Reporter's Notes:
No good account exists in Hato
Shurtleff's journal for the day of and the events that occurred on Saturday,
October 22nd. The reason for this will
become evident as Rinoa Ann's account of this day unfolds. Unlike the accounts Hato provides, Rinoa's
accounts were written well after they happened, probably in either January or
February of the current year. This
explains the perspective from which it was written, as well as the lack of a
time when written.
Vince Fielding, reporter VNBS
Saturday, October 22nd
The argument that Hato and I had the day before
stayed with me as I tried to go to sleep that night. The anger I felt, coupled with a suspicion
that Hato might sneak into the bedroom I was sleeping in, resulted in my sleep
to be very light and not very relaxing.
Every little noise resulted in me waking up, which is what happened when
I heard heavy breathing at about 2 A.M.
I was fearful of what I'd find when I went to investigate the noise.
When I looked out into the living area of the
mini-apartment inside Gin's house, I saw a silhouette in the moonlight. What I was looking at was Hato sitting up on
the couch he was sleeping on, eyes wide open, desperately trying to catch his
breath. He looked like a kid that had
just woken up from a bad dream. Seeing
him like that, I couldn't help but feel sympathy for him.
I opened the door just wide enough to poke my head
through and asked Hato if he was okay.
Instead of telling me if he was all right, Hato started
apologizing. He apologized for waking me
up, being a dick to me that day, and just on and on. I walked into the living area, intending to
put an end to Hato's endless apology. As
I did so, I glanced out the big window behind the couch Hato was sleeping
on. Something caught my eye, something I
had seen before but not from that far off in the distance. Out of the window I saw the white expanding
smoke. White expanding smoke is the
signature of the chemical attacks carried out by verbrecher extremist groups in
Trebyer. This is a signature that I
recognized but Hato did not.
Hato spent several minutes on his Hipster trying to
figure out what the fuck was going on. I
know that Hato wanted to know what the fuck was going on because he kept on
repeatedly saying he wanted to know what the fuck was going on. Hato's answers could have been easily
answered by me, but I didn't. My own
memories of watching white smoke waft past my screaming mother prevented me
from doing so. Gin entered the room and
told Hato and I what was going on. I was
aware of this but I didn't respond. The
window and the smoke I could see through it held all of my attention.
I think I might have stayed there, standing there,
looking out that window untill time stopped if Hato had not grabbed my
shoulders to get my attention.
"Rinoa," yelled Hato, this time succeeding in getting my
attention.
I blinked a couple of times and said,
"Yes."
"You said to me you wanted to go with me to
Amcan. Do you want to still do
that?"
As I contemplated Hato's question, I glanced out the
window. The smoke made my decision for
me. "Yes. I want to leave Trebyer, now."
Hato grabbed my hand and said, "Then we need to
leave, now!" With that we were
off. The three of us, Gin, Hato and I,
going as fast as we could to Gin's car, then to the airport, then to the hangar
where Gin's plane was. We weren't even
phased when we found Sam lying on the floor of Gin's car, obviously still drunk
from the night before.
The impact of the car going through the gate at the
airport woke up Sam, which gave him the opportunity to make a lurid remark
about being between my legs. Hato kicked
Sam for that comment, an action Sam totally had coming. I would have kicked Sam as well but the
violent motion of Gin navigating his way through the Trebyer International
Airport prevented me from doing so. Gin
didn't drive like that to be dramatic, he drove that way to avoid people as he
made his way to the hangar with his plane in it.
If you study how people react during an emergency
situation, you generally see two types of people. There is one type of people who gives in to
their fear and run around frantically as they attempt to get things done. Another type of person is more calm in an
emergency situation. This kind of person
maintains a level head as they do the things they have to do in a supremely
efficient manner. As we prepared to
takeoff, Gin, Hato, and I were the kind of people who give in to their
fear. Sam, however, was calm and reserved
in what he felt he had to do. However,
what Gin thought he had to do was not join us in the plane.
When the hangar doors opened, we could see a stream
of people heading for the hangar. These
people, streaming in through the gate we had knocked down, were carrying bats,
machetes, clubs, and any other long blunt object they could easily swing. Seeing those people and the fact that they
were running along the runway Gin wanted to use made Hato and I panic
more. That is untill we heard the trunk
of Gin's car close. When we looked at
Gin's car we saw Sam with an assault rifle in each hand telling up to go on
without him. Hato tried telling Sam to
get in the plane but either his words were muffled by the sound of gunfire, the
sound of the plane's engine, or Sam wasn't listening. Hato continued trying to convince Sam to get
into the plane even after the plane started moving out of the hangar.
Seeing the Earth from the perspective of a plane is
always odd. That perspective seems to
provide you with things that you will never forget seeing due to its utter
beauty. I will never forget what I saw
out the window of Gin's plane that day but not because of its beauty. Seeing my home, the capital city, the place where
I was born slowly being filled with smoke from chemical bombs laid by
verbrechers militias was, and still is, distressing on a level I can't
describe.
There was only one thing that could take my
attention away from my city being destroyed.
Hato and Gin were talking.
Talking about gas. Apparently,
the jet fuel that we made deliveries to get the money in order to obtain has
not arrived yet, and was most certainly not in Gin's plane. While there was enough gas for Gin, Hato, and
I to leave Trebyer, there wasn't nearly enough to get us to Amcan.
With the amount of gas we had left we'd only be able
to reach Vierdestad. Not the airport in
Vierdestad, or the actual city of Vierdestad, but the forest just outside the
city limits. Vierdestad is far enough
away from Trebyer that we escaped the things going on in the capital of Dolore,
but we'd still be in Dolore. As we
approached the forest, Sam told us to brace for impact. I put on my seatbelt and leaned as far back
as I could while Hato pressed his legs against the seat in front of him and
held on to a bar in the ceiling.
The plane entered the forest a lot smoother than I
expected. It was like a rollercoaster
without the added benefit of knowing you were completely safe. Ground caused another jarring motion to go
through the plane, followed by the plane slowly losing speed as it skidded on
the ground. Then we saw something ahead. Something we couldn't turn away from but, we
prayed, we would stop before we reached it.
A cliff. Specifically, the Cooper
Cliff with its sixty-five foot drop to a cold granite floor.
The plane slid along the ground, getting closer to
the cliff, untill it reached the edge.
The plane came to a stop with the nose, front landing gear, and nearly
half of the plane hanging off Cooper Cliff.
Rather than panicking, at that moment I was thanking my lucky starts
that the ride was over. The ride wasn't
over. The plane started moving again.
As the plane started tipping forward, the most pointing
perilously down, I reached out for Hato's hand.
I may not have known Hato well at that time, but I knew him and that
comforted me. At least I was not facing
my death alone. Hato took my hand just
as the plane started to fall.
Rinoa Ann
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