Chapter 27 - The Evergreen Survivors

Suddenly a loud thunder from dozens of shotgun barrels blared high above their heads.

As the rain of bullets fell, the roar of the infected got interrupted within a split of a second as if someone had disconnected the beasts from the electricity. They were tumbling to the ground, shot with one or two bullets, their bodies exploding with fountains of blood.

Heero gathered Relena up, then whipped around, pressing her to the wall and covering her with his body against the rain of bullets and the infected. Incessant shots were thundering in his ears, bleeding corpses were coming down all around, some of them only a few inches behind his back. In this chaos, Heero could hear Relena's scream as she curled up in his arms. He tightened his embrace around her, protecting her head and letting them slid to the ground under the wall.

The shots continued until every infected in the square in front of the gate fell dead. And then, as suddenly as it all started, a silence occurred.

Still wrapping his arms around Relena's hunched body, Heero eventually looked up and around them. There was no doubt; they were the only living beings in the driveway of this high gate. The sun-scorched earth around them was all strewn with infected corpses, whose blood quickly soaked into the dry soil.

Heero grabbed Relena by her shoulders and brushed her hair away from her face.

"You ok?"

She nodded her head, still in apparent shock.

"What… just happened?" she gasped.

Heero said nothing, then tilted his head up. The midday sun blinded him quickly, so he shielded his eyes with his hand, and soon he noticed black silhouettes of men standing at the top of the gate, a few meters above them.

"Who the hell are you?"

Those were the words that one of the men at the top of the gate shouted to them. He was tall, slim, dark-haired, with long, brushed bangs. He still had a smoking shotgun in his hands, this time aimed at Heero and Relena.

"What are you looking for here?" he continued.

Heero didn't say anything, still covering his eyes from the sun, as he eyed the men at the gates. The man that spoke to him seemed to be the leader of the group; he was surrounded by six other men, each aiming at them with a long weapon, but none dared to speak.

Trying to get up, Heero slowly shifted his weight from his knees to his feet, but then he heard the clang of the reloaded weapon high above his head.

"Stop where you are, or we will shoot," the man with the fringe shouted before Heero had the chance to even open his mouth. "Discard the weapon and get on your knees, hands behind your head."

Staring feeling already sick and tired because of the never-ending threat to his life, whether it was from the infected, people, or the burning sun and high temperatures, Heero understood that for Relena's good and sake, this time, he couldn't afford himself any idle games. Although the threat from the infected was averted, it was still hot, and they didn't have a drop of water.

He obediently stopped on his knees, putting his gun on the ground and entwining his hands behind his head.

"The girl too," the man with the fringe barked.

Heero gritted his teeth with irritation but looked down at Relena. When she looked up at him, the midday sun blinded her, too.

"Do what he says," he whispered.

Relena obediently knelt down and put her hands behind her head, then lifted her chin up proudly, looking up at the men. Her expression, her sunken eyes, and red cheeks reminded Heero that the only thing that was still holding her up was the adrenaline; even before this exhausting struggle and flight, she was on the verge of exhaustion and dehydration.

Heero felt the scorching sun on the back of his neck. He had to do something. Immediately.

"Thank you for saving us," Heero said aloud, as politely as he could, still looking up but blinking because of the blinding sun. "We made our way through the town in search of water and were suddenly attacked. If you have water... even a bottle is enough for us. And we will go our separate ways."

The tall man studied them for a short while, never stopping aiming at them from his gun, just like the other men.

"You're a strange couple," he suddenly said, "who are you? Where do you come from?"

That moment Heero noticed that Relena's breath had changed; she wasn't breathing quickly as if after a run-down run anymore but kept catching short, silent, and desperate breaths, too rarely… She looked back at him, pleadingly, with narrowed eyes.

Damn.

"We're from the QZ of Philadelphia," Heero shouted back. "Please…"

"Fuck you, man!" another guardian suddenly shouted, waving a gun at them. "Half of the continent! There is no fucking way you would go this far!"

Heero shot another side glance at Relena. She closed her eyes and breathed through the open mouth, swaying on her knees. She had only little strength to keep her hands wrapped behind her head.

Heero gritted his teeth, drops of sweat running down his forehead.

"Please, give us some water…" he muttered slowly.

But he was interrupted again.

"And where the fuck do you think you're going? The South Pole?" another guardian was laughing his ass off them.

"No wonder, I would go to the end of the world with such a pretty chick!" another added.

Both comments raised a wave of loud laughter among the armed comrades, except for their tall, fringed leader, who stood perfectly still, his eyes never leaving his target.

Relena's breath was now only a quiet, fading whistle. Suddenly, her arms dropped to her sides, her head fell back, pulling the rest of her body with it. Her lips stopped in the shape of his name.

Heero felt a surge of blind fury build up inside him.

"Fuck it," he hissed angrily.

"HEY! What did I say?"

"On your fucking knees!"

A series of loud, aggressive, male screams cut the air, warning shots were fired into the sky and then into the ground around him, but Heero didn't care. He abruptly got on his feet, catching Relena's already limp body in his arms the second before she tumbled on the ground.

"On your knees! Hands behind your head!"

"You all fuckin' blind?!" Heero barked hoarsely, gathering Relena in his arms and rising from his knees. "She can't stand it anymore!"

"On your knees! Or we will shoot you like a dog, you punk!"

As Relena's unconscious head rested on his collarbone, he was shocked by how hot it felt to his skin. Completely disregarding the loud warnings coming from the top of the gate, he looked down at her face, and the sight almost made his heart stop. Relena's beautiful honey hair was tangled with moisture, her delicate, little lips were chapped, her eyebrows stilled in a grimace of pain. Her whole skinny body radiated with glowing heat.

He wasn't sure if she was still breathing-

Heero felt a shadow of desperation luring deep inside his chest that he had never felt in his life, even when he was surrounded by a horde of infected. An animal, aching groan stuck in his throat, but he clenched his teeth, preventing him from going outside. Then his mind got veiled by a torrent of blind rage.

His head jerked up, his eyes narrowed as he glared at the men.

"I don't care about myself," Heero shouted loud enough for his words to break through the screams of the guards. He concentrated his murderous glare on the tall man that was standing the whole time completely silent, frowning at him with his emerald, cold eyes. "But harm a single hair on her head, and I'll kill you all. Each and every one of you."

He meant those words then like he ever did in his whole life. The sun reflected off the barrels of shotguns that were positioned with the aim at him, blinding him; he heard the sound of overload and silent curses. Blood pulsated in his head.

"That's enough."

A tall man with a brown fringe and emerald eyes spoke up after a few seconds, reaching out his hand and pulling the rifle of the nearest shooter up in the sky. The other guardians, though reluctantly, did the same.

"We surely won't shoot a defenseless man holding a woman in his arms, right?"

Heero kept his head up, his and the tall man's eyes never breaking contact. They both almost stopped blinking, staring at each other and sending mutual aggressive but silent looks. Heero realized that if he could somehow bring this man down, he would kill him with his bare hands.

Meanwhile, the curiosity started slowly creeping in the green eyes of the man saw.

"I can't say that I believed your story entirely, but you've surely come a long way, and you deserve to be helped," he spoke loudly to Heero after a few more seconds. "We will open the gate for you and get you water."

At that moment, the men retreated behind the wall, out of his sight. Only two of them stood in their positions, still aiming at him from the rifle. Heero looked down at Relena and pressed his forehead to hers; she was still disturbingly boiling hot in touch.

"Hold on, please…" he whispered.

Finally, from behind the wall, a loud roar sounded, and after a moment, the high metal gates made a deep, prolonged moan, opening outside just in front of Heero.

Right in the center of the gateway, all the guardians stood lined up in a row, each of them aiming straight at him. Heero bowed his head, eyeing everyone with the same unfriendly gaze. Glancing up to make sure that no one was going to shoot him down, he headed slowly toward the strict line of people, carrying Relena in his arms.

Suddenly the tall leader came out from behind the line of guardians, carrying a bucket of water and several white rags. Seeing him, Heero quickened his pace, but he stopped abruptly when all the guards reloaded their weapons at him.

"Stay where you are. For now, you can't go any step further," the man said.

Heero obediently stopped, then knelt down, carefully placing Relena's legs on the ground, but still holding the upper part of her body in his arms. Then the green-eyed man came up to him, placing a full bucket and rags in front of him.

"If you run out, we have more," he informed.

Heero, however, listened to him no more. He frantically grabbed a tin bucket, pulling it as close as possible to him; the gesture was violent enough for the guardians to aim at him again.

He grabbed one of the rags and dipped it in the water, feeling his hair go crazy at the contact with liquid; the water was icy cold as if it had flowed out from under the glacier. His moves were quick and hurried, he knew he was fighting unequal struggle with time. He only hoped it wasn't too late… Heero barely soaked the rag and moved it to Relena's forehead and her neck.

He felt her body wince slightly.

"C'mon…!," he muttered silently under his breath. He moistured the cloth again and brought it to her lips, squeezing the life-giving liquid into her mouth. Then he moistured two other towels, hiked up Relena's tank top a bit, placing them over her liver. In the meantime, he also poured water in her mouth several times.

Finally, he felt her body shiver strongly, and Relena regained consciousness, taking a deep breath, coughing up excess water, then hanging on his shoulder. Heero sighed an inner breath of relief.

"It's all right now… breathe…" Heero whispered reassuringly, caressing Relena's trembling shoulders, while giving the guards around him, including the green-eyed leader, a death stare. As Relena evened her breath, he brought a bucket closer to her. "Drink," he ordered.

For the first time, probably from extreme fatigue, Relena didn't resist him in any way and silently leaned over the bucket, drawing a handful of water into her mouth. Heero felt the very sound of dripping water squeezing his dry throat, but he didn't twitch. His eyes never left the tall guardian, still standing in front of them.

"Impressive. You won't touch the water until she's finished," the tall man noticed, crossing his arms on his chest. "You didn't lie about not caring for your life. I have seen you fight. You're strong. Maybe you'd like to join us? It would be good to have such a fearless companion here."

Heero kept eye contact without a single blink.

"Go to hell," he said hoarsely.

His words raised a dissatisfied murmur spread among the men standing around. The tall man frowned at Heero, apparently surprised.

"You want to leave? In this state? After we rescued you both?"

"No," Heero glared at him. "After you almost shot us and almost let her die of thirst at your doorstep."

"A saucy son of a bitch!" there came the wild shout from the other guardians. A dozen men waved menacingly in the air, pointed fists at Heero. Heero didn't even flinch, but he felt Relena's fingers curling around his arm.

"Get the fuck out of here! You and your bitch!"

"We don't want you here! Get out!"

"What is going on here?!"

Suddenly all the screams faded away, the cordon of guardians parted slightly, and a short, fair-haired man with somewhat childish features entered the square. All the men looked at him with undisguised respect; he looked like a leader, perhaps even more decisive than the emerald-eyed man.

The blonde man frowned at Heero and Relena, then gazed above their heads to notice a sea of infected' corpses on the other side of the gate and, clearly shocked, turned to face the tall man.

"What the hell happened here, Trowa?! Who are these people?"

"Quatre," a tall man with a fringe, apparently carrying the strange name of Trowa, turned to him, then pointed at Heero and Relena with his chin. "These two have brought a whole horde of infected to our gates. Fortunately, we have repelled the attack."

"Well," Quatre sighed deeply, looking through the gate at the battlefield, "so this is how ends up not having to regularly check the area for the infected."

His bright eyes stopped again on Heero and Relena.

"Are you both all right? Are you hurt in any way?"

His simple-hearted words, so natural in ordinary circumstances, aroused indignation among the guards, but in his presence, it was obviously much quieter than earlier.

"They showed no gratitude for saving their lives!"

"Let them go to hell!"

"Whoa, whoa, relax, guys," Quatre raised his hands, reassuring the group, then he slowly turned his steps toward the newcomers. His trusting behavior clearly disturbed Trowa, who watched his every move with a cautious eye.

Quatre stopped about one and a half meters from Heero and Relena, then crouched, coming abreast with them.

"I don't know what exactly happened here, but we can probably start from the beginning. You look tired. Who are you, and how did you get here?"

Heero didn't answer immediately but measured him with hostile and distrustful eyes. The guy was clearly different from the rest of his company; he seemed likable, good-natured, and peaceful. He almost seemed a representative of a long-lost species. Heero calculated that making him an enemy would not do them any good.

"We're from the Philadelphia QZ," he began with a hoarse voice. "We have been on our way south for several months now. Here, in the city, we were attacked by the infected. We escaped and reached your settlement… That's all."

Quatre frowned. "Are you saying you have already crossed half the continent? Alone?"

Heero didn't answer, giving him a blank look in answer. He already knew what this conversation would lead to and what the next blond question would be:

"Where are you heading, then?"

"It's our business," Heero replied automatically, keeping his poker face.

Quatre leaned back slightly, but a friendly expression never left his eyes.

"Well, we're still strangers to each other. This can change. Let me introduce myself: my name is Quatre Raberba Winner," he tilted his head slightly.

For a second, Heero thought that there was something aristocratic about this man's gestures, something he had only seen in one person. He also noticed that Relena slightly flinched at the sound of the man's name.

"And this tall man behind me is Trowa Barton. You came to our home, Evergreen, which we founded three years ago. Now, who are you?"

Heero was about to speak when Relena lifted her head from the bucket and measured the blonde with incredulous eyes.

"Quatre...? " she whispered.

The blonde man turned his eyes to Relena, surprised, and the two frowned at each other. When Relena brushed the unruly strands of hair from her face, Quatre's blue eyes widened with disbelief.

"I know your face..." he muttered. "You are...!"

"Quatre!" Relena's tired face lit up with a smile. "I'm Relena! Relena Peacecraft!"

TBC

Happy Saturday!

It took me a long time to write again. I had so much work during a week that I didn't know what to put my hands in.

Our lovely couple arrived in a fantastic place. They avoided death again, but did they make new friends? Will they stay here? Why Relena know Quatre?

You will find out in the next chapter!