Maple bolstered herself against the pillar. The marching was growing closer, the steel machines pushing dust up into the air as they stepped. Suddenly, the footsteps came to a halt. An eerie voice craned out through the air, "We know you're here, so why don't you come out and greet us?" The voice sounded wicked, malicious in its intent.

Nobody budged from their position. Maple glanced back to the train car. Alyssa was crouched down in the door of the car, holding a raised fist to keep the refugees silent. 

Another voice, followed the first, Maple recognizing it as the insignificant tone of a soldier, "Sir, we're detecting movement from further ahead. Scanners on the Wolves are picking up multiple readings from the train car just ahead of us."

Maple peeked out from behind her cover. The soldier was addressing a man dressed in a white lab coat. He was bald, and his beard a scraggled mess. From behind a pair of large framed glasses, two eyes peered out like a snake focused on it's prey.

"Is that so? Why don't you open fire on it then." Maple felt her heart drop. The enemy knew exactly what they were up to. At some point, the must have figured out that there were more than Alphas living here. Before she could react, she heard her father's voice break out.

"Wait, don't fire." He slowly moved out from behind the concrete slab he had ducked behind, keeping his gun leveled in the platoon's direction. The soldiers quickly snapped their aim to him, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"Ah, Mr.Wright, if I recall. What a pleasure to see you once more. I take it there's something important to you in that train car?" The man was grinning wickedly, a smile that shouldn't have stretched as broadly as one human could muster.

"What's in that car isn't important. We're the ones you're after aren't we?" Marcus wasn't about to tell the man how many of them there were, he was just trying to keep things at a standstill. 

"Oh, but I am so curious as to what else you may be hiding other than your daughter Mr. Wright. Unload whatever is on that train right this moment, or my men open fire on it." Marcus was at the mercy of their will. Sure, they could let the soldiers shred the train car with the refugees, but he had made a promise himself to protect them when he had formed Generation. 

He turned back towards the train car, unsure if it was the right call to make. It could more than likely withstand the small arms fire from the soldiers, but the warheads that the Wolves were carrying would make quick work of it. With a deep regret in his heart, he called out to Alyssa, "Alyssa, have everyone deboard the train."

With a grain of hesitation, Alyssa moved up from the door, and slid back into the train car. After a few moments, the refugees came walking out one by one. Their heads were hung low, unsure about the fate that was awaiting them. 

"Good, now that that's out of the way, have them gather here in front of us." It was unclear what the man was intending. Marcus felt uneasy, but he had no choice. He signaled for them to gather up around them. He looked at the people around him. Nearby, the other members of Generation were still keeping themselves concealed. They weren't happy to play along with this game, but the less time they spent shooting the more likely they could escape without casualties.

"Now, I have another question, your daughter. Where is she? I assume she isn't far away is she?"

Marcus felt his stomach drop. He wasn't going to hand her over that easily. "She's not here. She never was. After you chased us down, I left her with other people that were able to care for her. It was too risky keeping her in my care." Marcus hoped they would believe it, but even if they didn't it meant they would have to keep pressing them.

The man let out a sigh, and reframed his glasses on his face. "Fine, we'll do it your way. Soldier, bring me one of the children from that crowd of people."

One of the soldiers proceeded over to the crowd, snatching a small child away from a group of two older women. Marcus recognized the child. He was young, and always had trouble looking Marcus in the face on supply days. Marcus thought of the times that he had patted the child on the head, hoping that one day he would be able to look up and say thanks with more than a nod.

The soldier drug the child over to the man, placing him on his knees in front of him. The man pointed to Marcus and spoke to the child, "You see that man? It's because of him that you're in this situation now. I just wanted him to know that." Marcus watched as the child slowly raised his head, fixating his gaze into Marcus' eyes.

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In a quick fluid motion, the man whipped a small handgun from behind his back and leveled the barrel against the back of the child's head. Before Marcus had anytime to react and state otherwise about Maple, the man pulled the trigger. A loud bang broke the eerie silence, and the child fell forward onto his face. Within moments a puddle of blood began to form around his head. 

It was all it took for the rest of Generation to snap. Marcus heard Alyssa's scream from somewhere behind him, but it was as if the world had just stopped. The child lay still a ways in front of him, unmoving. He looked around him as everyone broke from behind cover and opened fire. A sudden sting on his shoulder brought him back to his senses.

All the members of Generation were laying down gunfire in the direction of the soldiers. A few were falling near the front, but the majority had dug down behind cover after the first shot was fired. The man was walking back towards the soldiers directions, barking out orders, "Make sure you don't kill the girl. We need her alive. She'll be one of the ones fighting."

Marcus tried to level his rifle at the man, but his arm refused to work. He looked down at where he had felt the sting, and realized a bullet had pierced straight through his shoulder, disabling him from lifting his weapon. 

He slid down back behind the concrete he had been hiding behind, the sound of gunfire deafening all around him. He watched as the refugees began to panic, fleeing down the tunnels hoping to avoid the conflict. Alyssa had left the train car and was hunkered down on the tracks behind the platform. It looked like the end was near.

Maple watched as the soldiers fell before her. One by one, she was going to mow them down, regardless of what it took. She watched as her bullets tore through them, like pellets ripping paper, their blood misting the air as their bodies were openend up. A warhead streaked by her, screaming a high pitched squeal as it slammed into the wall behind them, blowing a chunk of concrete out of the wall.

There was a loud eruption sound that came from the tracks down the tunnel on her left. Suddenly, a bright light began to illuminate the tunnel, growing bigger as it drew closer. Crushing the debris it came into contact with, a large train vehicle came into view, coming to a grinding halt as it pulled up behind the members of Generation.

A familiar voice suddenly broke forth from the vehicle, it was Lyria's. "Everyone get onboard now. We don't have time to piddle."

At the back of the vehicle, a large door opened, a ramp sliding out and placing itself at an angle with the ground. 

Marcus looked around him, his teammates fighting with everything they had. Their ride was here, but nobody wanted to leave. He turned to the vehicle, and watched as the side door to the operators compartment slid open. Lyria peeped out from behind door and called out to Marcus, "Hey, I said get onboard. We don't have time to wage war with these guys."

Marcus felt like he was still in a daze. What about the refugees? He called back to her, "We can't leave. The people all ran down the tunnel. We need to pick them up."

"I'm sorry Marcus, but we can't. If they chose to ran instead of try to ride it out, it's on them. You've done what you could." Marcus glanced back to the battlefield, the child still laying in his own puddle of blood. He hadn't done everything he could've. He looked around at his comrades, gun still firing.

He quickly called out to them, "Everyone, our ride is here. Get onboard, this fight's over."

Maple ducked down and began making her way to the transport. Amanda and Akatsuya were two of the first to board. As she stepped up the back ramp, still firing off rounds when she could, she noticed Alyssa hadn't made her way to the transport. Her mind suddenly raced to the missile that had raced by her earlier. She ran off the transport and over to where the missile had impacted, keeping her head down to avoid the gunfire.

She spotted the chunk that had been blown out of the wall, and underneath, Alyssa. The chunk had fallen on her waist, crushing her pelvis and pinning underneath it. Her heart suddenly felt like it had died. She began making a mad sprint over to her. She felt tears in her eyes begin to well up. She couldn't lose somebody else, not like this.

As she arrived at Alyssa's side, she knelt down. Alyssa was still conscious, blood beginning to trickle from the corner of her mouth. "Alyssa, hol-" Maple couldn't finish her sentence. The tears were choking her up too much. She began pushing on the concrete slab, and it began to rotate away. Within moments, she had removed it, but Alyssa was unable to move. She quickly picked her friend up, her blood bleeding into Maple's arms.

Marcus saw Maple running to the transport, a small person in her arms. He suddenly felt his heart drop, but now was not the time to let his emotions cloud his instinct. Briggs and Germaine were the only two left still fighting, and they were fighting a losing battle. The soldiers were beginning to advance, Wolf units in tow. He quickly called out to them, and motioned for them to board the transport. They nodded and began making their to the back of it, keeping a suppresive fire field using Briggs light machine gun. Marcus quickly jumped onboard, Briggs and Germaine following behind them.

The transports back doors began to close, and Lyria set the throttle to a full position. They were going to have to make as quick of an escape as possible. She guided the transport down the tunnel, veering off to the left as the path split. She looked onward as they traveled down the line. She looked as onwards as the refugees who had fled watched the transport leave them behind. She had no intentions of telling Marcus that there was no way to carry them all anyways. It was better they had to be left behind.

In the back of the transport, Maple carried Alyssa over to a nearby table that was mounted to the floor. As she laid her down, Alyssa tried to mutter something, but Maple wasn't able to make it out. She suddenly felt Alyssa grasp her hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze. She then watched her friend close her eyes, a tear flowing out from beneath her eyelid...