We See the Same Sunset

7

Soren's shrill scream reverberates in the cavern, combined with his choking sobs and cries. On the ground, barely processing anything over the pain and the gushing blood, Nikola wants to tell him that everything will be fine. It's a lie. She can't stop lying to him, but it pains her to say anything else.

She has a concussion and multiple gun wounds, which are still untreated. As blood soaks her shirt and coat, Nikola is hit with the grim reality that she is going to die whether she wants to or not.

Her vision is slowly turning to black, as sounds of Soren's struggles make their way into her ears. Grunts and several curses come from Leitzke, until there's a final yelp.

Her eyelids are heavy, but she forces herself to open them. Soren's teeth are sunk into Leitzke's hand, tearing the flesh away, bloody, hands fighting for the handgun. She can't tell whose hands are whose, not to mention, since blood is spilling over their clothes and Soren's face. Their raised voices dim into a haze, before heavy footsteps run past her and toward them.

Something is shouted, as a new person joins the fight.

It must be the man with the scarf. If she died...he would have to take care of Soren. And that thought brings a wave of sadness over Nikola, as tears roll down her face. She doesn't want to die. Not like Kit, not like the rest of her family who choked on the ashes and suffocated on the remains of the earth. She has to live.

For Soren. The poor boy who was left behind in this inferno.

With every ounce of strength she has in this feeble body, Nikola wrenches her eyes open.

The two men are wrestling on the ground, as her hands find the pipes along the wall and pull herself up. Everything is screaming at her to give up, as her body flares in pain in every direction. But how can she give up? To risk everything and only stop here?

On her two feet, Nikola steadies herself, sucking in a deep breath through gritted teeth. Ein. Zwei. Drei.

Her vision blurs and she's moving groggily, as in a haze. Memories flickered through her head.

Ein. Zwei. Drei.

Her head is sinking forward, the rest of her body following. The sounds fade away, as all she can hear is the sound of her breathing and her heart pounding in her ears.

"We're leaving tonight. You need to run like hell when I give the signal."

Her hand clenches on the pipe, as she sags against it, the cold metal burning her skin. Where is up, where is down? All she knows is that she cannot let herself fall back onto the ground.

"There's no going back. You're a damned fool, if you think they wouldn't riot when you give them the chance."

Another deep breath, tensing every muscle she has, as she summons the last of her strength—please, Gott, let me have this power just once. I don't know if You've left us, but I'm begging You.

"Nikola, I never wanted children. But Violet insisted and suddenly, we had two girls. I was devastated."

A low guttural scream escapes her, as she pulls, forcing the muscles to go beyond what it can do. Her fingers are slipping, but she latches another hand onto it, steadying herself. Reaching upward, she finds another ledge to secure her hand on. Sweat blurs her vision, but she doesn't need eyes to see.

"You hate me, don't you? Such shitty luck that everyone, but me died. At the end of the world and you're stuck with a man who can't love his own daughter."

Her fingers find the crevices.

"On the count of three."

Ein.

"I tried to love you and Charlotte, but I was so scared that I would ruin you like how my aunt destroyed me. Violet tried to reassure me and I didn't believe her."

Zwei.

"But it's all too late now. They're gone."

"Drei!"

Nikola heaves herself back onto her feet, reality sharpening back to the way it was. Every sound is heightened, the smell of blood is heavy in the air, the steel pipe is sturdy under her hand. The sounds grate her skull, but she forces it all down—the pain, the fear, the exhaustion that lived inside of her for the last two years—they cannot control her!

The man with the scarf is still wrestling with Leitzke. He's losing. Soren grabs a fistful of Leitzke's coat, before he's backhanded across the face, stumbling back. Nikola doesn't process how she manages to move, but she's at his side, shielding Soren with her body. A gun is pressed into her hands and she looks into Soren's grim face, where the steely look in his eyes says more than words.

Finish him off.

It's not clear what happened first—it's a blur of fists and fabric—before the man's scarf is yanked down from his face. Everything seems to slow down, as everyone's eyes travel down the length of his face, where it's red and uneven. His jaw has long healed, but the scar remains—or what's left of his jaw. A gaping hole shows his teeth and his jaw bone peeks out, bright white against his dark skin.

This is the distraction she needs.

As if on automatic, Nikola pushes the man off Leitzke and before his eyes can process her, she whips the gun across Leitzke's skull with a thunderous crack. Before he could recover, she levels the gun at his forehead and she pulls the trigger.

Leitzke throws himself to the side, where the bullet tears through his torso.

Wounded, Leitzke tries to move, but the man grabs him from behind. Without his scarf, his solemn face is for all to see and his lips twist in a snarl around his scar. His face speaks volumes, as he spits out, "Please do the honors."

Nikola doesn't think—she fires the gun without stopping. Leitzke's body seizes as the second bullet enters his upper torso, but before he's finished, she empties the gun into his body. The man, seemingly satisfied, drops Leitzke's twitching body, but Nikola isn't done.

She kicks him in the stomach, ignoring how her boot sinks into his bloody flesh. A hoarse scream escapes him, as he tries to move, but whatever influence he had been under at first drains away. His body is utterly broken, as his eyes point at Nikola in frenzied despair. His lips mouth something, but his body stops moving midword.

"He's dead..." Soren's voice is light as a feather, as his eyes are wide, unseeing. He stumbles back, before he gags.

"That he is," The man looks down at the corpse with an unreadable glance. His hands clench. "I wish that it hadn't come down to this, but if a broken leg didn't stop him..."

Nikola opens her mouth to speak, but a feeling of dizziness overcomes her. Exhaustion descends on Nikola and much to man's and Soren's alarmed yelps, she collapses in a deadweight.

A/N:  I'm unsure whether I dragged out the action way too long, but thankfully, we've finally reached the end of it.

As for this story, it's nearing its end as well.  This was supposed to be a short drabble because I struggled writing the overarching plot.  There's a lot that I didn't get to explain about the world, but maybe in the future, I'll return to this.