"Mina?"

I exhaled in relief and rushed towards the sound of his voice. The dust cleared and I saw him caught under the rubble; laid backwards with his blond hair covered in white dust. I pulled the debris from him. It scratched my fingers, drawing blood from my fingernails, but I didn't care. I'd found him.

"Are you hurt?"

"Think I passed out for a second." He moved into a sitting position. "My leg is sore."

I touched his cheek where a thin trickle of blood travelled down his face. "We have to get out of here." The suspended stairs swung ominously above us. "Put your weight on my shoulder."

We struggled out of the piles of rubble and hopped to the hall door. When I reached to open it, the door creaked and toppled downwards to slam to the floor with a bang. A hysterical giggle rose in my throat. We strived together, moving slowly over the fallen door, when a loud creaking made me turn. The suspended staircase plummeted to the floor in a colossal explosion of dust and plaster. The doorway began to crumble.

"Hurry!" I urged Daniel into the lobby as the doorframe gave way. My foot caught on a loose wire and I fell to my knees. He picked me up roughly and we hurried.

We rushed through the lobby a so close to outside air I could smell it. I felt it in my lungs. Daniel limped and I took some of his weight against me. His hot breath panted by my ear. My legs ached from ankle to hip.

"Just a bit further," I said, more to myself than to Daniel. "We can do it. We're nearly there."

I coughed and staggered on as the building groaned and leaned in on itself. The TV Screen fell from the wall and smashed, silencing the Ministry broadcast forever more. DNA sequencing machines tumbled through gaping holes in the ceiling. The world as we knew it collapsed around us and we carried on, stumbling into the street in time to see most of the building implode on itself. Something propelled me forward a the last ions of my energy a enough to get us away from the old Ministry. We limped across the deserted streets to find an old shop to rest against a away from the debris. Only then did I turn in time to see its demise. My eyes welled up. Ali. Where was Ali?

"Ye all right, kid?"

I almost dropped Daniel. Ali appeared from behind me and pulled us both into a huge hug. He broke away and punched me lightly on the arm.

"Thought ye hadn't made it. Don't do that te me ever again."

I wiped tears from my eyes. "Don't you ever do that to me again."

Daniel took his own weight. He rested against the shop. Ali pointed to the GEM workers he'd helped out of the building.

"I couldnae talk Des round, and I couldnae get a good shot te end it." He shook his head. "I always thought he was a good man."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Then you should remember him like that."

"Aye," Ali said. "Aye, yer right."

We watched the Ministry crumble a regaining our strength from the struggle a and I thought about Mum with a heavy heart. She'd died trying to save my life. Just as Ali would think of Des as the friend who helped us into London, I would remember Mum as the woman who laid down her life for mine. Both my parents did. They had their faults, but after everything they proved their love for me in the most tragic way possible. My tears fell for them. I had so much to live for that I brushed them away and composed myself.

"What now?" Daniel asked.

"We get these people to safety. And then we find our friends," I replied.

"Ye stopped the war, kid. Again." Ali squeezed my shoulder.

The ashes of the Ministry rained down like snow in the middle of summer, covering the ground with white. I'd lost so much in this war and yet I had so much left. My chest swelled with possibilities as I inhaled sweet, fresh air. For the first time ever I had the right to choose who I wanted to be.

* Epilogue *

We worked hard in the weeks that followed. With Ethan Moore gone a and Ministry resources depleted to extinction a the GEM finally crumbled, leaving the country bruised but not broken. We had the opportunity to rebuild and create the society we'd always wanted.

After the collapse of the GEM Headquarters, the rescued scientists helped Luce set up medical centres around London. It was in one of Luce's centres that Angela had the bullet removed from her chest. Cam stayed by her side for weeks as she recovered. Against all the odds, I got my best friend back.

K died in the battle at the border, and it left the Resistance without a commander. It left the country without a Minister, and I knew just the person to fill the role. Dad once said to me that any person who wanted to lead shouldn't, which made Mary the obvious choice.

Many usurpers tried to take power during the months after the Border Battle. It meant the country relied on the Freaks to stop each attempt. The assailants gave up eventually, and after everything settled into peace, people nicknamed us the Protectors. The name stuck and it became our official title. It felt nice to be wanted.

When the GEM fertility clinic burnt to the ground, many of the parents of designer babies panicked. They wanted to be able to choose their future, and so with the help of the leftover scientists and after introducing many regulations, we built it into a new guise: the Genetic Research Centre a aimed at helping those in need.

The border walls came down. Blemished and GEM mixed with each other for the first time. They didn't like it at first a in the same way dogs and cats are wary of each other a but with some domestication they got used to it. They already knew the alternative. They'd seen the fighting, the wounding and the dying, and they didn't want that anymore.

Angela and Cam set up the first ever rehabilitation centre for Blemished women and Angela was reunited with her mum at last. With Cam and her mum she built the family she'd always wanted. Ginge and Sebastian worked to find a purpose for the clone soldiers after the battle. The death of Margaret Murgatroyd left them lost without a controller. Slowly but surely Ginge and Sebastian helped them think for themselves and take a role in society, mostly using their super-strength on construction sites, rebuilding the country.

Ali and Matthew began a new life as Scottish ambassadors. They had the tricky job of working with the Perthans, Nomads and Highlanders. Luckily, both of them used their charm and diplomacy skills to bring the people together as one Clan.

Kitty and Mike went their separate ways in love, yet stayed together as the Protectors. Mike married a girl from the Resistance and started a family. It was what he'd always wanted. Kitty liked her job as international ambassador, travelling the world and finding allies for the new United Kingdom, confronting the countries who had ignored us in our darkest times: Ireland, France, America, among others. She grew into a self-assured and quick-witted woman who gained respect from those around her.

Elena set up a foundation for ex-models and beauty pageant contestants. She also trained to be a vet and moved to the countryside. She's still looking for the perfect guy to settle down with.

Daniel's abilities became more powerful after the Border Battle. His mind reached further, making him able to help when tragedy struck. We travelled around the country together, quelling violent uprisings, and aiding victims in natural disasters. The public adored him. They built statues of him in their towns. Girls bought posters of him and stuck them on their bedroom walls. I stood by and watched with amusement a and slight annoyance a as they squealed in his presence, teasing him when he blushed bright red and squirmed in embarrassment. Hiro took great pleasure in telling him all the gory details of their thoughts, mortifying Daniel so much he stuck his fingers in his ears and la-la'd until it was over.

But I tired.

I tired of being a weapon. Mary needed me to keep the country safe, to stop anyone taking power. I just wanted to see the world. And so we started democracy all over again a beginning with small elections and preparing for elected governments and leaders. Bit by bit it stabilised. Things would never be perfect a but who wanted it to be?

I walk with Daniel by the Eiffel tower. The sky is blue and the iron sculpture soars above us a casting its long shadow along the gardens below. For a moment I think of the border walls and their mountains of bricks. It brings all the pain rushing back. I force it away. I'm a sensitive, open wound because I'm here for them a to let go. Everything reminds me of the past.

"You okay?" Daniel asks.

I nod. There's a slight tightness in my chest and my head feels stuffy from unshed tears. I'm okay, I keep telling myself. Deep down I really am.

"Are you ready for this?"

"It's been ten years," I say. Somehow it feels like yesterday.

He pulls me closer to him. "I know. And I also know how raw it still feels."

I laugh. "It's a good job Hiro isn't here. He doesn't need to hear our morbid thoughts."

"He's probably out on a date," Daniel said. "Wooing the ladies."

Hiro has a way of using his talents to his advantage. The problem is that most of the girls figure it out eventually. "Do you think he'll ever settle down?"

"He's only twenty."

"We were younger than that." I stop walking and place my hand on his cheek. "But somehow I always knew."

We press our foreheads together.

With a sigh, I break apart. "It's time."

We find a quiet spot near the tower and I take out a small coffee tin from my bag. For some reason I never thought to buy an urn. I move so that the wind blows away from me a taking my hair with it. The coffee tin is cold in my hands. There are a few dents and bumps from over the years, but it has survived well, considering everything we've been through.

I unscrew the lid while holding the tin at arm's length. Before I scatter the ashes I take a deep breath. "Goodbye, Dad. Goodbye, Mum."

I replace the lid and put it back inside my bag.

"Don't you want to say anymore?"

I watch the way the ashes blow along the wind; sprinkling the grass by the base of the tower. "No." I'm sure they found peace a long time ago, and I've given up speculating how. Now I wanted to let go of my grief. To just say... goodbye.

He takes my hand and we stand for a long time, watching as the ashes settle into the soil. I hope something grows there to continue the circle of life. The air cools and I squeeze Daniel's hand. "Let's go."

I feel a little let down. I'd expected a release that never came. After ten long years I still hold onto something.

"You know that we're free now," Daniel said. "We can see the world. We can do whatever we want."

"Perhaps we can join Kitty for a while," I said.

I stop in my tracks. A little bird with its foot caught in a vine squeaks from the garden railings. The poor sparrow flaps its wings in desperation.

"Wait here," I whisper, letting go of Daniel.

Moving with gentle and deliberate actions so as not to frighten it, I gently unhook the vine from the bird's foot, and it rises from the gate with its little wings fluttering. I have to squint away from the sun as I watch it fly up into the sky. It soars high above us.

Finally the release.

My shoulders feel lighter and the constriction in my chest eases. That feeling of holding back tears dissipates and I take a huge breath, enjoying the fresh, spring air.

Daniel smiles at me. "You okay?"

I nod. This time I really mean it. "I feel free."

* A Note from the Author *

A huge thank you for supporting independent authors by buying this book. As an author who has self-published her book, I rely on readers to spread the word. Why not take a moment to do just that and leave a review?

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