Her Voice: Chapter Five (Finale)
Make Your Choice
To Sarah. May your voice always guide me home...
Table of Contents:
Author's note: Thank you so much for reaching the finale of "Her Voice." This project has been over a year in the making, and I couldn't have done it without your support.
Please note that the decision hyperlinks DO NOT work if you’re reading this in the Substack app (the app needs an update for this). They will work on web or desktop. Instructions are included for manual scrolling.
Please note that this final chapter contains a content warning. Ending 1 features elements of self-harm and may be upsetting to certain readers. Discretion is advised.
Day 388
Before I knew it, the sun was out, and someone was breaking in. A crash, followed by glass hitting the ground, came from elsewhere in the building.
Summer and I frantically pulled on our clothes and walked to the bedroom door. We both held our breaths as footsteps approached. They were slow, punctuated by the sound of mechanical actuators.
Ascended.
“We’ve gotta go,” I whispered.
Summer nodded. “I just need to get some things.”
“We don’t have time!”
Another voice interrupted the conversation.
“Time for what?”
I looked up and saw a man towering above both of us. He had to be at least eight feet tall. His skin had a mirror-like sheen, no doubt artificial in nature.
Long, jet-black hair rolled down his perfectly chiseled face. His glowing red eyes were immediately familiar.
“Summer. I’ve finally found you,” he whispered, extending his hand.
She knocked it away. “Don’t you dare touch me!”
She pushed past the towering Ascended man, heading back to her radio studio across the lobby. The Ascended man ignored me entirely, walking behind her.
I stepped out, only to spot two more Ascended standing by the exit. I could feel them staring at me. It made my skin crawl.
“Daughter, you must give up this foolish game!” the tall Ascended said.
I followed behind, watching from a distance as Summer tossed items into a worn backpack, including her microphone and headphones.
“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not letting you upload my mind into some metal body. I’m human, and I always will be!”
“I have let you continue with this foolishness for far too long. I will not allow you to risk your immortal soul for these mortal pursuits.”
Summer slammed her backpack down and turned around.
“If you want to live forever, that’s fine, but don’t drag me into your techno-cult!”
I stayed in the doorway, my eyes wandering toward the exit and the crowd of Hushed outside.
“You can relax, Elijah; we’re still leaving,” Summer said.
Her father turned and looked at me.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I uh…I’m a fan of your daughter’s work,” I replied.
“He’s a friend, Dad, helping me get out of here.”
“Daughter, please, just come with us. It won’t hurt; you’ll never have to feel pain again once it's done.”
“Dad, enough! It’s not happening. Tell him, Elijah.”
Her father’s gaze returned to me. I froze up.
Choice #1:
Will you convince Summer to Ascend and upload your mind as well? Or, will you refuse and remain human?
To Ascend, Click Here (or scroll to ending 1 if you’re using the Substack app)
To Refuse, continue reading…
“I think everyone should have a choice if I’m being honest,” I said, trying not to meet her father’s gaze.
“Thank you,” Summer said, “Now, will you please leave?”
Her father reached down to his side. His upper thigh opened up like a glove compartment. A small pistol emerged from within. He grabbed it and pointed it toward Summer without a second thought.
It was unlike any gun I had ever seen. It hummed with an electric energy and glowed with an artificial blue light.
Summer spotted the weapon and threw her hands in the air.
“What the hell, dad?”
“I’m sorry, but you won’t listen to reason.”
I grabbed the gun out of his hand before I had a chance to hesitate. I pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger.
The recoil sent me flying backward into the wall. His head exploded in a shower of sparks and metal. Summer screamed in shock as her father’s metal body fell to the floor. I rolled over as the two other Ascended came running.
When they both reached the doorway, I fired again. One blast was enough to tear them both to pieces. The blue light on the gun turned to a deep red, and steam blasted out from a vent on the side.
I dropped it and rolled onto my back, trying to catch my breath.
“What the fuck did you do?” Summer asked.
“I saved us. They would have forced us into robot bodies without a second thought.”
“That doesn’t mean you had the right to kill them!”
I sat up, grabbing the gun now that it had cooled down.
“They’re not dead, not really. They always keep a backup of their consciousness on the main server.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Summer asked.
A singular beep broke through the silence, followed by another. It was coming from her father’s decapitated body.
You’ve gotta be kidding me.
“Shit, fuck, shit!” I shouted.
“What is it?”
“You didn’t tell me he was one of the old models!”
“Old models?”
I pulled his shirt up and spotted a seam along the center of his robotic chest. I pressed it down, and it popped open.
It slid to the side to reveal a complex system of wires. A reactor with an LED screen was in the center of the mechanical chaos.
On the screen was a countdown. There were four minutes left.
“Is that a bomb?” Summer asked.
“Sort of; the old models had a nuclear fission reactor designed to self-destruct if the body was damaged beyond repair. A fail-safe for when the Ascended were worried about people stealing their technology.”
Summer knelt down to look closer. I could see the panic in her eyes.
“Can we disarm it?”
“I don’t think so, but if we’re lucky, we may be able to reset the timer. That would give us a chance to escape.”
“How would we do that?”
I ran my hand through the wires, trying to find the one attached to the LED screen. I found two: one red, one yellow.
Fuck.
“One of these controls the timer. If I cut it, the timer will be forced to resort to the battery backup. It will reset the clock. We’ll have about ten minutes to get the fuck out of here.”
“That’s not much time.”
I looked at the timer. Three minutes.
“It’s better than what we’ve got now. You got a knife?”
Summer pulled a switchblade out of her backpack and handed it to me.
“Which wire are you going to cut?” she asked.
Great question.
Choice #2:
Will you choose to cut the red or yellow wire?
To cut the red wire, Click Here (or scroll to ending 2 if reading on the Substack app)
To cut the yellow wire, Continue reading…
I slid the knife under the yellow wire and took a deep breath. I pushed the blade through. My eyes shot down to the timer. It paused, stuck on one minute and five seconds.
There was another beep, and then it reset to ten minutes. I let out a nervous laugh as I stood up.
“Did it work?”
“Yeah, it worked, but we need to go now!”
“Come with me; I’ve got a working car stashed in the underground parking lot.”
“Well, you’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“Just follow me.”
I took the gun just in case. We made our way to the parking lot beneath the radio station. To my utter surprise, the car started right up when she turned the key.
“Don’t look so surprised,” she said, “I know a thing or two about cars. They last a while if you keep up with the maintenance.”
She drove the car up the ramp to the ground level. The Hushed didn’t react as we emerged.
“How long have they been listening to your broadcasts like this?” I asked.
“For as long as I’ve been doing them. Not sure why it keeps them docile, but I’m not complaining.”
“You think it’s your poetry?” I asked.
She scoffed. “Give me a break.”
“I’m serious! It’s beautiful stuff; maybe it calms them down.”
“That’s not how the universe works, Elijah.”
She drove around the parking lot toward the exit. More Hushed blocked it. We would have to drive through them.
“Buckle up and pass me my headphones,” Summer said.
I pulled my seatbelt across my chest and held the gun tightly in my lap. I slid on my headphones and passed Summer hers. I noticed her headphones were wireless.
That battery would eventually become a problem now that she was leaving her home base behind. Course, that was a problem for another time.
She slammed down the gas pedal. The engine roared as the car shot towards the Hushed. Their empty eyes stared blankly at us as the car collided with them. Bodies flew onto the windshield and bounced off the sides.
The ones who managed to hang on furiously slammed their fists on the glass, leaving bloody streaks.
Summer spun the wheel to the side, knocking the stragglers off. We managed to clear the crowd, but a quick glance in the side mirror showed countless Hushed sprinting at full speed behind us.
“Nice job, but we’re still being followed!” I shouted.
“It’s fine, we…” she trailed off.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s the gas tank. There must be a leak or something. We’re just above empty,” Summer said.
“What should we do?” I asked.
“Well, we can keep driving and see if we manage to outrun them. Or…”
“Or, what?”
“We can take away their ability to infect us.”
It took me a second to realize what she was saying.
“Wait, you want to take away our hearing? How?”
Her eyes glanced up toward the rearview mirror.
“I’ve got a screwdriver in my bag. If we rupture our eardrums, that should do the trick.”
“Should?” I asked. I shook my head. “No, no way.”
“You got a better idea? It’s now or never. What do you want to do?”
Choice #3:
Will you try removing your hearing or keep driving until the gas runs out?
To stop the car and take away your hearing, Click Here (or scroll to ending 3 if reading on the substack app)
To drive until the gas runs out, Click Here (or scroll to ending 4 if reading on the Substack app)
Ending 1: Father’s Embr[A]ce
“He’s got a point, Summer,” I said.
She looked at me with disgust in her eyes. I didn’t blame her.
“What the hell are you saying?” she asked.
“Just think about it. There’s nothing out there for us,” I said.
Summer threw her hands in the air.
“You don’t know that!”
Her father laid a hand on his daughter’s shoulder.
“This is the path forward for humanity,” he said.
Summer pushed his hand off and sighed.
“Fine. You want me to upload my brain? I’ll do it, but please, just stop with the religious bullshit.”
Summer pushed past her father. I tried to reach out, but she pushed past me, too. I didn’t blame her.
We rode back with her father in one of the Ascended’s armored vehicles. Their infrastructure was impressive. They had an entire walled city all to themselves.
A place with houses, places to shop, all the things an artificial being could want. Except for food, of course, but they didn’t need things like that anymore.
We arrived at one of the largest buildings in the entire city. Above the doorway, the words “ASCENSION CENTER” were proudly displayed in gold text.
Summer hadn’t said a single word since we left the radio station. That was fine by me. Honestly, I didn’t know what I would say to her. I had given up. This felt like the only way out.
Before long, we were both lying on operating tables beside each other. Strange devices dangled above us. I reached out with my hand and brushed Summer’s shoulder. She turned her head and looked at me with hollow eyes.
“What?” she asked.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said.
She shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
Two Ascended walked into the room, pulled the devices down, and strapped them onto our heads.
“You’re going to feel a little pinch,” one said.
“And then what?” I asked.
“Your whole life begins.”
I watched as Summer laid her head back down. The hulking device above me made a strange whooshing sound before I felt a jolt of hot pain in the center of my skull.
Summer started convulsing on the table beside me. Her arms and legs flailed wildly as foam formed between her lips. Alarms blared all around us.
I tried to call out, but everything was fading. Ascended crowded around her. I heard her father’s voice over an intercom.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked.
“She’s flatlining!” one of the Ascended replied, “I think she’s been poisoned!”
I tried to stay conscious, but I couldn’t fight it. Everything went black.
When I woke up, I felt nothing. Nothing at all. No pain, no sensations, not even the beating of my heart. I lifted my hands and saw metal coated in artificial skin.
My mind reeled. An Ascended stepped into view, waving at me with a plastic smile.
“Hello there! Just take things slow; it’s a little weird the first time.”
“Summer. What happened to Summer?” I asked.
That smile faded.
“She didn’t make it, I’m afraid.”
“I heard something about poison,” I said.
“We believe she took something before leaving the radio station. We’re still trying to figure out what, but it’s clear that it was intentional.”
You figured that was your only way out.
“Can I…have a minute?” I asked.
The Ascended nodded. “Of course, I’ll be right outside.”
I laid back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I knew we had just met, but I had pictured a whole life with her. A future where we didn’t have to keep running, and now? She was gone.
Maybe I made the wrong choice…
Ending 2: [B]urn it All Down
I slid the knife beneath the red wire and took a deep breath. I pushed it up, severed the connection, and waited.
The timer stopped for a brief moment, and then it started again. My heart sank into my chest.
“What’s the matter?” Summer asked.
“It didn’t work.”
“How much time do we have?”
I looked back down at the timer.
“About sixty seconds.”
The color faded from Summer’s face. She looked around the room frantically.
“We gotta go, we need to run!” she said.
I stood up and walked over to her.
“If we get a head start, maybe we can—”
I reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey.”
“Maybe we can go underground?” she asked.
“Summer, look at me.”
Her frantic eyes met mine.
“There’s nothing we can do,” I said.
“How can you be so calm?”
“Sometimes you just gotta know when to fold,” I said.
She started to speak, but I leaned in and kissed her. I felt the tension leave her shoulders.
“I know we just met, but I’ve been listening to you for a year now, and I want you to know something,” I said.
“What is it?”
I glanced down at the timer. Ten seconds.
“I love you, Summer,” I said.
She smiled. “I love you, too.”
The last thing I heard was another beep before everything went black.
Ending 3: Pea[C]e in the Quiet
I stayed quiet. Summer pulled off the road as the car came to a stop. She reached behind her and grabbed her bag.
“Trust me, I think this will work,” she said.
“For both our sake's, I hope it does,” I replied.
She rummaged through the bag. I looked out the side mirror at the approaching horde. They would be here in minutes.
Summer pulled out a screwdriver. It was a Philip's head, but that detail really didn’t matter. She turned the tip toward her ear and held it steady.
“Here goes nothing,” she said.
With a decisive push, she shoved the screwdriver into her ear. She screamed as it ruptured her left ear drum. She pulled it out and did the same to her right ear without hesitation.
She passed me the bloody screwdriver.
“Did it work?” I asked.
She didn’t respond, probably because she couldn’t hear me. She clutched the sides of her head, crying out in pain.
I positioned the screwdriver just outside my left ear.
It’s now or never.
I shoved it in as deep as it would go. I felt my left eardrum tear. Almost instantly, Summer’s cries became distant. Muffled.
I placed the screwdriver near my right ear.
Fuck it.
I shoved it in, and everything went quiet. Pain radiated throughout my skull. I dropped the screwdriver onto my lap beside the gun. I looked over to the side mirror as the horde arrived.
Countless Hushed surrounded us, slamming their fists on the windows. They stared at us with clouded eyes. I could see their mouths moving, but I couldn’t hear the cursed words coming from their lips.
I think it worked!
I looked to my left. Summer had her head on the steering wheel. I reached out to touch her. The second I made contact, her head snapped to the right.
Her eyes were cloudy.
No…
Her lips started moving. Her voice was faint, but it was still there.
I felt a sharp stabbing pain. It struck like lightning in my skull.
My mind filled with words I didn’t recognize.
Words I didn’t understand. And then I lost control.
I was silenced.
Hushed.
Ending 4: Fate [D]efied
Stopping the car felt like suicide. There was no guarantee it would work.
No guarantee running will work, either.
“Keep driving," I said.
“You don’t think we should at least try to make ourselves immune?”
“No, I don’t.”
“You realize we’re going to run out of gas any minute now, right?”
“I’ll think of something.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know!” I shouted.
Summer shook her head, but she kept driving. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the crowd of Hushed still running behind us. We had put some distance between us and them, but they wouldn’t slow down, and they wouldn't get tired.
My mind was racing, trying to come up with any semblance of an idea.
That’s when I saw it.
It started with a flash of blinding light. Then came the shockwave. A blast of wind and sound ripped past the car, lifting it off the ground. I gripped the sides of my seat as the world spun around me.
The blast sent our car careening into a nearby ditch. I flew forward as the airbags exploded outward on both sides of the vehicle. My ears rang, and my vision was blurry, but I was still breathing.
“Summer! Summer, are you okay?” I asked.
I heard a muffled moan beside me. I reached over and disengaged her seat belt before undoing mine.
“We’ve gotta move. Can you walk?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think so.”
We climbed out of the car. My legs were shaking beneath me as I made my way out onto the street. I turned toward the direction we came, expecting to see the Hushed closing in on us.
But they weren’t. Instead, they were running back toward the ruins of the radio station. A cloud of smoke rose into the air where the radio station used to be.
The reactor!
I let out a laugh that was a mixture of shock and relief.
“Holy shit, I forgot about the reactor! The explosion must have convinced them to go back.”
“It was certainly louder than our car,” Summer said.
I ran over and wrapped my arms around her.
“We’re safe!” I said.
“Well, I don’t know about that,” she said.
I stepped back and watched a smile crawl across her face. I didn’t think I’d ever see that smile again.
“We’re safe for now. Let’s get out of here before those Hushed decide to come back.”
Summer nodded. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
We headed off on foot, unsure of the future but certain of one thing: We would live to fight another day.
Together.
Yes! I managed to get an ending where they both survive. Managed not to screw it up. This was great and I honestly would love to see more in this world you’ve crafted. I really enjoyed the dialogue and even had a good laugh from a couple of lines. Excellent work here and I’m eager to read more.
I finished reading all chapters in one sitting. I chose to cut the wire and run but I went back and read the other endings as well. This was a great piece and I absolutely love the choice of endings. You have a talent for writing apocalyptic stories. I can’t wait to read more of your work. I’m so glad we connected on here.