Piercing screams shattered through her cranium as she ran through the shooting debris, a shrilling pains hooted through her calf as a piece of rock rocketed towards her. Rolling indecisively, she collided with another body. Anne. Gripping the older woman by her shoulders, they ran through the barreling fire, shoving past the already fallen soldiers as orders were belted through the uproar.
"Section C soldiers! Guard the front! Mason's! To planning positions!"
Her vision was blurring, the grip holding so tight started to slacken against her will, screaming, feeling helpless, she felt warm hands fold underneath her and hoist her up, carrying he through air, blissful breeze was soon polluted with the smell of crackling fire, decaying the skin, and the laughter that had only resounded the walls of this hall moments ago.
"It's okay Lourdes. You're gonna be okay."
Hal Mason's picturesque and strained smile clouded into darkness.
Blueprints were strewn across the worktops, Section C soldiers had decreased to numbers of mere five boys, A and B merged together to fight the defence line. Matty was shrouded in Ben's embrace, both youngsters cheeks were stained with dirt and blood.
Lourdes body was laid down upon soft cushions make shifted upon the hard, cold floor. Her eyes fluttered open now and again, but gaining consciousness did not seem a possibility. A fledgling… drenched in warfare.
Blueprints were strewn over the worktops. Captain and Tom coursed their fingers across trouble-free dash lines, to find a solution to their plague. Cries were heard in the far distant, of the ill-starred citizens.
"There's tunnels' running underneath the building, if we could get women and children…" Tom's voice subsided; he apprehended the penalties of their solitary resolution. Weaver's eyes amplified as he too acquired of the curse foreboding them.
"If we let them go first, a set of our soldiers will have to meet them at the end. We'll be undermanned." Captain Weaver's traditional, aggressive style toned down to a weak whisper, beautiful night turned into ruthless turmoil.
The siblings united in their steel glowers.
"We have to save the children first, Dad." Ardent and authoritarian, his voice did not waver, as did not Hal's eyes. The two commanders sighed despairingly. Tom Mason was aging, but in that moment, his father was not the intellect with a thousand words running through his mind. Hal saw him as the frail man, the man Hal was frightened to lose as.
A soft groan arose from their left; Lourdes sat herself up slowly, grimacing at the pinching pain at the crick of her neck. She laughed joyfully as Matt threw himself in an embrace; the screams had not registered, nor had the smell of disintegrating flesh.
"Well…medic's awake. Time to fight."
As Captain Weaver's words sank in, all was silence.
Before the classroom's structure caved in.
It took all of Lourdes' life energy within her not to scream as the piece of cemented rock crashed down beside her, strong arms pulled her up and pushed in the direction of the doorway, echoing shrieks vibrated through the ground, wails wrapped around her like a coil, her blood beating in her ears. She grabbed Matty's little hands and pulled him in a sheltering embrace as a tremor of the ground threw them forward.
"LOURDES! YOU HAVE TO GO!" Hal pushed the two figures in the direction of the small gap between the two rocks that had jarred the doorway, Tom and the Captain scurried out, blueprints curled in their hands, ready for action. Blurry tears formed in her eyes, cracks in the floor began distorting, and her only guidance was Matt's urgent hand pulling her to safety.
She was jolted into place as a hand reached out and grabbed her from the side; Hal's face swam in dispirited visions, her blurry tears not submerging. He softly placed his hands around her face, his voice breathless, his lower lip slit with blood. He began to caress her soft high cheek bones adorning her petite appearance.
"Stay safe, I-"
A yell from Maggie pulled him away.
She could only hear a voice, in this hollowed tunnel, there was just one voice, leading them through the darkness, and her supposedly source of light was a battery-run torch, which was flickering into dimness. A gentle squeeze was felt on her right hand; Matty whimpered as something scuttled across the ground round her feet. She squeezed back.
A thirty-second conversation lopped in her head, like a broken record.
"He needs his teddy, stupid kid can't go anywhere without it." Hal paused to laugh, a twinkle of light still there is his eyes, but it was fading as the night got darker and the screams got louder. "You stay with him; he won't even be able to step into the dark tunnels without you." He handed the small teddy bear hurriedly, his speech still continuing at ninety mile per hour. "And I need you to know that this is none of your fault, that we weren't ready. Mech attacks happen all the time, Anne needed this. And take care of Matt-"
"Don't." Lourdes placed her hands upon his shoulders to sooth the nervousness that had soaked into his muscles, setting them rigid. She could feel the dreaded words forming in his head. "Do not say goodbye."
"Bu-"
"But, nothing. Maggie will have your back, and I will see you later. Don't you dare give up on me-I mean Matt. Don't give up on Matt…" Lourdes hesitated, the three word phrase on the tip of her tongue, she pressured his shoulders with her hands, to brace him for what she was about to say.
"Just remember that-" Her name was yelled from the end of the hallway, they split apart in a frantic second, Lourdes felt the rouge heat creeping up her neck, she ducked her down and left hurriedly.
She contemplated sadly, how she may never say those three words. Lourdes was so trapped in her own thoughts; she failed to hear the slithering hiss.