The male vortigaunt's lungs were on fire.

There was barely any time to think, barely any time to comprehend the volatile situation they were facing. Bullets ricocheted on the walls of the steel tunnel, heavy boots splashing in the water mere feet behind them. The male wheezed before briefly turning to glance at the fellow vortigaunt rushing alongside him, panting and yelling at him in their tongue. The vortigaunt suddenly grabbed his wrist and, upon them exiting the tunnel, sharply pulled him off to the side, away from the trajectory the combine soldiers were pursing them.

They ran faster, and before he knew it they were both entering a cavern hidden beneath an arching shaft of wood. He began to dig deeper into the trench a gunshot boom resounded around them, followed by the other vort's screech, before they both fell into a rocky substrate that gave way underneath them, plunging them into a dark tunnel outcropped by mildewy timber and reeking of oxidized metal. The male felt himself hit a sharp outcrop before landing belly-down on the sandy ground. They both lay there for a moment, their limbs flailing in confusion and shock. His back stung. The other vortigaunt almost let out a scream, before the male suddenly sat up and quickly held a finger to his mouth.

They quieted. They listened in silence, peering up towards what little sunlight flashed in. The sound of boots were now soft, methodical, slow. What had been rapid and just right on their heels was now distant. Another pair of footsteps softly joined up and a static-like voice, muffled, began to creepily resonate down.

"They must be dead, they could not have survived that drop."

"Are you able to see down there?"

A brief pause. "No."

"Shall we go down and take a look?"

One of the footstep pairs began to move away. "Its far too dangerous an effort. I don't have any 'hacks on me to send down. Besides, I got the female real good."

There was more chatter amongst them, the two vortigaunts below halting their breaths, before they finally heard the talking die down and the combine soldiers move quickly away from the area.

…

He felt her pain. It was so tangible his body ached with the sensation. He hadn't even completely realized the soldiers were gone; all he could think about and focus on was her anguish, and to assuage it as much as possible.

He could barely stand, only kneel, the green bloody wounds of his back beginning to open up and drip down the back of his legs. He ignored the sensation, instead concentrating on the bent and blood-soaked foot of the other vortigaunt with the bullet wound in her calf. He looked at it for a moment, silently, the only sound emitting in the mine her labored, panicked breathing; before he decided to try to pry for a closer examination. She let out a blood-curling shriek, which she quickly silenced with her own hand. He jumped.

"Don't," she implored, holding her hand out to push him away. "Don't touch it."

There was a tinge of aggression in her voice, a trait the male came to notice about her right away when the two first met. Displaying anger was very uncommon amongst his fellow vortigaunts. Anger or fear. Then again, as he often thought to himself in these circumstances, he had only interacted with fellow males. He had never encountered a female, this lone female, until the past month. Or was it merely days? The vortigaunt had a difficult time measuring his sense of time with how humans did so.

They hadn't meant to stick around together for long, though after a couple days of camping together in the same boxcar during a thundering storm, the two just seem to automatically gravitate towards each other. He started automatically following her out of concern for his own life, and she later in return, and the two had finally come to accept that being partnered was better off than being alone. Particularly for her.

She was living every moment of her life in fear for her own. Female vortigaunts had mainly been exterminated by the combine in attempts to curb the birthrate. They had been wildly successful enough to get most of them out of Xen and Earth. However, some had lingered few and far between, in deep secrecy. Her discovery would result automatically in her execution.

A life of fighting and perseverance showed on her. Her caramel-brown flesh was riddled with scratches and an occasional bruise. At one point she had a large piece of cow skin wrapped suffocatingly around her chest, attempting to hide one of her noticeable feminine characteristics. She now just had white strips of cloth wrapped around her wrists and arms, both acting as bandages and ways of protecting her skin. When they were idle, he noticed her alertness and agitation. Her ruby-colored eyes were constantly scanning their surroundings and her arms never remained laying by her side.

Her body trembled. She attempted to stand, but upon putting pressure on her foot, she let out a small cry and tumbled back down onto the sand.

"The Lillim is hurt," he said.

"The Lillim wants you to leave us be," she replied icily. She sat up and coughed up some sand.

He turned to look away from her. He learned quickly she didn't like being stared at.

The remained there in relative silence for a bit, the only noise being her shifting uncomfortably on the ground, the nails of her fingers tapping against her ankle. He could feel her wince from where he sat.

Her discomfort ached. After a while he heard her flop onto her side and begin to quietly whimper. The smell of blood in the air was thick and metallic. He couldn't let her remain like this.

He turned and made his way slowly back over towards her. Her eyes were tightly shut, her body curled up with her legs over her breasts and her arms wrapped around her knees. He knew she sensed him, but did not raise her head to look.

"The Vas'ik only want to help you, as you have helped me before," he uttered quietly. "I cannot bear to feel and see you in so much pain."

She didn't react at first, merely sighing and wrapping her body up eve tighter, before she slowly peeked her head up to look at him skeptically.

"The Vas'ik worries too much. There is very little the Vas'ik can do."

Her voice was soft, though coarse. He quickly noticed its softness when he first heard her singing to herself as he passed by her first habitat.

"The Vas'ik can try our best to help the Lillim. Trust us."