Chapter
3 – Final Breaths
I will not die here. I cannot. God
is good and will not deny me confession after I’ve confessed to Him with
sincere repentance for my sins. The town around me falls apart as all exits are
cut off from me except for one. Many have already escaped while many more have
died in an attempt. I will not be one of them.
This town was built on a water
world that’s mostly ocean with very few islands spread around it. The style
of the town was made to look like that of the ones built in medieval times with
a futuristic twist. Even as I look out at it in its damaged and darkened state,
it looks beautiful to look at. Part of me wants to sit here and wait for my end
in silent prayer, but I can’t when one last escape ship is available. I make my
way to it while walking over through the wreckage of a recent fight and the victims
of which whose blood is still fresh. My mind goes through the past events
almost as a way of ignoring the man-made carnage around me.
The power to the entire city went
out because of an…accident. Because of this, the life support systems have
failed, and an emergency evacuation order was issued and was repeated until the
power quickly died. People rushed out of their homes and businesses, took what
they could, and ran for the nearest escape ships and the singular elevator to
the surface that could fit hundreds of people on it. Thirty minutes passed and
this town of thousands was nearly empty. People were getting anxious as the emergency
lights began to shut and the humongous mysterious monsters from the sea that
have been kept at bay by the town’s lights began to bump into the buildings and
destroy them like shadowy angels of death.
Tensions reached an all time high
when the elevator to the surface was destroyed from within. No one knows for
sure why it did. All I know is that rogue guards with explosives and weapons
threatened everyone to be the next to go up. I’m assuming they are what blew up
the elevator. The elevator wasn’t going to be an option for long anyway as the power
to it was dying just as fast as everyone in the town after that as chaos erupted
as people rushed around to find an escape pod.
People killed each other to escape
and before I knew it, I became the last person at the bottom of this underwater
town, or at least I don’t think anyone else is alive. I haven’t seen anyone in
hours. Last I heard there was a group of people going to check the
communications building to see if it still had power. That building was
destroyed by a formless monster from the deep that bumped into it. Even if it
wasn’t destroyed, it probably wouldn’t have power since the power for life support
systems that make the air breathable and power to the elevator to the surface
are prioritized and power for those two are almost depleted if not long
depleted from what I know and feel. The air feels thick and cold with the only
thing keeping me warm are the fires spread around the town because of the
fighting.
If help was ever coming, it would’ve
come by now. We are the only settlement on this planet with the rest of the
planets in this galaxy being smaller settlements that probably don’t have the
ships that can survive going this deep underwater. Water is starting to get through
the cracks in the walls as monsters continue to bump into the buildings, so I better
hurry up. I’ve been jumping at shadows and silently praying for God’s mercy
especially because of my sin. I risk eternal damnation if I don’t make it to a
priest. God is good and should forgive me if I can’t make it, but still. You
can never be too sure.
As I near what should be the last
escape ship, I hear and feel the monsters banging up against the walls as if
they’re after me, so I hurry to the ship only to find that it lacks sufficient
energy and fuel to move. To add insult to injury, a monster’s tentacle snatches
the ship away as if keep banging into the building. With nothing else to do, I get
on my knees and pray. That is until I hear someone walking to me. Opening my
eyes, I see the only person I wanted to see the least at the end of my life.
“You!” I say as I rise from my
knees and take out a pistol I found for protection.
“Jaelyn, this is not the time for
this,” she says with her hands up.
Water starts pouring in from around
us as our ways out are blocked.
“This is the perfect time for this,
Imogen. You are going to pay for making my husband cheat on me!”
“I told you that I’m already sorry
and I stopped being that kind of person!” I still point the pistol at her as
freezing cold water begins to rise in the room. “Look at what happened because
of your first attempt to kill me. Let it go already!”
“That was an accident because I missed
my first shot!”
“That accident destroyed this
entire town and the lives of everyone in it! You have your sins and I have mine.
This is our last chance to repent and I’ve already confessed to a priest and
received absolution. What about you?”
“N-no…I haven’t. That’s why I got here,
but now I have no way to get to a priest and no one to absolve me from my sins.”
“Did you confess to God? You can
still do that! I’m sure He’ll understand since you’ve been trying to get to a
priest.”
“I…I don’t know,” I say as I lower
my pistol.
Killing her would probably put a
venial sin on my soul at the least and damn me even further at the most. I
throw the pistol aside and knee in the freezing water hoping that this act of
penance shows my sorrow and willingness to repent. Please, God, have mercy on
me. In my panic, Imogen got closer to me to hold my hands as I cry and the
water level rises.
“Your tears are proof of your repentant
heart,” she says, “You will go to Heaven if you trust in God.”
“I…I do.”
“We’ll go there together then. I’ll
see you there.”
The walls around us collapse as
water rushes in. I get a quicker death than I expected. In the cold, I continue
to feel Imogen’s hands as I feel lifted up. It’s starting to get warmer now. Is
that the flames of Purgatory or Hell? I can’t tell. Either way, I trust God to
make the right decision and embrace whatever fate I deserve.
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