Unicorn Riders - Pinch (English)

Chapter 6: Survival

At the edge of Vera's consciousness a very dim light seemed to glow. But everything else remained in pitch black darkness.

But eventually questions started invading her thoughts. What has happened?, a voice in the back of her head inquired. Where am I? Followed by the far graver question: Am I dead?

This thought sent a cold shiver down her spine. But at least her question was answered by that - had she been dead, she wouldn't have been able to feel like this. Or so she thought. Life and death were somewhat known to her, even though she had lead a protected life until now. One couldn't grow up with a mercenary as father without ever wrapping one's head around the matter of mortality. She was sure that the time had not yet come for her. Apart from the pain she started to feel and the dizzyness affecting her more and more, she would not dare to open her eyes yet. Or maybe she hadn't gained enough of her consciousness back to open her eyes.

More and more she started to come around, her other senses responding. She heard silent crackling like of open flames somewhere near her. She smelled smoke and burned up circuits. After a few moments she could feel that she was lying on her back, a hard surface beneath her. From the back of her head she felt a painful knocking, and burning pain ravaged in her hands. She tried to move her fingers and succeeded - but it hurt horribly. And she felt some warm liquid running over her fingers.

The more she sensed all these things the better she could remember what had happened. But that didn't make it better. Because amongst all these sounds around her, the crackling and hissing in the background and all the strange noises she could not identify, there was one missing. A sign that she was not alone here...

She opened her eyes.

It was as bad as she had imagined. She was looking at the ceiling of the shuttle's interior and realized after a few seconds that she had somehow landed in the rear passenger part. Not much was left of it, though. The lights had gone out, but that didn't matter, for daylight came in through big gaping holes on both sides of the shuttle. The seats to the side looked like being shredded. Ceiling and walls were covered in cracks and holes, with cables hanging around spraying sparks from time to time. One of those cables near Vera hissed loudly, and she flinged.

As she tried to sit up by using her hands to push herself, she screamed. Her hands burned like fire. With some effort she managed to get up anyway and took a closer look at her palms. The sight gave her a terrible shock. There was blood all over her hands, covering them. That had been the liquid she had felt running over her fingers. With her teeth gritted she managed to make a fist out of one hand. It hurt like crazy, but she made it. So it probably wasn't fractured. But when she opened her palm again she felt dizzy and sick for a short moment. That didn't come from her hands, she thought by herself. Her head was aching, too, and on its back she could carefully feel a pretty large dent.

The cables were hissing and spitting sparks again, terrifying Vera once more. All of a sudden she remembered that she wasn't alone here. Or at least should not be. "Tammy?" she called out hesitantly - her voice almost failing due to the pungent smoke filling the cabin, and she coughed, worsening her headache. Still she tried again: "Tammy? Are you all right?"

When she got no answer Vera worked on getting back on her feet. It did go better than she had expected - unlike her hands and head her legs seemed to have come out unharmed, and she started to feel better once she was shakily standing upright. But not for long. It took her only a few steps to the front part of the shuttle, to the burst cockpit through which fading daylight fell on a motionless figure lying face first on the control panels.

Vera gasped in horror upon this sight. Immediately she started cautiously moving towards the cockpit. She stumbled once, holding on to one of the forward seats with her injured hand which hurt her again. But she didn't care. She reached the motionless body of her friend and froze. It looked horrifying. Tammy had her eyes closed, her face was covered in blood. Her hands which were placed next to her head on the crushed console seemed to be as bloody as Vera's.