That night, Reyna packed all of her things into a bag as she had done several times before. She noticed now, though that every time she packed, her bag got lighter and lighter.
The door to her room then opened and Diaz was standing there, holding a bag as well. "Ready?" he asked.
She nodded, heading towards him. She sighed and closed her bedroom door for the last time, ready for her new life.
They both managed to sneak out of the living quarters and saw Oscar was outside. "Let's do this," Oscar said, holding his Lancer in his hands. Reyna said he wouldn't have to use it, but Oscar insisted it was for a worst case scenario.
They all ran quietly towards the giant walls surrounding the city, managing to avoid groups of Gears patrolling. Once they got there, they saw that the walls were over twenty feet tall and made of solid steel. "How exactly do you propose we get over those walls?" Diaz asked.
"We don't," Oscar said. "We're going to go through them."
He then proceeded to a circuit panel that neither Reyna nor Diaz noticed and proceeded to mess with the wiring. Both of them watched him for a minute or two, while also looking out for guards.
The walls then moved and provided a large opening, big enough for at least two Centaurs to pass through at once. "Come on," Oscar said. "We're only going to have a minute before the alarms…"
Oscar trailed off as a loud siren started blaring from all directions. "Go off," Oscar finished.
"Hey!" a loud female voice shouted from a group of Gears. "What are you doing?!"
The group of soldiers then proceeded towards them and Diaz yelled, "Run!"
Nobody hesitated and the group proceeded to run away from the Gears and from New Ephyra. Oscar and Diaz were naturally quick and easily outran the Gears, with Reyna just behind them.
They ran for miles and could still hear the soldiers chasing after them through a large forest. Reyna started to struggle to keep up with them and eventually fell to the ground, groaning. Diaz noticed and ran back to her, yelling at Oscar, "Keep going!"
Diaz then knelt beside Reyna and asked, "Are you okay? What happened?"
"I'm feeling dizzy," Reyna said, her head feeling like it was spinning. She then rolled over and threw up on the forest floor and Diaz scooped her up in his massive arms.
"Come on," he said, running with her in his arms.
Reyna then started to see stars and Diaz said, "Come on Reyna. Stay awake. We've almost lost them. Stay awake! Stay…"
Reyna didn't hear the rest as she closed her eyes, giving in to her desire to sleep.
Reyna woke up several hours later, her head pounding. She noticed she was tucked into a bed she had never been in before and panicked. Had they all been captured once she passed out? Where were the others?
"Hello?" she asked. "Is anybody here?"
A familiar face then looked into the room and Reyna smiled. "You gave us a bit of a scare," Diaz said, hugging her. "How do you feel?"
"My head is pounding like a drum and I feel nauseous," Reyna replied, chuckling weakly. "Where are we?"
"Well, once you passed out, Oscar and I kept running for about twenty minutes before we finally lost the Gears. We had no clue where we were, but eventually we were being told to put our hands up and drop our weapons.
"We had apparently run into one of the very few Stranded settlements left. We begged then to give us shelter, but they said that they didn't accept any garbage the COG had thrown out. So I held you up and said that you were sick and to please just take us until you got better."
"How long was I passed out?"
"About a day. Once they realize you're awake, though, we're gonna have to get going."
Reyna looked around the room and asked, "Where's Oscar?"
"Making himself familiar with some of the village females. I think he's also trying to get us kicked out."
Reyna chucked and looked into the former soldier's beautiful blue eyes. "I need to tell you something," she said hesitantly. "It's about what happened to me. Why I got sick."
"Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine. Never better actually. I'm pregnant."
Diaz went silent for a minute before shouting in joy. "I'm going to be a father!" he exclaimed, picking up Reyna in a hug. She laughed as he spun her around, repeatedly shouting, "I'm going to a dad! You're going to be a mom!"
Oscar then walked in the room and asked, "What's with all the yelling?"
Reyna smiled at him and said, "I'm pregnant."
"I'm gonna be an Uncle!" Oscar shouted, joining in on the hug as well.
Reyna laughed and said, "Glad you two are happy."
The next day, they were all standing outside of the Stranded settlement, with a group of them staring. One man, who looked to be around 40 and had an aura of confidence, walked up to them and said, "Sorry we can't take you any longer, but we don't trust anything the COG touched, especially it's soldiers."
"Please," Diaz said, begging. "We have nowhere else to go. My girlfriend's pregnant! Please, let us stay."
"Sorry, can't let you do that."
"Lyle, please."
"Look, COG. Our alliance was just to protect my people from the Lambent, but those creatures are gone now. Our alliance is over."
They all sighed and turned to walk away, before one woman shouted, "Wait!"
Everyone turned to face her, and the woman said, "Ollivar, these people left the COG. I thought we used to accept COG stragglers."
"That was before the war ended."
"So once the war ended, everything changed? They offered amnesty to all of us, but we denied it to support you. If you were a good leader, you would have let these people join us. Those two clearly know how to fight, and that girl is pregnant for God's sake! You really want to turn away two able bodied men and a pregnant teenager?"
"Look, for all we know, these people are COG spies, sent to kill us all!"
"We saw them running from COG forces hunting them down! Do you really think they're spies?"
"If you think they're so goddamn worthy, you can join them!"
"I will!"
The woman then walked out if the crowd and towards Reyna, Oscar and Diaz. "Anyone else?" Ollivar asked to the crowd.
Surprisingly, a large majority of the crowd walked away from Ollivar and to the group of three. "We're done with you Ollivar," the woman said.
"Fine! Leave! Who needs you?!"
They all then walked away, with Oscar, Diaz and Reyna leading the group. "Where do we go now?" Reyna asked, afraid of the answer.
"Wherever we want," Diaz responded, kissing her on the cheek.
Kind of wanted to make this chapter longer, but couldn't find it in myself to do it.