Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Power Rangers or any of the Power Ranger characters.
A/N: Sorry about the long wait but here is the next ch. :)
Ch.8 Hope
Somewhere along the California coast
She could hear them, she hadn't heard it in months, but the sound was impossible to mistaken. She took refuge behind some stacks of large crates, and waited for them to get closer. Her heart beaten quickened as they came closer, then the noise began to fade away and she took a deep breath lowering her blaster slightly. She quickly lifted her blaster up hearing footsteps coming closer, two figures stepped in front of her holding up blasters.
"Dana!" One of them said recognizing the blonde that was in front of him.
"Wes! Eric!" Dana said seeing who they were, and they all lowered their weapons. She moved forward and gave each of them a tight hug, taking in the sight of them. They were covered in dirt and the sun had created somewhat of tan on both of them but other than that they looked completely normal and healthy, which was a relief to her.
"What are you two doing here?" Dana asked them, she was completely surprised to find them out of all people.
"Were heading to Corinth. Dana we thought you were dead!" Wes said happy to see that she wasn't.
"What? Why?" Dana asked him confused.
"We heard your helicopter was attacked." Eric informed.
"Oh… it did but I made out ok." Dana said thinking sadly on the fact that Tom hadn't been so lucky.
"Well that's great!" Wes said with a bright smile.
"What are you doing here?" Eric asked, he too was surprised to find Dana in the middle of nowhere.
"Looking for Corinth too, I still need to take the fuel cell there." Dana said pointing to the back pack.
"That thing made it through the crash?" Eric amazed.
"Yeah but it took almost a month to find it, I had to go through all the wreckage." Dana said thinking back.
"Well now you can get it to Corinth, we found this at a military base a few cities back." Wes said cheerfully showing her a map.
"Really this is great! I've been looking for a map!" Dana said excited.
"We better get moving before it gets dark." Eric said noticing the sun was slightly lower than before. Dana nodded her agreement and the three walked in silence careful not to run into any Venjix grinders. Eric led the way and Dana and Wes followed close behind.
"How have you managed to get so far up the coast all alone, I mean me and Eric work together and thins still are rough?" Wes said.
"Believe me it gets pretty hard, but I try to stay away from any major cities. I'll run into a few robot groups once in a while but no people." Dana told him a little disappointed by the last part.
"Really? We've run into a few groups that have been hiding on the outskirts of cities, we tried getting them to come with us but they were skeptical and decided to stay. They thought it was too risky to leave their hiding spots. One woman told me I was on a 'fool's errand'" Wes told her still very cheerful.
"Do you think it's a fool's errand?" Dana asked tentively. After all Corinth could be in ruins for all she they knew she quietly thought to herself. His bright smile dropped a little but quickly returned.
"Of course we'll find Corinth and then we'll defeat Venjix." Wes assured. Dana smiled and there conversation ended both lost in their own thoughts. The truth was Dana didn't know she had kept going for so long. She had wanted to run right back since the moment Carter left her but she knew had a duty. It was her father's last order but a year later there was no one telling her what to do save for the little voice that kept telling her that she had taken up the responsibility to protect humanity. She however was entirely convinced that that was the sole reason she trudged on.
No she was almost sure that the reason she kept going was because of that silver of hope that inside the dome she would find the people she cared about most.
"We'll have to stop for today." Eric said looking at the purpling sky.
"We can set up camp under that bridge." Wes said pointing to a bridge not too far from where they were. They moved to the bridge and then set up camp with the few things they had. Wes and Eric both had sleeping bags and Dana had a beaten up blanket.
"I'll take the first shift." Wes said once they had everything settled.
"I'll take second." Dana said before Eric could say anything.
"Guess that leaves third." Eric said getting ready to sleep, within minutes Dana and Wes heard him breathing deeply.
"Wish I could sleep that fast." Dana said with a smile.
"Yeah he doesn't struggle at all." Wes said with a chuckle. Dana made no move to lie down and instead watched the flames of their fire dance around.
"Is there something on your mind?" Wes asked noticing Dana's thoughtfulness. Dana though about his question, but was scared of the answer he might give her to what she had wanted to ask him since she had found them.
"Wes…my team?" Dana said quietly.
"I don't know much Dana, I hear that Joel's chopper crashed on its way back from Corinth. We lost communication with Chad, Ryan, and Kelsey right after you left for Silver Square. And the last thing we heard from Carter was that he was headed back to Mariner Bay. I'm sorry I don't know anything else." Wes told her and Dana started breathing again, there was still hope.
"Thank you, I needed to hear that." Dana said with relief, and smiled at him. Wes returned the smile and them Dana went to sleep.
E/N: Let me know what you think of the chapter. :)
