Villetta’s heart was racing. She had been separated from her squad and was left alone in the battle field of Shinjuku Ghetto. Her primary objective was to regroup with the others but it was proving difficult. The rebellion had acquired explosives which had changed the layout of the ghetto, rendering half of the army intel useless.
Surviving wasn’t an objective for Villetta. She was one of the best on the field that day. And dying wasn’t really an option, she had to live, had to make it out alive.
So she listened to her earpiece, answering to others only when necessary. Any excess noise could alert the enemy, and while Villetta was sure she could take few of them alone, she had noticed how the enemy had grown better and more organised lately. What she had seen a week ago could be a whole another story this time.
She grasped her gun tighter and began moving along the wall, when she heard it.
A terrible explosion.
Not too far away, close enough to shake the ground she stood on.
But what truly frightened her, was the sound of screams and yelling coming from her earpiece.
She stopped on her tracks. It felt like all the blood had drained from her face and her whole body.
“Kewell, come in. Kewell? Can you hear me? Kewell!”
There was no answer. The line was silent except for some on and off transmissions of static or other people contacting each other.
Villetta needed to move. She turned around on her tracks and started sprinting towards the site of explosion. If Kewell wasn’t answering, did that mean he was also… No, she shouldn’t lose hope. He was with Kewell but that didn’t mean anything.
What awaited her, was a building completely reduced to a pile of rubble. There were a few people around who had been outside the building, but there were probably people inside too. Villetta’s heart stopped.
“No,” she whispered as she ran towards the small opening that lead to the inside of the ruin. No, no no no, it couldn’t be, this couldn’t be, he couldn’t be–
When she got there, she started to frantically look around. In any other situation she wouldn’t have raised her voice in a battlefield, but her heart had taken control over her logic and pure common sense. She took a deep breath.
“Jeremiah!”
When nothing in her field of vision reacted, she decided to try again. And then again, and again, until finally, she spotted a familiar movement.
“Jeremiah-” she breathed as she rushed to him, starting to move the debris off of him. “Are you-, are you okay? Are there others? What happened?”
“I-” Jeremiah coughed, “Kewell, I couldn’t stop him before it was too late.”
“It, it’s okay. At least you are okay,” Villetta swallowed. It wasn’t really okay. Kewell was one of the best, like them, he was an ally, a friend. But it would have to wait. She needed to get Jeremiah out.
Jeremiah understood this too. “I was pretty sure I was dead too, before you came.”
“It’s okay now, I’ll get you out of here. There should be some kind of back up coming. It was a big explosion, they’ve had to react.”
“I- It’s not okay, Villetta, I-”
“It’s going to be okay, you are alright, I am alright, we’ll get out of here in no time-”
“Villetta. I can’t see anything.”
Neither of them said a word after that. Villetta stopped moving. Jeremiah could only listen to her shaky breaths, unable to see what kind of face the woman was making.
