"It's okay. We've met. We know each other," insisted Carter.
Luna looked surprised, but she didn't have time to second-guess anyone.
"We've got to move, now!" Hud yelled.
Nobody needed to be told a second time, and Rex followed on with Luna, though she took the weapon from him. They rushed to the far end of the hospital. Several of the staff screamed on seeing the weapons drawn, but there was no time to explain. They burst out in to a side alleyway where Hud had led them. A box truck was awaiting them, with a driver, too.
"Come on. Get in!" he insisted.
"It's okay. He's with me," Hud added.
They didn't have time to ask questions, just glad of a way out, but as they clambered inside, gunshots rang out. Carter stumbled forward and tripped, crashing into the back of the truck. There was an exit wound at his shoulder and blood pouring from the wound. Luna reached back for him, but Carter couldn't stay on his feet long enough. He fell down and crashed to the ground with Axel, too. Luna went to leap out to help them, but felt herself hauled back. She still barely knew either of them, and yet they seemed like her only real friends in the world, the only ones fighting on her side.
"Go!" Hud yelled.
"No!" Luna screamed, pushing back against him, but he wouldn't move. A burst of gunfire rang out, striking the back of the truck, and they ducked down. Hud had his pistol drawn and returned fire within seconds. Nui and Dia joined him. Luna was a fighter, but she was way out of her depth in this gun battle. She stayed hunkered down, looking back to where they had left their friends. Carter and Axel were still moving, but weak and unable to get to their feet. They wouldn't be able to put up any kind of fight.
Three GIS mercenaries were firing on their truck, and moments later the door behind them flew open, and two Liberty mechs stormed through.
"Shit!" Hud shouted.
He turned back and leapt on Luna, flattening her to cover her from the fire. There was nothing any of them could do now but hold on and hope. A hail of bullets landed among them before they took a bend. They were free and clear. The driver put his foot down, and they raced into the mass of traffic that would conceal them. Hud slammed the tailgate shut and slumped back down. Luna was on her feet in no time and looked furious.
"We have to go back! We can't just leave them there!"
"We don't have a choice, Luna. We can't fight that."
She was shaking with adrenaline and wept as well, but Hud was blocking her way. She pushed, but he would not move. She desperately wanted to get to the door, and when he wouldn't move she punched him at the jaw. A hard blow that snapped his head to one side, but he still remained.
"Enough, enough!" Nui intervened.
She pushed Luna back, who didn't fight back now. She looked unsteady as she staggered and slumped down against one of the bullet-ridden sidewalls. The thought of leaving Axel and Carter behind disgusted all of them, and yet it was beginning to dawn on Luna as it was for all of them.
They were powerless.
It was a horrifying feeling that ate at her very soul, the same distraught and sickening feeling she had felt when she took Locke's life in their duel. But somehow this felt worse still. Locke was dead, and that could not be undone. But Carter and Axel were alive, and for all her fighting skill, she could do nothing.
Nobody said a word as they all reflected on what had happened. It was a disaster that none of them had any answers for. A solemn and uncomfortable silence sapped their energy. Luna could taste the salt of her own sweat, and smell the burn of metal where bullets had struck the body of the vehicle beside where she sat. This was not the way any of them expected the day to go. The bitterness of defeat was on all their faces, all but one, the youngest of the group. Finally, the boy broke the silence.
"Terminal, it was all a lie, wasn't it?"
"Damn right, it was, Rex," replied Hud.
The energy and anger began to replace the feeling of loss and despair for them all as they contemplated that thought.
"Yeah, and the only evidence we've got of that just got left behind," said Luna.
"This is what you were here for? Not to fight?" Rex asked.
She shook her head.
"No, but to show the world what this really is. It's a lie. A scam, it’s horrid."
"Not like we can do anything about that now," Dia murmured.
"You kidding me?"
"This isn't a movie, kid. This is real," replied Hud.
"Yeah, it's real, and you all just saw it."
Everyone was silent again. It was a lot to take in, but not for Rex. For him, it was simple.
"Ms Lee?" he asked, standing before her.
"Yeah?"
"I thought Mic Zenner was something special, but...he's a bully, isn't he?"
It took her a while to process it, but she finally she answered him.
"Yeah, kid, I guess he is."
"Well, are you going to let him be a bully, or are you going to do something about it?"
She was brought to tears as his words resounded with her.
"No, we aren't," said Nui firmly.
"We don't leave our friends behind. That was his message," Luna said, thinking about Axel.
"This war, it hasn't ended. It's just begun," said Nui.
"Right, and how are we're gonna fight it?" Hud asked.
Everyone looked to Rex. He seemed the only one with faith in anything that they were doing. It seemed bizarre, because he knew the least about it all, but that didn't matter anymore. Then they looked to Luna.
"I am not a leader," she said with concern, but nobody responded. For they all knew her position and waited for her to speak, "We left friends behind, in a war zone. I'm no soldier, but I know that's wrong. And I know this is a war now. I'm going to fight. Will you help me?"
Rex saluted without hesitation. The others didn't have half his confidence, and yet his support was wearing off on them. It was Nui who stepped up.
"We do this together. This is all our fight now. We don't leave friends behind. We are going to see this through to the end!"
THE END
Battle Beyond Reality Page 23