by Aidan Colyer
He heard Watts grunt and looked to the side. She had rolled back and was clutching her shoulder. The advancing rebels didn’t give him enough time to help, and he sighted on the closest rebel. He fired and took another one down as the other two turned and retreated. Wanting to take them down quicker he fired the rest of the magazine on full auto not caring about the waste of the tier four ammunition. Both of the rebels had their legs shot out from under them and collapsed to the sand. He dropped his rifle when the fire stopped coming in and moved to Watts. She was rolling around swearing. He grabbed her and stopped her moving. He tried to pull her hands away, but she punched him.
“I can’t help if you don’t let me now move your hand.”
She tensed gripping his glove as she allowed him to peel her hand back. As soon as he saw the wound, he understood. The bullet had hit the top of her shoulder and exploded the ball joint of the humorous. He didn’t need x-rays to tell as the bones were sticking out through flesh and tunic. There wasn’t much he could do, so he grabbed for his medic pack and pulled out a bandage. He swore as he realised he hadn’t grabbed any standard stims from Bywaters. The blood soaked his gloves as he tried to put the bandage on her shoulder before pressing down hard. Her scream pierced the night air as Roland gritted his teeth and pressed harder trying to stem the flow of blood.
“Watts. Focus. Tell me your health bar stat.”
He got a gargled reply as she choked up blood. Roland went white. He hit his comm bead.
“Medic!” he shouted as he tried to stop Watts rolling around.
He received a double click in return.
“Hang in there. They are coming, they are coming,” he repeated over and over. She slowed her struggling as her energy drained. Roland looked up and hit the button on the side of his infrared goggles.
Bywaters was running in the wrong direction. Sod the enemy he thought.
“Bywaters here now!” he shouted out into the night air.
He watched as she shifted and followed the sound. She sped up as she spotted them. He hadn’t had time to drop his camo cloak to make them easier to spot but couldn’t free his hands now. Watts was barely moving. Roland swore. The bandage was a bloody mess and slipped as he changed his grip. Useless in the extreme. He didn’t want to take his hands away to grab another one. The blood flowed freely through his fingers as he watched Watts’s eyes.
She slowly turned her head staring at him. “You’ll be fine,” he said not trusting even himself. She slowly shook her head.
Bywaters scrambled up behind him and shoved him sideways almost knocking him off the top of the pile of stone. She had her device in hand already. She ran it over Bywaters’ shoulder and hit the buttons. The blood was stark on Watts’ mouth as it ran done her pale cheeks.
Watts’s eyes slowly closed as Bywaters ran the device back and forth. She swore as Watts’ chest stopped moving she hurled the device off the stone and grabbed Roland back.
“Compressions now,” Bywaters shouted. Roland did what she said feeling numb. He hit her chest hard and continued.
“Harder. She has armour on for fuck sake,” Bywaters shouted in his ear as she scrabbled around in the bottom of her bag.
He pressed harder staring at Watt’s face for any reaction. Bywaters shoved him violently and then stabbed two needles into the side of Watt’s neck. She left them in dragging Roland back as she went back to her back. She pulled out a load of pads and stuffed them on Watt’s shoulder. Whatever Bywaters had injected kicked in and Watt’s spluttered sending blood in a fountain towards Roland’s mask. It splattered across his goggles and ran down his face as he stopped pumping her chest. He grabbed the straps and pulled them loose. He remembered the pain from earlier that battle and she needed the air. Bywaters stabbed two more needles into her and then pulled all four out. She leant on Watt’s shoulder and looked at Roland her face ashen.
“Get those rebels out of here. Their stupid tech has fucked my device. Watt’s has five minutes, ten tops if you don’t get them gone.”
Chapter 12.
Roland dived off of the stones not caring about the height. He landed jarring his ankles but ignored the pain as he sped off running as fast as his skills would let him. Fumbling for the clasp he tore off his cloak and dropped his pack as he headed towards the downed rebels. He ran past the squad at full speed ignoring their calls. As soon as he spotted the rebels slumped on the sand, he slid across the sand and tore through their suits and pouches. The first one yielded nothing. He moved to the second as Murden ran up. He carried on tearing through pouches and suits not looking at her.
“What are you doing?” Murden asked.
“We need to move their device away from Bywaters or Watts dies. As in dies for real,” Roland said as he moved to a third rebel. Murden dived in and went through the others. Roland found it first. It was a small black boxy device. He stood and looked at Murden then span away and ran into the night. He hit his comm as he ran.
“Webb, grab Bywaters device and take it to her now.”
He kept running aiming to get as far as possible from Watts. He watched as his stamina reduced. The grazes on his calves burned as he ran but there was nothing he could do about that now. A glance told him his health was dropping too. He didn’t care. If they got the unit far enough away he could go back and get healed up. He ran until he dropped. When he tried to stand his legs refused leaving him floundered in the sand. With no other way to move he crawled dragging his aching body forward inch by inch. They hadn’t radioed back, so he didn’t stop. His stamina bar was flashing red now. He slumped into the sand and extended his arm pushing the unit as far from him as his reach allowed. His comm buzzed.
“We got it to work. You can come back now CM.”
Roland didn’t reply. He felt his eyelids get heavy before shutting. He let his head slump forward into the sand. The shield stopped his face burying itself as he lost consciousness. He woke as hands pulled him upright. Shaking his head he opened his eyes to a squint and saw Murden dragging him upright. He leant on her shoulder as she dragged him back to the squad. As they got closer Clark moved up to help and took Roland’s other arm. They dragged him back to the APC and laid him down. Bywaters was there too. She looked him over and then stuck him with a needle. His stamina bar jumped up and he opened his eyes wide.
“Is she okay?” he said pushing the others off him. Bywaters stopped him moving.
“She will pull through. The damage was extensive. Even with the machine I was only able to get her to half health. She will be out of action for a while though. You need rest and to let me check your wounds.”
Roland gestured to his legs and Bywaters checked the grazes. He winced as she touched them.
“They aren’t very deep but they could get infected. If you want, I can use the device to sort them but that means cool down time.”
“Do it. I need to be able to move.”
Bywaters nodded and ran the device over his legs. He waited for the healing to kick in.
[You have been fully healed, 3-hour cooldown time.]
He dismissed the notification and stood up. Bywaters put her device away and pointed to the other side of the APC. Roland hobbled around his legs still aching from the run through the sand. A bulky assortment of bandages hid Watts’ shoulder as she leant back against the side of the APC.
“Thanks.”
Roland didn’t reply. He sat down next to her and leant back against the hull of the vehicle. Neither of them spoke as they fell asleep.
The sun warmed their faces waking them. Roland opened his eyes and checked his bars. They were now both full. He still felt tired though.
[Stamina stim has worn off, you will be subject to minor fatigue for the next three hours.]
It was a small price to pay Roland thought as he pulled himself up and stretched. He looked around but couldn’t see the rest of the squad. He walked around to the other side of the APC and saw them all sat around discussing something. They went quiet when he appeared.
“What?” he said as he moved into the circle.
“It's bad news I’m afraid,” Clark said standing up. She moved past him patting his shoulder.
Roland frowned and looked around the group. They all looked away. He settled on Murden. She tried to turn away and then forced herself to stop.
“It’s our orders. To put it bluntly, we can’t wait. We need to hit the rebels now,” her face softened as she spoke.
“Why is that bad news?” Roland said fishing a bottle of water out of his pack. Someone had brought his kit down and stacked it against the side of the APC.
“The device. If we move off with the device, then we are subject to real-world conditions. If we don’t, then we can’t complete the mission.”
“We have made it so far though. None of us have died and, apart from Watts all other wounds have been minor. We can do this.”
“I’m glad you have confidence Mellors but Watts is where the issue comes in.” Murden stopped at that and looked at her boots. Bywaters piped up without looking at him.
“She is dying Roland. If we take her, then she won’t make it. She won’t glitch or just wait for respawn she dies. We can’t complete the mission without both of you. At the least one of you. We need to leave her here if she is to live.”
Roland stopped sorting his kit and sat back down hard. No-one used his first name none of them used them.
“We could leave someone with her.”
“Who Mellors?” Murden said.
“Me, no? Clark or Lawry? I mean even Webb I have a comm for us to use.”
“No Roland. We can’t spare anyone,” Murden replied
Lawry stood and threw a rock at the APC. He stalked off. Roland turned to Webb. Webb tried to hold his gaze but cracked and looked down his eyes clouded with tears this time. Bywaters was making shapes in the sand with her toecap. Murden was the only one looking at him. Her face was ashen, but set in grim resolve.
“If we leave her what happens?” Roland asked in a voice a notch above a whisper.
“Either she dies or someone finds her,” Bywaters replied her voice cracking.
“Roland. We leave her. It’s the only choice. She can’t take the respawn even when we are out. The device has messed with the code. We don’t know how deep. We may never get out of here. Any of us.” Murden tried to bite back tears as she spoke. She failed. They ran down her face carving rivulets through the dust that plastered her cheeks.
Bywaters kicked the shapes she had made in the sand and stood up. She strode over to Webb and dragged him up and away leaving Murden and Roland facing each other. Roland hadn’t internalised the thoughts. The code taking away emotion was still working for him. Seeing the others reactions worried him the most. Last night he was full of emotion but now, when he should care, he struggled.
“The device,” Roland said standing and holding his hand out towards Murden. She didn’t hesitate, pulling the device out of her pocket and putting it into his hand. He walked past her out into the desert and threw it as hard as he could. He watched it land and then walked back to the foxhole. Murden was standing now.
“What was that going to achieve?” She shouted at him.
“Emotion,” he replied. He still felt none. His whole being was numb. He hoped it was the code.
“It didn’t work, did it? That damned device gives us the ability to feel the emotion.”
“It’s the emotion I can’t feel. I need you to feel numb too,” Roland shouted back.
“Would you two shut the fuck up? She is here. She is alive. She can hear you,” Bywaters screamed.
They both swung around to stare at her. She stood her face wet with tears and her knuckles white from anger. Murden and Roland looked at each other. They both bowed their heads.
“Roland you explain it,” Bywaters said pointing to where Watts sat. Roland looked in that direction. The APC was in the way but he knew exactly where she sat.
He walked forward past Bywaters feeling her gaze burning into him. He rounded the APC and looked at Watts. She was pale and the blood from her shoulder was seeping through the bandages. Roland watched as she leant back against the APC with her eyes closed. He swallowed hard and walked over to her.
“I heard,” she said. Her eyes still closed.
“I... I don’t like it,” Roland replied.
“Neither do I but there isn’t much of a choice,” she said opening her eyes and looking at him. He fiddled with his mask and pulled it off dropping it in the sand next to him. He knelt next to her.
“You heard what Bywaters said about the respawn?”
“Yeah, I did. You missed the point though. We are all affected. Even you. If I’m out of range, I have a chance. You won’t and they are tier 10. One squad of them and I’m dead with you on a cooldown.”
Roland looked down. She was right, but he didn’t want to believe it.
“Get them for me. I’m staying put I want to see if a suntan stays on the system, anyway.” She forced a smile as Roland looked up. Roland forced back the tears.
“It’s your choice. Take as many as you can. Snakes to the fore.”
“Still sounds odd. We need a new unit designation,” Watts said as she turned to look forward across the desert.
“I’ll get us a new one. Perhaps the cookie monsters?”
Watts laughed and then coughed hard hacking something up. Her hand came away from her mouth with blood on it. She looked up at Roland.
“I’ll go out fighting don’t worry get that rebel for me,” she said resting her hand on his arm.
Roland nodded not trusting his voice.
He stood and then stopped before fishing out his packet of biscuits. He crouched down again and put them into her lap.
“For stamina you understand.”
“Of course,” she replied.
Roland made sure her rifle was close and returned to the other side of the APC. Murden was checking her equipment and stripping away everything that would slow her down. Roland looked at the pile and saw her armour. She turned and looked at him following his gaze.
“Speed,” was all she said over her shoulder as she pulled at straps and buckles.
Roland stripped off his armour too and dropped it into the pile. She looked up.
“We are light infantry lets dress like we are too.” She nodded at him.
The others returned and looked at the pile. It became larger as they piled armour and anything else they could ditch. By the time they had stripped all of their equipment down they were in their vests with cloaks draped over the shoulders. Their webbing contained munitions and little else. Bywaters had passed out as many of the stims and extra medical supplies as they were able to find space for. They all ditched their helmets into the centre of the foxhole and raised their hoods.
“Squad, we have our orders. We have our targets. We move out. Webb, send a signal of our position to the lieutenant. We move once done.”
Webb dropped his pack down and lifted the headset. He dialled in and confirmed their position. He picked his comm set up and shouldered it.
“Ready,” he said.
They moved out towards the rebels.
Chapter 13.
They walked out into the desert as the sun rose. The heat started to increase and Roland could feel the sweat rolling down his sides. He had kept the sand mask and had pulled it in close to his face. The edges trapped the sweat until the foam reached its saturation point and dripped from his chin. He ignored the annoyance as it was a small price to pay. He raised his rifle and scoped the land ahead. They had made it into the centre of the horseshoe. He switched his rifle to infrared and changed the settings to cope with the sun. Nothing showed up despite his settings being tweaked. He followed the rest of the troop. They walked for the next two hours. The sun heating their weapons making Roland thankful he hadn’t ditched his gloves. Roland spotted a stack of boulders and moved forward.
“We need to hit that point and stop,” he said to Murden. She changed her dir
ection without acknowledging him. They trudged on towards their waypoint with no resistance from rebels or the enemy. They filed into the shadow cast by the sandstone formation and flopped down. Even without the extra weight, they all saw fluctuations in their stamina bars. The device made it harder for them as the real-world conditions it enforced weighed them down. Roland drank his water as he thought about Watts. He hoped she wasn’t suffering through this heat too much. Roland pulled himself together and fished out his bag of stim tablets. He opened it and looked in. If he took one now, then there was a time limit for the engagement. Either that or he need to start popping them like sweets. He grabbed one and took it seeing a surge in his stamina. He stood and looked at the others. They needed more rest than normal so he headed up the stone to its top. After finding a niche he settled himself pulling the covers off of his scope. With a twist of the dials he made sure the infrared setting was on and looked out across the landscape. He spotted the rebels before he had gone more than a third of the way across the horizon. They were holed up in a series of sandbagged foxholes ahead of their position. Their formation was arrayed like a proper military outfit split into squads. He checked each squad and saw they were all armoured to a level no one had access to below the seventh tier. They were also far too bunched to draw out a squad without attracting unwanted attention. Roland wasn’t sure how they could work this unless they surrendered. An idea struck him. He climbed down from the top of the formation and found Murden. She wiped sweat from her face constantly struggling in the heat but trying to hide it. Roland fished out the stims and palmed one.