All We Have Left

Alia recalls Travis lying on top of her to protect her from the falling debris until, suddenly, the wind tears her from his arms. She relates that she reached out toward Travis, and he lunged at her with both arms. Suddenly, in a cloud of dust and smoke, she found herself “[…] flying through the air” (347).

The narrative reverts to the present day, and Alia tells Jesse that this was “[…] the last time I saw him” (347). Jesse asked how Alia finally escaped the Tower; Alia responds that she has no idea how she did so, or why she had enjoyed the privilege of survival when so many others had perished. She merely recalls waking up on top of a smoking mountain of rubble, and staggering into the street to join “[…] a few people, just ghosts that moved slow and dazed in the smoke” (347). Alia recollects that she had felt the sense of somebody next to her, holding her hand as she climbed across twisted metal beams and fires to escape; however, because medical personnel had attributed all of her memories to the effect of a concussion, she had never shared this sense of having been in the presence of a guardian with anyone else.