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SMNTY Fiction: Terminus (Chapter 12) · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and welcome to Steffan Never Told
0:07
Speaker 1: You production of iHeartRadio. Yes, I am still by myself,
0:22
Speaker 1: but Samantha will be back. Never fear. And this is
0:26
Speaker 1: another installment of Sminty Fiction, which is a once a
0:30
Speaker 1: month thing we do. Has a bit more special effects.
0:34
Speaker 1: Well I guess a lot more because most of the episodes
0:36
Speaker 1: have none. But yeah, you know what I mean. And
0:41
Speaker 1: if that's not you're saying, that's totally cool. But yeah,
0:44
Speaker 1: we are close to the end. I'm getting excited. This
0:47
Speaker 1: episode does have a lot of content warnings though, so
0:54
Speaker 1: for illness, virus' death, gun violence, explosions, car crashes. It
1:02
Speaker 1: is your very action packed kin ultimate ish episode, So
1:08
Speaker 1: if you haven't heard the rest of the episodes, I
1:11
Speaker 1: would recommend going back and listening to them if you're interested.
1:14
Speaker 1: But yeah, we are close to the end. This episode
1:18
Speaker 1: also contains a hilarious amount of me once again going
1:24
Speaker 1: all in on directions, which I'm not sure was necessary,
1:27
Speaker 1: but I certainly did it. I did this for Nana
1:31
Speaker 1: Raimo National Novel Writing Month and twenty ten. It's not
1:35
Speaker 1: very edited, if at all, because I kind of just
1:38
Speaker 1: wanted to look and see what was going on my
1:40
Speaker 1: head at that point, which is before I started on
1:43
Speaker 1: this show. I mean, it was around the same time,
1:45
Speaker 1: but it was before i'd really kind of accepted that
1:49
Speaker 1: I was indeed a feminist. So I just was curious
1:53
Speaker 1: your recap. So, in a world where humanity is done
2:00
Speaker 1: out because of this virus, and because of that, any
2:06
Speaker 1: children who are produced go to the board of better
2:11
Speaker 1: parenting and that determines where they go. Our main character, Tilda,
2:16
Speaker 1: has run away with her child, Madison, who is conceived
2:18
Speaker 1: illegally outside of a conception center. She has been pursued
2:22
Speaker 1: for seven years with her child by enforcers. She is
2:27
Speaker 1: a priority number one, as there called from the government
2:31
Speaker 1: in arm which is the religious organization that leads alongside
2:34
Speaker 1: the government, and they've had a lot of close calls,
2:37
Speaker 1: including one where Tilda was shot and she had to
2:40
Speaker 1: heal up. And through this, through the person that helped
2:43
Speaker 1: heal her inn she learned about a potential cure. So
2:49
Speaker 1: she went and sought out this resistance who might know
2:53
Speaker 1: more about it, and it turns out that there isn't
2:55
Speaker 1: a cure, but there is a vaccine, and she also
2:59
Speaker 1: learns that the resistance is not exactly what she thought
3:02
Speaker 1: they were, and they're willing to use her son as
3:05
Speaker 1: sort of bait, and she's not cool with that. Also,
3:10
Speaker 1: her mother makes a very impassioned message about her daughter
3:17
Speaker 1: coming home that is broadcasted through the state's kind of
3:22
Speaker 1: radio system that they have set up. And now they
3:25
Speaker 1: are on their way with the resistance to potentially find
3:31
Speaker 1: this vaccine. So that is where we are. Please please
3:34
Speaker 1: mind the content warning for this one, but enjoy. Her
3:52
Speaker 1: eyes opened slowly, so gradually she wasn't aware of it
3:55
Speaker 1: at first, her mother's words echoing in her ears. Night
3:59
Speaker 1: had faded, giving way to a twilight morning. Around her,
4:03
Speaker 1: people rustled conversing lowly, fiddling with belts and checking weapons.
4:08
Speaker 1: Tilda took a deep breath of cold air. Madison snuggled
4:11
Speaker 1: closer to her Mark pressed two energy bars into her hand,
4:15
Speaker 1: murmuring we're almost there. She took the bars and pulled
4:19
Speaker 1: off the wrappers, nudging Madison awake with her shoulder, placing
4:22
Speaker 1: the bar in her hand and closing his fingers around it,
4:24
Speaker 1: urging him to eat. She finished her as quickly, nerves
4:27
Speaker 1: making it difficult to keep still. Madison only nibbled at
4:31
Speaker 1: his face, puffy with sleep. Should we give her a
4:36
Speaker 1: gun zo like A questioned, Gesturing to Tilda, Mark shook
4:40
Speaker 1: his head. She won't need one. The truck dipped as
4:43
Speaker 1: it passed over a pothole. The labs north of the
4:46
Speaker 1: city center. We loop around and enter through the top end.
4:50
Speaker 1: If we meet any enforcers Teams one and two, we'll
4:52
Speaker 1: take them on and provide us a distraction to get
4:55
Speaker 1: into the lab. Do you know where the lab is?
4:58
Speaker 1: Tilda asked, under the impression that they were only guessing
5:01
Speaker 1: at its existence. No, but Merlin does, and he's driving
5:05
Speaker 1: the lead van. Mark's response through her, and she furrowed
5:08
Speaker 1: her brow. Merlin's are acquisitions and communications experts, Ylike explained.
5:14
Speaker 1: Tilda didn't inquire about the rest of the plan, focusing
5:17
Speaker 1: on forming one of her own. That sole purpose was
5:19
Speaker 1: to keep Madison, to protect him. She'd fight for him
5:24
Speaker 1: just as her mother had fought for her. Mostly, that's
5:27
Speaker 1: all her plan involved. She'd hammered out the details when
5:30
Speaker 1: she got to them. A static transmission issued from the
5:34
Speaker 1: radio in the front of the truck. We must be close.
5:38
Speaker 1: Mark leaned forward to speak with the driver when an
5:40
Speaker 1: explosion in front of them propelled the tires off the ground.
5:43
Speaker 1: Mark was shouting, but another explosion to their left knocked
5:46
Speaker 1: the truck to its side, where it rolled once, sending
5:49
Speaker 1: its passengers sprawling into a massive bodies. Tilda clutched Madison
5:53
Speaker 1: to her, trying to shield his body with her own.
5:56
Speaker 1: There was stillness, weaponry, and explosions ripping the air as
5:59
Speaker 1: every one tried to make sense of what had happened.
6:03
Speaker 1: Arms and legs squirmed, stepping and hitting in their frantic
6:06
Speaker 1: desperation to pull themselves free. Tilda's task was made more
6:09
Speaker 1: difficult by the child in her arms, and she got
6:11
Speaker 1: stepped on and struck more than once, kicking against the metal,
6:15
Speaker 1: sighting to slide herself incrementally forward before someone jerked her
6:18
Speaker 1: to her feet. She was pulled forward, forced to run
6:22
Speaker 1: to keep up or tumble to her knees. Her feet
6:25
Speaker 1: met pitted and cracked road Smoke thickened the air. The
6:29
Speaker 1: sharp ports of rapid firing guns filled the air, but
6:32
Speaker 1: Tilda could only see flashes of movement. This way, Mark
6:35
Speaker 1: motioned them forward, keeping his gun at already in front
6:38
Speaker 1: of him. He led them toward a building with collapsed
6:41
Speaker 1: upper floors, only the ground floors and parts of the
6:43
Speaker 1: seconds still standing. Looking around revealed that most of the
6:47
Speaker 1: buildings in the area had been decimated, walls crumbling, craters
6:51
Speaker 1: in the side making them look like open faced dollhouses,
6:55
Speaker 1: complete with furniture and clocks and picture frames, floors and
6:59
Speaker 1: rooms stacked on top of each other. Another explosion tore
7:04
Speaker 1: through the air, sending Tilda careening off her feet. Fire
7:07
Speaker 1: ate up her shoulder, and her vision faded out for
7:10
Speaker 1: a moment. Her arms went numb and Madison rolled out
7:13
Speaker 1: of her grasp. Blood ran into her eye, and she
7:15
Speaker 1: blinked it away, forcing herself up, pulling Madison back into
7:19
Speaker 1: almost unresponsive arms. Next to her was the bloody body
7:22
Speaker 1: of Adam, eyes wide and staring into nothing. Crimson streaked
7:26
Speaker 1: across his face and leaking from his side. His outstretched
7:30
Speaker 1: fingertips reached for a gun. The ground shook again, until
7:34
Speaker 1: the fault to stay on her hands and knees. Reaching
7:36
Speaker 1: tentatively for the weapon with her shaking hand, she grasped it,
7:40
Speaker 1: looking around for someone else in the vicinity, but they
7:43
Speaker 1: were all engaged in whatever battle was being waged just
7:46
Speaker 1: out of her sight. Sliding the gun into the waistband
7:49
Speaker 1: of her jeans, she pushed to her feet, Madison fisting
7:52
Speaker 1: his hands in the back of her jacket. The ground
7:55
Speaker 1: was uneven under her feet. Everything seemed to be various
7:58
Speaker 1: shades of gray. She stumped ford, barely able to keep
8:01
Speaker 1: her feet beneath her. Falling hard into the doorway knocked
8:05
Speaker 1: the wind from her. She could hear shouting as she blinked,
8:08
Speaker 1: fireflies from her vision. The corridor she found herself in
8:11
Speaker 1: was dark, the shafts of light from behind her and
8:14
Speaker 1: in the cracks of the floor above the only source
8:16
Speaker 1: of light. Tilda strained her eyes in the darkness, feeling
8:20
Speaker 1: her way along the hall. Her fingertips met empty space.
8:25
Speaker 1: There was a stairwell, but the baris traces of artificial
8:28
Speaker 1: light coming from below. Instinct compelled her to descend the stairs,
8:32
Speaker 1: the yelling growing closer, acting as a stimulant. She practically
8:36
Speaker 1: ran down the stairs, hoping no one had seen her
8:39
Speaker 1: take them, that she wouldn't hear footsteps stomping after her.
8:43
Speaker 1: Coiled like a snake, the stairs took her down two levels.
8:46
Speaker 1: Tilda's knees jarred and buckled as she hit the cement floor,
8:50
Speaker 1: and she relied on the railing to right herself. The
8:53
Speaker 1: depth dulled the sound of fighting above, allowing Tilda to
8:56
Speaker 1: hear clattering, breaking glass, rifling, paine, and swearing coming from
9:01
Speaker 1: the room at the end of the hall. Tilda glanced
9:04
Speaker 1: behind her, slowing her jog to a creep, Balancing Madison
9:08
Speaker 1: on her hip. She reached behind her and fished the
9:10
Speaker 1: gun out of her waistband. She felt the weight of
9:13
Speaker 1: it in her hand, her grip intuitive. The gun trembled
9:16
Speaker 1: as she held it in front of her, a particularly
9:18
Speaker 1: loud swear causing her finger to twitch over the trigger.
9:22
Speaker 1: As they approached the doorway, Tilda quietly set Madison on
9:25
Speaker 1: his feet, whispering his ear for him to stay behind her.
9:29
Speaker 1: He hunched at her back, clutching her shirt with her
9:32
Speaker 1: other hand. She steadied the gun, but still it shook
9:35
Speaker 1: in her grasp. She peered into the room. It was
9:38
Speaker 1: a long, rectangular space lined with benches, shelves, isolation labs
9:43
Speaker 1: and refrigerators, lab tables and bats down the center. The
9:47
Speaker 1: floor was littered with glass, metal instruments, and paper. At first,
9:52
Speaker 1: Tilda mistook it for empty, but a loud crash drew
9:55
Speaker 1: her attention to the back corner of the long room.
9:58
Speaker 1: A man tall and Slen cursed loudly, sweeping his arms
10:02
Speaker 1: along a black countertop and sending beakers smashing into the floor.
10:06
Speaker 1: Madison whined, hiding his face into Tilda's back. The man
10:10
Speaker 1: whipped his head around and til to raise the gun,
10:12
Speaker 1: training it on him. He froze, staring at her in surprise.
10:17
Speaker 1: Who are you? He demanded, and Tilda swallowed, wishing her
10:21
Speaker 1: hands would stop shaking. The ground rumbled above them. I'm
10:25
Speaker 1: looking for the vaccine. Contrary to her grip, her voice
10:29
Speaker 1: was quite steady. Only the smallest wobble betraying her anger,
10:33
Speaker 1: twisted the man's features. You're too late. The enforcers destroyed it. Why,
10:40
Speaker 1: she demanded, Because they don't want a vaccine, he growled.
10:45
Speaker 1: Seeing the confusion painted on Tilda's face, he expounded, they
10:49
Speaker 1: want to hold onto their power, and how better than
10:51
Speaker 1: to rule by fear and keep our numbers low. He
10:54
Speaker 1: kicked a chair over and Tilda took an involuntary half
10:57
Speaker 1: step back. My life's work. I was going to be
11:01
Speaker 1: remembered as the man who cured HSV five idolized the
11:05
Speaker 1: savior of the human race, but they destroyed it. He
11:10
Speaker 1: flung a microscope at the wall Madison whimpered at the
11:13
Speaker 1: fury in the raised voice, and the man stopped dead.
11:17
Speaker 1: Noticing this shuddering child crouching behind Tilda, The anger fled
11:22
Speaker 1: his face, stunned, wonder taking its place. He moved forward,
11:26
Speaker 1: and Tilda raised the gun, her shaking more pronounced than ever. Stop.
11:31
Speaker 1: She commanded, hating the quaver in her voice for betraying her.
11:35
Speaker 1: He spared her the briefest of glances, fixated on the
11:38
Speaker 1: small sliver of Madison he could see. Is that a child?
11:45
Speaker 1: A loud bang from above sent a cloud of dust
11:47
Speaker 1: into the air. Madison shifted so Tilda's body hid him completely.
11:52
Speaker 1: The man continued to stare at the spot where he
11:54
Speaker 1: had been for several seconds before he finally raised his
11:57
Speaker 1: eyes to meet Tilda's. He's yours. Tilda didn't respond, but
12:02
Speaker 1: he nodded as if she did. You came to get
12:06
Speaker 1: the vaccine for your son. He stared at her and
12:09
Speaker 1: muted amazement, as though he'd stumbled on something unexpected, rediscovering
12:13
Speaker 1: the last missing peace obvious all along, I had forgotten.
12:22
Speaker 1: It's been so long since I've seen one a child,
12:26
Speaker 1: I mean. He gave a breathy laugh of aw he's
12:31
Speaker 1: so small. He stepped forward, and Tilda took a corresponding
12:35
Speaker 1: step back. She didn't know what to do in the
12:38
Speaker 1: face of his shocked wonderment. Something akin to a rapturous
12:41
Speaker 1: light in his eyes. She swallowed delicately, darting her eyes
12:45
Speaker 1: to the side, looking for an escape route. I've never
12:49
Speaker 1: seen one this close. He clapped his hands together and
12:53
Speaker 1: held them in front of his mouth, as if in prayers,
12:55
Speaker 1: smiling a few at the conception center. But never I
13:00
Speaker 1: have forgotten the whole reason why I wanted to cure,
13:04
Speaker 1: right in front of my very eyes. But I had forgotten.
13:07
Speaker 1: A shaky laugh punctuated his sentence. Tilda tried to regain
13:11
Speaker 1: control of the situation, hazily, wondering where Mark or Zuleika
13:14
Speaker 1: or the enforcers were. Did the resistance die? How could
13:18
Speaker 1: she be the first one here, the only one here?
13:22
Speaker 1: There is no cure? No, the man agreed readily, distractedly,
13:27
Speaker 1: still trying to get a glimpse of Madison. But I
13:30
Speaker 1: did discover a vaccine, or I helped discover one. We
13:34
Speaker 1: had two labs, one public one and this one secret.
13:38
Speaker 1: Even then we didn't want to state or arm knowing
13:40
Speaker 1: the extent of our operation, where our entire stock would
13:43
Speaker 1: be if we started manufacturing something. We didn't trust them
13:46
Speaker 1: to not take everything from us. He paused briefly. Tilda's
13:51
Speaker 1: calves twitched with the bursts of muffled gumfire. When we
13:55
Speaker 1: realized that we had a vaccine, we started synthesizing it
13:57
Speaker 1: in mass before we told anyone. Somehow the enforcers found
14:01
Speaker 1: out anyway. They destroyed the main lab, killed the other scientist.
14:06
Speaker 1: We thought this one had escaped their notice. He looked
14:09
Speaker 1: up as more dust billowed from above. We were wrong.
14:14
Speaker 1: They came here and destroyed our stock and shot my
14:17
Speaker 1: colleagues except for me. When I heard, he broke off,
14:22
Speaker 1: averting his gaze. I heard them talking. They kept one sample,
14:32
Speaker 1: stored it in a cold transport container. Said they were
14:34
Speaker 1: taking it to arm headquarters in DC. I don't know why,
14:38
Speaker 1: and by the sound of it, neither did they analysis.
14:42
Speaker 1: Maybe they want to be the heroes, the ones that
14:45
Speaker 1: develop and mass produce a vaccine. Think of the power
14:49
Speaker 1: that would come with that complete control of the vaccine supply.
14:54
Speaker 1: Another beat of silence, Tilda, not daring to hope her
14:57
Speaker 1: throat dry. There's still one vaccine left. The man nodded, yes,
15:06
Speaker 1: they just left with it too. If you're quick and
15:09
Speaker 1: you're smart, you might be able to get it back
15:10
Speaker 1: from them. Of course, you're more likely to be killed
15:13
Speaker 1: in the process, he added, in a detached scientific way.
15:18
Speaker 1: But for a child, please may I see him? Tilda
15:25
Speaker 1: shook her head automatically, Madison's hands clenching in the fabric
15:28
Speaker 1: of her jacket. Please, the man begged, is quietly, almost
15:34
Speaker 1: lost in the increasing volume of the ruckets taking place outside.
15:38
Speaker 1: I'll tell you how to get to DC and into
15:40
Speaker 1: arm headquarters undetected. Just please let me see him. The
15:45
Speaker 1: gun shook until his grip. Going to d C to
15:49
Speaker 1: arm Headquarters did not appeal to her at all. It
15:52
Speaker 1: sounded like a one way trip that ended with her
15:54
Speaker 1: dead and Madison award of the state. But she couldn't
15:58
Speaker 1: get the idea out of her head, the chance for
16:00
Speaker 1: him to have a hopeful future in all of the
16:02
Speaker 1: dark and decay around them. She had to do something
16:06
Speaker 1: right by him. Just once, Tilda coaxed a trembling Madison
16:11
Speaker 1: out from behind Her Terrified hazel eyes glistened up at
16:15
Speaker 1: her as she stroked his hair clumsily. Her other hand
16:18
Speaker 1: still pointing the gun at the stranger. He knelt reverent,
16:23
Speaker 1: reaching a large, callous hand out, tracing his finger down
16:26
Speaker 1: Madison's cheek. Madison started violently at the touch, and the
16:30
Speaker 1: man retracted his hand. I promise, I don't want to
16:33
Speaker 1: hurt you. I would never want to hurt something so beautiful,
16:36
Speaker 1: so perfect. I can't believe i'd forgotten. That's enough, Tilda
16:42
Speaker 1: gritted out, allowing Madison to retreat behind her. Once again,
16:46
Speaker 1: tell me how to get an arm with great effort.
16:49
Speaker 1: The man stood and tore his eyes from spot Madison
16:52
Speaker 1: had just occupied. There's a train half a mile east.
16:57
Speaker 1: The state transports cargo, heavy machinery and applies from Chicago
17:01
Speaker 1: to DC and back again on the rail. The front
17:04
Speaker 1: few cars are enforcers, other state officials, and people, but
17:06
Speaker 1: the back cars are all equipment. He glanced around, striding
17:10
Speaker 1: over to a drawer and rifling around through the papers inside.
17:15
Speaker 1: The train leaves in a couple of hours, maybe last
17:17
Speaker 1: with all the fighting. Hop on it and ride it
17:20
Speaker 1: to terminus. It lets off in North d C. He
17:24
Speaker 1: pulled out a folded map triumphantly and held it out
17:26
Speaker 1: to Tilda. She took it hesitantly, stuffing it in her
17:30
Speaker 1: pocket and regripping the gun. The man's voice increased in tempo.
17:34
Speaker 1: The scuffle and shouting sounded closer. It'll take about eleven hours,
17:38
Speaker 1: but once it starts slowing, get off. You don't want
17:41
Speaker 1: to get spotted by d boarding passengers. You'll come out
17:44
Speaker 1: in a train yard. On the south side of the track.
17:46
Speaker 1: You'll see a line of old metro trains. Follow them
17:50
Speaker 1: into a tunnel. Should be a door on either side.
17:53
Speaker 1: That'll lead you into the old subway tunnels. You're going
17:56
Speaker 1: to have to travel down the red line to the
17:58
Speaker 1: Metro center and take it for Kunny access letter up.
18:01
Speaker 1: Once inside, you're on your own. There was a loud bang,
18:05
Speaker 1: very close in proximity. Tilda jerked all of her muscles, tensing.
18:10
Speaker 1: Whatever you do, protect the child. What's his name? Madison,
18:17
Speaker 1: Tilda replied, held hostage by the deep stair, he pinned
18:19
Speaker 1: her with whatever happens, keep Madison safe. We need him
18:25
Speaker 1: to remind us find the vaccine. Footsteps thundered down the stairs,
18:31
Speaker 1: and Tilda swung her gun around just in time to
18:33
Speaker 1: see a bloodied enforcer's slam into the doorframe. Take aim
18:38
Speaker 1: and shoot the man next to her in the head.
18:40
Speaker 1: As his victim crumpled to the floor, he opened his
18:43
Speaker 1: mouth to alert the other enforcers, and Tilda reacted her
18:46
Speaker 1: fingers squeezing the trigger. The gun jumped in her hands,
18:49
Speaker 1: driving her back a step. The enforcer collapsed to one side,
18:53
Speaker 1: weapon clattering to the floor. Tilda stared, unable to comprehend
18:57
Speaker 1: the magnitude of what she had just done. Shouting and
19:00
Speaker 1: more pounding on the stairs jolted Tilda out of her shock,
19:03
Speaker 1: and she grabbed Madison's hand, pulling him down to the
19:05
Speaker 1: far into the room and taking the back door out,
19:08
Speaker 1: pushing open the emergency stairwell door. It slammed shut behind them,
19:12
Speaker 1: and Tilda powered up the stairs, Madison doing his best
19:15
Speaker 1: to keep up behind her. She could hear muted yelling
19:17
Speaker 1: from behind the thick door, and she rammed open the
19:19
Speaker 1: first door she came across. After two flights of stairs,
19:23
Speaker 1: Tilda nearly tripped over some debris, blinking as the gray
19:26
Speaker 1: light assaulted her unaccustomed eyes. Taking a second to orient herself,
19:30
Speaker 1: Tilda figured out which direction was east and started to
19:33
Speaker 1: sprint along the street, dodging chunks of rock and metal.
19:37
Speaker 1: Smoke burned in her lungs, every gasping breath like fire.
19:41
Speaker 1: Gunfires shredded through the air, grazing the side of the building.
19:43
Speaker 1: Tilda and Madison ran past, shrap and abiding into their
19:46
Speaker 1: exposed faces. More shouting assaulted her ears, but Tilda didn't
19:50
Speaker 1: turned to look. The dust and smoke provided them some cover.
19:55
Speaker 1: No one pursued them. Tears streamed down Tilda's face, whether
19:59
Speaker 1: from irritat due to the smoke, or the grief at
20:02
Speaker 1: her decision, the knowledge that the closer they got to
20:04
Speaker 1: that train, the closer she got to the possibility of
20:07
Speaker 1: never seeing Madison again. She couldn't be sure. She felt
20:12
Speaker 1: like she was buying a ticket to her own death. Still,
20:16
Speaker 1: Tilda forced burning legs forward, one in front of the other. Dazedly,
20:22
Speaker 1: she realized she still held the gun in her hands.
20:26
Speaker 1: Tracks to the left caught Tilda's attention. There was a
20:29
Speaker 1: train yard ahead, and tiled a cross to it, slowing
20:31
Speaker 1: her pace to a fast walk. Mass and gas wildly
20:35
Speaker 1: next to her, coughing intermittently. The ground beneath her feet
20:39
Speaker 1: was packed dirt, overgrown with dry grass and weeds. Rows
20:43
Speaker 1: of tracks led to the station behind them, crossing and
20:46
Speaker 1: criss crossing again. How is she supposed to know which
20:49
Speaker 1: train to get on, she asked herself, desperately, cursing the
20:52
Speaker 1: man from not clarifying and herself for not specifying. A
20:56
Speaker 1: clacking sound ripped her from her recriminations, and she jogged
20:59
Speaker 1: to ducking between abandoned trains. Through the slats between cars,
21:04
Speaker 1: she could see movement a gray snake, slow now but
21:08
Speaker 1: gaining speed. Tilda and Madison hopped over a metal bar
21:11
Speaker 1: connecting two cars, just as the last few cars of
21:14
Speaker 1: the train started to stream past them. Luckily, the train
21:17
Speaker 1: had yet to gain any real momentum. The rusted cars
21:20
Speaker 1: of red, green, and black missing strips of paint. Tilda
21:23
Speaker 1: broke into a jog, glancing down the ends of the
21:25
Speaker 1: train to make sure they had no observers. Finding none,
21:28
Speaker 1: she ran for the tracks, looking for the safest option
21:31
Speaker 1: for them to hop on the cars sliding past. She
21:34
Speaker 1: saw an open car a few sections down, running alongside
21:37
Speaker 1: the train. She waited for the car to catch up
21:39
Speaker 1: to them, swinging Madison up into it and then hoisting
21:42
Speaker 1: herself inside and swinging her legs over the edge. Coughing,
21:46
Speaker 1: she rolled into her back and propped herself up on
21:48
Speaker 1: her elbows, checking her surroundings, half heartily lifting the gun.
21:52
Speaker 1: There was nothing in the car with them but textiles
21:55
Speaker 1: and some other construction materials, no en force hers. She
21:59
Speaker 1: flopped into her searching out Madison with her eyes. He
22:03
Speaker 1: crawled over to her, tears leaving streaks in the dark
22:05
Speaker 1: soot on his face. She propped herself up, scooting backwards
22:09
Speaker 1: until her back met the wall, and opening her arms inviting.
22:13
Speaker 1: Madison melted into her embrace, sobbing, Tilda petted his hair,
22:17
Speaker 1: turning her neck to watch Chicago disappeared, becoming smaller and
22:20
Speaker 1: smaller as the train gathered speed. Just a little later,
22:24
Speaker 1: the smallest delay and they would have missed the train.
22:27
Speaker 1: Smoke billowed from the streets. Hilda tried to piece together
22:30
Speaker 1: the morning's events. Everything had happened so fast. Only hours ago,
22:35
Speaker 1: she was in the cab of a truck, part of
22:37
Speaker 1: a convoy of at least thirty people, on her way
22:39
Speaker 1: to Chicago looking for a vaccine. Where was everyone now?
22:43
Speaker 1: For all she knew, everyone that had accompanied her was dead,
22:47
Speaker 1: and now she was on a train to DC, to
22:50
Speaker 1: the very heart of everything she'd been running from all
22:53
Speaker 1: of these years. The stronghold of those who would take
22:56
Speaker 1: Madison from her and see her dead? Was she insane
23:00
Speaker 1: acting on the word of a man she barely knew.
23:03
Speaker 1: But the sheer awe in his eyes as he beheld
23:05
Speaker 1: Madison made Tilda believe him. She shuddered, remembering his gasp
23:11
Speaker 1: of surprise and the sound of his body falling lifelessly
23:13
Speaker 1: to the floor. One second alive, the next not. It
23:19
Speaker 1: took only a millisecond to rip the life from someone,
23:22
Speaker 1: and now Tilda had killed someone herself. The gun was
23:26
Speaker 1: still in her hand. Disgusted and frightened, she tossed it
23:30
Speaker 1: over the side, a feathery sob escaping past her lips.
23:34
Speaker 1: Did she kill him? Madison rose his gaze to meet hers,
23:38
Speaker 1: tears shimmering, making round hazel orbs appear even larger. Tilda
23:44
Speaker 1: regarded him for a long moment, her own eyes leaking steadily. Yes,
23:50
Speaker 1: she whispered, terrified of his rejection. His body convulsed silently,
23:56
Speaker 1: and he huddled into her side, apologizing profusely. Why are
24:01
Speaker 1: you sorry, Tilda asked Madison's grief, pulling her from her own.
24:06
Speaker 1: You did it to protect me, Tilda stroked his hair.
24:11
Speaker 1: It's not your fault, baby, I'm the one that killed him,
24:14
Speaker 1: not you. Madison only wept harder. I don't need a vaccine, please,
24:21
Speaker 1: I don't want to go where the enforcers are part. Clinching,
24:25
Speaker 1: Tilda shushed him, cooing it's gonna be all right. Madison
24:30
Speaker 1: shook his head into her shoulder miserably. I've never seen
24:33
Speaker 1: anyone die before. Neither have I, Tilda confided to him,
24:38
Speaker 1: hating that he'd seen so much bloodshed at such a
24:40
Speaker 1: young age. I wish you hadn't seen any of that.
24:45
Speaker 1: Wish you hadn't either, he stammered timidly. None of this
24:50
Speaker 1: is your fault, she reiterated. But it's because of me,
24:55
Speaker 1: he argued. No, Tilda disagreed. It's because of me because
25:01
Speaker 1: I love you so much. Madison stilled at that. Tilda
25:07
Speaker 1: attempted to recall the last time she had told him
25:09
Speaker 1: she loved him. She hugged him closer to her. We'll
25:14
Speaker 1: get through this. His sobs quieted the steady forward motion
25:18
Speaker 1: and hum of the train damp and Tilda's overactive nerves,
25:43
Speaker 1: And that brings us to the end of this installment.
25:46
Speaker 1: As you can tell I did. I also had to
25:49
Speaker 1: split this one up so if it ends sort of
25:51
Speaker 1: her properly, that's why. But yeah, a lot happens in
25:57
Speaker 1: that one. I want to reiterate this. I wrote this
26:00
Speaker 1: before the last of Us, but I keep finding similarities.
26:04
Speaker 1: But we're really getting down to it now. And this was.
26:09
Speaker 1: When I was reading this, I was like, this is
26:10
Speaker 1: more dramatic than I thought. It also had a phrase
26:13
Speaker 1: that I was unwilling to change fireflies from her vision.
26:17
Speaker 1: I don't think that's what you say, but that's why
26:19
Speaker 1: I left it in. But yeah, it does feel very
26:24
Speaker 1: you go to this place, and then you go to
26:26
Speaker 1: this place, and then you have to go to this place,
26:27
Speaker 1: and then it's video game like that's what a video
26:30
Speaker 1: game is like. But I hope you're enjoying it. We
26:32
Speaker 1: are getting we're close. We are close to the end,
26:35
Speaker 1: but there are two other installments, so we'll see. But
26:39
Speaker 1: I hope that you're enjoying it. I love hearing from
26:41
Speaker 1: people about it, even if it's just like I like this,
26:44
Speaker 1: That mean it makes my day. So thank you for that.
26:48
Speaker 1: And thanks as always to Christina or a super producer
26:50
Speaker 1: who makes these possible. She makes them sound so much better,
26:53
Speaker 1: so amazing. Thank you. If you have any thoughts, theories,
26:59
Speaker 1: suggestions for other things we could do like this, Please
27:02
Speaker 1: let us know. You can emailus at Stephanie your Mom,
27:04
Speaker 1: Steff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on
27:07
Speaker 1: Twitter at moll Stuff Podcasts, or on Instagram and TikTok
27:10
Speaker 1: at Steffman Never Told You. We have a tea public store.
27:14
Speaker 1: We have a book that you can order at stuff
27:16
Speaker 1: you Should Read books dot com. Thanks as always to
27:18
Speaker 1: our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya, and our
27:21
Speaker 1: contributor Joey, and thanks to you for listening. Stephan Never
27:24
Speaker 1: Told You is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from
27:26
Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, you can check out the heart Radio
27:28
Speaker 1: app Apple podcast, where you listen to your favorite shows