Chapter 8 – We Live, We Die, We Lie

A large wave of heat passed over Fox's head, but he dared not look up yet – the fire from the heavy machine gun would not be stopping anytime soon. Even he was surprised at the fortification found within the medical facility, and how quickly they had started their attack. Gage and Olive were the closest to him, but it was clear that only Olive had any wits about her in combat. When the firing would stop, she would pop her head out along with her rifle and discharge her weapon – but her shots were too wild to ever hope to hit something. It was more for her own sanity that she did it, to make her feel like she was fighting back.

Fox had not seen where Falco or Peppy had gone off to, nor had he seen where Zion and the rest of his little squadron went. Without any kind of communicator, he was in the dark. Even worse was the fact that he had no weapon to fight with, and so was forced to sit tight until the fighting was done. But Fox did not let things stay that way for long. A grenade was lobbed into Gage and Olive's cover, causing them both to jump in a panic. When Fox saw the small device hit the dusty ground, blinking a small red light, he immediately shouted for the two vixen to move – which they did, but only Olive moved fast enough.

The grenade erupted in a flash of gamma radiation so intense, that it caused Gage and her weapon to melt instantly. She didn't even have time to make a sound, she was simply there, and then she was gone. Olive, however, was quick enough to move out of the way, and received only a minor burn to her leg which remained exposed to the explosion – but now, her wits had all but left her. She began to panic, and turned to where Gage was.

"Gage, are you OK?" She said, her voice beginning to shake as she saw nothing more than a pile of ash where Gage was, "Oh god… oh… where's my gun?" She said weakly now beginning to stand above her cover.

"No, NO! Olive stay down!" Fox shouted at her, now moving from his cover as he saw Olive slowly begin to rise. Before her head could pop up over the vehicle she hid behind, Fox had tackled her to the floor. But Olive did not yell at him, or cry, she simply kept saying.

"I have to find my gun… where's my gun. God… I have to…" As Olive spoke, she began to cry more and more. The intensity of the battle had gotten to her, and so Fox leaned her p against the broken transport. He looked around, spotting Olive's rifle only a foot length's away, "Gage isn't ok, is she… oh god…" Olive continued as Fox used his foot to drag the rifle to a grabbing distance.

"Alright, listen to me!" Fox shouted at Olive, getting her to stop talking for a moment, "You're going to stay here, alright? I'm taking this rifle, and you're going to sit tight, right here."

"Gage is gone…" Olive said, in almost a dreamlike trance. Fox nodded slowly.

"A lot of people are, but if we want to keep your other friends alive, you're going to stay here and I'm going in there alone. Got it?" Fox saw Olive nod slowly, and then collapse onto the ground. He knew she wouldn't go anywhere, but he also knew that Zion's group would suffer the same fate if he did not act quickly. They were not fighting ragtag survivors. There was too much precision in the shots, and they acted too calmly. Fox's enemy must have been military, like him, and so he would have to kill them like military. He advanced through barrages of fire, happy to see the main gun's line of fire had moved away from him and towards another building, no doubt where Zion or Falco had set their counter fire against the medical building. It gave time Fox to plan, to set himself up properly. There were several artillery holes in the buildings side, which gave Fox a clear view of who he fought against. There were four individuals altogether, though their fire made them feel like ten. It was a military trick, and one easily implemented with working laser weapons – which the squad had. Their fire set out against Zion's team at such an alarming rate, that nearly all of them were pinned down. It caused the enemy to panic, to think that they were overmatched.

But they had forgotten to finish off Fox, who now looked down iron sites at all four of them. They had left their flank open in the midst of all the panic. No doubt thinking their enemy was simple-minded in their combat tactics. It would be their downfall.

It happened quickly thereafter, as soon as Fox held down his trigger and let rounds go. His first target were two vulpine handling the squad's larger machine gun, Fox's first volley sent several bullets through the main gunner's chest – and before the other had time to turn around, several more bullets had punctured his neck and head. All at once, the oppressive gunfire of the squad slowed significantly as the two remaining fighters began to turn their smaller carbines towards Fox.

To his relief, neither seemed to have a spot on him, and so when they went to reposition behind new cover, they only managed to exposed themselves even more; Fox had sent the squad into the fog of war, and now they would pay dearly. Without hesitation, Fox pulled the trigger again, firing off another volley which sent several rounds through one fighter's neck, chin, chest, and leg, and several more through the last fighters arm and shoulder. Both went down lifelessly, the fight was over. Fox came out of his firing position with rifle raised, eyeing the building to assure there were no others lying in wait. Thankfully, he made it into the medical building without any further conflict. He looked to the squad, finding three dead, and one wounded. The wounded Reynard, who now raised his hands weakly as he coughed up blood, spoke to Fox with great urgency.

"Please, please! Don't kill me… don't…" Fox kept his rifle trailed on him as the rest of Zion's group came into the building.

"Where's Olive?" Zion said, keeping his rifle also lined up with the survivor.

"She's fine, just shocked is all. Gage is dead." Fox said coldly, "Any on your side?"

"Michael… got popped while moving to new cover." Zion answered looking at the bleeding reynard, "Are you going to keep him alive?" As Zion spoke, Peppy, Falco and Jed followed behind, Fox looked to them – happy to see they were still alive.

"Let's not have any more bloodshed…" Peppy said in between heavy breathes, "We've lost some, he has lost all." He walked over to Fox and grabbed his rifle's barrel, lowering it as he stepped in front of Fox, "He's just like us…"

"We don't know that." Fox said, looking towards the buildings artillery holes to find Olive walking through them. He looked down at the survivor, "He doesn't have long anyhow." He walked over to Olive and handed her the rifle, and then walked out of the building.

"Where the hell is he going?" Zion asked, watching Fox leave their line of sight.

"He doesn't like killing, he's going to need some time alone. Does that often. It's nothing to be alarmed about." Peppy answered, walking over to the survivor and kneeling next to him.

"T-thank you…" The vulpine said weakly, a pool of blood steadily forming under him.

"What can we do to make things better for you?" Peppy asked, "What can I do?"

"We h-have… survivors…" The vulpine answered, raising a shaking hand towards a door, "I-I don't know… but you seem like good people. T-take care of them, like we were… take care…" The vulpine clearly wanted to say more, but cold death snatched him before he could. His body went limp, his eyes glazed over, and Peppy turned to Zion.

"More survivors. They were just trying to make it… like us." Peppy said standing slowly and looking to the room which the Reynard had been pointing to, "They're probably getting ready to run."

"No, did you hear him? They need protecting. Which means they're scared shitless right now. They're not running anywhere, and would only be a burden to us." Zion said, looking to Jed, "What do you think?"

"I don't really know… we could at least check it out." Jed answered with a shrug, his hands shaking beneath him. The adrenaline still not worn off from their recent losses.

"Well, you all do what you want with that. Peppy, I'm going to need your help with this amputation. Hopefully their manual machinery still works." Falco said, walking past Jed and Zion and making his way up a flight of stairs located behind the dead squad. Peppy followed in suit, looking to Zion for a moment.

"It's your call, pack leader." Peppy remarked with a slow nod, "But what you do now is going to determine whether or not you become a monster…" Nothing more was said, Peppy walked up the same flight of stairs as Falco, leaving Zion and his three survivors alone. They stared at the door which the squad member had pointed to with grimace.

"Shit…" Zion said shaking his head, "I know I'm going to regret this." He looked to Jed and gave a nod, "Keep on that door, you here? If anything pops out, don't be afraid to shoot it." Jed gave Zion a nod, and then Zion slowly moved towards the door with his rifle drawn. Seconds seemed like minutes as he finally reached the door handle, and tapped it slightly. The door opened automatically, revealing inside a dark room, "Hello!" Zion shouted, still keeping his rifle raised, "Is anyone in there?" There was a rustling, Zion was sure he had heard it. He looked to Jed, who nodded in agreement that he, too, had heard something.

"You come on out now, alright? We're not going to hurt you, just come on out!" Jed shouted into the room. Again, more rustling was heard, until, finally, there came out of the room two vixen – following behind them three young kits, two vixen and one a Reynard, all of them no older than 13. The older vixen's were short of breath, hands held high and eyes wide with fear. As soon as Zion saw them, he lowered his weapon and turned to Jed, who shared the same guilty, frightened look as he. Both knowing that things had grown even more complicated for them.