What are you fighting for?

3. The City

She lays there quietly, keeping her eyes closed, matching her breaths to the beeping of the machines that surround the bed, the only indications of her heartbeat, her existence. Her legs are numb. Curiosity slowly pries open her swollen eyes to meet a dismal view of Kaioras fire red hair.

"Oh, Zana, how great that you're finally awake" her kind smile.
Zana tries to return a mild smile and asks "how long have I been out?"
But nothing but a whisper leaves her mouth.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine. The mission was only two days ago, nothing changed"
So no more people died. A sigh of relief.

Keon peeks through the door and Kaiora sees this as her queue to leave.
"You did it" he smiles, taking her hand "You killed Soleil"
"Yes" Zana says, her throat sore from the effort of speaking that single word "I don't think I would be here if I didn't"

"Yeah" a small chuckle "Merce and I were less successful. The only thing we found in the woods was you" his eyes evade her look and he bites his lips "For a moment I thought you might be dead"

Keon and Zana first met when only 20 people were still left in the game, 20 already gone. Zana was at the lake, searching for a package of food, clothes or weapons that were hidden all over the arena. Despite the weekly deliveries, those packages are an opportunity to bring special items in your possession.

Zana believed to have found one of those eight packages while wading through the lake. As she bent over to pick it up she heard the dangerous clicking sound of a gun. Letting the package slight out of her hands she stands up straight, turning to look at the attacker. It was a beautiful boy, maybe a year older than herself. Black curls falling into his face but not far enough to cover those black eyes of him. Pale skin, soft pink lips, tall with broad shoulders, his gun pointed directly at her. He could've shot her right there, Zana didn't stand a chance with her broadsword, but he didn't. Instead he asked
"What are you fighting for?"

"I- I'm not a leader, but I want freedom and justice" she stuttered confused by the question. Of course she knew he was looking for an alliance. It seemed like an eternity until the raven haired boy lowered his gun, her answer was right.

"Keon Elway"
"Zana Burris"

After Keon left the room, Merce visited once but there was one person who did not want to leave her side. Kaiora.

"The buildings stand in defiance of the people who fell. They are no vulnerable flesh but concrete and steel, not as timeless as the mountains that ring the arena but able to outlast us" Kaiora says, amazed by the city, her elbows on the window-sill.

She turns around to look at Zana. The two girls aren't much alike. Personality wise Zana is the cold, calculating one who does what needs to be done. Kaiora is warm, altruistic, kind and smart although she can be naive, wanting to see the good in everything, even in people who don't possess just a little bit of good.

Kaioras straight hair reaches until her waist and is as red as if she was kissed by fire. Her thin lips are almost all the time curved into a smile, revealing small dimples. Freckles are sprayed all over her roman nose and high cheek bones.

Zana and Kaiora are nothing alike, except for their eyes. Both have the same piercing blue set of eyes, which, even if she didn't want to admit it, fascinated Zana. For Kaiora this was proof of their special connection.

On the other side of the window the water droplets fall like they simply cannot think of anything better to do. There is a laziness about them, as if they can barely be bothered to conform to the will of gravity.
When Kaiora holds her bare arm out of the window the droplets splatter on her outstretched fingers.

"Are you feeling better?" Kaiora spent almost the entire day with her. Now the darkness is about to lay itself upon the city but although the buildings of this ghost town are empty, every lantern lights up at night.
"Yes, thank you for taking care of me" Zana tries getting up from her bed but Kaiora insists she stays "No, rest" pushing her back into the cushions "I'll get the delivery and bring you something to eat" a bright smile and she exists through the door.

Zanas attention drifts to the window where Kaiora was standing only seconds ago amazed by the race of the raindrops and the play of the storm.

First, the inky darkness sank into the marrow of one's bones. This was followed by attacks of lightening bursting on the streets, and steadily made its way from one end of the city to the other. Sometimes flashing bolts of pure energy seem to stand for long moments around certain buildings. Count one, count two, count three, then, came explosions of thunder in great waves of discordant and demented sounds. The noise level became so intense that it rattled picture windows, and made each person tremble inside his chest cavity. The wind raised to the level of a thousand howling hounds.

Zana swings herself off the bed, wanting to close the window rattling in the storm, that Kaiora forgot to close. Gazing over the city lights, Zana spots a person walking down the street, the collar of his jacket pulled deep into his face. Which is odd, since the only person who is about to leave the building is Kaiora.

The realisation hits Zana like one of the lightnings outside. Still a bit shaky on her legs and only in socks Zana paces out of her room, nearly falling down the stairs. Stumbling down the steps the only support was the banister. Her heart pounding inside her chest as if it was about to explode.

Step after step she makes her way downstairs. The fear let's her forget the pain in her body and Zana races down the stairs, even missing a couple steps sometimes.

Zana falls but manages to grab the door link, pull herself up and push the door wide open. The wind hits her like a whip, blowing her brown hair inside her face. But there she was, her fiery red hair perfectly visible in the dark of the storm. Zana looks at Kaiora, wanting to scream her name and warn her.

There was an enormous explosion. It was as though a fist of orange flame had decided to punch it's way out of the cement. Windows shattered. Smoke and fire rushed out. Thousands of pieces of glass and steel, a deadly rainfall, showered down.

The red of the fire mixes with the light blue of pixels.

A flash of light, followed by a "whump" of physical impact, as if someone is shoving Zana hard.

A stunning flash blasts her shadow across the floor as she's slammed by some indescribable force. She tastes blood and dirt and pavement, and her lungs burn, and Zana realises she's been knocked against a wall. She's dizzy, her ears are ringing from the roaring boom in the night. She can't think straight. Zana sees a fireball rolling up into the night sky and can feel its heat. She feels and hears and sees what happened before she realises what actually happened.

The overwhelming blast of sound and light engulfed Zana, overloading her senses for a moment.

The fearful blow of the explosion, the noise of glass, then sudden, total silence for a moment before the ringing started.

The explosion is big enough to draw lots of attention, but not big enough to knock the skyscraper down. Still big enough to kill Kaiora instantly.

They've been caught in an explosion.