too?

Even if it wasn't about her, it was still her fault that he'd had to relive his trauma just to satiate her curiosity. Leaving things well enough alone had never been her strong suit, it was something she hated about herself.

She imagined taking those thoughts and shoving them in a box, burying them in the recesses of her mind, this was not the time to obsess about the past, she could do that later tonight when she was alone. Right now, she needed to focus on reuniting with her family. They were alive. After all this time, they were all alive and she had found them.

Beth's colony was even more thorough than River District and SFU put together, and their security requested not only blood and saliva tests but also hair and urine tests. Once their group submitted their samples for testing, they were led through the doors to a holding space tucked beneath two no longer functioning escalators by a dark-haired woman who'd introduced herself as Jacinda or Jaycee as Beth had called her over the walkie-talkie. The area was walled off and looked to be what was once the store's play area for children. The majority of the area's toys had been cleared out leaving space for a couple of chairs and a few sleeping bags located at the top of some stairs that may have once served as a movie viewing area.

She'd nearly forgotten about the pain in her shoulder, until Beth handed her an ice pack.

"It's separated not dislocated?" Beth asked.

Evelyn nodded, "I think so."

Beth looped her foot around the leg of one of the chairs and nudged it towards Evelyn, "Sit, I'll have a look at it."

"Sorry about that." One of Beth's companions said, finally removing his mask, "you got in a few pretty good hits yourself but I appreciate it, it'll probably get me a few sweet bruises which is excellent social capital around these parts. I should have known you were Liz's sister; you guys look identical! Even more than Tobias and I and that's saying something. So this is on me, if I'd stopped to take one good look at you, I wouldn't have picked a fight."

"Tony," Beth said warningly as she examined Evelyn's shoulder, "you know flattery will get you nowhere. Now would you go help your brother sort inventory."

"Tobias doesn't need help!" Tony whined.

"You have a job to do." Beth said without taking her eyes off Evelyn's shoulder.

"It was worth a shot." Tony said, offering Evelyn a wink and a charismatic smile, that Evelyn was sure allowed him to get away with murder and strolled over to where his brother stood, sorting cargo that had arrived with them in the jeep.

Jonathan had seated himself nearby but seemed to be giving Evelyn and Beth their space.

"Can you try moving it this way," Beth said taking Evelyn's arm and guiding it across her chest, "It's probably only a grade 1, so it'll probably heal on its own. What happened to your glasses? Can you even see without—"

"Beth." Evelyn said finally, trying to catch her sister's eye. "I told you everything about me already. I need answers too. Where's everyone else? Where's Ma and Ba? Elliot? Popo? Is anyone else in the family here too?"

Beth concentrated on Evelyn's arm, evasively avoiding eye contact and Evelyn felt a sudden burst of anger tear through her, "Beth, I'm trying to be really patient, and I know you couldn't tell me earlier. Trust me, I don't want to put us in danger by getting emotional, but Beth I need to know! I told you, I have Ba's journal! I have to talk to him! I need to know what it means! And another thing, since when did you start going by, Liz? You hate that name! Remember when I tried that when we were kids, and you locked me in the bathroom until I promised I'd never call you that again? You thought it was stupid that Ma wanted us all to have 'E' names, and you thought the less people knew your full name was Elizabeth the better!"

Evelyn searched her sister's face frantically for information now. She hadn't planned on letting all her worries spill out but once she'd opened her mouth she couldn't contain it all any longer. She could tell her questions were overwhelming for Beth, but she couldn't stop, she'd spent too long in the bunker and wandering the desolate Vancouver streets wondering and trying not to wonder and hoping and trying not to hope.

"Beth—"

"Elliot's here..." Beth interrupted pointing behind her.

Evelyn let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding as she turned to see her little brother shoving through the doors and running towards them.

"EVIE!" Elliot shrieked in a voice that was definitely deeper than that of the 10-year-old he had been when she'd last seen him, "YOU'RE ALIVE!"

He was over a foot taller too and now, was rivalling Evie's height when she stood. It was something she wasn't quite used to as he tackled her in a hug. She couldn't explain it, but she suddenly felt as if an invisible weight had suddenly been lifted and now, she was floating. For the last two years she'd been anchored to the ground by worry and fear but now she could let it all go. Her brother, her baby brother was alive.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Elliot shouted, unable to contain his glee, "Jaycee said you were here, and I thought no way am I just going to sit around and wait for you to get through processing! I'd pee in a cup and get my finger poked a hundred times if it meant I got to see you sooner! And you brought your boyfriend with you?! Oh man, Kevin's not going to believe this!"

"He's not my—wait, Kevin's here?" Evelyn exclaimed.

"Yeah, of course they are," Elliot said swiping a hand through the air nonchalantly, "I think introductions are in order though!"

"Right!" Evelyn said, gesturing for Jonathan to come closer. He approached apprehensively but seemed to warm up when Elliot insisted on also tackling him in a hug. Knowing the nature of Jonathan's injuries Evelyn winced at the gesture but, if her brother cracked any more of his ribs, Jonathan did not react.

"Jonathan, this is my brother Elliot and Elliot, this is my uh... This is Jonathan."

"Well, hi!" Elliot said enthusiastically, "thank you for keeping my sister alive, everyone knows her sense of direction sucks so I'm pretty sure we have you to thank for getting her here in one piece."

"I don't deserve all the credit." Jonathan said, a small smile playing across his lips, "I wouldn't be alive if not for your sister."

"Where are Ma and Ba and Popo?" Evelyn asked excitedly, looking around to see if they too were hiding just beyond the doors, "They're here too, right? What about Sara and Jasper and our aunts and uncles?"

Beth shifted back and looked to Elliot, who answered, "I don't know about Sara, Jasper and their parents, last I heard they were catching a ferry to the island to see if it's safer there because Jasper's big emotions are harder for him to control—"

"Thank goodness they're all okay, now where is Mama and Baba? Like I was telling Beth earlier, there's this journal I found and I really need to talk to—"

"Evie." Beth's voice was brittle, and tears were starting to well in her eyes. She didn't need to say more for Evelyn to already know. She looked to Elliot, but his face had crumpled, and she found her legs giving out beneath her as she sank back down into her chair.

"No. No. No. No." She repeated as a crater suddenly opened in her chest and her vision blurred with tears. The grief struck her like a riptide, catching her in it's unexpected current and hurling her to the ocean rocks.

"No. No. No. No. No."

She couldn't seem to find the words.

"But, they should be here. They have to be here."

Her fingers curled around the edges of her chair until her knuckles were white. The room was turning on its axis and if she didn't hold on she was certain she would fall. No pain she had ever felt before compared to this feeling like someone had reached into her chest and torn out her still beating heart and watched it crumble to powder in their fist.

"I'm so sorry, Evie." Beth whispered, her red rimmed eyes struggling to hold back the ocean as she tried to stay strong for her little sister, "I'm so sorry."

"What happened?" Evelyn managed to choke out.

"The day they bombed NeuroGen, they came to the house... Oh Evie, Ba was trying to stop them! The data in his research proved that Serenozine interacted badly with the virus and made everything worse. It was turning Lost Souls into Soulless! Sigma might have caused the initial symptoms like hallucinations, aggression, seizures and blackouts. Eventually those infected would have died, but Ba's researched showed that if they had Serenozine in their system, their bodies kept going even after they should've died. When Sigma first broke out people were so desperate for a cure, NeuroGen started pushing Tranquilose even before Ba had completed their tests. Even the military was interested because of how receptive it makes human beings to suggestibility. They had so many people panicking about the pandemic, it became part of their plan to deal with the chaos. Ba warned them about what even the preliminary data was showing but—"

"Capitalist greed." Jonathan finished for her and Beth nodded. Evelyn didn't know when Jonathan had come up behind her, all she knew was that she was thankful that he was there with his hand on the back of her chair making sure she didn't tip over as her entire world came crumbling down.

"He thought if he told them they would stop." Beth continued, "But they didn't. They just faked the numbers and kept going, so he tried to blow the whistle on them. He told them he would go to the media, but you know Ba, he was always trying to look out for the family. He didn't want things to impact you and me and our scholarships so he went to the media anonymously and then NeuroGen started saying all that stuff about how it could be social media or just evolution. I don't think they intended it to cause the technology paranoia that led people to blow up the satellites and cell towers."

"Or set off the EMPs." Tobias added in a gruff voice as he and Tony came to join them. Tony wrapped a comforting hand around Elliot's shoulders and for a moment, Evelyn grieved that fact that she wasn't there to support her siblings through this time.

"They definitely didn't intend for their whole evolution thing to turn into the Serenity Society's belief that it's the new world order and we should all infect ourselves." Tony added.

Jonathan looked thoughtful, "Wait. So, if NeuroGen didn't mean for it to go that far but then it did... Are you saying they blew up their own laboratory to destroy their own research, their own scientists—"

"And they came for Ba?" Evelyn asked softly.

It was Elliot who nodded. "No one wants to be responsible for the apocalypse."

"Did Ba tell you all this?" Evelyn asked.

Beth nodded, "Some of it yes. Some of it, we pieced together after. That journal you have of Ba's, it's not the only one, though I'm curious what this one includes. After he tried to go to the media the first time and he saw how NeuroGen was trying to discredit the information, he had a feeling something like this might happen, so he told me just enough to get me to take Elliot and Popo away from the house. He wanted Mama to come too, but she wouldn't leave him. She said she would be in just as much trouble because she'd been refusing to prescribe Tranquilose at the hospital, due to the fact that even before they were pushing it as a cure she believed the withdrawal symptoms made it too dangerous."

Evelyn felt as though she were watching herself from outside her own body, looking at another Evelyn whose body was frozen in place.

"Where's Popo?" She asked, her voice was little more than a whisper partially because she feared she already knew the answer "Is she—?"

Beth reached forwards and took Evelyn's hands in hers. The tears had started to roll down her cheeks and Evelyn found that watching her sister cry, she couldn't help but cry harder. "She was. But she passed last winter. Peacefully in her sleep."

There was a long silence. Her hands felt like ice in Beth's.

"It was just me and Beth and now... you're here." Elliot said, his voice breaking, and a few tears escaped his control and slid silently down his cheeks.

"I'm here." Evelyn repeated, reaching out to take his hand too.

"It's just us, then." Beth whispered, squeezing them all tightly together in a hug, "It's just us."