Depraved by Trent Evans
Chapter 45
“Any other holdouts among the remaining TSS units?” General Anson pointed to the map spread over the table. “Major Hughes reported there’s at least a company or two of heavy assault here. The big, tracked bastards with the rail-gun mains.” He stabbed a finger at the map, further down. “And an understrength battalion of infantry yet to offer terms. Dug in along the east side of the river, near the Mecklenburg rail crossing.”
His adjutant, Petra Carter, had been attached to his command, liaising with other rebel units coordinating with Anson’s UAA forces in mopping up remaining TSS holdouts. Petra leaned an elbow on the table, sweeping a hand across one corner of the map. “Colonel Wakelin is prepared to roll on the remaining hostiles as soon as we give the order. He’s got two brigades ready now that he’s been freed up from covering our right flank.”
Anson glanced at Yulia, who gave him a subtle shake of her head.
“Tell him to proceed,” Anson said. “But to offer negotiations for surrender of the enemy units before moving aggressively. Counsel caution—and offer quarter whenever possible. We’re trying to end this war, not drag out the bloodshed.”
Petra nodded, giving him a tiny little smile. “I’ll bring the message to him myself, sir.”
The war room here was easily twice the size of the cramped command suite back at Gamma.
When TSS had pulled completely out of New Vickers, the Unified Alliance Authority—the combined army that comprised all the formerly disparate rebel forces across the entire country—made the now partially-destroyed city their new capital.
The infamous TSS headquarters building, where Chairman Kaman had fittingly met his end at the hands of an HKU named Jon Rexall, was in ruins, the area cordoned off until the UAA administrators could decide what to do with it.
Competing proposals for either a war memorial, or to simply raze the building entirely were the frontrunners at the moment, the issue currently one of many before the busy Council.
Yulia stood up from the table, waving a finger toward Anson. “I’m… I’m gonna need to step away early. General, please finish up. I’ll be in my quarters.”
She fled before Anson could even acknowledge her.
In truth, it wasn’t fatigue weighing upon her, it was much more than that.
Grief.
Slamming her door behind her, she couldn’t even make it to her bed before she dropped to her knees, already weeping. The episodes were getting worse of late, but she suffered them alone. Nobody would know. Nobody could know the acting leader of the Unified Alliance Authority was coming apart at the seams with crippling sorrow.
She laid her head upon the bedspread, sobbing pitifully into the blankets.
“Jon… why? Why did you leave me?”
The vision of him, lying there, motionless, serene… it was agony. It was as if he were merely sleeping, would awake at any moment. But it had been long enough now. Her mind knew, even if her heart couldn’t accept it.
The day outside was gray and gloomy, matching her mood, rain threatening at any moment.
“You… I still… we had s-so much… ahead of us… so much… t-to do… together.”
“We still have time.”
It wasn’t the first occurrence of his voice in her head. She’d stopped recoiling at the sound of it, instead going along with it now, carrying on conversations.
Like a crazy person.
“Did you mean what you said?”
She raised her head. “Jon…?”
“That day as you held my hand. Did you really mean that?”
She spun around, tangling her feet in the carpet alongside her bed, and falling back to the floor.
Standing in her doorway, his right arm in a sling… was Jon.
Blinking, she rubbed her eyes. “I’m… is this happening?”
And at that moment, from the windows high up along the south wall, a single shaft of sunlight shone down, angling across his body, illuminating his too-thin, but still extremely handsome, rugged features, the ends of his dark stubble seeming to almost shimmer in the light.
His smile shone then, and she thought her heart might burst.
“This is definitely happening.” He came to her then, dropping to a knee before her, caressing her hair. “I… I can hardly believe my eyes.”
She yelped, almost giddy as she threw her arms around him.
He held her tight, pressing kisses to the top of her head. “I was… about to slip away, for good. I’d… accepted it… that I couldn’t stop it. But… something inside me, it told me it wasn’t my time. That she needed me.”
She was weeping once more, trying not to hope that this really was happening to her at that moment.
That it was true.
That he’d come back to her. Finally.
“But I want to know. What you said, Yulia… I heard all of it.”
She pulled back, using the heel of her hand to wipe away tears from under her eyes. “H-how? The doctor… you were comatose.”
“I don’t know … but I did.” He pressed a kiss upon her brow, and she closed her eyes, more tears—of joy, this time—spilling down her cheeks. “And I tried, oh Gods, I tried, to tell you. To make you understand.”
“Understand what?”
He beamed at her, his eyes sparkling. “That I’d never really gone. That I was right there. With you. That I would… always come back.”
“Oh, Jon, I’m… so glad you’re here! Alive!” She hugged him again, wetting his shirt with her tears.
“Did you mean it? What you said to me?”
She nodded against his chest. “Every word.”
He cupped her chin then, and made her look at him once more. His voice was soft now, as he gazed deep into her eyes.
“Then I can tell you now. I don’t know if there’s… anything beyond this life, waiting for me. Maybe it’s heaven, maybe it’s hell. I know what I deserve. But the truth is… I’m already in heaven. Because you’re here. Because you saved me. Because you taught me… who I am.” He kissed her lips, soft and gentle. “Because I love you, Yulia. I love you… forever.”
More tears cascaded down her cheeks, but she grinned through them.
“I love you, too. Ravager.”