Author's note: This wasn't originally supposed to be a multi-chapter fic, but thanks to forgetting to check "completed", and some really kind reviewers, I was inspired to keep going.
Every step felt too slow, despite the fact that Hal was all out running now. His body ached for him to reach camp. His heart as well.
"Almost there, alright?", he panted. "Just down this street."
A vaguely affirmative noise escaped Matt's lips, and Hal almost tripped on the curb.
"Matt?! Matt, hey! You there, pal?"
Hal got another unintelligible sound as a response, but it was enough to give him a boost during his final sprint.
Surrounding their camp was a small perimeter with fighters on patrol that Hal wasted no time yelling for.
"Hal?", Maggie's voice called back for him, far too neutrally to have noticed the state he was in. Much less the semi-conscious body he was carrying.
"Maggie!", Hal yelled, relieved but still urgent. "Get Anne!"
Holding the gate open for him, trying to assess the situation, Maggie was taken aback when she saw the brothers up close.
"Oh my god...", she gasped, before turning to the stunned soldier next to her. "What are you waiting for?! Go find Anne! Tell her we're coming!"
The man promptly set off towards the make-shift clinic while Maggie tried to relieve Hal's tired arms of Matt's weight.
"I've got it", he protested, despite trembling from exhaustion.
"Hal, you're hurt too. It's not gonna help anyone if you collapse."
It pained Hal to admit in when it came to this, but Maggie was right. Slowly and carefully, they transferred Matt into Maggie's arms, and she did everything in her power to hold him as steadily as she could. She knew it wasn't just anyone Hal would trust with his family like this.
"What happened?", Maggie finally asked Hal, ignoring and pushing through the curious faces they passed on their way inside.
"I don't know... Well, there was an explosion. A bomb or a grenade, I figured. Whatever it was, it blew the whole place up around us. When I came to, I-..."
Hal didn't need to finish his explanation. Maggie knew enough.
She knew that when she'd gotten the boys to Anne, and they were both out of the woods, she would make whoever hurt them her mission.
