“Master Guns, get away from me,” he hissed.
“No such thing as that,” Griffith said. He reached out and grabbed one of Mulligan’s hands. “I’m right here with you, boy.”
Mulligan did sink to his knees then as hot tears erupted from his eyes. He blinked them away while looking at the graves before him.
Lee—
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
The route back to Harmony was loaded, and the rig’s twin turboshaft engines were humming their wailing song. The sun had just risen above the eastern peaks, filling the air with a bright golden light. It would be a great day in Oregon, and Andrews felt it would be warm and pleasant.
Of course, we’re rolling out.
Mulligan sat in the copilot’s seat next to him. His face wasn’t as swollen as it had been over the past couple of weeks, but the bruises were still lurid on his skin. His gunshot wound was healing nicely, and he was fit for travel. Once they returned to Harmony, he’d undergo nanite treatments to restore the damaged tissue. A few courses of therapy later and he’d be good as new.
Kelly Jordello was still alive, but too weak to survive transport back to Harmony. She was in an induced coma while the physicians at Sherwood tried to keep her stable, but it was going to be a long road for her. Andrews would see to it that a medical team was dispatched as soon as SCEV Four made it back to the base. He hated to leave his friend behind, but without medical care from Harmony, she wasn’t likely to recover. And the SCEV couldn’t make it to Harmony without him.
“How are we looking back there, KC?” he asked over the intercom.
“Ready to roll here,” KC reported from the engineering station.
“Is Miss Buchek behaving herself?”
KC chuckled. “Yes, sir. They’re both ready for transit.”
Amanda Buchek and Sean Griffith were accompanying the rig back to Harmony. It was the first time someone from the outside would be admitted into the base, and both Andrews and Mulligan were in agreement that it was high time representatives from the world were brought inside. It was time to start showing the command group at Harmony Base something other than reports. They needed to hear things firsthand, and they needed to see the people Harmony assisted. Andrews had wanted the elder Griffith to accompany them as well, as his ailing hips could be repaired in a few weeks at the base. But Buchek wasn’t having that. While Fox’s army had dispersed, there was no guarantee it might not come back. Buchek would need Griffith on hand if that were to happen.
He checked the instrument panel and looked over at Mulligan. “Set to go?”
“Parking brakes released, Captain. Your call.”
“You okay, Big Sarge?”
Mulligan looked at Andrews with knitted brows. “Why do you always ask me that?”
Andrews thought about it. “Because I care?”
Mulligan snorted, then held up one big fist. Andrews looked at it for a moment, then raised his own. The two men exchanged a quick fist bump.
“Good to go here, sir.” As he spoke, Mulligan looked out the view ports. Andrews turned. The rise of the bluff loomed in the distance. Andrews sagged a bit in his seat.
Ah, my friends ...
“We’ll see them again,” Mulligan murmured, his voice barely audible over the drone of the engines. “Just not yet.”
Andrews nodded and straightened up. He put his foot on the brake pedal and grabbed the control column, then made another sweep of the instrument panel.
“Okay, crew—rig for transit. Let’s get this tub back home.”
Earthfall (Book 2): Earthfall 2 [The Mission Continues] Page 56