2 section approached the bridge where the truck was pulled to a halt. This mission determined how good they have been during their 6 month tour in Afghanistan. "Positions everyone," Captain James was using his Bossman voice, "Smurf, keep an eye on that farmer. Dawes with me, identify the people in the truck."
They both nodded in reply. When Molly and Bossman reached the truck they said 'salum sadi' which was a formal greeting in Pashto. Molly scanned their faces closely and carefully, ready to find Badrai. Qaseem got the driver out of the truck and Molly looked round the corner, it wasn't Badrai. She was certain he was in this truck because nothing seemed right. They were both distracted by a shooting which caused then all to crouch down.
"Smurf what the bloody hell do you think you're doing? Lower your gun now!" Smurf shot the farmer's sheep, which caused the farmer to send out a loud shout in anger, "Seriously Smurf, lower it now."
"She wants to see you when she wakes up, not me!"
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about Smurf."
"You worried I'm going to shoot you boss?"
"Private Smith, lower your gun now!"
Whilst this was all happening, Molly was still scanning the truck for Badrai; she reached a pair of eyes then flashbacks occurred. The flashbacks consisted of Badrai shouting at Bashira, saying something in Pashto which she couldn't understand. She snapped back to reality, "Boss, Boss, it's Badrai, everyone take cover!" She shouted as loud as she could towards her section. Smurf jumped over a barricade while Charles raised his gun towards Badrai but couldn't shoot as Molly was in his way and he didn't want to hurt his Molly. When he tried to aim his gun around Molly to hit Badrai, she fell to the floor.
Charles didn't realise she was shot, he only thought that she fell for cover. That was until blood was running from her left shoulder blade, near her heart, onto the dusty, Afghan dirt. Charles shot Badrai when he jumped off the truck and let 2 section keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't escape. He ran over to Molly and rolled her onto her back and an almighty scream of pain let rip from her lungs. "Dangles call in the MERT make sure they know it's the medic that's hit and that we don't have a lot of experience to deal with major bullet wounds. Be quick. Kinders, Fingers and Baz get your ass's here now!"
"Boss?" Molly's reply was quiet, but loud enough for Charles to hear.
"Hey Molly. You're going to be okay but you're going to have stay with us for a while, don't leave me now! Can you tell us what to do? You've been hit in the shoulder and your bleeding quite a lot. We might gonna need your help on this one, okay?" Charles impersonated Molly's cockney accent, with a smirk on his face but his voice was still shaky.
"Sure. But first, everyone...okay?" Molly always put other peoples lives ahead of hers.
"Yeah, everyone's fine. It's only you we are all worried about." Charles let out a half-laugh.
"Medic bag...front pocket...get tissue." Her voice was becoming fainter with every breath she took and for a second, she stopped talking.
Charles tapped her cheek carefully, "Molls! Molls! Wake up! Stay with me, please don't die now. We are supposed to grow old together, have a family and get married. Come on Molly, wake up." Charles' voice must have been her saviour.
"I'm not dying...yet don't worry, I was resting..my.. eyes." Both of them let out a chuckle, "after tissue...sit me up...stuff in shoulder...apply pressure." Kinders and Baz sat Molly up whilst Fingers stuffed the tissue into her shoulder blade and Charles was comforting her from the front, "ahhhh shhhhiitttttt!"
"Sorry Molls, but this is gonna hurt." Baz was becoming increasingly worried now.
"ETA 30 seconds now sir!" Dangles shout came from behind Molly.
30 seconds later the MERT arrived with 4 medics that ran over to Molly and 2 medics in the vehicle. "We will take over now Captain, we have room for one more passenger; is anyone else injured?"
"No, can I go with you? She is my medic." Charles was pleading the medic.
"Please..he comes..with me." Molly was drifting in and out of consciousness.
"Okay Captain, no interfering okay." The medic was annoyed because they could only take injured personnel.
"Certainly. Kinders I'm trusting you to get this lot sorted and back to Bastion and Brize because by the looks of it, I won't be coming back." Kinders nodded in reply to Charles command since he was a Corporal.
Charles looked down at Molly, "let's get you home then."
They boarded the MERT and 2 section stared up at the helicopter as it took off with Charles' head in his hands, shaking violently.