JACKIE:

This was my window of opportunity to stop the redistribution program. It was now or never.

With his defenses down, I broke into a sprint and leapt into the air. I grabbed onto the Alpha drone and used the momentum of my jump to kick Mark in the chest. He fell backward, over the railing and into the volcano.

“Father!” Grace reached out for Mark as he fell to his death.

Zayne comforted her, but shed no tears.

“Jackie, what have you done?” It broke Grace’s heart to see her father’s body thrown into her mother’s fiery grave, but it was the most probable death for him. At least in this life, Grace didn’t have to live with the guilt of killing her own parents.

I held on tight to that drone. It was heavier than I thought. I wasn’t able to throw it into the volcano as I’d hoped, but Alpha had to be destroyed.

Whether or not my blood was special, I couldn’t risk that thing infecting the slipstream and eventually eradicating humans with its redistribution program, as Beatrice prophesied.

“Let me go,” Alpha said. “Or I will dispose of you. This is your final warning.”

I gathered all my strength and swung my legs over the balcony railing, still holding the drone. My bodyweight dragged Alpha and I over the volcano. It tried to maintain its position while I weighed it down. Its eyelids clicked feverishly as Alpha attempted to stay afloat.

“Jackie, what the heck are you doing? What’s your plan?” my already-distraught mom screamed through tears.

“I’m healing the wrongs of the past once and for all. Please, I beg you. Put an end to Life Rite. Shut it all down. Even the Institute.”

Grace furrowed her brow. “The Institute is doing important work with the Grid. Why would we put a stop to that?”

Stolen story; please report.

“Mom, please! Just do it. Trust me.”

“Hold on, Jackie, I’m coming for you.” Zayne flexed his muscles and released his magnificent wings.

“No! I have to know it’s destroyed. Please don’t come after me. I have to do this!”

The drone buckled under my weight and fell a few feet into the volcano.

“Do something! Save her!” Grace begged Zayne with tears in her eyes. Maybe in some other life my mom and I could be best friends. We both longed for more time to truly connect, but fate never gave us that chance.

Zayne followed her orders and climbed over the balcony railing to the rescue.

“Don’t come after me!” Sweat dripped down my face. My arms ached. Could I hold onto Alpha long enough to enact this life altering change without my father interfering?

“I’m doing this for Firestorm!” I called.

Zayne froze. We shared a deep sense of knowing, which was bigger than this probability.

He nodded.

“What are you waiting for? Quick, save her!” Grace pushed.

Alpha and I fell deeper into the volcano. I tried talking some sense into it.

“If you obey my commands and power down, we might have a way out of this.”

“I only serve Mark’s programming,” Alpha reminded me, confirming this was the right thing to do.

The drone’s internal fan stopped, and we began to free fall.

I screamed, my sweaty hands desperately grasping onto Alpha. I refused to let go until the lava consumed us both.

Did I still have the phoenix gene? Would I rebirth? Grace never took the serum in this timeline, so maybe I wasn’t a gene carrier anymore.

In case I was giving my only life away, I screamed out, “Love you guys! Protect the eggs. Live the way the villagers intended, as true guardians of this place.”

My mother’s sobs echoed through the volcano. The image of my parents in a tight embrace, looking down at me, faded into the distance.

Alpha and I rolled as we plummeted quickly down into the lower magma chamber.

Beatrice sacrificed her life for us. Now it was my turn.

Fear left my body as the heat of the lava drew near. I knew my life was the most beautiful thing I could offer my family, the people of Bennu Island, and all of humanity. I could make a difference by destroying Alpha, a purpose more important than me.

“What a relief.”

My struggles were finally over. I always felt less than, but in this moment, I had the power to choose.

“I’m special whether or not I’m a gene carrier.”

As the lava touched my toe, Alpha spiraled out of control and broke through the hot magma. He melted on impact and was swallowed by the volcano.

The bubbling lava consumed my flesh. I wondered if the slipstream would catch me. Would I rebirth? If so, what new probabilities awaited the world? If not, who would write the most probable future now?