“A hell of a plan you had,” Marshall compliments me. “You’re going to be one hell of a leader for the folks out there looking to rebuild.”

“Thanks, couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Man, you’re modest. I’d be taking all the credit. Twisting the story,” Marshall laughed. “So it was me and 600 grubs. I had one magazine and Duane was hanging by his underwear. I came through, one shot hit 27 grubs and 17 of Draven’s men.”

“Calm down, I don’t think anyone will believe it if you put it that way.”

“You’re right, 500 grubs would be more believable.”

The two of us sit, watching as the sun begins to set. It’s been one insane day. We got our rover stolen, then we found a Revrell lab that revealed all kinds of nasty business. Then we fed a group of people to government funded grubs, and killed what seemed like hundreds. I didn’t think it would be like this when I woke up this morning. Hell, I barely slept last night, thinking about Aaimina, now I don’t know how I’d feel if I saw her.

“Hey, you should ask that girl out,” Marshall says.

“What girl? The one that stole our rover and left us for dead?”

“Yeah, the one ten years younger than you. You’ll be fifty in a couple of years right? Better get her now before the plumbing stops working,” Marshall jokes.

“She literally left us for dead, and now you want me to go out with her? You spent weeks trying to separate us.”

“Well, there’s no point in focusing on work all the time, and never making time for love.”

“Man, you have really lost your mind.”

“No, I think it’s the opposite,” Marshall stretches his arms out.

He removes a portion of his armor, leaving just his breastplate, setting his arms free. I can spot the shoulder wound I gave him. It didn’t penetrate but his skin is a dark purple right beneath his arm, it’s got to be a pain to me. I hit record on my wrist comp.

“For the first time in my life,” Marshall smiles. “Everything makes so much sense. I’m a bad person. I did whatever I could to move forward. I had my limits. I wasn’t going to kill anyone for menial things. I wasn’t going to rob and steal but I would run through anyone and throw anyone under the bus. Never thought twice about it. I got a big house on the rich side of town, I got a nice car and can buy anything I want. All of it’s blood money. Who did I help?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“You helped me. I didn’t like it, but you helped me a lot.”

“You’re smart, you would have figured it out.”

“You helped me kill a lot of grubs. We got to kill a few soldiers who were going to kill us. We had some fun in this madness. We even got to live out some of our academy days again.”

“I guess this was fun, as much fun as you can hope for at the end of the world.”

I check in on the soon to be battle between survivors and Draven’s crew. The two sides are probably clashing right now. It seems like the number of people at the location are starting to drop. Draven’s men are probably cleaning house. Even if I could get there, I wouldn’t be able to escape.

“How are you feeling,” I ask Marshall.

“Bittersweet. It’s what I expected, but I thought it would be somewhere better,” he laughs. “I’m actually glad you’re here with me right now. I wish had one of those little orange pills from your bag.”

“Orange pill in my bag,” I think for a moment. “Those were drugs. Niko is a drug addict, he made those. The high lasts for days. You’ve been high this whole time,” I can’t help but laugh. “I thought you were just making jokes because you were nervous.”

“No, I was super high. I spotted him taking one in the hospital. Saw the reaction. I had kind of given up on making it out of this place a long time ago. I’ve never gotten high before, so I wanted to try. It’s not bad,” he laughs. “Actually, I can see how people become addicts. Make sure you try one.”

“Man, you’re insane.”

“I really am clear headed for the first time ever.”

We watch the sunset a little longer, and joke about the time in the academy. Marshall tells me he wanted to be pilot, but he’s color blind and afraid to get a cybernetic upgrade to his eyes. We laugh about it for a while. Marshall grips his left hand with his right, trying to steady a twitch.

“Well, it’s about time,” he says.

“How do you want to do it?”

“Say a quick prayer to my maker, and make it fast. I’ll do it, I don’t want you to think about it.”

“I don’t want you to be alone.”

“Thanks.”

I listen as Marshall says a prayer, I don’t know how to pray. I’m not a believer, but I can’t fault anyone for believing. If I get out of this, I might become a believer. It’s sweet, words that I’d never hear from him. Marshall mentions several people I don’t know of, people he must care about back home. Thore, Aaimina and Niko all get mention. Then he mentions me, he says a lot about. I hope his words meet his creator, because nobody has ever said such nice things about me. I try to look at the sunset, ignoring the raw bite on his neck. I wish there was some other way. Even if we spent a lot of time fighting, more time separate, he was still a good friend. He was always sincere with me, more than I can say for most people. He finishes his prayer, and I hand him the gun. I look away, expecting the gunshot, but it never comes.

“I can’t do it,” he says to me with tears in his eyes. “I just can’t do it,” he hands me the gun. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid. I’ve never been this afraid before.”

“Give me a hug man,” I sit the gun down and reach out to him, looking through my own tears.

We hug, and cry, like two men who are open and honest should be able to do. “Thank you. I wish I met more people like you,” Marshall says.

“I wish I spent more time with you,” I respond.

I pick up the gun, not releasing the hug. We sob for a little longer. I lift the gun, making sure not to touch him with it. I don’t want him to know when I’m going to fire. We just hug each other and cry, it’s all we can do. We’ve come so far together, and now this is it.