The bruises

Chapter 7: The attack

"Move forward!" Pablo ordered, beckoning everyone towards him. He was crouched down behind a pile of concrete blocks, checking over his shoulder every now and  then. All of a sudden a group of guards turned the corner and started shooting at them. They ducked behind the wall before anyone could pick them off. Shots kept being fired back and forth, hitting the walls and the makeshift barriers. All of a sudden Pablo threw a grenade over his shoulder. It exploded into a couple of sandbags that soldiers were using for cover, blowing them back, and killing them. The remaining guards fired even more, but hardly ever hit the target. "Aaahh! I've been shot!" one of the boys behind Pablo screamed, trying to stop the bleeding. Rick realised that it was his time to show the other boys that he wasn't a weakling. He dived out from behind the barrier and shot in mid-air, hitting the guards. Pablo hesitated for a moment, before rushing out and beckoning every one else forward. 

Dan awoke to a blinding light. He rolled over and decided to start searching for food straight away. He ventured into the forest, and straight away spotted a lizard of some sort. He crouched down in between the bushes and slowly crept forward. He pounced on it and punched it until it lay on the grassy surface, dead. He cleaned it in leaves and cooked it on a little fire he had made. He bit into it, releasing the meat juices into his mouth. It tasted delicious but he knew he had to keep it so he wrapped it up in leaves and ventured towards the city.

They carried on venturing forward, before Jesse spoke up. "It could be in the forest" he said, looking up at Pablo. "Shouldn't we check?" Pablo kept on looking forward, before changing his direction towards the forest. "I would say we could split up," Pablo spoke up, "but if one of us finds it we wouldn't be able to alert the others." Pablo carried on. Some of the others nodded in agreement. "This is gonna take ages" one of the boys moaned, sounding like a little two year old. This caused Pablo to turn around in anger. He stared him dead in the eye, making the boy anxious. Pablo pulled his gun out from his holster and aimed it at the boys chest. "Oh no, no, Pablo, listen to me mate, you don't have to do this." he stammered nervously, but Pablo wasn't paying attention. He looked him straight in the eye before pulling the trigger. The bullet pierced his chest and the body slumped to the ground. "Is anyone else unhappy about something?" Pablo asked, pointing his gun at everyone. They all collectively shook their heads. "Good. Now let's keep it that way" he said, turning and carrying on walking forward.

 Dan was desperate to find water and shelter. He wanted to return to the city but it was way too risky for him. He knew there would be guards in the city searching for him, so his only hope would be to move deeper into the heart of the forest.

As he moved deeper into the forest, he started spotting strange mutations of lizards and other reptiles, licking their lips at the sight of him. He wanted to kill them for food as he had done earlier that day, but he took one look at their sharp teeth and decided not to. All of a sudden he stumbled on a rock and smashed his head into the ground, right by a mutation. He got up, and saw the mutation getting it's claws out. He looked around, and noticed all of the mutations doing the same. They all pounced towards him, claws out in front, aimed towards him. He turned and sprinted away, ignoring the pounding headache he had. He sprinted away but was soon brought to a standstill. Directly in front of him was a massive cliff drop. He was trapped, like a bird in a cage. He had to do something so he turned and attempted to run around the mutations. They scarpered after him, but Dan was just faster than them. But one had snuck ahead of him. He scampered backwards before pouncing at Dan, digging his claws into his chest. Dan groaned in agony as he dropped to the ground, hands over the wound. His vision went black at the edges and he fell to the floor with a thud.

Ever since Pablo pulled the trigger everyone had been silent. Every now and then Rick went to speak up but decided not to. I wonder if I'll ever find Dan  Rick wondered. He wanted to sprint away from the others and go and find Dan, but he knew he would get shot if he did,  so he decided to stay.

Suddenly a massive explosion happened and out ran a tall, muscular figure. He fired behind the wall, his short, spiky, brown hair waving around. He shot once more before turning to face Pablo. "Pablo! My man!" he exclaimed smiling. Pablo grabbed his hand and pulled him into a friendly embrace. "Steffano! How've you been?" he asked once he broke the embrace. "Good, good. But I've been to and fro from jail about a million times. All wrongly accused crimes, but I've just kept escaping" he answered, smiling. "Cool. Could I ask you a favor?" Pablo asked hopefully. Steffano thought for a bit, before shrugging his shoulders. "Sure, what is it?" Pablo looked around. "Well, Jesse's friend here, Rick," he began, patting Rick on the back "travelled here from a parallel universe. But he can't find his portal and well, he needs to get back to his own universe. So he needs our help to get it back" He continued. Steff fiddled with his gun for a bit, before asking "What's in it for us?" Pablo replied quickly "We get to go back with him" Steff stood there thinking, before replying "Sure"

 Dan awoke startled. Someone or something was shaking him awake. Dan thought it was just a dream, but when he saw the figure in front of him he nearly jumped out of his skin. He sat up, his hands and body covered in his own sticky blood. "Are you alright, mate?" the figure asked, seeming quite concerned. The figure stretched out his hand to help Dan to his feet. "Uh, yeah I'm fine. How did you find me?" Dan asked, grabbing the stranger's hand and struggling to his feet. "Well, I was running through the woods, away from the Aarzurks, when I saw you lying here in the pool of blood, so I decided to check if you  were okay." the stranger replied. "Oh, and by the way, my name's Sam." Sam added on before turning and beckoning Dan to follow him.

Dan didn't know if he should trust a stranger who he had just met, but he decided he was nice enough, so he followed him.

The group carried on moving towards the forest. Pablo in front, with Steffano and Jesse close behind, and Rick and the others closely following.

Out of the blue a massive explosion errupted by Rick and the others, sending them flying across the path. Then gunfire errupted from behind Pablo, disturbing them. They turned around and shot back, diving for cover. Rick and the others who were injured during the explosion slowly climbed to their hands and knees, but too slowly. Most of them got shot down, leaving only Rick and a few others left. Slowly they crawled towards Pablo on their hands and knees, their guns hanging from their shoulder straps.

"Aaahhh!" Rick screamed in agony as a bullet penatrated his back. He fell to the floor screaming, face down into the blood-spattered dirt. "We've got to help him" Jesse shouted to Pablo, who could only just hear him over the gunfire. 

Pablo crouched down behind cover and launched a grenade over his back. While the soldiers were distracted he crawled out and pulled Rick into cover. "Nands, medical help! Now!" he yelled to Nando, who was dubbed "The Medic" by the crew, because he knew the most about first aid. He rushed over, and crouched down by Rick. Frantically he started pumping his chest and listening to his breathing, standard CPR. Then Nando informed Pablo "I don't think he's going to make it!"