"John Conner! He's still in there!"
In hind sight, he wasn't sure if those were the right words to say. Of course they were, but he should have said more. Marcus had been in there too. Yet he'd said nothing. But lying in the tent of their makeshift base, he knew he should have said more. Sure, both John and Marcus were going to be fine, but what if? After John retold the story of what happened under Skytech, Kyle had felt sick.
"He'd been dead." Kyle's head whipped over to where Marcus was standing, eyes on the ground but head held high. The cybernetic hand at his side twitched slightly. The teen felt his heart skip a beat as he thought about Marcus being dead. He'd never be able to thank him, to tell him sorry...
But most of all, he didn't know how he would handle it if Marcus died. The man had followed him to the most dangerous area on earth after knowing him for only a short amount of time. He'd put his life at risk just to save some stranger and a girl.
Running a hand over his face and through his hair, he blocked out the rest of John's story. It wasn't that hard, considering how hard it was to keep his attention on one thing after all the hits his body had taken. One doesn't just bounce back after being thrown into a wall across the room with the strength of ten men.
But his injuries were little compared to cases like Johns. A concussion was easy to treat. Being stabbed with a two foot long piece of metal in the chest so close to your heart was much more serious.
Someone was talking to him, he hadn't been listening. He looked up at the brunet standing in front of him, she had a look of concern in her eyes that seemed permanent.
"I'm sorry... Wh-what?" He says bashfully, cursing his stutter. This seems to make the woman frown in a motherly way.
"Are you okay? I know there's a lot going on right now, but I need to make sure you're okay too." All he does is blink and consider her question.
Yes he was, but could he convince her of that? His legs felt weak, which wouldn't help him if he suddenly collapsed.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine-" But suddenly the room seemed to shift downward, and a wave of nausea swept over him. All the sound around him sounded like it was coming through a door, and the lights seemed brighter than they should be.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep shuddering breath to calm his stomach. There are voices around him, but he blocks them out, concentrating on evening his breaths. A hand on his shoulder shakes him, and he groans as his stomach rolls again.
"Kyle? Kyle!" Marcus. The teen opened his eyes, looking up into wide panicked ones. Marcus was kneeling over him where Kyle is lying down on the ground. He couldn't recall moving here but-
Suddenly a blinding light was flashed in his eyes, and the sensation went immediately to his stomach. Groaning, he tried to push the hands off of him so he could resist the urge to throw up, but he felt a prick on his arm and all went slowly to black.
The last thing he saw were Marcus's wide blue eyes staring at him in distress.
He'd woken an hour later, told that they'd had to sedate him because he'd been having a fit. Understandable. He hadn't expected the look of relief from John when he looked at the bed next to him.
They stared for a moment before Kyle opened his mouth to break the silence, but John beat him to it.
"Are you alright, kid?" John seemed to grimace after he said the word 'kid', but it only caused Kyle to frown.
"'m not a kid." He blushed a little at his slurred speech, looking up at the ceiling. "... Thank you..."
"For what?" Kyle turned his head back to John. "For wha-... For saving all of our asses. If it weren't for you Star, Marcus, and I would all be dead. Plus a hundred other people." He responded with a frown.
This seemed to cause the older man to smirk. "I should be thanking you."
Before Kyle could ask what for, the cloth covering the entryway was pushed aside. His eyes immediately moved there, and his body tensed. He relaxed once he saw Star running into the tent, a small smile on her face, and went straight to his bedside. He smiled at her and pulled her close into an awkward one armed hug.
Pulling back he gave her a quick once over to assure himself that she was okay. Looking up he noticed that Marcus had walked in behind her, and was giving the scene a small smile as well. When he noticed he was being watching, his eyes met Kyle's. The cyborg swallowed.
"Are you okay?" He questioned. Kyle nodded in response.
"Yeah, just all caught up to me, I guess." He assured. It was Marcus's turn to nod.
"Good." A small smile pulled at the older man's lips, and they slipped into comfortable silence.
::~::~::~::
One week later, and they were on the move again. It was too dangerous to stay in one place for a long time, unless it was heavily protected. The makeshift base wasn't nearly as secure as it needed to be.
Helicopters had taken those who were too injured to drive to a base outside Los Angeles. Kyle had refused to go on the chopper, insisting that there were more seriously wounded people then him. Kate and John had been trying to convince him, something about his safety, but he wouldn't have it. Reluctantly they'd given in, and he still didn't understand why they'd persisted the matter so far.
Now he was sitting in Jeep, Marcus at the wheel and Star in the back, and he couldn't help the sense of de ja vu that nagged at him. They were following the troop of other vehicles down some road in the desert this time, it was safer now.
He shook himself. It was never safe. Not until every damn terminator was dead.
They drove in silence, mostly because Kyle was falling asleep in the passenger seat and Star was already asleep. Marcus drove on, not feeling tired in the least.
It took them another four hours of driving before the base came into sight, lights dim but there. When the car engine quieted Kyle sat up straight in his seat with a tired grunt, blinking sleep from his eyes. Marcus couldn't help but chuckle at the kids tired state. It earned him a weak glare from the teen, but that only made it more amusing.
"C'mon, you can sleep in a bit." He said, pushing open the door and opening the back one. Star was fast asleep, her head on her arms. Marcus tried his best to not wake her as he lifted her from the back seat, and let out a small breath as she remained sleeping.
Shutting the passenger door, Kyle walked around the back of the Jeep and approached the main part of the base, keeping Marcus and Star next to him. He knew John Conner's team wouldn't attack Marcus, but he didn't trust the others.
Entering the room, the first thing Kyle noticed were the guns holstered on everyones hip, back, or leg. Despite knowing that they were on the same side, it made him nervous. He didn't know any of these people.
Kate, Barnes, and Blair were already there, standing next to each other, behind the table in the middle of the room. When Blair noticed them enter she moved over to Marcus and gave him a small hug, trying to not wake the sleeping Star. He gave her a small smile in return, but turned his attention to the front of the room when someone cleared their throat.
Barnes spoke. "I know it's been a long few days for all of us," many noises around the room sounded agreement, and he continued. "But this fight isn't over. There are still machines to destroy and lives to save. Now we need to rest up, regroup, and keep fighting."
"Amen." A man said, and with that, most of the other and his company stayed, awaiting instruction.
Kate turned to them, giving them a small smile. "If you guys'll follow me, I'll show you where you'll be staying."
Kyle nodded, glanced up at Marcus, and followed the brunet out of the main room, to a larger room that had mismatched tents set up around the edge and in the middle. Kate walked along one row that ran along the wall, and came to a stop in front of one in the corner. She turned to them and gave them a somewhat apologetic smile.
"Because of the amount of people we brought in you three will have to share a tent." Kyle gave her a small nod.
"That's fine, we don't want to take anything away from people who need it." Next to him Marcus gave a small nod, shifting Star in his arms as she turned in sleep. Kyle couldn't help the small smile that came to his lips at the scene.
Kate nodded at them, and bid them goodnight, leaving them to settle themselves.
Kyle moved forward to the tent, and pulled the front flap open, letting Marcus walk in first with Star. The cyborg gently lay her down on one of the cushions, pulling a blanket around her that was left folded on top. The teen shuffled in after him, pulling his shotgun over his head from where it was strapped to his chest, and lay down on the cushion next to Star. Shifting until he was comfortable, Kyle let out a tired sigh, and closed his eyes.
Marcus moved to the other side of Kyle and sat down on the ground, pulling his jacket off. His eyes went to his left hand, the cybernetic one, and clenched it into a fist. He couldn't say he hated what he was, that would be a lie. It had saved more lives than Marcus thought possible. That part of him had been made to kill, and it had done the opposite.
Looking at the two sleeping forms of his companions, Marcus knew he couldn't despite that part of him. It had protected them, and he would never feel bad for that.
If anything, it was worth every ounce of pain he went through.