A quiet groan is all that escapes Pen as light slowly returns to her eyes. Her body hurts. The red lights flicker around the cramped cabin, as she slowly pulls herself back upright, pushing herself off of the console that was down below her. Were they turned over again? She clutches her head, noticing that her hair feels oddly damp and sticky. In a daze she looks around. She listens.
It’s quiet. There is a gentle hum of the crystal. Both Tango and Sierra are silent however. The wind outside continues, but has lessened greatly in its intensity. Was the storm over? She leans forward, pushing the little box out of the way. As she straightens her back and pushes herself upright, a deep nausea shoots through her and she barely holds it down. Looking up, feeling her head spin as she turns it, Pen slides her legs out of the small gap and plants her feet onto the flat metal surface that the window is usually on. Lifting a hand, she grabs the hatch that is above her and pushes it open, pressing her head up and out of it.
Freezing cold air streams in immediately, biting and clawing at her skin and head and damp hair. A vapor of wet heat rises up from below and escapes into the world. She heaves again, pressing her gut into the hatch as she leans over to vomit again. Nothing comes out, but her body still goes through the motions several times.
The storm has stopped. Snow still falls, but now only in a gentle crystal pattern. It is night again and in her delirium, Pen looks straight up towards the million dots above them. The spinning of her world gives them the appearance that they too fall like the crisp snow that is coming down to meet her head, but the stars don’t fall just yet. As her vision becomes clearer and her dizziness subsides enough so that she can see straight. She turns her head to look where they are.
Tango lies with his front facing forward, his face planted down into the ground. They made it, she thinks with relief as she looks back across the gap. Did they really jump this? It seems so far now. Impossible.
Something is rattling and her ears perk up to try and find the source of whatever is sharply tapping the metal. Pen looks down. It’s her own shaking hands that are striking the edge of the hatch. She looks at herself, her entire body is shaking. But she feels oddly calm despite that. The girl turns her head to look again over the bridge and her vision seems to follow, but only after a strange delay. As if her eyes need to catch up with her head when she turns it.
The bot is gone. The wolves are gone. For now. Would they still try to come for them? Or have they returned to the little ‘village’ to wait for their next victim to wander into their midst?
Pen shudders and drops back down into Tango, closing the hatch tightly behind herself. They had to get out of here. What had the man said? Underneath her seat. This was the second time they had fallen because of him. Pen narrows her eyes and mutters.
“Jerk.”
Standing on the console area, Pen looks at the seat. Her seat. The only thing beneath it that she knew of was the tight vertical shaft that her legs fit in. But… she turns her head at an angle, bending down to look for anything else. As she tilts her head, another pang of dizziness comes to her and a strangely overpowering urge to yawn that the girl indulges. Pen, rubbing her eyes, wonders why she feels so sleepy since she has just woken up. But the girl shakes her head, slapping her cheeks and looks again, her hand reaching around the rim of the seat.
There is a small gap, just beneath the edge and she sticks her hand inside, feeling around. She can’t feel anything. Pursing her lips, Pen pushes in further, only now noticing the metallic taste in her mouth as she does so.
“Ah!” Her fingers graze something thin. Some kind of handle or something. It’s awkward at this tight angle to move her arm, let alone her wrist at all inside of the tiny space. Quietly, she is thankful for her small build. She turns her hand as best as she can, her wrist rotating.
*DHOOK*
She jumps at the loud sound that echoes around the cabin, pulling her arm back out in fright. It reminds her of the sounds the lights in the ruins had made.
The lights shift, the red warning colors now returning to a more subdued variety. The usual greens and yellows and such that she had become accustomed to. The great metal body of the giant man begins to rumble and come to life. Pen sighs a breath of relief and presses her feet against the console window as they begin to move and the body pushes itself back upright.
Balancing herself, she plops down into the seat as it is once again beneath her. Her vision lazily drifts towards the glass bauble. She was waiting for Tango to make one of his quips like he always did when she woke him up. She preemptively narrows her eyes.
“Jerk.”
The body stops moving as they now stand upright once again.
“Are you okay?” asks the man, sounding worried. The bauble hisses at it moves around, scanning the cabin and her once again bloodied body.
She glares at him. Waiting.
The body shifts, as the large bot turns around to face over the gap and the winding mountain road behind them.
“You got us here?”
“No thanks to you!” gripes Pen, crossing her arms. The cabin is silent.
“You did good,” says the man, turning back to follow the way. Her ears twitch at the praise, but she doesn’t lessen her venomous glare. The window pops up and Pen see’s that the man is inspecting his hands as he walks.
“Stop doing that,” says the girl, leaning back into the seat, closing her eyes as the deep sleepiness begins to overcome her.
“Doing what?”
“Stop leaving me alone!” hisses the girl as she lifts a leg to kick against the window in protest. The metal rattles loudly as the sound reverberates around the small space. “Jerk.” She turns her head away and lets out a deep breath.
“Sorry. I’m here now though. Good job.”
“Shut up,” is the last thing the girl manages to mumble as she falls back to sleep, red trickling down over her face.
