Page 132 of Us Dark Few

Sunlight pierced her eyes, and Khalani held out her right hand, shielding her face.

“The surface,” Winnie breathed out weakly next to her.

Khalani lifted her hand away and her body stopped, ceasing movement as if frozen in time.

A gigantic dome didn’t rise above them. Darkness didn’t envelop her. On the Earth’s surface, the skies were a clear, crystal blue, and the blazing sun was so intense that it nearly blinded her.

She looked around in astonishment. They appeared to be in a flat desert, surrounded by collapsed buildings and scattered rubble. Strange, rusted vehicles lay in disarray, their metal torn and twisted. Everything was abandoned and desolate.

Ruin never looked so beautiful.

Khalani breathed in deeply. Even the air smelled and tasted different. Free. They were free.

“Don’t go any further!” Alexander Huxley’s voice yelled.

They whirled, and the Governor stood before them, alone. Takeshi held onto Winnie and pulled out his gun, aiming at him.

Alexander raised his arms by his side in innocence. “I have no weapons. I come to you in peace. Why don’t you all just come back so we can sort this out? I can even grant your freedom from Braderhelm.”

His lies scraped against her skin, and Khalani pulled the gun from her pocket and took a menacing step forward.

“All you do is lie. Was there ever any radiation on the surface?”

Alexander’s lip lifted. “Oh, I assure you, there once was. Battles raged on the very ground you stand on. Apollo saved countless lives, and only beneath the earth can those instincts to destroy be controlled. As you can see, there is nothing out here, nothing but death.”

“InApollo, there is nothing but death. It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one responsible for destroying the crops.” The truth bellowed from her tongue.

The Governor raised an eyebrow.

“Perceptive. Rather…poetic, isn’t it? They view me as their savior when I’ve been biding my time, waiting for the day to strike back.”

“Why?” she screamed, the gun noticeably shaking. “Why would you do that?”

“You know less than you could possibly dream,” Alexander stated in a bored tone, as if they were talking about geological formations. “You don’t see it now, but this is for everyone’s benefit. All you have to do is trust me.”

Khalani let out a humorless laugh. “Anyone who trusts you is either stupid or insane. You’ve kept us locked away to cover up your lies for decades. But that ends now. We’re leaving, and we’ll spread the truth about the surface and the atrocities you’ve committed in Apollo,” Khalani hissed, her grip on the gun tightening.

The Governor’s chilling smile turned into an angry scowl. “Nothing will change what is coming.Nothing. You’ll die with the rest of them, just like your parents.”

Madness coiled inside her, threatening to strike and dismember as their faces flashed in her mind.

She was no longer empty, patched with voids. All the pain and suffering she’d endured filled her cracks and crevices, the need for violence suppressing any mercy left in her.

The old her would’ve cowered beneath the weight of such fury, but she was no longer beholden to the rules of the underground.

On the surface of the earth, humanity’s greatest triumph and heaviest burden was always free will.

Khalani raised her gun and shot Alexander Huxley in the chest.

The Governor didn’t move. He didn’t fall to the ground. Alexander glanced down at his chest…andsmiled.

“That wasn’t very nice.” He smirked as Khalani’s hands shook, and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Brock moved forward and threw all his weight into a punch straight toward the Governor’s head, but Alexander caught Brock’s wrist as if he weighed no more than a feather. With a sinister grin, he snapped Brock’s arms back like a pretzel, and Brock released a shattering scream.

Quick as a flash, Takeshi crashed into the Governor like a train, taking both of them to the ground. Takeshi immediately smashed his fist into the Governor’s face, but the Governor freed his arm and punched under Takeshi’s chin. Takeshi’s head whipped back, and Alexander captured the advantage, quickly flipping Takeshi and kneeling over him.

When Alexander started railing his fists into Takeshi’s face, blood sprayed into the dusted sand like confetti. Pure terror cut her apart, as if her own body was being butchered.

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