"Ya doin' alright, Zero? Leg keepin' up alright?" Scout asked, Zero's arm wrapped around his shoulders for support as he guided her to the warm light in the distance. She held the light stick in her hand, aiming it in front of them so they could navigate safely through the sandy darkness. She bobbed up and down as her injured leg refused to be straightened, and Scout did his best to keep her up to her actual height – not far off from his, save for a few inches.

"Hgnn... it's hurting again. Can we stop?" She groaned, trying her best to push through the discomfort her body failed to cease.

"Really? We literally just got back up from the last rest ya asked for..."

"I-I know... I know… I-I'm sorry... I won't ask again, let's just keep going." Zero said shakily, putting on a brave and determined face, readjusting her arm on Scout's shoulder and straightening up. Scout was right, they did just get back up from the sand and she was slowing them down. The better she kept her mouth shut, the faster they would get to the safety the boy spoke of.

But as Scout watched Zero shift about, he could catch all of the little twitches from her mouth where she ground her teeth in pain, and her eyebrows narrowing as she dealt with it in silence. He knew he couldn't let her carry on in her state; it wasn't fair on her and was probably making her condition even worse. He stopped them in their tracks and helped Zero sit down in the sand, despite her confused and looks of refusal to stop once again.

"No Scout, we should keep going. I'll be okay-" started Zero, but Scout cut her off with a smile.

"Don't be stupid... ya leg's busted, I won't make ya walk on it."

"But-"

"It's fine. I don't mind stoppin', honestly!" He gave her a reassuring smile and she appeared to give in with a sigh. "But there's gotta be a faster way of gettin' to the van."

"...The what?" Zero asked, confusion plastered on her face.

"The van."

"But what is that?"

"What do ya mean? It's... a van. Ya drive it. It's got wheels. It's like a big car."

Zero still looked confused, and Scout let out an amused sigh. He could see in her eyes that she was trying to make sense of his words, and that a number of thoughts were flashing in her mind.

Van. Van... she had heard that name before, she was sure of it. The words often echoed off the walls inside the Building, with the tall men in black always talking about it. She had heard about it that day, earlier when she first dashed for freedom.

"Wait..." She said, her hand around her chin with the index finger resting on her lips slightly. "Is it like... a big metal box? And it goes fast, and makes a loud noise the faster it gets? And someone has to sit in it to make it go?"

"Yeah, pretty much!" Scout said with a hint of amused laughter. "Ya get different kinds of vans, but they're kinda the same thing overall, just like you said."

Zero beamed with happiness knowing she had recognised something correctly. 'So I DO know things!' She thought, her smile growing into a full, pleased grin; her spirits had now lifted immensely, and she turned her attention to the sky above, eyes bright.

Scout looked away, towards the light in the distance. The cold was starting to get to him, and he had left his jacket at the van. How was he going to get this girl over there quickly when she couldn't even stand on her own two feet for very long? She didn't seem so heavy while he was helping get her to walk and she pulled him down; if anything he kept her up straighter than ever. Could he carry her in his arms? Would he even be able to run all the way there with the weight? He wasn't the strongest of Scouts regarding his upper strength, with his talent residing in his stamina and leg power.

He could continue to help Zero limp? But with all the stopping and starting it would be daylight by the time they got over there. If they stayed outside any longer they'd likely get sick from the cold, and while he knew he could handle it he didn't want to risk Zero falling ill; she was already damaged, what would more issues do to her?

Scout sighed heavily. "Damnit, better remember to never put my bag down again… Could've used some of the bandages."

Suddenly Zero's wide, staring eyes shot towards their destination. Her face was stern, and no sound came from her, not even breathing. Scout look down at her, eyebrow raised.

"Z, everything okay?"

She didn't reply, only concentrating on the darkness.

"Zero? Z, what's wrong? What's going on-"

A voice echoed in the air. Scout followed his companion's line of sight and squinted through the shadows. The echo called for him, asking where he's gone. He could make out a rather tall, thin figure in the distance, but it was only darkness moving within itself.

Zero clinged to Scout's leg. Not blinking and not breaking eye contact with the void in front of the pair. What was coming? She didn't recognise that voice. Scout wasn't moving; he wasn't hurrying to help her up so they could both try to run for some reason. Why weren't they escaping? Did Scout know the voice? Or was he just as petrified as she was, so much that he couldn't move and save them both?

Scout picked up the light stick and aimed it to the darkness, illuminating a fair distance in front. The figure slowly got closer and the voice became louder and louder and more… Australian?

He sighed heavily and called out loudly, "Over here, ya lanky crocodile hunter! I haven't gone far! I'm an adult, y'know!"

Zero's head slowly moved upwards as a towering figure appeared in front of Scout; it hadn't looked down at her yet, and she kept quiet behind her friend, hoping not to be seen. From what she could see, the figure wore a lot of brown; brown shoes, brown trousers, brown vest and brown gloves.

The figure gave Scout a swift whack around the head, nearly knocking off his hat. "Ya may be an adult, mate, but don't think that's gonna protect ya when I gotta beat ya for bein' bloody stupid."

Scout readjusted his cap and gave a snarky laugh. "Geez, sorry Ma!"

"What's takin' ya so long anyway? Didn't hit the ball tha' far, did'ja?"

"Nah… nah. Uh, actually it's great you're here!" Scout bent down with the light stick, revealing Zero who shuffled to sit behind Scout once again and clinging to the back of his shirt and hiding from the strange new man. He gave a comforting tone to try and calm the girl. "Z? It's alright, this guy's a friend! This is Sniper. Snipes, this is Zero, I need ya to carry her back to the van so we can get her some help, okay?"

No response.

"…Sniper?" Scout looked up to his teammate, who was staring shocked and dumbfounded at Zero. "Oh crap, did I break ya?"

Once again there was no response. Scout waved his hand in front of Sniper's vision, a "what the hell" expression quickly emerging on his face.

"Sniper. Sniper! Dude, what the hell is wrong? This is Zero. She's a girl. You seen a girl before, right? Oh wait, nah, this is you we're talkin' about. Anyways, Snipes, come on! She's hurt! You gotta pick her up! We gotta take her back! We gotta get some first aid or crap! She's hurt her leg and- …okay, you just gonna keep starin'. Way to make her more uncomfortable, dude."

Sniper finally blinked and shook his head. "Ya got a bloody girl…"

"What? Yeah, can ya not see?" Scout gave Zero a few gentle pokes on the arm. "See? She's real. And quite literally bloody, actually, so can we speed this up a bit?"

"You got a goddamn, bloody girl. In the middle of the desert. W… What?!" Sniper continued to look confused and amazed, when Zero started coughing. Sniper quickly snapped out of his strange state and went down the youngsters' level. He placed a gentle hand on Zero's back, much larger than Scout's, and rubbed to help with the cough she was struggling with. He took a flask out of his pocket, opened it and offered it to her. "Catch ya breath an' have a bit of this, alrigh'?"

As she slowly calmed, Zero looked at the new person and took in his appearance. He had a short sleeved red shirt under his brown vest, just like Scout's, except his had a round symbol on the sleeve. Tinted glassed hung from one of the vest pockets, and a large, dark hat rested on his head. Zero quickly felt more at ease and gently took the flask from Sniper, taking a few sips of the water inside once her coughing had almost passed. She was beginning to feel very tired and heavy, and fought to keep her eyes open.

Sniper looked at her injuries, taking note of the dried, sticky blood smothering her leg and the bruising dotted around her body. "Bloody hell… Scout, ya didn't think to call out sooner?!"

"Call out? Like ya would've heard me over the goddamn radio!" Scout protested.

"Whatever. Just run on ahead an' sort the back of the van out. I'll catch up."

Scout nodded, leaving Zero with Sniper and rushing off to the distant light in a blur. Zero watched with half-lidded eyes, too worn out to say anything and just gripped onto the light stick that he had left next to her.

Sniper took off his vest and placed it backwards over Zero, wrapping it round as far as it would go around her small frame.

"I'm gonna pick ya up now, okay Zero? We're gonna take ya to see a doctor, he'll help you" He asked with a small smile. The girl nodded slightly. "Can I take the torch from ya?"

Zero gave the best confused face she could. Sniper looked back, equally confused. "The torch, Sheila… in ya hand. Right there." He pointed to the light stick. Zero raised her arm slowly and handed it over, looking at it with a faint curiosity.

Another new name to learn… but sleep began to take over her mind. As Sniper placed his arms under her legs and back, holding her firmly in the air and to his chest, her eyes closed. Footsteps, voices and breathing began to blur and fade, and the warmth of the older man brought a new comforting sense the girl hadn't felt before. In a way she felt safe, safe enough to drift from consciousness, her gut not sending any warning signs like at the beginning of that eventful day.

She felt herself being lowered to a soft surface, and a warm gentle item was draped over her body. Sniper and Scout's voices were unintelligible by this point, and the last thing she heard was a revving sound before she finally slipped into the darkness of rest.