Our Future
Chapter 17: Finding the Truth?

I fly over the outside of the warehouse looking for Melody but all I see are the zombies. There are more around this warehouse then the school. Probably because their population is bigger and the zombies might be able to smell them.

“Dammit, Melody,” I curse quietly. “I might not love you like my girlfriend anymore but you’re my friend and still care about you. Why the hell did you wonder off?”

I spot her from overhead. I quietly land a street over and try to catch up to her on foot.

“Melody, Melody,” I call.

She turns warily around, unsure.

“Nathan?” she questions quietly. “You’re still alive?”

“What you mean? I just saw you back at the warehouse, how could I have died between then and now?” I ask laughing.

“What are talking about? I haven’t seen you since I got bit and I told you to shot me and you said you couldn’t do it,” she answers.

“I must be going crazy, or there are clones out there. Have you seen Toby since the apocalypse began?” I ask.

“Toby? No, he’s alive? What clones?” she looks at me like I’m a little crazy.

“Gabriel, Arran, Emily, Sam, Anna, our mothers,” I reply, “Lot of the people who went to our school are alive.”

“That’s great. So there’s somebody who looks like me? Running around?” she questions.

“You, mine and Gabriel’s dads, too. I’d like to know what they want with us,” I reply.

What if this is the clone again and it’s tricking me?

I step back a bit. I don’t know what do anymore.

“I couldn’t shot you?” I question confused.

I remember shooting her as tears slip down my cheeks. Gabriel was there, he was proof I had done it. He remembered. Had we remembered what we wanted because it was easier and what we wanted?

“You ran off and left me but I didn’t turn. I think I might be immune to them,” she whispered quietly coming closer, I was nervous.

“If you’re not the clone...” I whisper trying to find a way for her to prove herself. “Do you know what Toby is?”

“Toby? What is he, an alien?” she question looking at me like I’m crazy.

She steps closer and hugs me.

“I missed you, Nathan,” she replies quietly.

I hug her back nervously still a little unsure.

She reaches up and touches my face. She pushes herself up on her tippy toes but I back away before she can kiss me.

“I don’t love you anymore,” I whisper quietly worried I’ll hurt her.

“What? Nathan?” she stares into my eyes. I can see her heart cracking in her pupils. I feel bad and sorry.

“I thought you were...dead. I got over you, moved on, I have some...there’s someone else, okay?” I whisper quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I should have expected it. It’s been three years. Hope can only last for so long. I understand. So who’s your new girlfriend?” she asks.

“Umm...well, uh.” I stutter.

I rub my hands together nervously.

“Nathan? Is it somebody I know?” she asks nervously.

“Kind of,” I mumble.

“Emily?” she asks.

“No,” I whisper.

“Quinn?” she asks.

“Quinn’s dead,” I reply.

“Oh, Cassie, Katie? Hale, Dani, Skylar?” she question trying to get back to the subject.

“No,” I reply nervously.

“Who, then?” she asks confused.

I let out a breath and open my mouth.

“Nathan,” I here Gabriel call from above.

Melody slowly looks up. Gabriel has his brown wings spread out as he flaps down and lands a few meters behind me.

“Gabriel?” she asks shocked.

I feel my wings sprout from my back, there’s no point in hiding the truth from her.

“What’s going on? Why do you have wings?” she asks a little panicked.

“We’re angels. Our parents were half human, half angel and that result in fully angel children and fully human children, Sam and Anna,” Gabriel whispers quietly looking puzzled. “I thought you knew about Toby.”

“That was a clone,” I mention.

“There’s a copy of her, too? Great, just great,” Gabriel exclaims annoyed.

“Is Toby an angel, too?” Melody questions.

“Yeah, the clone claimed to be revived by him but he can’t do that, “I reply, “Do you want to come back to where we live? There’s lots of space.”

“Yeah, I just have to collect some things, okay?” she whispers nervously.

“We’ll come with you, where have you been staying?” Gabriel replies.

Melody leads us down the alley and through the streets to a building that’s in decent condition on the outside with no windows. She leads up a small staircase to a locked door. She pulls out a key and unlocks the door. She pauses for a second and then opens it slowly. She allows us in and closes it and locks it behind us.

“Who’s there?” calls a quiet shy voice.

“It’s me, Nick,” replies Melody.

I and Gabriel glance at each other nervously.

A little boy, about three emerges from the shadows of the next room. He has dark brown hair like me and my green eyes. I stare at him, quietly. He looks like me, spitting image of me when I was that age. Was he mine? His age made sense with the last time I saw Melody. But the last time I’d seen her she hadn’t looked pregnant.

A guy about twenty or so emerged behind the little boy. He had brown hair and green eyes, too. Maybe the child was his and not Melody’s.

“Mom,” Nick called running toward Melody.

Nope, Nick was hers if he was calling her that, but who was the father?

I looked away nervously and feel my wings press together as if to hide.

“Who are your new friends?” asked the guy.

“Nathan and Gabriel, I’d like you to meet Charlie and our son Nick,” she replied quietly.

‘Our son’...so the kid was his and not mine, it was both a relief and a worry. I was glad I hadn’t somehow gotten Melody pregnant but it made me question when their relationship started if Nick ‘was’ three. At least I didn’t have to worry about her still being in love with me, she had somebody else too.

But now I had to tell Toby who he’d been living with for however long and I should probably still tell her I’m gay even if she suspects it. She doesn’t need to find out the way Emily did about me and Gabriel. I feel Gabriel place a hand on my shoulder.

“Their relationship started three or four months after the apocalypse started. The kid’s only two and half,” he whispers as quietly as possible.

“Is it really her?” I ask in the same whispering tone.

“Yeah, she’s missed us. The other one didn’t really have the sense of missing us, she just knew she knew us,” he whispers. “When are we going to tell her?”

“Obviously when they’re not around,” I whisper.

“The others are going to be confused, are we going to tell them?” Gabriel continues.

“She can tell them if she wants to. She knows as much as we do about the clones,” I reply.

“Mom, are we moving?” Nick asks.

“Yes, there are other kids where we’re going for you to play with; it’ll be fun, okay? Don’t worry Charlie and I are coming with you,” she replies gathering up Nick’s clothes and toys.

“Charlie, can you grab the food and bedding?” Melody asks balancing Nick’s things.

“Yeah, I got it,” he calls.

Charlie seems half decent at least. But that’s coming from a person who can’t see his true nature. Gabriel could do a real assessment of who he is as a person.

“Nathan, can you carry Nick, please?” Melody asks.

I glance at Charlie but he’s too preoccupied with gathering things into a box to carry. I look down at Nick who is a few feet behind Melody looking at us nervously.

“Come here, Nick,” I call quietly.

He glances at me and then back at Melody.

“It’s okay, Nick. He’s a friend, let him carry you,” Melody reassures him.

I remember Sam being this small a few years before the apocalypse began. That seemed so long ago and I guess this proves it was long ago. Melody has moved on, had a child and living her life.

Nick approaches me slowly and I kneel down and lift him up.

I nervously look at Melody as if I might drop her child. I was worried Charlie would complain or say something about trusting us but he just went with the flow. I wonder if Melody had ever mentioned us to him. I was her last boyfriend and I imagine she probably told him about her life if they ended up having a child together.

We walk back to the warehouse slowly.

Joey is outside talking to one of the guards making his rounds.

“Nathan, Gabriel, I see you brought your friend back and some new comers,” Joey calls.

“What is he talking about?” Melody asks.

“The clone was here and she said hello to Emily, Arran, and the rest. Daniel and Joey were the ones who found her. They probably think you’re the same person,” I whisper quietly.

Joey unlocks and opens the gate to allow us in.

“We need to talk once Nick and Charlie are settled,” she whispers.

I don’t reply.

Talk? About what? I thought we were over. Wasn’t that evident because of Charlie and Nick? She had clearly moved on from me. And so had I, mind you, I thought she was dead. She knew I could be out there, but she obviously didn’t hold on to hope for that long if Nick was born a year into the apocalypse.

Maybe she didn’t want to think I had died, maybe they were a distraction to keep her mind off me.

I lead her to the three rooms and let Charlie settle with Nick in the children’s room. Melody excused herself and came back out closing the door.

“Are you going to tell me who it is?” Melody asks.

Who it is that I now love instead of her, that made me move on. Get over her realize who I really am.

Gabriel glances at me, anticipating my response. He knows what she’s talking about.

I stay silent. I couldn’t do it before, and I can’t do it now. Stupid, judgmental worrying part of me.

“Me,” Gabriel whispers quietly, I barely hear him.

“What?” she asks.

“It’s me,” he says sternly grabbing my hand.

I don’t want to look at them. I’m afraid what I’ll see, the horror I expect, and the disappointment I don’t want to see.

“Nathan, are you gay?” she asks quietly.

“I didn’t date you to blend. I did believe I was straight then,” I reply,

“I don’t care about that. Even if you did I’m sure every girl has dated at least one gay guy,” she replies jokingly.

“You’re not mad?” I ask.

“I always was more understanding than Emily,” she whispers. “I’m happy for you. It’s a good thing you figured this out and came out. You’re still my friend, being gay doesn’t change anything. That would be unfair to you, I accept Gabriel and not you,” she replies.

“So when did you meet Charlie?” I ask.

“Couple weeks after I last saw you. You really remember shooting me?” she asks nervously.

“Maybe it was a vision and somehow Gabriel accidently connected his mind to mine and it was so realistic we thought it was real,” I whisper quietly.

Am I going crazy? I…remember shooting her, I remember crying. I remember reaching down and closing her eyes and Gabriel tapping my shoulder. Saying we should go before the smell of blood attracted more zombies. How could it be a shared delusion, though?

“Vision?” she asks.

“He can tell the future, and I can read minds,” Gabriel whispers.

“What?” she exclaims.

“Quiet, the entire world doesn’t need to know. It might get us kicked out,” I whisper.

Had she forgotten I told her? I told her I had visions, before the apocalypse started because I honestly thought I’d be spending the rest of my life with her then and thought she deserved to know the truth about me. Maybe this was the clone.

“When did it start?” she asks.

“I don’t remember. I might have had them as a child and just thought they were dreams or delusions, I don’t know, “I whisper.

“Me, too. I might have thought I was going crazy and hearing voices,” Gabriel adds.

I glance at Gabriel nervously, the hallway lights are bright. My head hurts.

“Nathan?” he exclaims. “Nathan? Hey, you okay?”

I close my eyes and get sucked into the vision.

I see the same bloody dirt path me and Gabriel had been on earlier. This time I was alone. I follow the blood again and come to a clearing in the woods. Gabriel is there on his hands and knees; Melody is holding him at gunpoint. I can’t tell whether it’s the clone or the real one, I suspect the clone. He’s shot in the leg again. Is this how he dies? Does Melody or her clone kill him?

Gabriel turns in my direction and stumbles to his feet and starts pushing me back along the path as if trying to get me to leave. Melody moves the gun to me, I freeze.

That’s when a bullet comes rushing out of nowhere and through her head. She falls dead and I look up to see where it came from.

I spot the barrel of a sniper rifle in one of the trees. I see a guy about my age emerge from the tree. He’s wearing black and white camouflage shirt, has goggles on his forehead over his jet-black hair. He has beige pants. He stands at the bottom of the tree nervously as if unsure about us. He’s carrying a duffel bag and his rifle swung over his shoulder with gloves on his hands and a scarf around his neck.

“1, 334,” he says calmly to himself.

“Hey, you okay?” he calls.

Everything blurs and when I blink I’m in a room with two rows of hospitals beds. A row with the head boards against each of the white walls.

“Nathan?” I hear Gabriel question.

I slowly turn my head. He’s sitting in a chair beside my bed. My eyes move slowly around the place. I see Melody sitting on the other side of the bed.

Was it her or her clone in the vision? Who was the guy with the rifle and jet-black hair? Why had he said 1,334?

“Did you see anything Nathan?” Gabriel asks.

I did but it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. And I couldn’t tell him with Melody around. Just in case she was still the clone.

“I need her to leave,” I whisper over the mind link.

Gabriel seemed lost in thought; he was probably trying to come up with a valid reason for her to leave without hurting her with the fact that we didn’t trust her.

“I’ll watch over him, go back to Nick and Charlie,” he says calmly. “I promise you, I’ll come get you if he gets worse, okay?”

She reaches and holds my hand, I watch Gabriel restrain himself again. She releases my hand after a few seconds and silently gets up to leave. When she reaches the door she turns back to look at me, I see a tear slip out. I feel sorry for her, I kind of abandon her, and the candle of hope in her had still been smoking even after she started seeing Charlie. She did the same thing I did, started another relationship hoping to move on, I did and she didn’t even after Nick’s conception. She leaves quickly.

“What did you see?” Gabriel whispers.

“Somebody kills her or the clone,” I whisper.

“Who?” Gabriel asks.

“I don’t know. I didn’t recognize him. She was holding you at gunpoint and he shot her with a sniper rifle. Not many people carry sniper rifles because they need a flat surface to help with aim and they’re made for long distance. He had black hair and a camouflage t-shirt,” I reply. “He said 1,334. I wonder if it means something.”

“Where were we?” he asks.

“In the woods, the bloody path again, it lead to a clearing,” I exclaim.

“As long as we don’t go there we should all be fine, right?” he whispers.

“I hope so,” I whisper.

You could see the worry in Gabriel’s face. I don’t know if he was concerned for himself, me or Melody. They were scheduled to die at some point within the next two years. And I didn’t know how to stop it.

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