Neurosis

Chapter XVII: Trois Têtes De Mouton

"Looks he hasn't come back," QADR muttered, her occuli fixated upon one of the numerous tunnel entrances that led to the bowels of Grozyni, the abyss of its toothless maw—the eater and vomiting mouth of countless of accouns—stared back at her as ZINA stood by her, the khanfasa's gaze refused to look back. "Yeah..." ZINA spoke, her voice unsteady and low. This would not go unnoticed and QADR would point it out swiftly: "You okay?" The escorpio accoun questioned, her gaze turning toward the other. "Well, for the most part. Just on edge is all." ZINA replied; without any further word, QADR the cause of her worries for she had the sane perturbations: the groups numbers were thinning more than they could grow. "It's our numbers, right?" QADR prodded, her voice was that of concern. With a heave, she relented as she knew no one else knew other than a leader: "Our numbers," she started. "They haven't grown since the past few days, our expeditions have been failures—back-to-back too. While I hate to say it—especially saying it to someone like you, since you know me as a bit of a hard-ass—it needs to be said, I feel like I'm backed into a wall. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide." "I understand how you feel," QADR spoke softly, placing her hand on ZINA's shoulder as the khanfasa sighed and muttered thereby. "I don't know what to do..."

   "That's okay," replied QADR, trying to give ease unto ZINA, frigid steel brushed against frigid steel as QADR's hand moved to the khanfasa's arm.  "I just thought I could make a difference..." The khanfasa muttered, her voice carrying the tune of bitter defeat. "...I have a bit of a crazy suggestion." The escorpio's words prompted the khanfasa to transfix her gaze upon the other accoun, it was then she would prod QADR to speak with only two words: "Say it." "This whole thing—trying to engineer a change with the same systems in place—clearly won't work." QADR started. "What do you mean?" The khanfasa questioned, her voice was that of lost; it was at that moment that QADR would not speak, for both consideration and worry coalesced into indecision.  "...Forgive me for what I am going to say," she started. " You're being like Eomma and Phanes, the solution isn't throwing bodies at a problem. Do you understand what I am trying to convey?" Silence. "...Yes."
      "...I have a question." QADR would state and to which, ZINA replied: "What is it?" "How would you feel if we ran away together?" The escorpio asked. "Ran away?" ZINA uttered, her tone was of befuddlement by the question posed. "That won't..." She started but, it wouldn't be her that finished her sentence. "...Solve anything? I know," QADR replied before continuing on. "Maybe if this 'war' has less participants then less of us would have to fight." The escorpio reasoned. "Then, that leaves the fight for survival..." The khanfasa replied. "True, but I think it'd better for everyone if they chose themselves over the federation or UW or whatever. Take JOHN's guys for example. They're not like the bandits we've seen before." The escorpio accoun added. Silence filled the air once more and although long, it was not regarded as a nuisance or worse for something made it bearable—something near intoxicating. "I love you." QADR spoke as she leaned towards ZINA; it was then, the khanfasa spoke in reply. "I love you too."

{•}

Night draws near, the day grows old and begins to settle on the far-off crags; as darkness began to pervade the surroundings, light waned as ZINA patrolled the holdout. Their occuli, swerving and turning and keeping notes of every detail they came across as she clutched Unseog , her fingers curved around the grip—save for one laying on the trigger guard. An odd nostalgia stuck her as she traversed the trenches of stone and of metal corpses, as she traversed passages to open sprawls of ice and of rock, and as she traverses depth of her own mind, ZINA could recollect the first day she found QADR.
She remembers storming the trenches, the dug out that a UW force embedded themselves after being stalked her raiding party, their sights set on the power cells residing in the each of UW soldiers bodies. Her group's resources were dwindling, rations for energy transformed into something only a few amongst them got. She remembers the lingering dread, her fear as she clutched her grenade launcher tightly. The dread that at any moment, with a mere squeeze of the trigger, her life would end as a cascade of fire and jagged steel devoured her. It was that hesitation—her balking at the possibility that brought to the ground. A straighet blade clashed her against her heat weapon, what stood over her was an accoun with a shield—a Palomena accoun. Before her enemy could strike once more, her attacker would erupt into an explosion of fire and flying alloyed steel; as her attacker laid dead and on top of her, there stood her savior.

"Staff sergeant it was, yeah?" A familiar voice rang out accompanied by the drone of treads, causal but very much of the masculine and Russian cadence.  ZINA turned around, before her occuli was an accoun on tread: IVAN. "That is I." Affirmed ZINA, her voice becoming militant. "Is there something you need, IVAN?" "Well, yeah," the ultika accoun started. "I was wondering if you had any plans to address put fleeting numbers. You cannot siege the place with only a few people, you're soldiers—we're not the best of the best." "I do," Staff Sergeant ZINA replied, her voice flat. "We will collectively migrate to another location and search for another likeminded group." She added as the other listened, it was then IVAN spoke up in turn: "What about the bandits? JOHN? ESME?" "They will be joining." ZINA answered in the same manner as before.
Silence hung the air as the both of them peered into the other's occuli, their bodies still as twilight grew ever closer. "Hm...Is that so?" IVAN muttered, his voice low as he processed the answer. "That is correct." She said sharply. "Huh...Have you heard of the store of the giving tree?" The question came suddenly out of IVAN, its existence befuddling her. "...Pardon?" "It centers around two characters—only two, a boy and a tree hence the name." IVAN continued on. "" "...I did not give you an order to summarize a book." ZINA spoke bluntly. "...Understood."