Felix caught the girl just before she hit the floor.
"Hello?" he said, shaking her gently, but he gained no response. He took a deep breath and lifted his head. "JOSH!" he bellowed, "JOSHUA GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!". There was a moment of silence during which the only sound was Felix's ragged breathing, until this was broken by a quiet scrabbling off to his right which slowly got louder until eventually a tall, stocky boy with straight black hair that covered his face burst through the trees. He was wearing a dirty grey t-shirt under a dark green hoodie. His jeans were covered in grass and mud stains and had tiny rips all over them. His trainers were not much better, the white had been turned brown and there was mud caked all over the soles. Additionally, he wore an empty shotgun holster that was slung across his body. The gun itself was in the boys large hands and was raised and ready to fire.
"Felix," he blurted out breathlessly, "What's the ma- oh." He cut himself off as he spotted the unconscious red-headed girl draped across Felix's lap. Felix stood up slowly, still holding the girl's limp form. He was slightly smaller than Josh, but only by a centimeter. He had short, light brown hair that stuck out at all angles. He had a bit of scruffy stubble on his chin and the sides of his face, even though he was only 17. He was, like Josh, wearing a dirty grey t-shirt but he had a brown jacket over the top which, aside from one or two mud stains, seemed almost clean. He wore dark green khaki trousers and heavy military boots which made him seem like a member of the army. He was wearing a scabbard on his back which, like the other boy's holster, was empty. The large sword was lying on the ground next to the two boys.
"Grab my sword," Felix ordered Josh as he began walking. "We have to take her back to the compound, Iain can probably help us to-"
"Whoa there tiger," Josh interrupted, placing a firm hand on Felix's chest and stopping him in his tracks. "You mean to say this girl appears out of nowhere, goes all damsel-in-distress on you, and you're just going to take her back to our secret base?"
Felix looked quizzically at Josh, tilting his head to the side. "Uh... yeah?" he replied, and started walking again. Josh ran round in front of him and started walking backwards so they were face-to-face.
"What part of secret base do you not understand, dude? She could be working with them!"
"What the hell would the shadow things want with a teenage girl, Josh?"
"I dunno! Light snacking?"
Felix sighed and pushed Josh out of the way. "We can't leave her here," he said, "she won't even last until morning. We'll just make sure she's alive, patch her up if necessary, and kick her out as soon as it gets light. Happy?"
"No, not really..." Josh whined.
"Well I'm the leader, so tough." Felix stated, ending the conversation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They trudged on in silence, Felix occasionally stopping to check on the girl in his arms. Josh followed behind, dragging his feet and twirling Felix's sword. He had re-holstered his shotgun over his back and it was rhythmically slapping against his back as he walked.
They finally reached a two sections of rusty wire mesh fence that were held together with a thick steel chain and a huge industrial padlock. The left section had a sign on it that bore the words "KEEP OUT" in bright red letters. Behind the fence there was what seemed to be an old abandoned army base. There were four buildings that were placed in a square, creating a courtyard in the middle which could not be seen from the outside. The ground was covered with a mixture of grass and mud, surrounded by sections of wild, untamed bushes. The buildings were run down; the plaster was peeling off the outside of the establishment and there were holes in the roofs of two of the buildings.
