𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑| 𝐋.𝐂.

30: Almost a year

"What are you doing here? You can't be here." Marcus whispers to me as I hide behind a wooden stick inside the cave.

"Where's my mom?" I whisper to him and he then turns back and presses something.

"Get in." He whispers and I quickly jogs inside the wall that opened up.

I stop running once Marcus shuts the wall behind me. I then notice an empty bed but it looks like someone had been in it, so I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"Valerie?" A soft voice says and I turn my head and my face drops.

"Mom." I say, inhaling sharply as tears fill my eyes.

"Honey." She croaks out and I hug her tightly as she caresses my head.

"Mom, I've missed you so much." I sob as I pull away from her to just look at her.

"How did I get here?" She asks, pulling away from me.

"Mom. Marcus brought you here. Your spacecraft exploded." I say as we sit on the bed.

"How? How long since-"

"Almost a year." I sob, sniffling as I rub her back.

"A year? I've been here the whole time?" She asks me.

"I think so." I nod at her and she chuckles at me.

"Look at you. My sweet girl. How's Carter?" She asks, caressing my face

"He's okay. Mom, we both just found out that you're alive. No one knew that you were here. Not even dad." I croak out.

"I don't understand. Why didn't Marcus tell him?" She says, her face dropping.

"He couldn't. He was trying to protect you." I sob again.

"He told me to use the escape pod. How did he know?" Mom asks me.

"Because he's working with them." I say and her face drops.

"What is going on?" A voice says and I turn to see two guys walking in.

Mom then gets up and stands in front of me.

"Who are you?" The guy asks her.

"I am Stacy Ramirez. Who the hell are you?" Mom asks them as I stand beside her.

                                         ||

"Marcus..." Mom trails off as Kyle puts mom and I into a cell.

"You knew about it, didn't you? Be very thankful that you're useful to me right now. How can you initiate?" Kyle says to Marcus.

"You don't have to this, Marcus." I plead, wrapping my hands around the bars.

"What is going on, Valerie?" Mom asks me.

"They're planning another earthquake." I mutter to her.

"Answer my question." Kyle says.

"They can't do this without you." I tell Marcus.

"That is enough out of you. If you want these two to live, I suggest you get on with your work." Kyle says and mom pulls me closer to her.

Marcus then sits downs and types away on his computer.

"Where is that stupid Jason?" Kyle says, putting his phone to his ear.

                                        ||

"Imitate the countdown." Kyle tells Marcus.

"But Judy's-"

"Now. Don't test me. Do it." Kyle orders, peering over Marcus's shoulder and he does so.

I hear an electrifying sound and I gasp as mom holds my hand.

"It's all my fault. I discovered the linkage between the magnetite and seismic activity. My goal was to prevent earthquakes." Mom says.

"And now they found a way to reverse it." I say to her.

"Once the satellite is online, it will detect the magnetite and interfere with its magnetism. That should automatically shut down their system." Mom mutters to me 

Then Kyle's phone rings.

"We have less than a minute left, boss. It's set to eight point four on the Richter scale." Kyle says, looking at the screen and my face drops.  

As Kyle grabs the iPad, ready to launch it, Marcus slaps it out of his hand and punches him in the nose. Making Kyle grunt and fall back.

"Hold him!" Kyle says as two guys hold Marcus's arms.

"Marcus, no!" I shout as Kyle takes a hit in Marcus's stomach.

"Marcus!" Mom yells and I gasp as Kyle drops Marcus on the floor beside us.

"What's going on?" Kyle says as he keeps presses the iPad.

"What happened?" I ask mom.

"The satellite must be back online." Mom tells me.

"They did it!" I grimace at her and we hug.

"No!" Kyle exclaims, banging the keyboard with his fist.

                                         ||

"He saved us." I croak out, looking down at Marcus's unconscious body.

"I know." Mom says and I then see two guys set something down on the floor.

"What are they doing?" I ask.

Kyle then looks at me, sending me an evil smile and I clench my jaw.

"What are you smiling about? You're gonna rot in fucking jail for the rest of your life." I scoff at him.

"Oh, no. I don't think so. See, I just wired a time bomb to the magnetite. The explosion will destroy the entire Greenhouse, and by the time they'll clear the debris, I'll be, oh, so far away from here. So, enjoy your reunion. You've got about two and a half minutes to catch up." Kyle says to us, looking at his watch and my face drops as he walks off.

This is the end?