ABANDON

Chapter 19 -- Others

Eventually, Michael fell asleep, but Jane couldn't sleep. In her mind a war was pressing on, initially fueled by the jealousy that Jane felt towards her brother, that he was at peace and she was not. All of her regrets and self blame culminated into one powerful wave that Jane was powerless against. Yet still she struggled on, fighting valiantly, despite the battleground already torn up, and new weapons fashioned after the old, cutting deeper and deeper, Jane was losing. And Michael continued to sleep, right there beside her.

The storm outside moved on, leaving a still peace behind. And Jane continued to argue, to press, to prove that she was not worthless, even though she knew she was.

Suddenly the air was sucked down the corridor and then immediately switched directions to blow past them. This was followed by an ear splitting crack. Jane gave a half whimper half scream. Michael was immediately awake, he jumped into a trained stance accidentally knocking the light away. It shone radically on Michael's face before the light found the wall.

"The storm?" Jane pulled herself up.

"That wasn't the storm, that sounded like a detonation."

"Did we set it off?" Jane asked, moving closer to the wall. She grabbed the light.

"No. If we'd set it off we'd be dead." Michael helped Jane up just as another detonation shook them back to the ground.

"Where can we go?" Jane asked.

"We stay here," Michael answered, "whatever is going on is far away. Let's hope it stays that way."

"And that this old place is strong." Jane added.

Michael helped Jane along the corridor and through the first door they came to. The room they were now in looked like some kind of storage. Jane shone the light around. Besides three metal doors on their right, it was empty. The three metal doors were big, thick, and riveted. A small box sat in the wall to the right of each door.

"Control boxes. There is no way I can open those doors manually." Michael moved to the last door because the bottom corner was so badly bent it was open. He made himself as thin as possible and then slipped through the open edge. Jane passed the light to him. Michael shone the light through the small opening in the door. She squeezed through the small edge wondering how Michael had done it. He was much larger than her.

The room beyond had black-stained metal walls. It was lined with shelves held to the wall by rusted bolts and kept perpendicular by metal chains. Michael inspected them quickly, then pushed one back and up against the wall. An idea took him then, he let the shelf come back down, took off his backpack and grabbed out a small multi-tool—the same tool Jane had seen cut the latch on the door to all those delicious cars. Michael adjusted the tool, then pressing the shelf back up, he welded it to the wall.

"Lie down." Michael motioned to the shelf below and Jane sunk down on it. Michael leaned over her. He carefully moved her hair away from her head. "That's a nasty hit. The skin is broken." He found the med kit and pulled out some disinfectant.

"Don't waste it. The planet is dead. There is no bacteria."

Michael's eyebrow's rose. "Wow, you're really out of it. You brought your own bacteria with you. Remember." He put the patch on Jane's forehead. Next, he moved around Jane, checking her suit. "Red." Michael sighed, "Your suit is ruptured. It'll do more harm than good now. You're going to have to get out of it."

Jane sat up and together they peeled the suit away piece by piece. When Michael removed the chest plate Jane's clothes were soaked with blood.

"You've been bleeding." Michael didn't hide the concern in his voice as he looked into his sisters eyes. They had either shrunk or the sockets had grown too large.