Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Chapter 2. Out of the frying pan and into the fire

The truck moved slowly over the rough terrain of what used to be New York City as we made our way to the Phoenix faction, I can't seem to shake the nervous tension building up inside of me, Don was right that this smelled like a trap and I know that Leo would not approve of this at all but we needed to do this.

I move away from Leo for a moment to glance out of one of the spaces between the armor of the truck, looking out I see only debris, rubble from crumpled apartment buildings, street lights laying horizontally, stripped down to bare minimum for all it's parts, burnt out cars again stripped, some are so bad that they are useless to anyone now. Small fires burn all about us, probably due to the scavengers having fun before returning to their faction. The night sky gives us the ability to move through the city relatively unnoticed, the headlights of the truck are dim making our journey a slow one, to have them any brighter would attract too much attention.

The truck suddenly jolts to the side catching me unaware, I fall back from my viewpoint and land heavily on the floor, I look at my two brothers in the front of the truck to see Raph pointing outside and barking out orders to Don, who swerves to avoid something. Adrian and Sam jump to attention and grab the shotguns that are kept at each side of the truck, they forcefully push open the side hatches and begin firing. The sound of gunfire and bullets impacting the truck fill my ears and I turn back to my brothers just in time to see Raph leaping from his seat and flying for the back of the truck, as he dives past me he reaches for the shot gun above Leo's sleeping form, pulling it from the wall. He pushes open the back shutter and opens fire, whoever is firing at us are using machine guns, the bullets thump against the armor of the truck and my mind wanders for a moment, how long could the armor withstand such a heavy bombardment?

Don has sped up considerably making the ride even worse as the truck rides over bumps and falls into holes, Sam throws her shotgun to the floor, it's empty, she pulls her handgun from her thigh and takes aim, shooting at the enemy. I have to help out, I pick up the gun and reach for the cabinet behind Don's seat, flinging it open I grab for the ammunition and start to reload the gun, I shout once to her and she turns long enough to receive the reloaded weapon. I pull more ammo from the cabinet because I know that Adrian will need more soon.

Don suddenly yells for us to brace and I dive over Leo, there's a loud explosion and the truck tips over onto it's side and I find myself rolling over the top of him, I hold him tight as his limp form threatens to roll uncontrollably. There is no time to catch my breath, I look up at the carnage around me, the bottom of the truck is destroyed, only a hole remains, the truck rests on it's side, from the look of it, we must have hit a mine. Raph and Adrian jump up and move towards the hole, standing to one side they glance out cautiously. Sam makes her way towards me and helps me move Leo away from possible gunfire, I thank her and she nods moving quickly to Don at the wheel, his head is lolled to one side and fear runs through me, I glance down at Leo, he's still breathing and there are no signs of any injury, thankfully.

"Sam how's Don?" I yell over the sound of the gunfire ongoing outside.

"Just bumped his head, he'll be okay," I heard her grunt and strain as she pulls on something in front of Don, "his ankle is stuck under the damn pedals" She replied, you could tell by her voice that she wasn't amused at all.

Raph spun around, "Sam take over here, I'll see to Don"

Sam moved quickly and within moments was standing in Raph's vacant position with her shotgun, firing rapidly out of the hole.

I heard Adrian's gun click and grabbed for the ammo, "Adrian, here"

I threw the ammo at him and he reloaded quickly then turned back to the enemy. Raph grabbed a fragment of the truck that had been blown apart and used it as leverage on the pedal, with Don's leg free he pulled him up, Don reached his arm around Raph's neck and they climbed around the seats. Raph lowered Don down next to me and I pulled the med kit from the wall now floor of the truck. As I burrowed into it for some bandages for Don's head Raph placed his hand on my shoulder.

"How's Leo?"

I nodded once, "He's fine, who's attacking us?"

"Scavengers," he glanced out of the hole, "they must like our truck" he quipped.

"Tell them we'll take fifty dollars off the price for the new hole and bullet marks" I replied jokingly, it was more for me than anyone else.

Raph smiled and turned away, chuckling lightly "Keep it up Mikey"

I turned my attention to Don, his head was bleeding slightly but it wasn't too bad, I pulled his bandana off to see the wound a little clearer. Well, as clear as it could be seen in the dim light that lit the truck compartment. He flailed his arms attempting to bat my attentions away, "Mike, I'm fine"

I pulled his hands down into his lap and gave them a final push, "Don't argue with me" I said softly.

He relaxed and turned his head away so that the wound was facing me, I reached up and began to treat it gently. I am so used to doing two things at once that I could spare a glance at the battle raging no more than eight feet away, Raph was masterfully wielding the shotgun and hitting his target every time, Sam and Adrian were faring quite well managing to hit several enemies, Adrian pulled back as bullets smashed against the edge of the hole, quite close to his head, he chanced another look and noticed something.

I turned back to Don to finish off wrapping the bandage about his head and handed him his bandana, he took it from me gratefully and tied it back on. Then I stood and moved cautiously towards Adrian, "What is it?"

He nodded outside, "The Phoenix are on their way"

I looked out and noticed another armored truck heading towards us, they were firing at the scavengers, I looked at Raph, "They're helping us out"

Raph didn't look convinced, "Yeah, they seem to be real friendly all of a sudden," he tipped his head back slightly, "can Donny move?"

I nodded and made my way back towards Leo and Don, "We might have to move, do you think you can?"

He pushed himself up from the floor and wavered a bit, I quickly lifted my arm and he took it for support, "I'll be okay, what's going on?" he replied.

I helped him lean against the side of the truck, "The Phoenix just showed up," I said. He nodded and closed his eyes, I reached up to him and shook his shoulders gently, he looked up at me and smiled, I smiled back, "headache?"

"Yeah, someone should tell them out there to stop firing then it wouldn't hurt so bad" he joked.

I crouched down to Leo and picked him up, putting him over my shoulder, he was heavy but I wasn't about to complain.

Raph came towards us and held out his arms, "Give Leo to me"

I shook my head, "I've got him, just help Don"

He nodded and pulled Don's arm up and around his shoulders, then we moved out.

Adrian and Sam provided cover fire as we headed towards the open doors of the truck that had come to our aid, Raph helped Don climb inside then turned and headed back to help Adrian and Sam, a large pair of hands grabbed for Leo and roughly pulled him inside and I glanced up to see a large bear placing Leo in the far corner of the truck, Don crawled over to Leo and glared at the bear, I waited half inside the truck and called out to the others, they came quickly and the doors closed, the driver sped off.

Raph stood with his shotgun lowered and stared at the bear, his other hand was resting on his sai, the bear simply smiled and turned away, moving towards me, "You're the medic?"

I nodded, he pivoted his head and thumbed to his right, "Would you mind helping ours, he was hit"

I looked around him at the crumpled form in the corner, a mutated dog with short brown fur sat clutching his right shoulder, the bear tapped my arm and I turned, he was holding a med kit, I took it from him and moved towards the injured figure.

"Hey, how you doing?" I put the med kit on the floor and gently pulled his hand away from his wound, he winced at the pain.

"I've never been shot before, does it usually hurt this much?" he breathed in quickly as I applied a little pressure to the wound.

"Yeah, pretty much, my name's Mike by the way" my hands moved quickly from the wound to the first aid box, it wasn't a life threatening injury but his arm would be useless for a while.

"Yeah, we know about you, you've got quite a reputation," he replied smiling slightly, "I'm Blake"

"Nice to meet you," I finished bandaging his would and held out my hand, he took it and we shook, "What kind of reputation?"

"You're 'the brothers,' everyone around here knows about you, the brothers who stopped the Phoenix overthrow of the Community, the brothers who destroyed the scavenger group that attacked a supply run in retribution for the death of one of your wives..." he rattled on quickly about all of our previous battles, some that I have never been proud of but we had no choice, to show weakness in this hazardous new world would mean a very short life indeed. We all agreed that a no nonsense approach was necessary to maintain our survival. It's worked well so far.

I interrupt him mid flow, "Okay, I get the idea" my voice gave away my irritation.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you" he shifted his position and tried to sit forward but I pushed him back gently.

"No, you need to rest that arm up," he sat back and I sighed heavily, "And you didn't offend me, it's just that it's not really something I like to be reminded of"

I stood up and held onto the side of the truck as it dropped into a hole in the street, I hardly noticed how much the truck was moving whilst I was tending to Blake. I stood next to Raph out of earshot of our rescuers, "What's the plan?"

Raph kept his hand on the sai but had passed the shotgun to Sam, "Just watch your back and make sure that Leo isn't left alone at anytime in their compound. We'll stay in three's, Adrian is with you and Leo, Don and Sam stay with me"

I nodded and went to speak but we were interrupted.

The bear moved forwards and towered in front of us, "We've arrived" he said simply then turned away.

I moved towards Don and Leo with Raph close behind me, Don stood uneasily, I sighed and placed my hand on his and Raph's shoulders, "Into the lion's den guys"

Author's note: So? Come on tell me what you think, I love reviews. Speaking of which, onto the reviews:

SPOOTYCUP: So sorry about the lack of Leo, we will see him soon, I promise, thanks for reviewing :)

BUSLADY OF SOCAL: Wow, now that is freaky, Don and Jessie? Really? That's great :) I'm glad that you like the military theme, I just thought, 'what if' and then started writing, you know? Thanks for the rewiew ;P

AMY: Yep, unfortunately Splinter, April and Casey didn't survive. I appreciate the detailed review, whew! I do intend to reveal what actually happened in the past to cause so much mayhem but not just yet. Thanks for the review :)

REINBEAUCHASER: Unique? Really? Awww, this is my first attempt at first person narrative style so I'm glad that you like it :) Thanks for reviewing ;P

LIONESS-GODDESS: Unfortunately, I have never read Ender's Game but I have heard that it is a very good book, so no, I'm afraid this story is purely coincidental but having heard the book mentioned twice in one week has piqued my curiosity, so I will have to make it a point to visit my local bookstore and buy one. A fellow sci-fi fan huh? Any particular favorites? Anyway, I digress, thanks for the review ;)

THE REV: Glad you like it, thanks for reviewing :)