"Cam, we can't go out there again. It's just the five of us and we would be shooting wildly in the dark. What would the point be?"
"Making sure that our people can actually make it." Jes shot a glare at Justin, who turned around to retort:
"Noble, yeah, but we would be gambling on all of us surviving. What if we don't? What if we try to make some nutty last stand and get eviscerated? We would lose out on a shot at possibly saving the entire nation!"
"Quit being the pragmatist, Justin!" She drew closer to him, muscles in her neck and arms visibly tensing as she continued:
"You and I both know that Ryk wouldn't want us to leave OUR people to fend for themselves! We go out there, provide covering fire just long enough for get themselves in here and figure out what to do from there, casualties and all." The squadmates that remained in Jessica's platoon nodded vehemently in sync with their commander. Justin looked to the wounded Cam, whose eyes betrayed a level of concern that he couldn't ignore. He wasn't going to do this for anyone else but her. 

"Alright, alright. We can set up a two man rotation just outside the door. We've got natural cover from the cement barrier, so we can probably hold out long enough to suppress fire."
"I'll do the first shift with you." Jes told him, motioning for the woman in her group before commanding her to keep watch over Cam. The other squadmate was positioned on the interior edge of the entranceway to help with crowd control as Jes and Justin emerged into the pale darkness.

_________

Two hours. 
Two long, crushing hours. 

Justin placed his back against the concrete barrier and grit his teeth, suppressing the urge to let out a visceral shout. His hands, sticky, doused with blood, threw the emptied firearm onto the ground with resounding effort as he looked over at Jess, whose shoulders were slumped, leaning on the top of the barrier to catch her breath. There had been nothing for the first hour of their watch, but then survivors began to trickle down the roadway, eyes wide, hands carrying whatever scant possessions they could carry. About fifteen had come into the bunker without any resistance with twenty more visible in the moonlight. 

And then they weren't. 

Arrows tipped with blazing heads streaked through the air, hitting their targets with precision. Jes, Justin and Robert(the male squadmate) couldn't identify the attackers in the dim lighting, so they fired wildly, hoping to hit the assailants. Instead of confirmed kills, the trio had to face spears and arrows flung t their position as well as the civilians. They were pinned down and emptying all of their ammunition into the darkness, the crazed shootout ending seemingly an eternity later. The trio emerged onto the street to find that while they had been suppressed, the remaining survivors of Omega lay in the road, their goods plundered, their lives snuffed out. 

They had failed. 

"We could've...we could've gone out there." Jes mumbled.
"Sure. We would've been laying in the street along with everyone else." Justin winced at the harshness of his statement, adding:
"Sorry." She nodded, walking into the bunker, Justin following. The survivors that did make it were settled in and trying to make themselves as busy as they could, but that activity ceased when their defenders walked in with looks of defeat. They knew. 

He looked for Cam's trademark ebony locks, but couldn't find her. Where had she gone off to?