Subway System, Byzas
Thracia Province, Actium
6 May 2545

Kaylee Smothers

The popping of electricity was what woke her first. For a few moments, all she could do was lie there. Her entire body hurt. She had never felt like this before. The closest she could think of was the last time she and Molly had a sleepover, but instead of sleeping, they had spent the entire night gossiping and eating the candy. They had paid for it the next morning when they could barely keep their eyes open during breakfast, and she had nearly faceplanted her scrambled eggs.

Even to this day, her mom kept making fun of her for that. It was totally lame.

But now? Now, as she forced her eyes opened and looked around, she realized she would give anything to deal with her mom's lame but well-meaning teasing. Anything, but the situation she found herself in now.

The subway car she and her family had been riding in was a mess. It had been knocked off the rails and onto its side; what had once been a wall was now the floor. Seats and stanchions had been ripped out from their mountings and tossed around, and live electrical wires hung all over the place. The entire rear half of the car was smoldering, filling the air with smog and making her eyes burn. But worse of all were the bodies: the people she remembered boarding the train with were now all over the place, their bodies lying in unnatural poses. Including…

"Dad! Tommy!" she cried, her voice hoarse and strained because of the smoke. Pushing herself upright, she staggered to where her father and her younger brother were lying, half-covered by a bench that had been ripped out from its bolts. Her dad was lying on his back with his eyes closed, arms wrapped around her brother. Both were eerily still.

"Dad," she gasped as she grabbed his shoulder and roughly shook it, trying to wake him. "Get up! Please…"

She tugged on his shoulder, trying to pull him out from underneath the bench, but he was too big and heavy for her alone. She tried the same with her brother, but he didn't budge either, and looking more closely at the bench, she realized it was keeping them pinned down.

"Hang on! I'll get you guys out!" she desperately cried as she wiggled her fingers under the edge of the bench and tried to lift up with all her strength, but unfortunately, the bench was too heavy and there was too much stuff keeping it pinned down. And her dad was the one in the family who always did the heavy lifting.

Abandoning the bench, she darted back and grabbed her dad's shoulder.

"Dad, please get up. I need your help," she pleaded. "Tommy? Please?"

She could feel tears stream down her face as she whispered, "Please don't leave me…"

But no matter how much she begged or cried, she knew that her pleas were falling on deaf ears. In her heart, she knew that half of her family, that her annoying and bratty but oh so kind when he wanted to be brother, that her goofy and sometimes lame and strong and loving dad, were…

Were…

Were.

xxx

Kaylee didn't know how long she sat there, cradling her family. All she knew was that by the time she looked up, a small pool of her tears had formed on the floor, mixing in with the ash and trash lying there. At first she didn't understand what had caught her attention, but then she heard it again: the soft pitter patter of footsteps, followed by the mute groan of metal, like a door was being wrenched open. It took Kaylee a few moment to realize what it had to be: someone was going from car to car, opening the doors and looking inside.

A rescue squad!

Kaylee automatically opened her mouth to let out a shout for help, to let them know she was there, when she suddenly remembered something: she and her family hadn't been in this subway because they were going to Byzas for a daytrip, they were in the subway because they had been evacuating. Because the Covenant had invaded.

Kaylee had to admit, she hadn't really paid too much attention to war. What? She was twelve, she had better things to do. Plus, unlike many of her friends and classmates, none of her family were soldiers. Sure, her dad's sister was a soldier, but her dad and her aunt weren't close and Kaylee never really got to know her growing up. And her mom was an only child. So aside from seeing her classmates occasionally getting pulled out of class – and sometimes never returning – she didn't have much to do with the war.

Her brother, on the other hand, was obsessed with all things soldier. Every game, every movie, every song that dealt with UNSC soldiers fighting against the "evil Covenant aliens" he just had to have it. His favorite game he and his friends liked to play was "soldiers versus aliens," and despite being only nine years old, he had already decided he was going to a soldier one day. One of the ways he used to annoy her was by coming into her room before bedtime and tell her stories of what the Covenant were doing to the poor people on all of the other colonies they were invading. And although Kaylee would never admit it – especially to him - those stories terrified her.

And it was those stories in mind that caused her to freeze with fear and listen as the footsteps drew closer and closer to her car. She found herself praying that whoever it was wandering outside would simply… walk past her, but to no avail as there was a slight pause, then the door handle at the other end of the car started rattling.

"Oh no," Kaylee fearfully whimpered as she stared at the door, as if she could magically ensure the door was locked or jammed shut or something. Maybe if whoever was outside couldn't get in, they would go away…

With a mute screech, the door slid open, and a beam of white light penetrated the darkness of the car. Reflexively, Kaylee wiggled further into the shadows, slapping a hand over her mouth as she tried to stay quiet, but she was shaking so much and breathing so hard and tears were dripping down her face as she tried to remain brave but she didn't want to get eaten-

There was a soft metallic groaned as someone climbed inside and Kaylee watched with wide eyes as the heavy footsteps walked closer and closer to her hiding spot, the beam of light traveling across the floor, revealing all of the bodies lying on the ground and casting eerie shadows all over the place. Whoever it was that was carrying the flashlight seemed to be pausing by every body, as the beam would stop every now and then, and Kaylee couldn't help but wonder what the alien was looking for, if they were looking for someone that looked particularly tasty, or, or…

The light fell onto her dad and brother, and Kaylee wanted to scream as she hadn't realized Tommy's eyes were wide open and staring directly at her, as if he was blaming her for everything that had happened, and she shoved her hand even tighter against her face to prevent any noise from escaping her but she must have whimpered or something because the light immediately leapt from her family to her face, blinding her, and Kaylee finally gave in and took a deep breath to scream because the Covenant was standing right in front of her-

The light abruptly turned off.

"Hey," a soft and warm and distinctively human voice suddenly said. "Hey, kid, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. UNSC Army, I'm here to help."

As Kaylee's eyes slowly readjusted to the darkness, she could see a humanoid figure crouched in front of her, with their hands up and palms out in a gesture of peace, and even though the figure's dark skin made it hard for Kaylee to make out their features in the low light, Kaylee could see enough to know that the person in front of her was a woman, and more importantly, wearing the uniform of a UNSC soldier.

Kaylee couldn't stop herself: she immediately burst into tears, sobbing in relief as she realized the person was one of the good guys and not one of the monstrous Covenant aliens.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, everything is going to be okay," the lady reassuringly said, and Kaylee didn't resist as the lady reached out and pulled her into a hug. It wasn't as warm or as friendly as the ones her parents gave her after her nightmares, and the lady's body armor meant Kaylee couldn't press her face against the lady's chest like she would with her parents, but the lady's arms felt strong and solid around her, and she didn't protest as Kaylee sobbed into her shoulder. She just hugged her and murmured reassuring words into her ears.

Eventually, Kaylee's tears slowed as she began to calm down, and she reluctantly pulled away from the women's chest. The Soldier quietly regarded her for a moment, before softly asking, "Feeling better?"

Kaylee nodded.

"Good, I'm glad to hear," the woman said sincerely. "I'm Mackenzie. What's your name?"

"Kaylee. Kaylee Smothers," Kaylee whispered, and she couldn't help but glance at her family. Her dad had been the one to name her, she suddenly remembered.

Mackenzie must have noticed Kaylee's movement because she turned to glance at whatever had caught Kaylee's attention.

"Your family?" Kaylee heard her gently ask. Kaylee nodded.

"My dad," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears once more. "My brother, Tommy."

"I'm sorry," Mackenzie mutely said. "I wish I could do something for them… but I can't. The only thing I can do now is make sure you make it. Do you think you can stand?"

Kaylee nodded. Wiping her nose, she climbed to her feet as Mackenzie grabbed her gun off the ground and flicked on the flashlight. Before they walked out of the car, Mackenzie paused and glanced back at Kaylee's family.

"Kaylee, is there… anything you want to… get from them?" she hesitantly asked. "Because I'm… not sure when we'll be back."

Kaylee resolutely shook her head. She didn't want to touch her family anymore. She didn't want to feel how cold and still they had become. She… she wanted to go home. She wanted her mom. She wanted to forget today ever happened.

But she knew, from the moment she had walked onto this car this morning, nothing was ever going to be the same.

"Okay," Mackenzie said. "Just… stay behind me, okay?"

Kaylee nodded and together they climbed out of the car.

Out in the tunnel, it was no better than inside the car. It was immediately clear to Kaylee that for whatever reason, their train had derailed as train cars were lying all over the place, some lying on their sides like the one she had been, while other had remained standing. All the lights and much of the tiles on the wall and ceiling had blown out, and the only source of illumination – aside from Mackenzie's flashlight – were from destroyed, with arcing electrical wires hanging from the ceiling. Much to Kaylee's surprise, there was no one else there, and she looked around, trying to figure out where everyone was.

"Kaylee. Are you… looking for someone?"

"Where's the… where's the rescue squad?" she asked, confused.

Mackenzie was quiet for a moment.

"I'm afraid it's just us two," she finally said.

Kaylee stared at her, puzzled. One of the things she remembered from the movies her brother watched was that a soldier never fought alone. So, where were all of Mackenzie's friends?

"Where are your friends?" Kaylee reflexively blurted out, only to immediately cringe as Mackenzie grimaced. She opened her mouth to apologize, but before she could say anything, Mackenzie jerked her head in the direction of the last car in the train. "My squad and I… we were in the caboose, bring up the rear. My squad leader saved my life but… he didn't make it. Nor did anyone else."

Kaylee immediately felt terrible. "I'm sorry! I didn't…"

She trailed off as Mackenzie shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, kid, you didn't know," Mackenzie said with a gentle smile, though even Kaylee could tell it was forced. "Let's just… let's just focus on getting out of here, shall we?"

Kaylee nodded, but as Mackenzie turned to walk away, she couldn't help but ask, "Are… we going to be able to get out of here?"

Mackenzie stopped, turned around, and lowered herself into a crouch. As she stared into her eyes, she very firmly but not unkindly said, "Kaylee. Even if it's the last thing I do, I will get you out of here. I promise."

And with that, she held up her pinky.

It took Kaylee a moment to realize what she was doing, and it took all of her self discipline not to roll her eyes.

"You know I'm twelve, not four, right?" she snarked-

- only to instantly cringe as she realized how rude she was being. Not only would her mom have been furious at her (Kaylee could already see the disapproving glare on her face,) she suddenly realized she probably shouldn't be so disrespectful to her savior; what if Mackenzie got so offended, she decided to leave her here…?

Fortunately, instead of getting mad, Mackenzie immediately burst out laughing. It was a joyous laugh, not a mean one, and Kaylee immediately felt better about her comment.

"Fair enough," Mackenzie said as she stood back up. "As you might be able to tell, I don't really deal with kids- sorry, young adults too often."

"Its alright," Kaylee reassuringly replied. "I don't really deal with soldiers either."

"Good to see we're in the same boat," Mackenzie said as she hefted her gun. "Feel free to ask me any questions. In the meantime, shall we?"

Kaylee bobbed her head and together, they started walking down the tunnel.

As she followed in Mackenzie's wake, Kaylee found she didn't really have anything to say. Part of it was because she had to keep her eyes on the ground - Mackenzie only had one flashlight and the ground was uneven so Kaylee had to be careful of where she stepped least she trip – but also, she just didn't know what to say and it made her feel bad. Tommy, she knew, would have been over the moon. A chance to talk to a real life soldier? Tommy would have been walking alongside Mackenzie, asking her all sorts of questions about her training, her experiences, what she did… anything and everything he could think of, even if they weren't the most appropriate. But Kaylee? Kaylee had questions, sure, but she didn't even know where to begin, and she didn't want to sound stupid; she was twelve, after all. Almost an adult.

So, instead, she did what she almost always did in these types of situations: she kept quiet and watched, studying Mackenzie as she led the way through the tunnel.

Mackenzie, Kaylee decided, was a warrior. Kaylee didn't really know what a warrior looked like, but she was sure they would look like Mackenzie. Her body armor was strapped tight against her uniform, making her look strong and powerful. She stood tall, and walked confidently, even in the dark. And the weapons… Kaylee didn't know much about guns, but she knew enough to know Mackenzie had a pistol strapped to her right thigh, a knife strapped to her left, and she was carrying some sort of machine gun, though Kaylee had never seen a gun with two barrels before. She wasn't even wearing a helmet like all the heroes from the movies, which admittedly made Kaylee happy because that meant she could see Mackenzie's hair was done up in cornrows, and that made Kaylee slightly jealous as she always wanted to try cornrows. One time, she and Molly tried to braid up her hair like that, only, they could never get it right and all the tutorial videos they watched didn't make sense-

"Kaylee? You still with me kid?"

Kaylee started and realize she had started to nod off. She shook herself, trying to wake up , but it didn't help. In fact, she felt exhausted, even though she hadn't done anything…

"Why am I so tired?" she mumbled as she tried to keep walking in a straight line.

"You mean aside from the fact you've just been through a rather traumatizing event? You have a small concussion. And…" for some reason, Mackenzie paused, then hesitatingly added, "and the oxygen level here in the tunnels are a bit low."

"Oh," Kaylee sleepily replied. "Why is that?"

"Ventilation fans aren't working," Mackenzie replied, pointing at the ceiling where, in the dim light, Kaylee could see a large metal cylinder-like device was mounted. "Plus…"

Again, Mackenzie seemed to hesitate.

"The air," she finally said, "was sucked out of these tunnels. Only for a little bit, but… it takes a while for it to filter back."

"How'd they do that?" Kaylee asked, confused. "Suck the air out?"

"Vacuum bomb."

"What?"

"There's a… device… called a vacuum bomb that gets used against enclosed places like bunkers and tunnels. It's good because it can literally suck the air out from those places and, uh, suffocate everyone inside. Its why everything is a mess down here; someone set one off."

Kaylee was horrified. "Why would the aliens have something like that!?"

"They don't."

It took Kaylee a moment to parse Mackenzie's meaning.

"Wait, are you saying the UNSC did this!?" Kaylee exclaimed, now fully awake. "That they… my dad and my brother… but, but, why?"

"I'm not sure," Mackenzie admitted. "I've been trying to figure that one out. I knew we lost comms with DIVHQ a long time ago, so if they or even NORTHCOM did something, they would have had no way of warning us. I just can't figure out why they would even want to blow up the subway system in the first place; even if we weren't down here, a lot of Byzas's defenses run parallel or around the tunnels. Blowing up the subway would just undermine them, and HIGHCOM would only do if- "

Mackenzie abruptly stopped talking, and Kaylee stared at her, impatiently.

"'If' what?" she finally asked.

"Quiet!" Mackenzie snapped and Kaylee felt her mouth snap shut, startled and a bit frightened by Mackenzie's terse tone. "Sorry, didn't mean it like that but… do you hear that?"

Kaylee frowned and started to listen. Straining her ears, she thought she heard… wings?

"It sounds like wings?" she finally said. "Behind us maybe?"

She glanced at Mackenzie, only to see a grim look had appeared on her face.

"That's what I was afraid of," she whispered as she turned off her flashlight. "Get down, and get behind me."

Kaylee hurriedly moved to obey, and she watched as Mackenzie drop to one knee, and slide something into the large tube mounted to the bottom of her gun.

"If I tell you to run, you run, and you don't look back. Got it, Kaylee?" Mackenzie harshly whispered.

"Got it," Kaylee fearfully whispered back. She didn't know what was going on, but it was clearly making Mackenzie nervous, and that made her nervous.

The fluttering of wings continued as Mackenzie pointed her gun down the tunnel they had come from. In the dim light, Kaylee watched as Mackenzie move her hand forward until –

"Cover your ears."

BLOOP!

A loud gunshot echoed through the tunnels, making Kaylee jump in fright at ear shattering noise. A streak of light sped down the tunnel until it exploded into a ball of white light at the far end, illuminating the tunnel and revealing-

Kaylee couldn't stop herself, even if she wanted to. She screamed.

Clinging to the walls and ceiling and floor was an entire crowd of gigantic, bug-like aliens. Each individual bug was massive, far bigger than her, bigger than her dad, and definitely bigger than the plastic bugs Tommy sometimes placed in her pillow. The moment they realized they had been spotted, the bugs immediately let out a bone-chilling screech.

"Kaylee, RUN!" Mackenzie yelled, and opened fire.

The lead bug instantly exploded into a ball of green goo that made Kaylee feel sick to her stomach, but she managed to avoid puking as she turned and ran. She didn't know where she was going but it was a tunnel and there were only two ways to go, and she knew she wanted to go where the bad guys weren't. She ran, stumbling and tripping over things she couldn't see, but each time she picked herself up and kept on running. All the while, gunfire and inhuman screams continued to ring out behind her.

Rounding a bend, Kaylee stumbled to a halt as she realized she was faced with a fork, with the tunnel branching off to the left and right. She didn't know which way she had to go, and she didn't want to go the wrong way because what happened if she went one way and Mackenzie went the other...? And speaking of Mackenzie, Kaylee abruptly realized she couldn't hear anymore gunfire, and the possibilities for why made her terrified. Was Mackenzie alright? Should Kaylee go back for her? But what could she even do if she did? What should she do!?

Before Kaylee could make a decision, Mackenzie came sprint around the corner and ran right into her, knocking them both over.

"Sonna- come on, kid, get up!" Mackenzie snapped. Attaching her gun onto her back, she reached down to her belt and pulled out a small ball of sorts. "FRAG OUT!"

BOOM!

The explosion roared through the tunnel, making Kaylee's ears ring, and in the glow of the fireball she could see Mackenzie's mouth moving but she couldn't hear what she said. Mackenzie must have realized that because instead of repeating herself, she grabbed Kaylee by the waist and took off running. Startled, Kaylee didn't resist, and as she bobbed up and down on Mackenzie's shoulder, she looked back only to see an entire swarm of the bugs come charging from around the corner. In reality, there was probably a dozen of them at most but to Kaylee, it seemed like there were hundreds. She very quickly made sure not to look back again and instead, glanced forward to see Mackenzie had launched them down the left tunnel.

"Mackenzie! How do you know we're going the right way?" Kaylee found herself asking, not even realizing her hearing had come back. She didn't want to question her savior, but at the same time, she didn't want to get trapped down here forever.

"Air flow!" Mackenzie yelled back.

"What?"

"There's a maintenance shaft somewhere down here that leads to the surface!" Mackenzie explained between pants. "It's why we haven't choked to death yet; air is still filtering its way down here!"

Kaylee didn't question it; instead, she just clung tighter as Mackenzie somehow managed to make it down the tunnel without once tripping.

They had just raced past a humming fan running at full blast when Mackenzie abruptly stopped and Kaylee found herself being deposited onto the ground.

"There! Through there! Ventilation shaft!" Mackenzie yelled, pointing at a door embedded in the wall and Kaylee sprinted over and forced it open with all her strength as Mackenzie pulled out her gun and fired a few more shots downrange. Kaylee dove through the doorway and waited until Mackenzie was through before, with Mackenzie's help, slammed the door shut.

"That's not going to hold for very long," Mackenzie noted out loud.

For her part, Kaylee was looking for a way out, but as it turned out, they were in a shaft: literally a shaft with no stairs or ladders leading up.

"Oh my God, we're going to die!" Kaylee screamed but before the words could even fully leave her mouth, Mackenzie was pointing her gun straight up and firing, and Kaylee watched in shock as a thick cord flew out of the bottom barrel and disappear into the darkness. A split second later, there was a loud thunk, and Mackenzie was pulling the line taut.

"Grab hold of me and hold tight!" Mackenzie barked as she attached the line to her waist and Kaylee wrapped her arms around Mackenzie's chest. Next thing she knew, they were yanked off their feet and flying through the air as the grappling cable retracting.

BAM.

Below them, the door to the shaft was blown inwards, and a trio of bug-aliens came charging in.

"MACKENZIE, BELOW US!" Kaylee screamed.

Without hesitation, Mackenzie yanked her pistol from her thigh and fired three times, and all three bugs went plummeted to the ground.

THUD.

They hit the ceiling, the impact nearly causing Kaylee to lose her grip. She looked around wildly to see the entrance to another tunnel, this one sloping upwards.

"Kaylee! That tunnel should take you up to the surface! I'm going to toss you! Keep running until you hit the surface!"

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be right behind you! Ready!?"

Kaylee didn't get a chance to respond as she was immediately thrown. Instinctively, she hit the ground and rolled, and looked back to see Mackenzie hanging in mid-air with her pistol out.

"Kaylee, RUN!"

Kaylee didn't think twice, she just took off running. This tunnel was more intact than the ones below, so Kaylee was able to run without tripping, but she barely noticed as the sound of gunfire tore through the air behind her, and she knew Mackenzie was risking her life once more for her.

Panting, Kaylee followed the tunnel around another bend-

BAMBAMBAM!

"HOLD YOUR FUCKING FIRE!"

Kaylee looked up from the ground where she had thrown herself the moment she had felt the bullets passing by over her head, and saw a bunch of people walking towards her in a line. She let out a sob of relief as she realized they were more soldiers, and she quickly scrambled to her feet and rushed towards them.

"Jesus Christ, that's a fucking kid! Hey, Kid! UNSC Army Paratroopers! It's okay, we're here to help!"

"Help!" Kaylee tried to yell, but she was so out of breath from her sprint, she could barely talk. "Help me!"

One of the soldiers grabbed her and started to lead her past the others. "Hey, Kid, you alright? Are you okay? MEDIC! Private, get your ass over here, now! Kid, are you alone?"

"No!" Kaylee managed to gasp out. "Mackenzie is back there!"

"Who?"

"Mackenzie! She's one of you guys!"

"Like fuck she is; there ain't no other Paras down here," someone else sneered.

"Must been one of the 53rd Armored guys – didn't they say they lost a couple of platoons from their sustainment brigade down here?"

"Fucking Straight Leg POGs, man."

"Guys, is it too much to ask for you to have a little bit of empathy here?" the man holding onto her arm growled.

"Sorry, Lieutenant, but I used up all my empathy back on Newsaka.

"Then shut the fuck up until I say otherwise," the Lieutenant snapped. "Kid, where's this 'Mackenzie?'"

"She's back there!"

"CONTACT FRONT!"

The cough of gunfire immediately filled the air, but Kaylee wasn't able to see what they were shooting at as the Lieutenant automatically shoved her behind him.

"Holy shit, LT, that's a lot of fucking Drones!"

"FALL BACK! JACKALOPES, BREAK CONTACT AND FALL BACK!" the man yelled before grabbing hold of Kaylee and running. At first, she let him, but then she realized he was running away from where Mackenzie was, and back towards the surface.

"No, wait!" Kaylee desperately cried as she tried to wiggle out of the Lieutenant's arms, but he was far stronger than Mackenzie was as he didn't budge. "Mackenzie's back there! You can't just leave her!"

"Kid, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think anyone's back there anymore!" the man yelled. "COVERING FIRE! BREAK CONTACT! FALL BACK!"

Kaylee tried to peer around the Lieutenant, but all she could see were two soldiers fired their guns further into the tunnel before they too turned around to run.

"No, NO! MACKENZIE! MACKENZIE!"

She tried to hit the man in the chest to let her go, but they abruptly emerged onto the surface, and the sudden brightness blinded and stunned her long enough for him to toss her into a nearby truck.

"Doc, watch her!" the Lieutenant barked. "SAPPERS UP FRONT, SAPPERS UP FRONT! SERGEANT FISH, SEAL THE HOLE!"

Another soldier, this one wearing a red cross grabbed her, but Kaylee tried to fight him off as yet another soldier ran up to the tunnel entrance and hurtled a backpack into the darkness.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he screamed, and Kaylee might not have known much about soldiers or war, but even she knew what that meant.

"NO! NOOOOOO! MACKENZIE! MACKENZIE!"

BOOOM!

A fireball shot straight up into the air a mere moment before the tunnel entrance collapsed onto itself with an earth shaking roar. As for Kaylee, all she could do was scream-

- and scream –

- and scream…

XXX

Fumirole
20 April 2552

Five Years Later

"One minute! Make ready!"

The Albatross swayed from side to side as it was buffeted by explosions, but Private Kaylee Smothers barely noticed. Instead, she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out an old but well-maintained photograph. On the front was a picture of her dad and brother. It was the last picture Kaylee remembered ever taking of them, so it was as close to how they appeared before they had been killed. As she had done every single day for the last five years, she stared at their smiling faces, trying to memorize their features so she could remember them as they were, not as they had become. Once she was satisfied, she turned the photograph over.

There, on the back, written and rewritten over and over again in permanent marker, was a single name: "Mackenzie." Because so many had died on Actium, because she never properly got to see her face, and because she wasn't even sure if Mackenzie had been her first or last name, it had proved all but impossible for Kaylee and her mom to figure out exactly which soldier had been the one to sacrifice her life to save Kaylee's. But no matter who she had been, Kaylee knew she would never forget her, for as long as she lived.

"Thirty seconds! Clear the ramp!"

With loving care, Kaylee carefully placed the picture back in her breast pocket where it would be safe. Hefting her rifle, she looked forward to where the rest of her platoon was preparing to land under fire.

"Touchdown in fifteen seconds!"

"For my family," she whispered to herself as she felt the Albatross touch the ground. "And my guardian angel."

"RAMP DOWN! SOLDIERS, ATTACK!"

"HOOOOOAAAAHHHH!"

Let out a loud war cry, Kaylee followed her squadmates as they surged down the ramp –

- and plunged into the unknown.

General Notes

This may come as a surprise to some people, but I'm not actually a twelve year old preteen girl. Shocker, I know. As such, I'm not entirely sure how one talks or acts or whatever, especially five hundred years in the future. As such, I just mostly based this chapter on how I thought I would react at my current age if placed in a similar situation, and then upped the cluelessness because, yes, I was a rather clueless and sheltered kid.

Hope it turned out somewhat plausible.

Most of the tunnel sequence was inspired by Marvel Cinematic Universe's Avengers: Endgame (2019), specifically the scene when Hawkeye fights off several Outriders in the collapsed basement of the Avengers Compound.