The Great War • Hunter

31.No Different Than Them

        The squad walked carefully through the tunnel, shining their flashlights down the dark, seemingly never ending path.

    Crosshair eyed the cracked glass, his eyebrows scrunched together. "We need to go back. There must be another way." He urged, obviously being the only one caring about the unsteadiness of the tunnel.

    AZI, who was in the very front of the group,  stopped and turned around to face Crosshair who was all the way in the back. "That would be unwise. I am afraid this is our best option."

    Wrecker looked at the marksman. "You done complaining? You know, if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be in this mess." He fumed, peering down at his brother angrily.

    Crosshair raised an eyebrow. "Something on your tiny mind, Wrecker?"

    Wrecker turned completely around to face him. "All that time, and you didn't even try to come back." He replied, letting out a sigh and lowering his head. "We still would have taken ya."

    Tech stepped between the two. "Let it go, Wrecker. Crosshair has always been severe and unyielding. It is his nature. You cannot change that. He cannot change that."

    Hunter leaned Alona against the glass, placing a finger on her chin and tilting her head up to face his visor. "How are you holding up?" He asked softly while Crosshair, Wrecker, and Tech finished their conversation.

    Alona forced a smile. "I'm alright." She said quietly. But the way her eyes blinked as if begging for sleep and her trembling body looking ready to give out told Hunter everything Alona refused to say out loud. She was in a lot of pain and it was only getting worse. He wanted to so badly take it all away from her, to take the beatings himself.

    Hunter knew she would never have allowed that to happen, though. Alona, being herself, would have found a way to go back through time with the Force and put herself in his position. He both loved and hated that about her. "You'll be able to rest soon, we're almost there." He promised before they continued moving down the tunnel.

    A deep, gargling roar causes the tunnel to shake and even in Alona's state of disarray, she could sense a large hostile creature swimming towards their position. "We've got a problem." She warned, causing the group to stop again and look through the glass.

    Omega pointed her flashlight to the droid. "AZI, these tunnels are protected, right?" She whispered with tense shoulders.

    "Only when the power is operational, which it is not." AZI replied as the creature came into view, dozens of large pointy teeth ready to pierce through the glass.

    "Run!" Hunter shouted, his grip tightening around Alona, practically dragging her along as they darted down the long tunnel. "Sorry, sorry." He apologizes after hearing Alona's pained sounds. Suffer through the intense pain now so you can live later. She just keeps changing that phrase.

    The creature roars and bumps into the tunnel, knocking everyone to the ground. Alona chokes, her ribs colliding with Hunter's knee. She felt this piercing pain in her lung and she gasped, her eyes watering. She watched the cracks extend further up the glass wall.

    Alona coughed, blood splattering onto the floor. That's not good. Not good at all.

    "Restoring power should deter the creature! Try to stay alive!" AZI shouted, zooming down the hall to try and get to the power switch.

    Alona whimpered, pulling herself onto her hands and knees. "Not sure-" she coughs. "lon-ho-how much longer I can do that." She said lightheartedly, wiping the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand.