A/N: Wow guys, the reviews for the last chapter was pathetic. ONE! In like three weeks I got ONE review! That makes me really sad. And the last update was more exciting too... :insert sad face here: (

More reviews would be appreciated. They make me happy. And I update faster if people remind me by reviweing for the updates.

Discliamer: you know the deal: I don't own MX.

Chapter 7: Blood and Fallout

The first to stir was Jesse, having managed to mass-at least for the most part-before the explosion, lifting his head from the dusty floor and coughing the dirt from his lungs. He managed to lever his hand under him and push his chest up off the floor, pulling his feet up under him in a crouch. His head, hit by a heavy piece of something, spun and he braced himself by planting his hands on the floor. His first fogged conscious thought was for his team mates, Lexa, Shal, Brennan…were they alright? Brennan and Shalimar had been further behind. Too far behind?

"Bren? Shal? Lexa?" He coughed on each word as the dust of the wreckage swirled around his head.

"Unnnghhh…" A pained groan to his left startled Jesse before he crawled cautiously to the body's side. It was Lexa, a slab of twisted sheet metal slumped over her back and legs. Jesse quickly hauled it off of her and, noting a deep cut from the metal on her back, turned her over so he could see her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut against the grime that tried to squeeze under the lids and her face was scrunched in pain. A huge gash on her arm and another on her thigh bled heavily. A thin cut on her cheekbone trailed a small rivulet of crimson down her face.

Jesse used a clean edge of his shirt, moistened with the only wet thing he had, his spit, and cleaned the dirt from her eyes. Gently, he smoothed the hair from her face as her head turned towards him blindly. "Uhhnn…." A tear slid down a grimy cheek and Jesse leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"Shh, I'm right here, Lexa, you'll be okay. I'm right here." He picked up her hand and placed it against his cheek.

"Jesseee," she whimpered pitifully, putting forth the effort to crack open blood shot eyes. She tried to move and gasped in pain. Jesse put his hands on her shoulders and held her still.

"Try not to move. You're cut up pretty badly. Stay still while I try to find Shal and Brennan." His last words made her eyes burst open, wide with concern.

"Where are they? Are they okay?" She asked, voice halting as she cringed.

"Shh, shh, I'm not sure yet, but I'm gonna find them. You just hang tight. We're all gonna be okay."

"You don't know that," she groaned as he took off his shirt and ribbed it into strips, tying one around the cuts on her arm and leg then balled up another and pressed it agaist her back.

"Yes. I do." Jesse stated with grim determination, kissing her hand and placing her gently on the ground, making sure she laid down just the right way that she kept the make-shift bandage on her back in place. "Stay still, I'll be back for you after I find the others." She nodded, trying not to grimace at the motion.

Cautiously, Jesse got to his feet, scanning the room for limbs of any kind. He walked lightly across the rubble, trying to tread too heavily in case he should step on someone buried under the fallout. "Shal? Brennan?" Jesse called, eyes carefully looking around him all the time. "Shalimar!" Brennan! Where are you?" He was growing concerned. Where the hell were they?

"Je-hess…" A wheezy, feminine gasp came from behind him. Jesse whirled around and caught sight of Shalimar's blonde curls in the grey-brown of the after-explosion muck. "Geddit hoff…" She gasped, struggling beneath a tick slab of twisted metal and plaster. Jesse, eyes wide as he realized that it was slowly crushing her, struggled to get the heavy object off of her. Blood streamed from the corner of Shalimar's mouth, cutting a crimson trail sideways across her face to where it dripped from her cheek onto the ground beneath her head. That blood mingled with a growing pool beneath her that gushed from a deep gash across the feral's chest.

Jesse finally managed to slide the metal off of Shalimar and assessed the damage that had been done. Beside the nasty cut on her chest, there was a broken rib protruding from her flesh and Jesse could tell that several others had been broken, if not shattered, by the weighty slab that had lain across his team mate. Jesse kneeled beside Shalimar and wiped the blood from her mouth with a bit f his shirt. Shalimar needed immediate medical attention, more so than Lexa, but he had to find Brennan first.

"Brennaaan…" she groaned, trying desperately not to make it sound like a whimper. Jesse gripped her hand tightly, wondering if a rib and punctured her lung, what with the blood coming from her mouth and all.

"You're hurt bad, Shal. You've gotta stay still. I'm gonna find him and we're gonna get out of here. I'm going to take care of this, of us. You'll be alright. Just try not to move, okay?" Shalimar nodded weakly, though she didn't look very happy about not being able to help the man that she loved so dearly.

"Lexa?"

"She's better off than you are. SHE wasn't slapped in the chest with a chunk of metal. Don't you know you're supposed to duck that kinda stuff?" Shalimar wheezed out a small chuckle, grimacing in pain. "I'll find Brennan and we'll get outta here and get you all patched up. Just stay put."

Jesse stood to his feet and glared at the floor around him. Brennan hadn't been far away from Shalimar. He had to be around here somewhere.

TO BE CONTINUED...

a/n: Where's Brennan? And how badly are Lexa dn Shal really hurt. I swear I'm getting to the actual plot now. So, remember to review and make the author happy.