After The End

Portland Oregon

A few months after the wedding Abe and Dariela moved to Michigan with Isaac. A few years later Max Morgan decided that he wanted custody of his granddaughter and since no one the group is related to her by blood we had no standing in court, so Clementine went to live with Max. I remember getting the phone call from Jamie telling me that Max had contacted her about custody and she was pissed. Jackson and I stayed in Africa continuing our work with the animals, partially lions, and Abe came down every now and then to help but it caused some tension in his marriage, partially after it came out that Dariela had an affair. But after Jamie published a book about the team's adventures Jackson and I had to move to the west coast, since Robert was gone people needed someone to blame and they picked Jackson.

When Jackson and I moved out west, we began helping move displaced families to safe zones. The U.S. government had created a mass wall keeping the hybrids who had made it to the main land on the west coast. Jackson felt so guilty about everything, even though none of it was his fault. Things got so bad before we moved, that when we left we had to change our names and go into hiding. We can only have one-way communication with Abe, which makes our lives even harder since we can't get updates on our family.

Jackson and I are out on patrol, moving families to the nearby safe zone, we'd been moving for days but we are only about thirty minutes away from home. Jackson runs through the clearing under an overpass to check for Hybrids, we always have issues with them up here. Before long he comes over the walkie, "we're good. Send them."

"Roger, sending the penguins to the igloo," I reply over the walkie.

"Penguins? Really?"

"Just trying to keep it spicy, babe."

"You know, I'm pretty sure that penguins don't live in igloos."

"Wrong, I've seen it."

"Where's that, now, at a zoo?'" Jackson turns to me when I'm a few feet behind him.

"Maybe," I smile at Jackson.

As we walk in front of the group a kid, probably around 12 walks up between us. "Hey, we're almost there, little man. Are you excited?"

"I want to go home," the boy complains.

"Yeah, I hear that, but, uh, I'm afraid that's not an option right now, okay? But we're gonna find you and your family a new home. Somewhere safe, somewhere beyond the barrier."

I nod, "you know, Michigan, Tennessee, who knows? Maybe even all the way to New York, huh?"

As we continue forward we hear growling coming up from behind the group. A man shouts, "they're back!"

Jackson turns, "whoa, whoa!" He holds up the device he uses to control the lions, that admits a high-pitched ringing. Jackson and I walk to the back on the group, "Pedro, Sampson, where'd you guys run off to?"

I hear something rattle off to my left and turn to see Hybrids coming our way, I nudge Jackson, trying not to scare the group, "Hybrids."

Jackson nods and motions toward the hybrids, "attack." The lions attack the hybrids and Jackson and I turn to the group, of course, once they see the hybrids they all run, as they should. "Hurry up! Keep running! Come on! Come on!"

"Everybody move," as the group runs, Jackson and I follow, trailing them, making sure no one gets left behind. The lions had saved us on hundreds of occasions.

We keep running until we get to the final stretch, about 60 feet from the gates. Jackson and I are still walking about 10 feet behind the group. "You sure you're okay?" Jackson had been asking me since we stopped running.