Waiting for my death | Horizon zero dawn fanfiction

Chapter 14: Promise Me

"Train tickets are hella fucking expensive," Cordelia shouts in frustration as I listen to the birds chatter melodically around the park. I stand next to her, Cordelia fumbling through her focus while sitting on a dirty dark green bench. "I don't know about you, but I cannot afford that absurd price."

"How much?" I ask her while admiring the stoic tree placed a few meters in front of the sandy gray road. The coast live oak's slender leaves hovers along with the gentle morning breeze.

"Only 1000£" she sighs, "who thought this was a good idea?"

"That can't possibly be right!" I gasp loudly, "are you sure that's legit?"

"Pretty sure. I guess the demand for train tickets has risen tremendously in general. And they then further increase the price, taking advantage of the population's desperation to get away from the dangerous zones. I'm afraid this is only the beginning."

I bury my face in my palms, dragging along the skin of my face. "I guess my grandma has money, but for three tickets... that's a lot of money," I moan irritably.

"We could just sneak on a train and hide in the toilet," Cordelia suggests.

"For several hours? Maybe in your little fantasy world that would work. But realistically speaking, we'd be caught in an instant and thrown out to god-know-where."

"But then what are we supposed to do? Drive away from here? Walk?" She pauses for a second, "Wait..."

She gets up from the immodest bench, consistently turning her body around to scan through sudden networks she recently activated. She taps through purple screens with preciseness as well as precision, so much that I've never seen before. Almost as if she understands every single atom of the universe and how the world is established in complex terms.

I narrow my eyes, "what are you doing?"

"The thought just hit me," she says enthusiastically, "give me a second."

"One, two..."

"I meant metaphorically!" She exclaims as if explaining something obvious to a toddler. I hold back an unavoidable giggle.

"So, there are goods-trains driving through the entire country, yes?" Cordelia says, turning around to look at me. I try my best to hold my gaze on her slim shoulders instead of her eyes, knowing I get taken aback with the way my stomach reacts to our interlocked eyes. Her gaze is deadly like poison, yet it's as if I feel an eminent urge to have a tiny sip, simply out of pure curiosity.

"Yeah, well, I'm afraid those trains aren't exactly for passengers " I reply, "unless you're having an absurd plan, which I assume you are."

Cordelia grins now. Her face depicts a peculiar mystery, as if she's either about to start talking about a murder plan, or a beautiful children's story she heard when she was little, with nothing in between.

"Well, not to brag, but I could easily hack into their system and see the schedule and location for said goods-trains, as well as where they're being transported to. We could sneak into a cargo hold and then simply hide on our way to Denver."

My eyes widen significantly, "are you absolutely out of your mind? That's insane. If we get caught we are dead."

"We will probably be dead anyway, sweetheart," she smirks, "we can basically only slow down the process, but in the end it's inevitable. One way or another."

I sigh tenderly, "you're crazy. But if you are certain it's going to work, then I guess I'm in for it, if there's no other way."

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