Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 134

NADINE’S POV

"Run, Nadine. Now. Get as far away from here as you can," he snapped, and there was a strain to his voice.

Trent laughed, and the sound of the slimy sound slid accross my skin.

"What did you do?" I asked, my voice coming out in a whisper.

Trent cocked his head to the side as he stared at me, his eyes raking across my body in a way that made me want to puke.

"I knew he would come for me. Predictable enough as he was, I suspected that he would try to look for me, like you guys did at the bunker. So I placed bombs all around. And he just happened to step on one."

Horror filled me, seeping into my blood, my bones. Seeping into the very core of my body.

"You bastard. He is your son!" I snapped, and the amusement rolled off Trent’s face.

"I didn’t ask to be his father," was all he said, and somehow, that one statement made it all worse.

Trent was more than an evil man. He was destruction himself. He was the thing in the dark, the monster that preyed on children and sucked their bones clean.

But this time, we were not children. We were an entire fucking universe, and he was preying on us anyway.

"I am better than all of you, than all of fucking humanity. I don’t need to save anyone again. I will live as the sole master of this world, and rid every bunker of every single weakness. But I’ll keep a woman at my side. Together, we would birth a new generation. And every single one of them will be phenomenal."

That was gross and disturbing, but he didn’t give me a chance to say anything before he continued.

"Knowing Caine, I believe the moment I turn my back on him, he might very well step off the bomb in an attempt to kill me with him. But because you’re here, Nadine, he will hesitate. And that will give me time to get away from the force of the blast."

There was a huge, non inflatable balloon sitting on my lungs, and I could not breathe. I must have grabbed Rowan’s hand at one point, because he squeezed it, trying to comfort me?

And then as if he hadn’t said enough, the general fucking went on.

"We could have ruled the world together, Nadine. You and I. I wanted you. I dreamed of fucking you night after night, of putting my babies in you and watch you wade around with a swollen belly. But you decided to go with him instead, and now...now he would be the cause of your death."

Tears were rolling down my eyes now. Rowan was going to die. He could not remain standing forever, and the moment his leg shifted from the bomb...

I shook my head, trying to dispel the thought.

"Goodbye, Nadine Tyler. Goodbye, bastard son of mine. It hope it was worth it."

And with that, the general, the man who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, turned around and started to walk away.

"Nadine. Nadine, baby. I need you to run. That remote that’s with him, I think he can use it for control the bomb. And knowing him, he would probably blow it up the moment he is well away from the impact. I need you to go back to the community and protect yourself."

His voice was sure and steady, and there was no trace of fear in his words. Or his expression. He looked calm. Too calm, even.

But I...I was a wreck.

My chest was threatening to cave in, and tears streamed down my face in torrents as I tried so hard not to break down.

Death.

Death was hanging above us both. Everything that we did, all of the things that we went through, this was it.

The end.

"Princess please. Do not let Trent win. If you stay alive, for me, then..."

I held out a hand to stop him.

"Stop. Trent will not win. I am going to kill him."

I didn’t know where the words came from, and I didn’t care. All I knew was that there was a strong urge ravaging my body now, and I knew what I needed to do.

Rowan stroked my cheek. "What are you talking about, love?"

I fished out the knife strapped to my thigh, and showed it to him.

"I have perfect aim. And I never miss. I will not let him get away with this."

I waited for his approval, for him to tell me that it was okay for me to kill his father. And after several moments, he eventually nodded.

I sniffed, wiping the tears off my face. Then I leaned forward to kiss him.

"Wait me me, Rowan Caine. Do not move a step away from where you are. Wait for me."

My whisper was sharp and fierce, and he knew what I intended.

Death. Together. I would die for him, as he would for me.

And for the first time since I met Rowan, tears sprang into his eyes.

"I’ll wait for you," he whispered. I kissed him one last time before bolting through the trees.

I would kill Trent, and then Rowan and I would die together. There was a slight stitch in my chest that I ignored as I ran.

It didn’t take me long to catch up to Trent. He had just cleared the woods and was about to get into a car when I caught up to him.

"Trent!" I yelled. He looked back at the sound of my voice, and I let my knife fly.

The general didn’t have time to blink before the knife hit him in the chest.

He looked at his chest, at the rapidly spreading blood, then back at me.

And very unremarkably, Trent fell in a backwards manner.

He was dead before his body hit the ground.

As if on cue, a loud explosion boomed behind me, the sound loud enough to make me throw my hands over my ears.

I turned towards the direction of the blast, but it wasn’t from the community.

It was from the woods, from the place I left Rowan at.

No.

No no no no no.

My heart slammed repeatedly over my chest as I sprinted back into the woods.

Rowan.

Rowan.

He promised to wait for me. We were supposed to go together!

But I should have known. The moment I left his side, I should have known that he would try to save me.

Still I ran, tree branches whipping into my face without stopping.

Maybe I could save him.

Maybe he found a way to stop the bomb.

Maybe he got away.

But I was too late.

All that was left at the site of explosion was a huge load of rubble.

And no Rowan.

There was no Rowan.

The love of my life was gone.