[✓] 𝐼𝑁𝑇𝐸𝑅𝐿𝑈𝐷𝐸 | 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐨𝐧𝐞. 1963. 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈: 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐨

Word count: 2609

𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 eyes as she came to a stop, her feet scraping against the pavement. Had she done it?

She seemed to be in some sort of alleyway that she didn't recognize, the buildings around her having fading wallpaper and grime creeping on the edges. She was facing what seemed to be an apartment, with a window that was half-open, although the inside was hidden by curtains.

She groaned as she felt pain in her side, and lifted her shirt to see that the wound had barely healed. She supposed doing a whole lot of running, almost exploding, and then time-travelling didn't really go well with her accelerated healing.

Suddenly, electricity crackled from above, and a gigantic, bright blue cloud formed just above her. The wind grew stronger as it whipped her hair back, it becoming strong enough to force Valerie to stumble back a couple of steps.

Just then, someone fell out of the cloud, their bowling shoes barely brushing against the edge of a puddle as they landed face-forward, propped on their elbows. There was only one person who still wore the uniform this person was wearing, and Valerie felt a wave of relief wash over her as she got a good look at his face.

"Five!" Valerie rushed over to him, helping him up as the cloud disappeared from the sky.

"Val?" Five groaned as he got up before looking around.

Her eyebrows furrowed upon realizing that they were the only ones there. "Where's everyone else?" 

Just then, the sound of gunshots rang through the air, and a few shouts could be heard. They turned around in the opposite direction to see something that made Valerie's heart drop.

It seemed as though there was a movie theatre in front of them, but judging by the way it looked now, you wouldn't be able to tell; half of the letters of the theatre name had fallen off, the remaining letters burnt, along with the board that presented the movies just under it.

A broken car sat in front of it, the trunk popped open, and the shattered glass from the windows scattered around it.

The building beside it had a chunk missing from the right edge, with fire and a cloud of deep grey smoke billowing out from inside.

The two of them walked closer as a tank appeared, rumbling as it drove across the street, with soldiers sprinting and shooting from beside. Above them, two fighter jets flew through the air, leaving lines of grey in the air.

Upon leaving the alleyway, they then got a good look at the scene on the street: All of the stores that lined the streets seemed to be in the same condition as the movie theatre and the building beside, all of them either on fire or on the brink of collapsing. Rubble was piled all over the dusty ground, where soldiers crouched behind, preparing to fight.

Five ran out to the pile of stones nearest to them, and peered at the newspaper that was wedged in between two rocks, where he read out the heading, "'Soviets attack US'?"

"In 1963?" Valerie questioned, her eyebrows furrowed. She definitely did not remember this from any of her history lessons.

Five clambered over the rubble to stare at the scene in front of him, and he shook his head as he muttered, "No, this can't be right."

Shouts of Russian spilled through the air along with gunfire, the constant scrape of boots against dust, and the yells for a medic.

"Hey, you kids! Get down!" one of the US soldiers shouted at them before charging toward the Russians, only to get shot a moment later.