And then the flashlight's beam paused, just as Sam felt something as well. And when the beam suddenly moved about erratically, she could tell it was from him stepping back all the while snapping sounds gave her both feelings of panic mixed with opportunity. She grabbed onto the nearest thing she could, free hand frantically feeling around the darkness, finally finding a door frame as the cockpit module free-fell another two stories downward.
Feeling the angle of the floor sink another ten to twenty degrees, the worst settled out over the next few seconds, and as the sense of danger lightened, the flashlight’s beam also disappeared.
Did he fall? Is he still there?
She quietly and carefully felt around a bit to make sure the ground around her was still solid, and second by second the dust settled enough to let enough light in. She kept her mouth covered by her jacket, hoping not to get choked in the process, but keeping her squinted eyes open just enough to survey her immediate surroundings.
I just need to hide myself a bit better, and then wait things out. There’s no way in Hell I could get back outside without getting caught.
She could now see she was at the end of a narrow hallway with two rooms to her immediate right, with the gaping hole surrounded by stories worth of structural remnants to her left. She knew that if he fell, he likely didn’t survive, but either way, she had to move now if she was ever going to. She took a glance at the room behind her, seeing it continued further into others, offering a chance to find a great hiding spot. But the second she got herself halfway stood up, a shot rang out, as did her cry.
A ricochet and more debris flying in a cloud near her ear, she dove forward and into the darker room, frantically crawling toward the next, unaware of her adversary’s presence just a few meters away. He stopped his fall using one of the parachute’s cords, but with only one foot on solid ground, his aim wasn’t sure. And with no choice but to drop his shoulder-slung PDW temporarily, he used his second hand and his remaining strength to pull himself back up to more solid ground.
Shit! He was right there!? Sam frantically tried to keep her breathing as subtle as she could, failing miserably as she continued exerting the energy needed to pull herself into the next room over and under what felt to be a large, steel-frame desk. Pulling further into the corner, she felt the walls provide some sense of security, now fully behind what should be enough of an angle bought to defend herself this time, gripping her sidearm with both hands and pointing it towards the doorframe from which she had just passed.
“I hear feet!” Adrian got back to speaking from not too far away as he fully reestablished his footing. “Your time has come! Same for your little party!”
Sam kept her aim steady, knowing that even if he spoke the truth, she should still have the advantage against him before the others came. I think it’s your time that’s coming, but keep talking, scumbag!
“And all this proof Mr. Vrey of Hexa is working with the Akkadian Navy? Space versus the Earth’s future restored Confederacy all over again?! This plan we succeeded with has garnered even more success than I planned!”
Footsteps. She realized Adrian was right, her time was limited. Worsening that moment was the realization her ear was empty of its usual earpiece. Damn it!
If Renzo had called in, she had no idea, and if she were to call for them to hurry after taking down Adrian, she’d have no time to search for it given the utterly disastrous condition of the floor she fell into.
“Now what, just hiding?! I know where you crawled off to!”
But as Adrian continued his rambling, inching nearer by the second, she now focused more on the intensifying footsteps up the stairs, metal ones that must have been the same ones Sam used earlier- Stairs that led right up to the area right outside the doorway from which she just retreated. This was the definition of being surrounded at the most inopportune time, and it hit heavily in her throat as she felt like suffocating from the pressure to do something soon, regretful, or not.
“And now they’re here! It’s too late now, little Sammie!”
The door then blew open with a heart-stopping bang as if kicked open out of desperation, followed by the most unexpected series of pops and clanging ricochets. Her heart was already racing out of control to the extent she couldn’t hear nor make sense of what was transpiring, only able to instinctively ball up where she lay as if anything were to spill into that very room at rate she couldn’t handle. But during the immediately ensuing verbal assault, she was able to make out one spat of a particular Spanish dialect in an even more particular voice just enough to realize who it was.
“Renzo!!” Sam screamed out without thought, both out of desperation and also as she realized he must have thought she was dead or something due to her unintended radio silence. And in the same swing of thoughts, she could now see as well as the light pouring in from the blown-open door gave way to the rooms opposite from her. She dared not run out into the same hallway as to not get in the way, instead forcefully picking herself off of the ground and pushing off of the wall, propelling herself towards the next room, hoping to get a shot at Adrian from his blindside.
Shot after shot, shout after shout, all seemingly coming from every which direction, added to her light-headed disorientation, forcing her to slow her approach, and thankfully as she saw a moving silhouette through the dust across the next room.
His gun’s facing our direction. That’s him- now while I have a chance.
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She took tight grip of her side arm, placed her left hand over right as she extended quickly but carefully, tracking her target until it felt right.
PTAH!!!
Her target, hit or not, reacted in a way that sent him the other direction before quickly dropping out of sight after a loud blast from the hallway seemingly brought everything to a silent halt. Only a single empty hammer pin’s ring followed shortly after. And then it was only the ringing left in her ear, having been a while since shooting without any ear protection.
Sam’s heart felt it was the end as her whole body began trembling almost out of control, slowly approaching the dusty end of that open room, hearing the groaning of a gravely injured man. Flashbacks of Manila raced through her head as she nearly dropped her pistol before she heard footsteps behind her.
“Cruella,” Renzo flatly spoke with a hand tapping her shoulder. “Here.”
She turned to see his eyes dead set on the opposite corner, pistol up but not firing. She realized the pin she heard was his empty chamber, looking down at the pistol she now felt herself slowly handing it over to him. Renzo dropped his sidearm to the floor as his hands softly clasped Sam’s, gently taking it from her grasp. She noticed his eyes, however, had no such kindness. She only saw exactly what she felt earlier, and without hesitation she coldly stepped back. But as he passed by, it wasn’t just his movement that was soft. His gait was off, trembling as if he was either at the brink of insanity or he was hurt somehow.
And the words that ripped out from within quickly and painfully shattered the short-lived silence: [This is for Dani!] He screamed out in anguish, soon followed by a trigger pull and a bang that left Sam wincing, turning away. [And this is for me, too!] He continued through a painful, labored bellow.
She felt the tears Renzo must have been letting out by now, hurting and reaching deeper with each successive trigger pull that ensued. But she couldn’t figure out in the heat of it all what he was saying without her in-ear translation, only catching his sister’s mentioning. And then after a moment of pause, she looked back to see Renzo halfway shrouded in the cloud of dust which mostly hid Adrian’s slumped body, pinned against the wall.
[And as for her? That’s Cruella to you, you piece of shit,] Renzo muttered with sudden struggle combined with his last trembling squeeze of the trigger. A thud then echoed as the sidearm hit the ground, having fallen from his loosened grip.
Sam couldn’t take any more, already satisfied enough with the fact they both remained standing while the other fell, knowing she couldn’t give back what life was stolen, but still, she couldn’t stand to watch it all consume him, either. “Hey, it’s over, we won for now,” she softly spoke through her numbed hearing, hoping Renzo heard as she reached out to get his attention.
As she put a hand on his shoulder, memories of a similarly enraged Sebastian crossed her mind, remembering the pain she saw in his eyes that day months back, now feeling multiplied as it was a sibling this time. But when Renzo turned to look back, something else was empty about his tear-stained face. His trembling wasn’t from sadness, neither was his now noticeably unstable, rapid breath rate. He was fading quickly.
His trembling suddenly broke into a collapse, awkwardly caught by Sam as best as she could, ignoring her own aches and attempted to lower him down easily to the ground, propping him against the wall as she shouted to him: “Hey! I got you!” She continued to pass his weight against the wall as she regathered her balance, kneeling next to him with both hands to hold him steady. “Easy now, I got you,” she continued to console him, looking over him for any sign of injury, glad there was enough light coming in from the door he had entered through.
It was clearer now, however. Renzo’s rate of breath continued to escalate and intensify.
[It’s the best I could do,] Renzo forcefully mumbled in between breaths as he tried to put a hand over hers, barley making contact before feebly slumping to his side.
Sam remembered that feeling Renzo just left, warm yet chilling. She saw the small smears of blood left on her arm from where his hand fell, bringing her attention to his hand. A trail of dark blood ran down in a messy stream, dripping to the ground.
“You… Renzo! Hold on, hang in there!” Sam’s heart fell to her stomach, frantically looking back toward the top of his armor he wore, now realizing a hole had been punched out of the top corner by his right arm pit. Her eyes didn’t stop there, quickly scanning across to the other side, finding two more, both right near his heart. And right there, all basic first-aid training she received flew out of the window as her own panic, fear, and instability kicked in. “Renzo, stay with me! Hold on- hold on!” She fought with her heightened heartrate to speak out, hands fumbling haplessly around the quick-release mechanisms to his armor carrier.
[That…] Renzo attempted to speak in a sputtered manner while she hurried to get the carrier off, delirious from the blood loss. [That… piece… of shit… he…]
“Shh, stop talking! Try and- … try to relax!” Sam began to shout through her suffocatingly tightened throat and through the tears that began welling up around her hot eyes. “Hang in there!” She finally got the armor off, seeing his white t-shirt horribly soaked, dark with blood as she snapped, breaking down into a full sob. “Renzo, I-I-I’m so sorry I-…” She then reached for his earpiece and put it in hers, clicking the button and going into a full, desperate plea into the unknown while taking off her jacket: “Help! Someone- Sebastian! Renzo- He’s… He’s down! Man down!”
[It’s-It’s his… hi- fault…] Renzo barely got out in a whisper as his head slowly began to tilt back, unaware of Sam’s frantic attempt to find a way to use the jacket she removed to apply pressure to his wounds. [N- not… your…]
Sam lost all sense of sanity at that point, never having felt so broken and helpless for someone other than herself. Anything she had done from that point, she would have no recollection whatsoever as she slouched over him, hopelessly speaking out to him over and over.
▽ ▽ ▽
And Sebastian barely registered a single word spoken through his earpiece, too grief-stricken of his own heart-crushing experience, kneeling against the side of the smoldering LTAC remnants his sister piloted. Broken down, tears dropping on his hand that still clutched her lifeless hand; it was all that was left of her that he could see, evident from the futile attempt during her final seconds to crawl out from the wedged-shut hatch of her wrecked tomb of a cockpit.
He never once thought he would regret an action of his own so much in that moment, now realizing what Sam was carrying on about. He’d leave one nightmare to visit another. His only true blood family. Gone. He buckled over, feeling a desire that the fires burning nearby would go ahead and consume him where he stood to spare him.
But sirens continued to fill the air, growing closer by the minute, and if not for the arrival of two fellow LTACs, Sebastian’s fate might have just as such.
[SAU’s approaching from the north!] Kaylen shouted out from her LTAC through his earpiece. [We’re bringing her home! Now, hurry before it’s too late!] And in between the uneasy pause, she updated him with one last piece before turning back: [The others are cleaning up at the crash site. They’re with Ella, now, securing your brother as well. Come on, let’s go.] And with her departing words, her voice rapidly fell to a near-mumble, realizing Renzo’s fate while feeling some of the weight Sebastian must have been crushed by.