Cole blew the door open for Jenny and Marcus and they were able to move on again. Neither of them spoke about what happened, and she beginning to think it was a spur-of-the-moment type of deal. After all, wasn't he involved with Anya?

She continued to dwell on her thoughts until Marcus pushed her against the wall. She was about to protest when he pushed his body against hers and breathed gently in her ear.

"Don't move. Don't make a sound."

She closed her eyes and held her breath, waiting for the locust outside the window to leave already. She had to admit, she sort of liked this type of contact with Marcus. If it wasn't for the fact that he was trying to save their asses, she would take this as a come on.

"I think it's gone." Marcus sighed, stepping away from her.

She nodded and wanted to ask him a million questions, but she knew this wasn't the time nor the place to do so. They walked into a large room, and through the dusty, grimy windows she could see Tai, Baird and Cole on the opposite building fighting off more Locusts. Jenny broke the window, dived through and shoved a few Locusts off the balcony while covering fire for her squad. Suddenly she could feel massive but uneven vibrations beneath her boots.

"Emergence hole?" She shouted to Marcus.

"No, look!" Tai said over the comm.

She could see him pointing down a large dark tunnel, and something was getting closer. Coming out of the tunnel was the biggest god damn Locust she had ever seen. She thought it might have been a brumak, but she had never seen one before. Marcus had snatched her arm and tried to get her to tuck and roll back into the abandoned hotel, but the brumak opened fire on the balcony and it was collapsing beneath her feet. She tried to outrun the destruction and dive into the building, but she was too late. She dived for Marcus' hand but was unable to reach it in time.

Marcus swore under his breath for not catching her in time, but he needed to deal with the brumak first. He unstrapped the mortar tied to his back and positioned it on the windowsill, angling the barrel just right to rain fire down. The brumak swung its enormous arm at Tai, but he managed to evade just in time and set his mortar up to fire as well. The air seemed to shake and split as the mortars whistled from the barrel and into the air, exploding and raining shrapnel down onto the brumak. It howled in pain until it was hit by another set of mortars fired from Tai's gun. The mortars seemed almost like fireworks that he remembered as a kid, just a little more violent. His mother didn't like them, and liked that Carlos Santiago let him set some off in his back yard even less. Sometimes Marcus wondered if things would be different if Carlos had survived the end of the war, if he would even survive E-Day. The brumak gave one final howl before it crumpled to ground, dead as a doornail. Things grew eerily quiet as Marcus ran back through the abandoned hotel and back to the pile of debris that Genevieve was trapped in. By the time he got there he could see that Dom and Cole were already furiously tearing away chunks of cement and wood.

"I'm fine, really." He heard her groan as he got closer.

She stumbled out of the wreckage covered and dust and a minor scratch on her forehead. Marcus touched it gingerly, and looked her up and down. Save for a minor scratch and some bruises that will no doubt surface later, she seemed fine. She smiled at him and her eyes filled with tears. She was safe, but she was scared. She didn't want to be killed by these monsters like her previous squads had been. Marcus honestly felt sorry for her for a second, but it quickly disappeared when Dizzy roared past in his 'Dill. Dom called her name and when she turned, he tossed her lancer towards her. She caught it one-handed and checked the ammo clip and nodded in the direction of the cave.

"Dizzy, can we get some lights? It's kind of dark." Jenny called out.

"Might versus light." Tai mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ben asked, walking next to the large South Islander.

"It means I would take two guns as opposed to a flashlight." He replied.

Jenny smiled to herself. You may as well just shoot yourself in the foot while you're at it, but Tai was big enough that he probably could do without a flashlight. She was about to join the banter when there was a quiet clicking sound echoing in the cavern.

"Did you hear that?" Marcus grunted.

"Yeah." She replied. "Sounded like—"

"TICKERS!" Dom shouted from the front and opened fire.

Jenny dashed behind an old, rusted-out car and rested her gun on top of the hood and opened fire. She heard a few screams and explosions when one scuttled next to her. It stopped, screamed and lit itself on fire.

"Oh for the love of God!" She screamed as she kicked it away.

She couldn't find Marcus in the chaos, but knew he was doing well because she hadn't heard any screams of pain or the sound of Dom panicking. Ben was ducked behind cover and he didn't even see the ticker next to him, getting ready to explode. She ran to him and kicked it away as he looked up, seemingly confused.

"Open your goddamned eyes or you won't live to see tomorrow, shithead!" She screamed as she opened fire on the last of the tickers.

They exploded easily and Jenny waited with Ben for the rest of the squad to regroup. Tai slowly wandered towards her, then Marcus and Dom. She could hear Cole laughing at the end of the tunnel and Baird yelling to him for something.

"Is everyone alright?" Marcus asked. "Any injuries?"

"No, but Ben needs to keep his eyes open or he's going to end up like his brother." She blurted.

Dom quickly shook his head at her and Marcus gave her a dark look. She instantly felt embarrassed as she watched Ben stiffen, then walk to the end of the tunnel to meet with Cole and Baird. As soon as he was out of earshot, Marcus grabbed her by the shoulder.

"You wanna keep your fucking mouth shut?" He hissed. "He thinks his brother died a hero."

She pursed her lips and winced. She couldn't say anything, just took off down the tunnel after him. She caught up to him and slapped his shoulder playfully.

"Hey." She said.

He said nothing in reply.

"Look, I'm really sorry Ben. What I said back there, that was completely out of line. I never met your brother, but Marcus told me he was a good kid. I think he really died a hero."

"Yeah, well our brother Clay always told him to keep his head down. I think that's what killed him in the end."

Jenny frowned and gave him an across-the-shoulders hug, something completely alien to her. She then reached into her pocket on her chest and pulled out a very dull, overused strand of blue ribbon.

"You carry strands of ribbon with you?" Baird asked as she tied her hair up.

"No, just this one. I think it was a gift from my mother, but I can't remember. She was compassionate, but a complete slave to my father. Whatever he wanted, he got. No questions asked."

Baird was quiet for a minute until Dom chuckled. "Holy shit, mark the calendar! Something made Baird shut up."

Jenny snorted lightly and Marcus was stoic as ever. Nothing would ever change that fact; his quiet, almost bitter demeanor and her light hearted yet tragic behavior. She touched the ribbon in her hair and could feel the threads unwinding and tickling the back of her neck. Secretly she hoped her father was still alive so he could answer for what he did. Sometimes she hoped her mother was dead for letting him put her through that pain. Her scars were mainly on her chest and back; she had a few on her arms from botched IV's. She couldn't remember where they lived; it was something starting with an "I." Every time she tried to remember she got a splitting headache.

"Marcus, can we stop for a minute? I don't feel well." Jenny asked, rubbing her head.

Marcus looked around, then nodded and began to strip off his gear. "We'll rest here for a few hours. I'll keep watch."

Jenny jammed her pack under her head for support and stopped thinking about her old life. She eventually fell asleep, dreaming of murky grey thoughts. She could hear a faint whisper in the back of her mind, but she couldn't make it out.

"Please…please." The voice begged.

It was tantalizingly familiar, but the harder she thought about it, the more it wafted away like smoke. She could hear the voice a little louder now, almost in a panic.

"Please, please wake up. I'm begging you love, just wake up."