Pauling walked back to the podium and coughed into the microphone. The crowd quieted down and waited for her to talk.

"Time's up you guys! Let's go outside and get into position."

The crowd got up and hustled out the door. Ellie and Mundy stayed behind and waited for the crowd to dissipate. Walking outside, they lined up and awaited their instructions. The speakers overhead sparked to life and nearly deafened the mercenaries.

"Listen up. The deathmatch will not stop until only ten of you are left. You all have twenty minutes to get into your desired positions. Buildings may be destroyed. You'll be released in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The Deathmatch has started!"

Without warning, Mundy sprinted off towards the right. Ellie struggled to keep up with his speed and was wheezing by the time he stopped.

"See that water tower?" He pointed and looked down. "We're setting up there." He grinned and ran forward. "Try to keep up!"

"You ass!" She groaned and ran with him. They reached the tower and he began to climb. Ellie watched helplessly as he jumped to grab the tower's ladder and easily pulled himself up. She jumped up but missed the ladder completely.

"Havin' trouble, mate?" Mundy snickered and held his hand out. "If you miss this you're going to have to go somewhere else."

Ellie groaned and leapt as high as she could. Grabbing his hand, she dangled in the air until he managed to pull her up. Huffing, he readjusted his sunglasses and continued climbing.

"You don't need my help do you?"

"No!"

Finally reaching the top, he sat down and looked through his scope. Smiling to himself, he aimed and took a shot. The noise could be heard all throughout the town. Quickly discarding the spent case, he reloaded the rifle and cursed. His thumb had gotten caught.

"Watch my back, mate. Don't want anyone sneaking up on us."

Switching on the heat sensors, Ellie looked down and could see at least three people trying to get onto the tower. Taking aim, she fired two shots. Two of the men fell to the ground while the third tried to run.

"Mundy, your six."

He swiveled and fired a quick shot. The man keeled over and stopped moving.

"Damn. You're one hell of a shot!"

"Have to be. It's my job." He turned around again and reloaded the rifle. "You're not half-bad either. Just need to work on the angle. Your mark is off."

Ellie stuck out her tongue and looked around. Attaching her scope, she look to the left. Two people were fighting over a healthkit. One was wearing dog tags while the other was wearing a brown bandana. The one wearing the tags grabbed his bat and knocked the other over, stealing the healthkit. The man with the bandana was about to get up when Mundy took the shot.

"Why didn't you shoot the other one, mate?"

Ellie grumbled and checked the back. "He was too fast." She looked through the scope again and started to shake. Sighing, she switched the glasses off and watched Mundy work.

"You're shakin'. Scared of heights?"

"What? No! Maybe? Shut up."

He laughed and stared at her. "You're a sniper aren't you? How the bloody hell are you scared of heights?" He chuckled again and shoved her slightly. It was enough for her to gasp and grab onto the railing. He grinned and got back into position.

Ellie frowned and looked at the ladder again. No one was coming up, but something seemed off.

"Hey, Mundy. What the hell is that?"

He turned to look and nearly yelled. The bottom of the water tower was covered in sticky bombs.

"Hang onto something!"

As if on cue, the bombs exploded, shattering the tower's foundation and causing the whole thing to tip sideways. The tower was going to fall directly onto one of the other buildings. Ellie struggled to maintain her grip as another explosion rocked the tower back and forth. Water gushed from the tank and caused Mundy to lose his balance.

"Oh, hell!"

He nearly tumbled off the tower, but Ellie grabbed him by the leg and struggled to hold him up.

"Pull me up god damn it!"

"You're too fucking heavy!"

She strained with the weight and yelped when she lost her footing. Dangling by one arm she couldn't hold her grip any longer. The two screeched as they came crashing down through the building's roof. Luckily, the roof and the water had cushioned their fall. Ellie felt something in her leg snap and winced. Her grip on Mundy's leg grew tighter.

"I can't get up with you holdin' me like that! Let me go!"

She unclenched her fingers and he scrambled to his feet. Grabbing Ellie by the belt, he hoisted her up and onto his shoulders. Her leg was bent at an odd angle.

"You just had to break your leg!"

"It wasn't my fault you LANDED on me!"

The sniper growled and waded through the water. The tower above them was about to collapse any second now. Setting her down for a minute, he backed up and rammed the front door. It broke and he ran outside.

"Stay there!" He called and ran in the opposite direction.

"Where the hell is he going?" Ellie looked at her leg and then at the falling water tower. The house was not going to hold it for much longer. Struggling to her feet, she used her rifle as a crutch and hobbled out of the house. Out in the open, she limped over to the nearest hiding spot and turned on her glasses. To her dismay, five people were already coming to inspect the damage. Taking aim, she waited for the others to spot each other.

Two of the mercenaries began fist fighting. They were too preoccupied to notice the bombs being lobbed at them from behind. Ellie shielded her eyes as they detonated and the bomber laughed heartily as he ran to the left. Ellie tried to shoot, but couldn't hit her mark. Her tracking bullet went too wide and hit the building in front of him. The attacker turned around and she fired again.

"He's wearing an eyepatch?"

The man jumped and ran where she couldn't see him.

"Aw, shit!" Ellie groaned and leaned back into her hiding place. Where the hell was Mundy? She heard oncoming footsteps and readied her rifle, but stopped short once she realized who it was. "Mundy? God, man where have you been?! I nearly got blown up!"

"I told you to stay inside!"

"The building was going to collapse!"

He rubbed his forehead and hoisted her up. "Forget about it. We need to get somewhere safe." He grabbed her glasses and put them on. Tweaking the settings, he looked to the right and grinned. "Hah! An empty building! Let's go."

Carefully making his way towards the house, he opened the door and locked it behind him. Setting Ellie down on the sofa, he pushed a chair against the door and walked back towards her.

"Oh! You got a healthkit!" She grinned.

"Not for you!" He replied and showed her a small cut on his arm. "See! I'm nearly dead!"

Ellie laughed and winced. It hurt to breathe and she hoped she hadn't broken any of her ribs.

"Shit, sorry mate. Let me fix that." Looking at her leg for a moment, the sniper grabbed it and pushed the bone down harshly. She had to hold back tears. Grabbing two small planks of wood, he tied them to her leg and tested them out. "Doesn't look too bad! You'll be fine." He went to clean his wounds when Ellie started to laugh.

"And you said we weren't friends!" She snickered and played with her bandages.

"We're not."

"Then why did you risk your life to help me?"

He paused and grumbled. Tossing her the ammo pack he'd picked up he walked into the house's bathroom and closed the door.