Chapter 1:
There was never anything in training that prepared you for giant, metal, alien balls tearing your ship to pieces. There was nothing in training that told you how you were supposed to react, or what you were supposed to do. Nope. Not a single damn thing. So petty officer Ordy didn't feel bad about the fact that he was about to see his insides all over the destroyer's metal floors, or that his heart felt like it was about to explode. No Ordy didn't feel bad about how he was panicking like a weak hearted civilian instead of bracing like a trained navy sailor. He could hear the shredders tearing through the metal of the John Paul Jones like it was paper. Hear the grinding of the shredding edges against the walls and the doors. Sailors scrambled through the halls all around him and up toward the deck so they could abandon the doomed destroyer before it was swallowed by the cold ocean waters. He could hear the shouting from the men and women, and the horrible, tearing of the alien tech. Ordy jumped down a set of stairs and took two steps toward the door to the deck before he saw the orange glow outside the small window. The screeching ripped through the metal walls like there was nothing there before the blades started to cut through the door. Ordy panicked before he turned and tried to get as far away from the raging ball of metal as he could. Just as it ripped through the door his boots slipped on the smooth floor and he fell forward. Scrambling to his feet Ordy looked back over his shoulder as the blades tore through the narrow hallway; lucky him not so quickly. He reached the door at the end of the hall before he tried to pull the locks open and get through. His hands were shaking with adrenaline and fear and he couldn't quite get the door open fast enough.
The shredder was suddenly a lot closer than he'd thought it'd be and he backed up against the door in fear. The scrapping of metal through metal ground against his ear drums, and at the moment it was the most terrifying thing he'd ever heard. He startled suddenly as someone grabbed his uniform and ripped him out of the way just as the shredder rammed up against the door, only to tear through where he'd just been a moment later. Ordy rolled over to see Raikes on the floor next to him. She was yelling something at him…
"Come on Ordy!" Raikes shouted as she got back up and yanked him to his feet, "Let's go!"
The two petty officers moved as fast as they could through the narrow hall until they burst out onto the deck. Sailors were jumping over the edge quickly as the destroyer exploded around them; the screaming of the shredders dominating the air. The two stuck close together as they ran up the ship that was slowly starting to sink; the stern rising upward as the water sucked it under. Ordy looked around them quickly just as he saw the orange of a shredder rip through the side of the ship next to them. He grabbed Raikes and pulled her back as the ship exploded next to them. They were blown off their feet as metal and flames shot through the air around them. Adrenaline coursed through the both of them as they scrambled back to their feet; the ship alarmingly vertical all of the sudden. Raikes quickly pulled herself over the edge as Ordy followed and soon they both felt the cold of the pacific waters hit them. The salt stung Raikes' wounds but she swam back up to the surface quickly. The life boats were scattered all over as sailors jumped and swam toward them. Looking around Raikes found Ordy a few feet away from her, but something seemed off. He looked to be in more pain than a high jump into the water should have caused.
She swam toward him despite the calls from the others in the boats. The heavy waves knocked her into him and instantly she felt something sharp press against her abdomen. Red flags shot up in her mind as she grabbed Ordy and looked for the closest life boat. The John Paul Jones was practically 90 degrees now, and sinking fast. The water was sucking them closer as the destroyer sank beneath the dark waves, fires littering the cold waters. Raikes suddenly realized Ordy was starting to weigh on her and she realized he was struggling to stay above water. Quickly she looked around and grabbed a stray lifebuoy and dragged it to them. Ordy held onto it along with her as they pushed themselves away from the destroyed ship just as the shredders ripped out of the hull of the destroyer and fell into the ocean. Sailors called out to each other and them, but there was so much chaos that Raikes couldn't think straight at the moment.
"Ordy! Hey!" She grabbed her friend's shoulder when he didn't answer right away, "Hey you okay?!"
Ordy nodded stiffly but he was grimacing. He looked like he wanted to say something, his mouth opened for a moment, but it quickly shut again as his jaw clenched tightly. Raikes looked at him as they floated there, the boats and them drifting away from the wreckage of the John Paul Jones. The red flag returned when she thought about when she'd knocked into him and quickly she shifted over closer to him. He was holding on to the buoy with one arm wrapped around it, but his other was submerged beneath the water. She ran her hand down his arm despite the look he gave her and she found where his hand was.
"Damn it Ordy!" Raikes hissed worriedly as her hand felt the jagged edge of metal.
Following the metal her hand collided with the fabric of his ABUs and she realized the shard of metal was sticking out of him. She could feel the smooth side of it and she figured it was a piece of the ship when it had exploded next to them. The two petty officers were far from the others now, and the wreckage, but Raikes' fear was quickly swelling deep in her chest. They needed to get to shore and fast.
"You gotta help me Ordy!" Raikes said as she started kicking against the water, "We gotta get to shore!"
"G-Gotchya." He managed through his teeth as he started to help as best he could, "We gotta, find H-Hopper!"
"We will. But we gotta get to shore first." She said sternly as she set her eyes on the shore line in front of them.
It wasn't hard to figure out that the others were probably going there as well; probably toward Pearl. There was no way that the two of them were going to be able to kick their way to the harbor so they'd have to settle for a regular shore line.
…
The world was suddenly quiet. The chaos of the John Paul Jones suddenly gone; the shouting of their crew members faded; it was almost an eerie silence. All there was, was the sloshing of the waves and the wind of the sea spray. It was strange after all that had happened recently. Raikes was painfully aware of the fact that when the water started to turn shallow Ordy had all but stopped kicking with her. As soon as her boots touched bottom Raikes let go of the buoy and grabbed Ordy. He struggled to his feet, but he was still lucid which was a good thing. He was leaning on her but she kept him up as the two of them stumbled through the waves toward the shoreline. Ordy had his left hand braced tightly against his side while his right was pulled over Raikes' shoulder. Her other hand had a firm grip on his belt as they struggled toward the shore. The waves felt like they were trying to rip his feet out from under him and Ordy was painfully aware of the hot pain radiating from his abdomen. The salt water burned and stung and all he wanted to do was pass out, but that would leave Raikes on her own and he wasn't about to do that. Not with aliens running about; no way. The pain however was growing to a level that was starting to take over his senses.
"Almost there." Raikes said, and he realized she had been talking to him, "We're almost there Ord. Hang on."
Their boots suddenly squished through the wet sand of the beach and the two all but fell over onto the shore. Content to just lie there, Ordy didn't make a move to adjust his position, but Raikes crawled over to his side and rolled him over on his back. He couldn't help the painful groan that escaped him as his muscles pressed against the shard in his side. Raikes was leaning over him now, water dripping from her hair, and the cap. Ordy almost laughed; all this craziness and Raikes still had hat on. He could feel the ocean waves licking at his boots and up his legs, as well as the grit of the sand against his hair. He liked the beach… though he had to remember never to bring Penelope to the beach again. Nope. Poor girl; he'd felt real bad about that. Ordy was broken from his random train of thought when Raikes gently slapped the side of his face.
"Hey!" She said as her face faded into his vision, "Keep your eyes open Ordy."
"Right…" He replied to her even though he really just wanted to close them, "You okay Raikes? Where are the others?"
"They're good. I'm good." She said as her eyes traveled down to his side, "They were in the life boats; probably headed to Pearl."
Raikes didn't like how the waves pulled away the sand from under him, and how it pulled away red. Sand wasn't supposed to be red; especially if Ordy was the reason for it. It was all kinds of wrong to her. She had to get that piece of metal out of him, but she wasn't totally sure she had the medical ability to do it without making it worse.
"It's bad… huh?" Ordy suddenly looked at her.
She turned her attention to him again, "Na, it could be worse. Don't be a chicken."
He scoffed a little with a smile, "Right. Cause I just love chicken."
"Shut up." Raikes couldn't help the tiny smile that broke across her face.
"We gotta get to Hopper…" Ordy suddenly said, "He's gonna need… everybody. We gotta stop the aliens."
"Ord you cant just run off into battle with a piece of ship stickin' out of you." Raikes said sternly, "You wouldn't get very far."
He didn't say anything as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "Then you gotta go Raikes. We cant just sit here while aliens are takin over our planet. You're one of our best gunners! He needs you."
She looked at him carefully before her face turned serious, "I'm not leaving you here Ord."
Ordy laughed, but a painful gasp followed soon after, "D-Didn't know… you cared so much… Raikes."
"Shut up." She said as she looked away from him, "Sanders."
The pain had flared suddenly and Ordy found it was getting harder and harder to ignore with each passing moment; he wasn't going to stay conscious much longer, "Serious, though, Raikes… you gotta go. I'm not going to be here much longer… I'm feelin' really tired."
"Oh no you don't!" Raikes' attention suddenly snapped back to his face, "You are not sleeping on me Ordy!"
Raikes suddenly brought her hands up and took off her jacket before she folded it and suddenly pressed it down against the wound in Ordy's side. He cried out painfully at the sudden pressure on the wound and his back arched up in reaction to it.
"W-Why would y-you do that!?" He gasped as his eyes stayed screwed shut.
"So you stay awake stupid." Raikes said firmly, but her eyes were staring at the shiny piece of metal that was sticking out of her best friend, "And I needed to stop the bleeding…"
It felt like hours to the two petty officers, but in reality it was only about an hour. An hour for Raikes to stare at Ordy bloody on the shoreline; an hour for Ordy to feel the pain flood through his system; an hour for his blood to taint the sand and Raikes' hands. Raikes knew that they had to get to Hopper, Ordy was right about that, but the only way was for her to pull it out and try to fashion a makeshift bandage out of her jacket. The piece seemed smooth enough on the edges; it was just the front that was jagged. If she was careful she could remove it without tearing a hole in Ordy's side. The thought made the weapons specialist feel sick.
She looked up at his face and realized he was unconscious. When had that happened?! Quickly Raikes made sure he was still alive before she returned her attention back to the metal shard. It wasn't terribly big; she could wrap her hand around it. What concerned her though was that she didn't know if the rest of it was as smooth as the bit sticking out of him. If it wasn't then she would be doing more harm than good and she could quite possibly… no. She wasn't about to let that happen.
Not to him.
Raikes took a shaky breath before she wrapped her hand around the end of the metal. She carefully pressed her hand against her jacket just around the base of the metal and looked at Ordy. It was going to wake him up that was for sure; she just hoped she wasn't making the wrong decision. God how she was going to blow those alien bastards up. Raikes let a shaky breath go before she suddenly braced her hand and then pulled. The metal slipped out quickly, smoothly, and she was glad that her gamble was right. The metal had been smooth all the way through. As soon as she'd ripped it out though, Ordy had shot awake and screamed. It was a horrible, terrible sound that made Raikes' ears and heart hurt. His hands had instinctively gone to the wound and had over lapped her one which had been holding the jacket over the hole. She put her other hand on top of his as she tried to calm him down.
"It's okay. You're okay. It's gone." She said quickly, "You'll be fine. Don't be a baby."
The last was said with very little force behind it.
Ordy wasn't sure when he'd clocked out, but he sure as hell wasn't ready to be woken up by someone yanking his nerves out of his body. At least, that's what it had felt like. He could hear Raikes talking to him, and he felt her hand slide over his, but the pain… god the pain was ridiculous. How the hell did people tough it out through movies?! Yeah they were movies… but still! His breathing came in short pants as his nerves pulsed angrily all over his body. He managed to pry his eyes open and found Raikes staring at him; the expression on her face catching him off guard. He wasn't used to worry dominating the gun-ho, strong willed, dominant weapons specialist's face.
"I had to." She said right away, "We need to move, and the bleeding wasn't stopping with it in there."
He wanted to say something, but he felt like if he opened his mouth he was going to throw up. Instantly Raikes started to refold the jacket before she used the sleeves to tie it around his abdomen; pulling the sleeves under him forcefully since he didn't have the energy to move himself. She tucked the bottom into his belt so it stayed firmly against the wound before she shifted closer to his head.
"You gotta get up Ordy." She said quickly as she got to her feet, "We gotta move…"
The idea of moving was not appealing; at all. But he knew she was right, and Hopper needed all the sailors they had if they were going to stop this. He probably had some crazy-ass plan to stop the aliens already. Raikes slipped her arms under his, but despite bracing himself for the movement, Ordy couldn't fight off the wave of nausea that over took him when she yanked him upward. He had to swallow his insides as she steadied him; pulling his arm over her shoulder. She wrapped her arm around him tightly, but stayed mindful of the injury.
"I really hope we get vacation after this…" Ordy said breathlessly as he concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other; which was turning out to be harder than he thought.
"You and me both." Raikes said, deciding conversation would be good to keep him awake, "We can go get some KFC huh?"
"W-Why?" He hissed a little as they stumbled forward through the sand, "So you can just… make fun of me some more?"
He was leaning on her more than she liked, and it worried her, "You set yourself up for that Ordy. Just don't be a chicken next time and I'll pick on you for somethin' else."
"G-Great." He choked out a short laugh, "Good… t-to know."
The two stumbled through the sand, their boots suddenly feeling heavier than before. The silence was deafening for some reason as they finally reached solid land. The island vegetation proved to be annoying obstacles, but they managed around it despite the fact. By the timey they found any kind of pathway Ordy was leaning so heavily on Raikes she was practically dragging him. His words came out slurred now, and his grip on her arm was loosening. Each time he tripped it sent her heart up into her throat. God how far were they from Pearl anyway?! Raikes shifted his weight, trying to pull him up straighter as the area suddenly started to seem familiar.
"Ordy… hey!" She turned her head to look at him as best she could, "Ord!"
She cursed when she found he was practically out; no wonder he was suddenly so heavy. His head had dropped down against her shoulder and he was barely keeping his feet under himself. She shifted her hand which was wrapped around his waist and she felt her chest tighten when her fingers stuck together for a moment; he was bleeding through the jacket.
"Ordy come on…" She choked, "You gotta help me here. I cant make it all the way to Pearl by myself."
He didn't answer, and it made her throat tighten. He was getting heavier and heavier with each step, and his grip was growing slacker by the minute. Raikes could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and she wanted to say it was the strain of exercise she had been doing since the damn aliens had shown up… but she wasn't stupid. She knew what it was.
"Ordy I swear to god I'll kill you…" She said through her teeth as she started up at the sky, fighting the tears that were building.
She pulled him forward despite everything however, determined to set her eyes on Pearl. Determined to make sure that Ordy saw their crew again; got on another ship. She felt like she was pulling him now. Just dragging him along; dragging an unconscious body. Unconscious because Ordy wasn't dead; he couldn't be. She refused to believe anything other than a state of unconsciousness. She could feel his heart beat against her ribcage as it vibrated through his body; hear his uneven breathing in her ear. She knew he was alive because she wasn't going to let him die. He couldn't die. She wanted him to live.
She needed him to live.
