The soldier in the passenger seat of the truck smirked at the youth who was fiddling with his camera.
"You ready for this, kid?" The man called back to him.
"A'course he ain't." The soldier sitting next to the teen countered.
"I'm not a kid and I have a name..." the young man said quietly, a blush tinting his pale cheeks.
"Oh yeah, kid? What's your name?" The driver asked.
"Tim," the boy said, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat.
"My name's Tim Drake." His voice was stronger, but his shy blush only deepened. The man in the passenger seat laughed.
"Alright, kiddo. I'm -" the man was cut off by the truck swerving. The man turned his eyes forward.
"Shit. James get the other trucks on the radio." The man next to Tim began to fiddle with a cb-type radio device. Tim leveled the camera at the windshield, recording the chaos of the skirmish. Yelling and the screech of metal and rumbling of tires dominated the hearing of those around.
"Cap, we've got hostiles on our six!"
"The lead truck's down!"
"Seven gunmen at two o'clock!"
The shouting rang loudly in Tim's ears, voices overlapping. A hand clamped down on Tim's arm, dragging him out of the vehicle.
"Come on, kid! Move!" The soldier snarled at Tim as he pulled the young cameraman after him. Not two seconds later, the truck Tim had been in exploded. The soldier took the brunt of the force, but it still knocked both of them off their feet. Tim fumbled to keep hold of his camera, still recording.
"Tim!" Lois screamed, rushing over to him. Tim disentangled himself from the man and stood. Lois was quick to fuss over him, brushing dark hair from his eyes, wiping dirt and blood from his face. The soldier pushed himself up, it was the man from the truck, the one in the passengers seat. Tim caught sight of the name-tag on the man's chest, Todd. From from the insignia on Todd's uniform, he was the ranking officer here.
As if summoned by Tim's thoughts, the rest of the soldiers began wandering out from the now quiet battleground. They came in ones and twos, bloodied and battered. Tim lifted his camera to catch sight of the men through its cracked and dusty lens. Lois wrapped he arm around Tim, who stepped closer to her.
"What happened?" Lois asked. Todd shook his head.
"Not here. Not in the open. James, take camera-boy," Todd said, waving his hand haphazardly in Tim's direction, "Cruz take Ms. Lane. Make sure neither of them gets killed."
"Yessir." The two men said in unison.
"Cap," another soldier broke in," The base is still sixty-three miles northwest of here and they're expecting us by nightfall."
"James?" Todd asked and looked as though he would say more, but the other man cut him off.
"No dice, Cap. Radio was in the truck when it blew." James said, tapping a finger against his thigh.
"Right," Todd muttered, then louder, he spoke up," Alright. We're walking to base. It'll take about another two days or so, so we're going to have to conserve resources. Oh, and Ms. Lane?" Lois tilted her head.
"Yes, Captain Todd?" She asked formally.
"Keep your kid out from underfoot, okay?" Tim growled lowly at Todd's words. Lois pulled her hair up into a ponytail, seemingly disregarding the soldier's words.
"Tim won't be a problem." She said, putting emphasis on the teen's name. Todd narrowed his eyes, but didn't push further.
"Alright! Let's move out!" He called leading his squadron forward. Tim nibbled on his lower lip and leveled his camera at the group of soldiers leading the way.
"Here we go," Tim whispered more to himself than anything else, "It's too late to turn back."