He trudged into the room, weary and ready for a good nights sleep, even though it was the middle of the day, followed by his two, equally tired comrades. Kait hit the quick release on her rig. As she slid it off and tossed it to the ground beside her cot, He couldn't help but pause for a split second to take in her slim figure, slender yet strong arms and legs, and the cascade of glossy black hair that fell around her shoulders as she released her hair from the ponytail. She plopped down on her cot; lay back, and silently went to sleep. Her sister, Kat took almost less time taking off her gear, but sat, examining a bullet. He instinctively identified it, 5.56 mm NATO; it was military grade ammo. She noticed him looking, and said aloud,
"It was our manager's, the round in the chamber of his gun when they killed him… He was like our dad…" Despite her best efforts, a few glimpses emotion broke through the rock hard expression on her face.
Before he could respond, the door swung open. In walked an essence of war itself, another man, Bryan. Dressed head to toe in gunmetal black clothing, jeans and a sleeveless t-shirt, he imposed a deathly quiet anytime he walked into a room. He had a bandolier of 12 gauge shells across his chest, and a combat machete across his back. His skin was crusted with the dried, purple blood of countless Skitters, he was built like an MMA fighter, and his face, no one knew, for he always, always, wore a welding mask.
By the time he remembered he was talking to Kat, she was lying down, facing towards the wall. He decided not to bother her.
"Nathan, did you score any supplies on that run?" Bryan asked.
"Yeah," He replied, yawning. "Three rucks. We left 'em by the storage closet."
"Good." Bryan said. Nathan leaned back on his cot, thinking quietly to himself about how much he missed the Blue Ridge Mountains back in South Carolina. He didn't think long before he finally slipped away…
Outpost Yankee: Next Day…Nathan breathed deeply as the cool wind whistled through the small room atop the watchtower. For the first time in days, he was calm. The stench the wind brought was terrible, but he was used to it. It had been quiet all morning. He wanted to stop and ponder the possibility that the aliens had packed up and left in the night, but he knew better. His suspicions were confirmed as an enemy aircraft rocketed overhead and flew off over the city. He watched it, like a cat studying a dog, trying to find a way to either escape or win the fight. As it dipped closer to the west side of the city, a small light emerged from the cityscape, and soared toward the craft. The ship rolled out of the way lazily. He sighed, and whispered to himself,
"Frik… waste of a good shell." He was used to these sights now, desperate weekend warriors, who got their greedy little hands on real, Mil-Spec weapons, and wasted them, instead of stock piling for a resistance. He listened for the craft to return fire, but there was silence. "Must'a hightailed it…" He thought.
The trapdoor swung open, and Kait crawled through. "You missed it!" He exclaimed. "Another daddy-son warrior wannabe show! The most spectacular one yet!"
"What happened?" Kait asked, uninterested.
"Fools took a rocket, must'a been an AT4, or something, and shot it off at a Bird! Missed… but it was a beautiful miss… perfect arc…"
"I worry about you sometimes, Nate." Kait joked.
"To be quite honest, I worry myself too…" He said, completely serious. She laughed. It was a kind of dolphin–like laugh. She always thought it was dorky, but he thought it was kinda cute.
He smiled and gazed away, scanning for threats. A thick silence descended on them like a fog. Both busied themselves doing tasks that involved no talking, all the while peeking out of the corner of their eyes to try to catch the other looking. That plan didn't work as well as Kait hoped it would. After two hours, Kait grew so frustrated with Nathan's lack of flirting. She started wondering, if all the times she thought she saw him looking at her were just imagined, or not. The evidence of the past two hours supported the former theory.
She gazed out over the city once more, feeling the hurt brought by the fact everything in the world she ever loved was gone. Her family gone, presumably dead, and her manager dead, killed right in front of her… Her manager… The memory cut like ice cold steel through her. She had watched him die, saw the life leave his eyes as he collapsed less than a yard from her. With him died her hope of a normal life after leaving the city.
Less than an hour after his death, she had collapsed in the middle of the street for exhaustion. Her sister had begged and pleaded, cried like she was being tortured, for her to keep going, but Kait couldn't get up. She didn't want to get up. Her sister fought for what must have been hours, holding back the tide of Skitters that was washing over her and her sister. Kait watched her sister get struck to the ground by a Skitter, which leaned in for the kill. Dark descended over Kait's vision as the Skitter raised its hand for the final blow. She remembered the feelings she had, complete apathy… She had already accepted the fact they were going to die… Without her manager they had no hope… Right as she thought that, something happened that solidified her belief in miracles. The Skitter's head exploded.
The shower of purple blood fell as a dark figure leaped over her. A large man wielding a shotgun, stopped to spray fire into the horde before lifting Kat over his shoulder. Before she realized it, another, man, lifted Kait up. She didn't even wonder who, she just wrapped her arms around him, and held him tight as he ran from the hopeless battle… It had been Nathan and Bryan who saved them, taken them in and sheltered them, protected them. That was the exact reason why Kait wanted to believe Nathan liked her, he saved her. Her hopes now were dashed. He clearly only wanted her as a friend. The thought tore her apart. She couldn't help it; she slumped to the floor of the crow's nest, tears leaking slowly, but surely from her eyes. This startled Nathan. His mind immediately assumed the worst. He rushed to her side and started checking her for wounds. While he saw no wounds, which eased his mind, the tears disturbed him just as much.
"What's wrong Kait?" He asked, sincerely worried.
"Nothing…" She replied.
"Right, nothing…" He said sarcastically.
"I can't tell you."
"Well, why the frik not?" He asked.
"Its personal…"
"We're best friends Kait, you can tell me anything." Best friends… the words struck like arrows in Kait's already mutilated heart.
After a while, Nathan, sensing her case of lockjaw, got up to return to his seat. As he stood, she caught his arm. He returned to her side, and as he did, Kait found the words to say. He stopped to take in her appearance.
The last rays of day were hanging in the air, penetrating the window of the crow's nest. It danced across her onyx-colored hair, setting it ablaze with a brilliant, golden, fire. Her sky-blue eyes showed evidence of a deep-rooted, and devastating emotional pain. He wished so hard, with all of his being that he could take it away. As the last tear clinging to her soft cheek glinted with the last light of sunset, he found himself wanting to embrace her, and protect her with all his might. These were not new feelings, but only now did he truly acknowledge and understand them.
"If I can't tell you, I'll have to show you…" Her voice trailed off as she looked up into his eyes, searching hard for any trace of a common understanding. She saw his feelings show through his hard, iron color eyes, which were perfectly complimented by his sandy blonde hair, as well as the shadow of stubble that enveloped his jaw. She leaned in closer, and they both closed their eyes. The world around them went into complete silence, worry and fear melted away as they leaned to kiss each other.
BANG…BANG…BANG…
The noise echoed through the once over-run, now scarcely inhabited outpost… "Honey…" He said… "Someone's at the door…"