I'm Human After All

"Zz… Last eagle en route, descending in the prepared zone."

In less than an hour, Dominic found himself in the enormous soccer stadium that had been loaned to serve as a temporary base before moving to the island they had identified as an ideal place to live.

Dominic descended, looking at perhaps more than a thousand people in motion, all with assigned tasks, which was quite surprising to see.

"Isn't it incredible?" Stuart approached Dominic and pointed beyond the heights. "We have snipers ready to exterminate any infected that transform within this place; the protocols are the strictest, and the soldiers are always moving about."

"Gather your best men; call Stuart and Sergeant Castro." Dominic surveyed the surroundings before nodding and letting everyone reunite with their families.

The soldiers who had been with him at the base were now embracing their families, whom they had brought to this place with effort, all to establish a strong dominion. The roots of what he wants to achieve must reach very deep beneath the earth for the tree to be stable.

All those smiles, tears, and shouts were something Dominic put aside because he felt simply empty. What does he have left in this world? His father is most likely dead; he killed his girlfriend, leaving only an empty promise that he had considered many times not to follow through with.

But now that he sees everyone being happy, including families and people who, without him, would probably be dead by this point in time, it generates a sense of achievement in Dominic that he didn't expect to feel.

Dominic's interests were to build something lasting that would keep him focused on ignoring the pain. He valued life to such an extent that it would be impossible for him to take his own life; when he tried to commit suicide at the most painful point in his life, it wasn't a coldly calculated decision.

Everything is clear now: Dominic will seize this second life given to him and ensure to expand his dominion beyond what any other man would dare.

But now he needed to rest; having killed those sleeping people was something that weighed on Dominic more than he had initially imagined.

"Dominic!" Alicia, who watched Dominic walk away in the distance, quickly followed him. She simply wanted to know how he was and thank him for everything he had done.

"Alicia, don't go away." Madison wanted to stop her daughter, but it was too late.

Just as she wanted to go after her, she was stopped by Travis and said, "Maddy, stop. Let her be with Dominic."

"But he'll teach her bad things." Madison didn't know how to express herself.

Travis shook his head and said, "They understand each other better than anyone in this place; they have lost people who were special to their lives, and it's good that they can process that pain together."

Madison fell silent; she knew that Dominic was the kind of person who could easily survive all this. Few people have the qualities of a leader, and Dominic has them all.

When Alicia saw Dominic heading upstairs, she ran after him, and after not knowing where he had walked, she began searching from room to room.

But after several minutes of searching, she didn't find him, and just as she was about to give up, she heard something heavy falling to the floor. "Dominic..."

Crack!

Upon opening a door that had been closed, Alicia could see Dominic on the floor smoking a cigarette. This wouldn't have been so normal if the wall weren't covered in blood and Dominic's knuckles weren't bruised.

"Damn, what the hell did you do?" Alicia ran to where Dominic was and took his left hand, trying to ascertain if the injuries were more serious than they seemed.

Dominic, for his part, leaned against the wall where the blood had marked and, after exhaling cigarette smoke through his mouth, said, "They'll all be safe soon."

Alicia picked up the bandages from the floor and began applying them around Dominic's hand, who until now had shown no sign of pain.

"Do you want to die?"

"I've done bad things my whole life here, and I think of all the people I've killed; none of them deserve to live less than me." Dominic told Alicia about the sick people they had left behind, what he did, and everything he would do to protect the people outside.

Very few understood that Dominic's need wasn't to be a hero but to cling to something to give meaning to life.

But if he continued to cling to pain and sacrifice, he wouldn't live much longer.

Alicia sat next to Dominic; she hadn't mentioned anything until now. After a while, she looked at Dominic and said, "You've had mercy on those people; no one else could have shouldered that burden more than you."

Dominic remained silent, and at this, Alicia said, "If we let ourselves be guided by actions someone would consider selfish, no one in the world would be a saint; perfection is not something that favors us. It only matters to survive and move forward. I know you've done incredible things, but I and many others won't let you carry all the burden."

"Those you've saved need your ideas; they require what you know to keep surviving, and if you've brought them here, you shouldn't leave them behind." Alicia had been watching Dominic's decline, and knowing that both suffer from similar things, she would find a way for both of them to move forward.

Dominic smiled, tucked the pack of cigarettes into one of his pockets, and said, "You're more understanding than 90% of the women I've met; you surprise me."

"Then you don't know me enough." Alicia smiled as she too hid the pain she needed to leave behind as soon as possible.

"Do you want to learn how to kill walkers?"

Alicia looked at Dominic and asked, "Is that what they're called?"

"I gave them that name." Dominic stood up because he had caused enough useless commotion to continue doing so. In the end, he had to endure all that pain within him and process it when necessary.

Alicia smiled; she had talked enough with Dominic to change the pace of his thoughts and at least lead them in a better way.

Dominic realized he wasn't as insensitive as he thought he was; after all, he was only human.

He shouldn't assume the guilt of some people who feel pain; he wouldn't be the one to bear that weight because there was still a long way to go.

From this moment on, he wouldn't lie to himself; no matter who he ended up being, he would make it all worthwhile.