I need nothing. I'm going to *try* get back to Tiny's Tavern in the morning

“No,” you tell her and return to the room.

Scarlet is asleep but alive. You still think she looks sick and wonder if she’s got much life left in her. At least here, she’s warm and can get food in her system. You lay in the bed and wrap yourself around her carefully. You fall asleep there, too, and don’t wake up until the next day.

…

…

“Warren,” you hear someone saying. “Warren!”

You jolt, bumping heads with Scarlet. You are then slapped. “You fucking idiot. Careful!”

Scarlet is still on the bed but holding her forehead where you had bumped her. You reach out and apologize. She waves it off, though. “We gotta get moving again.”

“Do you think that’s wise?”

“Yes,” her face twists. “I don’t feel right. The sooner we get back to the others, the better. It’ll take long, but let’s leave everything behind. I’m going to need you every step of the way.”

You swing yourself off the bed. “Yeah, OK… I’ll stick next to you. How well can you walk?”

“Well enough,” she slowly gets off the bed. “As long as we’re not attacked by a bear along the way, I’ll manage.”

“Just remember we’re in Montana, so that it might happen.”

“Shut up,” she smiles, still not daring a laugh.

The lobby is empty. You considered leaving money behind but figured you’d never see the place again, so what was that purpose? You stepped outside to another clear and warm day. You could hear the snow melt, dripping off the roofs as the snow on the ground also cracked and popped while it melted. Even though the warm weather was causing the snow to go away, there was still a lot of it, and none of the occupants of Highlight were coming out in celebration.

“Let’s go,” Scarlet nagged.

The trail back to Tiny’s Tavern was snow-covered but traversable for someone like yourself and thankfully Scarlet. Birds tweeted in song as your steps crunched beneath the snow. Scarlet didn’t have the energy to talk, but every time you looked at her, you saw her eyes dance around the landscape, admiring the winter effect on the trees and familiar surroundings.

It was peaceful until someone shouted from behind.

“Hey!”

“Shit,” Scarlet reached a log as you let go of her. “Who’s that?”

Your heart drops when you see who it is. It’s four guys, with the leader being the one Angel had sent to rally up more men to replace the one they lost. You open your mouth to say something, but he’s already ahead of you. “I saw about 30 kids walking around with some girl when we arrived at Highlight. Thought maybe it was a weird coincidence, but then the shack was burnt out.”

“We snagged a SNAFU,” you think of a lie, but it seems pointless.

“Oh, is that so? Pretty fuckin’ sure you’re a damn turncoat that’s trying make a quick penny in backstabbing the wigs in charge of this operation. Who’s paying me now? Who’s paying the lot of us for all this bullshit we’ve had to do. You’re telling me we’ve wasted all this time for…what exactly?” He pointed a gun at you. “Nuh-uh.”

“Forget about it, man,” you look back at Scarlet, barely able to notice what’s happening. “Loot the ranch house, the place where Angel was– whatever is left in the tunnel. Leave us out of this.”

“How about I kill you, take all your shit and fuck the girl? It doesn’t look like she will offer any kind of resistance. Might as well give her some use while she’s still kicking.”

“Go to hell,” Scarlet muttered, swinging around with her pistol. She shoots at them, but the bullets go over their heads.

There’s a burst of gunfire from the man and his companions behind him before you can even upholster your piece. You know quickly that you’ve been struck as you fall to your knees and dive for a rock. Using more concealment than cover, you jump from bush to shrub and tall rock to a smaller rock as you engage the five-person team. You intended to travel light, and now that you had to engage in a battle where you weren’t just outnumbered but also outgunned, you seriously regretted every moment you heard the gunshots echo through the pine.

Someone is yelling, so you figure the firefight has warranted more than one injury. You glance down and see the blood trail you’ve left. You haven’t felt significant pain yet, but there’s a dull, pinching sense of pinging your nerves whenever you move somewhere.

You pop up and shoot someone running toward where you last saw Scarlet. He stumbles a few times, and then you hear follow-up shots. You’re familiar with Scarlet’s signature. The screaming had stopped, but it didn’t make it less chaotic.

Another of the remnants had gone deep into the forest trying to outflank you, so you ran out of your rock, trying to hit the original member of Angel’s crew with the remaining rounds in your handgun. He’s trying to find Scarlet, so he doesn’t initially notice you. You hit him once in the shoulder, and then when he finally turns around, you’re able to blow a hole through his cheek. Behind you, the last guy seems to realize he’s made a terrible mistake and has taken your original spot. You drop to your knees to fish the rifle off the ground. You brush off the snow and rub the blood off the iron sights while grabbing another magazine from a bandolier, and not a moment too soon, either. Bullets rip through the air and rain around you. You drop down instinctively and scramble towards more brush for concealment. You fake a scream, hoping it’s enough bait to draw out the flanker. It takes a moment of hesitation on his behalf before he springs out towards you.

You don’t bother aiming. You squeeze the trigger and hold it down as you fill him with enough bullets to kill a bear—your 18-round burst echoes through the whole forest, and then there’s no sound at all until you sniff.

“Scarlet?” You shout.

“Down here,” she replies.

You swap the magazines in the rifle before getting into a crouch. The body is steaming, and already from your distance, you see a crimson circle forming around it. You jump over the toppled trees and stray corpses as you get over to Scarlet. And she looks horrible. She’s on her back, her gun empty, her wound bleeding again, and– “You got fucking shot again!?”

Her blue eyes are fixated on the sky. She’s so pale you thought she was dead. She blinks a few times and smiles. “Yeah. I’m living up to my name.”

You lift her up, and the pain that shoots through her whole body makes her scream. “Alright, I’m– I’m going to find a place for you that’s out,” you frantically look around. You faintly remembered seeing a ranger cabin somewhere with the windows gone and the door long decayed once. It shouldn’t have been far off the trail. It takes a minute, but you see it.

The interior is wet, and snow has fallen inside. There’s a table, however, and you set Scarlet down on it. You unzip her coat and stick your hand over her chest, belly, and sides–your hand returns warm and wet. You use the back of your hand, exploring how to patch her up.

“Meredith,” Scarlet swallows. Her breathing is slow, and she feels cold against you.

“What?”

“Meredith,” she said again.

“Who is that?” Your eyes swelled when you realized she was talking about herself.

“That’s my name,” she exhaled so softly you thought those were her last words. But, she followed herself with more. “My…my name’s Meredith.”

You brushed back her hair, and you can see her blue eyes looking up at you in the sunlight. Wasted youth reflects as you see her life straining to hang onto the bloodied body. “You look like a Meredith,” you smile at her, trying not to dirty her features with your blood or hers.

She smiles slightly, but the pain in it ruins it. She looks down and closes her eyes as she tries to breathe. “Put your hand on my face… Oh, Warren...You’re so warm.”

You felt cold, but you had a feeling you were warmer than…than Meredith. “I’m sorry.”

Her eyes fluttered open as her eyebrows wrinkled. “You were the best thing that ever happened to me, Warren. I’m…I’m so happy I got to meet you.”

“You deserved better,” you exhale as you lower yourself to her. Your eyes felt like weights. “I would have married you if I wasn’t already…”

“Stop,” she smiled with her eyes closed. “I need to tell you what I did…why I…what I did to my family…”

Blood loss made you fade in and out, so it took you a moment to realize she hadn’t finished her sentence. You jolted with a start and looked down at her. Her eyes are open, but they’re unfocused. You licked your lips and shook her. “What did you do?”

Panic rose sharply in your system. “Meredith?” Your voice broke slightly at the end. You shook her harder, but your little strength was strained, and you felt your will falter. “I’m so sorry, Meredith…I’m so…so…so sorry…”

You fell to your knees and dropped to the floor. Outside, you heard someone approaching. But, before you saw who it was, your eyes closed, and all you saw was darkness.

…

…

Muffled clattering and a soft rumble gently woke you. You blinked your eyes open and saw yourself in your uniform. It’s bloodied and covered in soot. You can see the damage done over it from your last encounter. Your body is throbbing, and your mind is whirling. Where were you?

The cab of the train shook as you looked out the front window. A vast gray ocean stretched over a bright blue sky. Large pinkish-white clouds contrast on the horizon. The sea is calm; there aren’t any ripples, but there is no reflection either. Despite that, you think the landscape is beautiful. You’re dumbfounded for a few moments before you’re surprised by a gasp beside you. You remembered Scarlet’s dream and frowned. Why were you seeing this?

“You’re awake now?”

You looked next to you and saw a girl in a blue dress. She had dirty blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, but her bangs were wavy and brushed to one side. She had silver earrings and a leather watch on her wrist. Her eyes matched the dress, and her cheeks burned with applied blush. You stared at her, thinking she was a stranger. Then she smiled.

“Scarlet—“

“Meredith,” she giggled, hugging you tight. She felt warm. Your eyes swelled as you wrapped yourself around her. She smelled like sage. Your heart thumped like this was your first hug with her.

You wanted to apologize, but when you saw her, you thought there was nothing to be sorry about. You blinked a few times and then reached for her back, where there was a baseball-sized hole. There was just fabric covering the skin. She grabbed your wrist and held it there as she looked up at you. “I’m alright,” she promised softly but then saw you. “You…you must have not checked out yet? Look at you. You’re all dirty and in rags still.”

“What do you mean?”

“I spoke with…” She thought for a moment, struggling to find the words. “Never mind.”

“What? Who?”

“A real angel,” she looked away like she couldn’t express anything more than that. She sounded a little jealous. “She said I couldn’t tell you everything, and I guess I see why now.”

She laughs slightly, her eyes punching outward at the ocean as the train rolls by. You brushed your shoulder against hers. “You look good.”

She smiles brightly, flashing you with a brighter smile that fits her perfectly. In her eyes, you saw that youth you admired in your moments of understanding. Your throat closed. “Where are we?”

“The other side,” she said, matter of fact. “I thought I was going to burn for all the horrible things I did. But I’m here with you on the final train to home. Unless this is a cruel afterlife joke, I think I’m heading home, at least. I can’t wait to see everyone. My dad. My mom. My brother. I know it.”

You saw her happiness as much as you heard it in her voice. There was no afterthought or bitter feelings in the back of her mind. Scarlet left her title behind in her last moments on earth. With that title were other things that were hers to be burdened with. You saw her for everything she was meant to be. You were jealous now, too.

She looked at you, full of splendor. “You got time, though.” She blushed. “I asked about you, you know? There’s so much left for you and Flora. You’re just one choice away from getting there.”

“What do you mean?”

She opened her mouth but then started to laugh. “It’s obvious. I want to be jealous of her. But you’re going to be so happy. You without me— that’s how it was supposed to be, and I would never let that go.”

You expected her to break or falter, but she seemed so sure of it as she told you more. “You’re going to be with Flora. And you’re going to live an amazing life despite all of this. There are going to be some hard patches, sure! But…I saw it. A glimpse of your happiness. A peek at your future when you’re out of this rut. I’m so happy for you.”

Your throat felt tight with confusion. You wanted to ask her what she meant or what you were supposed to do, but it felt pointless. You didn’t know how, but you knew Meredith was right at that moment. The train started to slow, and it began to slip into a crowded platform with people.

The skin on your arms rolled with gooseflesh as you saw all the people outside, dressed in suits and holding onto fantastic bouquets of exotic flowers in every color you could imagine. They pointed at the other trams on the train. You didn’t notice it before, but they were filled with people, too, adorned in dresses, sweaters, ties, and ironed slacks. One by one, they opened. The people walked out and joined the arms of their loved ones waiting for them. The doors for you, however, remained shut.

There was so much joy in one condensed place. It was a proper parade.

Meredith looked anxious. The platform started to empty. The last people to leave was a reunited family. A wife rejoining her husband and child. They were picture-perfect.

The doors remained shut, but Meredith didn’t panic or begin to ask questions. She waited; you both did.

Then, a young man with blonde hair came jogging down the platform's steps. Behind him was a man with brown hair and a woman who remarkably looked like Meredith, just older.

"Mom!” Meredith shouted, clapping even. “Dad! David!”

She pushed off the seat and started jumping. She was at the doors before they opened. She ran so fast she nearly became a blur as she jumped the person you knew was her brother. He grabbed her and spun her around. Scarlet was now in tears as she was embraced by the ones she never forgot. Her parents examined her with glossy eyes. You watched her mom count her fingers while her dad held onto her head, studying his daughter's face. He saw no trace of the hardships or damage she’d gone through. There was no hate either. There was only joy.

You stood at the threshold, held back by instinct. You stood as a witness to Scarlet’s long-awaited reunion. An announcement over the PA system said the train would be leaving soon. You stepped back and let the doors close. Meredith spun around and ran back to you. She clapped her palm against the door. “I’ll wait for you!”

“I know,” you mouthed and then pointed at her family. “Go back to your folks!”

She bursts out in more tears suddenly. “Thank you! I’m sorry for being a jerk!”

You waved her off and fell into a dark tunnel.

You were alone now.

Truly alone…

“I love ya’, Scarlet.”