A Partisan's Fight - COMPLETED!

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Content Warning: Graphic Uncomfortableness. If you get queasy quickly tread lightly on this chapter. It's not too bad, but just a head's up.

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Aaauugghhh! Pain riveted through Jyrgen's side. He stared in horror at the metal pole protruding from his side. His heartbeat raced, trying to get a sense of his surroundings. Taking in a few deep breaths, he was able to see part of what had happened.

An explosion in the weapon's tunnel must have gone off. That hadn't been part of the plan. He looked around, noticing many others around him all ready dead. The tunnel had caved in enough to bury many alive — both guards and prisoners alike.

"Pen— Aaahhh!" Searing pain seeped from around the wound. He pinched his eyes shut, trying to keep the hot tears and pain from melting him.

"Penny!" He screamed out, ignoring the white-hot pain coursing through him. He twisted his cry out for pain into calling her name a few more times. Silence greeted him, along with some pained moans further in the tunnel. Breathing hard, he sat there, knowing there wasn't much more he could do without help. He was stuck.

Pinching his eyes shut, he blocked everything out. "Please be alive... please be alive..."

"Jyrgen!" The voice seemed too unlikely to be real. He refused to let it pull him out of his dark rooted despair.

"Jyrgen, open your damn eyes!" Penny's panicked voice rang out.

Sure, she would still be being critical from the grave. Shaking his head, he groaned. "I am going to miss you, Penny."

"You are so dramatic, stupid." She brushed his hair back from covering his eyes. "Now help me get you out of here."

Opening his eyes, her coppery hair flooded his vision. He strained to focus on her mesmerizing green eyes. "If I died... please tell me this is the heaven I get to have. One with you in it."

Rolling her eyes, she let out a guarded laugh. "At least I know you are still with me. Your brain might be a bit screwed up, however. This is not what I pictured heaven to be like. Help me get you out of here."

"Kiss me first." He asked almost desperately. He wanted to taste her. He wanted to make sure she was real.

"What?" Her brows scrambled together in confusion.

"Kiss me first so I know you are safe." His heart pounded more erratically, not from the pain but from the impatience, the uncertainty.

She stared at him thoughtfully. "No." A smile ruefully tugged at her lips.

"What? Why not?" He couldn't keep his eyes from widening. Maybe she wasn't real. Maybe he was dreaming. He fought to keep his head up and a groan from slipping out.

"We are not safe yet. Do you remember what you asked before this explosion happened?" She stopped looking around at his wound and focused on him, brow arched and a look that showed that he was the only one important to her at that very moment.

"I asked how to know if you were safe." He swallowed, thinking about the conversation and wishing they were back in that moment.

"Mhmm. I distinctly remember telling you... what?" Both brows bounced up as she watched and waited for an answer.

He sighed, mumbling under his breath.

"What? What was that?" She inched her ear closer, relaxing one brow and keeping the other arched.