Every Planet We Reach Is Dead

[DerArknight]

While running away, she had no clue which direction she took or how long she needed.

Anywhere outside was fine.

((Daenerys "D" Todd continued from DEFINITELY Would Not Rec!))

Eventually she wound up on the road. Was it the one that would take her to the town or in the other direction? She didn't care.

Her body was crying out. Her weapon was gone. Her other belongings as well. She didn't even have a first aid kit to stop the bleedings.

Daenerys knew what that amounted to. Now that was left to do was to find a good spot.

[DerArknight]

Shortly after the research station vanished from sight, she made a 90°-turn into the forest.

[DerArknight]

She kept walking for a short while.

[DerArknight]

And then she saw the perfect spot. A bunch of fallen trees, creating some sort of bedding. Hard, but much better than the cold snow.

The pain had slowed D down a lot, so she could still see the road. She didn't care as she allowed herself to fall down.

[DerArknight]

D listened for the voices, just as she had done so often back home.

[DerArknight]

A crossbill.

[DerArknight]

A whiskered auklet.

[DerArknight]

The sound of her blood dripping to the ground, one drop after another.

[DerArknight]

Several red-legged kittiwakes.

[DerArknight]

A pine siskin.

[DerArknight]

... Human footsteps?

[DerArknight]

Currently, the girl walking towards the research station was in no need of misery.

((Dawn Montogomery continued from Echoes In My Head))

The trip to the mining town had been fruitful. Her backpack was filled with materials that should prove useful for building the memorial. She also managed to avoid people for the time being. All had been well until the newest announcement hit her like a bucket of cold water.

Cassie was dead.

One of her best friends had died while Dawn spent the day sorting through trash.

Someone who could have been with her if she just didn't split off from the group after the botched surgery.

Someone she might have been able to save.

As Dawn made her way to rendevouz with David, she felt sick to her stomach. Every step reminded her that she was alive and Cassie and Tenshi and Tully and Mildred and Cedar all weren't. And that were just the ones who hurt the most. Each morning brought new names of classmates added to the pile of death and tragedy.

The splatters of fresh blood almost eluded her consciousness.

Dawn stopped, blinking a few times.

Then she looked to the right, quickly seeing a girl lying on a fallen tree.

"..."

[DerArknight]

Yes, it were indeed human footsteps Daenerys heard. And they came closer.

With hesitation she opened her eyes again. The bloodloss seemed to slowly take its toll as her vision was blurry, but she still made out a classmate approaching her.

The power in her limbs was almost gone, but she still had the ability to part her lips.

"Leave me alone."

D closed her eyes again, this time blacking out.

[DerArknight]

It took until Dawn almost reached her target to recognize the wounded girl. Daenerys Todd, also known as D. A friendly face in the classroom that Dawn talked often with, even if they didn't share any hobbies.

Also the murderer of Roberta, Abhishek and Corbin, if the announcements were to be trusted.

Towering over the unconscious killer who wanted to be left alone, Dawn remained still for a few seconds. Not only was it hard to imagine the cheerful girl from school to commit such dreadful acts, the person in front of her looked barely recognizable, with blood flowing out of her from four wounds, one being a deep slash across the face that was completely painted over with red.

Shaking her head, Dawn put down her backpack, took out all the medical stuff and got to work.

[DerArknight]

The feeling of being touched woke Daenerys up, but she did not open her eyes for moments to come.

Someone was moving her. She had lost all her possessions, so this wasn't a robbery. That led her to only one conclusion.

It was about the credit for her kill.

Maybe the classmate who found her wanted to gain the reputation of having killed a killer and thus being a good guy. Maybe they wanted to earn the one kill they needed to go home and were happy to find a more acceptable target than a random classmate. Maybe they wanted to torture her to impress the terrorists and win the award for the kill of the day.

Or maybe they had just found a target that couldn't fight back anymore and wanted to have some fun.

At least the latter seemed unlikely, as the person focussed on her upper body. In fact, now that D was awake more, she felt less pain than she expected.

Confused, Daenerys opened her eyes and saw Dawn Montogomery, leader of the Student Health Association who often hung around Ethan, wrapping some bandages around her.

Her confusion only grew, eventually boiling over and turning into words.

"What... are you doing?"