Seth knew he couldn’t promise her anything in those moments, but his arm tightened around her shoulder, his head leaning against hers while he too watching Orion and Clara smile and chat while working.
“You can’t think that. You have to make it there and be in the best shape to get them out” If they are there. He didn’t add the last bit, he knew he didn’t need to with Katya, he just had to try and convince her strength not to leave her in place of fear.
Sniffing slightly, Katya nodded but said nothing.
“Come on… let’s get you food, and rest. Then we’ll go as soon as possible” He commented, letting go of her shoulders and taking hold of her hand to prompt her into moving. The thoughts of possibilities and her already confirmed loss would most likely keep her from getting any sleep. And without Oliver here, Seth knew it would be harder to provide her with comfort… but at least in their group, they could support her through this night until the morning.
Chapter 20
Seth had been right. That night, Katya didn’t get a wink of sleep. She didn’t speak much at all, Orion had been the one to introduce Clara to the rest of the gang and explain that Oliver was back in the London sub-terrain town. Clara was coping better than Katya could imagine in her situation; and she talked with the group easily, thanking them for looking out for her cousin and asking over what the plan was.
Thankfully, by the morning, Leonora had talked to Clara enough that they decided that Clara would stay in this safe town and they would come back and fetch them to their surviving family.
Without Katya knowing, the main thing that kept Clara behind was that her cousin didn’t need any more distraction than she would already have from the lack of sleep and the worry for her parents and sister.
The silence of Katya continued the next day as they travelled, she seemed to be moving with more purpose and urgency than she had ever had before.
“Oi, doofus. You need to slow down or your medication ain’t going to be enough!” Colt snapped at her, his long stride keeping up with her.
“Shut it, Colt” She hissed.
“Screw you. You aren’t even being cautious” He snarled back at her, reaching out to grab her arm, bringing the whole group to a halt on the outskirts of her home town.
“Get off me!”
“No! You’re going to get yourself killed before you get there!” Colt’s sandy spiked hair swayed a little in the wind of the day as his eyes glared down at her. Katya’s blue eyes glared back up at him without blinking. “You want to help your god-damned family, right?”
“What the hell do you think I’m doing?!”
“Marching to death without any care!” He half yelled down at her, annoyed by her stubbornness.
“Colt” Seth attempted to interject, his hand reaching out to take hold of Colt’s wrist. The blonde had a painful grip on Katya’s arm now, his knuckles white.
“Shove it! She’s going to get her family chilled if she doesn’t cool it!” Colt growled at the soldier who scowled at him.
“Yeah, but you’re as useless as a chocolate fireguard when it comes to any kind of tact” Seth drawled before shaking his head and looking at Katya “He is right though, you need to take a breath, and be as clever as you normally are”
Katya turned her glare from Colt to Seth and back again before ripping her arm free of the grip and clicking her tongue in annoyance.
“Alright. Fine… someone else take the lead and set the pace” she huffed lightly, the fingers of her right hand still itching over the hilt of the ulak attached to her hip.
Seth nodded to Axel and Leonora, motioning for them to take the lead. As they moved, Katya felt the small hand of Orion on her back encouraging her to take a couple of breaths before following the soldiers.
“It’s ok… We’ll get them” Orion smiled nervously at the older female who simply sighed in something akin to defeat.
She was scared.
So scared.
Her fear only grew as they moved into the town and found themselves up close with the factory they knew held the people of her town.
Everything was so much more difficult to handle when it was destroying the home she had once known. The school she had attended was smashed to bits and the sound of a few scattering rats was heard as the group moved through the playground. The place where she had met Oliver was broken, and rusted, ominous squeaks came from the playground swings as the wind blew past them. Katya had broken an arm on those after egging Oliver on in pushing her higher and higher, so she could attempt to fly.
The corner shop where she had her first paper round job had its windows smashed in and smelled of gone off foods… the canned drinks were still alright though, so the group looted that place Katya knew so well.
By the time they had moved through her childhood neighbourhood and headed closer to the centre where the factory was beginning to come into view, Katya’s hand had taken hold of Orion’s smaller hand for emotional support. Orion didn’t say anything, she just squeezed her friends’ hand supportively while the redhead took deep breathes to keep herself from tearing up.
She couldn’t help but wonder how many of her school friends were dead. How many of the adults she knew from around the estate had been thrown into one of those tiny rooms? Had anyone she’d known been put on one of the Extractors for that horrible ending? And who had been corroded down into the liquid which others were consuming?
Oh god.
Her eyes closed for a moment, using the smaller female’s hand as a guidance system while she blanked out the world around her, careful of each step.
As they came closer to the factory and Seth, Axel, Leonora, and Colt moved to make sure the way was clear, Katya was filled with an overwhelming urge to bolt back the way they had come. The fear of what she might fight, and more so, what she might not find was almost too much.
“Kat…” Orion soothed, urging her friend to look to her with a small supportive smile “You don’t have to come in; you can wait out here and see who comes out with us?”
The redhead looked at the purple eyes of the girl who looked up at her with concern on her gentle face. Despite the pounding of her heart, Katya found herself shaking her head slowly. Now faced with that option, she knew that she couldn’t have someone else face any of her family if they were in there – she had to be the one who was there to save them.
“No… I need to be there…” She whispered out with a small sigh leaving her lips while she nodded as though encouraging herself with the movement.
Orion squeezed her hand lightly before glancing to Colt who had come to fetch them. He eyed Katya for a moment as though debating whether to say something about her staying behind, but he was silenced by the hard stare he received from the red-head with growing determination.
She could do this… no matter what she saw, she could do this for her family.
“Let’s go, outside is clear” Colt growled lightly before heading back the way he had come.
One last nod to one another and the girls moved after him, Katya pulling out a short sword from its sheath and an ulak from her hip.
Inside was the same as always, there was only one Nerushi roaming the downstairs floor which Seth took out swiftly. He had become a deft hand at this hunting aliens business, especially considering how much of a mess over it all he was when Katya had first met him. In fact, they were all a little different now, Colt was quieter and less angry, Leonora had laughter around her while Axel had a kindness that went beyond the singing jolliness he had first shown.
Katya allowed Orion up the stairs before her, noting the girl’s higher level of confidence coming into these factories now, knowing what she had to do and being eager to play her part.
Maybe it was this town, dredging up emotion, but Katya couldn’t help but notice the little things about her friends.
“Ok, Katya, you and Orion ok to take the extraction room? The rest of us will get the other rooms emptied and then come to help as usual?” Leonora asked, knowi
ng that Katya would likely want to see if her family were inside “I’ll then go through and ask for your family members, so they are waiting when you catch up?”
Reluctantly, Katya slowly nodded her head, she knew that she was the best at the removal of people from the extractors, but that didn’t mean she was comfortable with having to wait longer.
“Ok.” She confirmed following Orion down the silent hallway. Ever since they had been in the London base, there were less Nerushi inside the other factories, but more outside as though looking for more people.
Orion clicked open the door to the extraction room, allowing Katya to move in first. Six machines as usual. Two children… neither were Katya’s sister. Two men… neither were Katya’s father. Two women…
“NO!” Katya shrieked “Mum!!” She had bolted over to one of the females who was larger than her, a soft face with lots of laughter lines, messy grown out brown hair. No. This couldn’t be. No. No. No.
Katya’s arms had reached out to her mother desperately, she wasn’t thinking in those moments as she reached her and checked her pulse. Of course, she was alive, they were always alive. But they weren’t always in a position where they could be saved.
No.
God.
Please.
“What’s wrong?” Seth skidded into the room having heard the shriek from Katya, his eyes wide with concern and his flip knife ready to fight.
“Mummy…” Katya whimpered, looking at her mother’s face.
Orion and Seth exchanged looks that clearly showed that this was what they had been wishing wouldn’t happen. How were they meant to deal with that? Katya had moved around behind her mother to see if she could be saved, taking shaky and terrified breaths.
“Get the other’s off those machines” She mumbled into the echoing room of cold darkness and metal.
Katya wouldn’t be able to do it, not with her mother like this. As her fingers ran over the areas where the attachments were merged with the skin, she began to crumble into tears, eventually allowing her body to sink to her knees. Her head leant against the side of the machine as tears streamed down her face, her hair falling over her face to hide that from view.
She couldn’t save her mother.
She had failed.
Her mother… the one who had been her best friend. The one who had taught her so much.
And Katya couldn’t even get here in time.
Why had she gone to the other factories on the way? If she had come directly she would have gotten to her mother in plenty of time!
Katya’s inability to ignore the ones she had passed had killed her mother!
What had she done?!
No. This couldn’t…. there had to be something… anything that Katya could do…
This couldn’t be it.
Time seemed to stand still as she sat there in her own mind, she didn’t register how long she had been there, nor how much movement Orion and Seth had been doing. In fact, she didn’t notice Axel come back to help with the injured, nor did she notice Seth ushering Axel and Orion to go ahead. She was only jogged back to reality when the male crouched before her and she felt his strong hand on her shoulder.
“Kat…” Seth didn’t know what to say; he was never very good at emotional times; perhaps that was the soldier in him, trained not to let emotions surface. But then, that was why he had festered so badly. And this girl had been there for him, this girl who now looked so small with tears staining her soft face as she looked up at him. She reminded him of a child in those moments, and it honestly broke his heart to see her this way. Maybe unconsciously their whole group had put this poor girl on a pedestal as the one who would keep them going, keep them together… that she could handle seeing all those horrors like the tanks and the responsibility of putting those who couldn’t be saved out of their misery. Katya had run off to have many Nerushi and Hiko chase her, and despite having an adrenal crisis, she had still survived and travelled back to them fighting with only one good arm.
Katya was the one among them that they had thought as unbreakable.
But, everyone had something they couldn’t handle. Apparently, Katya’s caring heart was also the great downfall. She loved her family too much to cope with this in those moments.
Seth didn’t speak as he pulled her close to his chest to hug her tight. He didn’t know what he was meant to do or say to help her through this.
So, for a short while, he just held her as she sobbed into his chest, mumbling all sorts of things about how this couldn’t be happening, and how she was sorry. There was no stop to her tears, the time ticking by making Seth very away of the danger they were in the longer they stayed here. But Katya could do nothing but shake and sob.
“Kat… I’m so sorry.” He whispered to her gently “We have to move. I’ll do it.”
He picked himself up off the floor.
Katya blinked. Do what?
Her reddening eyes looked around at him, unable to see too clearly through the tears. She could make out what he was doing though. He was drawing the stiletto he had attached to his belt.
“No!” Katya yelled, diving up and putting herself between him and her mother’s neck. Her breathing was laboured, and she could barely see him clearly, but her expression was contorted in desperate anger.
“Kat…” Seth started calmly.
“No!” She repeated, cutting across him sharply. “I’ll do it” the statement left her in a shaky whisper and caused Seth to hesitate, stunned at what he was hearing.
“You don’t have to do this”
“Yes, I do. If you do it, I’ll never be able to forgive you” Katya whimpered out as though that was enough of an explanation. Katya didn’t want that staining any friendship or adoration she shared with any member of their group after all they had been through. And she knew if Seth was the one to put that dagger through her mother’s spine and into her brain, she would never be able to see anything else when she looked at the man.
Silence fell between them as she held out her hand for him to give her the dagger. Defeated by her statement, the dark-haired man handed it over without a fuss.
“I’m right here for you” His hand left the dagger and moved up to brush some of her tears away from her cheeks.
“I’m going to say goodbye” Katya decided out loud, turning away from the man and walking around to face her mother from the front. She couldn’t not say goodbye, she couldn’t have the last thing her mother knew was nothing about her eldest daughter. Reaching out with a shaky hand, she dislodged the tube from her mother’s mouth and pulled it out.
Seconds ticked by…
Then the woman coughed and parted her eyes.
“Mommy!!” Katya launched herself to wrap her arms around her mother’s shoulders as she burst into tears once more. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!”
Her mother looked incredibly concerned, and then agitated when she couldn’t move her tied arms from the machine. Upon seeing that struggle, Seth moved to unhook them from where they were held still so she could embrace her sobbing daughter tight.
“Oh, Kat! You’re ok!” The older woman was crying a little now, but her tears were out of relief and happiness to wake up and find that her daughter was alive despite everything that was happening in the world. However, upon her daughter’s continuous sobbed apologies, the female with matching blue eyes to Katya looked over to Seth “What’s happened?”
Seth explained as Katya clung to her mother like a child in a horror house. His silver eyes almost teared up as the female came to realise that she was not walking out of this situation with the daughter she had in her arms. She nodded slowly, calmly, and turned her head to the side to kiss the temple of Katya’s head.
Now she understood why Katya was such a mess.
“It’s ok sweet pea.” She cooed to her eldest daughter “You did what you could…”
“No… No, I could have been here earlier!” Katya yelped like a terrified puppy who couldn’t deal with the world around it.
Pulling back, she looked through her tears at her mother “I kept going to other factories to help… if I hadn’t I would have been here… if I had just come straight this way…”
“Then you wouldn’t be my daughter” Her mother laughed softly, interrupting Katya before she could continue to spiral into guilt. “You were always the one strong enough to help the entire world around you and keep going. I’m so proud of you for that. This is ok…”
Katya shook her head as the tears slowed a little. But her mother wasn’t done.
“Your father would be so proud of you too. We always knew you’d be someone to make changes as big as your heart. And we’ll carry on watching you as you do more.” So, Katya’s father hadn’t survived either. The redhead choked on her tears at that thought. “And we know that no matter what, Anya will always be safe now that you’ve reached here”
Silence of the Apocalypse- Journey Home Page 18