Miss a day or two and you guys put some great stuff in here....

I really like Grog's idea of the jail as Ink's Experiment Zoo but I think that he would have had to start that after the hospital which was after the arena so the number of subjects to work on would be few and far between by then.

I'm still leaning towards the Mallers. As was said before, the soldiers have never seen the Mallers but have to know that they are out there. Well, at least know that Scratch is out there and probably have an idea of what she looks like (pretty distinctive facial feature...). That's irrelevant though if the Mallers ambushed them with an IED for the truck or a claymore-like device in the jail.

As for the Mallers not wanting to attack soldiers, well, do they guys look like soldiers? I think that they might not be wearing uniforms any more since each of them had what they were wearing from Ft Irwin and that's it. They may have tactical vests and helmets, but by this point just about any human survivor would probably have some sort of load-out. I would think that the Mallers would look at them and say "Holy crap. They got some nice stuff - let's take it!"

And then there is the idea that the Mallers didn't have a choice to engage. Perhaps it all went down in the jail where the Mallers were holed up. Puck & Co park the truck and start making their way inside. Having spotted them coming from a decent ways off, Tardust activates an explosive trap inside the entry. Carl doesn't see the wire and trips it. He and Muldoon take a face full of shrapnel. Robbins is behind them and gets a dose of the blast as well. His girth shields Puck from the majority of the blast but Puck still takes in some high speed metal.

At this point I'm wondering if the radio that the guys are using is on Puck or in the truck. I think it is with Puck and he got behind some cover right after the blast. He's hurt, bleeding, and possibly going into shock. He makes the call to Michael and asks for pickup and the doc.

Now, my guess is that shortly after this, Puck will be radio silent and when the troops arrive at the jail, they will find the bodies of everyone but Puck. As they look around and sort out the scene, a very familiar and distinctive voice will call out. SHE has Puck and is willing to make a trade....