Inescapable

Last Ditch Effort Part 1 (Good End)

The two had gotten dressed again, cutting their cuddle session short due to Adam's insistence on pacing the room. Searching for a way to escape, or a way to defend themselves. There were not any ventilation shafts big enough for either of them to fit in, and the shelves of boxes were filled with nothing helpful. Even so, Adam paced the room back and forth trying to come up with something, anything. The door to their makeshift cell wasn't locked, but heavy footsteps could be heard behind it, passing by every so often. Guarding them, from the sounds of it.

Even so, Adam didn't rest. Marching back and forth over and over again, as it helped his thought process. Despite not being able to come up with anything satisfying. At the cot, Erica watched him with her eyes, hunched forward, sitting on the edge with her elbows propped on her knees and holding her head up lazily.

"Adam, I know you're trying your best to come up with some crazy scheme to get us out of here, but there's no point." Erica tried to reason with him, "I've looked all over this room about a dozen times before you showed up. There's nothing here. We're cornered."

"I can't give up. Not now." Adam insisted, "I just... I just can't." He spun around to restart his pace yet again.

Part of him did see her reasoning, but he forced that part of him away, ignoring it. Choosing to be optimistic, or as optimistic as possible, currently. But it wasn't turning up anything. They needed a way out now! There wasn't any time or resources to devise a complex plan. What they needed was something fast, simple, and foolproof.

Basically, a damn miracle...

"Can't we just... spend our last few moments together? Please?" Erica protested with a deep frown.

Stopping himself, he turned to face her, lingering as he gazed upon her face. He tried to seem stoic with his expression, but it softened too easily with her eyes upon him. Of course he'd love to be in her arms, especially if these truly did end up being their last moments. But if he could find some way out in what little time they did have, they'd both have the ample time to make up for the moments lost here. A few moments versus the rest of their lives? It felt easier to forfeit their time together now if there truly was a chance at that.

"I can't sit down and just accept the end. I need to find some way out. For both of us." Adam explained.

An exasperated sigh left Erica, "I know. But there's nothing here. You're wasting your time. Time that could be spent, I don't know, enjoying the last thing that you can, that we both can."

Undertones of frustration in her voice stung at Adam. He understood how she felt, but she was the very reason he was choosing not to give up. If that brought her wrath on him, so be it. Until he found a way to get them to safety- or at the very least, get her to safety- there'd be no rest for him. That was a promise he made to himself, and he intended to keep it.

"How much have you dealt with these things?" Adam asked out of the blue, "the aliens, I mean. Any insights on how to deal with them head on?"

"Are you kidding?" Erica scoffed, "you don't do anything head on with these things. You run, hide, and pray to God they don't sniff you out. You know that already."

"All armor has weak spots. There's no such thing as perfection-"

"Oh, you wanna talk armor? Okay, lemme tell you about armor." Erica interjected angrily, pushing off the cot to stand, "I have personally seen my fellow officers fire off volleys of rounds on one of those things. Y'know what it did? Not a goddamn thing. The bullets bounced off and didn't even manage to slow the thing down. Y'know where those officers are now? Dead!"

The outburst caused the room to go silent for a time, Erica turned away rubbing her forehead in frustration while Adam stared at the ground, unsure how to respond.