Work Text:
The hiss of a radio rings out as Leyla feels weightless in a dark void. Pressure pushing in on her lungs as she surfaces, coughing up water that had lodged in her lungs. Dragging herself to the shore, the chittering of an unknown, unseen killer still played back in her mind. Now. Just the hiss of her Radio. Poppy. Suhaila.Henk. Piazza. Shortstack.Jack. She called their names out repeatedly. But each time, the static got louder. It was like an antenna had been constructed in her head, and with each name she uttered, it began broadcasting a new and contradicting signal. Whoever was in control of the receiver was quickly and randomly twisting the controls.
The dark had not left her when she left the pool of water full of the decay of enemies best not acknowledged. The small sea shelf she found herself on was pitch black. Heavy dark clouds hung above that didn’t let any of the satellites that might reflect the closest sun’s rays do their nightly duty. She was alone with her thoughts, and her guilt. Standing, shaking uncontrollably. But she’s a soldier. She could not, should not cry. And then she was face first in the dirt.
Truly powerful explosions, the force hits you before you hear them. So as she slowly sputtered, spitting out mudd, the ear piercing screech and rumble of the explosives her squad left in that…. nest filled her head and heart. The Reverb bouncing in her chest as she savoured the second the radio static was silent. The sky lit up, as did her surroundings. Decay, corpses floated her towards the distant shore. The smell of burning human flesh. And the static returned once again.