One of the metal rods holding the fence splits and falls. As do we, I scream as we drop and swing at least four feet so we’re almost vertical. My arms and legs shake from fatigue. We’re too heavy. It’s going to keep breaking.
“Stop it,” Justin shouts from above me. He tries to climb but Alkaline fires. Justin’s outstretched left hand disintegrates all over my face. He falls a foot, almost on top of me. We both cry out.
“Don’t tell me what to do, Justin.” Alkaline bends down, swinging the shotgun over his shoulder. “See, that’s why I had to knock you down a peg. There’s nothing I hate more than the high and mighty. You’re not perfect. You’re not God. You don’t get to decide other people’s fates. You’re just a man, capable of both good and evil. Just showed you that, didn’t I? You like scales. It’s all about balance, right? Now, I’ll admit mine is definitely tipped in the favor of evil.”
I hear more sizzling as he dissolves the fence directly above us. The first of it snaps, then another bit. I can’t move, I’m so terrified. “The thing I learned early on, though,” he continues as if he’s at the pulpit, “is that it really doesn’t matter,” he says with a chuckle. “Here you are! You saved countless lives, and what do you have to show for it? Your good deeds caused the death of all of those you hold dear. That’s what I’m trying to teach you, Justin! There is no justice in the world!” Another two melt. “You can save a hundred thousand people, and it wouldn’t matter a bit. There is no point to your self-sacrifice. People will always be selfish. People will always kill each other over money, or drugs, or just for the sheer fun of it. Your life and everything you stand for is meaningless. You’re obsolete. Ineffectual.” He sprinkles more acid. “Redundant. The bad will always outweigh the good. You really can’t save anyone. This is not a world for heroes.”
Then we hear and see it, a helicopter gliding in behind Alkaline. He turns to view it. GFPD is embossed on it. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. It circles toward us. “Police! Put your hands up!” The spotlight shines on him, and he smiles as he raises his arms. Inside there are four men with assault rifles pointed at him. The chopper moves toward the helipad.
Alkaline gazes down at us, triumph still on his face. “Too late.”
He’s right. Two more links rip and a third pops a second later. Only four left. We drop another few inches. It can’t hold us anymore. I look up at Justin, and he down at me, and I know it. My best friend smiles down at me with such love it’s as brilliant as the sunrise.
And my stomach free falls. “You’re wrong, Ryder. So wrong,” Justin says calmly.
“Justin…” I say through the panic.
“I love you.”
He lets go.
Both Alkaline and I shout, “No!” as he plummets down and down and down for what feels like an eternity, thirty stories into the black river. I can’t even see or hear the splash.
He’s gone. He’s gone.
I hang here, unable to even blink. Anguish like nothing I have ever felt envelops me. The world disappears. There is nothing. I gaze at my quivering fingers. It’d be so easy. Just open them and plunge. The ultimate freedom. I’m tired. So tired. Just open. Open! They won’t. If I do this, Alkaline wins. The ultimate selfish act. It’d all be for nothing. He’d win. No.
My gaze whips up to his stunned and angry one. For the thirty seconds it takes for the helicopter to land and SWAT to run up to Alkaline, we don’t break the silent battle. Not even when I climb up or they push him to the ground and handcuff him. We are the only two people in the world. Never breaking eye contact, Alkaline is yanked up, a small smile on his face.
“What he did doesn’t prove a thing,” he says with a smug smile before they begin leading him away. He knows what’s in store for him. Three meals a day. Fan mail. More time to plot his escape. We’re both aware of it. Not fair.
“Wait!”
With one fluid moment I pick up the shotgun at my feet and point it at him. The sound of my cocking it makes him and Alvarez, the SWAT officer, turn. I briefly glance at Alvarez, something in my eyes making him relax. He knows me. Brothers in blue always. He’ll cover for me, no question. He even steps away when I gesture for him to. Ryder’s smile falters, but doesn’t disappear.
My best friend just died before my eyes because of him.
He’s terrorized the city for years.
Killed dozens.
Tortured.
Maimed.
Destroyed my life.
It’s not fair.
My finger puts pressure on the trigger as Alkaline watches, captivated yet horrified. A slight twitch of the finger and it’s all over. Something visceral inside me longs to see his head explode right here, right now. It’s feel so fucking sweet. He deserves to die, and I have every reason to kill him. He knows it.