"You're right," he conceded after a moment. "But at least I've got some sort of protection," he added, as he whipped out a pistol tucked into the front of his pants, underneath his shirt. "Keep fueling the fire-- put in anything that burns, even my knapsack. If they have come to kill us and take our things, allow me to tell you ahead of time that I told you so."

Shinji returned the grin that had suddenly appeared on the older man's face. "And if I'm right, then I told you so." And he turned and emptied the contents of Howard's back pack onto the fire, each notebook and shirt breathing new life into the already large fire. Asuka joined him, but when she went to unravel the bandaging around her head and arm, wincing with every motion, Shinji laid a hand on her forearm and shook his head.

Howard watched them, nodding approvingly at the tall pillar of acrid smoke that seemed to glow even in the night air. Surely whomever was approaching would see it, now. He clicked off the safety of the gun, and trained it on the direction the approaching car was coming from.

Car? Or truck, he asked himself. The noise was surely too great to be a simple car. And yet, few trucks would be able to navigate over the soft sands of the beach. "Here it comes, guys," he said to the kids, who stopped what they were doing and watched the same direction as he was.

Howard got his answer, as two headlamps appeared, rocking back and forth violently as the vehicle tried to navigate over the dunes. It was a massive white military Hummer vehicle. Its headlights cast a beam brighter than the noonday sun through the night, and the engine roared as it came to a small bluff overlooking their position, and came to a stop.

Suddenly a floodlamp atop the Hummer switched on, casting a spotlight on the three of them, and four doors opened in unison. Asuka and Shinji covered their eyes with their forearms, but Howard squinted straight into the lamp, his pistol aim barely wavering. Silhouetted figures jumped out of the vehicle and took their positions, and even in the darkness, Shinji could see they were training weapons on them-- rifles, semiautomatic pistols, machine guns.....

"Put your weapon down now!" came a man's voice on a megaphone. "Lay down on the sand with your hands to your sides!"

Asuka whipped her head towards Shinji, grinning excitedly, and immediately he recognized the voice. Before he could stop her, though, she took off, running towards the figures with a thankful and relieved expression on her face, each step kicking up sand in her wake.

Shinji reached out for her, but it seemed as though things had suddenly began moving in slow motion. It was too late.

The men on the bluff began firing on Asuka.

"Stop! No! Damn you, stop!" cried the familiar voice over the megaphone in vain.

"No!" Howard cried out, and Shinji wondered if his own scream was an echo of the teacher's, or vice-versa. Howard began firing wildly up to the silhouetted men, and managed to shoot out one of the glaring headlights, but by the time he had emptied his clip, he realized that the men above had already stopped shooting.

Amazingly, tragically, none of them had been aiming at him.

Shinji looked up, not even realizing he'd taken cover face-down in the sands. As soon as the firing stopped, he ran towards Asuka's body, splayed like a discarded doll on the sand. By the time he noticed two men sliding down the cliffside to join them, he was already by her side, holding her hand.

"No! Asuka, fight it! Fight!" He screamed, cursing as he rubbed the tears from his eyes but instead ground grains of sand into them. "Asuka! Asuka!"

She coughed, spitting up blood all over herself, and began to mouth words to him. He shook his head violently, as if to deny that any of this was really happening.

Howard La alternated staring at the two children and the two men approaching him. "What have you done?" he asked, as soon as he could make out the men's features, could make out the khaki uniforms. The first man, with long brown hair parted down the middle, pushed roughly past him as if he were never there. "Hey, asshole! You didn't have to kill her!" he screamed, but blacked out as the second man smashed the butt of his rifle against his head. Lamely, he crumpled to the ground face-down, and didn't stir again.

"No, no, no," Shinji protested as Asuka stopped forming voiceless words, and began to close her eyes. "Asuka, no! Don't leave me! Don't die!"

Suddenly, a hand rested on his shoulder, but Shinji yanked his arm away, as though he was touched with fire. "Get away from me! You killed Asuka!"

"Shinji!" said the familiar voice, and abruptly he stopped thrashing. He looked up into the worried large, brown eyes of Shigeru Aoba. "Shinji, it'll be alright. We're here now. Let us take over."

Exhausted, Shinji stopped struggling, and began to nod.

Suddenly feeling as though he were a detached onlooker, he watched as Shigeru pressed his hands all over wounds, old an new, and staunched the wounds as best he could. Amazingly, Shinji heard, she was only struck four times, though the blood lost seemed to tell a different story.

Emotionally drained, Shinji watched as three men carried her over to the white Hummer vehicle and laid her down in the back, with two of them climbing in with her. He felt rough hands pick him up and practically drag him to the car, where he had to be helped into a seat in the front. He barely noticed the NERV logo painted on the side of the doors, nor did he care that it seemed one of the NERV personnel was grabbing at his bloodied leg, where one of Howard's bullets apparently grazed him. He didn't even seem to care that they were leaving all their supplies and food on the beach, or that Howard La was handcuffed and unconscious somewhere behind him, with a rifle trained on his head.

"Shinji, I can't believe you're alive. The others are going to flip when they see you and Asuka," Shigeru said as the Hummer roared to life, and began moving. Shinji no longer cared where they were going.

"Asuka..?" he asked, hoarsely, at the mention of her name.

"I'm sorry about that. We'll do the best we can," the technician said grimly, and with a slight nod of the head, Shinji fell into a deep, deep sleep.