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SMNTY Fiction: Terminus (Part 3, Chapter 5) · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome stuff I
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: never told you Protection of my Heart Radio, and welcome
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to another very special edition of Sminty Fiction. I am
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: going to say it very special because we're getting to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the end of an era wow on this one. So
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: if you don't know, if you have missed it, if
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: it's not your thing, but somehow you're listening to this one.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: This is a once a month thing ish that Christina
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: makes amazing where she puts in all these sound effects
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and it sounds so good. I love hearing what she
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: does with it. And this has been a long endeavor.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: So this is the finale of the Terminus series that
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: we've started years ago. It is an ongoing story. I
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: know some of you have written in and told me,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: please tell me when it's over so I can binge it.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: This is it, This is it. I think we might
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: try to do like playlists, so.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Think look, this should be a Christmas edition, which we've
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: done before, where we will do some playlist. I feel
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: like this should be one of those.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I think so too, because we have had to take
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: some breaks here and there, and I know you can
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: kind of lose the plot when it comes to something
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: like that, and this has been going on for quite
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: a while, so yes, this is something I wrote for
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: National Novel Writing Month, which is no longer a thing,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: but this was the third one in a trilogy. I
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: do think you will be quite lost if you just
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: start here, but I can't tell you what to do?
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: You do you? I yeah, you do you. I'll be
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: happy to hear from anyone about it, and it is
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: it's the finale. I'm very I'm kind of bittersweet about it.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I've really enjoyed sharing this with you all and hearing
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: from you about it, and I do have some thoughts
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: I'll share at the end, because yeah, I'll share them
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: at the end. I don't want to spoil things. But
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: as always, I lightly edited these because I kind of
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: wanted them to capture what was going on in my
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: head at the time. And I honestly do find it
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: really interesting because a lot of this is about kind
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: of motherhood and having a kid, and I don't have
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: a kid. I would say that I have some experience
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: of like feeling that I had to help raise a sibling,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: but I'm nothing near this, so it is interesting to
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: me that this is what I wrote. CW. The content
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: warning is for guns, and I was like, quite a
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: lot of guns, violence, child endangerment, just some like I
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: don't know, keyness, some like general bad guy not being great,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So here's the recap.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Here we go.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: In this universe, there has been a disease called HSB
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: five that has pretty much wiped out the human population.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: It's made it very difficult to conceive, and because of that,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the government in the US at least became what they
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: call the States, and they partnered with a religious organization
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: called arm and they controlled conception. If you tried to
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: conceive outside of the conception centers, then that was illegal
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: and they would come hunch you down. They also determined
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: where any kid who was born would go. So our
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: heroes are Tilda, who had a baby out illegally, not
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: at a conception center, has been on the run for years,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: and she happens upon this resistance while she's on the run,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and they're trying to come up with a vaccine, and
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: they say, like there was a vaccine, the state destroyed it,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: but there's one left and it's in d C. So
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: she goes to d C with her son, Madison, and
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: she learns that the leaders of ARM are the paternal
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: grandparents of Madison. Yeah, there's a skirmish and they're injured.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Tilda manages to get out this broadcast about what happened
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: and that there's been one vaccine, but one of them
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: so they think there's two, but the one that they
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: know exists was given to Madison. So they're on the
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: run again, and then all of this other stuff happens.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: She encounters like violent gangs who try to like bring
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: her into their community. Madison is dealing with all of
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: the skills about it. Maybe he can help make the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: vaccine because he's got it. Tilda's so concerned learned about
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the resistance and all of the traders and everything. She
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: doesn't want to go back. Even though her mother comes
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: on the broadcast system and it's like, please come home,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: she doesn't do it. And then they encounter another group
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: who are these radicals who come in a tank. They
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: attack Tilda, leave her for dead, and kidnap Madison. And
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: then she has to figure out, like what is she
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: going to do. This has been her whole identity is
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: protecting Madison, and now now what she happens to run
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: into members A member of the Resistance who is sympathetic
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to her cause, and he is like, I really hope
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: you decide to come with us, but I'm going to
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: give you the information you need and you can make
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: your own decision, and he tells her where they think
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Madison is. So she goes to this place infiltrates it
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: uses a motorcycle, perhaps not realistically, but we'll leave that,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and that she finds Madison. She finally finds him in
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: all of this chaos as the Resistance is fighting this
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: radical group. And that's where we left off, So let
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: us get into the conclusion of the final chapter of Terminus.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: There were shouting bullets just down the hall, but in
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: that moment, Tilda felt whole. She pulled away and grabbed
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Madison's hand. They both stood stepping over the body and
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the pool of blood spreading from it. Her mind working quickly,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Tilda whispered, We're gonna run for it. Okay, can you run?
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Madison gave her a prompt nod okay. By the hand,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: she led him through the small medical wing into the door.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Peeking out into the hallway, the fog from her smoke
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: bomb had almost entirely dissipated. Looking down the hallway. She
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: could see the shapes of people scuffling in the main entryway,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: fast and chaotic. Tilda glanced behind her, hoping that perhaps
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: she'd just missed a back door exit. There was a door,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: a heavy gray slab that blended in with the wall.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: A bullet bared into the wall inches away from her,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: with an explosion of dust and small pieces of debris.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Tilda jumped back and followed the bullet's origin to the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: man with the tattooed face. His eyes filled with rage
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: and focused on her wait. He called out, presumably to
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: alert everyone that she was escaping with the child that
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: they were fighting over, but his command was lost in
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: the chaos, and he was forced to return his attention
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to the entryway when another burst of bullet's rang out
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: through the air. Using the distraction, tilt a dough for
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: the door, her fingers scrabbling for the handle. It was heavy.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: She anchored her back foot and heaved it open, motioning
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Madison through. He darted out the small gap, and Tilda
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: leverished herself against the door frame and pushed back against
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: it to open the heavy door, catching sight of the
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: tattooed man breaking away from the fight. The door slam
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: shut with a heavy clunk, and Tilda smashed into the
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: ground with a pained hiss, but she wasted no time
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: pushing herself to her feet, Madison watching her with wide,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: fearful eyes. Tilda grasped his tiny hand and they started
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: to run into the woods. Tilda intended to do a
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: wide loop to her motorcycle to make their escape in
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: the chaos, The quick crunching of steps was the only
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: warning she had before crashing weight barreled into her back,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: sending her careening into the hard, cold dirt. Madison screamed.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Tilda coughed her hand, blindly reaching for the gun that
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: had been knocked from it. She could feel the man
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: trying to grab the shotgun, the one that she'd gone
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: out of her way to get and carried with her.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Despite the extra weight it gave her and her own
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: self admission that she didn't know how to use it.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: That would be what was used to kill her. Tilda
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: jerked her elbow back, making satisfying contact with the man's nose.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: He cursed and fell away, and Tilda seize the opportunity
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: to crawl forward and grab her weapon. Flipping over on
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: her back and pointing it at him. Madison scrambled behind her,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: dodging the man's outstretched hand. The tattooed man propped himself
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: up on one elbow, reaching out with his other arm
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: toward her. Tilda cocked her weapon, her aim unwavering. Not
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: in this life, not in this life, do you kill me.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: He sat up straighter, his arm reaching for her. In
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Madison's eyes bright with hate. Madison's presence was heavy behind
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: her til to squeeze the trigger. Her eyes snapped shut
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: with the loud pop of the bullet exiting the gun,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: the man fell back with a gasp of pain. She hesitated,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: wide eyed, breath stuck in her throat, but only for
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: a moment. She got up, reaching for Madison's hand. He
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: took it automatically, as if on instinct. Dreamlike, she broke
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: left into the tree line and around the corner of
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the building, just as the door to the compound started
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: to swing open. Tilda had to consciously slow down, feeling
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the weight of Madison keeping her from running as fast
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: as she could. There was screaming and shouting behind them,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: a smattering of bullets. Without thinking, Till to reach into
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: her backpacks side pocket and pulled out a tear gas canister,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: pulling the pen and tossing it behind her. Seconds passed,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: and then a bang, followed by a sharp hiss, some
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: more shouting. Tilda belongd to the gas, stinging at the
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: corner of her eyes. Faintly, she could hear Madison coughing,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: feel his steps faltering. Come on, she muttered under her
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: breath to herself and anyone who was listening. They passed
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the front corner of the building, still not leaving from
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: the cover of the trees. She turned her head, looking
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: at the front entrance. Some people were breaking away from
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: the scuffle, pointing at the trees. Tilda's breath was coming
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: in sharp pants, puffs of smoke in front of her,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: as if fueled by the fire in her side. Her
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: toe caught on a branch and she stumbled. She managed
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: to catch her weight, but Madison fell. The shouting by
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: behind them grew louder. She hefted him to his feet.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: They navigated through the trees in the dark, the air
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: thin and cold and cutting stop. Someone shouted far too
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: close for comfort. Til To pumped her legs harder, pulling
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Madison along with her. Her eyes rove to the forest
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: in front of her, searching for the motorcycle she'd abandoned
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: only hours earlier, refusing to acknowledge the slim probability that
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: she'd find it again. Something intrinsic inside her knew she
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: wouldn't survive losing Madison, not this version of her. Anyway.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: She'd have to become something else. She was fighting for
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: both of their survivals. A gleam in the moonlight to
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: her left caught til DEA's eye. Hardly daring to believe it,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: she adjusted their path toward it. The rapid footfalls over
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: needles behind her, growing louder with proximity. Laying in front
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: of a cops of trees a few yards in front
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: of them was the motorcycle. She needed the keys, but
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: that would mean letting go of Madison's hand or the gun.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: With a moment's indecision, till to shut the gun in
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: her waistband reached awkwardly behind her into her pack side pocket,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: her fingers fumbling to grasp the metal teeth as she
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: extracted the jangling metal keyring, heart leaping into her throat
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: as she nearly dropped it on the forest floor, she
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: slid heavily to her knees in front of the bike,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Madison hovering behind her, fingers shaking as she tried to
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: jam the first key into ignition, missing several times before
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: going to the second. Another round of gunfire quickly returned
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: punctuated the silence, and some were yelling closing in As
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the key slid into place, tiled a gasp with ecstatic surprise,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: riding the bike and sliding her leg over it. Madison
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: hopped on behind her, wrapping his arms instinctively around her midsection. Belatedly,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Tilda remembered why she'd had to abandon the bike when
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: she first entered these woods, but there was nothing for it.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: As carefully as the adrenaline coursing through her veins would
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: allow her, Tilda yeased her foot on the pedal, bark
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: flew off a tree to her right. As a bullet
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: buried in the wood. Madison's arms tightened around her middle
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: and tilt a bit, her lip in pain, fing more
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: pressure to the pedal with an answering roar. Needles pattering
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the ground as the rubber tire disturbed them. The resistance
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: to move forward lessened as she bless themed desirable speed
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: around the trees and toward the road, remembering the tank
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: and the vehicles the resistance had traveled in, and knowing
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: that she had a very small, small window to butt
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: any meaningful distance between her and Madison and the parties
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: that sought them. She couldn't hear any pursuers over the
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: thundering of the engine. Whether that was because the sound
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: jrounded out or because they'd broken off for their own transportation,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Tilda wasn't sure. Snatches of Madison's voice rose above the
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: bike's engine, the majority of it lost yours, she thought
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: she heard. Tilda didn't answer. Guiding them through the maze
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: of trees, silver moonlight reflected off the gray asphalt river
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: ahead of them. Should she go back in the direction
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: they came or continue west? Bright lights flooded the woods
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: around them, and Tilda winced some of the resistance members
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: must have made it back to their vehicles. She gave
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the bike or gas hold on, she shouted over her shoulder.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: She gunned it up a small incline and onto the road,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: swerving to her right as the tire found easier traction,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: rapidly picking up speed west. It was then the lights
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: grew brighter, barreling down on them. Trees had been traded
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: for cars, A scrap metal obstacle course before her. She
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: went as quickly as she was comfortable, risking and perhaps
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: a bit more, hoping that her smaller transport would offer
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: them more in the wave of speed, that the Resistance's
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: larger vehicles would slow them down. At least she hoped
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: it was the Resistance. If it came down to it,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Tilda would rather be captured by them. The cold air
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: whipped through her hair, Maston huddled against her backpack to
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: shield himself from it. A horrible thought, how Tilda, glancing
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: frantically down at the gas indicator, but the tank was
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: over half full. She looked up in time to dodge
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: around the corner of a red truck. Metal clanging and
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: tearing cut through the motorcycle's roaring engine behind her, Just
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: ahead was a bridge suspended over a winding river, the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: moonlight shimmering on the water's surface giving the impression of
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: a graceful, slow moving silver snake. And Tilda's experience, bridges
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: were a risky endeavor, structures crumbling under the roofless march
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: of time. A cluster of abandoned vehicles had once converged
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: at the entrance and exit, but by the looks of it,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: had been bulldozed out of the way, some laying on
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: their sides and others crunched inward. Tilda suspected the tank
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: had cleared the path if the tank could make it
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: over the bridge. The engine rebbed as she pressed down
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: hard on the pedal, the cold of the metal leashing
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: through the thin sole of her shoe and arching up
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: her calf. Glass glittered on the road. Tilda did her
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: best to avoid it. A blown tire would seal their fate.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: The shadow of the creature she appeared to be on
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the bike raced in front of her, made by the
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: white halogen light flooding from the car bearing down on them.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: The sound of gunfire had her ducking down instinctively as
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: she crossed over the bridge's metal post. The light behind
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: them swore the bullets must have been directed toward the car,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: whose headlights bathed them with a bluish light. Wind gusted
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: through breasted trestles with ominous creaking sounds, and whistled past
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: fraying cables, bullets ripping through the night behind them, a
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: cacophony audible over the air, wishing in her ears the
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: debris littering the road, easily crushed perhaps by a tank,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: forced her to slow down to navigate through it, forging
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: her own path through a maze of debris and glass.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: The moon hung low on the horizon directly over the river,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: so close Tilda imagined that she could make out all
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: of its edges. For a moment so fleeting, it slipped
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: by before Tilda had time to acknowledge it. She thought
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: it was beautiful. She was struck with the memory of
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: a similar image, moonlight dancing on a river, guiding her
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: and Madison out of DC, so many months ago, lie
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: times ago, when she came to terms with her motherhood.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: She could have laughed aloud at the joy of it.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Under the tires of her bike, she felt the bridge
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: shudder and sway, a pursuing vehicle passing on to it,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: just as she and Madison shot out the other side
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: onto a surprisingly windy road. She didn't know what the
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: future would hold. She knew that they couldn't keep running
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: forever her mother was out there. Madison could potentially help
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: make a vaccine, and one day he'd be old enough
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: that he wouldn't need her anymore. But for now, she
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: knew who she was after all these years, and Madison
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: was by her.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Side, and that brings us to the end.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Why wouldn't be outro music on that one special one?
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: We need like a moment of like meditation. I always
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: want to Eves gives us so much of her time,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: but I'm always like, can we please do another meditation?
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: She's excellent, She's excellent. All right, So that's the end.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I know, it's kind of an it's an abrupt ending.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I it ends very similarly. It has kind of a
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: mirror effect to how the first one ends, where they're
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: going into the night, and you know, till it was
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: considering maybe I will go back to the Resistance, but
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: right now I'm not going to do it. And in
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: my head, because I never wrote anything like what might
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: happen after this, in my head, she does go back eventually,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: but it's up to you. It's up to you what happens.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: I think I just I didn't have enough time to
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: really flesh out. I didn't think she would go back
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: at that time. I think given some space and once
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Madison gets older, I think he'll be like more vocal
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: about wanting to go back. But in the timeframe of
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: this where I was like, this is the ending. I
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: think we should stop here. I don't think she would.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: She would go back so hopefully that you know, it
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: might be a sudden ending and he might be like what,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: but hopefully like what's time passes you'll be like, Okay.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Well you have to do a prequel now, and then
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: you'll also have to do when Madison grows up.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I have thought about it, and it's so interesting
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: to me because I know I always say this, but this.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I wrote this before the Last of Us came out,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: But I've always thought that, and maybe the this is
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: just me being hopeful in my own universe that I've
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: created that the vaccine would work if they used his blood.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: So I think it would be interesting to come back
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: and revisit the fight that they would have and kind
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: of that when you know, when your kid gets older
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and they're starting to have these really strong opinions and
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the power balance shifts. I think it would be really
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: interesting because a part of this, the whole thing, was
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: like Tilden not knowing who she was without him, so
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: she has to deal with she has to confront like, oh,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: he doesn't necessarily need me as much as he did
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: when he was younger. Yeah, so I have thought about that.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: She does talk about in the final part of this
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: kind of freeing nature of even though she's still sort
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: of defined by Madison in some ways, she feels very
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: confident in who she is now now that she's been
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: away from him, so she has she's seen growth in
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: that way. So I thought that was really interesting. And
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I talked to my mom about this because she actually
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: read it. Yeah, she read it back when I was
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: trying to get it published, and she was talking to
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: me about how she was surprised, not that I wrote
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: anything amazing, but she was like, you know that that
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: idea of like I've always been a mom, Like I
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: almost com and lost my name when I became a mom,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: like it like so much my identity was this And
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: so I'm glad that she felt that way. And it
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: does like this final bit again, does have a lot
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: of things from my childhood. The red truck. My dad
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: had a red truck, just like a lot of little
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: little things, a little little odes. But it does still
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: end in chaos. So who knows, Maybe I'll come back and.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: And revisit and Madison finds the one or something done it.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Oh my gosh, well, hm, I remember it's
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: so sad. Do you get this way, like where I
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: want to write something new, but I'm also so attached
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to something else. Oh I'm not, like, I don't want
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: to let it go. Yeah, So that's kind of how
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: I feel. And you know, this is the this is
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: the finale. We're talking about maybe doing a one shot
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Halloween fiction in October and then maybe taking a break
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: because it's the holidays and these are a bigger lift
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: for Christina. I do already have another long form story
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: that I'm excited to share, but it is kind of
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: sad saying goodbye. I'm a little like.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: We're going to bring it back, going to bring it back,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: you see.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh absolutely absolutely, I'm very excited to share. It's
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: gonna be kind of difficult to do because it's sort
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: of like a found podcast, found footage pot story. I'm
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: sure we'll figure it out. But if any listeners, if
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: you have any things you'd like to see for fiction
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: on the show, or any ideas for this particular story
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: or something I could revisit, I would love to. I
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: love a good prompt. It gives me some direction, So
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: just let us know. You can email us at Hello
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: at Steffannever Told You dot com. You can also find
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: us on Blue Sky at Malsa podcast, or on Instagram
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: and TikTok at stuff I'll Never Told You. We're also
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: on YouTube. We have some new merchandise at Cotton Bureau
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: you can find and we have a book you can
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: get wherever you get your books. Thanks as always to
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: super producer Christina, who has absolutely made this series you.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Thanks to our executive producer Maya and our contributor Joey,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and thanks to all of you for listening and coming
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: along for this ride. STUFFA Never Told Me the production
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: you can check out the heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.