**********
Adrian and Sean continued to lie on the metal floor of the hangar. Adrian heard explosions and screams of agony everywhere. He knew that his entire force was being depleted one by one. "Kylee," he said. "Come in, Captain Palmer."
Adrian heard the static in his earpiece and the slurred speech of his daughter. "Da ? Dad ? I've been ? I'm hurt."
Adrian's first instinct was to jump to his feet and find his daughter, but Sean grabbed him to keep him safe from the plasma fire. "Kylee, where are you?" he asked.
"I ?" She coughed, " ? I'm not ? not far from you."
"Where!" demanded Adrian.
"Dad, it hurts."
"Where are you?"
"I'm ? I'm about fifty feet from your position ?" Kylee coughed again, "? I'm behind the two burning assault vehicles."
Adrian slowly raised his head above the computer terminals and looked to his right. There they were, the two burning vehicles in the corner of the hangar. He looked at Sean. "I'm going after her. Order the retreat for all remaining soldiers to exit the base at the primary entrance."
Sean grabbed Adrian's left arm before he could leave. "You'll get yourself killed!"
Adrian jerked his arm away and pointed to Kylee's position. "That's my daughter over there! Do as you're ordered, General!"
Adrian jumped over Celeste's unconscious body and sprinted toward Kylee. A plasma blast hit the floor just in front of him. The impact threw Adrian to his right, slamming him into the wall. He jumped to his feet again, determined to make it to his daughter.
When he made it to the burning heap of metal, he saw a boot sticking out from behind the mangled mess. He ran around the two burning vehicles and slid to a stop on his knees right next to Kylee. His daughter's body was shaking.
Kylee opened her eyes and looked into her father's eyes. "Da ? Dad, it hurts so bad."
Adrian, holding back the tears, examined her. The left side of her body had been burned. Her left arm and hand were black as charcoal, and the left side of her face was red and blistered. He continued to scan her body for any more injuries.
In his earpiece, he heard Sean issue the retreat.
He gently turned Kylee and found a piece of hot shrapnel from the damaged vehicles lodged about two inches into her lower back. "Shh ? it's going to be okay," he said.
He grabbed the shrapnel but quickly pulled his hand back because of the heat. Grabbing his left breast pocket on his shirt, he ripped the cloth off and wrapped it around his hand. He grabbed the shrapnel and quickly pulled it out. Kylee screamed in pain.
Adrian jumped to his feet in a squatting position and, ignoring the pain in his left shoulder, he took his sling off and threw it to the side. "Okay ? I'm going to lift you."
Kylee nodded her response.
Adrian gently placed his arms under Kylee's right side, so as to avoid her wounds, and lifted his daughter into his chest. Kylee cried in pain.
Once Kylee was secure in his arms, he darted off back toward Sean and Celeste's position behind the computer terminals. When he arrived, he gently placed Kylee next to Celeste and looked at Sean. "Report."
Sean looked up at Adrian. "Captain Listin has your wife, Lexis, Doc, and all of the civilians crammed in the medical wing. But ?"
"But what, Sean?"
"But we have lost an estimated eight hundred troops."
Adrian dropped his body down next to Sean and placed his face into his hands. He was beginning to feel the fatigue in his sixty-year-old body. Holding back the tears, he looked at Sean. "Are the remaining troops retreating through the primary entrance?"
"Yes. And, we-"
Both men looked up and saw the roaring engines of two black assault vehicles descending to the hangar floor. Adrian looked at Sean. "I think it's time we left." He pointed at Celeste. "You carry Celeste, and I'll carry Kylee."
Sean and Adrian gently lifted the two women. They made their way to the spacious hallway that led past the medical wing and to the primary exit of the base. But, as soon as they entered the hallway, Captain Listin met them. "Captain, why aren't you with the civilians in the medical wing?" Adrian asked.
Captain Listin didn't respond and turned his head toward the medical wing. Out of the wing, came Anyta, Lexis, Doc, and all two hundred plus civilians. They were followed by several Gnol troops with weapons raised. Behind them, came the remaining retreating troops with arms raised to their head. They were also followed by several Gnol troops.
Captain Listin turned his head back to Adrian and shook his head. "They penetrated the primary entrance just as we were about to exit."
Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1) Page 55