Let's take a few steps...(DudeGuy and Selena)

Seeing that bruise, it all made sense. Selena's leg hadn't been hurting, she had been wincing in pain as she had been walking. The tightness of her muscles masked her pain. Not to mention the location of the bruise. It was the last rib on her side, the network of nerves overlapping with those of the abdomen. Then there was also the shrapnel and the pain from the cuts and bruises that it had given her. She must have been numb most of that time. Whatever the case, this situation was bad for them. Raphael was silent for a time after motioning for her to pull her shirt back down, thinking of what to do.

"I don't want you moving around too much anymore. It's best if you don't move around. Considering the way it looked, you're bone isn't broken, just fractured if that. We can't take any chances, and we can't risk anything happening to you. Don't worry about doing any heavy lifting or anything like that until we know for sure what the problem is. If you need anything, tell me, alright," Raphael said.

Selena pulled her shirt back down, sighing a bit. She absolutely hated that she got the feeling that she was holding then back with this injury. That ment no shooting the bow, no heavy lifting, no running, no excessive moving...it all made her feel like she was a bother to him instead of a help.

She had to just bear the pain and go with it. Bending down and picking up a box, "No no, I..I'll be fine. I don't need to be a bother." She held up the box. "See? I'm fine, I haven't hurt myself-"

Her talking was cut off suddenly when a sharp intense pain shot through the area where the bruise was. Her face showed her pain, and both of her hands dropped the box as they covered the spot where her bruise was. Picking up the box must've done it; the pain was unbearable. She gritted her teeth as she toppled over, down on one knee.

"O...Owww..."

Raphael tried to stop her from picking the box up, but she did so anyway. And now? She was suffering the consequences of doing such a reckless thing. He felt bad for her but. . .she did bring this upon herself. "You aren't a bother. You're an important person to me now. I'd hate to see anything more happen to you. So, instead of trying to prove you're fine, why don't you take it easy? The things I had in mind today I can do myself mostly, I just need for you to check the bow as best you can for now. At least make sure it's not damaged," he said ushering Selena over to a seat and forcing her to sit down.

After a brief trip to the freezer, he pulled out a bottle of water. On his way back over to the couch, he grabbed a clean towel and wrapped it around the bottle. "Here, just hold this against the bruised area," he said. Unfortunately, it was all he had to offer her.

Selena was forced downward into the chair; Raphael was much stronger than her. She held the towel-wrapped bottle against her bruise, a dissapointed look on her face. "If I wasn't stupid before..I'm stupid now..." she murmured.

At least the pain was beginning to ease. She could help to absolutely hate feeling so darn helpless! She sighed, sitting there. "Sorry..."

"Yes, what you did was stupid. You aren't stupid though, just trying to keep pressing on in these hard times. I don't blame you for doing what you did, but be more careful here. We don't know when we'll be getting out of here, and I don't want to see anything happen to you before we do," Raphael said sternly. He wasn't going to sugar coat things, what Selena did could have been the thing spelled her doom. Thankfully, she was still breathing and wasn't coughing up blood yet. Both were good signs.

Without another word, he disappeared. A few moments later, she would hear the sound of the brakes of one of the trucks, and soon after that, the sound of the other. He returned to the room carrying with him the pillows, sheets, and blankets from the back of the trucks. He threw one set of things on the couch opposite from Selena, then handed her the others. She needed to take some time to relax. He began to search the cabinets, luckily finding a bottle of pain killers. After quickly scanning the label, he tapped a couple of pills into the cap, then carried them over to Selena and placed them in her hand.

"Take these, lie back, and get some rest now," he said softly.

Selelna did as he told her, taking the pills into her hand and popping them into her mouth before laying down on the couch. It was odd, really...he acted rather stern and commanding, but Selena didn't mind it. In fact, she appreciated it...it showed his concern for her. In another light, however, she thought his commanding additude was rather annoying. Not because it was his fault, but instead that this additude was fuel by the acts of PRAT, and it also showed itself when she was at her stupidest- which was caused by her!

Selena's thinking was stopped when the lights began to flicker until finally going out. There was also a very strange noise that she recognized: the sound of a plane flying over...very low...and dropping something...it made a very loud explosion sound.

"What the..." she said, peering into the darkness, trying to find Raphael's outline.

Raphael froze when he heard that sound. Just from the noise it gave off, he knew what it was. It was a bomber. That meant that. . .the realization his him just as an explosion rocked the room, sending him to the floor. The lights flickered around them from the sheer force of the explosion. It was several minuets later when the rocking finally stopped, and Raphael sprang back up onto his feet. The was bad, this was very bad. If tunnels collapsed, that meant that they were stuck here. there was a chance that they would die here. That just. . .he couldn't let that happen. First thing was first, he had to make sure Selena was alright.

"Selena, are you okay," he shouted, his ears still ringing from the loud blasts above.

Selena had been thrown off of the couch when the violent shaking occurred. She hand landed on her side that had the bruising over her rib.

The pain of landing on such a sensitive and tender spot was unbearable. It hurt so much that Selena didn't scream, didn't move. All she did was cry silently, unaware of Raphael calling out to her. The pitch black of the room intensified her pain, seeing as her mind was totally focused on the hurting and her eyes had nothing to see that would get her mind off of it.

There was no answer, but Raphael could hear her. She may have been crying silently, but the sounds of her sniffles carried into the ears of the young man. He just couldn't pinpoint her location. His eyes slowly looked up towards the roof, waiting for the lights to cut back on. A few minutes went by before they began to flicker, then slowly turned back on. It was a good think that the generator was still in tact. At least, enough to function. There were many things that they had to worry about now, but the most important thing would be to take care of Selena.

Raphael quickly scanned the room with his eyes, until he found her laying on the ground, curled up in pain. She landed. . .on her injured rib. That was definitely not good. He picked her up off of the floor and brought her to rest on the sofa. "Selena. . ." he gently placed his hand on her side to feel the bone. The. . .the bone wasn't broken. Thankfully.

Selena layed there on the couch once more. The tears kept coming as if they had no off switch. Selena's eyes stayed slammed shut, but tears still made their wet trails down her cheecks.

Her breathing was still racing as she spoke between her quiet sobs. "Raphael...I...'m...sorry..." she said, gasping as he touched the area where the bruise was. She wasn't sure why she just apologized; its just in her nature.

Despite her pain, she managed to reach up and hug Raphael, who was standing over the couch. She did this habitually. Whenever she was really hurt, it came natural for her to just hug someone, or be hugged.

A few moments later, Selena pulled her arms away. Wanting to respect his personal space, "s-sorry.." she said, the pain slowly lessoning. With all of this pain though, she had experienced a feeling she had never felt before: She wanted Raphael's warm arms around her. Just the thought of it made her blush under her teary eyes.

To Raphael? There was no way to distinguish that blush from her face flushing as she cried. When she embraced him, he embraced her in return. She seemed like she needed the comfort now. The pain she was going through must have been agonizing. So many networks of sensitive nerves all in one place, and with an injury like a fracture on top of them? That. . .the thought of the pain she must have been in made him hurt a bit himself. She she drew away from him, her took one of her hands into his own, holding onto it to show that he was there to support her through what was happening.

"Shh, it's okay. Everything is going to be alright," he whispered softly.

Selena's pain was slowly wearing down, or she was getting used to it. She felt like she was soo weak compared to him. It made her feel like she had let him down. All of her different emotions and intense pain and just plain confusion was running through her body at full speed. The medicine...it should be kicking in soon.
Selena couldn't help it. She needed his hugs' comfort. She hugged him again, burying her head into his shoulder. His hand was still holding hers. She felt...at peace. After many moments, her tears finally dried up. Selena rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. I...I hope he doesn't mind this... She was normally the one rolling her eys at her friends who threw themselves at guys, getting all over them and everything...but now...she was beginning to enjoy this. Was...was she becoming one of them?

Raphael didn't mind doing whatever it took to help Selena. Without her here? He would probably lose his mind. Being left alone in a wasteland where everyone and everything was out for you blood couldn't have been an easy thing. Raphael didn't want to know what that felt like at all. More than that, he and Selena didn't know much about each other, but he considered her to be a friend. After all of the things that they had been through? How could he not? She saved his life, and his saved hers. If a hug was what she needed, a hug was what she would get. As Selena leaned into him, he wrapped an arm around her and held her, allowing her his shoulder to cry on.

Even after her sobbing stopped, she didn't move. Except to make herself more comfortable that was. Raphael hadn't made any movements or gestures to try and move her or to try and make her move, a silent sign from him that this didn't bother him.

Selena continued to rest her head on his shoulder. Something about him...it was as if he was a calm eye in this storm of a wasteland. The medicine must've began to work, because she was rather sleepy all of the sudden. Her eyelids felt so heavy.

The pain began to dissapate, and other thoughts began to enter Selena's mind. I wonder...what his face is showing...I hope my hug didn't startle him...I hope he's not angry about this. With him being in PRAT before and all...I hope this doesn't make him uncomfortable...wow...I'm so sleepy...

Soon enough, Selena fell asleep, wrapped up by his arm and her head on his shoulder.

Selena calmed down considerably as she rested against his body, becoming calm enough to fall asleep. The medicine must have been kicking in. At least she would be feeling better when she woke. Raphael remained sitting, allowing her body to rest peacefully against his own for what had to be twenty minutes before he even twitched. Being in such close proximity with people usually made him feel uncomfortable, but there was something about Selena that made him feel calm. He slowly let go of her hand and drew away from her a bit, holding her upright with his arms. Gently, he laid her body down on the couch resting a pillow under her head. He grabbed one of the pillows from the couch and rested it under her back so that the natural curvature of her spine was supported. This would ease the pressure on her injured rib. Lastly, he covered her up with one of the sheets, silently watching over her as she slumbered.

His eyes slowly wandered up to the concrete roof above them, noticing a few small cracks above the center of the room. If anything fell, it wouldn't harm her. The breath that Raphael had been holding was slowly released. How the hell had PRAT been able to get a bomber over the city? It didn't make any sense! None at all. The world government had to have all but declared war on PRAT. Any aircraft over this airspace outside of the world government military and the usual, big name news networks would have been turned away on sight, or shot down. Nervously, he bit down on the pad of his thumb. It felt as if their luck had run out.

Selena awoke, looking about the room. She was moved to the couch, a pillow underneath her back. She noted that she was really sore, but the pain wasn't intense like it was before. Her hands moved up to rub her eyes; she wasb't sure how long she had been asleep or what time it was. She then looked over to Raphael, who was biting the pad of his thumb. He must be worried about something..

"You okay?"

Raphael was silent for a time. His eyes slowly slid in Selena's direction. She was awake now. It had been about two hours since she had fallen asleep. "Yeah, just thinking. I don't know what happened up there but. . .I think it'd be for the best if we didn't even attempt to go topside. Unless we went back to that cavern to get some food and water. It'd be for the best if we just worried about taking care of ourselves down here," he said. His expression softened a bit as he approached the side of the couch and knelt down to take a closer look at her. Selena seemed to be doing better now. "How are you doing? Do you need anything," he asked.

Selena moved to sit up next to him. "Naw..I'm fine...just a little sore.." she replied, making her pain an understatement as she didn't want to complicate his thoughts with her worries. "Thanks for your concern though." She cast him a tired smile.

"Um," Selena looked over at Raphael. "What if...what if we are trapped down here...I mean...with the bomber and everything..."

Raphael released a breath he didn't even know that he had been holding. At least Selena was okay. Still no signs of her coughing up blood. Raphael smiled faintly in return, taking a moment to think of an answer to her question. "If we're trapped in here, that's. . .a good and a bad thing. They can't get to us but any potential rescues may be greatly delayed. Our supply of food is limited to. . .a few months I would say. It's plenty of time but who knows how long it would take for them to find us," he said, trying not to think too much about the worse case scenario. Such negativity wasn't what they needed at this time.

"I'll check all of the openings to see how many of the other hatches are buried," he said. He wouldn't do so right now though, he would stay here with Selena for a while and make sure that she was well taken care of. He wouldn't be able to bear it if something happened to her while he was gone.

Selena sighed. Something about the tone of his voice worried her. She couldn't help but pondor over the most grim outcome that could easily occur to them...death. "Alright.." she replied, one arm moving up to wipe away her misty eyes.

"This seems like a rather childish request, but...would you say that we need to do something fun, to get our minds off of everything and just take a break and stuff?" Selena felt as if she needed such a break right now. All the emotions and pain were beginning to wear her thin.

All wasn't lost. They were still alive now. The hub area was still in one piece, for the most part. They trucks had some rubble on them, and had been dinged up a bit but they food inside of them was still edible. A few of the bottles may have been punctured, but there was still more than enough for them to drink. And they didn't know for sure that they were doomed to die down here in the access tunnels under the school. Maybe they could still get out, or maybe some of the PRAT soldiers were killed in the bombing. PRAT would give up any of it's people at anytime, that was how little they cared about them.

Raphael sat back and ran his fingers through his hair, sighing heavily. This was all. . .just one big headache. Selena's suggestion intrigued him though. If she had something, anything in mind to take their minds off of what could be their deaths, it sure would be nice to hear right about now. "What did you have in mind," he asked.

Selena sighed. "Hmm...I really don't kno-" she stopped, yet another noise..or, a series of noises.

They were of men's voices; muffled by the rubble and walls, but she was still able to understand what they were shouting to one another. "We saw two survivors over this way! A man and a woman, pretty young! The man looked familiar. Search this area out for them. Now! No survivors shall be spared!" the voice was gruff and powerful. They nust have been close too, because they could hear the voice.

Selena's face turned white as she looked over at Raphael.

This was the worst possible situation. The tunnels. . .collapsed? At least enough so that they could be spotted? Raphael wondered where they could have been seen from, but he didn't take the time to look. Instead, he lifted Selena up into his arms making sure to grab a pillow as well. He hurried over to the truck where they weapons had been stored and placed Selena down in the back. He grabbed the pistol he stole off of the officer confronted the previous night, then the assault rifle. He stuffed two extra clips for each into the pockets of his cargo pants. "Don't make any noise, okay? if you hear gunfire, don't scream. Just be silent, I'll go take care of this," he said softly. He took several steps back, landing on the last step of the truck deciding that it was bad to leave her in such a way.

He poked his head back into view briefly and said, "I'll be back, I promise."

With that, he closed the door of the truck as gently as he could, then picked up several rocks and headed to one of the tunnel doors. It had cracked open, revealing the location of the hub in the tunnels. It was open just enough for him to see out through it and to attack anyone coming at them, and wide enough for them to be able to get a good shot on him. This was going to be. . .tricky to say the least. He crouched down and closed his eyes, bracing himself for the oncoming battle.

Selena held the pillow against her chest, hugging it. When he made that promise, she looked straight up into his eyes. This felt so much like the time her uncle had left because of the military, promising the exact same thing Raphael did. Selena nodded. A few feet in front of her was the bow and quiver of arrows lying on the ground. She reached down and grabbed them before scooting back into the truck.

She set the pillow beside her, noching the arrow onto her bowstring incase she had to shoot. Her rib would be fine, or so she thought.

Raphael was like a soldier who was going off to war, pledging to someone he cared about that he would return to them. He felt like he was in the trenches now, awaiting the first wave of soldiers that would be charging at his one-man squadron. They were coming, he knew it. The line in the sand had been drawn and they would not be allowed to cross it. He slowly peeked out of the crack in the door, spying the first of the many PRAT soldiers who were seeking out the two survivors. He crouched down slowly pushing the tip of the rifle through the crack. He lined up his shot carefully aiming for the head of the man that he saw. Once the cross hairs lined up, he took a deep breath, then squeezed the trigger. The soldier didn't see the bullet coming. It ripped through his skill with enough power to send his body into the wall.

Raphael immediately ducked down. More of them were coming, like lambs to the slaughter. He slowly peeked up through the scope finding several of the soldiers lined up like idiots. They should have known better than to charge like that. He squeezed the trigger once more, managing to take three of the men out before ducking down once more. He rolled away from the door this time. With his back flat against the wall, he popped the clip out to check his remaining shots. Six remained, enough to take out six people if he were careful, two if he weren't.