Bo and the Beast (Book #1) (Completed)

Epilogue: She Searched For Happy Endings

Her fingers traced the circular edges of bullet scars, feeling the slight charge that always came off his skin, which never quite regained the blue tinge. Her chin rested on his shoulder, his arm curved around her, and his breath stirred the hair on the top of her head.

They whispered back and forth, nothings and somethings, filling the night with words that connected them. She smiled against his skin, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. The stars wheeled above them, perfect and clear.

"Bo," he said, his voice now somehow far away. The warmth of his arms faded, and she suddenly felt cold. Her brow furrowed but her limbs were heavy and sluggish. As she tried to sit up, see what was wrong, her head swam and the stars blurred above her until only gray remained.

"Bo," he said again. "Find me."

--

The door rattled in the wind storm, and Bo turned over. Sweat slicked her even though the winter temperatures always dipped low during the night. Her heart raced, and even though she tried all her normal tricks, she couldn't get the dream out of her head.

She swung her feet over the edge of the cot, resting them in the soft dust that always seemed to find the tiny cracks in her home. Somewhere in the back of the house, her dad slept peacefully. He never knew the trouble she had sleeping, and she didn't want to wake him now either. She rubbed her eyes, the images of her dream still running over and over.

It was time.

She knew it in her bones. Knew it in the way her mind couldn't concentrate on her tasks, and how she was always looking outward, toward the horizon. The dreams were only getting stronger, more frequent. It had to be time.

Even though it was sometime in the dark of early morning, Bo pulled on her clothes and tied her hair up. She hesitated only a few seconds before grabbing her satchel and stuffing it full with spare clothes, food, her guns, water purification tablets, and anything else she needed to survive out in the dust fields. She grabbed a notepad and scribbled a note, pouring all her love into it for her father. Folding it, she crept into the back of the house and his room, looking at his sleeping face. He was still weak, but he was doing better. Good enough that she could leave him one last time.

She placed the letter on his chest, and leaned down to kiss his cheek softly. "Love you, dad," she whispered, before creeping back out and shutting the door behind her.

It took her two minutes to pack up her life and open her front door. Just two minutes that she'd spent years waiting for.

With a rag tied over her mouth and goggles over her eyes, she launched into the wind storm. Her flashlight was useless with all the dust swirling, so Bo guided her steps by the spots of foggy light coming from the flood lamps set up along the road. Everyone else slept, but she wasn't looking for her generals or officials. She was headed for the wall at the edge of town.

The long walk to the wall knocked some of the haze from Bo's mind, but she still felt the nervous energy after every dream still buzzing through her limbs. She passed the houses on either side of the main road, and the few shops that were new to the town.

Two years. It had taken them that long to build up from the camp of ramshackle tents into the respectable town that was now doing business with the nearby cities. She'd lost only ten people from the original camp to the allure of Aston and the militia. Otherwise, they'd followed her. Followed her right into the daily struggle it was to keep alive and sane without the brutal tactics of Aston. Had he become leader, perhaps they would be at this point earlier, but Bo didn't want to think about who or what they would have had to have destroyed. Two years had gotten her a town of peace, of understanding, and of sanctuary. Coming through their gates meant being able to trust again, for the first time in uncounted years.

The wind storm whipped Bo's hair as she reached the edge of town and spotted the watch tower that Ana had been assigned to.

The steps creaked under Bo's weight as she climbed to the door, twenty feet above ground, and pulled it open to step into the lighted interior.

Glass windows kept the dust out, but offered a view of the perimeter lit by spotlights mounted on the wall. A naked bulb hung from the ceiling, illuminating a table stocked with food for those on guard, and a chair at the back of the room. Ana sat there, legs propped on the wall, the chair tilted onto its two back legs. A power-rifle rested on her knee, and her eyes scanned the ground with the studied concentration that Bo always admired.

"Ana," Bo said, staying by the door. "I'm going."

Ana didn't even glance over. Her shoulders merely tensed, just slightly. "You're going after him?"

Ana's family hadn't arrived until after everything happened with Adam, and Ana was too young to remember aliens or anyone that had been lost to them. Which was precisely why Bo had chosen her to take her place.

"Yes," Bo said. "And I want you to run the town while I'm gone."

Ana didn't argue or plead, or even worry that she wasn't ready to take on such a task. Instead, she dropped her chair back to four legs, and shifted to look at Bo underneath a fall of curly red hair.

"I can handle it," she said. "Find him. The time is right."

The silence hung heavy, and then Bo launched forward to give the girl a hug. "Be safe, and don't let anyone try to override you because of your age."

Ana snorted. "They don't frighten me."

"Thank you."

Ana shook her head and smiled. "You've gotten us here. I can take us the rest of the way."

Bo burst back out into the wind storm, practically flying down the steps and toward the hopper lock-up. Her hands shook as she tried to fit the key into the lock of the building, and she had to take a moment to breathe before she could get the door open.

She rolled the hopper out and rode it to the southern wall. As she waited for the guards to open the gate for her, she stared out through the growing crack at the swirling dust.

She was doing it. She was going after him.

After two years, countless dreams, she was claiming that future she'd put on pause.

The thought of Adam, of seeing him again for real, made her heart hammer against her ribs. Was he still alive? Still even in the dust fields? Did he want their happy ending? Did he love her?

She knew none of these answers, and that scared her half to death. She was throwing herself into the unknown, with no promise of any happiness at the end of the journey. For all she knew, she was leaving her town to be run by a teenager and crotchety old generals, all to wander the desert in search of someone who had spent the last few years not wanting to be found. Who knew how long it would take her to find him. More years?

No, she'd waited years before. She wouldn't again. She gave herself five months. Five months to comb the desert and find Adam. Whatever it took.

The gate now stood open, her path clear. Bo kicked up the stand on her hopper and rode into the darkness, in search of happy endings.

--

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy this edited version of Bo and the Beast! The ending is slightly different now, as she only spends two years apart from Adam. If you'd like to see a totally happy ending, consider checking out the version I posted on Swoon Reads. It has a completely different ending than anything I've posted on Wattpad. You can find the link to it in the introduction chapter at the beginning of this book. 

Thanks so much for reading!