Withering World [MCSM Fanfiction]

ENGULFMENT: Chapter 44

[WARNING - This will be a long chapter, probably the longest I've written. So if you're not used to these but still want to continue reading, I'd recommend you save this book into your library so when you come back to it, Wattpad will directly scroll to where you left off. But don't worry, it won't show as public on your profile unless you make it as part of your reading list if that's what you're worried about.

Enjoy the chapter.]

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Petra

It's all my fault.

I could have returned to QZ right then and there, but the treehouse we made a while back was more inviting. I open the trapdoor and collapse, staring plainly at the upside-down bookshelves and the three deserted beds. I'm greeted with oak planks and logs, the very ones Jesse placed to secure our safety for that mission.

It's all my fault.

My shoulder is unrelenting. The sickness bite sticks no matter how hard I try to wipe it off. My blood taunts me, reappearing like a rodent every time I try to clear it with a piece of fabric ripped right from my jacket.

It's all my fault.

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I don't remember how long it's been since I arrived or how long I've lay on the floor. Now I sit up. All that's been running through my head is the anticipation that he'd have followed me, that the trapdoor would soon open up a second time to reveal Lukas covered in wounds and scars.

Despite my fantasies looming like insanity, that sword he received to the stomach was more than fatal.

Nothing can bring him back.

I really, really, really wanted my eyes to deceive me.

My legs are blocks of drying cement. My face is practically a dessicate river bank, evaporated tears giving way to the cracks of droughts all over my body, mind and soul. At random, they flood and wash my cheeks again, only for them to dry and repeat.

Yes, Radar is gone, possibly Jesse too, but I never actually experienced a proper loss, a loss I've seen happen right in front of me that felt and still feels like a cut so deep in my heart.

Until now.

What do I do? Heck, what do I do? I've known him for just as long as Jesse, if not, even longer. The New Order will never be the same.

Placed in front of me is the briefcase, the thing I assigned Lukas to take care of from the beginning. The punchable, annoying, problematic briefcase that contains the ingredients required to make WITHER's cure, though the chance of it even being successful is slim like Olivia said.

I originally didn't want to bring him because I thought he'd end up being a liability with how little he trained every day, but I let it slip. By the time he unmasked his sickness, a heavy regret attacked the rationale of my decision and I was inclined to the idea that I should have taken Jack instead, that Lukas was the weak link. He wasn't.

He gave his life for mine before I could. He's stronger than I.

He took my place.

And I let it happen.

A blazing rage possesses me. I seize the handle of the silver sample case and lob it at a plain wall, grunting in anger and misery. It clunks open and splits in its respective halves, fortunately landing upwards. The vials remain strapped in the imprints of the foam inside and so does the rose in the hidden compartment. What slips out of the case is something I don't expect - a hardback book, the average A5 size, the pages wrapped in rich leather, though this isn't just any conventional book.