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Hours later a rainstorm had blown through, thoroughly soaking the whole region well before sunrise. The sounds from the wind howling by and the drops beating against the window panes normally would have deepened the slumber of those inside Renzo’s apartment, but Sam continued to stir uncomfortably in the bed leant to her for the night.

Sam thought she laid her head to rest just earlier with a clearer head than usual, hopeful the nightmares would be tamed for once. She got no such respite, however, as the oncoming claps of thunder only exacerbated the distant explosions amidst her from-the-cockpit flashbacks and reimagination of panic-laden memories.

A thud felt intensely enough to wake her from her nightmare and a loud, desperate gasp from her as she awoke also shook Sebastian from his slumber.

My, my… no, wait! Reality was still halfway lost between here and where she was in her dream as she tried to focus. Where, where’d I put my gun!?

Sebastian rolled over and opened his eyes to make out Sam sitting upright, trying to catch her breath and gather her bearings despite the near-total darkness of the room.

“Sam? Are you okay?” he mumbled through his drowsiness, reaching to put a comforting arm over her.

That’s him, isn’t it?!

“Where’s my…,” she began mumbling back, still thoroughly unsettled and seemingly disturbed by more than her dream. Her hands continued shuffling through the dark near where the night stand was, finding nothing but her shirt and jeans she laid out earlier.

“Sam, it’s another bad dream,” he continued as he started awakening enough to figure out the futility of her goals. “I’m here. It’s okay. You need to rest.”

“No, no, he’s coming,” she fussed under her breath.

“Who is coming?”

She paid no attention to the question, now standing up from out of the bed and began throwing her clothes back on just in time before the hallway light came on, peering in from under the crack of the door.

Shit! … Wait, where am I again?

[Huh? Renzo?] Sebastian called out, confused by the change in the situation. [Is that you awake?]

And with a sudden, forceful opening of the door and a switching on of the lights, Renzo quickly stepped in with no regards for their privacy but only after scaring the souls out of both of them. [We have to move, now!]

Renzo?! But in the next instant, it was like everything came back to her all at once as she finally gained her bearings.

Renzo then saw Sam standing there as if she were already ready to run, he casually smirked. [I see I didn’t interrupt anything unlike you two,] which then quickly faded back to urgency: [But we need to go! Hurry up!]

[Wait, why!? What the hell is going on?!] Sebastian blurted out as he too jumped out to get his shirt back on.

Sam, thinking more clearly now, could understand a few key words to figure out the issue at hand as she reached for her bag. “I told you something was wrong!” She fussed loudly this time at Sebastian as she shouldered it, now looking for her shoes. “Renzo, who is it?”

And Renzo easily understood the simple question, reaching down for her shoes to pass to her. “The… Underground is coming to here,” he attempted to answer in a serious tone.

Both Sam and Sebastian naturally paused in shock, but only for a split second before doubling their haste.

.

Throwing their bags along with themselves in the back seat of Renzo’s repaired and tactfully modified truck, they waited until they were buckled in to finish their questions.

“So, how did you find this out?!” Sam quickly asked as the truck quickly backed out and took off for the parking building exit, matching the pace at which her heart still pounded. “Who gave the tip?!”

[Kaylen!] Renzo shouted back, keeping all eyes ahead. [She just called me and told us hit the road before they realize we have our own extra set of eyes and ears!]

Sebastian wasted no time translating, remembering neither had their headsets working without their other equipment. “Kaylen called!” He shouted over the roaring of the engine and road noise as the truck now quickly accelerated down the main street. “I think she wants us to leave not just to escape maybe some attack, but to leave before they discover we have outside help!”

[Hang on!] Renzo added before quickly taking the first turn towards the nearest freeway that would take them southeast and out of town.

Sam grabbed a hold of the front passenger seat’s headrest until the truck steadied, but was then grabbing a firmer hold once again out of reflex. What shock effect had her and the others shaken soon hit their ears as well as she yelled out.

[An explosion!?] Sebastian hollered, turning to see the apartment building’s west-facing wall with a fireball extinguishing alongside flung glass and debris.

[She wasn’t fucking kidding!] Renzo bit down and gripped the steering wheel harder, still not in the clear enough to speed up safely, especially knowing there were some city blocks to clear before hitting the freeway onramp. At least not with passengers aboard. [That means company! Bas, grab my gear bag from under the middle seat!]

[Got it!] Sebastian answered back, reaching for the handle that lifted up the middle seat bottom, revealing the gear bag tucked tightly in place. And as he started tugging at the handle straps, Sam too reached in to help pull it out. “Thanks! I got it now!”

Sam read the atmosphere enough to start thinking what to do next. “What’s going on now?! Are we being followed?!”

“For them, no trap has no backup plan, yes?!” he quickly replied, taking out one short-barreled rifle with a collapsed stock, tossing it to Sam as he pulled out the other similar rifle. [You know what you are doing, I hope!?] he then shouted to Renzo.

[How do you think Dani and I caught Kaylen in her own backyard?!] Renzo yelled back, both in jest and anxiously as he saw the overhanging street sign pointing to highway six. Pulling up to an empty red-light intersection, he knew he couldn’t slow down. [Almost there, keep your eyes peeled!]

Just as their truck carefully sped through, a smaller, sleeker SUV came from the green-light side of the intersection and quickly pulled behind them. Both Sebastian and Sam immediately knew the oncoming vehicle’s intent as their minds began racing.

[Renzo! Got followers!] Sebastian hollered out as he rolled the window down. “Sam, stay low for now! You don’t shoot from your left hand, right?!” he continued, advising her out of caution seeing she was on the passenger seat side of the truck.

Sam could only nod, taking time to swallow her anxiety while fighting to recall only the useful pieces of her memories of the assault she survived back at Infinity Manila’s base. The rifle she held reminded her of the one she used, and after filtering out the operation of it from the memories of the borrowed blood-soaked armor and the screams of pain from every direction, she remembered fighting a jam that one time. She pulled back the charging handle halfway to see it was both moving and there was no round in the chamber, signaling her to finish pulling it back and release it to check once more. There it is. Glad it’s not-

***THOCK-THOCK-THOCK-CRACK!!!***

Her thoughts were interrupted by silenced bullets slamming into their truck and one through the glass, striking the headrest cushion just above Sam’s head, eliciting a quick shriek.

“Sam! Stay down!” Sebastian shouted again as he finished leaning out just enough to fire back as Renzo matched energy, swerving to his right to give him a better firing angle.

***BDAH! BDAH! BDAH!!!***

Rang the three pulled shots from his rifle, doing only minimal damage as he missed the windshield.

Shit! Sam winced and curled up from the violent pops and echoes, her body having almost forgotten how loud the rounds were unsuppressed.

Sebastian instinctively pulled back and ducked as more rounds came sailing through, this time shattering the center pane of the sectioned rear windshield. Sam took a second to assess her own safety and the condition of both Sebastian and Renzo, and after seeing Sebastian tilt outward to fire again, she realized she had a chance as well.

That window, I can get a shooting angle!

[Wait! Hold on!] Renzo shouted, pulling the truck through a hard right, taking a detour headed for the next onramp. [We can’t do this in high-speed traffic!]

Sam waited for the truck’s tilt to settle while she clicked the safety lever over and tightened her hands around the fore and rear grips, finger off trigger. The instant the truck fully snapped off its body roll, she straightened her back and sat up, shoving the stock into her shoulder. Her left hand tensed to the right, squaring it up with the headlights that now roared into view as she squeezed the trigger.

***BDA-BDA-BDA-BDA-BDA-BDAH!!!***

The fully automatic burst’s kick was as hard as it was her last encounter, but this time she felt the pain more intensely, and the lack of flash hider had her eyes sending off similar signals of panic.

“Shoot slower!” Sebastian shouted back as he pulled back inside, watching her crouch back for cover. “You’ll blind yourself!”

***THOCK-THOCK-THOCK-CRACK!!!***

***CRACK-CRACK-CRASH!!!***

Not only could Sam have a chance to think or focus through the next wave of return fire, she couldn’t hear a single thing he said. More panic set in as she saw his mouth still moving but nothing made sense.

But her breathing was still unrestricted, only her shoulder hurt, and both of the boys seemed the same, prompting her to fight to find her focus on getting another shot in. Shit, shit, all I can do is do my best or we’re dead!

The words “shoot slower” ran across her head once more, bringing her just enough calm amidst the ruckus to find something productive to focus on. Her finger now knew to limit its pull, swinging back around and pulled her left grip just enough to line up her sight posts just a few ticks above the right headlight from her perspective, giving the trigger one quick squeeze and a release.

Nothing.

Nothing changed that instant, nor did anything else register immediately in her mind, encouraging her to focus on one more shot. But something just to the left of her sight post flashed, setting off her reflexes as she squeezed the trigger again. A screech rang out from her as something burned intensely near her right ear as an even louder crack sounded off, prompting her to let go of her grip and drop back to her safer, crouched position, hand over the right side of her head.

Shit! What the fuck just hit me!?

“Sam!” Sebastian quickly pulled himself back inside to check on her, first making sure to stay low as several more shots fired off, soon followed by sudden darkness. [Um, Renzo?!]

***BAM!!!***

Nothing could be mistaken for the sound of heavy metal impacting with concrete. Knowing the coast might be clear for now, Sebastian rushed over to Sam’s side, still unable to tell what was going on with how dark it was, only able to audibly tell she was in pain. [Renzo!]

[Whoever hit them, hit them good!] He elated before realizing what Sebastian was hinting toward. [Shit! Hold on!] he continued, flipping the rear dome lights on. [She okay!?]