The Fallout

A/N: I’ve kept it quiet up to this point, not wanting to clue you all in, but this is the second to last in this story.

Oli's P.O.V

“Austin, where are we?” I inquired as I raised my head tiredly from the back of the passenger seat and glanced around, tall, white buildings lined the streets; banners hanging off of some. Austin turned the radio up,

“In Washington D.C today, there will be a mandatory gathering of all military personal and all citizens, report immediately to the town square.” “Oh, so this is it then…” I grumbled as I watched the building blur as he raised the vehicles speed, he nodded his head before pulling into a jam packed lot of cars; where we came to a complete stop.

“Oli, I love you, you know that right?” he proposed as he shut the engine off, I bit my lip as I slunk off of my seat and stood behind his, where I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head atop of his own.

“Of course, you know I love you too, eh?” I mumbled as I swayed back and forth, he hummed in agreement. “So, how are we doing this?” I questioned as I kissed his forehead, I felt him tense up before he shrugged.

“We’re just doing it, I'm tired of thinking about it.” He commented in utter frustration, I couldn’t bring myself to disagree. We had lost too many people for this cause, and lost too many people to really care what our outcome would turn out to be. I, while I was scared, I was ready to do what needed to be done.

“Okay, shall we wake Tom?” I asked as he shrugged me off and stood up, the look on his face gave me my answer; so I slowly made my way to his bunk. He was dead asleep, that was all he did anymore, really. It had been two weeks and he had done nothing but cry and rest; he wouldn’t even speak a word to me anymore. I couldn’t say I blamed him, I didn’t like talking either.

“Tom, it’s time.” I called as he finally snapped his eyes open wide, he didn’t protest or make a sound as he drug himself out of bed and got ready; I gave him a hug as he was finished.

“I love you,” I cooed as I brought him closer to my chest, he squeezed me back harder in response.

“I love you too,” he breathed out, the first words I had heard spoken from him in days, coincidently, Austin hadn’t been much for words either. We were all tired, so tired, and in layman’s terms we were ready to end this, at all costs.

“Let’s go,” I let him slip away from me, but grabbed his hand as I did with Austin as we carelessly walked out of the RV; not even bothering to hide ourselves from the world any longer. The walk to the square felt like an eternity’s time, it was silent, save for the other people who walked alongside us. We weren’t patted down as we got inside, and to my surprise, no one paid us much mind. It was a blur, the beginning of their ‘presentation’; I bit my tongue through the displays and testaments, but knew I couldn’t keep quiet for much longer. Every troop in the states must have been here now, thousands of them swarmed the citizens that stood before the podium, and for a moment, I was just another face in the crowd; for a moment.

“Ya da, ya da, why don’t you tell them about how you like to kill innocent people?” Austin exclaimed in sheer exhaustion and loss of patience, the crowd grew completely silent.

“Excuse me…Austin Carlile! It’s him!” the man pointed to us in disgust as the sound of thousands of guns clicking told us to be on high alert; but we knew their tactics, we’d seen them before.

“STOP!” A familiar voice cried out, and in that moment one solider alongside the stage tossed his helmet off and approached the podium, Austin gasped, Tom squeezed my hand tighter; but I just narrowed my eyes. Alan Ashby.

“Austin, you don’t understand a thing…do you? When they told you, you needed to be stopped…it was for your own good…don’t you see?” he shook his head as he watched Austin take a cautious step forward; “You really don’t get it…you’re going to die in the end, you, Oliver, and Tom. There is no way you can change this world, Austin! It’s doomed, and you don’t want to go down with it…these people think you’re a monster, they don’t want to follow you blindly into what you think is a better world. So tell me…Is all of this worth being a martyr?”

Alan looked terrified, but not for him, but for us. We were in no place to question his feelings, but we came here to do a job, and if that was the last thing we did…then so be it. We had discussed this a thousand times before. “That may be true Alan,” Austin looked at the ground, while Tom and I stood defensively beside him, the floor would give any moment, and that would signal a full brunt attack; but this is what we wanted. “But we’ve got nothing else to lose, and we have to try.”

As I predicted, the concrete behind us gave way, dragging hundreds of screaming assailants down with it, and leaving the citizens trapped in a circle of concrete that towered over the incinerated ground. We needed them to see this, if we couldn’t carry on, we needed to show them that they could; and they could do what’s right in the end. Alan had disappeared from the scene, likely fleeing in terror, but that didn’t stop the thousands of other who swarmed around us like moths to a flame, Tom was somewhere behind me, likely tending to innocents who may have gotten in the mix, while Austin and I pushed back the front lines of the onslaught of soldier’s. Bodies piled up, people fell to the ground, choking from the lack of air my atmosphere provided. Austin could make people ‘vanish’, I could make people drown without water, it was a fatal combination; what I couldn’t slay, he did, and in that moment we let all of our rage show. We lost or careful and cautious ways, we abandoned what we had set out to change…we had become the kind of monsters we set out against; but Alan was right, this world needed cleansing. We could provide that. What felt like hours passed, when it was probably only minutes, but surely, we were halfway back into the masses; their bullet had no affect as we relentlessly continued our assault, we were simply unstoppable. If I had been a witness, maybe I would have marveled at the sight of two, no, three, monstrosities clothed in human skin, but I wouldn’t be afraid. I had to remind myself, as I plucked a gun from a dead mans arms and shot a group of people in the heads, that I was nothing to simply be afraid of; I was fear itself.

I zoned out at some point, finding that I no longer had to keep thinking about what I was doing, it happened one way or another; so I allowed myself to day dream. About what would have happened if the chemical spill never occurred, perhaps Austin and I wouldn’t even be together, but perhaps we would? Maybe we would be planning a future together, planning out our musical careers while decided to make the relationship between us serious. Maybe we would move in together, and I could have brought him home to mom and dad. Maybe Tom and Matt would be there too, cuddled on the couch, sipping tea as the four of us talked of marriage and touring; maybe we would even talk about adopting kids one day. My band mates would probably come over whenever they could, and Austin’s would be there nonstop, nagging us to get a room and take our kisses elsewhere. Tino would be supportive as always, helping us deal with the emotions of telling our loved ones and fans, but he would be there until the bitter end, no doubt. If it played out the way I would have liked, Austin and I would marry later on in life, retire from our careers to raise a family, and live as happily and long as we could, and even on my deathbed, I would be the happiest man alive.

None of that would ever come true.

That realization made me shiver, but there wasn’t a thing that I could do to change what had happened, what had begun, and what needed to be stopped. If we were lucky, we would die here today; die and go to this so called heaven. Where Tom could be with Matt, where Austin and I could be together and with our parents, where Tino would be there smiling and laughing as if nothing had changed. When we woke up this morning it was a mutual understanding, we wanted to change the world, but we didn’t want to live long enough to see it through.

Notes