A/N:-Ok guys, this chapter explains some gaps you might have been wondering about. There will be some time shifting but nothing that big. I would also like to point out that the events of Chapter two will take place (Chronologically) during the next chapter. If you have any questions, ask away, I'm not shy. anyway, enjoy

Chapter 4: The way back.

-"Peter! Peter, can you hear me?" Haines shouted as he peered over the bridge where Peter had fallen.

Both he and Gretta continued to look for any sign of their friend just after the explosion that sent him flying off the bridge went off. Both of them had mixed feelings, they couldn't leave their friend there but couldn't stay otherwise they too, might face the same fate they thought he had endured. Constantly checking to see if they could see him, somewhere down below but it was too far down, they could only see darkness.

-"Whadda we do know, we can't just leave him?" Gretta asked as she turned to her right, to face Haines.

-"I know, but we can't stay here either, that grenade could have come from anywhere and I don't think we wanna stay long enough to find out where it came from." Haines replied as he scanned the nearby building roof tops.

-"Well, shit, maybe if we could.." Gretta tried to say before Haines cut her off.

-" 'If we could' doesn't matter, we can't change it. Right now, we need to get these supplies back to the hotel" Haines said as he gestured with his head to his backpack which held the groups scavenged supplies. "If anyone could make it, it's him and if he didn't, he's got a sister who needs looking after so we just need to take this on the chin and get back with the goods so that this wasn't all for nothing" Haines explained. There was pain in his words as he struggled to basically say 'we need to leave our friend for dead'.

Gretta took a breath and slowly nodded her head then the two of them quickly ran off the bridge to make their way back to the Hotel. She understood what Haines said but she didn't like it and could see that neither did her but they had the supplies, they were lucky in some sense but Peter's sister who would take this harder than anything. Imagine losing your parents and being left to fend for yourself in a world full of horrors with the only thing keeping them away from you is your brother who, you just found out died. She'll need people there for her.

After getting across the bridge, they came to a bulkhead door; giving no waste of time, they entered it, sealing the events of what happened, along with their guilt, behind them in that old section of the market. The other side wasn't much solace either.

Upon opening the second bulkhead door, the duo were met with one skinny Splicer holding a pipe. They both had to do a double take in order to make sure what they had seen was reality. Without question, Haines brought up his shotgun and blasted the Splicer in the chest, causing him to fly back with a yelp. All of a sudden, there were various voices that could be heard, commenting on what sound they had just heard. Haines and Gretta knew that things were about to get busy. They had to move fact to prevent being surrounded by Splicers.

They quickly dashed to their right and took a side alley that ran behind some more market stalls and ran to the end of them and took a knee. Haines peered around the corner and saw a crowd of Splicers all gathered around something. They were making idle comments on what it was but the duo were unable to make out what they were saying. Heart panting, Haines turned to Gretta and said:-

-"There's...quite a few of em...twenty at least. A couple of brutes and...some of them are armed with small arms...but most of them...pipes and shit" Haines whispered as well as he could due to the panting he made as he recovered his breathe.

-"We need to get passed them, to the other side" Gretta said as she pointed to the other space that ran along the other stalls on the other side of the gap of open space that held the group of Splicers.

-"Ok, we need to take this slow. We can't simply run across, plus no doubt they'd be on alert so it wouldn't make a difference if we just surprised them. Either way, whatever we do is gonna be difficult. I guess this is karma" Haines whispered back.

There was a pause for a minute and in that silence, they realised that the Splicers were scavenging from a dead Rosie Big Daddy model and they were arguing about things like where his sister could be, who gets what of his goods etc and in that time, after catching her breath, she said:

-"Fuck it, we have the element of surprise, let's just open up on 'em then run for it"

Haines nodded silently and then stood up. They both slowly walked out from their hiding place and when they were in the middle of the gap they had just walked out from and they gap they were about to enter, Gretta opened fire with her MP40 while Haines showered fireballs down on the Splicers for a good five seconds before running down the gap.

The Splicers were confused what had just happened. They were arguing over a scavenge and next thing, 8 of them are dead. Confusion struck them and they then realised what the noise was earlier. They were under attack. Scrambling around, they tried to find out where the attackers had come from, load weapons or stay alive. After a disorganised mess, they realised that there mustn't be many of them because if there was, they would still be attacking. "Spread out, I want them found" a voice called as the Splicers started to look for their assailants.

Recovering from their outburst, Haines and Gretta made it to the other side of the stslls and were coming up with a plan. They needed to get out and back to the group with all the supplies. This was just wasting time and they didn't have any to waste. Taking a knee Haines said:

-"Right, the bulkhead is to our north, if we were facing the other side" Haines explained as he gestured to the open space that was now filled with hyped up drug addicts. "We need to move quick and fast, any ideas?"

-"Hmmm, we could either play safe and stop at every stall to shot then run or just get down when the bullets fly. Either way, we're gonna need to fight" Gretta answered.

The two of them had only now realised how much they needed Peter's strategic brain. He'd have known what to do. I guess this was a omen...don't leave your guys behind if you aren't sure if they're dead or not. Either way, they were both trained killers and they would kill again if it meant they would escape. They were just worried on how to do it. They were so used to Peter telling them how to kill, it didn't cross their mind that they would actually have to decide how to do it once.

-"OK, on my go, we sprint to that old grocery store" Haines said to Gretta who responded with a nod.

After making sure they had full magazines, they dashed out from behind the stall and hugged the right wall as they made their way to the old stand. When they reached it, they took cover underneath the counter. They both lay silent, waiting to see if anyone had seen them. As fate would have it, a meek looking thuggish Splicer thought he heard something so turned around to go and investigate. He walked over to the stall, pipe in hand, and said t himself

-"Right, now where are yo..." he didn't get to finish due to Gretta's combat knife finding its way into his Jugular, silencing him.

She pulled him over the counter and laid him out on the floor while Haines covered his mouth with his left hand (His right still on the grip of his weapon) While Gretta aiggled the knife about in the man's throat, making sure he didn't get up.

Both of their hearts raced as they waited in anticipation to see if anyone had noticed their little move. Luckily, nothing happened so Haines lifted his head up to get a view of everything. He saw an old shoe repair shop just thirty feet scroos from their current position. Nudging Gretta, he gestured at her to follow him as he mantled the counter and ran over to said shop. Their nerves were on end as they made the silent run across from their position, desperately hoping that no one would see them as they ran.

After the event that seemed like they would die due to angst, they made it to the stall. They both jumped the counter which caused Haines to land on an old glass, shattering it. He tensed his face up as Gretta gave him a look which basically said 'you fucking idiot!'

As they guessed, they were heard. They heard a Brute Splicer say "Hey, I think I done heard somin' in a low gruff as they heard his footsteps get closer to their current position. they knew that they couldn't simply just stab him like they had previously done so they looked at each other and realised what had to happen. Haines readied his shotgun as Gretta slowly drew her magnum from her left holster with her right hand.

As the Brute was standing just centre meters away from the counter, Haines and Gretta both emerged. Haines with his shotgun and Gretta with one of her magnums in her right hand; they both fired one shot, sending the Brute crashing down with a good portion of his face missing.

They both ducked back down, knowing that the Splicers would be on them in a second. Gretta holstered her magnum and picked up her MP40 while Haines loaded a fresh shell into his 12 gauge and pumped it and as they expected, a large number of footsteps and indistinct chattering could be heard getting closer. This was it.

They both emerged and took pot shots at their attackers who were un-expecting in the event. The Splicers scrambled for any nearby cover they could find in a desperate effort not to get cut down by the surprise gunfire. After a few seconds passed, the Splicers had started returning fire on the duo.

Haines and Gretta were cornered. They couldn't run back due to the fact they would get shot out in the open and they couldn't go forward due to the large amount of gunfire coming from the other side of the counter.

Luckily, the Brute they had just killed was the last. The rest of them had been killed in the initial surprise attack a few minutes ago, giving them a much needed silver lining. They were also able to kill another seven thuggish Splicers who tried to charge them but there were still enough leadhead Splicers for them to keep their heads down.

This caused Gretta to think, one Brute and seven thugs plus the initial Splicers they mowed down, there can't be many left. Gretta very slowly peered around from the left side of the stall and saw that her suspicions were correct. There were only about five positions that had gunfire coming from them. If they were gonna move from their position, now would be the time.

Gretta also spotted two red barrels, just off to the side of her. This gave her an idea, she turned to Haines and said:

-"When I say, you need to pop up and shoot some barrels!" she shouted above the sound of gunfire.

Adrenaline running heavy through his body, Haines nodded and waited for the signal. When Gretta shouted 'now', Haines emerged from his position beneath the desk and shot one fire ball at the two barrels that were suspended in the air, causing a loud bang.

Haines covered his ears, the sound was much louder than he had anticipated. His vision was blurred also and all he could vaguely make out was Gretta running over to his limp body as it rested against the counter and shouting in-auditable words at him while picking him up by the arm. By the time he was on his feet, he managed to work out what she was saying; she was telling him to run as she led him diagonally right to an old weapons stall.

Haines was confused, the explosion had really messed his head around, if he didn't feel fear every second he was alive, he might have been scared by now. Well, a constant ringing in your head whilst being shot at by angry raged fuelled drug addicts will do that to you!

Gretta on the other hand was feeling fine; other than practically dragging Haines across the floor to their next point of cover. At least the explosion had bought them some time, time enough to get behind the desk of the old ammo shop.

As Haines recovered his head, Gretta loaded another mag' into her MP40 and suppressed the advancing Splicers. Haines noticed an old gun turret in the corner to his left and crawled over to inspect it. He opened the box that held the cartridges of 30 Cal. Rounds and luckily, it was almost full. Haines wheeled the chair out into the side of the path and switched the turret on. It rattled as it came to life but ultimately, it proved to be exactly what they needed. It blasted out enough rounds to keep the Splicers at bay.

-"Look around for any spare ammo!" Haines shouted as he took cover again.

-"There isn't any, just three boxes for the Machine gun, the rest has been scrubbed clean!" Gretta shouted in response, the sound of the gunfire had increased due to their new friend, Mr. Turret.

Shit, we need to go; the bulkhead door should be about fifty metres right behind us but I don't fancy getting shot in the ass!" Haines shouted over the gunfire.

The two of them had to think, and fast. No way forward or back but there was gunfire and ultimately death forward, however, there was a possible exit, back, but also a possible chance of having more than one asshole and again, ultimately death. Ultimatum time and at the most inconvenient point for the duo; where was Peter when you needed him?! Well, he was probably waking up from his unexpected nap right about now...and the fact they left him for dead didn't help.

The two looked at each other and realised they needed to make a run for the door. If they were gonna die, they might as well make it look like they were gonna try and escape.

After a few ready-breaths, they both stood up and high tailed it to the bulkhead door. The Machine gun was enough to keep the Splicer's heads down, but not for long, they would start shooting again; which, surprisingly, they did. Meer inches from the door, a lone .45 round found its way into Haines' shoulder and out the other side, causing a metallic twang inside the bulkhead chamber as both he and Gretta closed the door, sealing it behind them.

They both opened the other door which lead to Downtown and sealed that one aswell before slouching down on the other side and taking a breather that they had well earned.

Turning to face each other, they giggled as they panted before hugging each other; they were alive. Haines's right bicep hurt due to the wound but he was happy to still be breathing. He looked down at the small hole in his arm and quickly took out a bandage from his first aid kit and, with Gretta's help, he patched himself up.

-"First going slightly deaf, then getting bloody shot. Thanks luck, thanks a bunch" Haines said with a chuckle which caused Gretta to smile in response. They both helped each other up and made their way back to the hotel that they called home.

On the way back, they were lucky enough to meet no resistance...this gave their minds plenty of time for them to explain to Sarah what had happened to her brother. Now they thought about it, dying would have been better than breaking the news to this poor girl. Yeah, dying was sounding good right about now. Never the less, their expressions were blank all the way back to the hotel and they had every reason to be. They must have felt somewhat responsible for it and who could blame them. They didn't want to leave their friend behind but they couldn't wait there either. It was the sense of guilt that they didn't like, slowly creeping in and haunting their thoughts as there was the sense of guilt that they didn't like, slowly creeping in and haunting their thoughts as they made the journey back. The guilt made it feel like the longest walk of their lives.

As they expected, they got to the hotel and went downstairs to where Peter had left Sarah. Keely was working on the water treatment unit while Noah, the slightly older mechanic was working on the pipes.

Sarah was laying on her front, colouring in her drawings. Damn this was gonna be hard. They walked over to her and got her attention:

-"Hey sweetie" Gretta said as Sarah lifted her head up.

-"Oh hey, how did it go, did you kill anyone, where's Peety?" She asked repetitively with a wide grin on her innocent face.

-"That's what we need to talk to you about" Haines said, struggling to find his words as he could see the horrified look forming on her face. "Your brother he..." Haines was cut off

-"He's right here"

The group had turned around to see Peter panting and leaning heavily against the railing of the staircase. He wasn't so dead after all...

A/N:-Just a quick one to say please review so I know what to fix or what to add if you guys think it will help! If you enjoy the story, Fav/Follow it, it would mean a hell of a lot to me, seriously, thanks in advance...that is...if you do...