Apocalypse children - for worthallthis

[musicdied]

There's an alarm sounding somewhere in the compound, harsh and urgent and ignored, and somehow still less jarring than the occasional creak of metal. Beneath that, voices sound, quick and quiet and tense, the pitch entirely wrong for any technicians, any handlers, anyone who belongs in this room.

"...sure you did it right?"

"I entered the sequence exactly like I was supposed to!"

"Then why isn't it--"

The first voice cuts off at the hydraulic hiss of the cryo tube opening. The inrush of air brings with it the smell of smoke, and the acrid taste of heated metal, and the sound of nervous gasps and small feet on grated metal flooring.

Outside the cryo tube stands a group of girls, the oldest somewhere around twelve or thirteen, the youngest perhaps four, clinging tight to the leg of one of the older girls and peering at the tube with wide-eyed fascination.

The girl who positions herself at the front of the pack - and they are a pack, all but the smallest fierce-eyed and wary - doesn't look like the oldest, round-faced, blonde hair straggling loose from her braids, clothing and skin streaked with blood and a bruise darkening beneath one eye. She lifts her chin, and looks with bright defiance at the man she and her sisters have just pulled from the dreamless grip of cryo-stasis.

"Winter Soldier," she says in clear Russian, and despite her fierce air, there's something like hope in her voice. "Can you understand me?"

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[worthallthis]

"Good. That's even better," Brother nods with relief, and starts getting out bowls for the oatmeal. "I'll make sure to pack all of those. You should strip medical of all the supplies there, too." Possibly including his meal replacements, if they're in there after all. At the very least, if he has some of that, he can save the real food for the girls.

The first bowl he tops with a bit of sugar from the big box-- another thing to pack-- and several of the cranberries, and offers directly to Yelena. "For you. I'll pass them out to the others girls."

[musicdied]

Yelena blinks at him for a moment, then smiles, small but pleased out of all proportion to the actual offering. "Thank you," she says quietly, and takes the bowl.

The girls are, all of them, orderly about eating their meals. Even the smaller ones have had that drilled into them - the chatter stops as food is passed out, and they eat quickly, as though they're still half-afraid that if they take too long, it will be taken away from them.

[worthallthis]

Brother scrapes the last of the oatmeal out of the pot to eat, himself, rather in the same fashion as the girls: quickly and efficiently, and with most of his attention on them rather than what he's eating. He sets the cooking ware aside with a moment of hesitation, some part of him insisting that he wash it and put it away, he's not been raised by wolves. (What does that even mean?)

Except that's a waste of time, when they're going to be leaving shortly. He sets two of the middle-aged girls to rinsing the bowls so they can use them for the stew at lunch, then lets the rest start carrying cans and cartons and even kitchen towels with him down to the garage, where he scrounges up the keys to the half-dozen vehicles there and starts turning them on one by one, checking the sound of their engines and strength of their tires before choosing the best of the lot to load up. There aren't even a lot of repairs to make, just a single cracked hose and frayed wire to replace, so he can focus on getting the heavy water and remaining food on board.

[musicdied]

Yelena drafts one of the other girls as her helper, a solemn little thing, ten years old and looking at least two years younger, to strip the medical wing, leaving the older Widows to help supervise the little ones in their tasks. Most of the easily portable supplies, they'd already brought to the stockpile in the cryo chamber. Now, knowing there's a usable vehicle, they can bring along things that would be less manageable on foot, and medicines that might not be of immediate use, or safe to use without training, but could be traded for things they might need.

They also do manage to find the meal replacements, though the powders look revolting enough that neither of the girls like the thought of Brother having to eat them.

Once they've assembled everything that can reasonably be brought along, they load it onto a pair of wheeled stretchers, and trundle them carefully along to the garage.

[worthallthis]

With so many hands, and most of them used to following orders and keeping on-mission, it's quicker work than Brother expects getting the truck loaded with food, water, fuel, bedding, and all the spare clothing and ammunition the girls can find. It's a big vehicle, with room in the front cab for the driver and at least four more girls.

He eyes the stretchers with something not quite wary, he was rarely strapped to those. Why carry the soldier when he can usually walk himself just fine, no matter how injured, after all? He takes the cases of his meal replacement, as the heaviest bits, to slot into the piles of goods in the truck's bed. The little cartons don't look right. It should be liquid. Maybe it has to be mixed with water?

"This is it?" he asks Yelena. If they don't have to go back, then-- they're almost ready, he thinks. Just outfit the girls, kit him up, and eat their stew, and they can be gone from this place.

[musicdied]

Yelena nods solemnly. "Everything we can move without needing a second transport." She pauses a moment, then admits, "Or needing to disassemble it, and I don't know if we can put those things back together enough to make them useful."

And then, because she didn't miss the way he looked at the stretchers, she adds, "We don't need to bring these. There should be a backboard, in the emergency kit, if anyone gets hurt badly enough to need to be kept still. They were just the best way to move things without needing extra trips."

[worthallthis]

Brother looks maybe a little chagrined at the reassurance. Embarrassed, almost. It's a faint expression, but still there, enough for Yelena to read. It feels silly, to be nervous about wheeled stretchers. Still, he says, "Okay. Put the rest of it here-- use the sheet to wrap it all up neat so it doesn't slide around and make a mess." They've already used up all the boxes he could find for the cans.

And then he steps back to let them, surveying the truck, trying to think of anything else they might need. "This might be it," he says after a moment. The trunk's fuel tank is full, he added what tools and parts there were to repair it if necessary, there's food and bedding and medical supplies.... "Just got to get us ready, now."

[musicdied]

If he were one of the girls, her own age or younger, Yelena would try to offer reassurance. But he's an adult grown, and so instead, she offers him the courtesy of pretending not to notice that hint of embarrassment. They're just leaving the stretchers behind for logistical reasons, nothing more.

The girls make quick work of bundling the supplies into the sheets, and shifting them from the stretchers into the transport.

"Katya and I will do a last equipment check," Yelena suggests. "So we're all ready to go once everyone has eaten."

[worthallthis]

"Yes. And Irena and I can make sure everyone has good coats and weapons if they want them," Brother agrees. "Then we can eat. And I can gear up." Gearing up must happen last. He doesn't know if he can feed children while in his combat get-up.

He takes a breath, and finishes, "And then it will be time to go."

Which, if he lets himself think too hard about it, will be terrifying. Going out into the world, handlerless, backupless, with a pack of children to protect. But it's the mission. No matter how terrifying it is, he always completes his missions.

[musicdied]

It isn't the swiftest process. It's still efficient enough that it's not quite noon when they herd the girls in to have their last meal in the relative - if haunted - safety of the facility. It's still swift enough that they're done, packed and ready an geared up, before the automated notification crackles over the speaker system threaded through the bunker.

Lockdown ending in 10 minutes.

[worthallthis]

Brother feels a little more ready to face whatever is left of the world, with his tac vest and combat boots and plenty of guns and knives strapped around him, mask on his face in case the air outside is bad. The goggles are on a strap in his belt, ready in case he needs them, but going completely faceless in front of the girls feels wrong. He's even got all the grenades and spare ammo in the back of the truck.

"Alisa, Sofia, Rose. Into the truck, passenger side," he says. They're the three littlest, and the ones least likely to manage walking in the snow. Also, all three will fit easily and still give him room to drive. "Everyone else, on foot for now. We will see how far we can get today."

His hope is they find a town or at least a farmstead where they can hole up for the night, maybe for a couple days while they scout.

[musicdied]

Alisa scrambles readily into the truck, claiming the section of bench closest to the driver's side. The other two take a little coaxing from the older girls, nervous now that it's time to leave and face the unknown, both the threat of disaster and the prospect of a world outside the Red Room's boundaries.

The three eldest girls confer quickly, and sort themselves and the remaining children into ranks.

"We'll scout ahead," Yelena says, indicating herself, Katya, and Irena, and a trio of slightly older children, between ten and thirteen. "Rotating pairs, an hour at a time. In case the road is blocked, or there is trouble."

[worthallthis]

Brother frowns, but then nods. It's a sound strategy, and they do need to know what to expect before the more vulnerable children reach it.

"Be careful," he says. "Do not be seen. And if you start to feel sick at all, come back to rest." He doesn't know if there will be any kind of radiation or dangerous dust kicked up, but better safe than dying, in this case.

Not that resting in the truck will do anyone much good if there's pervasive radiation. Not all of them can be Brother with his enhanced healing.

[musicdied]

"We will be careful," Yelena promises. It's not just a child's platitudes to a concerned adult. They're well-trained, and have long had it drilled into them that detection is death - if not at the hands of their targets, then at the hands of their masters.

It makes for a long day, slogging through ash-stained snow, advancing and circling back. It is, at least, also a quiet day, though that perhaps owes more to the remoteness of the location than the nature of any neighbours. It's late afternoon before a structure comes into view - an old, dilapidated farmstead, spotted and reported back by one of the scouting pairs.

[worthallthis]

Brother has Katya and Irena stay with the truck while Yelena takes him to the farm. He'll investigate for anyone living there, or anything living there in case wolves or bears took up residence, and Yelena can run back to the truck and the other girls if anything happens to him.

Not that he doesn't expect he can handle a bear or wolves. But having a contingency plan is always best. He prefers to have multiple, but in this case, there simply isn't need for anything too complicated.