Rey stared in shock, even as his eyes began to water from the heat and brightness. Something had happened, something had gone really terribly wrong, and the hospital was gone. There was fire already swallowing up whatever bits and pieces had been left, and he could actually see where a basement would be, except for the fact that it too was filled with flame, looking like an open maw of Hell itself springing up from the ground as though trying to break through into the world. He whimpered, trying to scoot back, falling back against the ground as the strength in his arms failed him, but tried to keep moving anyway.

"Rey-Rey!" Someone grabbed him, and he gasped at first, but then he looked up and saw Eddie over him, a thin trickle of blood coming from a scrape along his cheek and jacket sleeve ripped, face etched in fear and worry. "Rey, are you okay? Speak to me holmes, tell me you're okay!"

"M'fine..." Rey whispered, coughing a little, trying to sit back up and realizing he was out of breath, probably had gotten the wind knocked out of him when he'd been tossed to the ground. "Fine, didn't...not hurt..."

Eddie pulled him up and checked him over regardless, then brushed him off as though the dirt and leaves clinging to his clothes could be responsible for an injury. His worry was almost cute, in a way, and Rey couldn't help but smile at the familiarity of it as he was pulled in close for another hug, resting his head against Eddie's shoulder.

"Was that a bomb?" he heard a woman yelling, and looked over to see the blonde woman, Beth, her coat now in tatters, scrambling over to Marcia to try and help the older lady to her feet. "What about the people in there? What the hell was that??"

"It had to have been..." Marcia murmured breathlessly, holding her head and staggering a little, though Beth held on to her arm to keep her steady. "I didn't know they were...oh my God...if we...all of us would have been in there..." She clasped a hand to her temple again, looking rather shellshocked.

"We need to move!" another voice broke in, and Cena ran towards them from wherever he had landed. "If that place exploded, there's gonna be shit raining down on us in no time!"

Even as he was speaking, the fates decided to prove his point. There was a clattering and a thudding as bits began to rain down around them, and Rey grunted as Eddie hauled him up and cradled him close. Eddie hurried along a bit to where Chavo was just starting to sit up, dirty but otherwise untouched, and hauled him up, calling out as he did. "Where are Jeff and Dave?"

"I'm over here!" Batista yelled, making his way over, arms over his head as a bit of flaming debris whipped past several feet behind him. "I don't see Jeff, I don't see where he-,"

The conversation was ceased at a sudden sustained shriek, a kind of berserk, terrified sound in the woods ahead. Batista turned towards it and ran in that direction, still shielding his head with his arms as the others followed, the thuds and whacks and eerie tinklings of things showering around them. Batista swirled around one batch of trees and saw Jeff on his knees ahead, hands up in front of him as he stared at them, screaming at the top of his lungs, eyes bulging. Dave rushed forward to see what was happening, and skidded to a stop, gasping and whipping around, pushing Eddie to a hard stop. "Go around, don't take Rey near him!" he shouted, then turning to head back for Jeff's side.

"What's wrong? What happened, is he hurt?" Cena rushed forward as well as Eddie started to move towards the side, wincing as he held Rey tighter.

"No...it's worse," Batista muttered, wincing and reaching down to grab the back of Jeff's shirt and haul him to his feet. Cena glanced at Jeff, who was still screaming and staring at his hands and part of his left sleeve, which were covered in some...strange material. Gray and black and red and almost like a kind of ash, maybe, but wet somehow...

"Oh Jesus Christ!" Beth gasped from behind him, and he looked back at her, seeing her face was pale and her hands were clasped over her mouth, then down at whatever it was she was gazing at. It was something that was unfortunately easy to recognize...most...of a burned torso. It had been charred so badly that it crackled apart in places, revealing disturbingly bright red innards-with two bigger...crushed-opened areas...and judging from the positions, he guessed that it had fallen in front of him, and while Jeff had been trying to use his hands and climb to his feet, he'd accidentally-

"Oh Jesus Christ," Cena repeated, wincing, as Batista shook the still-hysterical Jeff, trying to get his attention.

"Stop it, Jeff, stop! Calm down! We need to get out of here, now!"

"I put my hands in it, man!" Jeff was howling, holding his hands away as though they might somehow hurt him if they came close. "My fucking hands in it!! I had my hands in it!!"

Another crash burst through the treetops and a large piece of burning rubble landed to their right, and Cena shook his head, stepping in, grabbing Jeff's arm and tossing him up and over his shoulders. "We ain't got time for this, let's move!" he snarled, turning and starting to run, seeing Eddie, Chavo and Marcia were ahead of them, Marcia now in the lead, guiding them out. He sprinted after her, barely hearing Beth and Batista pelting behind him and the whizzing and smashing of debris falling around them over the sound of Jeff's continued screams.

Marcia pushed through a row of bushes and out into a clearing, coming to a breathless stop, as the others froze behind her. "Don't worry," she said, glancing back to them. "They're my friends."

There were several vehicles in the lot, military-styled ones. Jeeps and a couple of obviously police cars and a few trucks and one bus were lined along a road leading in from the other side of the woods, with people in helmets and riot gear and olive uniforms buzzing about, shouting to each other and carrying things back and forth, ducking under a hastily erected green canopy to try and avoid the falling detritus that was making it even this far. One, a large man with a thick mustache and a fierce jawline, who's very countenance screamed "general", hurried over to them, eyes blazing.

"Morales, what the fuck happened over there??"

"They had a bomb in the building, sir," Marcia replied, rubbing her forehead as they headed for the canopy. "It...it would have killed us all if we'd gone ahead as planned...I had no idea..."

"Who are these people?" the man barked, as Cena brought up the rear in coming through the bushes, still carrying Jeff, who'd finally gone silent, and rushed to join them, setting Jeff down and rubbing his back a little to try and comfort the shivering Hardy.

"They..." Marcia looked to Eddie, then reached over to touch Rey's arm as he stared at them in obvious worry. "This was one of the test subjects. And that's the man I was telling you about, Dave Batista, helping me out. They...came to save their friend..."

"So they're responsible for everything going straight to shit on us??" he snarled.

"No, no...they saved us, sir. That bomb went off only a few minutes after intruders had been detected. They were remarkably quick with getting in and out. If they hadn't...we'd have all been in the building when it went off. We wouldn't have saved anyone. There'd be no evidence left."

The man snarled softly, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. "Goddamnit. Motherfucking Bettler is too smart."

"We still have all the evidence we gathered," Marcia replied. "We have mine and Dave's notes and observations and the stolen paperwork. And we have Rey here. He's going to be indisputable proof. We'll still get them, sir."

Another of the apparent soldiers ran over to them. "Sir, a civilian vehicle is approaching, a large blue van!"

"It's okay, holmes," Eddie replied quickly. "That's our ride. He's just coming to meet us."

The general let out a bit of a frustrated sigh, but nodded. "Arrange an escort and take these civilians somewhere safe until we can finish processing things here. I want round-the-clock guards, we can't let anything happen to-,"

There was a bizarre kind of snapping sound, and before they quite realized what was happening, the side of the general's head burst out a spray of red and material, and his eyes bulged as he staggered, then fell to the side. Marcia screamed, then fell to her knees next to him. "Sir! SIR!"

There was another whizzing and a burst, and several feet away, another man's head snapped back as he fell to the ground as well. Now there was a cacophony, the men began yelling to one another, running about, grabbing weapons and firing back into the woods, even as more of them were knocked to the ground or shot apart by the sudden incoming barrage. Jeff began to scream again, but this time the others joined him, looking around, moving, trying to figure out what to do, where to go-

"Come on!" Marcia cried, lunging up, grabbing Eddie's arm and hauling him and Rey forward, bolting towards the road at the other end of the clearing. "Hurry, hurry, run, run now!!"

They rushed after her, straight through the thick of the other soldiers, even as some of them were shot and fell in their wake, they kept running. Cena kept a firm grip on Jeff's arm, hauling him bodily, Beth kept her arms up and over her head in what would have been a futile attempt to protect herself if any of the incoming bullets found their way to her. Dave huffed ahead, staying to one side of Eddie and Rey, gritting his teeth as there were more pops and shouts as more men fell around them.

"Fuck!" Cena barked as he stumbled and tripped over one of the bodies in their path, and he squirmed a minute to get back to his feet, but Jeff, even as he was still shrieking in terror, whipped down, grabbing him under the arms and pulling him up, all but dragging him along as they went, but then he tripped as well, falling on top of John as a bullet whizzed just over his head, enough that there was a tug through his hair as he went down. At that, Cena finally kicked his way to his feet, barely noticing his high tops being left behind as he did, and pulling Jeff up with him and all but dragging Jeff under his arm, running forward to catch the others.

"There's the car!" Chavo yelled, pointing ahead as they came over a small hill, getting into the woods, leaving the sounds of the chaos and destruction behind. The blue moving van was driving forward, but it came to a stop as they came into sight, and the driver's door opened. Josh Matthews, wearing a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and dress pants, stepped out, eyes wide.

"What the hell is going on??"

"Get back in the car, Josh, get the doors open!" Eddie bellowed, and Josh blinked, then jumped back into the seat, and the sliding side panel came open, and John Morrison was standing there shirtless, but in tight jeans and a long fur coat, blinking in confusion.

"What the-?"

"Get the fuck out of the way, Johnny!" Eddie bellowed, and Morrison swung to the side as Eddie all but dove in, rolling to the back and keeping Rey tucked against his chest. Chavo crawled in behind them, and Dave and Marcia took up either side of the door, guiding the others in.

"Come on, Marcia, let's go," Dave said, moving to gesture her in. She nodded and moved to get in.

"All right, we'll be able to run for headquarters and-,"

Even as she spoke, there was another snap, and Marcia didn't even have time to react, her eyes just went wide as there was a burst of red from the back of her head. She slumped forward into Batista's arms, and he grunted and gasped as he caught her.

"Marcia...Marcia! Oh my God...oh my God-!"

There was a loud ping as a hole appeared in the side of the van, and Cena lashed out, grabbing Batista by the head. "Get in here, man!" He hauled Dave backwards and into the van, causing him to drop Marcia's body as another bullet burst through the inside, hitting on the other side, making everyone inside cry out. "Floor it Josh floor it!"

Josh slammed a foot to the floor, and the van's wheels squealed as it did. Cena barely finished hauling Dave in before the van took off, and Morrison lashed out, grabbing the door, and yanked it shut just as another bullet shattered the window. They all huddled into the floor, grunting as the van bumped and bounced over the road as Josh peeled out, tearing down the road. There was another pop of a bullet hitting, then a loud bang beneath them as the van lurched around and went wild.

"Motherfucking our tire!" Josh snarled from the driver's seat, but he kept his foot on the gas and clung to the wheel, spinning it hard, even as it sent all the others slamming from wall to wall in the back, tumbling over and around with the force.

"Good God man!" Morrison managed to crawl his way over the front and fall into the seat next to him. "Do you know what you're doing??"

"I can promise you-," Josh spun the wheel, forcing Morrison to hang on and causing another series of bangs and shouts from the others in the back, "-I can do this better than anyone else!"

Morrison winced and looked forward, then yelped at the sight of men in the road ahead of them, brandishing firearms. "Shit! They're gonna shoot at us!"

"Get down!" Josh snarled, and he pressed even harder on the pedal.

"Are you going to hit those guys??"

"They're trying to kill us so hell yes I'm going to hit those guys!" He gritted his teeth at the difficulty in steering, but just missed a couple of them as they dropped their guns and dove out of the way.

"You can't just hit those guys!"

"I see no problem in hitting those guys!"

"That's freaking murder!"

"Thank you, John, would you like to add any other useful nuggets of wisdom to this conversation??" Josh grunted and aimed for another, and this time the man didn't quite make it and was clipped by the side mirror on Morrison's side, sending him rolling into the bushes on the side of the road.

"Well for God's sakes, if you're going to hit them then keep them away from my side of the car!"

Josh gritted his teeth, knuckles bloodless on the steering wheel, and as they came to the end of the road, even Josh gasped at the sight of a number of white cars formed in a barricade at the end of the road, with people standing and waiting for them. "Oh fuck."

"What do we do now?"

"You get down. I already told you."

"You're going to ram them?"

"If you have a better idea, I would absolutely love to hear it!"

Morrison winced, then reached back and grabbed a seatbelt, pulling it forward and fastening it tightly. "Grab onto something back there, guys!"

Josh leaned forward, bracing himself against the wheel, and some of the people around the cars took off running to get out of the way. Josh carefully aimed, seeing two cars that had enough of a space between them, and gunned it, flying forward and hitting both cars with a solid crash, managing to force the van through. The others yelled and were tossed about again, and Josh yelped as his forehead smashed into the wheel, but even as the van shuddered and started to slow, his foot was right back on the gas and pushing it, tearing down the highway they had made it onto and into the night, leaving the people and the white cars scattered in their wake.

There was quiet for a few minutes, as Josh sped down the highway, but finally the thudding of the shredded tire and general destruction of the van forced him to pull over, under a small overpass on an adjoining road, where he cut the engine and the lights, and they all sat in the dark. Finally, Josh and Morrison turned to look into the back at the others, Morrison wincing a little.

"Are you guys okay? What happened back there?"

They were lined along the walls of the van, clinging to one another. Rey was sitting in one back corner, with Eddie and Chavo on either side, all three of them hanging onto each other for dear life. Dave, with an expression of pure shock on his face, sat in the other corner, blinking. Jeff was next to him, crying softly, still holding out his hands somewhat, shivering. Beth's face was somewhat more confused than horrified but still showed her fear, and next to her, Cena was hugging his knees to his chest, shaking his head slowly. After a minute, finally, in a soft, wavery voice, he was the one who spoke.

"I lost my shoes."

Morrison and Josh looked at each other again, Josh chewing his lip. "I think we better find another vehicle and get the hell out of here."

"Yeah, I think we should too."