Gwen, Seb, and Alice already looked pretty exhausted. The others could still run, but their speed had clearly decreased considerably from when they first left the colony. Only Miro looked less tired. He had already come a long way from the others while carrying the torch.
"Looks like he's already on that thing!" Eric exclaimed as he raised his flashlight.
The escape pod was already visible in the distance.
"Come on, we have to hurry!" Manu, who ran at the back, shouted.
"No!!!" I raised my voice in frustration. "You have to turn around so you don't get hit by the radiation-emitting explosion!!!"
"Ugh!!!" Gwen tripped over something and fall. Kat immediately stopped to help her. Manu, who was behind Gwen, also crouched down to help.
The others had slowed down to check what was happening, but Gwen immediately shouted at them. "Don't mind me! Keep running!"
After that, Gwen vomited so hard that Kat and Manu didn't even have time to ask how she was.
Bright light is seen from the shore of the lake. The thruster of the escape pod had already started emitting propulsive energy.
Eric hastily braked his steps. "Stop, we can't do anything more!!!"
The others also stopped, except for Miro. The big tall man exclaimed. "We won't know if we don't try our best!"
"We have to run as far as possible now! So that when the explosion occurs, we are not exposed to radiation from the explosion! The radiation has a fairly wide range!"
"Listen to Eric, Miro!" I'm getting desperate.
Luckily, Miro stopped and turned around, starting to run in the opposite direction. He immediately grabbed Gwen, limping on Kat and Manu's arms.
Now it was Alice's turn to fall, and Seb and Eric to help her up.
They ran for a long time, but the explosion had not yet appeared. Only the sound of the escape pod sliding and falling into the water could be heard.
"Haven't we been running long enough!?" Tom asked breathlessly. "Don't you think this has gone far enough?"
"No, you don't understand. You can't predict how big the escape pod will be. As I said, we have to run as far as possible." Eric chimed in with a worried tone.
My colonists are getting tired. Even Miro is showing signs of exhaustion. It was only natural because they had been running a long time ago, almost to the lake, and now had to turn around.
And finally, a wisp of bright light appeared from the direction of the lake.
"Don't look back!" Eric gave a warning. "That would be so dazzling!"
The clump of light grew rapidly, making a booming sound. My colonists covered their ears because the sound of the explosion was so loud. They also lost their balance as the ground shook violently. Even Miro almost dropped Gwen because of it.
"Keep running! We don't know how far the radiation will spread!" Eric reminded all his comrades.
The booming sound continued. The situation becomes like in the daytime because the light is so bright. My colonists kept running without stopping. Occasionally some of them fell and had to be helped by others.
A few minutes passed, the light dimmed little by little until it was gone entirely. At that moment, Eric raised his hand.
"Okay, we stop here." The man said breathlessly.
They all lay down on the grass or just sat around. No one stood up at all. There is still a white light coming from the lake, although it is much smaller and dimmer.
"That...." Manu was still trying to catch his breath. "Near our house, there is something like that... The sky ship that Kat was on... Near our house, there is something hazardous like that shit."
"There must be certain conditions for something like this to happen. Some kind of chemical reaction, I don't really understand myself." Eric Gulped. "I think we're still safe."
"You can't convince me at all, Eric." Leva also replied.
"Where are you going?" Miro asked Gwen, who was walking with a limp. Her left knee continued to bleed.
The woman glared at me, approaching me.
"Yes, I did all of this for you, Gwen," I answered before she asked, trying not to think about how many lives had been lost in the explosion. Even if there are still survivors, eventually they will die from radiation.
"That was genocide." Gwen hissed with tears in her eyes. "How could you do that?"
Leva stood up, frowning. "Who are you talking to, Gwen?"
Gwen didn't respond to Leva and continued to stare at me.
"I can't stand to see you have to make this sacrifice, Gwen. I don't want you to do anything against your heart." I answered, desperately holding back my tears.
"C-could she be communicating with this tribe's guardian spirit?" Alice gulped. "She is psychic, right?"
"They're not bad people," Gwen spoke to me again with more tears in her eyes. "Their leader just wants to get the girl of his dreams as his consort. He wants the girl to be his companion to get through the tough days of being a king."
"And he does it without asking how you feel. He's selfish."
"Selfish is not a worthy reason for you to destroy his kingdom." The blonde woman shook her head. "Ah, if I had known it would be like this, I would not have seduced you, accompanying you in your lonely times. If only you weren't so attached to me, you wouldn't have done this evil thing."
I took a deep breath, unable to hold back my tears anymore. "I didn't say that what I did was right. I don't care if you say I'm evil. The important thing is that I saved you from the life you didn't want."
Gwen's chin dropped slightly. She started walking backward. "Sorry, but I don't want to see you anymore, let alone talk to you. This is all over for us. After this, you won't be able to communicate with me anymore."
"When I decided on this, I knew the risks," I said that with pain in my heart. "It's okay if you don't want to see me anymore. The important thing is that I can still see you. And I apologize for that."
The woman no longer responded, turning to her comrades.