Bittersweet dreams

Well I wrote this way back at the start of the year and actually finished it a couple of months ago. I was playing Gears of War at the time and thus took the location ideas from that. Actually the story was meant to go in a completely different direction to the one it did...but I took liberties and ended up with this. By the way its never been edited and I don't have the time now so you'll have to make do with my apalling typing errors. Enjoy.
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Sywryn stared absent mindedly at the sky, walking the little trodden path between the rows of derelict buildings from memory. She checked her footing every now and then just to make sure she wouldn’t trip over a fresh piece of debris or a sunken piece of cracked tarmac. Of all the things she could do without, tripping over and making a fool of herself was high on the list. The sky above her was inky black, not the natural black of night but the ill-fated black of something blocking out the light. Trails of it coiled across the sky like oil slicks on water. Sywryn wondered what it would feel like to run her hand through it, now that she thought about it it looked almost too thick to be hanging there like that. Stepping around the skeleton of a burnt out car she held her hand up to the sky, it seemed so pale against the darkness, pale like everyone who had been born afterward. She stopped walking, brushing back a stray lock of her mahogany hair that had escaped its bindings. Every now and then the streams of black would slither away from one another revealing a patch of yellow-orange sky behind it. Sunset…..whatever that meant. She didn’t realise how long she’d been standing there until someone called to her.

“Hey Sywryn? Come on we don’t want to leave you behind!” It was enough to prise her from her thoughts. Up ahead her three squadmates stood in a rough triangle at the edge of what had once been a town square. Their formation was perfect, even though they were only waiting for a few seconds, eyes in all directions just encase. It always amazed her that people could slip so easily into protecting their lives if they had to do it often enough and she knew she was no exception. She shook her head and sighed, jogging to catch up with the waving figure who wore a slight smile on his face.

“Sorry…..I’ve just never seen the sun before……..Every time I come up here I expect to catch a glimpse of it…….” She said, her tone almost wistful. Out here though contemplation didn’t matter for anything and her squad leader was all too quick to point this out.

“And you aren’t likely too, not with the nemacysts inking the sky. Being in the wastes is dangerous enough without standing still, we need to move on.” A slight British accent showed through in the dull rumble of his voice. Of the four Sywryn was the only one not from the country.

“I know…..but still, it would be nice to not feel cold just once.” She knew he was right, as usual but it was hard to keep the sadness out of her voice. Of course she knew it was silly to be sad over loosing something she never had but she’d always been like that. Frost turned, waving them forward and back into formation giving Sywryn the impression the matter was closed. The wind picked up a little, catching the long strands of his silver hair and flinging them about. His sword too gleamed dully in the permanent twilight that surrounded them. Stood up straight the weapon was taller than most men and almost as broad as Sywryn’s chest, it was testament enough to his strength that he was even able to carry it. Just looking at it made Sywryn’s arms ache. The strength of the man known as Frost was broadly known though and having it close by made Sywryn feel as safe as possible as a person could surrounded by the gutted remains of an entire civilisation……..Even if he could be crass and cold at times she was glad to have him as her captain.

“I guess the captain remembers it though…….do you sir?” The newest member of her squad, Daelan. His rifle was slung leisurely across his boyish shoulders. Slightly tussled brown hair, a strong build and blue eyes marked him out as the picture perfect hero, it was a shame he never acted like one. Of the four Sywryn had heard he was the only one who had no command at all over magic, she also heard that was precisely why Frost had requested him, a man without magic learned to survive by other means. But tactical reasons didn’t bother the young woman much, she was simply glad to have someone to talk to in her squad. It was hard to say who was the chillier of her two remaining allies but sharing mealtimes with them could be…..dull at best. Frost turned his head slightly but didn’t stop moving, the look on his face made Sywryn wonder if he was going to elaborate at all. He fixed Daelan with a piercing blue gaze. He visibly wilted under its power. Sywryn tried very hard to hide her smile behind her hand. Frost’s glares could do to a young recruit what his namesake could do to a summer flower. She felt rather sorry for him actually.

“Indeed.” He finally said after a pause. “But the sun is not what I miss most.” Sometimes Sywryn forgot that Frost was so much older than them, almost twice her age. The lines on his alabaster face were proof enough though, hell, the scars were more proof than that. You had to live a long time to collect that many. In her role as a medic Sywryn had seen them all more than once, some of them it made her wince just to look at him, some of the others made her wonder how he’d survived at all. But survive he had and it was only another reason why Sywryn trusted him so much. Someone who could survive that long had to know what they were doing to the point that no-one really questioned it anymore.

“What do you miss most?” Sywryn asked, her curiosity piqued. He just shrugged.

“Freedom perhaps……….to not have vicious beasts stalking the remains of the world. I try not to think about it, I may have been around to see it but I was still only a child during E-day.” He too looked to the sky, then to the shadowy rises of ruined buildings either side of him. It was all any of them except Frost had ever known. “what things mattered to me then seem pointless now.” Sywryn gave the back of Frost’s head a curious look with her mis-coloured eyes. One silver, the other a perfect sapphire blue; like Frost’s silver hair it was her physical trait that marked her as a magic user. It was hard for her or anyone else to imagine Frost as a child. If she tried to imagine him playing she could only imagine him doing it with his sword…….somehow she didn’t think even Frost’s parents would have allowed that…..She certainly hoped not anyway. Judging by the slight smirk on Daelan’s face it seemed he was thinking the same thing.

“I can’t imagine you as a kid Captain.” It was obvious Daelan was trying to inject some cheer into the conversation but Sywryn knew there was precious little to be had anymore, especially out her amongst what was nothing more than a graveyard for millions of people.

“Most people assume I never was one……..” The group fell silent after that. Talking about childhood was rarely easy for anyone, for those still alive they tended to dwell on what they lost. And for those born after E-day, in the underground metropolises built to shelter the survivors they still had to grow up very fast. Sywryn remembered seeing her first corpse when she eight and it still made her feel sick to her stomach, she cast her first spell not longer after that and held her first weapon perhaps a week later. Her first battle had been an accidental encounter when she was fourteen, memories of that day still rose whenever she was alone and quiet, it gave her nightmares. Shuddering she tried to push the unwanted thoughts from her mind and concentrate on something else. Sywryn looked to Alexandra, her fourth comrade. Her gaze was locked straight ahead and blank as always, shoulder length corn coloured hair flapped in the wind. Garbed all in black her pale skin and hair seemed to stand out all the more, the effect was only sharpened when blood began to spill. In truth the woman scared her, never saying a word unless she had to, never making eye contact unless she had to. The knowledge of both her and Frost’s past was all too clear in her mind, the only two survivors from an entire battalion that had been wiped out in one botched attack and defense after another. Two out of a thousand. She couldn’t imagine what that must feel like. But just once she wanted her to say something friendly to set her less than wholesome suspicions about the woman to rest. She felt the silence become uncomfortable, broken only by the wind howling through the holes in the rotten brickwork.

“Even without the sun it’s nice to breathe fresh air again…..everything in the city is so dry.” She spoke out loud even though she was really just thinking it to herself. It sounded kind of stupid the moment the words left her lips. She watched frost sniff the air, his brows furrowing.

“It smells of burnt stone and blood……..much like any part of the wastes.”

“Not everyone has your hyper senses captain.” Daelan took a deep breath of the air for himself. “It smells fine to me.”
“Whatever, need I remind you that Locusts hunt by sound?” The mention of the word in Frost’s gruff voice forced Sywryn’s skin to crawl, suddenly she felt as if hundreds of pairs of animalistic eyes were boring holes in her back. It only made it worse that this was probably true. Her eyes flicked nervously to the shadows that had free reign in the gloom, she couldn’t see any reptilian or monstrous shapes there but that didn’t mean anything. She hated this feeling and brought a little of her magic closer to the surface. It was healing magic and wouldn’t hurt anything but the warmth it brought was comforting compared to the dusty chill of the air she’d just called ‘fresh’. Her left hand tightened around the handgun at her waist; now that was a little more reassuring. Up ahead Frost called for a halt.

“Does the life sign show up any clearer on the scanner?” Daelan checked the flat pad on the utility belt slung around his waist. She watched his gaze travel into a nearby building. The paintwork on the sign was peeling and almost completely faded but she could just make out the words ‘hotel Grandia’ emblazened in what had probably been once red and gold.

“In there captain, not moving for the moment. Basement……..50 metres.” She could see every possible tactical scenario rolling across behind Frost’s eyes.

“Very well, Alexandra on point, I’ll bring up the rear.” He paused a moment, slipping his massive sword into his hands. “This is the first survivor we’ve found in months but it is not worth the lives of my squad. It seems quiet for now but eyes and ears open, be ready to retreat quickly.” They nodded.

“Keep noses open as well, I’ve heard these guys smell like the buggery.” Daelan muttered to her as they slid into a rough line.

“Quiet.” Even Sywryn had to agree with Frost on that one. The shift to battle readiness was almost tangible, their weapons were drawn, their minds on alert as much as their bodies. Sywryn had been on almost half a dozen of these rescue missions and only twice had they returned the survivor alive to the city. The prospect of four men and women carrying a wounded or mortally ill body only screamed an open buffet for the locusts. She watched Alexandra slide her katana out of it’s sheathe and edge forward into the door with a lithe, dancer’s grace. A moment later she waved Daelan forward and she followed him, grateful to have Frost as a shield behind her. That being said she didn’t want to see him hurt or any of the others, being a medic didn’t entitle them to get wounded and she to simply blink it away.

The floor of the hotel was home to rain water and old, dead leaves. The pungent smell of rot and mildew permeated the air, almost making her gag. As she crept forward an almost dead silence fell over them, if she were Frost she would have been able to hear her team-mates shallow breathing. The carpet had turned to mush and squelched underfoot, rotten pieces of paper were strewn across a counter that had once been ornate. If she looked closely enough there even cups and saucers resting on the tables or lying on the floor. Exactly where they had fallen when people had scrambled in terror so many years ago, it was humbling in a way to think that time had preserved their apocalypse so perfectly for them. Alexandra paused ahead of her with her hand on a doorknob, Daelan took up position behind her with his gun trained. She took a deep breath and held it, she was never sure if something would be waiting to pounce on the other side…….in this case the smell probably had something to do with it as well. The door squeaked in protest as she nudged it open, rotten would groaning in protest as it swung around rusty hinges. At first there was only silence from the basement but none of them could miss the scuffle down below, far too loud to be caused by one of the animals that they might find every now and then. She caught a glimpse of the faint smile on Alexandra’s face as she crept down the stairs, wondering just what the hell it was she found so amusing about all this. She’d seen it before on her, every time they faced locusts it was there but Sywryn just couldn’t understand how anyone could find fighting fun. It scared her to death and it had only been in the last few months she’d learned to stop her hands from shaking when firing her gun. Even Frost didn’t enjoy it and he must have killed more locusts than she had hairs on her head. Sywryn hated pain…..maybe that was the reason. It was easy to kill locusts, they didn’t look or act anything like humans but sometimes when she lay awake after a nightmare she’d wonder how it would feel to be riddled with bullets or cleaved in two by Frost’s massive sword. She hated thinking things like that as well.
“Just stop thinking.” She whispered to herself, descending into the dank darkness of the cellar.

“Light.” Frost commanded curtly. Alexandra raised her hand, a small sphere of white light forming there and drifting up to hang above her head. Ironically the cellar was in better shape than the hotel above, most of the stonework was still intact. “Daelan?”

“We should be right on top of it.” He said, checking his scanner.

“Alright, Daelan check for other exits from this cellar, the rest of us will spread out and search.” Sywryn did as she was told, sticking as close as she could to Alexandra’s handy light source. She slipped past an old wine rack, still filled with bottles of all shapes and sizes. The wood looked like it’d crumble if she so much as touched it, the bottles themselves were coated with a layer of dust and grime. She began to relax a little; at least the room itself seemed safe enough but her fingers were still tight around the trigger. Something else lay next to it and she bent down to examine it more closely. Just a thin white piece of fabric. She picked it up gently but it didn’t crumble in her hands like she expected, she turned it over and over and noticed there was a simple floral pattern around the hem and a tiny splash of blood near the top. Someone had definitely been here recently, someone in a hurry from the looks of how it had been torn away. Alexandra’s voice grabbed her attention.

“Frost, these boards have been pulled away recently.” Her voice was quiet, sad, as It always was, even when she said the simplest of things. She and Frost crossed quickly, Daelan reappeared from around a corner all of them clustering by the hole in the wall. “There’s no rot around the edges.” True enough there wasn’t, but there were flecks of dried blood around the edges.

“Someone pried these off with their bare hands…….” Sywryn whispered quietly. “Maybe there’s a space behind the wall. I’m small enough to crawl in………I wonder if someone was hiding here from the Locusts…….or us.” She looked up at Frost for permission, just marvelling at the lengths some people would go to live. If this could even be called living, she thought bitterly. It wasn’t much better than the life of an insect, crawling around the dirt, always hunted by enemies you had no hope of finding. Most of the survivors they found were traumatised and it could take months or even years for them to recover. Some never recovered at all. She’d seen it, the way they jumped at shadows, took their food and hid in corners to eat, slept with their eyes open……..it could be morbidly fascinating to watch them. Sywryn cursed the cruelty of it all………it just wasn’t fair! Frost nodded. Getting down on her hands and knees she managed to pull herself through the narrow opening, snagging the corner of her trousers on the wood. Alexandra’s light filtered through the gaps in the boards, just enough for her to see by. She crawled forward and found herself in a little opening, perhaps six feet square. Spider’s webs dangled from every surface, fortunately for her she’d never seen enough spiders to hate them. She could just make out a shape, huddled in the corner. She sat perfectly still until her eyes adjusted to the dark. Then she was able to make out a blanket and the small hand that gripped it and finally the top of a face that peeked out from the top.

“I found her……my god, she’s just a little girl……..” How had she survived out here? It seemed like a miracle. Her voice came through muffled but the others heard it as well. Sywryn crept forward slowly, trying to seem the least threatening she could. She had almost reached her when the little girl screamed. Screamed and tried to push herself back into the wall away from her.

“Dammit!” she heard Frost’s hissed voice from the other side of the wall. “Grab her quickly Sywryn, the locusts will hear this.”

“Just, wait a minute Frost, we’re terrifying her……..I only need a minute.” Sywryn tried to get a hold of her but she wriggled and squirmed, kicking and clawing with torn nails. Fighting like a caged animal…..on instinct alone. Finally she managed to get both arms around her emaciated waist and held tight. “Shhhhh, it’s alright……it’s alright, we’re here to help.” She stroked a hand through matted hair, rubbing a soothing circle on the child’s back with the other. The struggling slowly began to die away but Sywryn had no idea whether she just didn’t have the energy or if she understood what she was saying. “You’re safe now, you’re safe……….shhhhh.” Sywryn really did have a soothing effect when she put her mind to it and right now she was giving everything she had. She looked down at the girl she held tightly; the grime and dirt smeared on her face; her eyes dead and empty within their sockets; the sickly pallor of her skin. Her body shook as if silently sobbing but no tears fell. Something inside her ached to see anyone like this, it just…..wasn’t right. She managed to slowly coax open the girls tightly clenched fists, revealing two bloody gashes on the palms with the tell-tale signs of infection lingering around the edges. “Did she do this just so she could hide?” Sywryn wondered. She concentrated, the warm glow of her magic resurfacing again. A faint blue light glowed in her plams as she pressed them gently to the wounds. Almost immediately the flesh began to draw together, the angry inflammation and swelling dying back along with it until only smooth new skin, crusted with blood remained.

“There, does that feel better?” She said softly, smiling and patting her on the head. Like she expected the girl made no response.

“Sywryn? How is she?” She was surprised to hear Daelan’s vice instead of Frost but it reminded her other people existed.

“Physically she’s alright……..malnourished as you’d expect but…..” She sighed. “Mentally I can’t tell.”

“Very well.” Frost this time. “But we need to go now, there are Locusts on the scanner. Most likely they heard the scream.” Sywryn gulped but didn’t need telling twice. The hard part would start now but, looking down at her charge Sywryn didn’t know if she could bear to lose a child to the Locusts. She tucked her gun back into it’s holster and lifted the girl into her arms as she emerged from the tunnel, coming face to face with the usual frown, worry and slightly insane smirk she was usually met with just before combat. She had no idea what expression she wore but Sywryn was fairly sure it wasn’t pleasant. She began to chew her bottom lip, something she always did when she was nervous, awaiting her orders. She watched as Frost made his way to the base of the stairs, hands gripping the hilt of his sword tight enough to make his already pale hands go white. He turned back to them, cold blue eyes burning with something Sywryn couldn’t make out, all she knew is that when his eyes seemed to freeze over like that blood would be spilt.

“We move back to the city in protection formation. No-one is to stray too far from Sywryn and the girl.” He barked his orders with practiced efficiency leaving Sywryn to wonder how many times he’d given them……….and how many times they’d failed to save anyone.

“Captain……..should I carry the girl? We can move faster that way.” Daelan shifted anxiously from foot to the other, the safety on his rifle already off. The slowly rising urgency of the bleeps on his tracker wasn’t helping anyone’s nerves.

“No, I need your rifle. The more you kill before they reach us the less fighting we have to do. After that protect Sywryn. Go now, we have no time.” Frost’s tone left no room for argument, there was no point. They made their way back to the surface, tightly knit and alert. But Sywryn found herself distracted, not buy the obvious danger she was walking into but by the bundle she cradled tightly to her chest. The girls eyes were wide open, fixed on a point straight ahead of her as if paralyzed with fear. Sywryn could see it easily in her eyes, fear of locusts….and them. She didn’t blame her, if someone had swooped down and pulled her from her protective hole, dragging her into a daylight that meant only easier hunting for their enemies she’d be terrified too. Soft sounds could be heard from the ruins as she emerged. Unpleasant sounds, like the chirping of angry cockroaches. It played with the edges of her senses, not to mention her nerves, battle was inevitable now and sometimes she just wished they’d strike and get it over with. Her team-mates had spread out around her, shielding her and she trusted them but as she looked from one to the other she wished that just once she could have the chance to protect them. She could fight, she knew she could but being coddled like this made her feel so….pathetic. She had to resists the urge to try and reach around the girl for her own gun. The air was thicker now, filled with a tension that gave her an overwhelming urge to run. She was glad Frost had broken into a jog ahead of her, staying still felt like trying to keep your hands on a hot stove. Clutching the tiny girl to her chest Sywryn followed suit.

“You’ll be fine soon….you’ll see. These people do this all the time, they’ll protect you.” She whispered to her, stroking her hand through a mane of matted her. If only she believed it. A dry breeze whipped at her hair, minutes passed as they crept along beneath a sky that was still the same un-relenting shade of inky black. It seemed the only sound was the thumping of her own heart within her chest, nothing else for her to focus on. Even the chittering in shadows had died away.

“Makes you wish they’d just get it over with, doesn’t it.” Daelan muttered, his voice clearly anxious. She heard a click from his rifle. “Dammit, if there’s anything I hate more than these bugs it’s waiting for ‘em to show up. You can smell them right captain, where are they?” Sywryn didn’t want to know. Ahead of them a building had collapsed across the road, narrowing it and forcing them to bottleneck through it. She bit her lip as her turn came, expecting to feel the pain of claws and her side since no-one was there to stop it. But nothing came.

“They hide in the shadows, waiting, they’re curious. That’s how we know they’re intelligent.” Sywryn tried to listen to the sound of his voice, recognising the familiar sight of the burnt out Jeep wrangler that marked a point maybe two hundred metres from the airlock into the city….and safety. “We’re almost to the city……here they come, I can hear them.” He shifted the weight of his sword more easily into his hands and slowed to a stop. “Daelan, watch your fire……..”

A shape leapt at him from the ruins, its form nothing more than a blurred shadow, moving faster than Sywryn’s mismatched eyes could even track. It leapt with a feral scream, hurting her ears as it sailed through the air. But whatever speed it managed was not enough. Frost’s sword bit through its flesh, cleaving the creature in two and adding another crack into the old concrete as the weapon sailed in an almost unstoppable arc. Sywryn had no time to marvel at the skill her commander fought with, more were coming from the shadows now, darting out with an animalistic grace that belied their monstrous forms. Twisted piles of grey flesh, eyes sunken within faces that were so scarred and bloated they could barely be called a head. Some bounded closer on all fours, others lumbered toward them on two legs but with so many it didn’t seem to matter. Their arms were blades, as sharp and deadly as Alexandra’s katana, flashing red with the blood of her first kill already. It was the sounds that always got to her, the squelching, the screaming, the growls and roars that always filled her ears. This time was no exception, as the racket of battle poured over her all she could do was crouch down, shielding the little girl from enemies she was equally helpless to defeat. She shook in her arms, echoing a primal fear that it had taken Sywryn almost ten years to curb. She had to watch though, something inside her wouldn’t let her look away, something more than her training as a medic that meant she could run from wounded to wounded even in the thick of battle. Her eyes followed Frost for a while and the ever growing pile of mutilated corpses surrounding him, his silver hair billowing like a sheet with each strike; then they darted to Alexandra, carving up her opponents with needle like precision. She paused for a moment, her eyes closing, her sword dropping to her side before a stream of fire leapt from her outstretched fingers, frazzling the nearest locust to a blackened husk. It always amazed her to see magic shaped in that way, most of it was more intrinsic, like Frost’s hyper senses or her healing magic. She’d heard it took a special mind-set to be able to evoke offensive magic. Then her eyes fell on Daelan as his rifle flashed again and again felling the locusts before they could close in on him. But it seemed like no matter how many fell there was one more. They came from holes dug beneath the earth, simply clawing their way upward when they senses fresh prey but even that knowledge didn’t help stop the idea that they were innumerable. It was the same whenever battle started, you were four against god knows how many of the hidden beasts and Sywryn could only imagine she’d been lucky so far. Daelan back peddled toward her as she skilfully ripped the spent clip from his rifle and slapped in another.

“Sywryn!” He yelled as he cut down another. This one was close enough for her to see the blood pooling under the torn rubbery hide. It was so strange, the blood was crimson, the same colour as hers. “Take cover in that hollow, I can’t protect you out in the open like that.” She nodded dumbly and bolted for the space between two fallen girders, dragging the girl with her, pressing into the gap. She felt cold metal on her back but it didn’t make her feel any safer. She could only watch as he moved away again, drifting further away from her as the locusts seemed to look for weaker prey than Frost and Alexandra. Her palm rested on her the grip of her pistol but she couldn’t pull it out without releasing her grip on the girl. She winced every time one came to close to her comrades for comfort but couldn’t do a thing to help. She felt so useless, cowering in a corner while her friends fought. For a moment her battle ready mind strayed, just for the barest second and when she looked up her heart skipped a beat. A locust bolted toward her, mad red eyes fixed on helpless prey, its bladed arms screaming against the concrete. She tried to reach for her pistol but new instinctually she wouldn’t make it. She had no time to think, her mind went blank and she threw herself into it’s path as best she could, trying to shield the helpless child from it without even knowing why. She felt blood spatter across her face, she could taste it on her lips and wondered why she felt nothing. One eye cracked open and she wished she hadn’t. The bladed arm of the creature had pierced another body instead of hers…Alexandra’s. It protruded from a grisly wound in her chest, piercing out the rear of her shoulder. A burst of Daelan’s rifle fire felled it, knocking them both to the ground.

“Man down!” She heard him yell but barely. Her eyes had fallen on Alexandra’s pale face, tilted toward her. Her eyes were open wide, blood trickling down both sides of her mouth as she somehow managed to fight out each gasping breath. She heard Frost bellow a curse, knowing the look of rage that would cross his face. Her medic’s instincts, not to mention her very soul of decency and human compassion told her to run to her but the logical part of her brain that still functioned told her no. If she did that the girl would run and it would be over for her. All she could do was stare, eyes wide with pity and pleading she’d just hold on a little longer. Sitting there, unable to move was like agony for the kind hearted woman and it seemed like an eternity and a day until the all clear yell was given. She bolted quickly to the fallen girl’s side, fighting panic and focusing with all her will as she tore open Alexandra’s black shirt, soaked with blood. Despite the littered bodies of things less than human she only had her eyes on one of them. An angry tear lay underneath, the edges roughly torn and jagged. Frost and Daelan gathered around her, equal expressions of pure shock and fear on their faces. Alexandra raised her hand shakily, managing to brush the edge of Sywryn’s cheek….leaving a trail of blood.

“Sywryn….” A spasm racked her body, only causing more blood to spurt from her mouth. The wound on her chest bubbled with every halting breath she took. The blade had pierced her lung, letting air escape freely. “I…..”

“Don’t try to talk Alex….it’s alright, I’m here…..you’ll be fine.” She said as soothingly as she could with her heart pounding, adrenaline still wreaking havoc on her ability to concentrate. She placed both her hands over the wound, pressing down hard, causing the girl beneath to grunt in pain. Eventually warm, blue light began to seep into the wound but the bleeding continued, spilling beneath her tightly closed fingers.

“It’s not closing! Hurry up Sywryn!”

“Shut up Daelan, that’s an order….let her work.” She was vaguely aware of Frost pulling the younger man to one side. She was grateful for the quiet. Daelan took the opportunity to root out the girl they’d come to rescue, hidden among the wreckage but all of this was lost to Sywryn. Alexandra’s skin began to feel cold beneath her touch, all the warmth seeming to leak out across her hands. Burning sensations formed in her palms as she tried to force more magic into the corn haired girl, and not just from the heat of her blood. Sywryn’s hands were so close to her heart she could feel it beating…and feel it growing weaker. A curse left her bloodstained lips. Dammit she wasn’t going to lose her!

“Don’t…..” Alexandra’s face twisted in pain, another spasm racking her body. She seemed so frail…..and Sywryn realised her eyes had never once closed, always locked on hers. The most lucid she had ever seen the girl, here, on the brink of death. It wasn’t right! “Don’t…..bother…..I don’t…..care.” Looking down Sywryn saw an eerie emptiness in Alexandra’s eyes. Not fear of death, not pain, not even the will to survive. This was simply nothing. For some reason it brought a lump to the medic’s throat, she didn’t want to keep looking into those eyes. She shook her head, trying to pass it off as blood loss induced delirium.

“Hush…….” She whispered. She felt the hand that had been cradling her cheek fall and knew she was running out of time. “Gods….just stop will you.” She wanted to swear at Alexandra’s blood. With one last surge of mental energy she forced the remains of her magic through her hands and into the dying woman beneath. Skin tightened around her fingertips, brought together by force of will alone, the trickles of blood slowed and then stopped but Alexandra’s chest and her hands were still thick with it. When she could hold it no longer Sywryn let out an exhausted groan and slumped forward, catching herself on her hands before she crashed into the person she’d been trying to save. When feeling returned to her body, driven out by the sudden exertion she felt cold tarmac beneath her hands. It was if she had to dare herself to look down, afraid she might see all her effort gone for naught. But when the silver and sapphire orbs finally looked she saw ragged yet steady breathing and a wound that was now barely more than a thin red line across her chest. She stared at Alexandra’s face, now unconscious and wondered what the hell had just happened. It seemed surreal. Finally she looked around herself, at the bodies of the locusts strewn about, often in several pieces and managed a sigh of gentle relief. She waved her compatriots over who were eager to oblige. She felt a strong hand on her shoulder.

“You did it….” Frost said. She couldn’t tell if what crossed his face was a smile or not but she managed a weak one of her own.

“I had to.” Her eyes were filled with the relief she didn’t have the strength to express. But what had come over her? Was that how she usually felt at a time like this? She couldn’t remember…somehow it didn’t seem to matter. She tried to stand but found her legs had turned to jelly, expending that much magic was like running a marathon that took thirty seconds.

“Can I move her? It will not be long before more come….” Frost’s stern voice made her shake her head an try to shake off the cobwebs that seemed to be hanging from every part of her. She gave Alexandra a quick check. Her breathing was normal, the bleeding had stopped, the wound wasn’t completely healed but there was time at least for her or someone else to take care of it. She’d need a blood transfusion anyway, most of hers seemed to have pooled in a sticky puddle beneath her. She nodded slowly.

“Just be careful with her….” She said wearily, knowing it didn’t really need to be said. Frost looped his arms under her and scooped her up easily. Alexandra probably wasn’t much heavier than his sword anyway….and both were equally stained with blood. She held out her hand to the girl Daelan had cling to his leg, gently wrapping an arm around her tiny frame. Her eyes seemed a little brighter now that the locusts were dead, not much but it was an improvement.

“And…um….can I have a hand please….I don’t think I can stand.” Sywryn hated to admit it but she wasn’t going anywhere under her own power. Still she let out a little yelp of surprise when a second pair of arms scooper her from the asphalt together with their young rescue attempt. She looked up into Daelan’s boyish grin and sighed, smiling nonetheless. She tried to arrange herself so his rifle wasn’t jabbing her in the side but gave up in the end, settling for the most comfortable position she could find and looping her arms around his neck. Daelan looked from her to Frost and grinned.

“The damsel in distress routine eh Sywryn?.....You and Alexandra didn’t seem the type.” Sywryn smiled, although the though of how close it had come to not being a joke weighed heavily on her mind. She squeezed the girls hands reassuringly as she fidgeted nervously on top of her.

“I don’t mind…..it’s less work than walking.” Frost just shrugged, making his way toward the sunken entrance to the city sunken half a mile underground. It seemed ironic that one of man’s greatest achievements in terms of engineering had come out of necessity.

“Whatever…..I have no wish to remain out here any longer.” He strode quickly away from them. Daelan rolled his eyes, having a hard time matching pace. Sywryn weighed more than Alexandra to start with, especially with a young girl sitting on top of her as well and Daelan didn’t have the advantage of Frost’s extensive muscle power.
“Geez…he never stops does he? Is he always like this.” He muttered it so only she could hear it. Even if Frost’s hyper senses picked it up he said nothing. Sywryn looked toward the entrance to her home , then to the unconscious body of Alexandra slumped in her leaders arms. The little survivor latched onto her more tightly as they entered the alien metal landscape of the airlock, pressure seals whirring and clicking away as the armoured doors rolled shut behind them. Artificially cold air, smelling of machines was her reward for her hard work. Sywryn closed her eyes.

“Only two hundred yards from home….gods Alex you scared me so much……”