As the group dragged the sniper inside the orphanage, Alex remained outside. Although he wanted to take part in whatever the group was planning for him, the incidents with Dawn and Voltage were still fresh in his mind, as well as the burial. He still believed that Dawn had over-reacted to him 'allowing' Voltage to overpower them, though.
Looking back near the burning tree, he got a fast count of four weapons in the grass. Two pistols, a H&K model machine pistol, and an M-40 sniper rifle. "Good God." Alex blurted out loud before zipping his mouth again. "How did this guy get his hands on all this military hardware?" Leaning over, he picked up the H&K, feeling much better and less worried now that he had a gun in his hands again.
Ejecting the magazine from the weapon, he could see only two rounds left loaded. "Well, so much for having a fresh clip." Alex thought, replacing it in the weapon. Slipping the weapon over his shoulders, he checked on the two pistols. Both of those were empty as well. "Great. Wasted all the bullets shooting at walls." Even so, these things could be useful.
Slipping both pistols into his back pockets, Alex got his train of thought back on the blood trails from before. He hadn't seen Ben since he ran off earlier, and he had a sneaking suspicion these trails were from him. Directly behind him, the start of the long trail of the red fluid ran towards the sidewalk and street nearby, then as he followed them, he noticed an arching pattern to the streams. The bottoms of the arches were on the concrete, and the rest went into the grass, at least three times. Worse, on the concrete were large drops of blood, leading the same way.
"Oh, shit." Alex thought as his pulse began to quicken. There was no mistaking it. Whoever made this trail had been hit in the neck with shrapnel, and was bleeding badly.
