Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When asked ‘How long do you think you can survive the apocalypse?’ the answer is either super detailed in how one would survive, or simply.

“I’m probably the first to die.”

Mara was one of those people, or at least she thought they were one of those people. How she had managed to survive for this long was beyond her. It was mostly pure luck in all honesty, her town was the least devastated from the bombings because it was a pretty backwater town away from anything too important to blow up.

But the bombs were the least of the town's worries as the town would have been run ragged by the military, refugees, and raiders. The first few weeks were scary, waiting for the sounds of smashing and shooting to stop. Praying that someone wouldn’t find your home good enough to rob. Holding an old handgun close and hoping you wouldn’t have to use it.

It didn’t take long for the old, sparse town to be overrun with people, and its resources instantly used up. As much as Mara hated it, she had to leave it was just too dangerous to stay, as there were still threats of bombing. That, and it had become glaringly obvious that all of the countries involved don’t actually care about following the Geneva Convention when it came down to it.

So Mara was able to get a seat on one of the few buses that traveled between camps and left. A large bag full of supplies and her handgun strapped to her waist.

As much as Mara joked about being the first to die in any kind of life or death scenario, when it came down to it, she played smart. Don’t talk to anyone wearing military gear unless you know with 100% certainty that they are legit. Dressing up as soldiers was an easy way to trick unsuspecting survivors.

Never drink or eat anything offered to you unless it is from one of the soup kitchens set up at a camp. That was how you got poisoned or drugged or even just very sick.

Clean water is more valuable than gold, treat it as such. Any chance Mara could get clean water, even if she already had some, she would take it. Having it as a trade item could guarantee you anything from the other party, like medicine.

Medicine is the number one priority next to water, and it is irreplaceable. This one rule was specific to Mara in particular. Despite playing as defensively as possible, she had a major weak link. That was her absolutely garbage immune system.

The first weeks of the bombings had sent Mara into a stress-induced cold that left her bedridden for nearly 2 weeks. It was pure luck that the raiders had shown up a day after she had fully recovered.

When she set off for the next refugee camp, she got strep throat. Thankfully, the medical tents had the supplies to help her. But she wouldn’t be nearly as lucky the next couple of times she got sick.

Mara could hardly go a week without having a fever or vomiting in a corner somewhere. Her diet consisted of painkillers, liquid cold medicine, and whatever rations she could get hold of. It was hard having to travel on foot to a camp because you were deemed contagious and forbidden from hitching a ride from anyone.

Not that Mara could ask even if she wanted to. The constant coughing and vomiting had torn up her throat to where it hurt to speak. Coughing up blood was just a little quirk she had picked up at this point.

The worst part of being unable to talk was also being unable to communicate with other survivors. Mara felt like an idiot trying to haggle with traders for medicine, food, or bullets. Which led to her third most treasured item. Paper and pencils were a godsend, and getting hold of a notebook was Mara’s big break. She no longer had to hurt herself trying to get single words out or point at an item till the other person got what she was trying to say. Just write down what she wanted and show it to the person of interest.

Sure, she got weird looks constantly, but it worked. She even had questions and answers prepared for all sorts of situations. Her notebook was soon full of notes for any conversation. One small upside to being unable to speak was that Mara was working on improving her handwriting.

So, despite her constant joking about being the first to die in a world-ending apocalypse, she actually had a good system going for her. All in all, she might make it through this to the end. She managed to survive the hunger, the thirst, the people, the stress, and even fear. Her constant sickness, while frustrating, was under control for the most part… until it wasn’t.

“Ok, Miss Mara, I have good news and bad news.”

Mara was lying almost motionless on the medical cot, an IV stuck in her arm and an oxygen mask over her face. A young nurse was standing over her, holding a clipboard and wearing a mask. The pen she was holding was lightly tapping against the side of the clipboard.

“The bad news is you won’t be leaving this building anytime soon. At this stage, you are highly contagious and need to be quarantined. We will still be able to care for you, but we are very limited at the moment.”

Great, fucking great, this was wonderful actually. As soon as she makes it to an actual functional town. One that is properly run and regulated, one with a medical facility that gets consistent supply drops, and she gets fucking tuberculosis. That, along with strep throat for the millionth time, gave her ulcers all over the inside of her mouth and throat. Even a 102.2 fever to go along with it. She might never be able to talk again. That she was even still breathing was a damn miracle.

“We will have someone coming in to give you antibiotics, rations, and clean up after you.”

It was already hard enough trying to follow what the nurse was saying. Mara had to close her eyes to focus on the nurse's words better. But the beeps from the different monitors, along with the hum of the oxygen machine, kept throwing her off.

“But the good news is that we are getting help. Not just medicine, but more doctors as well. You just have to hold on for three more days. Hell, I’m told that some of those alien robots are going to come to our settlement to help as well. If you can believe it.”

That made Mara’s brain clear for just a second, and her hand twitched at the mention of the aliens. When Mara had first heard of the alien robots, it had been just some baseless rumor she had heard from passing conversations. She had been on the move during the president's speech about the bots. She didn’t think it was real at first, but for the first time, the people she encountered were hopeful.

One of the settlements that Mara had visited had an actual working TV, and that’s when she saw the Cybertronians for the first time. Giant mechanical aliens from another world standing next to the president of the USA. Mara nearly fainted at the sight. It was such a surreal feeling watching that broadcast.

A part of her wanted to believe that this was all fake, like some big ploy to help raise morale for the survivors. But more people claimed to have met these supposed aliens. Clean water was being distributed in waves. Medicine was easier to come by, and people were celebrating and- it just… couldn’t be real… but it was.

Many people were still skeptical, including herself. It did seem too perfect, too convenient, too kind. Mara had heard all kinds of theories about their real reason for being here. Many thought they were going to take over the government once the planet was fixed. That the whole “helping then leaving” schtick was a lie. Or that the cybertrions wanted to get their servos on organic creatures to experiment with or even eat. Mara had a good laugh after hearing that one.

Mara found herself torn between the two sides of the argument, as did a lot of people she had met in her travels. There was even talk of a new organization being made to combat the bots if they turn on us. She believes they called themselves M.E.C.H., which alright, sure, real good being subtle there.

At first, she was on the more hopeful side in that she wanted nothing more than to see the world get better, and to actually see it happen in real time had filled her with such hope. Then the whispers had started, and dread and doubt had taken over. Talk of a small M.E.C.H. hideout being raided by some shiny sports cars. People were going missing from towns and camps usually when some nice looking cars drove through it. There was even a rumor going around that even a well known government official was missing as well. Mara didn’t even know where people got that rumor from. It was probably made up.

It had to be one big crazy game of telephone or people just making shit up. But there were times were Mara had seen some strangely nice-looking cars on the outskirts of settlements and towns. She found herself keeping her distance when she spotted them, even if they promised food and water.

Mara was sure she had seen a strange man come out of one of them. It had happened pretty recently and was part of the reason she was so sick now.

A rule that Mara had to put on herself was not to leave a location until she was in moderately good health. But in a rather small settlement, she was up late that night keeping a close eye on her temperature and nursing a pack of painkillers. She had almost missed the car because it was jet black. But the man who had emerged from it got her attention instantly. His eyes were a strange, almost glowing, bright blue. His face was neutral as he scanned the settlement as if looking for something. Then his eyes had locked onto her, and she knew he was looking at her because of the fear that shot through her the moment they made eye contact.

Without even wasting a second, Mara had gathered her things and bolted to the nearest bus stop on the other side of the settlement. She had to pretend and hold back every cough and sneeze and silently begged the thermometer to give her a normal result for once. The sigh of relief she got when the thermometer dinged green was the happiest she had felt in a while. So she hopped onto the night bus with five other people and rode off to another nearby settlement.

But it wasn’t far enough for as she instantly left that settlement to ride another bus into one of the larger towns. There, she could lose anyone in a crowd, and they were rumored to have really good doctors. Despite the number of people and the fact that she was already pushing herself, Mara was sure this was worth dealing with a small cold. She would get over it like all the other times she got sick. If it could mean that she never saw that weird, scary man again the sickness would be worth it.

“Don’t worry, Miss Mara, you’re gonna get through this.” The nurse reassured, pulling Mara from her thoughts.

Right, she was stuck in a hospital quarantine, about to suffer for the next couple of days. It was second nature to her at this point, just lay there and look pitiful. She was good at that, she had done so for a good portion of her life and would continue to do so. The upside to this was that it could be worse. She was in one of the better medical centers, one that protected its patients. So long as she was there, she would be safe. No one could get her out of here even if they tried. Not even those cybertronian guys…

________

One of the worst things about being sick isn't the pain, congestion, or even vomiting. It was the fact that you just couldn’t do anything. The moment that Mara was told to lie down cause she was feeling dizzy, she didn’t get back up. Even the idea of standing made her already empty stomach lurch.

Mara would be lucky to even be able to walk properly after being stuck like this for… how many days has it been? She had been going in and out of consciousness for so long now that Mara had no idea how many days it had been. Not like she could even ask, the ulcers in her throat made her feel like she was drinking scalding oil every time she was given food.

The nurse Mara was given was understanding enough of her situation, but was a little forceful in getting her to eat. She felt like she was a child again, being forced to eat the soup her mom had made for her. She barely talked to Mara, either she never gave her news updates, or saying what kind of medicines she was injecting into her.

It was just, “Food, you need to keep your weight up,” or “Time for your medicine, Miss Mara.”

Mara would be lucky to get a good morning or a good night to tell her what time of day it was. It was a routine, at least so she could somewhat follow along if she was conscious enough.

There would be some differences, though a new nurse would come in to check on her occasionally if the first nurse wasn’t available. She even got visits from her doctor as well to tell her about her dosages and whether or not she would be getting an increase or something new. He had come in not too long ago to tell her that she was on her way to a full recovery and could possibly even leave in the next week or so.

That was until something different happened, Mara’s mind was clear for once. Well, as clear as someone battling strep and tuberculosis could be. The familiar sound of a door opening caught Mara’s attention. Turning her head a smidge to look at her nurse-

That’s not her nurse. That isn’t even her doctor from yesterday.

The person who had entered her room was an old, grey man. He had short, slicked-back white and grey hair and a stubby white beard to match. He had a bit of gut to him, but looked to have a good bit of muscle to him. He was wearing a doctor's lab coat along with a name tag that Mara couldn’t make out. Was he coming in to tell her they were changing her medication? Was she being moved to a different room?

The man approached her bed, and Mara saw what had to be his most striking feature. Bright blue eyes that seemed to glow and stare into your soul. Was she hallucinating? Dreaming?

Mara felt her body jerk all on its own when her eyes met the strangers. The man didn’t even flinch as he looked her over.

The man didn’t say anything for a moment, just staring down at her motionless form. The hums and beeps of machinery filling the room. Then the man reached up a hand towards her face. She wanted to flinch away, but just could find the energy to move. But the moment the hand came into contact with her forehead, a rush of calm overtook her. For once, the constant ache in her whole body just relaxed.

But just as quickly as it came, the hand was gone, and the pain came back, making Mara whine and want to reach out for the man's touch. Tears welled up in her eyes as, for a moment, she wasn’t in pain. She wanted that feeling back, she needed that feeling back.

Her request was answered as the hand returned and gently petted the top of her head. The pain faded again, and Mara’s breathing became steadier as a result.

“Shh, it’s alright, sparkling.” The man soothed, “It’s going to be okay. I’ll get you out of here and somewhere safe. But you have to wait for me for a bit, can you do that?”

Mara could only hum in contentment in response as she was relieved not being in pain for once. But once again, the hand pulled away, and this time Mara couldn’t stop herself from gasping and whimpering at the pain's return. The tears had finally broken out and started streaming down her face. A strange croon was heard, did it come from the man?

“Don’t worry, I promise to be back soon, okay? I’ll make sure you get the help you need.”

Mara turned her head to watch the man leave the room with blurred vision and a small hope that he was going to come back. But the other, more logical and clear-headed part of her wanted to get out of bed and run away so the man wouldn’t be able to find her.

_______

“Well?”

“Well, you were right, there’s a sparkling in there all right.” Ratchet’s holoform leaned against his alt mode and stared up at the dilapidated building. “I almost missed her too with how weak her spark signature was.”

Barricade nodded, “As did I, had I not made eye contact with her that first time, she would have slipped under us for who knows how long.”

“But we know where she is now and that she won’t be trying to run anytime soon, so we gotta figure out how to get here out of here.”

“I’ve already contacted Optimus about the situation, and he said that because this extraction is taking place in a highly populated hospital, he emphasized how smoothly he wants this extraction to go.”

Ratchet sighed, “Already, he’s asking for the impossible… First Aid, and I already have identities that can get us in and out of the hospital with our little sparkling without too much hassle.”

Barricade stiffened, “You? And First Aid leading an extraction? Right, and soon Bluestreak and I will see you on the operating table sometime soon.”

Ratchet glared at the dark-haired man, “And what are you going to do? You will be stopped the moment you enter those doors, guns a blazing, trying to kidnap a patient.”

“I can assure you that my team and I are more than capable of grabbing a sickly sparkling.”

Ratchet frowned, “You didn’t see her in there, Barricade. She was hooked up to all of those machines and called out to me multiple times when I tried to leave. If I didn’t have my guardian protocols disabled, I could have just snatched her up then and there. One wrong move can put her health in danger, and we don't have a frame ready this time. She needs someone who can keep track of her condition with a single look. I do trust you and your team, but I want you to trust me and First Aid to get her out of there.”

Barricade was silent for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh, “If the plan gets approved by both Optimus and Megatron, I will be your backup for this plan.”

Ratchet smirked, “Please, at least give me some sort of challenge to get my way. I’ll have First Aid meet us here, and we can go over the plan in full.”

“And you're sure First Aid will be able to carry out a mission like this?”

“If a sparkling is involved, First Aid will do everything in their power to make sure they are safe. Besides, I can tell how much he's been itching to leave the base anyway.”

“... Alright, let's get us a sparkling.”

Chapter Text

The old, white-haired, and blue-eyed man seemed to haunt Mara’s mind every second of the day. When she had seen her nurse again, she practically spazzed out trying to get her to grab her bag and hand over her notebook. Having to force out the word notebook and not hack up blood was not a pleasant experience. It also didn’t help that she had freaked out the nurse when she started moving erratically. But she was able to get her notebook in the end and was able to use every bit of energy she had to focus and write down her question and hand it to the nurse.

The nurse paused as she read over the notebook and her eyebrows pinched in confusion. “ ‘Who was the white-haired and very blue-eyed doctor?’ Uh, Doctor Thompson has white hair, but he mainly focuses on child care. He would have no reason to be in this area, and his eyes are brown, not blue.”

The answer made a shiver go down Mara’s spine as she reached for her notebook and began to write again. Handing it back, the nurse again read aloud,

“Then who was the guy who entered… Someone entered your room?”

Mara nodded furiously, to which the nurse frowned and handed her back the notebook.

“This area is quarantined only doctors with proper IDs and clearance can access this floor, and it is even guarded. I can assure you that if someone entered your room, they had to have been a doctor. I’m sure you must have dreamed it up, you have been coming in and out of consciousness for the past two weeks you’ve been here.”

Mara straightened up in her cot, a week… she had been here for a whole week!? She thought she had only been stuck here for less than a week, but she’s been here for nearly half a month!?

Mara had started writing more questions, but looked to see the nurse already walking out of the room.

“If it makes you feel better, I can ask around and see if anyone matches the description, but I don’t think anyone would have missed a new doctor roaming the place.”

With that, the door was shut, and Mara was pretty sure that the nurse was just saying she was going to look into it when in reality she was going to do jack shit to help her. Mara looked down at the bed with fresh, plain white sheets staring back at her. For a whole week, she had laid in this bed unmoving.

Flexing her hands, Mara grabbed the edge of the sheets and pulled them off. The sight of her pale legs made a pit form in her stomach. This wouldn’t have been the first time she had been stuck in bed for well over a week. But that didn’t make doing this next part any more pleasant.

Taking a deep breath, Mara gripped the side of her bed and started to move her legs over the edge. Pain spiked from her hips as she maneuvered herself to sit on the edge of the bed. There was a feeling of knowing dread as the bottom of her feet brushed against the cold floor. Reaching over, she grabbed the stand her IV was attached to in one hand and braced her other against the bed.

The pain that shot through her legs when she stood was quick and sharp. Mara gasped as she wabbled in place, trying to keep herself standing. The worst about being stuck in a bed for a week was needing to re-learn how to walk.

Normally, Mara would just wait until she was fully recovered, but she knows that man was real. The way he stared at her and spoke to her just felt way too real to just be her imagination. She knew when she was hallucinating, and that wasn’t one.

A part of her knew that the dark-haired man had to be working with this new guy, and she wasn’t going to stick around when they eventually showed back up.

Taking another deep breath, Mara attempted to walk around her bed with her IV in tow, making sure she didn’t pull anything out or knock anything loose. She never made it more than 3 steps before she would have to sit down again.

Frustration surfaced monetarily before being shoved back down. ‘You knew this would happen, just pace yourself..’ Mara told herself.

The fear of the men coming back really had her on edge. But she needed to remain calm, or she would panic and do something stupid. Breath in, breath out, in, and out, she was going to make it out of this. She had made it this long without so much as a serious injury… unless you count the throat damage.

Sighing, Mara lay back in the bed and stared at the ceiling. Once she was fully recovered, she was going to have to leave this town for the next one. Which sucked, as this was one of the better ones. But if it meant getting away from those glowy-eyed creeps, she would be fine. She could always just lie low instead. Mara prided herself on being pretty good at hiding, as she won every hide-and-seek game as a child. It worked in the apocalypse setting, as she had to hide from raiders and some other unsavory people Mara would rather not think about at the moment.

Okay, plans set, just need to recover and get out of this hospital and get things going.

__________

Ratchet tapped an index finger on his alt-mode's steering wheel impatiently. Using a holoform always felt a little weird to Ratchet. He doesn’t know how everyone else seemed to do it, especially the extraction teams. The holoform felt small and clunky, as if he were trying to work a string puppet. Once this sparkling was safe and sound back at the ark, Ratchet was going to make a point of not using his holoform for a good while.

The sound of a car roared nearby, and Ratchet felt the familiar press of an EM field greeting him. A red and white ambulance rolled up and parked itself right next to his own white and orange one. A young man with long red hair, put up into a tight bun, hopped out of the ambulance and ran over to hop into Ratchet’s. Bright blue optics looked the guy up and down with confusion.

“Did you change your holoform again, First Aid?”

“Hm? Oh! No, I just gave myself longer hair. I really liked those ponytail and bun styles, so I wanted to give it a try-” A boyish voice rambled.

“That's nice, First Aid, but we aren’t putting on a hair show or whatever they're called. You got your ID badge?”

The man’s face turned serious, “I do, I also have all the equipment you asked for. Do you want me to move it to yours?”

Ratchet hummed, “It would probably be best to do that. The sparkling has a high chance of getting stressed out and panicking. I can monitor her and not get overwhelmed by her field. Also, in the worst-case scenario, you're faster than me and can get anyone who follows us off our tail.”

First Aid tensed up, his field growing nervous, “Oh, Optimus said that this was gonna be an easy in and out mission.”

Ratchet sighed, “It’s supposed to be, but turns out the hospital got new security in the form of mech agents.”

First Aid groaned, “You serious? Frag, if they're running around- You don’t think they know about the sparkling, do you?”

A protective flare went through both bots as the thought of those humans taking the sparkling flashed. Ratchet was the first to come out of it. “It’s a possibility, but very unlikely. This sparkling was only recently discovered. She doesn’t have a tracker or anything of the sort.”

First Aid huffed, “They better not, if another one of them was caught up in their-”

“Hey, let’s not think about that right now. We have a job to do and a sparkling to save. Barricade and his group are patrolling the area, waiting on us.”

“Right, right, sorry… Sooo, do we have a name for this new spark, or am I just going to have to keep calling her ‘the sparkling’?”

“Her name is Mara,”

_________

The next time her door opened, Mara jumped, and her nurse had a good laugh about it.

“Nice to see you have some more energy today. I’ve got your food.”

Mara ignored the nurse in favor of grabbing her notebook and holding it out to the nurse.

“Did you ask about the white haired man?” The paper said,

The nurse sighed, set Mara’s food on a tray, and rolled it over to her.

“No one saw anyone matching that description, I can assure you, Miss Mara, that whatever you saw most likely came from a dream. But I will say that we have a new security staff working with us, and they haven’t seen-”

As if the universe took pity on Mara for once, a man in black military gear burst into the room. Right behind him was another nurse who would come in and look after her.

“Sir, this room is under quarantine! You can not be here!” The first nurse shouted.

The second nurse jumped in, “I tried to tell him, but he just shoved right past me.”

The man locked eyes with Mara, and a shiver went down her spine. He stepped forward into the room, ignoring the nurse's warnings.

“I was told this was the patient who said she had encountered a man with unusual blue eyes.”

The mention of the blue-eyed man made Mara sit up and nod. However, in her excitement, she wanted to shout “Finally!” but it came out in a gross hacking sound that made her chest burn. The first nurse moved to block Mara from the military man.

“This patient is under strict quarantine. What you are doing is highly unprofessional and dangerous. If you have any questions for Miss Mara, you WILL take the proper precautions.”

Oh, the nurse was pulling out the big threatening words, not that the military man seemed too bothered by them.

“What this woman has seen could help with a previous ongoing investigation-”

“I’m sure it is, but you have to take the proper procedures. Especially with someone who is highly contagious and at risk of worsening health due to anything stressful. You WILL go through the doctor in charge of her care. You WILL talk with your superiors, and you WILL CERTAINLY take the proper precautions before you even think about stepping into this room again.”

For once, the man took a step back at the nurse’s threats, his scowl deep. “...Fine, then I will be back shortly.”

The man turned and stomped out of the room. The second nurse let out a large sigh of relief before chasing after the guard and saying something about getting disinfected. The first nurse turned back to Mara, who had watched the whole exchange with tense awe.

“I’m so sorry about that, Miss Mara, the new security that we have is… much to be desired.”

Mara shakily wrote down her words to show the nurse. “He wanted to ask about the blue-eyed man.

The nurse shook her head, “You shouldn’t be worrying about that right now. Just eat your food and get some rest.”

Mara wanted to scream, but the pain in her throat and lungs prevented that as the nurse made her way out of the room. The door closed, and Mara was once again cut off from everyone and ignored until the nurse had to come back to check on her again in a couple of hours… Come to think of it, she never got this nurse's name.

Whatever, screw it, why not just let herself rot away on this damn bed until some blue-eyed creeps break into her room and kill her or kidnap her or-.... Whatever it is these guys would do to her… Probably nothing PG that's for sure.

Mara looked back at the door, and a bad idea crept into her head. She turned her head to look at the other end of the room. Her bag with her clothes still in it, along with her medicines and rations. The only thing she didn’t have anymore was her gun, which she had to turn in to the front desk if she was to be admitted into the hospital. Leaving without it would only put her more at risk of being attacked.

But she wouldn’t be able to get it back at the desk because anyone would be able to tell she was still very sick and therefore very contagious. So the real question, though, was whether she was willing to risk it? She could always just wait for that mech guy to come back and explain the situation to him, and maybe get some more info on why the hell these aliens would want to be after her.

….

Nah fuck it. Military men tend to be pretty uncaring and very ‘mission-focused,’ and it would probably end with her asking the guy a question only for him to go “That’s classified” and then leave her to get snatched up by the alien guys anyway.

Memories of army men withholding food and medicine while the bombs were still going off. Children crying out as one of their parents was hit with the butt of a rifle for simply begging for food. Camps full of soldiers eating and drinking, while the surrounding camps had little to nothing. Why did she even consider for a moment that their would be genuine help from some government organization? They tend to turn their backs on people when shit starts getting blown up.

Mara forced herself up and stood on shaky pale legs and hobbled over to her bag. She still had plenty of antibiotics that would be a big help in dealing with her tuberculosis. If she’s lucky and is able to find a good hiding spot, she can wait out the illness. She had already been on treatment for about half a month now… how long does tuberculosis last? It was a disease that Mara had never had till she showed up at the hospital. All she knows is that it requires lots of antibiotics and a long time to recover from properly.

But once she was in the next town over, she could hang out there for another couple of weeks and be fine. The next town wasn't a long trip, even if she went on foot, which would definitely be the safer option. She didn’t need the trail of sick bodies to lead anyone to her location.

Putting on her clothes somehow proved to be more taxing than Mara thought it would be. After not moving so much, her balance was complete garbage, and the pain in her lungs did not help in the slightest. But she had already decided on leaving, so better just to suck it up and get a move on. If she died, she died at least she wouldn’t live through any weird alien torture.

Straightening back up, Mara gave one last fleeting goodbye to the white plain room before making her way to the window. Forcing the window open was a pain but worth it to feel the cool open air against her face. A little perk of this hospital was that it used to be an old apartment complex that was repurposed. Which meant she could safely climb down the rusted and creaking fire escape.

…Eh, it will be fine if not, she was only on the third floor. Clamoring through the window, she stepped onto the fire escape, which rattled loudly. Now that Mara was outside and looking down… oh, she’s gonna throw up. Deep breaths in and out, in and-

A sharp wheezing cough hit Mara hard, her sore lungs straining against the spasms. The coughing fit was harsh and unrelenting. By the time she was done her hand was covered in blood. The thought of just going back into the room and just hope that the aliens wouldn’t come back was tempting… maybe this was a bad idea, she should just step back in and-

Just as Mara began to step back into the room the door opened and she froze in place. It wasn’t the nurse or the Mech guy. A white haired man with haunting blue eyes was followed by a young red haired man. There was a pregnant pause as they stared at eachother in shock.

‘….fuuuuuck’ was all Mara could think in that moment.