I wasn't sure exactly what heaven was supposed to be like, but I seemed to remember something about there being no pain. Either I misunderstood that part, or I was somewhere else, because the next thing I felt was a heavy ache in my chest. It came again and again, rhythmically hurting me with every breath.

Breath! Wait a minute… breath? I'm… alive. I think.

I struggled to get my dry eyes to open up, and the moment I did, I was overwhelmed with vibrant white light. It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to think. I didn't want to be awake. I wasn't even sure I wanted to be alive… but then I saw her, lying in the next bed over from me.

Josie was here. Alive and breathing.

"Jo… Josie?" I eked out with a cough. She jolted awake, rolling over to face me with excitement.

"Oh, thank God! You're awake!" she said, gingerly sliding her feet to the floor and shuffling over to me. She bent over and hugged me, pressing her face next to mine. Neither of us talked for a while - we just soaked in the moment. I could feel the wetness of her tears against my cheek, and hear the uneven, dramatic pace of her breathing. I reached my right arm up and laced my fingers through her hair, pulling her head in a little tighter. I breathed in through my nose, painfully soaking in the familiar scent of her hair, and suddenly, being alive sounded like a good thing again. I could deal with the aches and bruises.

She pulled away after our long embrace, stroking my cheek as she looked at me through tear-glossed eyes. "We didn't think you were gonna make it," she said, smiling as a tiny droplet slid down her cheek. "You were dead for, I dunno… almost three minutes."

"What happened?" I asked. "Keelan was about to shoot me, and then he took a bullet, and I gutted him… and everything kinda went blurry after that."

"I was aiming for his head," she said, with a shrug. "Kind of a crappy shot when my shoulder's screwed up."

"Are you-"

"I'm okay. I got hit by a grenade blast. Suit protected me for the most part, but it threw me against the wall and I blacked out. When I came around, I saw what was going on with you. I got Taylor down, shot the other two guys. Cho and Avitus got there not long after. We moved you to the med bay here on the ship."

"Wow. That's… thank you. So… are we safe here?"
"Oh yeah. The cavalry arrived a while ago. Ozz and Cho left this morning. I, um… I told them I wouldn't leave until you were better."

I reached up and gently brushed her cheek with the back of my fingers, as I studied her features for the thousandth time. Even war-weary, she was the most stunning sight I'd ever laid eyes on.

"Man… it is good to see your face," I said. She closed her eyes and leaned her head into my touch.

"And it's good to hear your voice," she replied. "It's gotta be hard to talk for you, though…"

"A little," I said with a wince.

"Then don't talk," she whispered. "Just be here with me."
"I can do that."

"You're talking, dummy!"

"Sorry."

"Stop!" She said with a teasing smile. I nodded.

"Can I lay next to you?" She asked. "I just want to be… you know… close to you."

I patted the bed next to me, and she delicately lowered herself beside me, careful to lay her arm across my waist to avoid the bandaged-but-insanely-sore wound on my chest. She sighed a deep, contented sigh, and laid there with me until we both fell asleep.

When I came to Andromeda, I had adventurous, exciting dreams about what I'd do. Exploring untouched alien worlds, uncovering ancient treasures, naming new species. Raking dirt was not on that list of exciting stuff to do. As it turned out, though, being a pioneer involved a little excitement, and a whole lot of raking.

About a month after the Natanus incident, Scott Ryder and his sister found a way to unlock a pivotal piece of ancient tech which activated terraforming stations all over our cluster, including one on Eos. The ecosystem improved dramatically over the following weeks and months - rain became more consistent, temperature variances equalized a little more, clouds became a regular feature in the blue sky. A year and a half after waking up, there was finally a real chance to cultivate sustainable life support on local planets, and that's just what the Initiative did.

The near-disaster on the Natanus sparked a lot of good in the Initiative. With the head start we had on Cerberus, we were able to keep the death toll on the ark to under 80 turians. 80 was a tragedy, to be sure, but out of twelve thousand, it felt like a win. All the races came together to speed the process of moving the rest of the turian cryo pods to the safety of the Nexus. Even the krogan pitched in… reluctantly. Director Tann issued medals of honor to our whole team, and I received an avalanche of thank you cards and gifts from grateful turians who had family members in cryo. I took my medal and hung it on Paladra's tombstone - after all, her death made the Natanus mission possible. Losing her the way I did left a wound that would never fully heal, but it helped to know that her death was in the pursuit of a greater goal. In time, I came to accept my decision on Kadara - getting that data saved literally thousands of lives.

Apex continued the same as before, though not until a thorough mole hunt weeded out the Cerberus operatives inside the system. As it turned out, there were quite a few terrorists imbedded across the Initiative - even in Apex itself. The Nexus leadership didn't take the chance of exiling them and allowing them to regroup on Kadara. They were sentenced to 10 years hard labor on a penal colony mining resources from a large asteroid. Two months later, the protective shielding mysteriously failed and they were all lethally irradiated. No one could prove it, but everyone knew the turians had something to do with it.

Kandros offered me the command of any team I wanted - even Alpha - but I declined. Something about a kiss with death made me want to keep my distance from it a little. Ozz left as well, taking the opportunity to start doing what he really loved - working with plants. He was one of brightest minds in Prodromos, and he loved being recognized for it.

Brann made a full recovery, which is not surprising, because, well - he's a krogan. He and Devin Cho stayed on with Apex, and loved every minute of it. Josie put her marksmanship to use in a more domesticated way, developing a team of wild game hunters based out of Prodromos. They kept the town safe from the dangers of the local wildlife, and provided much-needed meat to our increasingly-native diet.

As for me, I couldn't get away from military life altogether - it was in my blood. And besides that, I was still good at it. Mayor Bradley offered me a high-ranking position in the fledgling Eos militia - which meant I got to train, coach and toughen up farmers, sharpening them into soldiers. I also had a hand-picked scout team that accompanied me on trips around the area, surveying the land, exploring new features, and preparing the way for our outpost's expansion. There was still action from time to time, but my life involved a lot less shooting and being shot at. It was a welcome change of pace.

Whenever I wasn't out on assignment or drilling my troops, I could usually be found with a rake in my hand, working my land. As part of my officer's commission, the mayor granted me a 10-acre plot of mostly flat plain, about a 15-minute drive from Prodromos. It was a great spot - hillside to the north, valley to the south, with a modest pond on the southeast corner. I didn't have a house on it yet, but I did have a quarter-acre bordering the pond fenced off, ready for straight-up farming. Ozz helped me develop a 3-month soil preparation routine, and in time, I'd be growing my own food - melons, peppers, wheat and peanuts. It just needed raking. Lots and lots of blister-producing raking.

I took a break from the incessant motion and wiped the sweat off my brow, as I watched the most beautiful woman on the planet pull up in her rover and get out, walking up the rest of the hill to bring cold lemonade to me.

"Hey there, captain," Josie said with a playful salute. "Tired of raking yet?"
"I'd better not be. I've still got a long way to go."

"How did our ancestors do this? I mean, they had oxen to do work like this, right? Or gas-powered tractors…"

"Well, you go far enough back, they were probably digging with deer bones or something. It's hard work. Anything worth doing usually is."

"You know, you don't have to start with a humongous ranch. You could just, you know, do something easy for once. Or take a day completely off…"

"What, and let down the family name? Never!" I smiled and pulled her in for a kiss. "You know, that dynamic applies to people who marry into the name, too…"

"New galaxy, new rules," she said, teasingly sassy. "Besides, someone would have to actually, I dunno… propose some sort of arrangement before any name-changing would come into the picture. Wink wink."

"All in good time, Jos. All in good time."

She wrapped her arms around me, pressing through my shirt to feel the scar on my chest.

"I'm just glad we've got time," she said. "I love you, Grissom Wade. Don't work too long - I need to kick your butt at pool again tonight."

"Ha! Keep dreaming," I said tousling her hair, before brushing it back out of her face and looking into her eyes. "I love you, Josie. One day, this whole place is gonna be beautiful. Not perfect. Not easy, but it'll be ours."

"I can't wait. For now, though, I'll let you get to it."

I leaned on the handle of my rake as she left, breathing in deep through my nostrils as I surveyed the soil around me. After more than my fair share of blood, sweat and tears, I finally found what I was looking for. Something to explore. Something to cultivate. Something that was mine. I drew in another breath - the ground beneath me was rich and metallic, almost sweet in a way, but with the unmistakable fragrance of 'dirt.' Some would call it unpleasant, but to me, It was refreshing - a new smell for new memories. Good memories. And yet, there was something very familiar about it. In many ways, it reminded me of the red Texas clay from my childhood, but with new, unique elements to it. Kind of like Eos. New for sure… but home.

/ Author's Note /

Well, that concludes one of the possible endings of Apex: Extinction. Did it end up the way you wanted? Wish you could've changed Grissom's mind? Wish different people lived / died / fell in love? You can try any or all of it. The full, branching story has 9 possible endings, each unique. Head over to my web page and check it out!

sites{d o t}google{d o t}com/view/apexextinction

Finally, thank you. Thank you for taking time to share a bit of creativity with me. I truly hope you enjoyed the story, and would love to hear your thoughts on it - good or bad.

-C. Ridley Benbrook