legacy [james conrad] 2

Chapter 21

"Wilson!" A shout is heard from deeper inside the crater. 

Charlotte pulls back from James, taking in a deep breath as she breaks eye contact with him. 

"We... we need to go" She mutters quietly, grabbing her gun and starting to move after a moment. 

James stares after her, his lips breaking into a smirk. 

Charlotte stops, turning to look around at James after she realizes that he's not following. 

"Are you coming or not?"

James nods, hurrying to trail behind her. 

The both of them keep to themselves the rest of the way down, each deep into their own thoughts. 

James had thought that Charlotte would never reciprocate his feelings, but after that, the chances were beginning to look a lot more possible. 

Charlotte on the other hand, was listing all the things that could go wrong in the relationship. If  there ever were to be a relationship. Yeah, they might like eachother, maybe a little more than like, but there were still a lot of factors to consider, that was if they even survived this mission. 

Charlotte pauses when she reaches a doorway, looking around at the other soldiers, who are all standing at the door. 

One of them nods, and in a second they push through the door, sending it flying open. 

Everyone stares, their guns up high. 

The nuke hangs from a sort of goo, reaching just above ground. 

Charlotte goes breathless, exhaling a curse. 

She realizes that she's no longer ina  crater, but underground. 

Her gaze follows the nuke, her flashlight as she looks at the ceiling. 

"What the fuck" James mutters under his breath as he takes in the sight before him. 

The hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge, and he can't help but feel slight panic as he sees what's in front of him. 

Thousands of MUTO eggs line the roof of the cave, all of them feeding off the raditaon of the warhead. 

Charlotte turns back to the nuke, watching as they pull the top off and examine the insides. 

The soldier wipes the goop off and reads the timer. 

"How much time do we have left?" Charlotte calls out after a second, walking over. 

The soldiers turns from the clock to her, climbing down a ladder. 

"27 minutes" 

____

Charlotte's head snaps around at the sound of growls and loud screeches. She curses, turning around once again. 

"On the count of three, two, one" The Captain of the mission declares. 

They had managed to get the warhead out of the cave, and now the only thing that they had left was to make sure it didn't explode and in the meantime kill thousands of people. 

Charlotte huffs, wiping the sweat off her brow. 

She turns back to the cave, her eyes meeting James's. 

Are you thinking the same thing I am thinking? 

James shrugs, catching what she's trying to say. 

He walks over to her, making sure that no one is hearing. 

"We need to get rid of those eggs" 

"We do, and I think I know how" A voice pitches in from behind them. 

Charlotte turns around, looking at Ford. 

"How? I mean, they're hundreds, if not thousands, and they're monsters that live off radiation, it can't kill them" She declares, as if it wasn't obvious. 

"Yeah, but fire can" James states, finally catching up to Ford's plan. 

Ford nods, agreeing with him. 

Charlotte looks around, trying to find something to help them. 

"There" She declares after a moment as she finds a torn down truck. 

The three of them rush over to it, looking down at the gasoline pipes. 

James grabs a meta prod from the ground, turning to it and slamming it into the truck a few times. 

Immediately gasoline sprouts out, emptying out on the floor. 

He steps back, looking at Charlotte as the gasoline trails down the slope. 

"Do think it will do?" He asks. 

Charlotte moves the hair out of her face, shaking her head. 

"It needs to because I'm not sure what I'm gonna do if it doesn't" She declares solemnly. 

"Guys, we need to go" Ford shouts out as he runs forward. 

Charlotte nods, climbing up the hill and into the opening of the cave. 

She sighs, pulling out a lighter. 

"Here's to nothing" She mutters as she throws the lighter into the crater. 

James drags her back by the hand, throwing her into the floor as the crater explodes. 

She stands up as quickly as she can, making sure the three of them are fine before breaking into a sprint and catching up to the rest of the team as everything behind her erupts into flames. 

She glances back, looking as one of the MUTOS realizes that their babies have just died. It lets out a deafening sound and Charlotte winces, turning around to catch up to the rest. 

The MUTO goes silent, mourning its loss. 

Charlotte pants as she runs, suddenly tripping over a glass and falling face first into the ground. 

The glass lodges itself into Charlotte's hand, and she lets out a pained yell, catching the MUTO'S attention. 

Everything goes completely silent. 

Charlotte turns around, trying to control her pain. She looks from her hand to the MUTO, her eyes wide. 

Her and the MUTO stare back, not doing anything as the MUTO steps forward. 

It's as if it knows that she was responsible. 

It growls lowly, and Charlotte steps back, shutting her eyes, feeling as its mouth opens. 

And then nothing. 

For a second she thinks she's dead, but then she slowly opens her eyes. The MUTO is no longer there. Instead, she catches James heading over to her, a worried look on his face.

He kneels in front of her, examining the cut on her cheek. 

"What happened?" He asks, out of breath as he turns to look at the MUTO, who is now looking at another place, watching as Godzilla rises up from the ground once again. 

"I don't know" She breathes out "I was running and I wasn't looking where I was going and I tripped- and the MUTO-" She stops, looking at James. 

"I thought I was going to die" She declares softly. 

James sighs, shaking his head as he pulls her up from the ground. 

"But you didn't. You're here and you're with me" He reassures as he helps her walk, catching up to the rest of the team. 

Charlotte stays silent, his words echoing in her mind. 

you're with me

She smiles softly, looking at James, who seems to be focused on another thing. 

She did, have him, and now she was sure she wasn't letting go.