Here's chapter 3! Hope you're liking the story, please review! (no flames please!)

CHAPTER THREE

POV - Trip

"We've been out here for a while now and haven't seen anything. Think we can go back?"

Zero's voice sounded through Trip's helmet comlink. Trip squinted against the darkness, trying to locate his brother. He was surprised he hadn't crashed his speeder yet, given that the pathway was so narrow and surrounded by trees and rockwalls on both sides.

"Not yet," came Ash's voice. "Just a bit more."

Trip suddenly heard a beeping in his ears. "Hold on, guys. My scanner's picking something up."

Trip stopped his speeder, and he heard the sound of the others' engines spluttering out. He stepped forward warily.

"Be careful. There are probably landmines, according to the scanner." He could just barely make out the shape of the other troopers on the scouting mission.

One trooper - Trip didn't know his name - ventured ahead of the group. His steps were carefully calculated, his foot hovering for a second before he decided to put it down. Trip turned around to scope out the rest of the area.

He chose the wrong moment to turn around.

He heard a sharp yell behind him. He recognized it to be Zero's voice.

"No! Wait! Stop!"

Trip whirled around to see the trooper about to put his foot down right on top of a mine, according to the scanner. Trip sprinted forward, arms stretched out to shove the clone out of the way.

"No! Look ou-" Trip was cut short as the trooper's foot crunched down onto the ground. He was thrown backward, and he felt his helmet fly off. The heat of the explosion scorched his face. Trip's head hit something hard, and in a flash of sudden pain, everything went dark.

POV - Ash

Ash didn't know how long he spent sprawled on the ground, looking up at the dark, cloudy sky. He was dazed, and it took all of his effort to sit up. He took a look around.

A huge pile of boulders had tumbled down across the narrow path. There was no sign of Zero or any of the other troopers on the trip.

Ash tried comming the other troopers and got nothing but crackling static. They were probably all dead. He hesitated when he was about to comm Zero. Then he shook his head. He was alive or he was dead. And he was about to find out. He pushed the button on his wrist.

"Zero? Zero, do you copy?"

Static.

Ash disconnected, feeling downcast. He tried to convince himself that Zero was still alive, that static over a comlink didn't confirm anything. Ash cast his gaze around again, growing more and more desperate. There had to be someone on his side of the rocks.

He caught the glint of armor out of the corner of his vision. He spun around to see Trip slumped against a rock. He cautiously strode over. Blood was smeared all over his armor, running down from his head and from his side. He could see the faint rise and fall of his chest, which meant that he was still alive - barely.

Ash knelt down next to him. Trip was in bad shape. Ash had seen enough combat to know a dying man when he saw one, and from the looks of it, Trip's chances of making it back alive were slim.

But that wasn't going to stop Ash from trying.

"Hey," he whispered, giving Trip a little shake. "Trip. Wake up. Hey."

Trip's eyes slowly opened. They were glazed and unfocused. "Z-Zero…?" he croaked. "Is that… you?"

"No, I'm Captain Ash," Ash told him. "You'll… you'll see Zero soon. Just hold on." He tried as hard as he could to keep his voice steady.

"It hurts…" Trip moaned. "And it's cold."

This scared Ash, because it was actually quite warm and humid out. Ash was sweating buckets. "You're going to be okay," he said, more to convince himself than Trip. "Can you stand?"

"I… maybe," Trip said.

"Well, then, you're going to," Ash said, putting his arm around Trip to support him. "Ready?" Trip let out a pained yell as Ash lifted him to his feet.

"Do you need to sit back down?" Ash asked hurriedly.

"I'm okay," Trip panted. "I'm okay."

"If you say so," Ash said. He walked slowly, helping Trip hobble along. "We're going to have to… take the long way around," he told Trip, voice straining from the effort. Trip nodded, on the edge of consciousness.

After about ten minutes of walking, he heard Trip's faint voice. "Can we… take a break…?"

"Sure," Ash said, helping Trip over to a section of rocky wall that was under a tree. He propped Trip up against it.

"Drink this," Ash told him, thrusting his water canteen into Trip's bloody hands.

"Don't… want to, " Trip mumbled as Ash tried to bandage up his injured side. As his hands probed the wound, he came across something hard. It was a piece of shrapnel embedded in his side that had pierced through the armor. Ash winced. The wound was probably already infected, but he couldn't take any chances.

"This is going to hurt, kid," he said. "Just hold on."

Trip let out a strangled scream of pain. Ash tossed the bloody piece of metal aside. Blood was flowing more steadily from Trip's side now. He wrapped the bandage from his utility belt around his side as tightly as he could. Then he wrapped more bandage around his head injury. Ash sat back, letting out a deep breath. He made Trip drink the water.

"How much… longer?" Trip panted in between shallow, labored breaths.

"Just a few klicks," Ash lied. They were still pretty far out from the base.

"I'm going to… die, aren't I?" Trip croaked.

Ash shook his head. "No. I won't let you. You're going to see Zero again." Ash doubted that Trip's squadmate was still alive, but the kid needed some motivation to keep going.

"If I die… can you tell Zero…" Trip's voice faded away as he slipped into unconsciousness. Ash took his pulse. It was barely there, a faint pumping beneath his skin. Trip was pale from all the blood loss. Ash sat there, wondering how Trip was going to make it out of this.

Because he was going to. He had to.

POV - Zero

Zero sat up, a wave of dizziness washing over him. When the spots in his vision cleared, he was able to see - barely - through the darkness.

A gigantic pile of boulders and debris sat collapsed in the middle of the path. Three clones lay on the ground, unmoving. Zero looked wildly around for Trip or Captain Ash, and didn't see them. They must have been on the other side of the wall. His hand automatically slapped his wrist, searching for his comlink. No familiar beep sounded, however. He glanced down to see the crushed remains of his wrist comm. Zero rushed over to the rock pile and shouted hoarsely, "Trip! Captain! Are you okay? Are you over there?"

There was no response. Zero convinced himself that they were just passed out, not dead. He couldn't take them being dead. He walked back into the middle of the clearing. He tried checking the vitals of the three clones on the ground. They were all gone.

Zero was alone.

He'd never been completely alone before, and he tried not to let this overwhelm him. He concentrated on the one thing that would help him the most: getting back to the base. From there, he could find out whether Trip and Ash were still alive.

With this motivation in mind, he set out.