Wings of Destruction
Chapter 2
Preparations of Shock

-

When the front door opened to the little cabin deep in the woods, light managed to shine in. The cabin was dark most of the time and usually only lit up by a lantern. There were two main rooms—living room and bedroom—one bathroom and one kitchen. There was a massive brick fireplace that would be used to light up the living room, only it was covered in such dust the entire cabin would go up in flames. There were no couches, only a few wooden chairs with missing cushions, and a square table. On the built-in bookshelf sat a couple books of leisure, but nothing more.

The bedroom consisted of rarely anything more; there was a cot with a sleeping bag on top, a dresser practically empty, and a nightstand with an old fashioned wind-up clock. The kitchen was in working shape, save for the holes in the walls the mice managed to sneak in and out of and the amount of spider webs latched on to nearly all parts of the stove. There was a mini fridge in one corner of the countertops beneath the cabinets which was plugged into a rechargeable battery pack just besides it; the sink worked but with little water running through the pipes, the stream a mile away was the better choice. The counter top with the sink was the only half-wall blocking off the kitchen from the living room.

The bathroom, if ever entered, wasn't as clean as public stalls; the mirror was so stained it was hard to see into, the toilet needed desperate cleaning, the tub was nearly roach infested, and any time the faucets were turned on, all the pipes in the cabin would shake and squeal. Each room had at least one window to the outside world, only each window was boarded up so that no light could get in; only one lantern was used to light up the cabin in the areas needed.

The cabin door slammed shut but it only sounded as if it were slightly pushed instead. Heavy footsteps sounded from the door towards the kitchen then suddenly a loud bang was heard.

"I brought more food," the voice was bleak without emotion, sounding much like a particular family member who went missing only four months before. "More bread and ham; water too, if you don't want to go to the stream for a drink."

"Thank you…" the deep voice trailed off; it sounded ultra depressed, as if it had seen better days. "I would like to have been able to help you, but I can just barely stand up."

The eyes of the deliver narrowed in response. "And if you haven't run out of that place, you wouldn't even be here right now." The young voice sounded distressed and left the kitchen. "If you haven't noticed, last night while you were sleeping, I took the liberty of bringing in a few books for you to read; they're sitting on the shelves."

That second voice was lower this time when it replied, "Thank you." The face of the man looked down as white hair cascaded around his shoulders—white hair not brushed in two months.

"Don't stay depressed," the voice was harsh and the man looked back up at the face, at the eyes swollen with dried tears. "They told me depression leads to misery and to survive this war, misery must be our enemy."

The man smiled a little, "I almost forgot to tell you,"

The other person in the cabin turned around to step up to the table, located in front of the entrance door and between the kitchen and bedroom. "What?" The long brown braid swayed from side to side as the character dropped her gun on the table and checked the magazines and each clip.

"You won't be here in the next three months—"

"Yeah, they have me heading out to Colony Cluster 3 in the morning and staying there for a few weeks to do my 'homework'." The face twisted at the sight of an empty magazine in the colt. "Stupid," was whispered past pressed lips.

"You'll be fifteen," the mechanic spun around with fear in the eyes, "happy birthday."

"Zechs," the name trailed off the once pressed lips and now weakened form.

"Uno, you're too hard on yourself." Zech's voice rose just a little, but only so he was certain she could hear him. "You take all of what happened too closely; you couldn't help it."

Uno felt the tears from earlier returning. "Yes I could have!" She screamed out. "If I had gone downstairs earlier, they would have still been alive."

"Uno," Zechs lowered his head and closed his eyes, "if you had gone down earlier, you may have been killed, captured, or possibly killed everyone else."

Uno stood dazed and drained as the tears continued to fall from her eyes. It was her fault they were missing; if she wasn't in such a daze staring at that photo from the past then she would have heard the shots and screaming sooner and she would have gone down there sooner; not when they disappeared like that.

Uno lowered her voice and deepened her gaze on Zech's face. "For all I know, Synodd captured them." Anger filled her lungs as she added in, "And if I hadn't taken my pretty-ass-time getting to them, they would still be here with me."

"It's not your fault," Zechs repeated. "You weren't there at that time." He lowered his head and felt his own heart aching in pain.

"I was upstairs!" She shouted back, but her words were lost in the air as Zechs had appeared to be off in his own depressing salvation. Wincing in agony at the aching memory of her family, Uno spun around on her heels, grabbed her equipment off the table, and fled from the cabin. Stale air returned to the cabin environment when all movement stopped once again.

Zech's voice was barely even a whisper as he repeated; once again, "You weren't there at that time."

-

"So you're telling me your fighters are already well prepared for battle?" G held back from laughing, but his voice was still quivering with humor.

The scientist with black hair gritted his teeth in correspondence to the humility spreading between both elderly men. "I am Lieutenant Evan; before I fled from the Colony 8 Cluster, I took note of the civilians and found which fighter I would be gaining for the job."

"And you think this civilian will be able to pilot a Gundam?" J asked his voice also carrying humor with it. The other three scientists stood in the back of the room, watching the argument carry on. "Especially against an enemy stronger than what we've ever faced?"

"I am fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead for us. We are fully aware of the challenges Synnod will give us."

"Just don't come crawling to us when your pupils die in combat and you've got nowhere else to run too," G sneered.

Evan narrowed his eyes and growled, "Oh believe me, the only ones here who will be in such terrible pain by the time this war is finish will be the two of you."

Evan turned and walked out of the data control room and back to the hangar while the other three followed behind. G and J stood there in disgust as they waited until the door slammed shut before returning to their assignments.

"I swear, some day those two will realize they're digging a hole deeper than any one of them can handle," J stated as he stepped up to the chalkboard at the back of the room and away from the computers.

G lifted his nose and snorted. "I highly doubt that, considering how arrogant they are; they'll be more likely to admit defeat then come to us for help."

J nodded, "and how sad that is." G stepped up to his right and folded his arms. The two of them dazed up at the plans before them, shining to them as if it were a beacon in a dark cave.

"But what are we going to do about Angel?" G questioned. J sighed as he reviewed the plans. G cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. "How are the old plans to the Epyon and Tallgeese?"

J blinked and turned to his comrade. "Are you insisting on combining the three together?"

"We're going to have to, if we want to survive this final fight." He narrowed his eyes at the blue-print of the design and pressed his lips firmly together. "It'll be dangerous, but it's the only way we could be sure we would win this war."