Survival changes everyone. The only question is whether it leaves enough of you behind to remember who you were.
The man on the northern ridge had their father's face. Jasper held his breathe for some seconds and couldn't breathe. Anthony couldn't look away either. Every guard along the settlement wall lowered their weapons in stunned silence.
The silver phoenix banners snapped violently in the wind as the mysterious army stood motionless beyond rifle range.
Then—The figure slowly raised a hand.
"Impossible…" Jasper whispered.
Anthony shook his head.
"No."
His voice was calm now.
"That's not him."
Jasper looked at his brother.
"You know who it is?"
Anthony nodded.
"I know what it is."
The hooded man smiled and even from hundreds of meters away, the expression felt wrong and unreal, it was like someone wearing another person's memories. Then the army turned as one and disappeared over the ridge without firing a shot and without speaking a word. Leaving only the black banners fluttering in the wind. No one moved for several long seconds.
The settlement remained on full alert as scouts doubled their patrols and had the gates reinforced again. Every tower stayed occupied now but inside the command hall, the only sound was silence. Everyone was looking at Anthony. Jasper finally broke the silence.
"Who was that?"
Anthony stared at the map on the table for a long time.
"I'll answer."
He exhaled slowly.
"But if I'm telling this story…"
He looked around the room.
"…I'm telling all of it."
"It started the same way for everyone."
Anthony leaned back in his chair, explaining how there was so much confusion and panic with people running without knowing where to turn to
"I remember walking behind Jasper." He said.
A faint smile crossed his face.
"I was terrified."
"In the apocalypse?" Mercer chuckled.
Anthony continued.
"We never made it to the evacuation convoy."
"The infected flooded the streets before the military could establish a secure corridor."
"The earth shook heavily and divided itself, with him one side and I on the other side."
His expression darkened.
"That's when they hit me."
"There were too many to save and the debris made it impossible to locate someone you know easily."
"I thought…"
He swallowed.
"I thought that was the end."
"But then gunfire erupted."
There were these Survivors. "They called themselves the Ash Guard."
"Former soldiers, firefighters, doctors and teachers also."
"People who refused to let the world die quietly."
"They pulled me out."
"But by the time I woke…"
He looked at Jasper.
"…you were gone."
Anthony never stopped looking into each settlement or refugee camp or military bunker.
"If someone mentioned the amed Jasper…"
"I went." "Most of the time…"
He smiled sadly.
"It wasn't you."
Stacy quietly reached over and squeezed Jasper's hand beneath the table. He didn't pull away.
"Some years after the collapse…"
Anthony continued,
"…we found Blackpoint."
Or what remained of it, it was burned, abandoned and was covered in lies.
"That was where I found those files."
The underground laboratory hadn't been empty. Deep beneath the ruins, one terminal still worked but barely.
"It contained research they hadn't erased."
"Including names, projects and experiments."
"And one file was different, it was that of Jasper's."
Jasper's heart skipped.
"They listed you as alive."
"That single word…"
Anthony smiled.
"…kept me alive."
"Alive."
"So I kept searching."
"But the terminal had a security protocol."
"It copied the data into me."
"I didn't understand what it was doing."
"I only realized later…"
He touched the side of his neck.
"…that I'd become the storage device."
"And then they came, the Helix, Dominion, Obisidia. Remnants, everyone of them."
"They all wanted what was inside my head."
"I would've died."
Anthony looked toward Ryker.
"If not for him."
Ryker shifted uncomfortably.
"It wasn't a heroic rescue."
Anthony laughed.
"It was."
"I found him half dead." Ryker shrugged.
"I hate leaving people behind."
"I like this guy more." Mercer grinned.
Several people laughed even Captain Clara smiled slightly. Anthony described crossing frozen mountains, burning cities, collapsed tunnels, raiders territories, mutated forests and even flooded highways.
"We lost friends."
"We buried good people."
"We kept walking."
"Because stopping meant dying."
Jasper asked quietly,
"What kept you going?"
Anthony looked directly at him.
"You."
"I believed you were alive."
"And if you were surviving somewhere…"
"I had no excuse to give up."
The room fell silent.
Later that evening, the two brothers sat alone atop the western wall. The stars had finally appeared through the clouds and for the first time in years…There was peace.
Anthony smiled.
"You became someone Mom would've been proud of."
Jasper laughed softly.
"I've made plenty of mistakes."
"So did Dad."
Anthony looked at the horizon.
"The difference is…"
"You kept getting back up."
Below them, the settlement bustled with quiet life, children played despite the danger, farmers worked by lantern light and guards shared food with refugees.
Anthony nodded toward the streets.
"Look."
Jasper did.
"You found another family."
He realized Anthony was right. there was Stacy, Elias, Kane, Mercer, and the survivors. He hadn't survived alone.
"What happens now?"
Jasper asked as Anthony became serious again.
"We stop running."
"We build, unite and right together."
"And this time…"
He smiled.
"We don't lose each other."
Jasper nodded.
"This time."
A sudden blue pulse flashed across the night sky there times, every electronic device inside the settlement activated simultaneously, radios, lights, screens and generators. Then a calm female voice echoed across every speaker.
Director Seraph.
"Anthony and Jasper."
"Thank you."
The brothers looked at each other confused.
"Your reunion has completed the final biometric sequence."
Jasper's blood ran cold.
"What sequence?" He asked
A map suddenly appeared on every monitor in the settlement, of the entire continent. One point began flashing and directly beneath their location. Then the earth shook hard.
Deep underground…Ancient machinery roared back to life. The scientist from Obsidian stumbled backward in horror.
"No…"
Anthony looked at the screen as his face drained of color.
"They didn't need the files…"
Jasper stared at him.
"What do you mean?"
Anthony whispered the answer.
"They needed us."
Then, beneath the settlement…Something massive unlocked.