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↳𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬 'epilogue'
━━ 𓄼 𓄹 ━━
TWO YEARS LATER
FROM ABOVE, the world was nothing but peace.
Fields of brown and green rolled beneath her, playing tag with the dusty landscape of the orange desert. As she flew low, sunlight scraped across her field of vision. The plane roared beneath her as the landing gear engaged and Cam landed smoothly on the runway.
Even before she was fully out of the plane, Ruby was running towards her. The twenty year-old was always brimming with questions to ask and worries to voice.
"I was gone for two hours, what could have possibly happened?" Cam sighed as she pulled off her headset. She stretched out her back as Ruby spoke.
Ruby looked at the list in her hand. "Harley left early and I had to fend for myself," the girl defended, flicking her curly hair out of her face. "I got three phone calls from Rieker Farms asking when you'd be out there. Your brother stopped by to drop off the new generator. And then there was a message from that guy in Reno, and then the faucet started leaking again so I had to replace the washers." By the time she got done talking, she was red in the face and out of breath.
Cam hefted her bag out of the passenger seat of the Cessna. "Ruby, you know we aren't running a high stakes operation here. It's alright."
"I know, I know," the girl muttered.
Ruby Kain was their intern, a community college grad desperate to prove herself. Cam could only afford to keep her on because she had settled for the low pay for the sake of experience. Between her other pilot, Harley, and their mechanic, they needed someone to handle the administrative side of things. It was something Cam had thought of only after she had lost bills and invoices countless times. Now, their office was clean, organized and they even had a voluntary media manager.
"I'll call back Rieker Farms," Cam assured her, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Thank you for fixing that leak. Try and get some rest this weekend."
"I actually don't sleep anymore, I lie awake at night staring at the ceiling and wondering if there's going to be another water main break." Ruby wiped a hand at the sheen of sweat on her freckled cheeks. "Also, there's an invoice that came today. I left it on the desk in the office," she called over her shoulder as they parted ways.
