OUT OF MIND² ━━ Bellamy Blake

𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐕: Sole Survivor

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SOLE SURVIVOR

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          THE STARS ARE awake and thus so is Lyra.

The welding helmet is fiery overtop Lyra's face and head, the onyx pane of glass covered in beads of sweat. Rivulets dribble from her hairline and trail beneath her useless tank top. The thick welding helmet presses in on her on all sides, giving the sickening feeling of being in a coffin. With the seething blowtorch in hand as she adjusts the loose paneling, she feels almost like she's in hell.

Rubbing her stinging fingers together as she shuts off the blowtorch for a moment, Lyra calls to Raven from across the storage room, "You know what would make this better?"

Raven lifts her welding mask. "What?"

"A spacewalk!" Lyra's eyes flicker to the ceiling, but it's almost impossible to imagine the stars there. "I haven't done work like this since before the Skybox."

"Keep dreaming," says Raven with a snort. She puts her mask back over her face. "We're never getting that back."

"I know." Lyra makes a face. "It's too bad we can't go to space like everyone else did ninety-seven years ago, isn't it? I'd much rather spend five more years on the Ark then in a bunker."

"Too bad we don't get a choice."

Lyra sighs. "Too bad."

"Now stop getting distracted," Raven says curtly. "We're losing more and more time every day. At this rate, Alpha Station won't even be an option."

Lyra tries not to frown. "Calm down. We'll make it. We always do."

     "Yeah? Tell me, have you ever beaten a nuclear apocalypse before?" Raven demands. Lyra falls silent, and that seems answer enough for the older girl. "That's what I thought. Back to work — now!"

     Blowtorch burning bright, Lyra obeys her, though she's disgruntled as she adjusts the paneling. Since when does Raven bark around orders like that? Nobody put her in charge ━━ oh, shit. Lyra had been so distracted by Raven's cold attitude that she accidentally singed her fingers. Cutting off her blowtorch, she blows on it quickly with a cautious look at Raven. She doesn't want to get yelled at again.

Just as Lyra's becoming unbearably restless, footsteps break through the doorway.

Raven looks infuriated as she lifts her welding helmet to face Abby. "Already told Jackson, we can't spare anything, especially not anti-radiation meds."

Lyra lifts her own welding helmet in confusion. "Wait, what?"

"We need seven doses of delactivene to save Luna and her people," Abby informs her. She switches her pleading gaze to Raven. "Seven doses, Raven."

"That's a quarter of our supply, Abby, a supply that had to last us for five years on an irradiated planet," retorts Raven stonily. "We're gonna need every one of those pills, and you know it."