"Dammit! Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Brrace yelled. "Hahnn, get the gurneys! Where's that bag?"
As the sound from the explosions died away, Colonel Bryan Brrace turned to the man beside him who's eyes were wide and translucent green and frightened as if all the Abyss were after him. Adriann Bell was pale as a sheet as he stood in the jeep. Men were diving to the ground and firing at the retreating Blackk and Raines and Brrace screamed at them to stop. Some were firing right through the wreckage.
As pale and scared as Adriann was Brrace was reassured that the man was worth something by the very action Bell took of grabbing the bag Brrace asked for. Inside were stimulants; last ditch measures to keep a body running even if large parts of it were missing. Something Cannon had developed before his death at the gun of Ricohh Gideonn to use in certain unapproved experiments that Brrace had only just learned anything of. Brrace had only just
learned in fact how much the other Powers had been keeping him in the dark and he was angry. Angry -- terrified -- that the boys might be dead; angry that he'd been a dupe far too long and he'd let his own family be destroyed for the sake of a cause NO ONE had ever intended to get behind. It had all been about power and he was nauseated at the thought of all he'd done and allowed to be done in the name of the Tenets which had been used
instead to further the ambitions of a select few.
Raines. Mitchell Raines would die for what he'd done, but it was vital it happen as quickly as possible. And Mikkael Blackk with him, the traitorous ...
"Sir! They're pulling back!"
Brrace was running with the bag in hand even as he heard the shout. There were Freemen bodies around him. The men he'd brought with him, men loyal to Gideonn and the Legion from the Hope Relay Installation, had killed some of the traitors who'd served Raines rather than the Tenets. But loyal Freemen had died as well. The sight of men in his own command, men he knew, men he'd served with, trusted dead and dying around him because of a battle
against his own men...! It was almost more than he could stomach.
He skid to a stop before the blown out building and Bell came up behind him. One glance at the man told him that Bell was more likely to collapse than be of any use. He wasn't a soldier, he wasn't a surgeon ... just a scientist and Brrace had had his fill of scientists. "Help me!" Hahnn, Bell and another man -- Curtiss, Brrace recalled -- helped them heave aside debris; some of it smoldering. In the distance, jeeps were spinning their
wheels on gravel and shots were still being fired as loyal men gave pursuit to the traitors. Soon, the sounds of fighting died away and as they worked on the pile of debris, a Corporal came to tell Brrace the area was secure. He barely heard the man, but barked an order to begin collecting the dead bodies. We'll salvage what we can and ... Gods he couldn't think about that just yet...
The walls had been blown away by the double grenade blast and the roof, metal and roughly made plaster and chicken wire beams had fallen. Beneath the twisted remains of the blown out shack roof lay several bodies, bloody, broken. Brrace was interested in two specifically. He could see one hand ... Ricohh's or Mikkaill's? It looked blue and he feared the worst. Unexpectedly Bell, white as an NRMH sheet, scrambled down through the mess, shoving aside splintered chunks of wall boards and bits of metal roofing. Please... Lurudd please ... let them be alive. Don't take them yet.
"He's barely breathing... I can't reach the other one! MOVE this damn beam!" Hahnn and Curtiss put their backs to it and Brrace got a shoulder under it. It lifted, dropping more roofing on Bell and the two men unconscious beneath his protective hunch of shoulders and outstretched arms. "CAREFUL!"
Bell was shaking as he reached through and slid fingers, slicked with warm blood, across the second man's neck. "I have a pulse ... they're both alive! I don't know how long; we have to get them back to the Complex!"
"NO ... it's not safe there. The Underground ... we'll take them there."
"He won't like it," Bell said, meaning the man who's pulse was jumping around like a Demmish cricket beneath his fingers. Beyond him, Brrace could see what was left of Dr. Peter Cannon. One of the boys had gotten him square between the eyes. It was reassuring some how.
"I look forward to hearing that from him. Hahnn, bring the gurneys. We have to get them out of here... " Knowing they were alive and having something to do gave Brrace the focus he needed to pull himself together. Orders thundered from him until the mess had been cleared and the bodies -- the boys -- could be moved. When the wounded men were fully revealed, the damage could be better assessed. They found it was worse even than they'd
thought.
Brrace motioned Hahnn and Curtiss forward to move Mik and as they began to lift, Bell screamed, "STOP!" He scrambled in closer. "Oh. Oh gods..." There was blood all over both of them, coming largely from Mik's head and back wounds but also from Ricohh and a wound the boys shared.
A nasty piece of metal pierced both their chests... Ric's near the heart, Mik's closer to the ribs; possibly even into a lung. "Dammit! Look, Bryan, we'll have to leave this in," Bell said and Brrace knelt down to get a better look.
"My Gods … we can't! We can't move them with that in them both... "
"Sweet Oponn," Bell swore softly. "It must have been thrown between them by the blasts. All right..." Bell dragged a bloody hand through his hair leaving streaks of red in a horrific baptism. "It's looking like it's gone deeper into ... Bastion," he said Ric's fake ID for benefit of Hahnn and Curtiss. "We pull the Commander off and pack 'em fast, then we can move them both."
"You sure about that?"
"Abyss no! I'm not a medic. I could kill'em both right here. What choice do we have?"
Brrace nodded, cursing the entire time as he wrapped the visible sharp metal between the boy's bodies with a strip of dressing so that Bell could hold it. Hahnn and Curtiss, both grim-faced, braced Mikkaill's body. He hoped they wouldn't hurt him more by moving him. By the wound on the back of his head he could have a broken neck for all they knew. But they had no choice!
"Hold his head Bryan! Don't let it move. Now, boys, lift carefully straight up! If you move him side to side, I dunno what that will do. It has to come out straight!"
They did what he said, straight and as fast as they dared with Bryan bracing Mik's head and neck. Blood spurted out of Mik's body as they lay him face down, but the metal, held fast by Bell's hand remained in Ric's chest. Quickly, he skirted over to Mik and checked his neck. Dammit he didn't have the training he needed, Brrace knew and watched in horror as they rolled him. Bell packed the chest wound as best he could. Then he injected them both with the stimulants and Brrace heard him say he hoped the Doritinn was out of Bastion's body. No telling if the two together would kill him outright or not.
By the time they had them on the gurney's they were racing the clock and the stims. The drug Cannon created would work only so long and they had quite a journey before they got to the Underground. Before they'd even know if the boys would make it.
They left behind only a pile of burning bodies. It had to be done. The seasonal heat and the need to save the Commander would make timely burial or transport of the bodies impossible. So, the dead soldiers, loyal men and traitors alike had been stripped of their uniforms, dog tags, weapons and clips, everything but their skivvies. They'd been moved together and set aflame with precious gasoline.
"May Lurudd accept your souls ..." Brrace murmured in benediction as they drove away, his hand pressing the packing against the wound on Mik's chest. He was shaking with adrenaline and worry as the Hummers and Jeeps headed for safety leaving behind a billowing column of foul smelling smoke atop a devouring, cleansing fire.
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