Chapter Text
Prologue
(Ashlyn’s Point Of View)
I was eighteen when I was sitting on that bench - the final day of our trial. The day that would decide whether or not our lives and efforts would be thrown by the wayside by the government, for what it had been for about a full two years. The days of running from cops, shooting gang members and those who wanted us dead, or captured. The hundreds of hours spent in that hell - until the day we purged it all. The grand finale of our lives: The death of the man we once knew as Mr. Thomas - the propagator of the apocalypse - Maverick, buried within the collapsing and cascading rubble of that damned building. The Sorrel House. The most freeing minute of our lives. Our journey through hell had finally been complete. That moment ended in blaring red and blue lights, sirens, and the cocking of guns and the berating of SWAT agents.
I clung to the hands of those who sat to the left and right of me, my partners and allies through this whole journey. Aiden held my right hand, and we squeezed each other with fear, and a treacherous sadness, as if we were stepping ever closer to a cliff, ever closer to the end of our lives. He was shaking, every part of him. I too, was shaking, and my breaths came out as unsteady as a ball resting on the tip of a dagger, and water lined my red eyes and discolored eyelids.
Taylor clung to me on my left hand, she too, shaking and sobbing. Farther down the line was Tyler and Logan on my left, and Aiden and Ben on my right. The pitiful sight of all of us was one to behold by the man with the gavel who sat in front of us all. We all leaned on each other, rocked each other, and told each other it was okay, even though none of us knew whether or not it would - and that, we all knew too.
“I don’t want to have to leave any of you.” Taylor whispered to us, her words and breath shaking and wavering, with lips that shook with every syllable. Tyler leaned in close to her, offering comfort, possibly the last we would ever get from each other. There was a silence that came over the courtroom as the jury marched through the door. I shut my eyes, and turned away, choking from the hand of fear wrapped around my neck. I turned my head over onto Aiden’s shoulder.
This was it. We are sitting in the room of our future. Today we learn if we shall live another day under the sun, or if we shall be confined into chains.
There was a quietness about the jury. Their faces rested with a demeanor that sat unwavered. It was almost comforting, the confidence and calmness that they brought into the room. They all took their seats, one by one. The twelve sat, some looking down at themselves and the floor, others looking at us, and some at the judge.
There was a moment of silence before the room. It was broken by the judge clearing his throat.
“Has the Jury reached a unanimous verdict?”
One of the jurors rose from his seat and responded.
“Yes, your honor.”
“Do all of the jurors agree with this decision?”
One by one, the eleven other jurors agreed down the line when addressed by the judge.
There was a pause, the judge sighing, and then swallowing. “Very well.” He said.
“Jury Foreperson, if you would read out the final verdict to the courtroom.” The judge said with a sadness to his words. The judge looked at us with sorrow in his eyes, almost as if he felt for us. Almost as if he wants us to be set free - as if he understands us and our pain.
I tightened my hands ever-so-more around Aiden and Taylors, and we held our breath with our eyes closed. The silence made its way into the room again as the Juror stood up. As if all time had stood still in this moment - the moment where we hear our future before our ears.
“In the matter of New York vs Ashlyn Banner, Aiden Clark, Ben Clark, Taylor Hernandez, Tyler Hernandez, and Logan Fields on the charges of Manslaughter, resisting arrest, Obstruction of an Officer’s duties, hitchhiking, trespassing, gang affiliation, gang violence, government property damage, and multiple accounts of battery, armed battery, and battery with a lethal weapon, we, the jury, find the defendants…”
I inhaled, and braced for the cold hard truth.
“...Not Guilty on all accounts.” He finished.
I flashed my eyes open and looked at Aiden. He looked back at me with his wet brown eyes, and his mouth agape. All six of us erupted into tears as we fell into each other, wrapping each other in our arms, soaking each other's clothes with our tears. We gripped each other and grabbed each other's limbs and clothes, an amalgamation of tension being melted away from within ourselves. We wailed with our mouths opened, a fountain for all our stress and anxious anticipation, released like a train whistle. The gallery began to sigh away their tension as well. There were no opposers within the gallery, no man or woman was upset at the verdict. Maybe the six of us worried a bit too much that we wouldn’t be understood. I hugged Taylor and Aiden, and Ben joined in as well, we were all still crying. “It’s all over. We’re all going to be okay!” I said from the huddle of limbs we created.
After a long while, until we were all able to calmly sit back down on the bench, the judge cleared his throat one more time. “If the court clerk could please put that into official writing…” He began and talked for a few moments, using some legal mumbo jumbo, of which I was too euphoric to even care to listen to. “I would like to thank the jury for their time here over these few weeks as they critically deliberated the facts of this case… Bailiff, you may now escort the jury outside of the courtroom. Jurors, you have been discharged.” The judge paused for a moment, allowing the jurors to leave the room. “I would like to give some final statements on this case.” He spoke.
“It is the job of a judge, and a jury, to decide not whether the defendants have committed a crime. It is not to decide whether or not the actions of an individual fall within the law. The job of a judge and a jury is to decide if the defendants that sit before us in these rows are deserving of any punishment for their actions, and their situation. It is in this case - in which the decision was not made solely on the actions of these defendants - that the jury - and I, in my heart - saw through the actions of each individual, and did not judge them on it. We can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that you six that sit here before us are not dangerous , and are not criminals. You were dealt a horrible hand, and placed into a horrible circumstance, and all that you did, you did out of desperation, and survival. Whether it was against a gang, the government, or even a singular police officer, you did what you needed to do to survive, and though the actions were not perfect in all lights, in moments of desperation, you can not judge what a person instinctively calls upon. The entire world was against you.
Those who stop the apocalypse do not commit crime for selfish or spiteful reasons, but only out of desperation, and to help others - reasons that the powers that be were not able to understand - yet. I - and this jury - have not been ignorant of that when we made our decision. You brought peace to the world as we know it, and kept each other on your feet the best you could. And no person - no child , I should say - should be thrown into a cell for that.
And as for those corrupt agencies and facilities that my government has been running, I will make it my duty as a judge under the constitution - and of my heavenly father - to inform the world of what they have done, and bring justice to all who were involved in these horrendous facilities you spoke of. And with that, I conclude this case. All are welcomed to exit. Court is adjourned.”
I am recently nineteen now, and it is summer, the summer after my senior year of high school (which, the other five and I needed to take a year late considering our time on-the-run from the government). I was standing in my room, looking at a photo on my bureau. It was of me and my friends, standing with all of their parents, and Ben holding Lily in his left arm. This was taken quite a bit ago, maybe only around a week after the final verdict of the case, on Lily’s seventh birthday - The first birthday we were able to celebrate with her for real.
I remember how Ben felt, when it was just us together, the day that her sixth birthday passed. He cried that day, and told me how much he was missing his family. I told him we would be able to get them back. In the end, we did. There was plenty of pain that was felt, and things that went wrong, but we eventually found a way to resuscitate them all from their comas before the infection could get to them.
I smiled at the photo. Most of us had gotten to look so different by the time we saw each other again while on the run, and again while in the courtroom. Aiden had grown out his roots by quite a lot. By the time we were in the courtroom, half of it was already black. Logan had begun growing a beard (though it was really only darkened fuzz when we saw it), and also sized up quite a bit while away, enough to see a noticeable amount of muscle in his arms. Tyler did not change much, aside from looking thinner, which toned his skin down to the muscles on his arms, and abdomen.
Aiden and Logan had gotten growth spurts, and Tyler probably grew an inch or so as well, but Aiden had been a few inches taller than me when we first saw each other again. Logan was somehow taller than Taylor when we saw him again as well. They told me how much taller I had looked, and had also been shocked to find out that I cut my hair a decent length. Not by so much to change how I look entirely, but enough so that it wasn’t hanging down to my ankles anymore.
I heard my phone buzz from across the room, and when I went to check the messages, Taylor had said a few things in the group chat.
Ta: School’s out for summer!!!
L: Woohoo!
A: You guys want to hang out and celebrate?
Ty: I’m down
Ta: You know it!
B: Yes please
L: I’m ready to do something aside from study
I looked down at my phone and smiled. Senior year was no joke, but because we were able to dedicate so much more of our time to it, we powered through it like academic weapons. Being able to sleep for a full eight hours, eat plenty of good food, and not worry about some evil teacher looking over our shoulders, it really helps out. Tyler got that scholarship he wanted at a nearby college, and resumed playing baseball. Taylor got a pretty good paying mechanics job for an airport nearby, with on-site training! Logan graduated damn near second in our class (oh, and Barron got expelled), Ben resumed therapy, as well as picked up speech therapy. Aiden and I were going to continue our standard education at the community college that has a strong connection to our school. Aiden said that he wanted to be a professional skateboarder, and I was still passionate about pursuing Ballet. I was going to major in performing arts, and Aiden planned on majoring in English in order to appease his parents.
You - Don’t count me out of it. Where we going?