The Reyna

You know how the world ends.

It was inevitable. Earth sat in a pressure cooker for years, eventually something had to give.

What you didn’t know?

That a heart shaped locket, something so small, and cheesy, was going to save it.

Fucking hate immortals. The thought kept repeating inside Reyna’s head as she slid over the hood of the broken down car. Her feet hit cracked pavement before she clambered over another one. The street was lined with cars, trucks, and everything in between, windows shattered, metal bent and twisted, the rubber tires shredded or gone entirely. All abandoned or wrecked the day the world ended.

There were no heavy footfalls behind her, just the quiet hum of the insects that survived, the pant of her breath, and the hard, steady pounding of her heart. She took a sharp right, arms pumping, her booted feet gliding over uneven streets, dodging debris with quick reflexes, muscle control, and familiarity.

The air was cool, but sweat still rolled down the side of her neck, and clung to her body underneath the dirty fatigues and kevlar vest that was stained with the blood of the dead police officer she’d taken it from. The locket, literally the most important thing in this dying world, was around her neck, pressed against her chest bone underneath her dirty clothes.

One more level. She kept her breath steady, her eyes focused on the terrain, the stench of the dead now mingling with the smell of moss and grass and rust as nature reclaimed what humanity tried to take.

The sunlight warned her. Slowly sinking into the horizon, it’s lingering beams giving light to the parking garage, and casting shadow over what laid there. Reyna saw his shadow out of the corner of her eye. Despite the warning, all she could do was brace for impact in the split second before he slammed into her.

She grunted under the blow, stumbling, catching herself on a pillar, trying to roll around it, to keep going, but she felt his kick against her back. Pain shot up her spine, and she stumbled forward unable to keep herself from crashing into the concrete.

Quickly though, Reyna rolled to her feet, her half gloved fingers pulling loose her knife. Not as sharp as she would have liked. No time to clean it either, blood staining the blade.

“Give me the locket,” Cal’s voice echoed from the shadows he stuck too.

Reyna rolled her eyes. “Come out idiot, you’re not a fucking Vampire.”

She heard him chuckle. He stepped forward, into the fading sun’s light. She would have liked to turn around, to watch the last sunset earth would ever see, but he’d robbed her of that too. Fucking Immortals, she thought again.

“You could be like us. You all could.”

He meant Immortal. It wasn’t until 2021, when the Delta Variant of COVID made a joke of the world's vaccines that the Immortals made themselves known. There was nothing special about them, except they were immune, and somehow for reasons science never got time to explain, lived for thousands upon thousands of years.

If you asked an Immortal how they lived so long, they wouldn’t tell you. There was a lot of speculation but the fascination with them was quickly overshadowed by the chaos of the world ending. What people did know is that the Immortals weren’t mythical creatures. They didn’t drink blood, or change form, or any shit like that. But, they were stronger than the average human. A touch faster too, and a thousand years worth of knowledge made them dangerous.

But they were arrogant, narcissistic. And one of the prime reasons the world had ended the way it had; because they’d secretly controlled it for years, manipulating governments, commerce, and running it all into the ground.

“I don’t want your bullshit promise of Immortality. And I’m not giving you the locket,” Reyna slowly backed up a step.

“You don’t deserve to leave this planet, and not take us with you. You don’t get to make that choice,” Cal’s hands balled into fists at his side. They were scarred, his hands. From where or how, Reyna didn’t know or care. His face was the same, a nasty one from the corner of his right eye down his cheek, another marking his bottom lip and chin. Most of the Immortal’s she’d meet were like Cal, full of scars and bullshit.

“You screwed us for centuries. Centuries. We absolutely do get to make that choice.” Another step back. Slow. Her body in a fighting position, her eyes never leaving him.

“You weren’t chosen. We were. That gives us the right to do whatever the fuck we want,” he spoke the words with anger, and such assurance. He believed that, down into the core of his rotten soul.

One more step. A broken Honda to her right. The hidden entrance 15 feet behind her. Inwardly she smiled. Outwardly, she rolled her eyes. “Go fuck yourself. Chosen one,” she said the latter mockingly.

She watched the fury twist his face. For all their knowledge they were so… predictable.

He charged at her fast, so very fast, briefly amping up her fight, flight, or freeze instinct, hers wanting her to run, to shrink away from the predator coming at her. She steeled her nerves, waiting, waiting - when he was close enough she attacked him, slashing at him with the knife. He arched back, she took another step back, he came forward, hatred coloring his green eyes. She slashed at him again, he grabbed her hand easily, twisting, making her cry out, loosening her grip, the weapon clattering to the ground. His next strike slammed into her stomach, the kevlar taking some of the impact but not enough. She doubled, breath leaving her, barely getting her hands up in time to absorb the blow from his knee aimed at her face. She felt his hand in her hair, twisting it, pulling, holding her in place as he kicked her legs out from underneath her, ripping strands from the base of her skull and sending her back into the pavement.

He was on her in an instant, his hands around her throat, his scared face glaring down at her with such rage. “I know you’ve got it on you. I’ll take it off your dead body,” he hissed.

The air left her immediately. The pressure on her tracheae so painful. Panic welled up inside of her, her muscles screaming at her to kick and lunge and claw at his hands around her throat. She willed her panic down, but to keep his focus where she wanted it, she brought one hand up to his arms, trying to dislodge them, punching, slapping, reaching for his face.

He laughed, actually laughed at her attempts, tightening his grip, his grotesque humor turning into a snarl as he stared into her eyes, waiting for life to leave them.

With her other hand she reached underneath the old Honda and closed her hand around the grenade hidden there. He didn’t hear the pin drop, or didn’t notice. She brought her hand back to them, grabbing at his jacket, shoving the grenade into his pocket.

Through her pain, the swimming vision, Reyna smiled.

It made him pause in his gleeful snarling, for just a second his grip around her throat easing as suspicion took over. “What…?”

“For humanity. Without you. Bitch,” Reyna whispered, and closed her eyes.

He must have suddenly felt it, that small weight in his pocket, his eyes widened, he looked down-

BOOM.

There was no pain. Not for Reyna. Calm. Stillness. A welcoming void that turned to light.

15 feet away a metal wall slid to one side. Dirty faces, determined, sad, cautious peeked out.

“Quickly,” an older woman whispered, her voice carrying a note of authority, despite the tears that ran down her face.

Two men fanned out, running over to the grotesque remains of the Immortal, more importantly, Reyna. They did the work of fishing through the mess, and after a few seconds pulled it out; the faintly glowing, a wisp of a chill coming off it, heart shaped locket.

“Thank you, Reyna.” A man whispered, his name immaterial. The important thing, the sincerity and affection in his voice.

They rushed back to their bunker, the older woman taking a last look at the spilt blood, then to the horizon as the sun died. She swallowed and pulled the door closed.

Hours later - the last of earth's space traveling vessels, unlocked by a tiny microchip, hidden inside a heart shaped locket, took off, leaving a ruined earth behind to find a new home.

They named it; The Reyna.