Requiem
Rachel twisted in and out of her sheets, the recent events wouldn't sit still in her mind and grant her the luxury of sleep, and they re-played themselves over and over a constant stream of myriad images and voices.
She clambered from the remnants of her bed with a sigh of exasperation; the last few days had been a nightmare, not including the very real nightmare she lived in. Last week's communications with the city to the south dubbed "Coven" by the citizens had been nothing but static, further investigations now showed that Coven was nothing more than an irradiated crater; Four thousand people had been vaporized in an instance...
Her long her draped over her exposed back, she shivered with a Chill, and the night was cold and harsh. She shrugged on a few pieces of clothing lacing up her boots and her vest, a collection of Leather and equipment useful in the wasteland.
She walked to the doorway, her steps graceful and fluent in the dim light of early morning. If she thought it was cold inside she was gravely mistaken, her skin shivered and goose bumps raised she set off.
Down the street was Orland's Bar, A dingy little place most of her crew made to call home, Even in the early hours of the morning she was sure they'd still be up, Of course they'd be a member short.
Lauren was the squad's scout, perfectly suited for the role, she was short and lithe with angelic features that hardly belonged in a wasteland, But none of it seemed to have been able to save her...She had gone missing while surveying the site of Coven, None of them had heard from her since.
Rachel pressed against the battered steel door to Orland's, its hinges screeching in protest. Sure enough she could count her fellow teammates out amongst the other patrons, their squad "Requiem" consisted of originally eight members, Ethan had passed on years before she had joined the squad and now with Lauren missing it was down to six, including herself.
Dorn had been with the team from the start, an ox of a man he hefted a colossal weapon he'd christened 'Tania' around with him, no surprises why he had held the Weapon specialists position for years.
Mark had been Ethan's second in command and was now the leading figure of the squad; a lifetime in the wasteland had earned him the experience needed for the job and the respect of the other members of the team.
Dante was the teams medic, while only being relatively new to the unit he'd already demonstrated his unique medical abilities time and time again and had come to be held as a rather charismatic figure.
Sam is Ethan's brother and an experienced soldier of twelve years, He has faced the dangers of this world more times than any other man could fathom and has always made it back to re-count them with his tales.
Kate, a lightly built woman in her early twenties, Kate had been running double shifts lately trying to fill the gap Lauren had left.
It didn't take long for the others to arrive at their table; it was hard not to notice Dante's excitement to reach the seat beside Kate.
But Rachel was dragged back to reality quicker than she would have liked.
"Were moving out"
Mark had spoken aloud at last,
The unanimous response was "What" or "Why" and Mark held up a finger to silence them,
"Trinity Fields was destroyed yesterday, two weeks from the loss of Conclave"
They fell silent; It was Kate who was first to break it,
"Another city! How can this be happening, what's doing this?"
Rachel wrapped an arm around Kate, as tears ran down onto her lap; her younger sister had lived in Trinity Fields…