The two Phoenix soldiers remaining at the scene are crushed under the collapse of the fire escape.
Mark has effectively tacked Maddy to the concrete, the gun sliding out of her hand and skidding until it hits the building. "Maddy?" Mark asks desperately. She's on her stomach face down on the ground, and he hauls her up. "Maddy!"
He's met with wide eyes and the expression of someone who's certainly had the wind knocked out of them. "You … you're okay," Mark says faintly running his hands down her arms as if an injury will jump out. "You're- God. Oh my god, you're okay." He pulls her into a tight hug that a shell-shocked Maddy melts easily into.
She's alive. But if Maddy didn't pull the trigger, who did?
"Mark?" Josh says, and it isn't loud, it isn't desperate. It's a sound of disbelief.
Mark and Maddy turn toward the others to find Curran's jaw clenched, eyes cold, and smoking gun still pointed at Ken's crumpled form.
Maddy's body shakes with a loud sob. Mark raises the gun he found and fires once toward the back of Curran's knee, making him drop.
"No," Mark chants over and over, a mantra that he wishes will make time reverse if repeated enough. "No, Ken. Ken!"
Ken is lying on the ground with closed eyes as a pool of blood spreads from his abdomen. It is obvious from the angle of his body that he jumped in front of Josh and Zoe. He had landed a few feet from them.
The bullet wasn't meant for him, and he could have jumped off that fire escape and stayed put. Instead, he dove and shielded them from the blast. Mark rips the rebreather off Ken's face and shakes him by the shoulders, screaming at him to wake up. Ken's eyes flash open, glassy and unfocused.
"You need to stay with me," Mark says, his voice shaking. "We're going to get you help, and it'll be alright. Okay, think of Addie! Stay awake for Addie."
A crooked smile graces Ken's face just before blood dribbles out of the corer of his mouth.
"Fuck." Mark tries to keep pressure on the wound.
"Ad-" Unable to get out the name of his love, Ken starts choking, his coughs splattering blood as the pool around Mark's knees grows rapidly. "Addis …" His eyes flutter shut.
"NO," Mark bellows. "Addie, keep thinking about Addie! It'll be fine." The sound of sirens comes to life in the distance.
"Mark," Maddy's voice is small as she carefully approaches, barely able to look at Ken's face. "I think his lung is punctured; he's losing too much blood and asphyxiating on what's left. There isn't anything we can do."
Josh had thus far sheltered Zoe from the scene but as his own sobs become more prevalent Zoe pushes away and runs toward Ken before anyone can pull her back. "Mr. Ken?" Zoe touches his arm tentatively. "What's wrong? Maddy, he's hurt!"
All Mark can hear is blood pounding in his ears. He tries to move Zoe away, but Ken opens his eyes again, grabbing the little girl's hand. "Z," he says hoarsely.
"Mummy is a doctor! We'll find Mum and she can help you!"
Maddy drops to her knees, holding her sister and smoothing her hair as Maddy's own tears fall onto it. "Ken protected us so we can go find Mom," Maddy says as gently as possible. "Ken isn't just a friend, Zoe. He's a hero." Ken makes eye contact with Maddy, another small smile cracking through the grimaces of pain.
Zoe thinks seriously about that, looking shyly at Ken's face. "You're a hero," she says, full of earnest. Then, she raises a trembling hand and crosses an x over her heart. Ken manages to do the same, his fingers leaving a trail of red in their wake.
Ken grunts and yanks at the chain around his neck, handing to Mark who takes it understandingly. "I'll take care of it," he promises. "I got it, man." Ken nods and looks up at the sky, tears screaming down his face. "It was a pleasure serving with you," Mark continues. "Fuck Phoenix, fuck recruitment. The world is going to know that Ken Foster saved a little girl's life. Addie is going to know that the love of her life saved a little girl."
Ken looks directly at Zoe, but it is as if he's seeing straight through her when he says, "Pet a dino … a dinos … me. For …?" Zoe sniffles, her brows crinkled as she nods with sincerity. His face is now very relaxed as his eyes flutter close.
Mark does not attempt to make him open them again.
A minute passes, and Ken takes his last breath.