The Last Flower on Earth

Melancholia

We pack up the tent and depart for the factory. Some part of me desperately wants to stay, that part wants to turn back and go home to the bunker. But I know that turning back is suicide without the car.

Emma stands by the exit waiting for me to slog over.

That blanket of dread pressing against me feels like a constrictor slowly crushing every bone in my body. I force myself outside. I quickly look back to see an inhuman silhouette vanish. Looks like the only way to go is forwards.

The snow-covered road and frigid air are off feeling as the mall has given us a feeling of safety or security. But being launched back into the elements... this better be worth it.

We start going uphill, forcing us to push through even harder than normal.

The consuming dread loosens its grip as growing anxiety looms behind us like I'm being watched. "I know how you're feeling Martivich, but you're nearing the end now. You cant back down anymore."

It begins snowing over us as we continue trekking through the seemingly endless snow with identical buildings to our sides, I just want this to end. I want all of this to finally end. I just wish that the stupid Human Imerian war never happened!

I press on with Emma by my side. And after what felt like an eternity of endless walking, a looming darkness pierces the fog before us. The industrial district, a line of factories created to produce refined metals to be shipped or sent off to other factories for weapons.

When we draw closer the metal fence with barbed wire on top looked impassable. But Emma pointed out a fire escape staircase on the nearby motel smooshed between two different factories. "We could jump from the roof into the window of that factory office," I mention how that sounds like suicide., then I remember what Clair said.

"Well, it's stupid, but that's the only option." I trust you Clair, don't let me down.

The ladder is frozen on the first escape level. "Emma, you stay here, I'll go in and shake it loose." She nods as I bash the door in.

I rush inside to notice the floor creaking under every step I take, I tunnel vision on the easily accessible staircase on the other side of the room. I tiptoe across the ground feeling out every step as elegantly and precise as I can be. The ground creaks louder than I thought, the floor opens up and engulfs me in the darkness.

I hold my head and sit myself up, surrounded by darkness. "Connor! You fine down there?" Emma shouts down.

"I ain't dead if that's what you're wonderin', I can see the exit from here." I turn on the flashlight and spin it around. "Stay out of the building. This one is really old, think of it like stepping on the long side of glass bottles with a backpack of rocks on." I navigated myself around the wooden crates and loose nails back up to the first floor. I see Emma standing in the doorway thankful for my survival.

I step up to the second story with the utmost caution, placing one foot in front of the other while imagining the glass bottle metaphor I came up with on the spot. After a while, my efforts resulted in me standing on the second floor. I find my way to the window at the leftmost end of the hall, my left, not Emma's. I pry open the window and step onto the less than secure fire escape, I'm having second thoughts about having two people stand on it.

The ladder drops down and Emma slowly climbs up to me, I reach out to grab her hand and help her up. "I don't think this can handle both our weight, be extra careful as to not shake it around too much," I speak with the utmost concern for both our lives, as falling off to the side and having my back ripped off by rusty barbed wire doesn't sound like a fun way to meet Clair again.

We grip the inner railing and hug the building's wall as close as we can, the fire escape shifts and shakes with every step up as the building connected to it somehow feels less secure.

I hear a crack behind me, the metal steps broke beneath her feet and sent her into free fall. I turn around a drop to my stomach to grab Emma's falling hands. "Hold on!" The steps below us fell to the ground with a muffled metallic smash. I attempt to pull her up with all my might, I get her high enough to grab the small metal platform I'm standing on.

Helping her up we continue up the faulty metal steps up to the roof, aside from a couple more steps snapping beneath us it was easy.

Emma sits breathlessly in the snow as I brush off a place for me to sit. The fog rises, giving a clear view of everything. "You can see so far from up here." Emma stands up and appears beside me.

We gaze over how far we've gotten since we started, we're so far away that the bunker isn't even visible anymore.

Emma leans on my arm, I pull her closer as a large building falls in the distance, it crashes into another sending that one to the ground as well.

The shockwave of the buildings falling, though faint at this distance, reaches us. The motel we're standing on begins to shake. "Emma!" I grab her attention, "you go first!" She nods.

Emma dashes to one side of the roof and leaps, kicking off of the ledge and through the factory window. As I get into the position the building tilts away from the factory, I sprint towards the ledge and kick off as Emma did. I notice that I undershot from the moment I passed the fence. As I close my eyes and brace for impact with the wall, I feel my arm caught from the windowsill.