Chapter 2: The Decision "One," I whispered so quietly that only Zero would be able to hear me. "You were always one step ahead," he murmured. "Now or never!" Syl yelled as she shot down another guard. "Kai-" Krit began. "Go! If I'm not there in 5 minutes leave without me," I ordered. The pair followed my orders and ran off. I fell down next to Zero as he forced himself to his knees. "Kai, go! before its too late," he pleaded. "I-" I began. "Kai! I'll live!! Just go! Now!" "Zero...I love you," I blurted out. He seemed to freeze at these words then slowly, "I love you too." I leaned down and kissed him. I'd never been kissed, I'd seen a doctor calm a nurse once by kissing her. I'd asked Lydecker about it and he put me into isolation for a week. I was 4 at the time. I pulled back slowly and allowed a single tear to trail down my cheek. Zero shoved something into my hand as I stood. "Go," he ordered and nodded as if in silent permission. "Goodbye," I said sadly, "I'll come back for you. I promise. I turned and ran before the tears could fall and before I could change my mind. I ran through the woods and jumped over the fence. My leg caught and the jeans I wore caught. I twisted free and fell to the other side landing with no grace. I pushed myself to my feet and ran until I saw Krit and Syl. "Krit!" I yelled as I emerged from the woods. I stopped short when I saw Colonel Lydecker. My lips turned from a sad smile into a vicious scowl. Krit seemed happy to see me, Syl had a scowl on her face, and Lydecker...well he looked like he just pissed his pants. I approached the trio, my rifle slung over one shoulder and my other hand clenched in a tight fist. Krit walked up to me and offered his hand. That's when I noticed I'd been limping and a large deep looking cut was on my leg. I took his hand with my free one and he led me to the others. I glared at Lydecker with narrowed eyes. "Let's go," Syl said stiffly and climbed into the front seat. Lydecker got into the driver's seat but I noticed that Syl held him at gunpoint. Krit helped me into the back of the van and I chose to ignore the unconscious man in the back. I leaned against one wall and Krit sat opposite of me. We began driving away from Manticore and I always thought I'd be relieved when I finally left, but I never imaged I'd leave without Zero. I looked up as I noticed Krit was talking to me. "What?" I asked confused. "I said 'what happened to your leg'?" he repeated. "I tried to clear the fence in one jump but the jeans caught and I got pretty banged up." "Here," Krit said and took my leg into his lap. He grabbed a first aid box from the back of the van and proceeded to bandage up my leg. "Thank you," I whispered. "I'm surprised you came," Krit admitted, "I halfway expected you to stay there and die with your comrade." "He's NOT dead," I yelled with surprising anger. Krit seemed shocked and quickly apologized. "Zero is NOT dead," I said again in a dangerous whisper. "I'm s-sorry," Krit apologized. I nodded silently and unclenched my fists. A small clink got my attention and I picked up a silver object from the floor. It was a pair of dog tags. "Zero..."I whispered and ran my thumb over the smooth metal. "What's that?" Krit asked. "Zero's dog tags," I said and slipped the chain around my neck. I looked at Krit and smiled softly. "Thank you." Krit only nodded in response. A small groan caught our attention and I turned to see that the unconscious man was waking up. "Logan?" Krit asked in a voice that said he really didn't care. "Max?" Logan said in a weak voice. "Wha-" I began but was cut off by Krit. "Logan. What happened?" "Max," Logan said again. "She's KIA," Krit said quietly. I turned away hating to see the pain that was written on both of the men's faces. "No...no..." Logan sobbed," She's alive. I can feel it!" "She's DEAD! Lydecker saw her and so did you," Krit said harshly. "No!" Logan said sharply. "She's DEAD!" Krit yelled, "Accept it!" "How can you jut accept it! She was your sister!" "You don't think that this hurts me too," Krit said his tone softer, "You're lucky Logan." "I'M lucky? I LOST MAX!" "And we," he said gesturing to himself and Syl," lost Zack, Max, Tinga, Ben, and Brin." Logan glared at Krit in silent fury, "she's alive," he said once more with conviction. I used my X6 reflexes to catch Krit's fist a second before it connected with the man's unshaven face, "He's not worth it. You hit him once, probability is you'll kill the guy," I commented. Krit nodded and turned away from Logan. I looked at Logan who glared at me with obvious distrust. He glanced at Krit and leaned against the wall away from us deciding to keep his thoughts silent. I toyed with Zero's dog tags as I sat across from Krit, my injured leg sticking out in front of me. I let down my soldier mask and allowed a tear to fall down my cheek as I looked at the silver engravings, his barcode and his designation, X6-601. "You okay?" Krit asked much more calm. "I'm fine. I'm a soldier," I said, "I-I need him," I said finally saying something real. I allowed myself to break down and Krit was immediately by my side. "X5's had a familiar bond. We didn't. There was a few of us who-who took names. There was Zero, Bullet, Ralph, Fixit, Ivy, Eve, and Dani." "Yeah," Krit whispered "Zero was the closest thing I had to love. I Love Zero and I left him...in that hell." "You had-" Krit began. "No! I had a choice! I should have stayed with him!" "Kai!" "We always took on things together we NEVER abandoned each other!" "You-" Krit tried again. "Why, 711?" I said, unconsciously using his designation. "Because you had to save yourself so you could go back for him." I put my face in my hands and wiped away my tears. "I'm going back one day...I'm going to go back and find him." Krit smiled encouragingly, "You will...one day." Disclaimer: I still own nothing but myself.