Disclaimer: No I don't own Red Dawn. If I did Matt and Erica would've totally hooked up in the 1984 version.
Love Is A Battlefield
They had been sitting there for hours, Jed had long since ditched the mayor's car to a different location, and returned. Erica's grandfather came downstairs, he had a smile on his face. Erica stood up immediately and stopped chewing her nails.
She ran over and grabbed him, "How is he?"
Jed looked up, he had depressed expression. Mason looked at Jed, "He'll be fine. He's resting right now, but it is a good thing you got him here when you did."
Erica nearly jumped up the stairs, "Can I go see him?"
Her grandfather reluctantly nodded, "As long as you don't wake him."
Erica gestured to Jed and Danny, who shuffled along. Erica stood in the doorway for a moment, taking in the sight. He was in the guest bedroom, that she'd always share with Toni when they were little girls. The mahogany bed was in front of the small square window. The bureau was to his left, and a small desk to his right. In the bed he was steadily breathing, her favorite homemade quilt wrapped him from the waist down. He looked so peaceful, but she furrowed her brow and walked to his side.
His torso was wrapped in bandages. He had a sash of it wrapping around his shoulder, and across his upper chest. There was a noticeable red stain where his wound was.
Erica sat on the chair and pulled up next to the bed. She tenderly reached out and held his hand. She stared him down, thoughts were rushing through her head.
A solitary tear rolled down her right cheek, "Why Mattie? Huh? You just had to jinx yourself, didn't you?" "Chances are, that I will get shot and die."
She gripped his hand fiercely in both of hers. As her eyes assessed his situation, making their own teenage hormonal opinions about him. "He has some nice abs. I didn't even realize that he had that much muscle under all those layers."
Jed stood in the doorway watching Erica whisper to his unconscious brother, and slowly walked to the foot of the bed, Danny sat on the side opposite to Erica.
Erica looked at the other boys, she wiped her eyes and stood up. She hugged Jed tight, "Thank you for saving him."
Jed nodded, "I'm so sorry about Toni…it was my fault…I should have…"
Erica stopped him, "That's the past. I miss her, but we all do. We all miss everyone." she looked at Matt with a smile, "But what matters is that we managed to save one Wolverine."
Jed smiled, and Erica hugged Danny. He asked softly, "How are you holding up?"
She sighed, "I'm better now, knowing that he's okay. That we're all okay."
Danny nodded. Mason knocked on the door, with a concerned expression. "You kids better grab your stuff."
Erica let go of Danny, "Grandpa?"
Jed grabbed his backpack, and ushered the other two out of the room.
"Whatever you kids were up to last night, they're looking for you. They know you took the mayor's car. And they're looking for that and taking anyone suspicious."
Jed pressed his lips in a thin line, "It's a good thing that I got rid of that car then, huh?"
Mason nodded, "Yeah, but it won't do too much good for you if they stop by and you're still here."
Erica looked back to Matt's room, "You're making us leave? Grandpa! Matt's not ready to move!"
He held her arms length away, "Now you listen to me Erica. We want you three to get a head start to F.A. alright? We'll follow you, but you have to give us a day. We want Matt to rest a bit first."
"But Grandpa-!"
He raised a finger, "Don't 'but' me young lady. Jed's taken good care of you kids the past few months. I think he'll manage a day of travel to the plains. Okay?"
She looked down and nodded, her voice cracked, "How will you find us?"
He smiled at her reassuringly, "There are only so many populated areas in F.A. that are a nearby distance."
Jed handed Erica her pack and rifle, "It'll be fine. Let's go."
Mason handed her Matt's varsity jacket, "Will this help you? Consider this compensation."
Erica gripped the jacket, holding it close, "You won't let them touch a hair on his head right?"
Her grandfather smiled, letting out a chuckle, "Of course." he nodded to Jed, "You still have the horses?"
Jed nodded, "Yeah."
Mason sighed, "Good use them. It'll get you out of here faster. We'll follow tomorrow. Alright. Give us until tomorrow night. We'll be using my truck."
Danny shook his hand, "Thank you for everything these past few months."
He smiled, "Thank you kids for everything you've done the past few months."
Danny grinned, and Jed shook Mason's hand as well, Erica embraced him, "I'll see you soon Grandpa."
"Alright."
Erica ran to her grandmother, and gave her a hug as well, "Bye."
They hopped on their horses and made a break for the plains.
Matt's subconscious heard a soft voice, "Why Mattie? Huh? You just had to jinx yourself, didn't you?"
He slowly drifted in and out of consciousness, but eventually just passed out. He woke up at about nine at night. Did I really just sleep through all that?
He sat up, but he felt strained and stiff on his upper right. He looked down and saw he was bandaged, and there was a growing stain of red in his shoulder. Last night's events slowly returned to him in a blur.
"Okay that's the last of them."
There was a sudden sting, that zapped pain up and down his body. He saw the blood splatter. Oh shit! He thought. He heard Erica shriek at him. He heard another gun shot and moments later Jed and Danny were there.
Erica was holding his body, she was sobbing and he had a lopsided grin.
"I-I'm fine…really!" he slurred.
Erica cried, "No you aren't! You're shot!"
He held the bandaged wound and winced a little, the pain was there but surprisingly it didn't hurt so much. He rubbed his eyes and took in his surroundings. He was in a small room, moonlight was streaming in from the small window behind his head. On his left there was a bureau, and on the right a desk with a lamp. It had a soft glow to it.
He pushed the soft quilt off of him, and stood up, stretching out his sore muscles. He let out a contented sigh. He opened the bureau, finding his shirt and camo jacket. Where was the varsity one? He held the bloodied shirt in front of him looking it over. There was a large stain on the front and back, and a symmetrical hole on both sides of his right shoulder.
He was interrupted by a knock, it was Erica's grandfather, "So they did get here in time…"
Mason leaned against the doorframe, "Evening son."
Matt nodded, "Evening sir."
"How are you holding up?"
Matt shrugged and winced, "I'm doing as good as I can for now, little sore, but I'll be fine. Thanks for patching me up."
Mason smiled, "Tough, huh? Just like your granddaddy. It's the least I could do. Besides if I hadn't my granddaughter would've had my head." he chuckled, "It really is the least I could do. You kids have done so much since this started. I know it's been tough."
Matt looked down, thinking of all the fallen Wolverines; Aardvark, Colonel, Daryl, Robert and Toni. He stared at Mason, "Is my brother here? How's Erica? Is Danny okay?"
"Calm down son, you should be more worried about yourself, being the one that was shot and all."
Mason sat on the bed and gestured Matt to sit down, "They left yesterday, well I suppose this morning, very early, it wasn't even dawn."
Matt asked, shocked, "They left? Without me?"
Mason held a hand up, "Now now. I told them to leave, it was for their safety. Whatever you kids did yesterday it set up a heavy wanted search. I wanted them to get a head start to the safe zone. I told them we'd be a day behind, to give you time to recuperate."
Matt stood up suddenly attempting to pull on his blood stained shirt. Mason grabbed the shirt from him, "We have fresh clothes for you. No need to walk around in a bloody mess."
He was about to walk out of the room, when Matt asked, "Where's my varsity jacket?"
Mason turned with a smile, "I gave it to Erica, I hope you don't mind, but she was particularly antsy about leaving without you. I said it was compensation for keeping you behind."
Matt's mouth formed an 'o' in response, and Mason left returning with a fresh shirt. "Do you need help putting this on?"
Matt nodded, "Help would be nice."
Mason helped Matt get into his shirt and jacket. He almost tied his boots, but Matt stopped him, "You've done enough, I think I can handle a couple of laces."
Mason nodded and went downstairs. Matt struggled with tying them at first, but quickly worked through the pain. He stood, grabbing his hat on the bureau he situated it on his head firmly, before walking downstairs.
Mason and his wife already packed their things in the truck. Matt grabbed his pack and rifle and placed them in the bed of the truck with everything else. Mason started the ignition, and Matt closed the door. The three of them started their trip to Free America.
By the time Matt and the Masons were leaving, the Wolverines had just reached the border of Free America and Occupied Territory. They started making their way down the mountain, the entire trip had been fairly quiet. Each was lost in their own thoughts.
Jed finally spoke up, "Erica."
She looked at him, "What?"
Jed cocked his head with a smile, "You like Matt don't you?"
Erica blushed, and trotted ahead, muttering something about older siblings. Danny trotted his horse up to Jed's, "Is that a yes?"
Jed nodded, "I guess so."
Erica stopped her horse and waited for the other two, "Do you think they left yet?"
Jed shrugged, "If they haven't yet, they will soon."
Erica trotted in sync with the others, "Do you think Matt's okay?"
"He was fine when we left him, why wouldn't he be fine now?" Danny asked.
She shrugged, "A lot can happen in a couple of hours. I mean we just walked out of World War three! It was all so sudden…anything could happen."
Jed patted her on the back, "I trust your grandpa, we all do. Matt's gonna be just fine."
Erica smiled, "They better be."
Soldiers had found the mayor's car swerved off into a ditch, completely destroyed. They had started going door to door the day following the incident.
A young soldier, slammed his fist on the door to the Mason's recently vacated home. He was cursing in Russian for them to open the door.
When no response came, he shot the lock and entered. He sent two men to search upstairs, and one to follow him. They regrouped finding no one. But they did find a bucket filled with medical waste.
They chattered amongst themselves.
The leader spoke in Russian, "They must have been aiding the insurgents!"
One of the men who went upstairs held out Matt's bloody shirt, "Sir, we found this in one of the upper rooms."
The leader held it in front of him, noticing the bullet hole that entered and exited through the right shoulder.
"So they did help the rodents!" he snarled, "They have medically repaired one of the Wolverines." he spat the last word.
The one that followed him spoke up, "Sir, these look fairly fresh, they couldn't have gotten too far if they have a wounded man."
The leader nodded. Pointing to the second man who went upstairs, "Notify the base, we're going on a hunting trip." He sneered evilly.
A/N: Cliffie! Mwhahahaha...anyway...what's going to happen to them? Will the soldiers catch Matt and the Masons? Will Erica and Matt ever get together? SPOILER ALERT: Hell yes they're getting together! That's the whole reason I wrote this! Stay tuned!