So the soldiers have Alec and Max in their crosshairs and Mole's making a break for it. On we go…

Day Ten - Continued

The first shot took Max in the shoulder. She fell and Alec grabbed her, dragging her toward safety while pulling her to her feet at the same time. Another shot made Alec stumble badly and it was Max's turn to keep them upright and moving.

Barely a handful of seconds after it had started they were behind cover and the people who'd been guarding them hurried to help.

"Thanks for the cover fire," Max snapped.

"We don't have the ammo to waste," Fido bit out. "Sounds like Mole and his troupe are using up almost everything we had left."

"So you were gonna just let them kill us?" she fumed.

"It wouldn't have done a bit of good to take a few pot shots while you got to cover," he said just as angrily. "We're going to need that ammo!"

Max clenched her teeth to keep from shouting something back. Instead, she looked down at her shoulder. There wasn't a lot of blood, but she could feel her collarbones grinding together and the pain suddenly rose exponentially. Why did it always hurt more once she'd seen an injury?

Fido came closer and gave her a quick look-over. "It's a through and through," he said. "We'll find something for a sling in a minute."

It occurred to her that Alec wasn't talking which just wasn't natural. She turned and saw that he was sitting on the ground looking dazed. Quarter was kneeling at his side and murmuring something in his ear. He nodded and allowed her to help him to his feet. He immediately leaned back against wall behind him for support and Max could see the blood on the ground where he'd been sitting.

"How bad?" she asked.

Quarter turned toward her and shook her head. She placed her hand on her own back at the bottom edge of the rib cage to the left. He was clearly in trouble, but if he was lucky, it was something a Transgenic could repair on his own. He would have to be lucky. There were trapped in Terminal City without a doctor and there was no other choice.

Alec squeezed his eyes closed and then opened them again, visibly working to make them focus on her. "We need to get to Mole." He stood away from the wall and, once again, it took definite effort to remain upright. It didn't matter though. Neither one of them had time to be injured.

Max turned and headed toward the sound of fighting. She braced against the pain in her shoulder. As she ran, she used her good arm to hold her injured one in an attempt to keep the shoulder from being jostled so much, but it was useless and she could barely concentrate past the grinding bones sending shockwaves of pain across her body.

As they approached, the sound of gunfire abruptly stopped and their group slowed. Max tucked the hand of her injured arm in a pocket to give some support and stability, then held up her other hand to signal those behind her to halt. Only Alec ignored her and came up directly behind her.

She peeked around the corner of the last building that would give them cover. Since Alec was taller, he too leaned out so that he could see.

There was a large hole blown in the fence and bodies littered the ground on either side.

Max spotted several Transgenics she knew, but many of the bodies belonged to Transhumans. She scanned the faces to see if Joshua had somehow been talked into the escape attempt, and was relieved to see he didn't appear to be present.

Soldiers were walking from body to body. Any Transgenic that appeared to be alive, they were picking up and carrying across the fence line to a waiting truck, leaving only the Transhumans behind. Max expected them to do the same with them, assuming they were separating the visibly different prisoners out for some reason.

A soldier walked up to the closest Transhuman and put a bullet through his head.

Max's eyes widened in shock and for just a second she was frozen in place. That second cost them all dearly. Two more soldiers joined the party and fired into the downed Transhumans.

"No!" Max screamed, while Alec moved around her and fired several shots toward the soldiers. They looked up, saw that reinforcements had arrived and quickly retreated back across the line. All of the opposing soldiers returned fire, but not as Max had expected. While most of the soldiers across the fence line fired toward them, several continued to fire toward the ground, shooting anyone who was already down, she supposed to ensure that they would stay down.

A rage like Max had rarely felt began to build inside of her. She started toward the fence only to be roughly pulled back. Alec used her jacket to jerk her back behind cover as bullets pinged off the brick of the building where they took cover.

Alec looked toward Fido. "We're gonna need to close this breach," he called over the sound of gunfire.

Fido nodded. Max remembered hearing somewhere that he'd been in demolitions. Something about his sense of smell being attuned for the explosives. Manticore had simply added to it with an encyclopedic knowledge of how to blow things up and the proper chemicals, materials, etc., to make it happen.

Fido left at a run and disappeared around a corner. "Don't worry," Alec said. "He's been working on something just for the occasion."

"Don't worry?" Max demanded. "Are you serious? They're dead, Alec. They made a break for it, and they're dead! Or captured! They put some of them in that truck! I don't know if they're dead too and they just want to study the bodies or…"

For the second time that day, Alec got right in her face, this time to stop her ranting. "I know, Max. We all know. But we can't help them right now. We have to save whoever's left!"

Max knew he was right. She knew she needed to focus, but it was like she was seeing everything from a distance. All of this, everything, was her fault. There was no way around that and her brain couldn't seem to concentrate on anything else. She had a vague feeling that something was wrong with her, that she should be dealing with this better than she was. Was this what shock felt like?

She heard Alec growl in frustration. He grabbed her arm, her uninjured one, and began to pull her away, back toward Command.

Max barely registered the explosion behind her. She turned and saw the building they'd been leaning against begin to crumble. It was a two story brick building, but within seconds it was no more than a pile of rubble completely closing up the breach. It also covered all of the bodies.

Day Eleven

Max sat on the floor with her back to the wall. The Transgenics and Transhumans who were left were all huddled nearby.

After the explosion she and Alec hadn't made it back to Command, only to a building a bit farther from the blast. Slowly the others had trickled in, trying to understand what had happened and then staying simply for comfort or for a lack of anything better to do.

Alec was stretched out across from her. Almost as soon as they made it to the building, his wound had finally got the better of him and he'd collapsed. Now he was still unconscious with his head resting in Quarter's lap and she was running her fingers through his hair in a soothing motion.

Any medical supplies they'd had were long gone, used to help Logan, OC, and Sketch. Once Alec passed out, Quarter had dug the bullet out and they'd produced old bits of clothing to use as bandages. He looked bad though and Max felt just as powerless to help him as she'd been to help the others.

It didn't help that Quarter was periodically glaring at her as if this was all her fault. Maybe that was because Max was thinking the same thing. Part of her knew that Mole's decision to make a break for it before it could be properly planned was on his own head, but still… They were all in Terminal City because she'd asked them to stay. At least Logan and the others were free. She just hoped they would be given proper medical treatment before the arrests and interrogations began.

Alec shifted in his sleep and let out a small murmur of pain. Quarter immediately leaned closer, whispering soothing words to settle him back to rest. Max didn't remember seeing Alec and Quarter together before, which surprised her since she looked awfully comfortable with him. The other woman had immediately put herself in charge of him as soon as he collapsed.

Watching her now, Max had to admit it rankled a bit. She knew she hadn't been the most attentive lately, but still… she would have noticed someone else hanging around, especially since Alec spent almost all of his time with her.

Quarter continued trying to quiet Alec, but it didn't seem to be working. Alec was still out and becoming more and more agitated. The others began to look at him, fresh worry appearing in their expressions. She knew Alec was popular and she hated that this was yet one more thing to trouble them. Joshua, who was sitting close by to keep watch over them both, let out a sympathetic whine of distress.

Unable to stand it any longer, Max scooted over and knelt at his side. She set her hand on his arm, ready in case he lashed out. She had a sling on, but her shoulder was a mess and she couldn't afford to get hit. Quarter glared at her interference, but Max ignored her.

"Alec, it's Max. You're ok."

Almost instantly, Alec's eyes blinked open and he stopped moving. "Max?"

"Who were you expecting? The president?"

"Always wanted the red carpet treatment," he said, his words still a bit slurred with sleep.

"Funnily enough we're fresh out at the moment."

"Too bad." He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "You need something?"

"Yeah." She dropped her voice a bit. "I know you got shot and all, but you're kinda freaking everybody out, so if you could suck it up, that'd be good."

He gave her a wan smile. "Got it. So comforting."

"You want comfort, talk to Quarter. She's the one you're sleeping on."

Alec's eyes widened and it said something about how out of it he was that he only now realized he was using the other woman's leg as a pillow. He sat up hastily and the effort cost him. He paled and held his breath until the pain seemed to pass, all the while glancing at Quarter in… not discomfort exactly, but more like unease. Maybe it was just embarrassment.

"Where's a Manticore doc when you need one?" he said tightly. "They'd either have me fixed up in no time or just put me down. I'd take either right now."

"You think you're funny?" Max asked.

Alec smirked. "Oh, I know I'm funny."

Max pursed her lips in irritation. She knew he was doing exactly what she'd asked and trying to distract from how bad off he was, but making jokes about Manticore putting him down still annoyed her. Max had just seen soldiers doing exactly that to the Transhumans trying to escape. She decided to cut him slack, however. He was hurting and barely conscious. She could also see fresh blood on his bandages. "You want me to take a look at you?"

"Never on the first date, Maxie."

"You're such an ass," she said. "I was just tryin' to-"

"Why don't you both shut up," Quarter said angrily. "He shouldn't be talking and you're just making it worse."

"It's ok, Quarter," Alec said quietly.

She lurched to her feet. "No, it's not," she said hotly, furiously brushing tears away. "Nothing is ok. The 'nomalies are dead and the rest of us are stuck in here and you're…" She trailed off, her gaze wandering from Alec to Max and back again. She shook her head and stomped away.

"Don't mind her, Max," Alec offered. "Nobody's at their best right now."

Max couldn't agree more. Some of them were dead.

More soon…