"Captain, the Netherites are closing in! What do we do?"
Captain Marshall stared out into the snow, adjusting his rich purple scarf. The perfect color to compliment his eyes. "We stand our ground, lieutenant. We face them off."
"But sir, their weapons-"
"We have no other choice."
Bri giggled, popping another gumdrop into her mouth. She vividly remembered her brother complaining endlessly about that plothole. There were many other choices for the characters to take, but the director didn't listen to his complaints nor his suggestions. He'd joked to her over the phone that he should rewrite the script himself.
The navy forces stood upon their capsized ship, half buried into the snowy bank and half overtaken by the icy waters. The only light came from a single dim lantern swinging from a broken metal pole. Captain Marshall squared back his shoulders and blew snowflakes off his shoulder with a straight forward face.
She couldn't help full out laughing that time, leaning back on her bed pillow. It looked ridiculous. Her brother was good at pulling off serious characters, but it still pulled her out of the illusion when he did something so him. No one else knew just how much of a dork her older brother could be.
Capt. Marshall reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an old-timey pocket watch. He clicked it open to reveal a broken clock and a photo of a young girl. He sighed with contempt and closed it, gripping it tightly with frozen fingers before putting it back. "I'm sorry Anna."
Something churned in Bri's stomach and she mindlessly munched on the end of a Twizzler. She could remember how excited her brother sounded when he told her the producer agreed to slip her middle name into the movie. Made the distance between him and their family feel smaller, he claimed.
She'd just laughed and told him he was ridiculous in her own little sister way. Partly teasing, partly annoying, all hidden under the veil of missing him just as much. That wistfulness had only increased in discomfort in the two weeks since the apocalypse started.
The snowfall picked up, quickly turning into a full-forced blizzard. It grew even darker, the single light becoming useless in the cold, deadly abyss the team found themselves in. Soldiers stationed by the ship yanked up their hoods, but it was only a feeble feat as snow obscured their vision and practically froze their faces to solid rock.
Captain Marshall stared at them, silent fear struck across his face. But he gritted his teeth and raised his own hood. His eyes narrowed under its weak shield, his focus set purely on the task at hand.
Her room door flew open, Colin jumping inside with a flourish. "Bri! Leader guy- uhhh Austin! That's it! - is looking for us for patrol, I guess. I don't know for sure, actually, I wasn't really paying attention."
"Captain! They're here!" The lieutenant raised his flamethrower and aimed it at an approaching figure in the dark storm. Other figures flanked them, and both the lieutenant and Captain glanced at each other weary regret before charging forward.
"Oh hey! Are you watching Abominable Shipwreck?" Colin asked, quickly forgetting the urgency he'd had a moment earlier. "Man, that's a sucky title."
And boy did her brother not let her forget that. "Yup, it's one of the DVDs I brought with me when I went back for my stuff." She grabbed her remote and paused it, frozen on the shot of her brother dressed as someone else, face to face with an enemy who didn't want to be the enemy.
Colin picked up the case from the top of the stack by her TV, turning it over with interest. "Wow, you've got a lot of DVDs that have that one actor in it. What's his name again?"
"Xylo. I've got all of them actually. All signed," she sang with pride.
"Really? That's so cool! We've got to have a movie night sometime." He grinned and set the movie back down on the pile. "You a fan of the actor I'm guessing?
Bri smiled slyly and steered him towards the door, already hearing footsteps, probably Marshie, running up the stairs to get them. "His biggest fan."
