The Last Flower on Earth

When Day Breaks

I woke up face to face with Emma, she was cuddling against me, still asleep. Her arms were wrapped around my upper body, I know exactly what I have to do today so we can get to 'The Place Where Wishes Come True' tomorrow.

"Martivich, do you remember your wish?" Clair's omnipresent voice looms over me. I do remember. "I won't be able to talk with you for a while. I trust you Martivich, make the right call."

Emma nuzzles up against my face, the idea of waking her up is an unpleasant one but maybe a mandatory one after all. I separate her interlocked hands and sit myself up. I rub my face with a small grunt as I poor over everything we need to get done today.

"Mornin' Connor." Emma said with a yawn while stretching her back out.

"Morning Em'." I say while stretching out my own back. "We have a lot to do today." I leave the tent and mentally list each thing we have to do for tomorrow.

Prepare the Molotovs, set up traps for when they inevitably get inside, and activate power to the factory if possible. This is when I would ask Clair where the power is but they're not here right now.

Emma yawns again while leaving the tent. "Hey Em', where do you think the power is?" She turns to the map and looks it over while I look off at nothing. Deciding that it would be best if we both gaze over the map I make my way beside her. She shuffles closer to my side before standing on her tippy-toes and quickly kissing my cheek.

Before I can mentally process what happened Emma points to where the power is. "Let's have breakfast and then go." My stomach agreed with her before my voice could.

We head down deeper into the factory; Emma and I both have our knives out. Or plural knives for Emma and a single knife for me. "Do you think I could sport a sword?"

I switch my grip on the knife to mimic a sword, although only one hand is holding the knife. "Not really, I can only imagine you having a knife."

"But wouldn't it be cool if I had a sword? Like one of the stupidly big anime swords."

"Not only would I be shocked that you can hold it, and it would have benefits, though I still only see you having a knife." Emma has a smug grin across her face, I notice what she thought I was referring to.

"That's not what I meant!"

Emma shrugs. "Oh, of course not."

"I meant literal swords, not my..." I hang my head low. It's a sword and she can't tell me otherwise. "Can we please change the subject now..." My pride got hit hard that time, I don't think I'll ever be able to fully recover.

We find our way to the generator room, and by using the same bobby pins from the mall the locked door is opened. By looking at how rusted brown everything is I doubt that this thing could function without imploding on itself.

Emma and I lock eyes knowing that the reward may not be worth the risk.

Two large buttons sit patiently on the control panel shouting to be pressed, one is a faded red while the other is a faded blue. Both buttons have faded letters above them, eroded to the point of incomprehensibility.

I look over the panel knowing I have only three options, press the big red button, press the big blue button, or leave.

I place one finger on both buttons. I mentally prepare to press both. Emma interrupts my preparation. "I found a 'Switch to Backup Power' switch." She flips her thumb outstretched hand back towards the switch.

That makes sense...

We take a deep breath before Emma flips the switch.

The overhead fluorescent light which reminds me of the eerie lights from The Waiting Room begins to glow an intense white as a buzzing noise fractures the air. The glowing beams above snap under the wattage. Emma clings to my side as we bail from the room.

In the hall, the light above continues to scream as they pop under the pressure. We run down the hall avoiding the barrage of glass shrapnel from behind.

We find a room without broken lights and rest, we pick the glass from our coats and shoes before heading back to the tent.

The catwalk, a grate metal path hanging by metal cables over either nothing or massive crucibles with molten metal bubbling within, as we cautiously step across, I gaze down to see the molten horror below. "You think... we could push... a Hate Demon into one of those?" I look back to see Emma nod, she looks lost in the metal her eyes illuminated by the orange glow of iron.

We continue to the end of the catwalk. "You know your way back. You can get a start on the weaponry while I set up a trap." Emma nods with a smile.

Back on the catwalk I draw my knife and saw some of the cables with the serrated side until they could barely handle my weight. I damaged the cables which were close to the molten metal containers.

I yank some of the tube lights from the ceiling and smash them across some of the ground knowing that Hate Demons don't wear shoes and have flesh like me. This should discourage them from going down that hall and following me across the catwalk.

I head back to see that Emma has a good start on the throwables, I sit across from her and rip a rag in half. "Let's go over the plan before bed," I speak.

"That sounds good, remind me."

"First, we leave out the back entrance, we look into the woods to see where the Hate Demons reside. After throwing some of these in," I wave around my Molotov, I place it beside the completed ones, "we head back inside and block of the entrance with one, they should tumble through and allow us to hit some more. But since they have human-like intelligence, they should find another way in, at that time we go up a floor and funnel them into that hallway. That should force them to run through it as the other ways are covered in broken glass. Another chokepoint. After that, we bate them into another choke point and repeat. Now we are up another floor and the staircase there shouldn't be able to maintain all that weight and collapse. We wait at the catwalk for them to find another way up, then you run across, and I slow them down. After I do that, I rush across, and the catwalk should fall. Finally, we get to the roof and climb down the back and into the woods." I slide the final bottle beside the other completed ones.

"When day breaks," I begin to conclude, "We begin. Those things are the only obstacle between us and saving humanity once and for all."

I went to bed and ran through every way the plan could go wrong. I began counting them and fell asleep at some point past twenty-seven.