Jane crawled through the garden beds avoiding the bullets. Cassie was doing her best to shield them but a few people had been hit. Jane didn’t have time to check on them and focused on her own survival. Fortunately some of the Dolls under Stacey’s command had managed to get weapons of their own and were now returning fire.

“Keep going,” Cassie yelled as she pulled the bars off one of the windows and smashed the glass. Natasha was the first through the window and was able to regain her composure to help Hilary and Lisa through.

Jane managed to turn around and saw at least two people laying on the ground with one person limping and another clutching their arm. She nodded to Isha to go first then followed after her.

“Don’t move!” A voice commanded Jane as she climbed into the hallway. He had a rifle aimed directly at Natasha. “You,” he pointed at Jane. “Come with me.” He reached and grabbed Jane by the wrist, pulling her forward violently.

The women screamed at the sound of a gunshot. Jane felt herself being pulled forward as the man holding her wrist fell to the ground. She pried his and off her bruised wrist and tried to ignore the blood that was now on the side of her face.

“This way, hurry.” A man in combat gear instructed the group. The other women obeyed while Jane hesitated eying him off as another threat.

Cassie helped the woman with the limp through the window. Her skin was badly damaged, revealing the machine underneath. She eyed off the man and his weapon. “The others are too injured or dead, I’ll hold them off for as long as I can.” Cassie informed him as she motioned for the weapon. “Get them out of here,” she nodded to Jane in particular.

“Understood,” He passed her the weapon before taking the other weapon off the corpse. Jane stepped aside as she gave a sympathetic smile to Cassie who had helped one more woman through the window. “Cassandra made it to the safe house,” the man informed Cassie as he placed a supporting hand on Jane’s shoulder. “Alright ladies, time to go.”

Jane found herself trusting the thanks to Cassie. As she followed him through the corridor she looked out into the courtyard and her heart sank, half the patients were still out there, bleeding or pinned down. A part of her felt this was her fault. This was happening because of her connection to Laura. But then she put the blame onto Raymond, he was the one who did this to her and locked all these people away. He was the person who sent the guys with guns.

“Jane, don’t worry too much when you see Lauren,” Cassie said as Jane rushed past. Cassie was already running out into the open field, firing with inhuman accuracy at the enemy soldiers. Every life she took she felt guilty about but she did what was needed.

“Through here,” the man led Jane and the others through the medical wing of the facility. Jane knew these halls too well as she recovered in them before being moved. She looked back to see Natasha and Isha helping the woman with the injured leg while the one with the injured arm pressed on.

They made it to the loading dock where a van waited for them. A Doll and a person had it secured, with weapons drawn, already taking out half a dozen men. There were also scraped worker dolls slumped against the wall. Their bodies were riddled with bullets.

“Let’s go, let’s go…” The soldier motioned to the survivors as they got in the back of the van. The two human soldiers got in the front. The Doll clung to the side of the van weapon drawn ready for any threats.

Jane sat there quietly resting the non bloody side of her head on Isha’s shoulder. She was too tired to deal with the other two injured women and let Natasha deal with that. Isha reached down and grabbed Jane’s hand and didn’t let go until the van pulled off to the side.

They entered an underground garage where several cars and even a few ambulances were waiting. Paramedic Dolls grabbed the injured, giving them immediate medical care. The rest of the cars had driver Dolls ready to go. Some were already speeding off in different directions acting as distractions for would-be pursuers.

“Are you injured?” One of the Paramedics asked Jane in their soothing robotic voice. The Paramedics were like Cassie’s model, bare bones when it came to the figure and plastic hair on their head, but they had expressive faces to assure the comfort  of their patients.

“No…” Jane muttered as she grabbed her bruised wrist. “It’s not my blood.” The paramedic tilted her head and looked down at her wrist and back at her face.

“I will grab you an ice pack, cloth and blanket,” the Doll returned to one of the unoccupied ambulances as the other two sped off.

“Fun fact, all Paramedic Dolls look like that yet many are operated by male pilots,” Isha said admiring the Doll’s look as she continued to hold Jane’s hand.

“Really?” Natasha said shocked. “I guess that makes sense.”

“It’s true, eighty percent of my Pilots were male,” the paramedic returned with blankets and water for all of them as it began cleaning the blood off Jane’s face.

“I wonder what that’s like,” Natasha shrugged.

“You do remember I spent several months in a Male Doll,” Isha countered. “Jane also spent time as a female Doll and is now a woman.”

“The male doll doesn’t count, it didn’t have a dick, and I keep forgetting Jane was a guy. I guess that’s why you two get along so well.” Natasha smiled as Jane and Isha grew flustered.

“I don’t have genitals, and my chest is just curved plastic,” the Paramedic joined in on the conversation. “The neuro suppressors help. It was good for me and my pilots. It allowed me to develop my own personality with my sisters.” She got the conversation to focus on them to save Isha and Jane.

“Do you have a name?” Jane asked. “I named Laura using Lauren as a base. And Cassie took a nickname Cassandra hated. With multiple users it must be hard to come up with one.”

“I’m Ieso (eye-so),” the Doll appreciated being recognized. “My sisters are Mercy and Grace. A little cliche I know but when medicine is what you know…”

“Enough talking, time to move out…” the soldier instructed. “We’ve got safe houses ready to go for you four,” he pointed to Natasha, Isha, Hilary and Lisa. “Lau… you… I’ve got orders to bring you back to base.” He didn’t say anything to Ieso and let her do whatever.

“I’d like it if Isha and Natasha stayed with me,” Jane looked back at the two of them. They had been a great support to her over the last five years. Natasha might’ve joked but she was right, Isha and her were able to connect over their gender confusion. Natasha was always ready to listen to any story no matter how crazy, especially at a mental care facility she had been forced into.

“We don’t have time to argue…” the soldier dismissed Jane.

“Good, so they’re coming with us,” Jane smiled, knowing that she’d get her way here if Laura wanted to see her. The soldier rolled his eyes and motioned for the three of them to follow to a five seater car.

The soldier got up front, next to the Driver Doll, leaving the three girls to sit in the back. Jane’s hair still had blood in it so she sat with that side against the window, Isha sat in the middle next to Jane.

As the car drove out of the garage Jane turned to Isha and smiled. “Can you believe it? After five years in that prison we’re free.” Isha returned the smile and leaned in for a kiss. Jane pulled away, blushing and feeling flustered. “I’m sorry… I’m married…” Jane felt so conflicted she wanted to return the kiss but she had Lauren to think about.

“I was just caught up in the moment…” Isha said in her Texan accent as she withdrew.

“I knew it…” Natasha whispered to herself and smiled.

The rest of the long drive there was an awkward silence. The soldier upfront was loving it.