Just as the question left my lips, there comes a shout a few feet away. “Captain!” We all turned to attention. This ought to be interesting. And as my eyes locked with the young man being dragged by my comrade, I knew my thoughts were right on cue. “Found him on that building over there. I think he’s the culprit responsible for the gun fire.” He throws the boy before our captains feet and stands alert, holding his gun, ready to fire if anything should happen. We all stare at the boy quizzically. “Sir...ah Captain, I thought all survivors were taken below ground when the outbreak began.” “So did I.” He kneels in front of the boy and speaks softly, “Why aren’t you with the others?” The boys eyes flutter open and he looks between my captain's face and mine. I hold his eyes as they silently ask for help. “Captain, if I may, maybe we should give him some space. If he wanted to hurt anyone, he could have killed me but he hadn’t. He saved me.” I glance down at my feet, angry with myself to have admitted to it out loud. Dan goes rigid next to me and grits his teeth. Is he mad? At me? I roll my eyes. Ah I get it, he didn’t get to play Mr. Badass and rescue the damsel. Ha, if he dare thinks to save me in any given situation, he’ll be needing a medic.
“My name is William Sir. I’m part of the 21st Unit.” He looks up at our Captain.
“Where’s the rest of your unit?” He asks, reaching out to help him to his feet.
The boy shifts uneasily to his feet and flinches at the Captain's inquiry as if he'd been struck. I crook my head to the side curious as ever but wince as the movement sends pain shooting up through my arm. He may have saved my life but I’m going to kill him for shooting my arm.
“They’re all dead Sir.” Captain's eyes bulge as he absorbs this news. “How?” he hisses.
“A mob on the front lines took out the 21st and  26th units along with our Special Artillery Forces during our first run through the cities of New York….” He stutters, fear trickling with each syllable. Oh God. I cover my mouth to smother my gasp. Poor kid. Must’ve been hard seeing all your fellow soldiers fall. “Were there other survivors?” I inquire. “Yes, but they disappeared shortly after we gathered what was left of supplies and retreated to our former base a few miles outside of  city perimeters.”  “Do you know if they are still alive?” Our Captain asks turning on his heel heading towards our stationed base inside a clothing store. “No. We were scattered when we were attacked by a group of survivors looking for food.” He turns and faces the boy. “Are you sure they were part of the living?” “Yes. I remember them speaking when everyone had gone and I was standing watch from a nearby tree.” “What did they say?” “Well, I remember one of them referring to classified data retrieved from another unit and….A guy, who I assume is their leader, saying that their next target would be in washington DC near the northern region.” Dan stands to attention and looks down at the boy over the bridge of his nose. “We’re their next target.” “Well, maybe there's another unit in this area.” He snorts. “We’re the only unit assigned to this region.”
The boy frowns. “You’re the soldiers that helped retrieve the data from the laboratory responsible for the virus.”  I smile with pride. “Yes.” He smiles half heartedly and then turns his attention to my arm. “I’m sorry for that. I tried to get a clear shot but….” I hold my hand to stop him. “Its cool. I’ve suffered worse.” My captain clears his throat and addresses his second right hand. “Please escort Mrs. Ana to medical tent for immediate care.”  then he glances at  William and nods his head as if in agreement with some unknown spoken question. “And take Mr. William as well. Have him examined just for piece of mind.”  He salutes him and gestures for us to follow him.
This is just f-cking fantastic. I’ve only ever had to seek immediate medical attention once during this whole ordeal and now i’m about to find myself with a second mark on my record. If my dad were here he’d being glowering down at me, asking himself why he ever could have a daughter such as myself.

“Ah.” I sigh. I miss him. Sure he may have been kinda tough on me cause I wasn’t the son he always wanted but I knew he loved me. I tried to make him proud. Scoring myself A’s from the second I started schooling. Graduating High School and College before I was 22. Enlisting in the air force just like he had. Earning myself quite a collection of medals from numerous victorious missions. I’ve always strived to excel in everything life has to offer me. If my mother had been around, she probably would have had a fit. Like, ‘What the hell do you think you're doing young lady?’ or ‘That's not a ladylike thing to do.’. I chuckle. My mother had been raised in some fancy lifestyle. My dad had said she had been such a snob when they were younger but he changed her by late autumn of their fourth year of college. I wish I could have met her. It would have been nice to have some womanly influence growing up. But hey, not much you can do to change fate. “Hey.” his voice startled me from my thoughts. I glance about and notice we had reached the open door of the tent. I glance to my left, catching Williams brown eyes just they are shaded by his lashes as he looks down to the dirt. “Hi?” I say quizzically. “I...If you don’t mind my asking but, would your  wouldn’t happen to be name Anastasia?” he mumbles. “Yes...but I prefer Ana. Anastasia is long and quite frankly too girly for me.”  He chuckles and nods his head. We are ushered into the tent and greeted by Sarah. Before I can even gather myself to a greeting, I’m gathered up into a bear hug. “Ana!” Sarah gushes squeezing me with all her. “Ouch!” I yelp as my my burning with new spearing pain. Sarah jumps back in surprise. “Oh my god, I am so sorry. I didn’t realize you were wounded.” After she’s let the words settle around us, her face turns one from guilt to surprise and she raises her eyebrow at. “Wait a minute, you never get hurt. Who shot you?” William shuffles his feet and his guilt crosses his face. “Uh, He...um William…” I nod my head in his general direction and Sarah turns into a protective mother in a nanosecond. “You shot Ana?” She says. I notice William wince under the scrutiny. “It was an accident. I saved her life.” Sarah smiled coldly. “I overlook your stupidity this once. But only this once. A life for a life.” I can’t help but laugh. An out right body racking hysterical laugh. Both look at me in surprise. “What's so funny?” Sarah asks placing her hands on her hips. Oh man. I love this woman. I wipe tears from the corner of my eye and straighten up giving my most serious look i can manage without bursting into another fit of giggles. “Oh nothing Mother.” “Mother eh? Guess someone wants to go bed without dinner.” I stick my tongue out at her and grin. “Enough talking. We need to patch you up.”