Common Denominator - Epilogue 2: Without Borders
Under a starless cloudy night sky, far from the bustling lights of the bastions of humanity, a lone supply truck made its way down a winding unlit road. The serene silence of the night was broken by the rumbling of the vehicle as it slowly rolled along the path, its headlights sweeping across an otherwise lightless landscape. Sitting within the cabin of the vehicle were two T-dolls, one with long verdant green hair, and another with pitch-black hair tied into twintails. The cargo compartment of the truck was mostly empty, having already unloaded its supplies at a forward base elsewhere.
"Ah, there's the spot," Maddie—designation Dagger 2-Delta—said, pointing at an abandoned barn up ahead.
"H-here?" Veritas—designation Chalice 2-Alpha—stammered as they neared the structure, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, it's the only building out here, according to the map," Maddie replied.
"B-but we're so close to Griffin lines," Veritas protested, slowing down as the barn neared. "I don't know if this is a good idea…"
"Veritas, it'll be fine!" Maddie insisted, "I'll only be off for a minute, nothing will happen."
"I don't know…" Veritas protested, "It's so d-dark out here, I'm sc-"
"Just do it!" Maddie ordered, "I'll be back before you know it!"
As Veritas pulled over on the side of the road, Maddie opened the door and hopped out, switching on her weapon-mounted flashlight as she jogged towards the barn. Veritas stayed inside the truck cabin, watching the light from Maddie's flashlight disappear as she entered the building. With a shaky sigh, Veritas switched off the engine, her surroundings plunging into an eerie pitch-black silence. Alone in the cabin, Veritas nervously surveyed her surroundings as her optical module adjusted to the darkness. The barn Maddie entered sat on the edge of former farmland, Veritas saw. On the other side of the road was a dense forest, the darkness seemingly turning the woods opaque past the first few trees.
Veritas bit her lip, staring into the darkness of the forest beside her—on the other side of the forest was Griffin territory. A few nights ago, a Sangvis supply truck was hit a few kilometres down the road by a Griffin raiding party. When a Sangvis patrol arrived the next morning, the truck had been reduced to a smoldering wreck, the charred remains of the driver—a fellow member of Chalice division—slumped over in the front seat. Veritas felt a panic attack approaching, her body seizing up as the thought of another ambush raced through her mind. The all-too-familiar sensation began to take control over her body once again as the darkness around her seemed to rush forwards, intent on suffocating her. There must've only have been about 30 metres of distance between Veritas and the darkness on the other side; for all she knew, a Griffin squad could be lying in wait right beside her.
Suddenly, a loud thump from the right side of the truck nearly sent Veritas jumping through the cabin roof.
"AAAHHHH!" Veritas screamed, reflexively turning towards the sound and clumsily snatching her P90 from the side door.
"Hey, what the hell?" a voice from outside the passenger door demanded.
Veritas took a closer look at the passenger-side window. It was just then that she noticed the source of the sound was actually Maddie, who had returned from her task.
"Veritas! The door is locked, open up!" Maddie called.
"O-oh! Right!" Veritas stammered as she leaned over, fumbling with the passenger door.
"Jeez, Veritas," Maddie scolded as she climbed up into the cabin, placing a large box on her lap. "Did you really have to get so worked up from a frickin' supply run?"
"Sorry…" a red-faced Veritas mumbled as she restarted the engine, eager to leave the premises as soon as possible.
"I'm serious," Maddie sighed, shifting the box in her lap. "You get scared too easily, you know that?"
"I know, I know," Veritas muttered, embarrassed by her overreaction. She had always been prone to severe bouts of anxiety and developed a complex as a result; at least it hasn't led to any major disasters yet.
"Veritas, I am concerned for your mental health," Maddie bluntly stated, "This isn't a healthy way to live your life, and it's straight out dangerous at times too."
Veritas's face flushed, her shoulders slumped as she continued driving down the road.
"Have you ever considered getting help from Kia?" Maddie asked, "She knows a thing or two about psychiatry, she could fix you up."
"Of course," Veritas non-committedly replied, intent on changing the subject. "Anyway, what's that big box you got there?"
"To be honest, I don't know," Maddie admitted, patting the large plastic box on her lap. The box's top rose to Maddie's eyes, but it was surprisingly lighter than it looks.
"Huh? So how'd you know it was there then?" Veritas asked.
"Kia gave me coordinates and told me to come and collect a parcel in the barn," Maddie explained, "That's pretty much all I know about it. I brought it in front with me because I don't want the box tumbling around in the back; maybe there's something fragile in it."
"That's sounds pretty suspicious," Veritas remarked, "We don't even know who it's from."
"I'm gonna take the box to Kia," Maddie said, "We'll find out soon enough."
"Kia, I'm back!" Maddie called as she pushed the door to the laboratory open with her hips, entering the room with the box in her arms.
"Ah, Maddie, welcome back," Kia greeted, momentarily looking up from the digital display of a PCR machine.
"Mmhm, I see you're still up," Maddie replied, setting the box down on the workbench beside Kia, looking at the control panel on the machine Kia was working. "What are you working on?"
"Just finishing up the last batch of RNA-Seq for the molybdenum experiment," Kia answered, patting the machine which contained purified samples of Epiphyllum plants. "The gene sequencing's shown some pretty interesting results, you know?"
"The follow-up experiment to that, huh," Maddie murmured, analysing the graph displayed on the machine's screen. "I've read the internal after-action reports on the village incident. A truly miraculous event, on multiple counts."
"Indeed," Kia agreed, "It's good to know there's still some shred of humanity left in this conflict."
"But it's all over now, isn't it?" Maddie sighed, "Everyone's back to shooting at one another, communications have broken down again. At the end of the day, we're all back on square one."
"Mmm, not necessarily," Kia murmured, pressing her finger on her lip as she waited for the PCR machine to finish.
"What do you mean?" Maddie asked.
"Nevermind that," Kia shook her head, "I see you've brought back the package."
"Yes, the package…" Maddie agreed, looking at the box sitting on the table. "What is it, exactly?"
"Why don't you open it and find out?" Kia replied with a knowing smile.
Maddie carefully unlatched the lid of the box, peering down into its insides. It took her a moment to realise what she was looking at; the box was filled with packaging containing a variety of drugs and medical supplies.
"Woah! What?" Maddie exclaimed as she fished out a bottle of 4th-generation neuroleptics, "How the hell did you get this?"
"Take a guess," Kia winked, watching the eyes of her "student" gleam as she pulled package after package of much needed supplies from the container.
"Aetheromycin… Randen-Q recombinant protein…" Maddie read out loud as she sifted through the container, "These are all things we can't make with our chemical synthesizers; things we've been unable to stock our kits with for ages. The entire medical division has been so hampered by supply issues lately… Kia, this is a godsent, where did you get all these?"
"There's only one place we could get stuff like this," Kia remarked, helping Maddie unload and sort the supplies.
"Not the black market," Maddie deduced, "Drugs like these are way too expensive and rare."
"Not the black market," Kia concurred.
"Where else then," Maddie inquired, "Sangvis Ferri has basically been isolated from the rest of the world."
"Griffin," Kia revealed.
"Griffin?" Maddie's questioned, "How? I thought we couldn't get through to those guys."
"We couldn't… until I met a like-minded doll in the village," Kia explained, "We struck a deal."
"A deal?" Maddie asked, frowning. "What exactly did you do?"
"She promised to secretly supply us with medicine," Kia replied, "And I promised to use it for good. Simple as that."
"Huh, simple as that." Maddie pondered, "And here I thought nothing changed after the village incident."
"Oh, something did change alright," Kia smiled, closing her eyes. "I think we all learned to be a bit more accepting during out time there."
"More accepting?" Maddie asked.
"We learned how to see the bigger picture, you know?" Kia replied, "At the end of the day, we are all not so different from one another…"
"…In fact, you could even say that we share a common denominator."
A/N: And thus ends the second story arc of SFMTF! We're now about 25% done the story. Man, this story part was LONG, much longer than I expected. I think I dragged it on too much, partially because I was trying to write from a bunch of perspectives. But I think I still did a decent job with this arc, much better than with the first. In fact, I'm probably going to be rewriting it before I start on the next arc. I don't know how long it'll take, but I'll also be writing some fun interlude chapters, and I have something cool planned (though I'm probably the only one that'll think it's cool). I know there wasn't a lot of action this time, but I think it's important to portray war in a holistic way, and that includes acknowledging the civilian side, who are often the ones most impacted by conflict. Anyway, the next arc will be more action-y, and shorter as it will have a much tighter plotline. It'll also be a completely new genre, so keep an eye out for it. As always, thank you for reading my writing, it's been a pretty rewarding experience. So yeah, until next time :)