It seemed like seconds passed before Claire began to regain her consciousness. She heard a sharp ringing in her ears as she opened her eyes up. At first, her vision was blurry, she didn't know where she was.
But as her vision began clearer, she slowly began to remember.
When she regained her awareness near fully, she found herself on her ground. At first, she looked around her as much as she could. She noticed a shine of light to the north of her.
"W-what happened?" she whispered. Taking in a deeper breath, she found herself coughing from the dust that escaped from whatever collapsed.
Then, her eyes widened ever so slightly. "W-where's... Gabriel?... T-Trina?". She cleared her throat before attempting to call out their names, as loud as she could. "G-Gabriel? Trina??". But even to her, her voice sounded weak, quiet.
"W-what happened??" she muttered under her breath. Though she didn't know herself yet, she slowly began to puzzle things together. Her heart sent hurt through her body, whatever occurred, it was bad. Very bad.
With a mighty grunt, she picked herself up to her knees. She gave herself a breather before applying another force of energy to get her onto her legs. They both felt numb, yet, she managed to stay standing.
Thinking her legs were awake enough, she took her very first step towards the light. Towards the archway. Around her, she was surrounded by nothing but the dark.
Holding onto the brick wall of the archway, she slowly turned the corner and with that, her gaze was met with the outside.
"Shit..." she muttered under her breath when she saw a bloodied body on the road. Behind it, one of the buses was on fire, charcoal-black.
Clouds of smoke twirled and spun as they rose up and out of her view.
Slowly, she began her way towards the exit. She felt her heart beating harder with each step she took. She didn't know what she was about to see.
She felt her stomach churn with slight nausea, only steps away before the exit.
Exiting, she couldn't comprehend the landscape. The sky was no longer blue, it was now orangy-brown. Filled with smoke. The buildings, vehicles she saw. Everything was destroyed.
But she was surprised to see that some of the buses, further down the road, managed to survive the blow. The windows did were broken, but nonetheless, some of the vehicles did seem operational.
Then, her eyes landed upon a group of people. She felt relief upon seeing survivors. But that relief soon turned into fear and worry. 'What are they surrounding, is someone hurt?' Claire thought as she approached the crowd.
At one point, someone turned around and saw Claire. With that, they stood up and moved out of the way.
It was a body.
Only when Claire looked up and saw the face of the person did her eyes widen.
She began to shake her head as tears filled her eyes.
Her pace of walking quickened as her breathing became shallow. A lump formed in her throat.
"T-Trina?" she whispered and she knelt down beside her body.
Responding to her words, Trina slowly opened her eyes. She looked towards the familiar voice that called her name. Seeing that it was Claire, a small smile appeared on her lips. Looking up towards the two people in different uniforms, she was met with the gazes of Gabriel and Mason. They both seemed to have got out of this with a minor injury or two.
Claire saw the slight bruise on Gabriel's left cheek and a bit of blood under Mason's nose. She swallowed whatever was in her mouth. "Can you please find me a med-kit?" she requested. No more words had to be said, they both hopped onto their feet and went to do what they were asked.
With that, her attention very quickly returned back to Trina.
Both Trina and Claire looked into the eyes of each other. Each giving a smile to the other.
"Help is on the way, Trina.". A pause. Claire swallowed whatever was in her mouth. "I will help you.". Briefly, Claire looked down Trina's body and saw where all the blood was coming from. Three large bullet wounds penetrated her abdomen. To Claire, it looked like a miracle that she made it this far, that she is still alive. She is now hoping for another miracle to happen. For Trina to survive.
Looking up and meeting Trina's gaze, she saw the way her eyes too filled with tears. The smile on her face turned into a frown.
"I am sorry, Claire. I am sorry if I did anything wrong. If I angered you in any way. If I did, please... please forgive me... Please..." Trina voiced as tears began falling down her face.
"Don't say that. Please, don't say such nonsense!". Claire tried her best to now allow herself to cry. But she failed upon feeling the tears, the tears she tried so hard to barricade, roll down her cheeks.
Claire hitched a breath as she picked Trina's head up into her hands and laid her on her lap.
"I-I don't want to die, Claire..." Trina muttered under her breath, shaking her head, as her mouth slowly began to go dry.
With that, both Gabriel and Mason ran back to Trina and Claire. Carrying a med-kit each.
Claire looked at them both. "Where is everyone else from my sector?" she asked Gabriel.
A moment of silence came and went away.
"You are the first one who made it out from your group..." Gabriel voiced, at first looking into Claire's eyes, before allowing his head to lower in grief.
Swallowing whatever was in her mouth, she looked back down at Trina. There, their gazes met once more. "I will save you, Trina. I will try my very best. You hold tight, you hear me?".
From there, she took one of the med-kits into her hands before opening the lid. Then, she looked through the content, looking for a pair of tweezers and scissors. Finding them both, she began by cutting Trina's top, vertically.
Now, using her tweezers, she tried to find one of the three bullets in the first wound of the three. While Claire was trying to save Trina, Trina looked up towards her Captain and Lieutenant.
"Thank you, Captain. Lieutenant.". Her eyes filled with tears. "I am sorry, Captain. P-please f-forgive me...". Slowly, Trina felt her hands lose their warmth.
At first, the Captain shook his head ever so slightly.
"Please stop apologising, Trina. You did absolutely nothing wrong," Gabriel said softly to her as a lump grew in his throat. "There's nothing for you to feel sorry about. If anything, I am sorry. I am so sorry that I wasn't cautious enough...".
With those words even more tears filled Trina's eyes, they overflowed down her cheeks with each blink of hers. Then she shook her head. "No... n-not for that, Captain. I-I a-am sorry... I am s-sorry I failed you...". With that, she took in a deep breath before she looked Claire's way.
She saw the worry in Claire's eyes as her gaze remained filled with her tears. "I-I can't find them..." She voiced in dread and anger. "I can't fucking find the last two bullets!".
With that, with one of the last pushes of power Trina had, she grabbed onto her arms and then shook her head. "I-it... i-it's of no use, C-C-Claire...". A pause followed. "P-please, stop.".
"No... no, no..." Claire replied. "No, no, I can't!...". With that, Claire closed the words with a clean cloth, to lower Trina's loss of blood.
"I am going to die... I-I am d-dying, Claire..." Trina said, her voice only grew weaker as the puddle of blood that surrounded her grew bigger. Her words had a sense of irony, contradiction. It was as if Trina finally had enough courage to accept her fate.
"But your brother, Trina...". With that, Claire broke into tears.
And then, she pictured herself in Trina's position. Her heart bet with pain upon the thought of her brother, of Garrett, finding out she passed away. Bled to her death. "Your brother is waiting for you somewhere. Just like you told me.".
But Trina shook her head as she too began to cry even more. "No. H-he... he is d-d-dead... He is dead, C-Claire. W-why do you t-th-think he... he has... has not w-written me back?...". She tried to take in a deep breath. "M-me saying that h-he was a-alive... it was... it was all false hope, C-Claire...".
'I knew he was dead, I had a feeling he went away... But I was hoping I'd be wrong and find him alive somewhere... somewhere on a sunny hill, or by a beach. Somewhere where we could finally, like a brother and sister, play and laugh. I miss my brother's affection. He... he was very, very protective and loving towards me,' Trina thought to herself. She wanted to say more, so much more, but she knew she didn't have much more energy left. "H-hey, C-Claire?".
"Yes?" she replied, softly, trying to stop herself from cry any further.
Trina tried to smile as much as possible. "W-win t-this war f-for us...". Then, she furrowed her brows. "I... I f-f-feel cold...".
"T-Trina?? Trina!? No, no, no!! Don't give up on us, Trina!!". Slowly, Claire picked Trina's head back up.
"W-win t-this war f-f-for us... f-for me. A-a-and find... f-find y-your b-b-brot-ther. J-just l-like I-I... I'll find m-m-mine...". Trina's gaze stayed on Claire, she looked into Claire's eyes.
Claire tried to swallow down the lump that continuously grew in her throat.
Once more, Trina tried to smile at Claire. She tried but felt that not even a muscle moved.
"G-goodbye, C-Claire. And... and... please... m-make it...". Trina tried her best to say the final words before her eternal sleep takes her. "M-make i-i-it o-out alive...".
With that, slowly, Trina closed her eyes. She allowed one, final tear to emerge from her eye before letting out her final breath.
To Claire, it looked as if Trina drifted to sleep. As if she was able to wake her up at any moment.
"T-Trina?... Trina??... Trina!?!". Claire tried to shake her awake, but her head fell limp. No response.
They lost her. They lost Trina.
Gabriel knelt beside Claire as Mason looked at Trina before switching his glance to both Claire and Gabriel. With that, he decided to walk away. "I am going to see if anyone else needs any assistance.". But before he made it too far out, he turned back around and looked at Claire. "H-hey, Claire...". A pause followed. "I saw that you were close with Trina... please accept my condolences.". He saw that her gaze remained down on Trina. With a gentle sigh, he turned and continued his way.
From there, muteness filled the gap between Gabriel and Claire.
"I-I am sorry. I am sorry for your loss, Claire," Gabriel said, breaking the silence between the two of them.
It was then that her gaze moved from Trina's pale face to Gabriel. She let her head fall down ever so slightly. "I-I am sorry too. I am so sorry I couldn't save her, Captain.".
He shook his head. "No, it's not your fault, Claire. You tried your best. I saw it. I saw it in your eyes...". It was these words of his that caused Claire to look up at Gabriel. To look up and into his eyes.
They gazed into one another's orbs.
"This is a war, Claire. Never write something off as it being your fault when it comes to situations like this," Gabriel added moments later. A pause followed. "As I said... you tried your best.". With that, Gabriel lowered his gaze down to Trina. "May she rest in the peace she deserved...". With that, he stood up and began his way towards Mason.
Claire's eyes followed him until she decided she wanted to see Trina one last time.
'Rest in peace, my dear friend...'.