She's known the minute that man appeared from the darkness that her life was in danger. She's known she was trapped, she was on her own without anyone 9*+to protect her and she would have never run away from the enemy anyway.

Yet she was afraid, her muscles were tense and she had tried to stay at a reasonable distance. Perhaps she could have reason him, if only he had let her the chance. But what she saw in his eyes was pure madness and hatred; hatred against her.

Perhaps she should have run away after all. Yeah, perhaps. She thought lying on the floor, trying to keep pressure on her wound.

She was a doctor; she knew very well what would follow if no one came to her aid. Soon her body would be numb, her mouth would be filled with blood, she would sink into sleep,… Soon she would bleed to death. If only someone had heard the gunshot, if only…

Seconds seemed like hours, and she could feel the pressure she had tried to maintain on her wound slowly being reduced until her hand finally drifted off on the floor.

'Rachel!' She heard a man voice screaming her name and saw her Captain rushing to her side.

'To-om.' She managed to say.

'Shh, it's okay. I'm right here.' He softly said, trying to keep his cool. He immediately took off his jacket, and placed firmly against her wound; the pressure made her moan in pain. She saw his horrified look; she thought it must be really bad. He couldn't stop looking at all this blood, everywhere on her dress and his jacket. She hardly raised her bloody and shaky hand and gently encircled his wrist with her fingers. She wanted him to look at her, and he did. He plunged his gaze into hers; they both saw the fear in each other's eyes.

'What the hell happened?' He whispered almost desperately to her. A few minutes ago, she was standing and smiling in front of him, both flirting and most important she was safe.

'There was a gu-guy.' She inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to focus on him. 'He wanted the cure, from me. Then he shot me.' She said these last words in a whisper, her eyes slowly closing.

'Stay with me, Rachel. Don't sleep, open your eyes.' He said loudly.

'I'm tired.' She mumbled but fought to keep her eyes open.

'Don't you dare falling asleep on me!'

'Aye, Captain.' She chuckled a bit, making him smirk too.

'You're gonna be okay, Rachel. You're gonna get through this.' He whispered almost inaudibly. She didn't know if he said that to reassure her, or himself. She felt the metallic taste in her mouth; she could taste her own blood. It's just a matter of minutes. She thought.

'I'm sorry, for everything.' She said, closing her eyes. He couldn't fight his tears anymore, and let them fall.

'Please, stay awake.' He almost begged her. He felt so powerless right now, kneeling to her side, keeping pressure on her wound as blood didn't stop flowing though. She opened her eyes once last time, looking at him and slightly smiled. Goodbye, Tom. She thought.

Her vision was blurry then dark. She heard him scream her name and she thought hearing Tex's voice and maybe Rio's too but it was far, far away.

Maybe she had dreamed it. Yeah, maybe she had.

TBC (or not)