He grunted in disapproval, still keeping a firm grip on his Assegai and with plenty of fight left in him.
"You're no good to us like this. Come on, follow me," she stated, looking around for an opening to get him out.
"Medic!" she screamed.
Chapter 3
The roof shook every few moments, and Taylor's hand crept nearer to the rifle lying on the table beside his bed.
"Leave it!" Parker shouted.
He leant back and sat upright on the bed he had been waiting on.
"My arm's fucked, not my body," he snapped back.
A pulse hit the roof and burst through, striking two of the beds occupied by wounded soldiers. Taylor leapt for cover as it landed, and fragments of the pulse burst across the room. They punched through the divider the other side of him, and he reached for his helmet with his good arm.
"I need two seconds with a doc, and I'll be back in action. Find me one!" he ordered.
Parker nodded in agreement and rushed off in search of one. They both knew he needed to be in the fight, and a few seconds later she reappeared, hauling a doctor by the collar of his coat while he protested.
"Please, there are people who need my help," he whimpered.
She shoved him towards Taylor and let go.
"Get the Colonel back in this fight, or these patients may not live long enough for any of your work to matter."
The doctor looked back and began to hesitate but was interrupted by Taylor's rather unsubtle cough to get his attention. The man looked around to see the Colonel sitting before him; the expression on Mitch's face instantly silenced him.
"All right, what do you need?"
"Fix my arm, Doc."
He looked at it for a minute and put pressure down in different areas. It wasn't a case of finding where his arm was wounded, but which part was the most damaged. Another explosion hit the roof of the building and sent a cloud of dust into the air.
"Haven't got all day, Doc. Get it done."
"I can fix it now, but it will be weak for several days at least, maybe a few weeks."
Taylor nodded in agreement.
The doctor pulled out a syringe and injected into his arm.
"We need to get all this off. I need the arm bare."
Taylor tried to unclip his body armour, but the pain was too much, and he gritted his teeth as he felt the shock through his body.
"Here, I'll get it," said Parker.
He didn't like being helpless, but he had no choice. She stripped the Reitech armour and suit from his upper body and pulled his shirt off. The doctor stopped in surprise at his body. It looked as if it was cut from steel. Years of training and war had shaped him into what looked like a professional ring fighter, but his skin was covered in bruising and old scars. The doctor could not help but stare.
"I ain't pretty, but I ain't a model either," Taylor stated.
Parker smiled.
"Lie down please," replied the doctor, snapping out of his daze, "I’ll need to get my equipment.”"
He did as asked by the doctor. Parker loomed over him and took his good hand in his.
"How do you do it?" she whispered.
"Do what?"
"Keep surviving?"
He had no answer for her. The doctor rushed back into the room, clearly trying to get it over with as quickly as possible so he could move on to other patients. He carried a device for resetting and repairing limbs and joints that Taylor had seen more than a few times, though he was still none the wiser as to how the wondrous machine worked. It was slipped over his arm and clamped in place at either end. It made him wince a little; the doctor was far from gentle at his rushed pace.
A screen lit up on the device showing an x-ray of his arm, and within a minute the doctor had programmed it ready. Lights lit up in the machine as it began to operate, and the man finally looked up to Taylor.
"In about five minutes time it will power down, and you will be finished here. Now please, Colonel, I must leave you and attend to others."
"All right, Doc, and thanks."
He scurried off. Taylor looked down at the machine and felt several needle like implements pierce his skin. A few seconds later he lost feeling in the arm, which at least deadened the pain, but it also dulled the rest of his senses and made him a little drowsy. He did his best to hide it from Parker, but she noticed. She opened her mouth to speak, but Taylor interrupted.
"Don't. I know what you're going to say, but there's no time for it."
She looked puzzled.
"I was just gonna say, we made it again."
Taylor smiled, but they heard another few eruptions outside the building that shook the ceiling.
"We aren't out of the fire quite yet."
Gunfire erupted a few metres outside the room, and Eli turned quickly, raising her rifle.
"Go to it!" Taylor said quietly.
She looked back and hesitated, but the determined look he responded with made her turn and do as ordered. Parker rushed through one of the hospital corridors that were littered with both wounded and dead. A few held rifles where they lay, but no one other than herself looked ready for a real fight.
"Shit," she muttered.
She edged forward more cautiously and felt her hands instinctively grip tighter around her rifle. Too tightly in fact, which made her swear at herself for not keeping calm and remembering her training. A wall collapsed in a few metres ahead. A soldier flew through it and hit the wall the other side of the corridor. She moved to go to his aid but stopped as more of the wall was smashed through, and a Mech rushed into view.
Before the creature could turn and face her head on, Parker's rifle was firing. She got off five shots as it snapped around, but the damage she had inflicted made it fire wildly. Pulses ripped through the corridor amongst the wounded. Parker shifted to the opposite wall and kept up the fire. Ten shots had penetrated the creature’s armour by the time she got within striking distance, and it dropped to its knees so that its head was in line with hers.
Eli did not hesitate or take any chances. Her rifle fired again, and a burst of shots ripped into the faceplate of the Mech; it slumped dead to the floor. She looked over to the soldier who had been thrown into the corridor and knelt down to feel his pulse, but he was gone. She shook her head and looked back down the corridor. Only two of the troops lining the sides were still alive, and they looked terrified.
Parker wanted to go back to them but knew she had a responsibility to go. She stepped over the body of her victim and continued on as the lights began flickering above. Gunfire still raged in the distance, but she could hear nothing of an enemy presence nearby, so much so it made her suspicious.
She took a bend into another ward and found dozens of wounded being attended to. She carried on through, heading for the main entrance of the facility. As she grew nearer, she found a wounded Ranger from their unit. He was sitting up against a doorway, with his rifle at the ready but clearly unable to stand. She could see corporal stripes on his uniform and recognised him as one of their own but not his name. He turned and acknowledged her as she approached.
"You all right?" she asked sympathetically, kneeling down at the far side of the door.
"Still breathing," he replied.
She looked closer to make out his name, 'Vidal, anyone else here with you?"
He shook his head and pointed over to the bodies of two marines who had clearly fallen very recently. She shook her head.
This place is turning into a fucking morgue!
"You just hold on, Corporal. We'll get you out of here."
"I ain't going anywhere anytime soon," he replied, with a small smile that could not hide the pain he was feeling.