PART 4

Kaidan could feel Shepard hovering protectively as he helped Ashley to her feet and led the limping woman into the limited shelter of a doorway of one of the nearby buildings. The sky overhead was still charged with activity, the reapers towering above and gunships and enemy craft zipping between the buildings in hot pursuit. They all looked up as an Alliance shuttle streaked above them and wove its way through the buildings until it was out of sight.

For the moment, they were somewhat protected by the overhang of the building. He listened closely as Shepard turned her attention to the woman they had just saved.

"Ashley, listen to me. Were there any others with you?"

"No," Ash shook her head and pressed herself against the side of the building. "Dead, they're all dead. Those things-" she raised a fist her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, visibly fighting trying to get herself under control.

"Hey, it's okay. You're not alone now." Kaidan laid a hand on the woman's shoulder sympathetically. His worried eyes met Shepard's and they exchanged a troubled glance. This woman was the first survivor they had found in the 3 hours or so since the attack. He looked on as Ash drew in a deep shuddering breath and began to speak.

"I was down by the harbour when we saw the reapers landing. No one could believe it. We all started running, and everyone was screaming. Some Alliance soldiers found me and they tried to fight back. There were other marines, who were putting people into shuttles to get away, but the shuttles were shot down. Those marines died trying to save those people. They died, trying to save me. "

"This isn't your fault, Ashley. You couldn't have done anything to save them. Come on," Shepard said, squaring her shoulders and taking charge. "We can't stay out here. More of those creatures could be on their way."

"Husks," Ashley muttered, rubbing her side as she straightened.

"Husks?" Kaidan echoed curiously. He looked from one woman to the other.

Ashley grimaced. "The Alliance soldiers that helped me. That's what they called them."

Kaidan saw Shepard squint at the pistol that dangled in Ashley's hand. "Is that where you got the pistol from?" she asked.

Ashley nodded and then shrugged. "Fat lot of good it did me. I don't have any thermal clips left."

Kaidan reached out and took the weapon from her. "We have some spare clips. Here," he said as he deftly reloaded the weapon and handed it back. Ashley snatched it out of his hands and shot him a glare.

"I know how to reload a weapon."

He stepped back in astonishment as Ashley bristled in front of him. He was surprised by her obvious distrust but after a split second's consideration he realised he didn't blame her, not really. They were strangers. He was immediately contrite. "Sorry, I just thought-"

Shepard stepped in between them, attempting to diffuse the tension with her interjection as she brought their attention back to their current situation. Another thundering blast from a reaper resounded in the air and the buildings shook, raining down bits of debris onto the street around them. They all flinched and leaned further back under the overhang to avoid it.

Kaidan was reluctant to follow through with Shepard's original plan of scaling the internals of a building to scout out a route to Alliance HQ. The plan to get to the Alliance headquarters was rapidly starting to feel unachievable. But he was at a loss on how else to proceed.

"We'll sort this out later," Shepard said firmly, gesturing to the pistol in Ashley's hand. "The important thing is that we all have weapons because I have a feeling we're going to need them."

Kaidan saw Ashley sigh and the fight drained out of her. She dipped her head and muttered an apology and he accepted it with a simple nod of his head. He knew better than to take it personally. These were trying times, and no one was thinking straight. He had been lucky to be with someone like Shepard when the reapers came. The two of them worked well together, and he hoped that Ashley would as well.

"Let's find a place to hide and then we can work out how we're going to survive this." Shepard said, taking a few steps forward and turning to scan the streetscape. Kaidan had barely moved to her side when they heard the now familiar red explosion that signalled another mass of monsters slamming into the ground nearby. Shepard swore as she whipped out her pistol and broke into a sprint. "Run!" she yelled.

Kaidan didn't need to be told twice. With a quick peek over his shoulder to ensure that Ash was right behind him, he ran. He could hear snaps and snarls get louder as the husks bore down on them. It was a terrifying sound. The whine of an Alliance gunship made him look up and he wanted to cheer as he saw it streak overhead. It fired down at the shattered streetscape, igniting the fuel tanks of some of the crashed cars in an attempt to halt the husks that chased them in their tracks.

The three of them dived for cover behind what was left of a street side kiosk, narrowly missing being consumed in the firestorm that was unleashed. Kaidan glanced back over his shoulder, hoping the fiery explosions would have made short work of the husks and monsters but still some emerged through the flames, advancing on them steadily. His heart leaped into his throat as he fought down a wave of fear.

Beside him, Shepard had rolled to her side and peeked up out of cover. She lifted her pistol and aimed carefully, firing three short, sharp bursts into the nearest husk's brain. It's head exploded and it toppled backwards, but another two took its place. He and Ashley also started to fire but there were simply too many. He took a deep breath and drew in dark energy, ready to unleash a biotic wave to scatter the hoard. A flick of his wrist and they went flying, buying the three of them enough time to scramble further back to a safer distance.

The arid smoke from the ignited fuel started to choke his throat and he coughed, trying to see past the watering of his eyes as the toxic fumes reached dark fingers of smoke into the sky. He could feel the heat of the flames and backed up further. They needed to find somewhere safe, and they needed to do it fast. There was no way he could keep pushing his biotics and still be able to function and they were already getting dangerously low on thermal clips. He almost started in surprise when Shepard latched onto his arm.

"There's too many of them! We should get underground!"

He coughed again and raised his arm in an attempt to shield his face. He nodded at her. They had had already tried going up, and they couldn't stay on the street. Going down seemed like the next best plan.

"There!" she yelled as she pointed into the distance.

It was the entrance to the subterranean mass transport hub.