The time has come, let us be brave...
Shake off all of your sins, the time has come, let us be brave, let us be brave
-The Weight of Us by Sanders Bohlke


Kate was sitting by Reggie's side. She tried searching for ways out to get help, but every dark path led to more twisted rubble that she couldn't get through. She then tried finding holes to climb through, but the tangled remains of the factory made it impossible to squeeze through. Now she sat worrying over the gash on her friend's forehead. She used the other sleeve of her coverall and Reggie's bandanna as a makeshift bandage, but blood was still seeping through at an alarming rate. She needed to somehow close the wound. She looked at her friend once more and noticed her eyes were closed and she was awfully still.

"Reggie!"

The younger girl's eyes snapped open at the sudden call of her name. "Good grief, give me a heart attack why don't you?"

"Sorry," Kate said, embarrassed. "Just don't close your eyes…."

Seeing Reggie's confused look, she continued. "It's just, if you have a head injury, you shouldn't be going to sleep."

Reggie nodded and didn't ask anything else.

"Are the needles for stitching the straps on the bomb containers still kept in the box on the back wall table?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm going to try and stitch that nasty looking cut on your forehead. I think I can do a flat stitch to close it up."

"You ever stitched a person before?" Reggie asked, skeptical at the idea.

"No, but I've had plenty of practice with Gladys' accordion pleat dresses."

"Oh, well, in that case…"

Kate gave her a reassuring smile as she tried to stand up as best as she could in the small corridor of fallen debris, as she turned to go she heard Reggie's gasp.

"Kate!"

She snapped around expecting to see Reggie in pain, but found that she was staring straight at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"Your back," Reggie said, straining her neck back to look up at her. "It's… it's…"

Confused, Kate stretched around to find a piece of metal lodged into her skin, just above her hip. She couldn't quite stretch around enough to completely see it, but from what she could tell it was about the size of the expanse of her hand and it jutted out painfully as blood streaked down her back pants leg.

"Well, darn, how'd that get there?"


"Betty!" Gladys called out, running up to her distraught friend. "Oh, thank God, you're okay."

She took her friend into her arms as Betty fell into the embrace of the taller girl.

"I was down in the basement counting inventory when it happened. And damn if I didn't get lost trying to get out. It's like a maze down there when you think the world is ending."

Gladys felt a shift in the air when she didn't receive the normal quip from her friend, something was wrong. Pulling back to look at her, she could see that Betty's eyes were red from crying and her runny nose and flush face indicated she had been shedding more than just a few tears. She swallowed hard as the sight caused fear to slide through her stomach.

"It's Kate," Betty said, her voice cracking with emotion. "She's still in there."

A new wave of tears rolled down her tear-stained face.

"It happened in the lab," her voice was barely comprehendible as the usually nonchalant blonde gave way to the crushing reality at hand.

"Oh, Betty."

Gladys shook her head in disbelief. She wasn't sure which shocked her more, the fact that Kate had been at the center of the blast and was no where to be found now or that the strongest girl she knew seemed to be there too, even though she was standing right in front of her.

Gladys cupped Betty's face in her hands and bent her neck to catch the shorter girl's line of sight.

"It's going to be okay," She started, after Betty's unsure shake of her head, she added, "We both know she's a survivor. If anyone can survive this, it's her. Do you hear me? We know she's a survivor."

Betty's sob made Gladys' heart ache. She pulled Betty back close, giving her friend something to hold onto as she gave in to her tears once more.

"It's Kate…" Betty's sob came as she buried her face into the comfort of Gladys' coveralls.

"Yes, and we know she can find a way to get through it somehow." Gladys reassuringly said into her ear as tears welled up in her own eyes. With as much assurance as she could muster, she finished her hopeful promise…

"She's Kate."