"All teams, standby."
SPC West tensed up on the edge of the helicopter, shifting his weight in the seat slightly as his helicopter, along with another, raced towards the target building.
"Yall right West?" The otter next to him asked, and he simply nodded in reply, mentally running through the raid plan on last time.
Alpha team, Blake's team, was going in on the rooftop. The gunships, sitting off about a klick, had looked over the roof with FLIR several times, and had seen nothing. If it stayed that way, the landing and dismount would be easy, with Alpha breaching in through the rooftop entrance into the building. Bravo team would land in the courtyard, and breach from the ground up, with Charlie staying in the helicopters and orbiting with the long rifles to provide support. In all, the raid should take 10 minutes, tops.
If everything went according to plan.
"All teams, Sierra." Crackled over the radio. Blake tensed up slightly, charged his weapon, and looked around the helicopter as it tilted, beginning its flare to slow down. He was the newest member of his four man team, each of which had been in ASOC and on these missions far more than he had.
SSG Oats was the leader of the team, SGT Otterton was the primary breacher, SGT Finnlay was the secondary, and he was the medic. Blake knew that they all were testing him; counting on him to make sure that they all would get to go home.
"30 seconds."
Blake reached back and rested his hand on his restraints, preparing to undo them and dismount the helicopter, watching the scene unfold below him.
The helicopters with Charlie team onboard broke to the right, entering a tight orbit around the building as the shooters onboard began to scan not only the target building, but the buildings around it as well. He watched as Bravo team's helicopter set down, the team dismounting and sprinting towards the entrance to the building.
"Wheels down! Dismount!" The pilot shouted, and Blake detached his restraints and jumped off the seat, taking several steps forward before kneeling and bringing his rifle up, scanning for threats.
Moments later, the helicopter was off the roof, and Blake began sprinting after his team, joining them as the last man in the stackā¦
Blake shifted in his sleep, mumbling under his breath. As he dreamed, his ears twitched slightly and he pawed at the air, as if he was attempting to regain his grip on something.
Ringing.
Ringing, and a pounding headache, and a sense that he needed to stand up.
With a groan, Blake shook his head to clear it and glanced around, first reaching out and grabbing his rifle, picking it back up and taking in the situation.
Where his teammates had been moments before, there was now a giant crater in the floor, that reached up through the next level as well. The team had been preparing to advance further down the hall when the explosives had gone off.
"Central, Alpha 4! Viking, Viking, Viking!" Blake called into his radio, advancing forward to look into the hole in the floor.
A response filled his ears, but Blake was too distracted to notice. What he saw below him wasn't good.
Laying in different positions on the floor beneath him was his team, each appearing to be wounded. Blake could see a pool of blood already forming beneath SGT Finnlay. He also caught a glimpse of movement from down the hall, and knew that no other teams had reached the floor.
Knowing that he could do nothing else, and that he was highly likely to be killed, Blake did the only thing he could think of.
Jumping down onto the floor beneath him, he swung his weapon up and began to engage the enemy forces in the hallway, stepping forward into the little cover that he could find. For nearly 30 seconds, he poured continuous fire into the hallway, driving the enemy combatants down the hall into different rooms. As soon as he had them all locked down, he turned back and grabbed SGT Finnlay by the vest, dragging him into the closest open room. Heading back out, he fired off several more rounds, before dragging SSG Oats into the room as well.
On his final trip, he grabbed onto SGT Otterton, and just as he started dragging, he heard two gunshots and felt two identical impacts into his back.
With a cry of pain, Blake toppled forward onto the ground, moaning. His vision blurred; he knew that both rounds had to have gotten through his plate.
"Alpha 4, Central. Status."
Blake tried to reply, but he couldn't. The pain...with a sudden start, he realized that he hadn't managed to move SGT Otterton out of the hall. His teammates needed him. They all needed him to survive.
SPC West pushed himself back up with a groan, ignoring the screaming pain from his back. Grabbing the SGT by his vest, he dragged him into the room with the rest of his team and collapsed, panting from the pain and effort. Shrugging off his bag, he set to work trying to stabilize all of his team.
SSG Oats and SGT Otterton were simple cases; they had gotten lucky in the blast. Couple of broken bones, concussions, and minor shrapnel wounds, but outside that, they were in the best condition of the trio.
SGT Finnaly, on the other hand, was a complete mess. His normally red fur was stained a dark blood red, and a small pool was already forming around the jagged stump that had been his lower left leg, amputated below the knee. He had burns all over his face and chest, and bright red blood spurted from his upper arm. His eyes barely moved, tracking what little movement they could.
Blake wasted no time. He quickly got tourniquets on high and tight on both injured limbs, and then began to asses SGT Finnaly's airway, worriedly noting the slight discoloration of his lips.
As he listened and felt for breath, he got nothing. The burns had compromised his airway. Swallowing nervously, Blake broke out the equipment needed for an emergency cricothyroidotomy, and set to work as fast as he could.
In about a minute, he had managed to complete the procedure, and now a plastic tube stuck out of the red fox's neck. At least he was breathing on his own, as shallow as they breaths were.
Moving on in the assessment, Blake watched the chest rise and fall in unision. Even shallow, it was still equal and bilateral. He checked for a pulse on the one good arm and found nothing. Establishing an IV was easy, and SGT Finnaly soon had 500mls of fluid running into his veins.
Blake just hoped that it would be enough, and he hoped that the rescue would get there soon. He himself was starting to have trouble breathing, and he shrugged off his vest, applying chest seals to his own wounds as he prayed that he would stay conscious long enough for the rest of the team to reach them.
Minutes passed, and SGT Finnaly began to deteriorate, his breathing becoming slower.
"Stay with me Finnaly." Blake said, shaking his shoulder slightly to try and keep him awake. "Stay with me."
Finnaly's eyes were closed, and Blake began to panic slightly as the breathing continued to slow. He could hear friendly gunfire just in the hallway outside, and knew that rescue was imminent.
"Come on, just a few more seconds. Just hold on." He said, trying to encourage Finnaly to keep breathing.
As much as he encouraged, the breathing didn't improve, and began to slow even further. Blake busted out his bag valve mask, and began to ventilate, hoping it would be enough.
"Friendlies coming in!" A voice outside the room shouted, as Blake reached out and felt for a carotid pulse.
As members of Bravo team stormed into the room, Blake's blood ran cold. Nothing.
"No no no no no no!" He cried out, dropping the bag and beginning to move to start compressions. "Stay with me!"
The world around him began to spin as two members of Bravo team yanked him back and away from the body, from SGT Finnaly. Blake struggled to get back to him, but the two other members refused to let go. As his vision swirled out to blackness, the last thing Blake saw was Finnaly's head turn towards him, tube moving in his neck as he spoke:
"You failed me."
Blake jolted upright in a panic, frantically looking around the room. No hospital, no building, no gunfire or noise. Just himself on a couch, and Nick and Judy in the doorway, staring at him in surprise.
So, another longer chapter. Took my last final of the year today, so tomorrow's chapter may or may not make it up on schedule, depending on how soon I get my car back, and how soon I can move out of my dorm. Outside of that, the big thanks to everyone who has been leaving reviews. It's been a great motivation, and I'm glad that everyone is enjoying the story, and happy reading!
