Work Text:
The Promise
Sylvie felt nothing but relief when she walked through those heavy bunker doors, seeing the rest of their group safe and sound. They made it, they finally made it. No more flying, no more running, here they were all safe from the sun. At least that’s what she thought at the mere moment.
After a brief introduction of the Soldiers and the Colonel on duty, they were finally clear to get some much needed rest. The Helicopter Pilot took a look around, watching Laura taking care of Osman, who’d finally gained consciousness. He seemed to be okay so far, only superficial burns of his hands where he touched the electric wires. She watched Zara and Ayaz taking care of Dominik, who apparently received a concussion from the Jeep crash. At least that’s what Jakub had told her whilst they were running to escape the first rays of daybreak. Ayaz looked as rough as when he’d climbed on board half dead, beaten into a pulp by Terenzio.
The thought of the Italian man made her insides clench, quickly Sylvie pushed that thought aside. As she walked through the hall, her eyes spotted Mathieu, who had sat down on a bench, hunching, his elbows resting on his knees. He looked gravely exhausted. After all, he was the one who’d brought them here, without him they’d all be dead already. But his persistence had its price, even though Laura had removed the infected tissue at the hospital, the sickness had taken a massive toll on him.
“Hey…” Sylvie said, sitting down beside him. The pilot looked up, his complexion was beyond pale and he was panting. “I’m glad you made it back in time” Mathieu whispered and smiled slightly, but then turned away suddenly to pinch the bridge of his nose like he had a splitting headache. The woman put her arm around his shoulders. “Thank you… for everything. Without you, we’d all be dead. You should get some rest now.” she said, feeling the elevated, feverish temperature through his shirt.
The pilot hadn’t had the strength to dispute, in the mere moment, Colonel Lom spoke up and guided the passengers to the sleeping quarters.
“All the injured and ill, please follow Felipe to the infirmary, it’s not much but you’ll find a bit more rest and privacy. But keep in mind, this is a military facility, not a medical facility, we only carry basic equipment and supplies”.
Sylvie scanned for Laura's eyes, whilst she helped Mathieu get up.
“They won’t have antibiotics or anything that we could treat his sepsis with appropriately” she thought.
Laura looked at her, catching Sylvies glance. She probably thought the same. Gradually, the group proceeded to walk into the depths of the bunker, splitting halfway, part of them diverting to the bunk quarters. Mathieu, Laura, Osman, Ayaz, Zara and Dominik made their way to the infirmary.
Basic equipment and supplies were an understatement, there were only a few cots, crates of bandages, gauze, blister packs of Ibuprofen, two oxygen tanks, blankets, tongues, scissors, wound sanitizer, and a kit for stitching wounds. Nothing to treat serious injuries or illnesses. Laura sighed.
“He wasn’t lying, was he?” she said, looking at the sparse amount of supplies. Felipe huffed.
“Are you expecting any major injuries down here? This is what we’ve been working with ever since we came here and it turned out as completely sufficient.” he said, Laura and the rest of the group disliked the mocking tone in his voice.
“Thank you, Felipe. We’ll be fine.” Mathieu said and helped Osman to sit down on one of the cots. The serviceman tried to refuse as he felt strong enough to do it himself and seeing the gravely ill state of his pilot.
The Officer nodded silently and left. The pilot eventually crashed on a cot as well. Hardly able to keep his eyes open any longer he watched Zara helping Ayaz, but not before she’d made sure that her son was taken care of. Laura then rushed to Osman, cleaning the burns and wrapping them neatly. She said that if he felt alright, he should lie down and get some rest. She said that he probably was very lucky and did not catch any more harm from the shock, although it had him knocked out for a good while.
The nurse turned to Mathieu, who’d just sat there and watched.
“How are you feeling?” she asked and threw a look at the pouch on his belt where he carried the IV bag. It was mostly empty, only a finger width of fluid left.
“I’m alright, I think Ayaz needs your help more than I do” Mathieu whispered as he watched her attaching the almost empty IV back to a metal bar on the wall so the fluid could run freely. She opened the line on his IV port to get the last few drops into his system at least.
“Have you looked into a mirror in the last 24 hours by any chance?” she asked sarcastically, it’s not even been 24 hours since Horst, Zara and herself had dragged him into the hospital in a nearly comatose state.
“She’s right, Mathieu. Your condition was quite critical.” Osman added, and received an affirming nod from the black woman. She turned to the pilot to feel his pulse. “Still, your heart rate is way too high, I hope this settles soon…” she mumbled in concern and pushed the pilot down on the cot.
“I hope that a good night's, ehm, day’s rest will help.”
“So do I, I’ll try my best.” Mathieu said and closed his eyes. The second his head sunk into the pillow he passed out.
“That was quick, wasn’t it?” Osman asked and looked at Laura who’d settled a blanket over the sleeping pilot.
“He’s still as critical as right after the surgery. I may have succeeded in removing the infected tissue, but the infection is still in his blood. And without proper medication,” Laura glanced over to the empty IV bag,” this is going to be a long battle. I wish I could do more”
“We’ll come up with an idea,” Ayaz said from across the room. Zara had finished cleaning his wounds and resumed taking care of Dominik, who just slept.
“You need urgent care yourself Ayaz” the Russian woman remarked and glanced at him worried.
Laura sat down next to Mathieu with a bunch of supplies and started unwrapping his bandaged hand. After removing the last layer and the gauze, she was looking at a jagged, angry red wound, it looked less infected though. And the stitches had stopped the bleeding. Gently she cleaned it once again and wrapped it with a fresh bandage. Whilst she held his arm, she felt his pulse racing and the feverish temperature, which hasn’t changed unfortunately.
“He definitely needs more antibiotics and something to bring the fever down. I don’t think he’s strong enough to fight this infection by himself” the nurse said, more to herself. After all the wounded had been tended to, everybody went to sleep. It was quiet in the bunker. Very quiet.
Sylvie jerked awake as she dreamt about Terenzio standing beside her bunk and hovering a knife over her throat. Drenched in sweat and heavily panting she stared into the darkness. She looked around, fortunately, no one was awakened by her turmoil. She threw her legs over the side of her bunk and covered her face with her hands.
“He’s not here. He couldn’t possibly have escaped” she whispered to herself. But the fear that he might have escaped and is now after her was eating her up inside. The lack of sleep and stress accelerated the feeling even more. Quietly, she got up and went to the bathroom nearby to wash her face. She looked pale and deep shadows had settled under her eyes. Worry had poisoned her mind, following her like a shadow. The past week, she was under too much pressure to let those feelings inside but now after calming down for a bit, they all crashed down on her.
She didn’t even know what time it was, but the bunker was still quiet. Swiftly she turned and stepped outside the bathroom, stopping for a second but then proceeded to walk to the infirmary. She wanted to check on their injured friends. Laura sat there, passed out on a chair next to Osman, who’d slept quietly. Zara lay in bed with Dominik, next to their bed was Ayaz sleeping tightly. Her eyes scanned the room for Mathieu, who lay in a cot on the other side of the room. He wasn’t moving at all. Quickly and without waking anyone, Sylvie rushed towards him. The pilot was awake, laying there panting and almost petrified. Sylvie grabbed his uninjured hand.
“Hey, are you alright?” she whispered worriedly. Firstly, she wasn’t sure if he heard her but then, his eyes locked with hers.
“Yeah, I’m alright. Don’t worry, I just feel so cold.” he whispered. “I need to talk to Laura.” the Helicopter Pilot said and got up, but Mathieu grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
“Don’t, it's alright. She needs her sleep, and I don’t want to inconvenient anyone. Besides, what do you think is Laura able to do? You heard what Colonel Lom said, only basic medical equipment, no antibiotics. Laura checked the supplies, there’s nothing she can do. I’ll pull through, don’t worry” he explained, his voice shaking along with the chills he suffered.
Sylvie felt like she’d just received a punch in the gut. As much as she hated to admit, their hands were tethered at the moment. The sun was probably up high, so they couldn’t get out to look for medication. Besides, she was still cautious with trusting the soldiers, something around them made her vastly uncomfortable. What if they would not let them go?
“Hey… I promise you to get you proper meds, as soon as I can.” Sylvie said and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “We wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t flown us across the globe. Whatever will come, I don’t want to do it without you. We’re a team, remember?”
“I appreciate you.. But I don’t want anyone to throw themselves into any kind of trouble for me. Promise me that you won’t do anything reckless” the pilot whispered, more stern this time.
“And I promise you that I will do anything I can to save your life. You have saved all our lives, I will not sit here and watch you die.” Sylvie said she felt her eyes start to tear up. After Henri, she could not bear to watch a friend die on her watch. The mere thought of that made her stomach twist.
She leaned over and hugged him tightly.
“I’ll not let you die…”
She let go of him and tried to fake a smile. Even though it was just a facade. Deep inside, concern was eating her alive. Briefly she looked at the other injured, who were sleeping soundly.
“You should get some sleep.” Mathieu said calmly.
“Not if you don’t promise me that you’ll still be with us at dusk” Sylvie said firmly.
The pilot was silent.
“I can’t….” he whispered.
“Then I’ll stay with you to make sure you will,” she said.
Mathieu didn’t have the strength to tell her not to, he was slowly drifting back to sleep. The helicopter pilot got up and fetched a towel, drenched in cold water.
Carefully, she put the towel across his forehead, he was still burning up from the fever.
“You better just be asleep” she mumbled. But after she’d double checked his pulse she felt a bit more relieved.
For hours, Sylvie stayed and watched over him. He didn’t stir awake one more time, growing even more pale.
Laura woke before dusk, instantly noticing Sylvie sitting next to Mathieu. She panicked. The nurse rushed over and pulled the helicopter pilot from her daze.
“Is everything alright?” Laura asked and leaned over to check on the pilot. His vitals worsened slightly. Sylvie felt that they didn’t have much time left.
“I’ll get a Jeep and go look for proper medication. Can you write me a list of things I need to gather?” Sylvie said, determinded. The black woman nodded and rushed off.
Sylvie turned to Mathieu, grabbed his hand again and gave it a squeeze.
“I promised that I’ll save you. You keep your promise to stay alive until my return.” she said and rushed off.
After a quick briefing with the others, she and Jakub were approved to use one of the Soldier's Jeeps to drive into town. Colonel Lom joined them, and Sylvie bit her lip as she realized that they’re going to have to pass through the airbase.
“Terenzio…” she thought, and tried to think of an excuse to have Lom stay at the bunker. This unfortunately, was unsuccessful. Jakub clearly noticed how nervous she was but didn’t say anything.
As they approached the air base, Sylvie felt her stomach clenching once again. Next to the sliding gate, there was a body lying on the ground. She swallowed. Lom stopped the Jeep abruptly and got out of the vehicle, shaking his head in disbelief.
“What the fuck happened here? Why’s he chained to the rod?” he asked menacingly and turned to the Helicopter Pilot, who tried to look as surprised as he did.
“I-I don’t know, perhaps it was suicide?” she suggested?
“Sucicide? An odd place for that?” Lom said and rose after he’d covered Terenzios body with his jacket. He approached Sylvie, who backed up.
“Suicide or not, our Pilot is dying, we need to go!” Jakub said and got between these two.
“Terenzio is dead already, regardless of how it happened, there’s nothing we can do. But Mathieu is not dead yet and urgently needs our help. I don’t want to lose him because of Terenzio” the mechanic added and pushed Sylvie towards the Jeep.
“I agree, we have more pressing matters to deal with now” she said and got back into the vehicle.
“Fine, but this is not over” Lom said and got back into the driver's seat as well.
About twenty minutes later, they arrived in town. It was a small town, deserted of course. Cars and buses blocking the main road for the most part. They were forced to park their Jeep and walk the last leg of the way to the hospital.
“Looks like they tried to escape” Sylvie said, looking at the deceased passengers inside the cars. Their faces displayed the agony they went through during the last few seconds of their lives.
“This is horrible…” Jakub said to her.
“Come on, this way!” Lom commanded and pointed towards a large building at the end of the block.
Quickly they made their way through the chaos on the street. In the Hospitals Lobby, they encountered even more victims of the deadly sun rays. Sylvie and Jakub started to feel a bit sick by this sight, Lom, however pushed on though.
“What is it that we are supposed to look for?” he asked.
Sylvie pulled out the list that Laura had given to her.
“IV Antibiotics, pain medication pills and IV. Antiseptic ointments, antipyretic medicine of any kind, blood pressure monitoring devices, if we find one. And steroids for Dominik, that’s what Zara added” she read.
“Shit, I am not a doctor. How am I supposed to know what kind of stuff that is?” Lom huffed and went ahead..
Sylvie glanced at Jakub.
“I think it's best we get as many supplies as possible and hope that the right ones are among them,” he muttered.
The Helicopter pilot tried to recall how the meds and IV bags looked like what Henri had been treated with. He’d gone through a whole battery of medication, though they could probably skip the chemotherapy drug part, she thought.
“How did your pilot get hurt so bad in the first place? “ Lom asked curiously.
“He was shot, as he tried to disarm Terenzio when he hijacked the plane. The wound got infected due to insufficient care to a point that it got into his bloodstream. Sepsis. Laura performed an emergency surgery on him to remove the infected tissue back in Brussels.” Sylvie explained and picked up the pace in looking for the pharmacy.
“He was shot by Major Gallo, and he also chained him to that pole, right?“ Lom figured and stopped suddenly.
“No! He did no such thing!” the helicopter pilot exclaimed. “Terenzio wanted to wait for the rest of the group and push the button to keep the gate open. It was his very own decision. Mathieu was the one who told him that he didn't have to do that. He tried to talk him out of it.” Sylvie explained.
“We left him there as he wished, so we don't have any clue what happened after.”
Lom just looked at her but then proceeded to move. Sylvie hoped this was the end of it.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to search long to find the hospital’s pharmacy. The three went through all the shelves and storage compartments, using their phones to google the names of the drugs they found.
They were somehow successful in gathering everything they needed. Sylvie looked at her watch, they had taken longer than anticipated though.
“We should go back!” she said whilst carrying a crate of supplies.
Quickly, they made their way back to their vehicle and were back on the road again.
Back at the Bunker, things weren’t going as great though.
“Breathe, Mathieu, breathe” Laura said whilst holding the oxygen mask in place. After she had tended to the other injured and went for breakfast, the pilot's vitals plummeted suddenly. It was Osman, who’d cried for help and when she returned back to the infirmary, she’d found him struggling to breathe, but not coherent at all. With temperatures beyond anything considered normal, Laura took one of the oxygen tanks that Dominik had been using and hooked Mathieu onto one of them. Zara wasn’t so happy about that, but after Laura threw an angry look at her, she just nodded approvingly.
“Is he gonna die, Mom?” Dominik asked his mother and held her hand even tighter.
“No, he’ll be alright, don’t worry my love” Zara replied, but she didn’t sound convincing at all. She hugged her son and turned away, trying to shield him from the events.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Ayaz got up and asked the nurse.
“No, as long as we’ve got no meds, there’s nothing I can do to help him, I’m afraid. I just pray that the others will find something useful otherwise….” she mumbled, glancing away. The Turkish man understood.
A few minutes later, the situation had calmed again. Mathieu had passed out again, but his breath was still shallow, so Laura kept him on oxygen supply.
Ines joined them, looking concerned at the pilot.
“I hope Sylvie and Jakub are going to be back soon, he really needs this medication. I wished I could do more.” the nurse said to her.
“Laura you’re doing all you can, you are no miracle worker. If there’s someone to blame, then it would be Terenzio…” Ines said and patted Laura reassuringly on the shoulder.
“You’re right… “ she replied.
“It’s a miracle he managed to push through so long, we’d be all dead if this happened back on the plane.” Ayaz said as he walked over from his own cot. He looked much better than yesterday.
“Well, it kind of happened.” Ines interjected.
“We were lucky, we got some meds in the hospital and the infected tissue removed. But since we ran out of medication, the infection returned with full force. It’s a relapse, since he did not recuperate properly.” the nurse said, noticing that Mathieu regained consciousness again.
He wanted to say something but couldn't gather the forces to do so, so he just sank back into the pillow.
“Here..” Laura said and offered him some water. “We need to be sure you are hydrated at least, I hope Slyvie and Jakub are able to find some IV fluids”
“I feel like that’s the only thing, I can keep down at the moment” he whispered and rested back on the pillow.
“Your breathing is a bit better now, isn’t it?” Laura asked and Mathieu nodded confirmingly.
“I feel so cold and so hot at the same time, I've never felt like this…” the pilot explained and winced from a sudden wave of chills.
Laura got up and pulled the blanket up to his chest, resting her hand there for a while. Her eyes now reflected concern even more obvious.
“Your heart rate is still way too high, I can actually feel it, even through the blanket.” the nurse said.
“Is that dangerous?“ Ines asked and looked nervous.
“It could lead to cardiac arrest, heart attack, strokes…. It’s been so high for a long time now. Fever, the infection, his body is weakened, any minor issue could lead to a total crash.”
Ines swallowed, she hadn’t anticipated his condition was this critical. She looked at her watch.
“Sylvie and Jakub left about 2 hours ago, why are they taking so long?” she wondered.
“Perhaps they struggle to find what we need.” Laura mumbled, wished she hadn’t said it out loud. The nurse sat down beside the pilot’s cot again. As she watched him, she realized she’d never seen somebody clinging on life so persistently. At this point, and considering the circumstances this world had turned in, most people had given up already. But Mathieu fought, every second, through every wave of chills and pain, in and out of consciousness.
The black woman admired him for that. Another hour passed without any sign of the group to return. Mathieu’s breathing had become strained and shallow once again, so Laura put him back on oxygen. The fever was back at an all time high and would not seem to break this time. Gradually, the pilot felt his life forces fade away.
He tried to lift his head off the pillow to speak but suddenly, his consciousness slipped away.
“Mathieu, Mathieu wake up!” the nurse rushed over as she’d been occupied with helping Ayaz cleaning his wounds. The Turkish man’s eyes widened and he followed her right away.
Laura felt his pulse, it was irregular. Beads of cold sweat formed on his temples. His breathing became even more shallow, so the woman turned up the oxygen supply. The room was silent, only the low hissing noise of the oxygen that was flowing through the mask could be heard.
“Mathieu, come on, wake up. You’ve got to stay conscious.” Laura said, slightly panicking. Her hand repeatedly moved from patting him lightly on the chest to his neck to check his pulse every 10 seconds.
The tension in the room rose with every minute that passed, but Mathieu wouldn’t wake up.
Five minutes later, there was a slight commotion outside. Rik and Horst joined them, looking confused, then concerned at what they saw.
“What happened? Is he okay?” Horst said, who could read Laura’s terrified face all too well.
“He’s not doing great, I hope Sylvie and Jakub return soon. Sylvie!” she exclaimed as the Helicopter pilot and Jakub walked into the room, carrying crates of medical supplies. After her, Jakub and Lom stepped into the infirmary.
Sylvie’s eyes widened, she almost dropped the crate on the spot and rushed over to Mathieu.
She put her hand on his shoulder then turned to Laura.
“He was stable for the last two hours, then he suddenly passed out. His fever is raging and heartbeat is irregular” the black woman reported, “It's not looking good”
“I think we got everything you asked for, let’s get going.” Sylvie said and removed the old IV bag from its place, extending her arm so Laura could pass her a new bag. Ten seconds later, she was given a new bag filled with life saving fluids. Quickly, it was attached to the makeshift IV stand. Laura and Sylvie swapped positions, so the nurse could hook the IV port up to the new tube. Right after, they added a second back to it, getting all the much needed meds into the pilot’s body as quickly as possible.
Once that was done, Laura got the blood pressure monitor from one of the crates and wrapped its cuff around Mathieu’s arm. The results were less than encouraging.
“Give it a bit of time until the meds start to kick in,” the Helicopter pilot said and took a seat beside his cot. They noticed that his breath became less shallow after about 15 minutes.
Jakub joined them for a while, he was extremely worried about losing his friend.
Mathieu’s condition didn’t change much for the rest of the night. At dawn, Sylvie sent Laura and the other’s to sleep.
The Helicopter pilot stayed with him through the most part of the day until she passed out from fatigue as well. The following night. Mathieu hadn’t woken up yet, but he was more stable than before. The fever gradually receded and his breathing became much better.
The third night, he woke up eventually.
“Hey…” Sylvie said softly and put her hand on his shoulder as he stirred. He looked exhausted but less pale.
“Looks like I’m still here…. Thank you..” Mathieu whispered hoarsely.
“Laura had taken care of you, whilst Jakub and I were gone.”
Mathieu looked around.
“She's asleep right now,” Sylvie said.
“I'm eternally grateful for what you all did for me. You saved my life,” the pilot said.
“Just returning the favor, you saved us all first. Looks like we both kept our promises.” She smiled and hugged him tightly.
“Hey, you're awake!” they heard a voice, Sylvie let go of him.
Jakub joined them and also gave his friend a brief hug.
“Thank you, for saving my life.”Mathieu whispered, smiling slightly.
“You saved ours in the first place, without you we would have died back at Brussels airport where it all started, you kept pushing through, despite the circumstances and the fact that this maniac had shot you. You never gave up.” Jakub said, Sylvie nodding in agreement.
“It was a team effort, I could not have done it without you.” the pilot replied, refusing to take all credit for saving their lives. The other two knew exactly how humble he was and there was no use trying to convince him otherwise, so they dropped it.
“You two should get some sleep, the dark circles under your eyes are getting deeper.” Jakup said to Sylvie, who grimaced.
“I am getting enough sleep, don’t worry.” she replied, brushing it off.
“Jakub is right, you’ve been here for most of the time.” Mathieu confirmed.
“It’s just, that.. I don’t know, I just have nightmares that keep me awake. They can’t bother me if I don’t sleep at all.” she said,” But I assure you I am alright. I get the appropriate amount of rest. Please do not worry about me.”
Mathieu and Jakub exchanged glances, both knew Sylvies dark secret of her initial plans of this journey. But neither of them was aware that the other knew.
Suddenly, the helicopter pilot yawned loudly.
“But maybe you two are right, perhaps I should get some sleep. As you do too, Mathieu. Good night or day, I will never get used to that” Sylvie said and left the infirmary.
The two guys looked at each other.
“I am worried about her,” Mathieu said and looked at the door.
“Did she tell you anything? Like, why she was on the plane?” the mechanic asked, finally addressing the elephant in the room.
“You’ve been knowing that too?” the pilot asked, Jakub nodded.
“We need to keep an eye on her.” he said,” but she’s right, you gotta rest now.”
The mechanic got up from the chair, whilst Mathieu leaned back on his pillow. He felt the fatigue washing over him again.
Mathieu slept through the rest of the night. Laura periodically checked on him, changing his bandage or swapping the IV bag for a new one.
The pilot suddenly jerked away the next day, whilst the others were supposed to be asleep.
In the dark, he spotted a silhouette sitting next to him.
“Sylvie?” he whispered, but she didn’t reply.
Suddenly, Mathieu heard a quiet sob.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up” she said quietly and turned her face away from him.
The Pilot wondered how long she'd been sitting there. Since Osman and Ayaz had been well enough, they also moved into the sleeping quarters, so no one else was here at the moment.
“Hey…” he said softly, leaned forward and grabbed her arm gently.
“You once told me that if we wanted to work together we needed to trust each other. If I don’t know what’s wrong, I cannot help you.” he whispered.
She chuckled for a second, then wiped her eyes.
“I remember these words,” Sylvie said.
“I mean it, what’s wrong?” the pilot said, pushing himself up into a more sitting position.
“I don’t know, it’s like everything comes crashing down on me at the moment. The fact that I haven’t been able to retrieve Henri’s urn yet. I don’t feel very secure here around the soldiers. And Terenzio, he’s haunting me in my dreams. What if, what if I made a mistake by leaving him there?” she confided.
Mathieu thought for a moment. Then he grabbed her hand.
“I promise you, as soon as I am able to, I’ll come with you to retrieve the urn. The soldiers might be a bit rough around the edges, so we need to stay cautious on that part. I don’t trust them much either. And Terenzio…. You remember that I wanted to get rid of him in the first place? He caused so much trouble, nearly killed Ayaz. God knows what else he’d done if he was still here. The only thing we need to consider is keeping any info regarding him away from the soldiers, he was one of them. The official story is that he wanted to wait for the others to keep the gate open, the rest is history. You could not have known that they had taken a different way. I can’t stress this enough, it is not your fault” the pilot said, sternly.
“We found him next to the gate when we drove into town. I doubt that Colonel Lom believed my story.” she confessed, taking a deep breath.
“He cannot prove your involvement in his demise, don’t worry.” Mathieu said and gave her hand a squeeze.
“I hope so…” she said and looked down to her knees.
“I know, this whole situation is a lot to take in. None of us had time to grieve, we only functioned. It’s natural that everything comes crashing down on one eventually.” he said with a certain confidence that finally got through to her.
“You never fail to cheer someone up or give up, regardless of how dire the situation is, do you?” Sylvie said with a chuckle.
“I’m trying my best, I will not give up when there are still people around who I care about. I would do anything to save them, even when I failed to save my loved ones back at home.” Mathieu whispered, sadness seeped through his words.
“No one could possibly have known that the world is going to end, no one was prepared for this.” the helicopter pilot said and put a hand on his shoulder.
“I know, it hurts, but I know that I did the best I could. And I promise that I’ll be there for everyone as long as I can.” the pilot said and put his hand over hers.
Sylvie sighed. “And I promise that, I’ll keep going, no matter what.”
Mathieu looked at her.
“Looks like we got some new promises to keep.” he smiled.
Sylvie nodded, a sudden yawn escaped her mouth.
“You should go to sleep.” Mathieu said.
The helicopter pilot chuckled.
“Last time I checked, Ines sleep-talked a lot”, she explained, and got up from the chair.
She walked to the cot next to Mathieu and lay down.
“I’ll stay here for the night, if you don’t mind.”
The pilot laughed.
“Sleep well, Co-Pilot” he said and turned over.
This was the first day, Sylvie actually got some proper sleep since they had arrived.