The wafting of air through tubes, the beeping of a machine, the hum of a television, the whispers of a prayer.

This is what my ears woke up to when I reentered this world.

"Please God," I heard a shaky voice next to me. "Help her. They're going to pull the plug this afternoon, and I can't stop them."

I heard him sniffling. It was Ash. It was always Ash.

"I lost mommy, I lost Darius..." he wept. "I even lost my old dad. Please God, I'll do anything. Just, don't let me lose her too."

I moved my hand in the direction of his voice. I opened my eyes and the world took a second for the darkness to get vacuumed away and the white fluorescent lights of the hospital room to reflect a blurry vision of the reality I had returned to.

I felt my hand rest on Ash's. He looked up at me and paused for a second. He was frozen almost, like he couldn't believe that his prayers were answered. For a good ten seconds the only thing moving were the tears down his face.

He said nothing as he reached in to hug me. He held nothing back either. He collapsed into a sob that I'd never expect to come from a boy. But in the end, he was just a boy. We were both children growing up in this tainted world—a world left to us by corrupt adults who wished only to pass on their hatred onto their children so they could keep it alive for the next generation.

I wrapped my arms around him and although I didn't explode into tears, I did feel something building up inside me. That crack from shattered glass...somehow pieces were left hidden beneath the rugs of my mind. It would be impossible to build back the original design—I didn't even remember the shape in which the glass took. But I could at least find a way to put some of the pieces back together.

"I'm sorry Ash," I said.

Ash kept on sobbing. And I thought of his tears as a baptism into my new life—my new mission. I will become the Reaper Core member I was supposed to be—the one Momma Emma would want. I will become the leader of the Reapers...just like my father wanted, but I won't do what he desired. Ash will become the leader of the Locusts, and together, we will use our combined forces to protect the unprotected.

That will be our song, and I'll prove to Momma Emma that when she hears us sing it, it won't be of our dreams, but of our accomplishments.

A black female doctor came in to check on me. She saw Ash crying and started to comfort him. Then she saw my head turn and she dropped her clipboard and ran to get more staff—most of whom spent their time prying Ash away from me while they examined my condition.

***

My body was well taken care of during my coma. However, my legs had atrophied, so it took a couple of days to almost rebuild the strength to walk. Ash treated me like a grandma constantly guiding me around the tunnels of the Hive. Each time I did, we got greeted by the same people that put us in this situation. As much as I wanted to make them feel my pain, many of them already had. Those initiated fully into the Locusts have gone through the same fifth stage. They understood the pain I went through. Many also admired Ash's willingness to step in and help. A few people disagreed and said that I was cheating, but they were of the minority. They believed that Ash's willingness to bear the brunt of the pain to save my life was an act that they had rarely seen, and the few times they had seen it, it was always a mother stepping in to save her teenage child.

After all, there was no rule against aiding the person through the Tunnel of Punishment. But who would want to bear the load of another member's beating? Not even the apostles sought to be crucified alongside Jesus. They mostly sat there and watched.

Even though I disliked Ash treating me like an elderly woman who needed help crossing the street, I also liked his company. He caught me up with what was happening at school. My family kept wondering what was happening to me, so he took over my phone and texted them while I was in a coma if they asked where I was. With Lay, and Ka usually absent from the house, sometimes for long periods of time, they didn't pay it a second thought, although I believe my father had a hand in things. He knew what I was up to, and while my mother would probably be concerned, he would've found ways to cover up my tracks.

On my third day of rebuilding my strength, I was cleared by the doctor to be discharged. I changed into my clothes and Ash was there ready to escort me back home to my family.

I shook my head. "I'm ready for the next stage."

Ash's face was hard to read. He seemed a bit disappointed, and at the same time he saw this coming. "I thought you'd say that. But, are you sure you want to do the sixth stage so quickly?"

"Does it involve another ass whooping?" I asked.

"No," he muttered.

"Will it kill me?"

"Perhaps—if you have a weak stomach..." Ash looked at me with a bit of concern that I waved off.

"I've killed people in cold blood," I said heading out the door. "I don't have a weak stomach."

I left the room and Ash followed saying, "That's not what I meant."

I made my way to the tattoo parlor where I found Auntie finishing up assigning a fresh batch of recruits with their first stage of obtaining $5,000 in 24 hours. I looked at the batch of noobs like they were kids, when some of them were grown adults. It felt like so long ago that I was just embarking on this journey, and I spilled the beans to my father making this journey a secret mission.

Auntie complained to Devin about the inflow of recruits. "After the other recruitment centers were attacked, they've all been flocking to this one. We might have to quicken the expansion of the tunnel network to accommodate the influx."

Devin spotted me and Ash come in. Devin's surprised look caused Auntie to turn around. "Look at you. Little miss miracle strolling up in here. Shouldn't you be resting or doing your laps around the tunnel?"

"I'm here for the sixth stage," I said.

Auntie crossed her arms hugging her breasts. "You must be messed up in the head. You just got out of a coma three days ago and you want to continue with the next stage?"

"Remember our deal?" I taunted her. "Or are you scared I'll survive your next stage and get this much closer to ending you."

Ash placed a hand on my shoulder. "Sorry Auntie, she's still a bit whacko from the coma."

I gave him my stank eye. Did he just call me whacko?

"If you're alluding to your coma," Auntie tapped her foot. "I had no role in your weakness. Had my nephew not stepped in to save your sorry ass, you would've died. He was hurt too you know. Have you seen his chest?"

"Auntie," Ash stepped back from me. "It's okay."

I turned around and ripped open his shirt. Under any other circumstances, Ash would've probably liked this. Then I saw the white bandages wrapped around his entire abdomen and chest like he was half-mummy. I took a step back and he felt exposed. Blood stained parts of the bandages around his stomach and even his back area.

"Broken ribs, internal hemorrhaging, a punctured lung," Auntie said with a voice bars away from sounding like a cry. "My boy almost died trying to save you. And for what? For you to kill him in the end?"

Her words didn't really register much. My focus was on Ash. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Ash went to a box in the corner and pulled out an olive shirt that was given out to the residents in the tunnels. "I didn't want you to worry."

The glass—don't shatter the little that's left.

I took a step back. I looked outside into the atrium. Part of me wanted to run. If I was responsible for Ash almost dying nearly three times, then having him around me was dangerous for him. And I couldn't lose him—not like Noa. I'd rather run away than let him die in my arms.

I felt Ash's hand on my shoulder, and he pulled me back to him. "It's not your fault Zay. I chose to help you. You're my best friend. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

"Ash," I stuttered. "I think I should..."

He hushed me. He knew what I was going to say. "I will get better, and after a while you get used to eating mashed potatoes."

The poor boy was eating mashed food because of how badly damaged his intestines were from the beating. Only evil organizations did this to their members, even as a test of resilience.

He was right. If I left him alone to this organization—they'd kill him. I needed to be there for him...to protect him as much as he had been by my side to save me.

I looked to Auntie and wanted to strangle her, but I knew we both had one thing in common. We both cared too much for Ash. After all my family was doing to the Locusts, I could see why she feared me. She didn't trust me. She felt that I wasn't changed. She believed that upon the last stage I would opt to kill her.

That had yet to be determined.

But I was determined to finish this initiation process. "Stage six, now."