The air was stuffy, filled with smoke and burning flesh, complemented by the dust hanging low in the air like a fine mist. To help the setting more dust trickled down from the building that was in danger of falling further in on itself, right onto her nose as she took in a breath, blood freely pooled around her dry and caked around her figure. When the dust flooded into her nostrils she instantly sat up and started to choke, eyes watering with the effort required to remove the dust from its once wet home in her lungs.

As soon as she dislodged the dust from her lungs she took in as much of the dry air as she could to utter the following about how her body felt as if somebody had thrown her into a woodchipper, dumped the chips into a pulverizer and then set it all aflame. “Holy fucking Jesus on a pogo stick.”

Dana rolled onto her side as she waited for her throbbing body to lessen in its intensity, eyes wandering the dimly lit cave of where she was, the only source of light being a low burning flame in danger of dying out. Her eyes traced the outlines of the rocks all around her until they settled on something hauntingly human and familiar, a head popping out from under some pieces of rubble.

“Alex.” Dana gasped, before bolting upright and scrambling over to him, more dust kicked into the air as she slid to a stop next to him. She ignored the fact that the way the rubble was positioned it should have crushed his entire chest and made him nothing more than a bloody splatter, and instead focused on where to grab the rubble. The moment she saw a handhold she grabbed it with both hands and bent her knees, preparing to pull up with all her might.

Despite it being more than double her size she focused on getting ready to push up.

So when the rubble flew up in her hands like it was nothing more than a pair of ten pound weights. She looked up confused for a moment before shaking her head of those thoughts and looking down to her brother who looked miraculously unharmed. The only evidence of him being hurt was the dust all over his labcoat and broken glasses.

Bending at the knees she freed one of her hands from holding up the piece of rubble and grabbed her brother by the collar of his labcoat and drug him out from under. The moment he was out from under the rubble she dropped it, letting it slam into the ground. She flinched as it made an unpleasant cracking sound behind her, but otherwise ignored it immediately dropping down to her knees to check on her brother.

Leaning down she hovered her ear near his lips, hoping to hear or feel any sign of breathing. She hissed in pain as nothing tickled her ear, sound or air. Rearing back she grabbed her brother by the shoulders and shook him vehemently hoping for him to come to. “Come on you fucking bastard, I did not just spend fucking months to get to you, for you to just die the first day we talk!”

He responded by his head flailing around while she shook him, her eye twitching. He couldn’t be dead. He’d done things she could only dream of, protected her, saved her and then ditched her for some reason. He couldn’t die before she knew why, he just couldn’t. Wiping away the water that had somehow gotten onto her cheek in all this dry air she leaned down and picked him up, infinitely lighter than before, and draped him across her shoulder.

Standing back up she looked around at her little cave of rubble they had somehow managed to be fortunate enough to fall on top of them. With one arm curled around her brother to hold him in place she looked at all the pieces around them for some type of pattern or sign signifying it was going in the right direction to get out and help for her brother.

“I want all the bodies over there in a pile, don’t worry about seeing who’s who! I don’t need to remind you about the contamination problem the corpses pose! And where the hell is that incinerator?” Cross screamed into the air as he surveyed the Blackwatch personnel running around, dozens of scientists in biohazard suits now running around too scraping up various things off the ground. Some could be the virus, other bits could be people, he was pretty sure the bits under that rock were pony in nature.

As of right now he had tanks and helicopters scouring the perimeter, which was four blocks away, supported by a hundred infantry evenly-spaced throughout the area and some ponies that had came running as soon as the explosion had happened. For once he was thankful for them being there, that outpost they had set up had came through in the end to help set up the perimeter. He turned around to watch one of said tanks driving past the entrance to Gentek HQ as the one roving tank, running over a car in the progress.

He would have preferred to chased down Greene but he didn’t have the manpower to keep both Gentek secure and chase her. Nevermind the fact he had no info on where she was. So right now he was stuck protecting the toxic pit that had become Gentek HQ from anyone being infected, they didn’t need another Hope or Two Bluff outbreak on their hands with Greene running around too.

Turning away from the exit of the base he strode back towards the wreckage and idly noticed the Apache and Troop Carrier helicopters currently on stand-by. Presumably hit by some flying wreckage while flying around earlier, but as far as he could tell they were fine. His eyes moved away from that and to the small group of Blackwatch soldiers currently looking towards the rubble, not even pretending to be at least guarding it.

He scowled, their fucking job was to protect America from the Virus and here there were a few idiots standing around with their thumbs stuck up their asses. His fingers curled slightly as he started walking directly toward them, none in their group noticing him, even though a few of those wandering around did and steered clear of him. No, they were all too engrossed in talking in a little huddle by the edge of the rubble, where humanity’s last hope had been.

By the time one of them had noticed him he was within whispering distance, but instead he took the moment to start yelling at them. “And what the fuck are you six doing here doing nothing but jack shit!?!”

One of the men jumped up slightly while the others immediately saluted. A few tense moments passed before the one that had jumped spoke first. “Cross sir, we think we’re hearing something under the rubble but we aren’t sure. Since its contaminated by the Virus we thought it would be better not to investigate immediately and first make sure we were hearing it right.”

That soldier was immediately smacked upside the head. “You didn’t think to fucking tell somebody you’re hearing something underneath the rubble of a place housing the equivalent of the zombie apocalypse?” The soldiers all glanced at each other slightly, hands still raised to their heads in a salute. Cross only noticed this thanks to the subtle turning of heads.

He shook his head and moved closer to the rubble to try and hear what they were apparently talking about. So he crouched down and cupped one hand around his ear, still scowling at the soldiers, when he heard the faintest of sounds. One that definitely wasn’t part of the building settling or anything else like that. He leaned slightly more towards it.

“Come on damn it, where’s the way out?” He immediately jumped away and signaled the others to back up too. There was no way in hell anybody survived that building’s collapse fine enough to be wandering around looking for an exit. The six immediately around him brought their guns up to bear as they backed away too.

One hand drifted up to his shoulder where a radio was mounted on his armor. Pressing the button to turn it on a hiss came through. “Red Crown be advised we have contact, possible survivor under the rubble of Gentek.” While he was saying that his other arm, the one equipped with a custom grenade launcher, lifted itself until it was pointed at the wreckage.

A female operator answered back. “Understood, continue with quarantine and report any developments.”

“Acknowledged Red Crown.” He simply said, immediately after which he grabbed his baton and flicked it out to the side. He glanced to the soldiers at his sides and saw that the others inside the compound had noticed, even those that hadn’t had any radios to hear his transmission, and were looking towards them. Some even started to wander closer various guns at the ready, one man on the roof even had his rpg trained at them.

Staring intently at the rubble, not willing to send one of his men in to check, the ten seconds that passed felt like minutes. Nothing happening except him dreading the idea that somebody had been infected, for if they had talked… he shook his head to rid himself of that line of thoughts. No Two Bluffs was a freak accident, they hadn’t had a chance to take care of it at the time, at the beginning.

It had to be somebody normal, just with a lot of luck on their side. While those thoughts ran rampant through his head some of the dust started to move on the rubble, all of those who were now paying attention immediately shouldering their guns. Cross could hear the voice again as it seemed to grow louder, getting clearer like before.

All at once a piece of the once proud headquarters for Gentek, the most advanced genetics company in the world, found itself flying at him. He froze for a second before dive-rolling to the side, the piece easily ten times his weight sailing bye like a paper airplane. The entire compound grew quiet as they waited for the dust that the rubble had caused with the sudden movement, to dissipate.

Cross jumped back onto his feet and pressed the button to make his baton spark to life, lightning racing up and down it’s length, twenty times the lethal amount coursing in something that he could fit in his pocket. But the shadow that appeared in the dust storm made that feel like nothing, that person being responsible for sending that huge piece of building and concrete flying.

One hand of the figure raised itself up to shield against the sun. “Oh fucking hell it’s bright out here.” The voice sounded vaguely familiar and only when it stepped out of the dust and fully into the light, her brother draped across her shoulder like a ragdoll, completely devoid of scratches or dust, did he realize who it was. Dana Mercer.

She looked towards him with relief, then slight confusion as she realized the amount of guns pointed at her. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Cross’s one uttered word that echoed across the silent compound. “Fire.”

In an instant all that became of what was once Dana Mercer was now a storm of bullets, shrapnel, and silent disgust towards her. Two of the rpg wielding men on the roofs fired their shots off, rockets joining the death cloud and signalling everyone else to stop shooting, Cross himself not having fired a shot. He scowled as the compound was filled with clacking noises,the sound being everyone took the opportunity to exchange magazines, regardless of how much they actually fired off.

This gave Dana an opening which she immediately took, exploding out of the dust and past Cross in one movement before landing back on the ground and dashing out of the compound in less than two seconds. He swore under his breath before running over to the Apache currently docked, his hand going up to his radio. “Red Crown be advised we have a confirmed Runner escaping Gentek, repeat Runner escaping!”

The pilots that had been busy waiting were performing last minute checks on their systems, rotors already spinning, despite being suspected of being damaged as Red Crown responded. “Understand Cross, Strike Package incoming to your position.” Red Crown turned her attention to all the others within the city. “We have a confirmed Runner escaping Gentek, all units be advised Runner will be heading for the perimeter. On sighting shoot to kill and advise others of your positions.”

By this time Cross had jumped into the Apache’s backseat so he could get into the chase himself, and the rotors began to lift him and the troop carrier next to him. His fingers curled around the joystick but let the pilot fly it instead, intending to be the one to shoot as the roaming tank radioed in their position just down the street.

The two helicopters spun around, crushing their occupants against the walls as they sped off in that direction, catching up to the tank in seconds just as it was turning a corner and the gunner was shooting the machinegun on top of it at something they couldn’t see. More radio calls from the east side perimeter alerting the tank to move out of the way as they readied their own guns. Said tank immediately slammed on its brakes at the corner just as Cross’s apache turned the corner, giving them a clear view of Dana running down the street as four tanks, one carrier helicopter and dozens of Blackwatch soldiers opened fire.

She turned to the building to her right and instead of running in, like he thought she would, began to run up it vertically. Defying the laws of gravity no less. So the street below exploded in debris for no reason as the bullet trailed her up the building. The pilot pulled back as hard as he could on the joystick to get them going up, while Cross impatiently tapped his fingers on the trigger buttons.

As soon as the pilot neared them about three fourths of the way up Cross choked the trigger, the minigun under him giving off a deafening roar as hot lead came at her in a flood. Everything around her became concrete dust but she kept running, before leaping above them and clearing the rooftop. “Fucking hell!”

Pulling up after them he saw them just for a moment as she leaped off. “Those in pursuit be advised she’s heading back down to street level, she just leaped off the roof.” A chorus of yes’s and what the fuck’s sounded off the radio, while they veered down, two apache’s flanked by two carriers lighting up the streets below.

A scowl appeared momentarily on his face before shaking his head, if he didn’t kill them now then the entire city would be in even worse danger than just Greene. His fingers migrated to the missiles release and the aiming system, waiting for the moment to get a lock on Dana as she ran through the populated streets of New York and made his men rip hundreds to shreds. They all turned the corner, the helicopters all slowing down for the turn thanks to the massive buildings around them, while Cross kept on a direct course after her.

In moments the laser system came to life and he trained it on her, her constant jumping over cars, trucks and weaving side to side interfering slightly. But the moment he heard a ping signifying he had a lock he squeezed everything on the joystick, missiles firing off, minigun ripping holes in her again and overall making the street explode. This was helped as some of the car’s fuel tanks around her caught fire in the ensuing explosion, throwing carbits, people bits and street bits everywhere, crashing through a few of the glass-paned buildings.

The pilot brought them in over it and made a small lazy circle as he looked for any signs of life from her, during which time the others caught up. But considering how she survived the first time… “I want this area searched top to bottom, no stone left unturned.” An affirmative came over the radio and they all moved off to do as ordered. The pilot began moving them forward and Cross’s eyes moved around to look at everything, eyes briefly settling on a pony standing on the balcony looking back at him, before they both looked away as a duo. The pony moving back inside and Cross looking at the person standing on the other balcony.

He shivered slightly as he closed the doors to his balcony, bathing the room in darkness again. That man just murdered so many people trying to get one girl and her friend, that was just sad, what did they do to him? Speaking of which. “Hey can you turn on the light? It’s right next to the doorframe.” He said to what was once an empty room.

His new friend obliged and the sparsely decorated room filled with only a couch, plants and a table was brought into light, revealing the girl that they had just been trying to kill. Just by looking at her eyes and the fear in them he could tell she hadn’t done anything wrong, but he was wondering how she jumped up to his balcony. She gave him a thankful nod while her friend still lay draped over her shoulder.

“Why don’t you take a seat? I’ll go make some tea.” He said trotting past her and into the kitchen. She silently moved over to the couch and laid her friend on it, slumping down against one of its legs and panting slightly.

Author's Note

Trondason is calling this pony an idiot thoughts?
Also anytime you see UN Live, not breaking news that is, it marks the end of a day.