Woohoo, it’s Wednesday!

It was hard to choose this week’s excerpt. In the end, I just made it a long one 😉

Sigrid

Louise widened her eyes in an attempt to stay awake. Not falling asleep was even harder now that the sun was setting. There was only a sliver of deep orange light at the horizon left. Complete darkness would descend soon.

Louise checked the panel with the pod’s system reports. Everything looked to be functioning properly. She still felt uneasy, though. Traveling through the desert at night was never safe. The pod drove itself, of course, recalculating the route as it went to avoid dangerous conditions.

The weather radar hadn’t indicated any signs of extreme rain nearby so far. But after the recent attack, Louise wasn’t too confident the global network would keep them out of harm’s way. The network functionality had been fully restored within a few hours after shutting down, but what if it happened again?

Louise blinked at the thought. She stretched out her legs and groaned. Her muscles were unusually sore. She wanted to ask her watch to report on her body’s hydration level, but then remembered her diagnostic chip had been disabled. She sighed.

Louise got up from the chair to refill her water bottle. She glanced over at Hobbs, who was resting in the back of the vehicle. His chair was reclined all the way to make sleeping more comfortable. His chest slowly moved up and down. She was glad Hobbs had fallen asleep. Sharing a small space with him for more than 17 hours was a lot easier if she didn’t have to talk to him.

After leaving the army base, they had agreed to take turns monitoring the systems. She had insisted on taking the first 4-hour shift. Louise hadn’t wanted to admit to him she was exhausted. She had pretended to be perfectly fine. She knew she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep anyway. She had been too wound up.

Louise took a sip of the cool water as she peered through the large rear window. The rebels’ car’s headlights lit up most of the road between the pod and their vehicle. Behind it, there was nothing but darkness.

Why anyone would risk their safety and drive through the desert in an old car, without any information from the network about the conditions ahead, was beyond Louise’s comprehension.

Then again, there were plenty of things about Lucas and her people that boggled Louise’s mind. She was still on edge after her encounter with Lucas in the bathroom. Lucas’s arrogance and indignation had definitely rubbed Louise the wrong way.

To claim innocence, to demand the benefit of the doubt, when you were the leader of a group that had attacked the Global Coalition numerous times, before and after segregating, was simply ludicrous.

Sure, the Fireblue rebels had changed their ways in the last decade. They had started to focus on further isolating themselves from the rest of the world instead of attacking it. But who would be stupid enough to think that made them trustworthy all of a sudden?

Louise sat back down. Her eyelids were heavier than before. It felt like her body was about to shut down completely. She felt her eyes closing and was unable to stop it.

Hobbs’s nasal voice startled her for the second time that day.

“I’ll take over,” he said.

Louise’s eyes snapped open.

“No, I’m fine,” she responded defensively.

He gestured at the large clock on one of the monitors. “It’s time.”

Louise checked and saw that indeed 4 hours had passed. “Oh, right,” she muttered apologetically.

She hauled herself out of the chair, her legs aching even more than before. Her temples were throbbing, which made her wince.

“Nothing to report?” Hobbs asked.

“Nothing. Kept the same speed the whole time. Nothing on the radars either.”

“Alright. Try to get some sleep. You’ve been awake far too long,” Hobbs said, actually sounding sincere.

Louise looked at the chair at the back of the pod. She shrugged. “Okay, I guess I should give it a try.”

He nodded, pushing past her and looking down at the displays. “It’ll help.”

Louise plopped down and was surprised at the relief she instantly felt. She reclined the chair until she was comfortable.

“Oh,” she thought, “ I should have done this a lot sooner.” The soft leather of the chair was warm compared to the chilly air around her. She smiled at her heavy boots sticking up in the air.

The first thing Louise saw once she had closed her eyes, was Michelle’s face. It wasn’t the Michelle Louise had seen today. No, this Michelle looked much more friendly. Her smile made Louise’s breath catch.

She thought she could hear Michelle’s voice, but was still awake enough to realize she was probably imagining it. It didn’t stop the pang of longing in Louise’s chest.

Was it silly of her to believe Michelle had flirted with her for the first time in many years? And was she a fool to be happy about that? “I am,” Louise thought, right before drifting off. “But I don’t care.”

 

( ***Louise is in dreamland***  )

 

“What the fuck?!”

Louise frowned. She turned on her side and tried to get back to the blissful darkness.

“You have got to be kidding me! Thomas!”

Louise opened her eyes. It took her a few moments to remember where she was and who she was with. The chilly, stale air of the pod triggered her memory.

She pushed herself up. Her head was spinning, her mind still foggy. She blinked a few times to get her eyes to focus. Hobbs was sitting on his hands and knees, opening a panel under the control displays.

That’s when it finally hit her. It was dark and quiet. And they weren’t moving.

That’s it for this excerpt! See you on Saturday 😉