The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

  * * *

  Her brain didn't seemed to want to work even as intense shiver seemed to rattled through her exhausted body. The intense bitter cold made everything seem as if it were moving in slow motion through the thick gel like air. Her nose and eyes felt raw and her body felt as if it had no strength left even as aches and pains seemed to appear from nowhere to sap away what little there was that was keeping her awake. As her eyes were forced open she couldn't understand why they were sleeping in the front seat of a car, how they had gotten there or why everything was so cold. She couldn't see out past the frosted windows nor the snow that seemed to cover everything leaving the space in strange sort of glowing twilight. Only the fact that was Shiva was there half curled next, kept her from panicking. Even in that darkness her face was a mess splattered with some dark substance her eyes sunken with dark blotches under her eyes. She seemed tired even as Vala's empathic sense told her that her dreams were not bright and cheerful.

  It was sometime before a single image snapped across her senses that brought the onrush of terror that made tears well up in her eyes and her mind screamed in absolute horror, that of her father laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. The next image was that of her mother dying in bed, and then the horrible things Shiva had done to try and save their lives. It all came back in that onslaught and a choked sob forced its' way to the surface even as Shiva stirred in her tightening arms. Without a word her exhausted eyes opened and gathered Vala in close silently as her own emotions became dark and dangerous once again. There was spark of electricity from within the ruined dash and the engine rumbled into life as cold bitter air washed over them before it slowly began to warm.

  "I'm sorry I couldn't save him.." These were Shiva's first words that she could truly remember since the previous afternoon and a moment later there was hot splash of tears against Vala's cheek. "I'm soo sorry.." She murmured a moment later in a choked voice as her presence all at once grew smaller and her body began to shake violently between Vala's arms. When faced with the irrational guilty, anger, and pure sorrow Vala's own emotions seemed to retreat as she desperately tried to find the words to calm her and to bring Shiva back from the brink.

  "You.." Vala forced a breath of cool air into her lungs and tried to shallow back the dryness in her throat. "You.. couldn't have done anything for him.. this.. this wasn't your fault."

  "How.. can.. you be.. sure of.. that.." Shiva's choked voice whispered back between sobs that seemed to just drain the strength from her tiny body. She couldn't find an answer to that right away as her eyes turned to stare out across the plains of snow and thick obscuring branches that were now appearing past the melting snow dribbling down from the top of the car. Shoving all those horrible images and trying desperately to lock them away from her mind, Vala knew without words that this was not over that they were still in terrible danger. Shifting her exhausted limbs and heaving Shiva's body up she forced her girlfriend away from her shoulder to make her look into Vala's eyes.

  "THIS ISN'T YOUR FAULT!!" She half yelled pleading with her to believe that. "It can't be! I won't ever believe that it was, but I NEED you right now, I need you more than I have ever needed you. Please.. this isn't your fault." Shiva forced a breath into her lungs and then another before she just barely managed to nod. That tiny show of strength was somehow just enough to let her call up some kind of force she never knew she contained allowing Vala to wrestle back her chaotic thoughts and horrified overwhelmed emotions and make her mind focus. "I need you to focus kitten, I need you to think.. I can't do anything without you.. can you do that for me?" Vala demanded of her begging for her come back and to help her, Shiva gave another nod. "What do we do now?"

  "We.." Her chest surged upward with another sob trying to force its' way to the surface and she only just managed to fight it back. "We.. we.. get back to the road.."

  "Then what?" Vala encouraged even though she half hated herself for forcing Shiva away from her own very real grief when she only wanted to wallow in her own.

  "We.. get another car.. and.. and.. try to call Devin.."

  "Good.. now let's do that okay.." Shiva barely managed another nod. It wasn't hard to tell that Shiva was barely recovered from before and that her strength wouldn't last long, so she switched over into the driver's seat and pulled Shiva into her lap. With her help she figured out the controls and with her acting as a snow plow they managed to reach the gravel road that lead them onto a cleared but empty street. With Shiva drifting in and out, it fell to Vala to keep the car moving forward on the slick surface as the occasional car passed in the other direction. It was still three or four hours before she spotted anything more than houses and barns along the road as they weaved their way through the hillsides. However much the endless silent eternity might have bothered her, when she woke Shiva to ask about the approaching sight the sleep seemed to have restored some portion of her strength. It was only by some twisting bit of luck that they found themselves pulling off the road and across the snow covered parking lot of a used car dealership marked closed for the holidays. While Vala pulled everything of use out of their car, Shiva hot wired a larger heavy duty vehicle better equipped to dealing with the snow that continued to fall around them.

  Now awake enough to keep her eyes open and her thoughts to gather black dangerous clouds, Shiva drove through the streets of the town before pulling them behind a set of small business, all of which had been marked closed for the holidays. With the large truck left humming in the background Shiva pulled her through a bitterly cold snow bank towards one of the back doors. The thick bundle of cables leading in through brick wall were ripped free of the stone-work before Shiva forced open the back door to lead them inside. They entered the dark cool interior of the used clothing store and quickly gathered changes of warmer clothes, shoes, and a few more blankets while Shiva ripped open the small safe to empty it of its' contents. Not entirely sure why Shiva insisted on saving their pajamas in a plastic bag, Vala choose not to ask as they returned outside and Shiva bent a piece of metal railing through the handle of the door and effectively locked up behind them. Back out on the roads they wandered just a little bit farther before finding an aging telephone near an abandoned gas station. The two of them loaded inside the small space and closed the door against the cold. A few coins clinked in through the mechanical interior chasing away the silence. Shiva dialed the number and the covered the video component of the phone. Several rings later and an unfamiliar person answered the call with a bored, practiced greeting.

  "Is Devin.. I mean.. Lt. Hornton there?" Shiva asked pitching into a high soprano and letting a stressed tone echo in her voice. For someone who was exceptionally bad at lying, Shiva showed her a surprising ability to act.

  "I'm sorry ma'am.. I am not getting you on picture at the moment.." He murmured back reaching out to try different settings on his screen.

  "Oh, DAMN IT.." Shiva half yelled. "First my car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and now this damn phone doesn't even work! Please, I REALLY need to talk to my brother, please.. I don't know how much else can go wrong."

  "Ah.." The man behind the desk acted as if he wasn't even sure Devin had a sister. "Just one moment, ma'am." The screen went blank and changed over to the Alliance military coat of arms as they were put on hold. After many long tense moment the screen flicked back over and they found Devin on the other side leaned over another desk in a different office.

  "Who the hell is this?!" He demanded angrily.

  "Did they order it?!" Shiva demanded back, dropping the act.

  "Shiva?" He anger seemed to fade in an instant, Shiva uncovered the camera and his face grew instantly worried.

  "Did they order it, please you have to tell me now.." Shiva repeated as her voice betrayed her desperate emotions.

  "Ordered what?"

  "That Series 5 death squad that killed the General and nearly killed us.." Shiva tol
d him with a choked voice.

  "Series.." His surprise was not faked nor was the sudden angry darkness that appeared in his eyes. "You're certain." Shiva nodded as her voice seemed to leave her. "Damn it.. where are you?"

  "Tell me if they ordered it." Shiva demanded back probably on the verge of tears, loosening Vala's own tight control.

  "I'll look into it.. I swear to you none of my people are behind this.." Devin told them vehemently.

  "What about my mother?!" Vala demanded forcing out the words before she too started to lose control.

  "Gregor's at the hospital now, she's listed as being in 'uncertain' condition, but she's alive. We are going to be putting her on a military medi-evac transport within the hour and will be taking her to a secure facility." Devin told her with sadness in the gaze he turned to her. "Are you two safe, soldier?!" He barked, Shiva's body jerked and she seemed to nod out of instinct. "Stay that way.. in 24 hours, I want you to call me at this number.." His eyes dropped down and wrote something out on a piece of paper before showing it to her. When she nodded he crumbled it up and shoved it in his pocket. "Keep moving, and protect yourselves, can you do that?"

  "Yes.." Shiva choked back to him.

  "Good. Now go." Without hesitation Shiva ripped the cables out of the bottom of the phone, cutting off the call and perhaps preventing it from being traced. Despite the order, Shiva turned to her and clutched at her as a few more bitter tears started to fall. Fighting back her own grief Vala forced herself to be calm since both of them could not afford to break down just yet. Vala pulled her out of the booth and took over driving them away before anyone could get curious. They stayed in town only long enough to get some greasy fast food and some watered down, oversized drinks that could at least keep their stomachs from interrupting the silence. Back on the road and having forced herself back into a calm state Shiva used the road maps to plan out their course through the back roads before she again collapsed into an exhausted sleep. It was not until sometime after sunset when the road started to blur in front of her eyes and her emotional control seemed to waver that Vala pulled over and woke up Shiva long enough cry herself to sleep against Shiva's shoulder as her girlfriend took over the next leg of their planned course.