Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ World on Fire ❯ Job, Part 1 ( Chapter 8 )

The four boys stood in the impromptu field surrounding the plane, most of the burnt trees and ash swept away by the powerful blasts of the hovering jets. Each of them was carrying a rifle warily, searching through the thick maze of black logs and dead trees as if it were an alien land.

“So, which way is it from here?” Duo asked finally.

“This way.” Heero moved off towards a patch of sparse tree corpses, the others following shortly behind. "Should just be a few hundred metres in this direction." He explained while kicking another crumbling branch out of their way.

"I can't even see it from here." Duo commented, his head bobbing to and fro as he attempted to peer through the collapsed mesh of trees. Their journey was expediated by the fact that most of the trees were so badly burnt that it was possible to just kick through them, reducing the thickest logs to a mess of wood and ash.

"We're going in the right direction." Heero had a small compass out to keep their direction steady. The GPS system had failed after losing contact with most of the satellites in orbit.

"I see something up ahead." Trowa crouched down, bringing his rifle up to look through the scope. "Definitely a shuttle. We're not far."

Swinging the rifle back over his shoulder, Trowa followed the others in their quick jog over the logs and through the light branches of the forest, arriving more quickly at the expense of being covered with a light coating of soot. The shuttle looked like it had landed in a thick copse of trees, judging by the huge amount of collapsed wood that was spread all over the area. It had not been a controlled entry by any stretch of the imagination, it was a miracle that the shuttle was still in one piece. As they approached closer, they could quickly see the path of felled trees the craft had left behind as a wake, before settling down into the sea of ash that served as its current resting place.

They slowed down before they reached the shuttle, Quatre pairing off with Duo and Trowa with Heero, each boy taking up positions at the edge of the artificial clearing with their rifles ready. A small nod from Quatre when the position seemed clear and the boys were swiftly moving towards the downed ship, footsteps crunching softly in the ash as they approached.

"It's amazing she survived this." Quatre whispered as they reached the shuttle's emergency doors, Duo taking up a position on the opposite side. Trowa and Heero passed them by, nodding silently as they continued up to the main passenger doors.

Are we rescuing them or assaulting them? Trowa thought with an internal chuckle as they took position either side of the door. It seemed they also shared a silent paranoia, not going into any situation without a giant gun and military style tactics. Actually, Heero does seem like the sort to flashbang his bedroom before going to sleep.

There was a large amount of information passing between the boys without a word spoken. Trowa knew that Quatre and Duo were going to wait at that door until they heard Heero and himself move in, at which time they would be abandoning any aspect of stealth. He didn't even have to get a signal from Heero to know when it was time to move, the subtle tensing and relaxing of the other boys' muscles was telling him all he needed to know. Thanks to this he was prepared when Heero slammed the door open with the butt of his rifle, ducking behind the cover of the doorframe to give him enough space to move. Trowa jumped up on the door as it swung down, moving into the shuttle in a low crouch, rifle raised for any possible targets. By unspoken principles he was looking left, he could already feel the movement of air behind him as Heero took up position standing at his back, covering behind him.

"Hands in the air! On your knees!" They both yelled at the same time, though with slight word variations. Eyes trained to look for threats, it wasn't until a few moments later that Trowa was able to assess his surroundings. The various thumps from the back of the aircraft indicated that Duo and Quatre had themselves entered from the emergency door.

The shuttle was still, none of the passengers making a move to raise their hands, though likewise he saw no threatening gestures. It was a few heartbeats before he realised that they wouldn't be moving at all, because they were all dead. Many of them had been thrown around the aircraft on landing, their bodies stacked in the seats, some appearing to have been dragged - by those that survived. But the survivors must not have lasted for long. He could see them here and there: one body slumped against the wall right below a huge bloodstain, his hand still wrapped around his pistol.

"Relena Darlian?" He called out, his eyes scanning for anyone that may have still been alive, if they hadn't scared them to death. He was beginning to entertain the possibility that they might have been too late.

Heero nudged him slightly with his rifle, Trowa turned around to regard Heero's area of the shuttle. It was bare, unlike his own area. There were a few trails of blood here and there, where the survivors must have dragged the bodies away. In the middle of the aisle, there was a short blonde haired girl, no older than they were, kneeling on the floor with her hands in the air. She didn't show a sign of fear on her face, as emaciated and smudged with grime as it was she was completely passive, though he could almost detect the signs of relief in the curve of her shoulders. Kill her or save her, Trowa thought, she probably doesn't care what we do. Anything would be better than trying to live like this.

"I'm Relena Darlian." The girl said finally. Trowa reached over to Heero's rifle, putting his hand over top and lowering it down. The stunned boy just didn't seem to be with it enough to notice.

"I am Quatre Winner." Trowa looked over to the other boy, who had moved behind Relena and was helping her get up. "We're here to help. Are there any other survivors?"

Relena took the assistance gratefully, brushing off her skirt gingerly once she was standing.

She shook her head briefly at Quatre's question. "I thought someone would get here sooner. We've... only a dozen or so people survived... most of them died because we couldn't get them to a hospital." She turned to look at Trowa and Heero, glancing at them both with lowered eyes. "Who are you? Why weren't we rescued? Those people would be alive if we could get them to a hospital."

"We can answer your questions in time, Miss Darlian." Quatre shouldered his rifle, guiding the girl to a nearby seat. "But for now we need to think about getting you out of here. We're going to have to stay the night here, or in our plane. We have to fly during the day."

"Can we stay on our plane?" Duo asked with a grimace. "All these bodies... it's kinda creepy."

"Can you walk, Miss Darlian?" Quatre asked.

"I'm just... tired. I can walk, if I have to. How far is it?"

"Three hundred metres." Heero interjected, taking a step closer to the two. "I can carry her if we need to."

Quatre fished into one of his pockets for a moment, revealing a ration bar. "They taste horrible, but here," He handed over to Relena, who accepted it with a slow nod. "You should eat something."

She fumbled with the packet for a few seconds, finally managing to open the chocolate-like bar. "Thank you." She looked up briefly to give Quatre a shy smile, before taking a bite out of the bar. "I've been surviving on airline food for weeks..." She said with a small smile once she had finished her bite. "It makes this taste like real food in comparison.

"We need to get going soon." Heero called from the door, where he was peering outside. "It's going to get dark and I don't think we can find our trail back at night."

Standing back up, Quatre once again helped Relena to her feet, leaving her in the middle of the single file the group of now five leaving the shuttle.

"This way." Heero called, leading them once again back into the thick charred underbrush of the forest, Relena holding on to Trowa to the annoyed looks of Duo, Quatre holding her arm to make sure she did not stumble.

The walk was not as long as it had been before, fortunately the ash had not been disturbed from their first journey, leaving them a clear path to follow back to the plane.

"I was going to say that leaving the plane unattended was a bad idea." Duo chuckled slighty as he looked on the undisturbed craft, his laughing tinged with sadness. "But I guess there's no one left to steal it, is there?"

"I don't get it," Relena's eyes had never stopped looking back and forth across the devastated landscape, "What happened here?

"It's like this all across Europe." Quatre offered as an explanation, not letting Relena slow down as they talked. "We came from the Middle East, same thing. We don't know how far it's spread."

"This is why no one rescued us? What happened?" Relena started speaking frantically, trying to get the words out faster than her mouth would let her.

"Calm down." Trowa turned to place a steadying hand on the shaking girls shoulder. "We'll explain." His eyes warily scanned the area. "But this isn't the place."

Relena nodded, her grip on Trowa's arm tightening as they reached the plane. Heero and Duo were making themselves busy opening up the massive doors while Trowa and Quatre supported the shivering girl, Trowa noting with some dismay that she was looking incredibly pale. "Just relax," He soothed as they climbed up the metal ramp into the belly of the plane. "Duo, can you grab some stretchers and blankets? They'll make good beds."

Duo nodded and turned away with a second glance at Trowa, who was kneeling down beside the distraught girl.

"When is the last time you ate?" He asked, fingers touching the side of her neck lightly to take her pulse. It was worryingly weak.

"A few days ago." She replied, her body leaning back heavily on Quatre. "I ate the last of the food... I should've rationed it, but I was so hungry..."

"Shhh, it's alright." Trowa soothed, softly stroking her long sandy hair. Survivor's guilt. She was trying to justify every action she had taken to anyone who would listen. Trowa sighed, still stroking her hair as gently as he could manage, whispering soft platitudes under his breath. Catching a quick glance at Quatre's face, he could see the confusion there. Obviously no-one would have expected him to care like this - except it wasn't caring, he was painfully aware of that. He was a good medic, he had been well trained. He was what needed to be done for his patient, as much as he might a plant or a robot, but there was no feeling there while he did so, and that was the scariest thing of all.

Duo returned with the blankets, ignoring Trowa to hand a warmed one to Quatre, who quickly wrapped it around the pale girl. “What's wrong with her?”

Trowa just gave a shrug, standing up now that Relena had drifted off to sleep. “Shock, malnutrition, a lot of things I guess. I'm not a doctor, but I know what happens when someone has been stuck in a crash for two weeks.”

"We should let her rest as long as possible." Quatre added, the three of them moving gently to place her on one of the portable stretchers. She looked like death, in the pale artificial light of the plane her gaunt features and sickly pallor were amplified. Quatre had picked up one of her hands gently, worrying over the way the skin seemed to hang off her bones.

"Do we have any medical equipment?" Duo asked, head turning around the room to see if there was anything obvious.

"Nothing useful without a doctor."

"We'd better just leave her then." Trowa took Duo by the hand, taking the other boy with him to the cockpit where Heero was working. Quatre lingered behind for a moment, having difficulty taking his eyes off the girl before he too followed.

"Found anything interesting?" Duo asked Heero as they entered the room, sliding into the co-pilots chair.

Heero turned to regard Duo with a quick glance, “Nothing we didn't already know.”

"All quiet?" Trowa guessed.

“Apart from the distress beacon still going out.” Heero confirmed. “I'd suggest we keep a watch while we sleep, just in case.”

The other boys nodded for a moment, thinking the assessment through. Duo broke away first, leaning over the chair to give Heero a stern glance. “I'm flying back. I'll take the first watch.”

Surprisingly enough, there was no protest from Heero, just a small nod of acceptance.

“We should stay up in pairs.” Quatre suggested, “Duo and Trowa, then Trowa and myself, then Heero and myself. Unless there are any objections?”

*

Trowa was perched on the cold metal edge of the planes rear exit, sitting out to watch the sun dwindle behind the shattered branches of the surrounding forest. It was beautiful in a way, how the sun was not blocked by the leaves, its final rays playing across the scattered ash. Beautiful, but startling. It had to be a red sunset that night, the light providing the ground with a disturbing red hue, likewise highlighting the bare trees with a burning glow.

Perhaps to an outside observer it would have looked like this, to someone not concerned about choking clouds of smoke or the sudden intense heat. It was the picturesque beauty that made it so startling. It took a sharp eye to see the blackened skeleton leaning against the tree, a bear or some other large mammal that had looked to the Giant Sequoia for refuge from the coming danger only to find it was too late - perhaps even the animal had been smart enough to realise that the tree would be no refuge.

Trowa gave a small glance to Duo as the other boy sat down beside him, not saying a word before returning back to his contemplation of the scene before him. "Do you think the whole world is like this?" Duo asked with no small amount of resignation.

"Who knows?" Trowa responded, trying not to sound like his usual dismissal of conversation but an actual honest attempt at an answer. "Look how far it's gone," He continued when Duo just frowned at him. It seemed he was going to have to provide a bit more than that. "This large an area already? Who's to say that it's confined to here? It's just as likely to be the whole world as not... I think Quatre's just trying to be optimistic."

"Maybe he should be." Duo suppressed a shiver, leaning closer to Trowa once he was done. "Does it matter either way? I mean, what difference will it make if he's wrong? We'd be screwed no matter what we think."

With a brief glance at Duo, Trowa began to realise he was actually starting to feel affection for the other boy. It was odd, a new sensation for him, but he knew that Duo was feeling lonely, unsure... and he actually cared. For lack of any better gesture or words, he wrapped his arm around Duo's shoulders, pulling him closer so the other boy could rest his head on his shoulder, the long braid coiling down around both their laps.

“You see that tree?” Trowa pointed to the one he had seen before, the one now decorated by a skeleton. Duo nodded that he had, a movement Trowa was able to feel more than see.

“It's a sequoia.”

“They need forest fires to reproduce. The heat from the fire makes them drop their seeds, which can then grow because the fire destroyed the competing plants. They started to die out because humans living near them would try to prevent fires.”

Duo raised his head slightly from Trowa's shoulder, giving the other boy a puzzled look for a moment. “You're saying the forest will grow back?”

Trowa just gave a small shrug in response. “Without humans around, I'm guessing it's going to grow back faster than ever. The planet will forget we were even here.”

He felt Duo's head fall back to his shoulder, the braided boy silent against his norm. Trowa was beginning to get the feeling he may have disturbed his lover even more than he had helped, he just didn't know what he could say to make it any better.

“The girl...” Duo finally spoke, waving his hand uncertainly before him. “Relena, that's it. She woke up, Heero's been trying to talk to her. Didn't think he cared.”

“He's odd.” Trowa tried to recall his encounters with Heero to date, more than happy for the switch in topic.

“No, you're odd.” Duo retorted, giving Trowa's neck a quick lick. “He's crazy.”

“He's odd.” Trowa repeated, squirming away from Duo's tongue as he did so. “But he cares... I guess you just need to find something that he cares about.”

Duo said nothing but letting out an exhausted sigh, settling his head back down to Trowa's shoulder. They continued on in the silence, content with listen to each other breathe until Duo fell asleep against Trowa, the soft hitch in breathing the only way he could tell the difference. Happy enough to just sit there with the warmth of Duo pressed against him, he waited out the final hour of their shift before picking up Duo carefully and put him to bed as gently as possible.

*

“So, uh...” Quatre stammered again, much to Trowa's annoyance. The entire shift so far, all two hours of it, had been the blond boy trying to be friendly and talk with Trowa, only to fumble out awkwardness and trip up over his own words.

“Yes?” Trowa snapped with annoyance, “Whatever you want to say, just say it.”

“Which one of you plays the girls part?” Quatre blurted, slapping his hand quickly and with some force over his mouth as soon as he said it.

Just raising an eyebrow, Trowa regarded the acutely embarrassed Quatre with some degree of resignation. Letting a lone sigh fall out, he tried to explain. “Seriously, is that what you were worried about? In case it had escaped your notice, we're both male. I know Duo's pretty, but he's still a guy.”

Quatre let his hand slip from in front of his mouth, consequently exposing a face that was so mortified with what he had said that Trowa couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the poor boy. “You wanted to ask how it works... physically, is that right?” Trowa couldn't help but let through some coldness into his tone, despite the painful expression on the other teens face as Quatre nodded. “We do both, of course. Now unless you want a practical demonstration, which you're never going to get, can you agree to never bring this up again?”