Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the game line, Naughty dog does, I only own my character, Trista.

Chapter Two.

I jumped off the pipe in the slums. Krimzon guards were all over this sector! Torn was trying to get passes into other sectors but he had quit the Krimzon guards to join the underground, and so he lost all his connections. Jinx was working for Krew, and he was talking about getting some passes that way, but I just liked sneaking into the other sectors. Tess and Jinx were out in the field so I had nothing to do until they got back, unless you count annoying the meatheads walking around here.

One guard was leaning against a wall, staring all the innocent people down as they fearfully walked past him. I glowered, hating the fact that the guards threw their weight around and acted like they were so much better than us.

"Momma, Poppa!" A little girl was walking around a few feet away from me. Stopping to watch carefully, I also kept an eye on the guard. It wasn't uncommon for them to pick children off of the street and take them into the prison. Tales of dark eco experiments were spreading like wildfire, and Torn was becoming more and more sure that they weren't false. The guard started walking near the girl and I ran over to her. I couldn't let him do that to her.

"Come on, I'll help you find your parents" I said, picking her up and starting to walk away.

"Hey! Stop!" Crap, the guard must really want to bring in another child for tests. Not gonna happen. I made sure I had a good grip on her and started running in the direction of the underground. He kept up with good speed, and apparently was able to pull out his transmitter at the same time.

"Renegade girl and child, running through the sector! Block all exits and capture!" The guards voice echoed through the rapidly emptying alleys as I darted through them. The girl looked up at me fearfully, and I smiled at her.

"I'm scared." She whispered, and I dodged into a small crevice in between some rundown houses. I shushed her as three guards ran past, yelling into their transmitters. I kneeled down and smiled at her.

"What's your name?" I pushed a strand of her red, curly hair out of her eyes as she pulled her thumb out of her mouth to answer.

"Kana."

"Well, Kana. What are you doing wandering around by yourself?"

"My momma and poppa got taken away. The bad men in red took them. Can you help me find them?" Kana twisted one of her red curls around her finger as tears started gathering in her eyes. I bit my lip and motioned for her to be silent as more guards ran past. I flattened myself against the cold and moist wall and pulled Kana next to me, praying to the precursors that they didn't look back here and find us. Looking behind me, I noticed that the small space led to another alley, and I lightly tapped Kana on the shoulder and motioned for her to follow, but quietly. She nodded, trusting me completely to not let the guards get her. We inched toward the other side slowly, and quietly.

Finally, we reached the exit and I slid out, holding Kana's hand as I scanned the alley. Good, we were almost to the hideout, I could see the entrance, hidden on a wall. I turned to pick Kana up and saw a red guard running towards us. He stopped and raised his gun. Looking at Kana with regret, I saw the little girl had been crying. Suddenly, the guard lowered his weapon. I looked at him, not knowing what he was doing.

"Go. I have children of my own. Just get out of here! I'll lead them away." He said, and ran down a different alley, calling to the other guards that he saw the renegades running this way. I picked Kana up and ran with her as fast as my legs would carry me to the hideout.

Torn looked up as I burst in, wondering why the heck I was holding a child. Of course, he never was one who got straight to the point.

"You're bleeding." What? I looked down and saw an angry red gash on my left leg.

"That can happen when you're running from guards." I said, putting Kana down and gently touching the wound. I winced in pain, it was a little more painful than I thought it would be. Torn looked at Kana as he handed me a damp rag.

"So who's the kid? Friend of yours?" He knelt down and stared at her, trying to figure her out. Kana whimpered and hid behind my good leg.

"Leave her alone Torn, you're scaring her. She's just a kid that I saved from having experiments done on her." Torn looked at me, startled.

"I thought I told you to lay low."

"Well sorry Torn, maybe I should have let them take her away. Would that have been the better choice?"

"And you brought her back here!"

"Sorry, my babysitter quit." Torn slammed his fist down on the table and I forced myself not to jump at the sound. He glared at me, and I had to turn away to avoid the fury in his eyes. I pretended to be extremely interested in the cool water running down my leg.

"Damn it Trista! You could have led them straight to us! You could have blown everything we are trying to work for! And all over some kid!" Ok, that did it, now I was really ticked. I spun and faced him.

"Well sorry Torn! I'm sorry ok! I'm sorry that for once, doing the right thing became top priority over your stupid lay low order. Maybe I should just hand her over to the guards, is that what you want!" I was shouting at him now, but I really didn't care, he really had me steamed.

"That's not the point!"
"Yes it is Torn! But you're just spending so much time in here that you don't really know what is going on out there."

"Ok! That's enough!" Jinx and Tess were standing at the door. I handed Kana to Tess and stomped through the doorway. I needed some time to cool off.

Me: So what do you think? Read and Review, let me know!