The campus rang with a deadly quiet, tension swelling between the two women. Even the moon seemed frightened, pulling back into the ink-black sky, anxious to hide behind a slow-moving cloud. Lorraine took a single step forward and Treena a single step back. “Stop, Lorraine, I mean it. I’ll kill ‘em all.”

“What about Casper? He's still in there, he’d have to be or he’d be out here with you.”

“He knows the risks, we both do.”

“But that doesn’t have to happen, Treena, honestly. I get it, okay? I understand, you both served all your lives, overworked and underpaid, and this was the only way you could make it work for you. Okay, I really do get that. I've made the system work for me, I know what that's like.” Lorraine tried to reason with her the best she could under the mounting pressure.

“Do you ever.”

Lorraine continued, “So I can sympathize with you, Treena. I know how it is to have people stonewall you at every turn, shut you down. I’ve had people gunning for my life, Treena … look at the situation we’re in now.”

“Any person would think you’d taken the hint at this point.” Treena took a step forward, raising the detonator just a bit more. Lorraine stepped back, crouching a bit, hands up and out.

“Okay, okay, but you got me all wrong, Treena. I’m not the person you want to kill, I’m the person who can help you … I’m the only one who can help you.”

“What are you talking about?” Treena scoffed.

Lorraine’s words came fast as she thought it through. “We’ll pay you twice whatever they’re paying you, more than that.”

Treena spat out a bitter chuckle. “You rich jerks think you can buy your way out of, or into anything. But, it’s not about the money, you bought-out little snipe! We have to do this, just like we had to take out Albert Jenkins. If we don’t then we disappear, then we take the dirt nap.”

“Okay, I can see that, they’re forcing you into this. But, we can take care of that, too, Treena. Put that thing down, walk away from this, we’ll protect you. Griffin’s got all the resources in the world, we can get you the best lawyers, drop any charges we can. You can work with us to bring the truly guilty parties to justice, Treena! And I know you still believe in justice, I know you still want to do the right thing.” Lorraine said, trying to sway her judgement.

“You don’t know shit about me!” Treena exploded.

“That’s not true, Treena. I haven't lived your life, I haven't suffered through everything you’ve suffered through. But, I know you’re a good person, Treena. I know you set out to do good things, to help people, not to hurt or even kill them. That’s not the person you are, the person you were born to be. That’s not the person who dedicated her life, sacrificed her best years to help children she didn’t even know, that she’d never know.” Lorraine doing her damnedest to remind Treena of who she was before she got caught up in all of this.

Treena stood there, eyes softening, the detonator lowering in her hand.

“This isn’t you, Treena, this is them; shallow, callous people who don’t value human life the way we do. We may have different experiences, live different lives, but we're both hard-working people who sacrifice our lives to keep the system going, to keep the system alive.”

Treena gave it some thought, her voice beginning to quiver. “I … I couldn’t have kids of my own … ”

Lorraine went on, “I’m … I’m sorry to hear that, Treena. But again, you’ve got options. You just lost your way. But, we can help you find it again, get back on track.” Treena looked at the detonator, now in front of her, arms relaxed at her side. Lorraine took one step toward her and Treena tensed up, stepping back and raising the detonator again.

“It’s okay, it’s all right, Treena. It’s all gonna be okay.” Lorraine said in a low, calming tone.

Treena’s face started to bend into a tortured frown, blood rushing to her cheeks, eyes tearing up. “How?”

“That’s simple, Treena, just hand me that detonator.” Lorraine said level headed.

Treena almost did, arms stretching slowly out to her, but then they retracted in a panic sending a wave of tense anticipation through Lorraine’s body. But, no explosion resulted, hundreds of lives still safe, for the precarious time being.

“No, I can’t. It’s too late, it’s too late!” Treena shrieked.

“It’s not too late, Treena, please listen to me!”

“Why? They’re gonna put me away for life, Casper, too. We won’t be able to survive in there! I don’t wanna go to prison, Lorraine, I don’t wanna die in prison!” She choked on her words.

“You won’t have to if you’ll just listen to me,” Lorraine urged her.

“No! You stay back or I’ll do it, I swear I will!” Treena stepped backward toward the side-door entrance to the auditorium.

“Don’t do it, Treena, please!” Lorraine pleaded, keeping her voice even to not rile up Treena any more than she already was.

“Don’t you move!” Treena threatened as she backed up to the door, pushed it open and scrambled into the auditorium. Before the door closed, Lorraine could hear Treena call out, “Everybody get outta here! There's a bomb, get outta here now!”

Lorraine tried to push her way in, but those double doors were already punched open from the inside, the crowd rushing out, wide-eyed and screaming. They pushed against Lorraine, some faces familiar, some not, all of them lit up with terror. Parents clutched their kids, pulling them along, banging into each other, pushing Lorraine back and nearly sending her toppling to the ground. She knew she’d be trampled to death if she lost her footing, so Lorraine had no choice but to let the tide push her further back and away from her family, Treena, the detonator, the bomb.

“Stop it,” Lorraine tried to insist, “let me through!” Unable to beat the thick rush of frightened New Yorkers, Lorraine scanned the crowd instead, desperate to find Griffin and Ashe and simply rush them away from the auditorium as quickly as possible, if it wasn't already too late.

Faces rushed past her, and Lorraine knew that wasn't the only exit, that both her husband and son could have fled out one of the other doors. When she saw Ashe running out, dragging his girlfriend Rachel out with him, Lorraine rushed over and wrapped her arms around him.

“Thank God you’re all right! You, too, Rachel. Are your parents outside?”

“I don’t know.” She said quietly.

Lorraine looked down at Ashe. “Have you seen your father?” Ashe shook his head and Lorraine scanned the crowd. “Okay, you two get outta here, run as far away as you can. Stick together and find an adult you know.”

“But Mom — ”

“Do it now, Ashe!” By then, Lorraine was already running back into the auditorium.

Treena climbed up onto the stage as the last stragglers ran out from the various exits. Lorraine slipped into the door at the side of the stage, hurrying down the hall to see Griffin pushing himself slowly up the little concrete staircase.

“Griffin!”

Lorraine rushed to Griffin’s side, slipped under his arm, and supported him in an awkward, injured gate to the door. They stopped and turned, Treena on the stage, a tragic, crumpled figure, barely able to stand upright.

Lorraine called out, “Treena, please!”

She turned slowly to look at them, her face without expression, without pain. She’d already let go of those Earthly emotions. Instead, she shouted, “Just get out!” After a long moment of consideration, Lorraine and Griffin turned, pushed the door open, and limped out of the auditorium.

They made it out of the double-doors, the last two people who would ever walk out of that auditorium alive tonight. They walked as quickly as they could, Griffin clutching his bleeding belly as Lorraine dragged him along as fast as they could go.

“Who shot you? Casper Newkirk?”

“Fat man, pale, didn't know him.” Griffin managed to say between sharp, labored breaths.

“That’s him all right. Where is he?”

“Left him knocked out, some package next to him.”

“Package,” Lorraine repeated, still hurrying the wounded Griffin away from that doomed structure. “The bomb … ”

But, that was the last second of quiet reflection Lorraine would have. The explosion burst with such volume that it hardly seemed to make any sound at all. The wave of heat and energy smacked Lorraine and Griffin from behind, pushing them forward making them stumble to the asphalt. They fell, hitting the ground hard, which was the only thing keeping them from being perforated by flying shards of shattered glass and hail-stone sized chunks of hot stone.

Lorraine’s ears were ringing, her back stinging with a slight burn. Flames replaced the explosion, the massive crackle and roar of a terrific fire, big enough to handily consume what remained of the auditorium, and everything inside of it.

Lorraine and Griffin looked up to see the auditorium burning, debris still falling, lighter chunks carried away by the heat of the fire and the spring breeze. They clutched each other, reddened faces pressing together. Ashe ran up to them and fell to his knees, the Phoenix family reunited once again, against all odds from that moment forward. They shared tears of joy and of relief, heads pressing against each other, arms intertwined, hearts bound forever.