Chapter Text
When it rains, it pours
There will be blood in the water
Cold to the core
Faith falls hard on our shoulders
Focused on the screen off laid out under her eyes, Ina’s throat knotted and she could feel beads of cold sweat dripping down her neck. Behind her, shots were exchanged from all sides, crashing on the hard steel protecting them. Her fingers clenched on the icy cold dashboard.
Come on-
She almost jumped when the screen suddenly glowed bright blue. Nadia pushed all at once the start lever and, then, the train woke up in a sequence of deafening noises. Ina felt her ears vibrate, as her whole body, and clung firmly to the control board.
“Veronica, get in here! Cried James. Veronica, what are you doing? He tried again, louder this time, but also in a broken voice – he was terrified.
- Just go!” She heard the woman reply.
Ina felt dizzy at that statement.
No-
“We’re not leaving her! Yelled James, frantic. Stop the train!”
From the corner of the eye, she saw Nadia on the verge of braking.
And then there was an explosion.
She felt the blast more than she heard it and suddenly her head was buzzing with the desperate cries of her teammates. Instinctively, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to lock herself out of this madness.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
It was a simple mission; retrieve supplies and construction materials from an abandoned supply depot, and return at the Garrison, safe and sound. It was not supposed to end like that.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
When she came back to her senses, eyes burning and there was only silence in the cab. Doors were closed. James was on the floor, sorrow and anger hardening his features; Ryan was standing against the wall, arms closed on his chest like a piece of armour; Nadia was driving, hands with white knuckles gripping the control panel.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Ryan was the first one to speak – voice deep, but low.
“She saved the mission. And us.”
But she was dead. Veronica was dead.
Dead, dead, dead.
For a moment, she thought about Lance; old classmate, boy lost in space, Veronica’s brother.
She wanted to scream.
“Does anyone know how to get back?” Tried to ask Nadia, adjusting her glasses on her nose with trembling fingers.
Ryan was right.
Veronica was dead; and so were other comrades from the Garrison, other innocent citizens.
How many had perished during the attacks, at the hands of the Galra?
Way too many.
However, them … They were still alive – and they still had a mission to fulfill.
“Two lefts, two rights – Ina muttered in a breath, loud enough for her teammate to understand – left, middle tunnel, right, left and then one more right.”
They would live another day.
There was still hope.
This is our time
No turning back
We could live, we could live like legends
This is our time
No turning back
We could live, we could live like legends