My Immortal

Chapt 1: 97 Years Before - Part 1

Lt. Kiran Snyder:

It was a quiet spring afternoon that found Mako and I curled up in the shade of a silver maple tree. We had finally gotten a break from the constant work of our posting at the base. There was always something to fix, someone to train, questions to answer. I had planned a simple picnic to get away from the chaos of a training military base. I adjusted my shirt, my jacket on and open, as I laid back against the tree trunk. My eyes fell on Mako, the love of my life, the reason I breathe. We had known each other for nearly a decade at this point, she was my everything. Pulling her against me, I smiled brightly. Her red hair pulled back into a pony-tail as she rolled her eyes at a joke I had just made; one I had made many times over the last few months. Our conversation turned serious, as a thought crossed my mind. There had been rumors that we were on the brink of a nuclear war, World War III. There were always rumors, but these seemed more solid.

"How big do you think these nuclear threats really are?" I glanced over at her, her emerald eyes shined in confusion at the topic change. She knew by now that my mind went in many different directions at once.

"Knowing what I know, probably a lot more real than anyone else knows." She leaned against me, her head on my shoulder. "All I know is that, if it does happen, I will be at your side, Kiran."

"So, the rumors of an Ark are true." I concluded easily from her words that the government was taking serious precautions, meaning it was only a matter of time now. The biggest rumor we had heard was of the space station currently orbiting the planet. That the elite few would be shuttled up, saved, leaving the rest of us on the ground; left to survive or die.

"Even if they are true, knowing how selfish people can be, there is no chance in hell that a devil dog like me and a squid like you are getting anywhere near them."

"If the nukes come before it's complete, then maybe we'll get lucky?" I jokingly asked, knowing that we'd likely die from a nuke long before we could reach whatever secret base they were building the shuttles on.

She pressed a kiss to my temple, humming in answer before actually speaking. "Lucky... I hardly see spending the rest of my life in a tin can in space is a good idea."

"Even if it means you'll live?" I looked at her in concern, reaching to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Her pale skin had started to pink from the sun.

"200 years in space, or 20 minutes here on Earth, as long as I am with you."

"So you wouldn't take a chance of a few more years together? Just because it's in space?"

She laughed softly. "I said, as long as you are with me, that's all that matters."

"Would you make me go if I could get on the ship, but you couldn't?"

"If it meant saving your life, yes."

Her answer had me reeling. She would save my life, even if it cost her, her own. "Even if I didn't want to?"

"If you didn't want to?" She paused a moment before sighing. "I wouldn't force you to do something, but if you got chosen, I don't know what I would do, love."

I knew, I could already feel it deep inside me. She'd likely come to hate me at some point, but if I had to, if she got a seat and I didn't, I'd make her go. Her earlier words finally clicked as to what she was feeling. I would sacrifice myself if it meant she would live. "Hopefully it never comes to that."

"Agreed."

We continued to chat quietly, the conversation turning to the recruits we had been training. They seemed to get more stubborn with each new class. It had to be 10 minutes later that we heard a whistling sound. She pointed to a black dot in the sky that seemed to be getting bigger and bigger and nudged me. "What exactly is that?"

Glancing up at it, I couldn't stop the tight warning in my chest the moment I realized it was moving fast in our direction. Whatever it was, it wasn't good and we needed to get out of there as quickly as we could. "What do you think is the likelihood that it's a nuke?" I quickly asked.

"In this kind of atmosphere... high." Mako looked at me. "We need to get somewhere... now."

Instantly standing, I grabbed her hand and pulled her up after me. It seemed like everything was moving in slow motion from those words onward.

"Come on, this way." Turning, I started running, with her in tow, toward the Medical Building behind us. There were few places on the base that had bunkers capable of surviving a blast of any major size, but we were nowhere near one.

She followed a step behind as the missile came even closer. "There's no bunker in this building."

"No, but there's a BioHazard lab that's meant to keep it all in if there's a spill." I assure her, dragging her into the building.

Hallway after hallway, two flights down the stairs, had us just down the hall from one of the Biohazard labs. I knew that if this was a nuke, the biohazard lockdown would at least be some kind of safeguard to the radiation. We ducked into the BioHazard lab. The room itself was filled with tables and various equipment, nothing that would help us in our current predicament. I sealed the door, triggering the alarm and locking us in. That would be the only protection I could offer to us. Whatever happened now, was up to fate itself.

"Promise me something?" I asked, looking at her. My heart was breaking for the situation we found ourselves in.

"What?" She asked, pulling me tightly to her, her face buried in my chest.

"If something happens to me, you take my unit patch, keep it with you. It's yours." I tapped my shoulder patch on my uniform jacket. I had earned it just a few months before, when I was assigned to the Tech division of the base. We both had been so proud when I was presented with it.

"Only if you agree to do the same." She placed her hand on my cheek, looking me in the eyes; unshed tears barely being held back. "I love you, now and forever."

"I love you, always and eternal." Reaching up, I pulled her down into a passionate kiss, knowing it would likely be our last. There was a defining boom before the ground rolled under our feet ripping us apart and throwing us to the floor. I quickly pulled her under me, wanting to shield her from anything and everything. Her smaller frame was easily covered by my larger one. The walls groaned before the whole room began to shake. I wrapped my arms tighter around her, moving so her head was under my chest. I would do everything I could to protect her as the room fell to pieces around us.

"I love you." Was the last thing I whispered as a large chunk of concrete from the wall hit me in the head. The blackness swallowed me up, as the heat of the explosion swept over us.

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