Freedom Fighters League of the Exiled

Good Call

"Guess we will see what he prefers," I said as I finally saw Shadis a little farther down. Sure enough, the roof he's under didn't look all that stable.

"Berthold," Shadis said, giving me a pained smile. "I'm so glad you're okay."

I helped Pixis lean against a wall before going over to check on Shadis. "Yeah, I'm okay, you aren't looking so hot."

"Oh, this?" He pointed to the rebar, "this is nothing, just feels like a mean pinch."

At least he's trying to play it cool means he's still got some fight left in him. "Well, if it feels like a pinch does that mean you can still move?"

"Yeah, I told Pixis I could, but he insisted I didn't."

"Alright, well we are going to need to move just around the corner. This roof here is unstable. I can carry you if you need or-."

"No, that's okay, I can walk. I might have to lean on your shoulder, but I can walk. You worry about Pixis, he's struggling to walk as is."

"Okay, here let me help you up," I said, reaching my hands out. Shadis took the hand as I helped him up. He swayed a little on his feet as he winced and winced as he tried to get his bearings.

"Alright, I think I got it from here, grab Pixis and let's get the hell out of this area."

I was hesitant to let go of Shadis, but when I finally did and he didn't fall down I felt a little better about this. I walked over to Pixis wrapping his arm back around my shoulder to support him and wrapped up his arm again before walking over towards Shadis and letting him put a hand on my other shoulder.

We started walking and had almost fully cleared the corner when there was a loud crash, tons of rubble collapsing behind us kicking up dust as the force knocked us off our feet. I landed on my chest and all of the air got pushed from my lungs. It took me a moment of labored breathing before I was able to fully breathe again.

Pixis let out a pained wince as his shoulder collided with the floor. I was more worried about Shadis. If he landed on the rebar even more that could have done quite the damage, but when I looked over at him he seemed to have caught himself with his arms.

"That could have been bad," Shadis said, picking himself back up and standing back on his feet. I helped Pixis back to his feet.

"Good call on moving," Pixis said with a nod.

"We almost became pancakes," I shook it off taking some deep breaths. "That sounded like a big crash, I wonder what caused it?"

"The rubble shifting, someone above stepping on some of the rubble and making it shift, someone down here moving rubble, to name a few. It could have been anything," Pixis said with a shrug.

I looked back at the rubble pile and was about to tell them we should keep moving when something caught my eye and made me do a double-take. Is that a hand? I felt as my stomach churned and I hesitated about just pretending I didn't see it and keep moving. I mean there were bound to be people dead, and I mean what are the chances it's someone we know. It's best if I don't know.

I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had to know. I had to figure out if we knew them or not, but I can't bring myself to move. I was just stuck frozen in place; it felt like my feet were nailed to the floor. Like the weight of the world was on my shoulders at the moment.

"What's the holdup?" Pixis asked. With the position, the other two were in there was no way they could see the hand.

"I think I see something." I finally choked out. I finally turned around fully helping them do the same. I think it took them a moment to see it. When they did they didn't really say anything but I felt them tense up.

I finally broke the silence knowing damn well this question was dumb.

"Is there any chance they could be alive?"

"I don't think so," Pixis finally whispered back.

"I didn't think so."

"Should we just leave them?" I asked not sure what uncovering them would even accomplish.

"The rubble looks loose where the face should be, maybe we should try and see if we can see who it is," Shadis said, moving towards it to try and move some of the lighter pieces.

"You think it's someone we know?" I asked, what we must have all been thinking.

"Even if we don't, maybe we can bring closure to someone by describing what they look like when we get out of here," Shadis said, patting me on the back. I could tell he was hoping for the best with this.

I leaned over to do most of the heavy lifting knowing the other two weren't going to be able to do much. I managed to move the biggest piece off of their face. There was a bunch of dust covering the face, but I noticed something was off at the very start. With the way the hand was facing the face definitely shouldn't be facing this way. It should be facing down not up. I was hesitant to touch the person's face to wipe the dust off of them. I mean I need to, to be able to see, but I can't bring myself to touch a dead body.

I think Shadis realized I was conflicted about it and he walked over. He dusted some of the dirt and pebbles away and I felt my heart stop. It hurt so much to breathe as I pried my eyes away from the familiar face. Pixis was quick to put his arm around me and pull me into a hug trying to keep my eyes away from the scene.

It was too late. I won't ever be able to get the scene of Hannes's head completely twisted around like that. His eyes were blood red. The colors looked dull and lifeless. The dirt covering his face was mostly stuck there by blood. Did he fall into the hole? Did it collapse in on him, swallow him whole?

"He's been dead since the explosion," Shadis whispered to Pixis.

"How can you tell?" Pixis whispered back.

"The amount of rubble on him had to have landed on him before the roof collapsed. There is still no sunlight peeking through meaning that he wasn't on the surface and fell through."

"I have to tell Nanaba that she's lost not one but two of her team. First Gunther, now Hannes," Pixis sighed.

"We need to get out of here," Shadis mumbled, trying to get us both to move away from the horrific scene.

I mean we can only move a few feet away. There's not like there's anywhere else to go at the moment.