As said earlier, I have set aside Prawa V for a little bit. I'll return when I am ready to edit it properly. In the meantime, I've picked up the pen (or, more accurately, keyboard) and started on a sequel. I am enjoying writing my little vignettes. In this one, 329 is buying time for Freja to do what she must. She's the only one with the access and knowledge. Freja is terrified. She's a mid-level clerk. She is not built for this. But, our Narrator, the sergeant,  has other ideas. She eventually steels herself, but I will come to that later.

A hand seized her collar, dragged her back from the tunnel wall, then slammed her hard back into it. The air went out of her lungs. Her head cracked lightly against the metal. Before she could react, he was there. Face inches from hers. Eyes wide, jaw set, voice low.

“Do you hear that?”

She nodded, barely. That unrelenting howl rose again in the background. Deeper. It terrified her before. She could only imagine the carnage above them, now.

“You know what it is.”

Tears welled in her eyes. Smoke stung her throat. She tried to breathe but she managed to nod again.

“It’s dying for you.”

He let go.

She stumbled forward a half-step, catching herself against the wall. Her pulse thundered in her ears.

“Now go.”