Alec's not breathing… Gotta see what we can do about that…

Chapter Eleven

Max sprinted toward Alec and dropped down by his side. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Fido answered. "He was breathing and then he wasn't!"

Max felt for a pulse and after a few seconds realized she wasn't getting one. She immediately got closer, still on her knees and leaned over Alec, placing one hand over the other and began chest compressions. "I need you to breath for him," she ordered Fido, who simply nodded and waited for her to finish her first round of compressions before tilting Alec's head and giving two breaths. Max felt his chest rise beneath her hands and then began again.

"He doesn't look like he was shot."

Max looked up to see the colonel and several others had gathered around. "One of your guys shot him when we were handing over the civilians at the beginning of the siege. He never healed right and now something's wrong."

"Any other injured?" the colonel asked, looking to his men.

"Two, sir," one of the soldiers answered. "The rest are definite casualties."

"Load them into one of the other personnel carriers along with these three," he ordered. "I want a full security detail with them. The rest of you will take custody of the remaining prisoners and transport them to the base as already planned."

Max let out a laugh that was perilously close to a sob. She was still giving compressions, watching Alec's pale face for any signs that it was working, but she knew one thing for sure and Glaze wasn't going to like it.

"What's so funny?" the colonel demanded.

"You might want to look around," Max said. She was slightly breathless from the CPR, but she didn't let it stop her. She might be weak and hungry, but Alec was more important. "My people are trained at covert operations. I'm guessing they're already long gone."

Max knew that as soon as the fighting had stopped and the soldiers were busy rounding up White's men and checking on their own wounded, the Xs had simply faded into the woodwork. White had unwittingly done her people a great service. His attempt to take them had offered the perfect distraction. He had given them their first real opportunity at freedom. They were in the wind now and she might never see them again. It was both comforting and heartbreaking at the same time.

"What?" Glaze said, sounding shocked.

In her peripheral vision, Max saw the colonel turn in a circle and beginning looking for the ragged figures of the remaining Transgenics. His men did the same and it was almost comical. They looked like a bunch of confused, armed ballerinas doing pirouettes. Their confusion, however, confirmed that the others were already gone.

"Fan out," the colonel bellowed. "I want them found."

His men flew into motion, but it was useless and Max finally had something to smile about. At least some of them were going to be free.

"Colonel?" Max asked. "You still willing to get us to a hospital?"

The colonel's attention snapped back to her. "What?" It seemed to be his go-to word for the day.

"You have injured men and so do I. The hospital is just inside the next sector." Max had no time for him to mount a search party for the others. She was tiring and Alec wasn't showing any signs of improvement. Being a Transgenic gave them a slightly longer window to get him to help, but he wasn't immortal. He needed medical attention and he needed it fast.

The colonel swore viciously. "Get them in a truck." He looked around. "Harper, you're in charge of the search. Radio the others we left guarding Terminal City to assist. Call the base as well and tell them I need a team to secure this scene. Myers," he pointed to another man, "you're with me. Get four more men and get to the transport. You'll be security at the hospital."

A moment later, a large personnel carrier, an open one this time, screeched to a halt alongside the first one that currently held the Familiars. Men began loading the wounded soldiers into the back.

Glaze, himself, stepped forward to help her. "Let's get him up," he said.

Max allowed him, along with Fido, to help her lift Alec and hurry toward the truck. The others made room to allow her and Fido to remain on the truck bed, immediately resuming CPR. She could feel Alec's ribs giving beneath her hands and was grateful for his Transgenic bone structure. Normal CPR meant breaking a person's ribs, but Transgenics' bones were a little more forgiving than the norm.

Max stopped for a moment to check for a pulse. She thought maybe she felt a flutter, but she couldn't be sure, so she simply started again.

"They gonna get this truck moving anytime soon, or do I need to drive it myself?" Max snapped. Glaze had disappeared, she assumed to ride in the front. As if they'd heard her, the truck's engine revved and, with a jerk, they began moving.

"Max?"

She looked up and saw that Fido was pale and looking winded. The fight might have taken more out of him than he could manage.

"You," she nodded at one of the soldiers. "Get down here and help me."

"No way, lady." He shook his head and Max realized it was the soldier Alec had taken the gun from. "I'm not touching him."

Another soldier got her attention. He was holding pressure on his fellow soldier's wound. "I will, but-"

"Fido," Max commanded, "go put pressure on that one's wound, so he can help me." Holding pressure was easier than bending over someone and breathing for him.

Fido hurried to comply and changed places with the soldier. She saw the surprised expressions on the others in the truck and said, "Nobody else is dying today. Everybody get that? Not us, not you. I don't care about sides. We're just soldiers doing our jobs."

The man who'd offered to help put his hand on her shoulder. "Trade me," he said. "You're shaking you're so tired."

Max realized he was telling the truth. Not to mention the collarbone where she'd been shot was screaming at the workout she was giving it. She awkwardly crawled over Alec to give the other man space to kneel. He immediately began compressions, counting under his breath. Max, too, knelt over Alec's prone form. He was pale and so, so quiet. Alec wasn't quiet. He wasn't this compliant either. He whined. He argued. He made snarky comments. He always fought her every step of the way. He didn't just lie there and take whatever she dished out.

"Come on, Alec," she said. "We don't have time for you to take a break right now."

The soldier had finished his first round of compressions. She tilted Alec's head back slightly to open his airway, pinched his nose shut and sealed her mouth over his. She gave two breaths and then sat back, waiting for the next round.

"You said you were gonna wear me down. If this was your way of getting me to kiss you, I'm gonna kick your ass. You know that, right?" He didn't answer. "Might kick your ass anyway, for this," she said.

On and on they continued the CPR. It seemed to be taking forever to get to the hospital, even thought it was just inside the next sector. With each second she knew the odds were getting worse and worse.

She was exhausted and had to put both of her hands on the truck bed to hold herself upright in between giving each round of breaths. It meant she was close enough she could see the dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose. She'd never really noticed them before and the thought of never being able to tease him about it was beyond painful.

"You gotta stay with me," she whispered. "I'm sorry about Dalton, but don't you dare think you can leave me to go after him. You got that? Don't you dare. I need you here."

Max leaned down to breathe for him again when the truck hit a huge bump. Along with Alec, it jostled her so hard, she actually fell to the side and the soldier who'd been giving compressions did as well. They both struggled back to their knees, but when Max began to reach for Alec, the soldier stopped her. "Whoa. I think we got something."

"What?"

"He took a breath," he said.

Max looked and saw that he was telling the truth. She hurried to take a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. She looked down at Alec and smiled. "See?" she said. "All it takes is smacking you around a bit to get you back in line."

The truck come to a stop and Max looked up to see they were pulling in to the hospital. The colonel must have called ahead, because there were already people waiting outside with gurneys. Max was relieved to see that Dr. Shankar was one of them.

Everyone in the carrier quickly stood and got ready to pull their compatriot out and turn them over to the medical staff. Max and her helper carried Alec, while Fido helped carry the man whose wound he was still holding.

In a rush of movement, the patients were handed over and orders began flying as they were whisked away. Dr. Shankar had quickly placed herself in Alec's camp, so Max could at least keep from worrying that a doctor would simply let him die because he was a Transgenic.

"I want a detail on him at all times," Glaze said and two men hurried after Alec. "The rest of you are to take the remaining prisoners to…"

Max laughed and shook her head. "You might want to take a head count, Colonel."

As they'd done earlier, he and the others looked around and now saw that Fido had already disappeared.

"Are you kidding me?" she heard one of the soldier say. "It's like trying to guard a bunch of freakin' ninjas!"

"Fan out," Glaze said, although from his tone he knew it was a lost cause. "Find him."

The men complied, leaving her alone with Glaze. "Why didn't you run, too?" he asked.

She pointed toward the hospital. "I can't leave Alec."

"And if I transport you away from here?"

"I'll escape and come back here." It was a simple fact and she said it just as simply.

Glaze sighed. "Then we'd better go sit and wait for word on him."

"Seriously?" she asked.

"The others we took from the first escape attempt?"

She nodded. They'd all been worried about the Transgenics they'd seen loaded into a truck during Mole's ill-conceived escape attempt.

"By the time their transport got to the base, the guards in the back with them were unconscious and the prisoners were all gone. We don't even know at what point they escaped, whether it was in the city or once the transport was outside it. They were just gone and the truck was locked back up like they were still inside."

Max couldn't stop the smile on her face. They were free. The Transgenics she'd been so worried about had been free all this time.

"I also noticed that even though we'd only been traveling a few miles before we were attacked, all of your people had managed to get free from their restraints, not to mention disappearing right in front of an entire squad of trained soldiers."

"What can I say?" Max shrugged. "We're sneaky."

"Let's go sit," he said. "It's been a long day."

"It's still morning," she observed dryly.

The colonel stopped and looked around as if just noticing. Apparently a tense surrender situation followed by an ambush was a bit above his expectations for the day. "Guess it's going to be a longer day then," he said.

Max thought of how bad a shape Alec was in and had to agree. "I need to be in there."

Glaze nodded and began walking inside the hospital. Max followed him and heard him mutter what sounded suspiciously like, "Damn ninjas are going to get me court-martialed."

Max walked into the ER to a sea of doctors, nurses, and techs in a flurry of activity around their new patients. She knew which cubicle Alec had been taken to because the guards were standing nearby, watching like hawks.

Dr. Shankar came out of the curtained room and looked this way and that. Max waved and the doctor hurried toward her.

"What happened?" she asked. "There aren't any obvious signs of injury, but his vitals are dropping."

Max's own heart dropped at the news. "He was shot early on in the siege." She turned and pointed with a thumb to a spot on her back. "Here. He looked like he healed, but he hasn't been right since. He's had episodes where his chest hurt and he had trouble breathing. Don't know if something healed wrong or we didn't get all the bullet or…" She huffed in frustration. "All I know for sure is he got bumped, grabbed his chest like he was dying and then keeled over."

Dr. Shankar nodded, taking the information in. "Ok, Max. We'll do what we can."

Max wasn't comforted in the least, but she knew it was all a doctor could really say. They couldn't promise everything would be ok, because it wasn't true. Everything might not be ok. Alec could die or be permanently damaged. It was just the way things were and doctors didn't promise things they couldn't deliver.

She was very afraid Alec had done exactly that.

Don't worry. You'll always have me.

Everyone was gone now. The others were in the wind and she'd be surprised if she ever crossed paths with them again. Transgenics were just too good at hiding. Unfortunately, that meant they would be hidden from each other as well. Joshua was still in Terminal City and it would be dangerous for Max to go back there. Logan was probably being watched since he was now a known sympathizer. She would have to call Asha and see if the S1W had contacts who could help get him out of Seattle, but then Joshua would still have to hide and Max wouldn't know where.

The thought of going it alone was overwhelming and Max had to sit down before she fell down. Distantly, she felt the plastic waiting room chair beneath her, but all she could see was the long stretch of years that was her childhood. She'd spent them alone, desperately trying to stay free while scratching out a meager existence and searching for her brothers and sisters who'd escaped along with her. She'd had no luck then and the people who were gone now? They weren't children with a few years of training. They were adults with years more experience at covert operations.

If Alec died, she would be alone again. She was going to have to run at some point and it would be her teen years all over, alone, lying through her teeth, stealing to stay alive. Maybe she could set herself up again somewhere like she had at Jam Pony, but her face was famous now and it would be harder.

She'd gotten used to being around her own kind. It had only taken a little time after Manticore fell for her to think of it as normal to be surrounded by Transgenics, first Joshua and Alec, and then the others.

She'd come to expect to have Alec around, fighting beside her, arguing with her, backing her up. The thought of him not being there, of no one being there, left her feeling empty.

I had big plans to wear you down, marry you, and move to Texas.

Max didn't know about any of that, but she had a sudden fierce need for him to live. She needed him to be ok. Maybe it was selfish, but she didn't care. She didn't want to be alone. She needed a friend and Alec had been right beside her since day one of the siege, maybe even before that.

"He's crashing. Get the cart."

Max looked up, her eyes focusing as one of the nurses hurried from the room to grab the cart and wheel it in. One of the guards got in her way and Max nearly screamed for him to move.

Max could hear the alarms coming from inside the room, intermittently audible above the raised voices of the medical staff.

Alec was dying. In some ways it seemed only fair. All of this was her fault. Her decision to hole up in Terminal City had resulted in the siege and the deaths of so many of Manticore's finest. Her decision not to order Logan, Sketch and Cindy out immediately had resulted in their steady sickness and decline, which in turn had resulted in Alec being shot trying to get them through the lines.

Maybe Max deserved to be alone. Maybe for everyone else's safety she should be alone. She was poison to everyone and everything around her. It had been proven true over and over again.

"Ok, call it," she heard Dr. Shankar say. "Time?"

One of the nurses looked toward a large clock hanging on the wall. "10:52."

Dr. Shankar nodded. "Ok. Time of death, 10:52 A.M."

Only the wrap-up left. It'll be posted soon…