The silence of the Command Center was a heavy, suffocating shroud. In a corner, Mira looked fragile like a porcelain doll cracked by the weight of a world ending. She sat huddled on the floor, her breath coming in ragged, shallow hitches that mirrored the dying pulse of the bunker's ventilation.
Dean moved toward her first. As Alex's younger brother and the bridge between the military's cold efficiency and the civilians' raw terror, Dean had always been the one who knew how to speak to the heart. He knelt in front of Mira, and took her trembling hands in his.
"Sister in law, look at me," Dean whispered, his voice a calm anchor in the rising tide of her panic. "Look at me, not the monitors."
Mira's eyes, red-rimmed and brimming with unshed tears, shifted to him. "They're still out there, Dean. We're... we're in a box. We're just food in a box."
"No," Dean said firmly, squeezing her hands. "We are in the safest fortress ever built by human hands. Alex got them away from the roof. He outsmarted them. We're going to defeat those creatures and we're going to breathe again , we just have to figure all this out first. This isn't the end of the story, Sister in law, It's just a dark chapter." He encouraged softly
From the center of the room, General Alex stood like a monolith of granite. His posture was perfect, his uniform crisp despite the sweat, but his eyes were a storm of suppressed agony. He watched his brother comfort his fiancee, and every sob that escaped Mira's lips felt like a serrated blade across his own skin. He hated it when she cried. He hated the creatures for bringing this terror to her, he hated the bunker for being her cage, but mostly, he hated that his rank demanded he be a statue when every fiber of his being screamed to drop to his knees and hold her until the world made sense again.
He wanted to reach out and physically pluck the pain from her eyes, to shoulder her fear so she wouldn't have to carry a a single ounce of it.
Dean looked up, catching Alex's gaze. He saw the flicker of desperation in his older brother's eyes, the silent plea of a man who could command armies but didn't know how to stop a woman's heart from breaking.
Dean stood slowly, guiding Mira to her feet and gently leading her over to Alex. He placed her hand into Alex's gloved palm, a symbolic passing of the guard.
"She needs you, Brother," Dean said softly, his voice for his brother's ears only. "And you need a moment of clarity. It's four in the morning. Take her back to the quarters. Try to get her to sleep, even if it's just for an hour."
Alex stiffened, his professional mask sliding back into place. "The oxygen levels, the sector riots"
"I've got the bridge," Dean interrupted, his expression hardening with a rare, soldierly resolve. "I'll keep the sectors quiet. I'll monitor the relay station. We'll try to restore the emergency lights in sector A and iIf a single shadow moves on those sensors, you'll be the first to know. Go. Be a man for a minute instead of a General."
Alex looked at his brother, then down at Mira, who looked like she might collapse if he let go. He took a sharp, decisive breath. Before taking her fragile hands in his.
"Maintain absolute radio silence unless the perimeter is breached," Alex commanded, his voice regaining its rasp of authority. "Switch the internal lights to 10% to conserve power and keep the civilians calm. If the CO2 hits 4%, you report to me asap."
"Understood, sir," Dean said, snapping a sharp, respectful salute.
As Alex led Mira out of the Command Center, the sound of his boots echoed against the metal floor. The soldiers on duty, exhausted and grime streaked, snapped to attention. Salutes flew around him, a silent tribute to the man who had just saved their lives,but Alex barely saw them. His world had narrowed down to the woman trembling against his side.
The two headed back to the room, with Mira's weary eyes scanning everywhere, memorizing the look of fear, sadness and sorrow in the people's eyes; they couldn't even mourn their dear ones out.
Four minutes later,
The door to their private quarters hissed shut, sealing out the hum of the computers and the distant, haunting silence of the bunker and the moment the doors closed, Mira finaly broke down.
Mira collapsed against Alex's chest, her fingers clutching his tactical vest as she burst into violent, racking sobs. " It's all gone, Alex! Everything! The sun, the sky... we're never going out there again, are we? Are we going to remain in the dark, are we going to die here!!!!!"
"No," Alex groaned, his voice breaking as he finally pulled her into the crushing embrace he'd been terminally craving. "I won't let that happen. I swear on my life, Mira, I will get you back to the light."
" I just want everything to go back to normal and if I'm dreaming I just want to wake up already" she whispered shutting her eyes tight hoping she was actually having a nightmare
Wordlessly, Alex lifted Mira off the ground and moved to place her on the bed. Placing her on it, he prepared a glass of water for her from the glass mug on the table and handed it to her with Mira drinking it all in one go.
Seconds later,
He laid her down, kicking off his heavy boots but staying in his uniform, wrapping himself around her like a shield.
" Everything's gonna be fine soon, love, I promise you, we, we just have to figure all these out to know how to deal with it, that's all" he reassured feeling relieved that Mira had at least stopped crying, he knew the scene from a few minutes ago must have terrified the hell out of her.
Cupping her face, He kissed her forehead, her tear-stained cheeks,her eyes, and finally her lips, a desperate, soft kiss that tasted of Love and assurance. His hands, usually so steady on a trigger, moved with trembling tenderness through her hair.
Mira responded with the same energy as her hands moved to his hair, she had literally begun to forget every other thing and just feel the moment with the love of her life.
"Close your eyes love" Alex whispered against her skin, his thumb tracing the curve of her jaw. "The walls are thick. I am here. My men are at the doors. Nothing is getting through me to get to you. Just breathe, okay."
Mira let out a small weak smile with a faint blush on her cheeks as she hugged him and shut her eyes close.
Alex didn't move, he stayed there, murmuring reassurances, using the warmth of his body to drive the chill of the apocalypse from her bones. He used every intimate touch, every whispered promise of a future, until her frantic gasps slowed into the rhythmic, heavy sighs of exhaustion.
When her eyes finally flickered shut and her body went limp with sleep, Alex stayed for fifteen minutes more, just watching her. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to close his eyes and forget the whole situation outside.
But he couldn't, he had to be awake to protect her.
After making sure she was deeply asleep, he gently disentangled himself from her strong grip and stood up. He walked to the door and opened it to find two female corporals standing guard.
"Watch her," Alex ordered, his voice now cold as dry ice. "If she wakes up, let me know immediately"
"Yes, General," they whispered in unison.
Alex adjusted his collar, wiped the moisture from his shoulder where her tears had soaked through, and turned back toward the Command Center. He had bought her an hour of peace, but now he had to go back to the war to ensure she woke up to a second one.