A shot echoed through the cold, night air.
Claire widened her eyes, her gaze held by Gina's.
The gun that was held by the enemy dropped to the ground. The enemy let out a gasp as his body followed the gun's path only seconds later.
He didn't kill Gina.
From behind, Gabriel rushed towards Claire and Gina, a gun in his hand. And from behind him, more of his force ran to fight off the remaining enemies.
The man who he shot still showed signs of life. He moved in an attempt to get the gun that fell out of his grip, but Gabriel managed to hover over him before he got his grip upon his weapon.
Pointing the weapon Gabriel held at the enemy, without any mercy, he pulled the trigger.
SHOT.
Taking the bullet, it was his final one before he became unresponsive.
Almost instantly, Gabriel looked at Claire and Gina.
Gina looked up at Claire, a small smile forming on her face. With that, she lost her consciousness, falling to the ground.
"G-Gina??" Claire's voice boomed through the cold air as she rushed to Gina. Taking a hold of her, she let Gina rest on her shoulder.
Gabriel rushed over to then, kneeling beside Claire. "What happened?".
"She got shot, Gabriel..." Claire replied, her eyes welling with tears.
Gabriel turned around to one of his men. "Go and get help, immediately!".
"I can help her..." Claire voiced, still holding Gina in her arms. She furrowed her brows as her gaze remained on Gina. "If we wait for more people to come, she might not make it.".
Gabriel looked at Claire before he descended his gaze down towards Gina. Then, his gaze ended its journey by looking at the building behind him.
"Okay, but we must carry her. We have to get to a safe place first. The first floor has a few free beds," Gabriel replied.
Claire nodded to his words.
Managing to lift up Gina, they began to make their way back towards the building. Gabriel pulled out his gun, keeping it by his side. Claire noticed this but decided to remain quiet.
Reaching a staircase, they began ascending the steps. Then, shouts were heard as a soldier ran to the stairs. He was on the final step as he looked down.
Immediately, he noticed Claire and Gabriel. And they noticed him.
By his uniform, they could see that he wasn't their fellow soldier. So, pointing the gun up at him, Gabriel pulled the trigger. Twice. Killing him before he even managed to hold them both at gunpoint.
Claire shrieked, closing her eyes and only opening them when she heard a thud. The soldier was down.
Her gaze moved to Gabriel. "Come on, we must keep on moving...".
They reached the top of the stairs before entering a hallway. They froze when they saw the damage. The ceiling had collapsed, creating debris on the ground. So did some of the walls.
"We have to get to the other side of all this debris..." Gabriel muttered as he looked around at any way to get around all the collapsed concrete.
Then...
"There!" Claire pointed towards a door that was creaked open. Dim light just about shone through the slight gap. 'It must be where that soldier came from...' Claire thought to herself.
Moving towards the door, they didn't even manage to reach it when it began to open. It revealed another soldier. Another enemy.
"What the-" before the soldier - who opened the door - even managed to finish what he wanted to say, he fell to the ground from the two bullets that Gabriel shot at him.
It must have been from those shots that two more enemy soldiers ran to the door, armed.
"Shit..." Gabriel whispered under his breath. Claire followed his movements as he pulled Gina behind a wall, hiding them both and himself from being in the line of fire. "Stay here, I'll finish them...".
Claire nodded to his words before taking a hold of Gina.
She looked at Gabriel as he walked back out in the sight of the enemies, immediately sending them a shot or two. But they responded by sending a shot or two back.
And one of them...
GASP.
"Gabriel!?" Claire shouted.
One of them got Gabriel right in the arm. He looked down at himself, at the new bullet wound. "Fuck..." he muttered out before gripping his teeth. His gaze rose back to the enemies before he pressed the trigger of his gun again and again and again and again. Shot after shot, bullet after bullet launched out of his gun as they managed to find their ways to make it into the enemies. Both of them fell to the ground.
Looking back at his wound, he saw all the blood. Gore. But then his gaze moved back to Claire. "Come on, we need to get her onto a bed.".
Suddenly, running was heard up the stairs. It was Gabriel's soldiers. "Captain!?".
"Look into the room, check if it's clear.".
"Yes, sir!".
Behind them, a few more soldiers came along
And then, they heard the revving of a vehicle.
It was moments later that a bunch of soldiers rushed into the building and up the stairs. Amongst the first ones to reach the top of the stairs, Claire recognised one of them immediately. Garrett.
"G-Garrett!?".
---
Garrett helped Claire carry Gina onto a bed. Turning around, Claire was met with the sight of a few nurses rushing to help out.
"We brought over a few nurses, thought you could need the extra hand," Garrett spoke out, as he looked towards the skilled nurses who gathered around Gina's injured body.
"Will she be okay?" Claire asked.
"Yeah. She'll be okay. Her injuries don't seem to be life-threatening.". A pause followed his words. "Is she a friend?".
At first, Claire nodded. "Yes...". Moving her eyes from Garrett, she looked at Gina through a gap the nurses made.
A small, sheepish smile evolved on Garrett's lips. "She'll be just fine.".
She nodded to her brother's words. Then, a moment of silence descended amongst both Garrett and Claire.
"Did you finish what you needed to do?" Claire asked him. "Captain Macintosh said you had an errand to take care of.".
At first, Garrett furrowed his brows in confusion, but then upon Claire mentioning Gabriel, only then did he let himself relax ever so slightly.
'He didn't tell her...' he thought to himself.
"Yeah... yeah, it was something small anyway...". A break followed. "But hey, I'm back now.". His eyes went down to Claire as a small smile evolved on his lips.
Claire replied by smiling back at Garrett. Seconds later, the smile on her face faded away.
He lied. She felt it in her chest.
Clearing her throat, brushing such a feeling aside, she proceeded on asking, "Have you seen the Captain anywhere?...".
Garrett turned his head from Claire before looking up. There, his eyes met Gabriel. "There he is.".
Turning around, Claire sees him too. Gabriel allowed a small smile to grow on his lips. So did Claire, forcingly.
With that, she approached him as he walked toward her, the distance between them only getting smaller and smaller.
And then, the red on the sleeve of his left hand caught her attention. He wasn't patched up.
Once they got a meter's distance away from each other, only then did the silence between them both break. "Did someone see your wound?" she asked Gabriel.
"I'll do so myself..." he responded, giving Claire her answer.
Gabriel noticed the way Claire rose her brow. "Why are you looking at me like that?".
"Sit..." she spoke out.
"I can do it myself," he retorted.
"Oh, but back in the camp you insisted on me helping you, eh?".
He froze as it took him a moment to realise what she was referring to. And then he did, his eyes widened ever so slightly. "You... you remember?".
"Whether I remember or not is aside from the point," Claire began. "On top of that, you saved me. Please sit down, Captain.". She paused as her mind regurgitated the conversation she has with Gina only hours ago. She lowered her gaze to the ground, sadness slowly spreading through her body. "Gina told me everything," she added, her voice becoming noticeable quieter. "I'm sorry for reacting the way I did.".
Gabriel's gaze fell to the ground as he sat on one of the vacant beds. The sadness within grew and only grew. "You're apologising, yet you didn't do anything wrong. If anything, I should be the one apologising to you. I shouldn't have kept all those things from you.". A pause followed. And then for the first time, the first time ever since she met Gabriel... "I'm sorry.".
He apologised to her.
She damned herself for reacting the way she did.
Ducking down, making it seem as if she had to fetch something, she actually hid herself to let the tear - that welled in her eye - roll down her face. She couldn't help herself. Gabriel's words left her feeling her heart wrench. Gabriel noticed this. His eyes followed her.
"Can I ask you something else?" She asked him.
"Go ahead...".
Still kneeling on the ground, looking at the bunch of stuff that was below the bed, she cleared her throat. "Where did Garrett go?...". A pause. "Hiding all the stuff you did so far, it wouldn't surprise me if my brother asked you to cover for him too.".
Gabriel tried to swallow down the lump in his throat.
Just as he was about to respond to her question, he was caught off guard when Claire looked up at him. "And please, tell me the truth now...".
Sighing ever so slightly, Gabriel began, "He told me not to tell you anything...". Then, he switched his gaze to Garrett who was afar behind them. "But since he made it back, I guess it'll be futile now for me to hide such things from you," he added.
Before speaking up again, Gabriel lowered his gaze to the ground. "We had to cross an old bridge and had we all driven on the bridge, I don't know if he would be here right now. The enemies who followed us were proof of that.".
'Are they still behind us...' Claire thought over the words she vividly heard. They sounded so dream-like, so unreal.
"By the time we reached the other side of the bridge, it has collapsed from the number of vehicles that were on it," Gabriel added. "So, Garrett took another route. To be honest, I thought he'd come some time after us. But days had passed before he had finally arrived," Gabriel admitted.
Taking a deep breath, she rose herself back up to her feet, only to see that his eyes were still on her. "She told me..." Claire began. "She told me about how you carried me in from the truck, about how you kept on checking in on me.". A pause. "Thank you... thank you for saving me.". Closing her eyes, she couldn't help but let a few more tears roll down her face.
---
Some time passes when the shooting was heard again. Claire once again found herself rushing around all the beds, assisting who she can.
After patching up Gabriel's wound, not long passed before the shooting has begun. With that, both Gabriel and Garrett headed out into the battlefield.
Then, a nurse called out her name. "Claire! We have another, severely injured soldier.". Telling her where the soldier was, she made her way to the room.
She knocked on the door before entering the room.
The room consisted of five beds and one of them was taken.
Beside the taken bed loomed another soldier. Claire was surprised to find out that it was Gabriel. "Gabriel?...".
His presence caused her heart to drop to the ground.
But brushing such a feeling aside, she looked over to the injured soldier only to let out a gasp. Her eyes widened.
'No... no, this... this is not happening. No!' she thought to herself.
"I'm sorry," Gabriel began, he wanted to say more, but all that came out was another apology. "I-I'm sorry...".
"G-Garrett??...".