A/N: Hello! So so sorry about the delayed update. You know my 'rule' about having a chapter in-between posting and writing? I sort-of broke that trying to get chapters out to you guys haha, and the end of this chapter was more challenging that I expected it to be. But I have a good visual of what to do next, so hopefully the next chapter won't take so long.
PS: A bit different in this chapter: italics are now used for emphasis and memories, not song lyrics. Onwards!
Chapter 9: Precious Time
"HANNIBAL! BOSCO!"
BA and Hannibal snapped their heads towards the door, hearing the one voice they thought they'd never hear again.
"Face?" BA mouthed questioningly to his CO. Hannibal shrugged slightly, heading towards the basement door and down the stairs. Hannibal stopped dead when he saw Face kneeling on the floor, crying, holding a motionless blood-soaked Murdock in his arms.
"Jesus Christ!" Hannibal yelled out, running towards them.
"What the hell happened fool?" B.A. yelled following quickly behind his CO. Hannibal rushed up to Face, noticing the bullet wound in his shoulder. Before he could question the Lieutenant, Murdock gave a small whimper as he look around, staring up at Face with wide eyes,
"Facey, what… am I dead?" He gasped.
Face smirked at his assumption, tears growing in his eyes "No way man, you're not dead."
"But I- I saw you… you got shot…"
"He missed buddy," Face whispered, "Took it in the shoulder, not the chest." Murdock looked relieved, but then gasped and recoiled as Face tried to put pressure on Murdock's wound. The pilot smirked again, feebly,
"Good… you're better off… alive…" Murdock clenched his teeth, laying his head on Face's arm as his eyes starting to close.
"And so are you sucka, so you better stay awake while we get you outta here," BA barked, taking Murdock into his arms as Face stood up. Bosco cradled the crazy man close to him, trying to move him as little as possible as Hannibal opened the basement door, running up to the van and starting the engine.
Face opened the back door to the van, climbing in while BA walked up the hill, warily handing Murdock off to Face. Face winced as the weight strained the torn muscles in his shoulder, but focused on the nearly unconscious pilot as he laid him gently on the floor. Murdock stared at the ceiling in a daze, trying to keep his eyes open, but it kept getting harder and harder every moment.
"Come on Murdock, I just got you back man, I can't lose you now," Face whispered to the pilot, brushing his sweaty hair away from his face. Murdock looked up at Face,
"N-no worries Faceman… H.M. Murdock's here to-" He cut off in a fit of coughing, blood escaping down the side of his mouth. He set his head back on the floor of the van, panting and closing his eyes, his jaw going slack.
"Hannibal…" Face warned, there was blood everywhere.
"I know Face!" the Colonel's rough voice came from the front seat, "B.A.'s literally driving as fast as he can without exploding the engine." His response came out harsher than intended, but he was too busy trying to find anything that looked remotely like a hospital to listen to the Lieutenant telling him his worst fears. Face crouched on the floor, trying to put pressure on Murdock's wound as they sped down the road. Face could barely keep his stomach from twisting as his hands were covered in blood, 'Murdock's blood...' he thought morbidly.
B.A. gripped the steering wheel so hard he was amazed it hadn't broken yet, his eyes trained on the road as it flashed by. The lights of the town came into view as stores and street lights flew by in a blur. Suddenly a familiar white building came into view as BA slammed on the brakes, bringing the van onto two wheels as he turned the corner. He heard a feeble moan come from the back seat, and dread flashed though his mind,
"Sorry man," BA said softly. They screeched to a halt outside the front doors. Hannibal quickly got out of the front seat and threw open the back door; Face already waiting with Murdock unconscious in his arms. The Lieutenant jumped out of the van, but stopped on the curb, swaying slightly on his feet. Hannibal remembered Face's shoulder, and quickly took the pilot from his arms. He gasped at the sudden weight, but held his own.
"Face, get someone to get that bullet out. And soon, I don't want you passing out in the waiting room." Face started to object, but his vision began to blur around the edges and he figured he probably should get someone to check on him.
BA slammed the door closed, running around the side of the van to find Hannibal carrying Murdock into the hospital with Face beside him. BA was very surprised, 'Damn man, I didn't know the Colonel was that strong.' Hannibal clutched the pilot in his arms, his muscles screaming out in protest. He didn't dare stop; this was his team. 'More than that,' Hannibal thought, 'This is my son.' They crashed through the glass doors, the young receptionist jumping up from her seat.
"We need a doctor here! This man's shot and he's losing blood fast!" Hannibal yelled. A tall doctor with brown hair came up to the team, looking in awe at the sheer rugged state they were all in.
"What happened-?" He started to ask,
"There's no time for questions doc this man is dying!" Hannibal yelled in the doctor's face, gesturing at Murdock. Quickly a team of nurses came out with a stretcher. Hannibal carefully set Murdock down. The pilot opened his eyes from all of the noise around him. 'Where am I? Why is everything so bright?' He wondered faintly. The dull, throbbing pain in his stomach did not make concentrating any easier. Darkness swirled across the edges of his vision, threatening to block out everything completely. Straining, Murdock turning his head to the left, and was nearly face-to-face with his CO. Hannibal jogged beside him, his eyes wide and glassy. 'What's going on…?' Murdock wondered.
"Captain, stay with us!" Hannibal shouted, but all Murdock saw were his lips moving. The black dots swirled across his vision again, blocking everything out except faint whispers…
..."Murdock! Come on man, I can't lose you!"…
"Get those men out of here!"…
"Fool don't you dare, not now! Not like this…"
"He's flat lining! Get a defibrillator, now!"...
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave-"
"MURDOCK!"
"Sir…"
"Charging….CLEAR"...
The sounds got farther and farther away, until he could barely make out the words…
"SIR, I need you and you friends to leave right now!"
"No response. Charging again… CLEAR"…
Murdock desperately tried to fight off the darkness that was coming over him. It felt like a warm blanket. He considered letting it take him over, it felt warm, safe. But he heard his team, calling for him. He knew he couldn't leave them, not like this. He struggled as the blanket twisted and snaked around him, trying to envelop him in its nothingness.
"Oh my God… Murdock, please!"
"Murdock… James… James, we love you…"
He started to panic as he heard his friends' cries get farther and farther away from him. He thought he was winning against the darkness, so why could he hear his friends anymore?
All of the sudden he was thrust back into light; a blinding, radiant, beaming light. He saw himself and his team; it was a mission they had covered a couple weeks prior. They were all in another C-130 (Murdock loved those) and flying at high speed with a hostage in their plane. BA started to stir as Murdock heard Face mumble a curse from the co-pilot's seat.
"What the hell…aww man, my head…" The hostage, a young man with a beard and a mean face suddenly looked frightened as the huge man opened his eyes.
"What's going on… Why the hell are we in an airplane man? I knew you was gonna knock me out! I knew we was flyin'! I knew it!" BA screamed, not helping Murdock's concentration as his hands danced over the controls, trying to evade the enemy plane behind him.
"BA, calm down," Hannibal chided gently from beside him, keeping his gun firmly anchored into the hostage's back, "We thought you were going to be out the whole time, we just ran into some unexpected turbulence,"
"What the hell does that mean fool?" BA refused to quiet down.
"Bosco, you're not helping my concentration," Murdock said, not lifting his eyes from the numerous buttons in front of him. It was the third time flying in a C-130 and he still had no idea what the hell half of these buttons did.
"Man, when have you ever concentrated in your life?" BA screamed, thrashing in his seat. Luckily they had the insight to strap him in, but when he got scared they knew it was possible he could break through. Hannibal briefly let go of the man to keep BA from uprooting the seat from the plane, holding down his shoulders while Face tried to keep up with the commands Murdock was throwing at him.
The man took this opportunity to brandish a gun from his jacket, firing at the pilot's seat. Murdock screamed; clutching his right shoulder as Hannibal quickly knocked the man out with the butt of his gun.
"OW! Damn it! Why am I always the one that ends up getting shot?" Murdock yelled, squeezing his eyes closed as the plane started to tip into a nosedive.
"Murdock! Murdock you gotta pull through man, you need to get this plane landed!" Face shouted from the seat next to him, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder, recoiling slightly when blood smeared across his palm.
"Alright ladies and gentleman, we have a new flight plan," Murdock announced into to the microphone, "Due to our handsome and courageous pilot suffering a minor injury, we will be arriving at our destination in about, oh… forty seconds,"
"Forty seconds? Man, you can't land a plane in forty seconds!" BA yelled, but was cut off as the engines cut off, the plane diving steeply through the air. Everyone screamed as Murdock howled with laughter, taking the time to find out what more of those buttons did.
When they dropped past the cloud line, Murdock flicked around with some of the levers, the engines rumbling faintly.
"This is a lot different than a helicopter!" Murdock yelled over the screaming men, and just started randomly pressing down buttons that looked like starters.
"WE GONNA DIE!" BA shouted, but as the valleys and mountains became more visible, Murdock flipped a switch and the motors roared back to life, sending the plane horizontal through the mountain range. Murdock howled with delight,
"Just like Mexico, boys!" He shouted over the microphone, breaking out into an opera version of 'Come back to Sorrento' in Italian.
"Damn it fool I'm gonna kill you!" BA shouted, Hannibal and Face too stunned to say anything as Face ran his clean hand through his hair, staring wide-eyed out the front of the aircraft. Despite everything, the Colonel and Lieutenant started laughing, BA too stunned to say anything.
The memory left as quickly as it came, dissipating into a cloud of dark fog, Murdock tried to find his way around, but he could see nothing except shadows and ghosts. Distorted figures watched him run through the darkness, trying to find something... someone...? Why was he running again...? He was so lost, so confused. Was what he was seeing real? He could never tell. In the darkness he saw several muddled people; three of them stood next to each other, malice and hatred flaming in their eyes. The other four, very different from each other, were expressionless and had only a flicker of longing that hung about them.
Murdock continued to stare at them as the two groups merged together and apart, as if they were made of water. Murdock was bewildered, he knew he should go with one group, and run from the other, but which was which? He couldn't recognize any of them, even though he felt in the back of his mind they were all very relevant.
Black swirls started to come up behind him again, wrapping around his arms and waist. Wherever they touched sent chills through Murdock's body, draining what little life he felt he had. He looked up to the figures, shouting for help, but his words were lost. He had almost given up when he heard a voice, echoed from memory but clear as day,
'James, we love you...'
Realization flickered in his mind, he knew that voice. He didn't know why, where, or even who said it, but it was real. If he did anything before the darkness overtook him, he would find that voice again. He fought back the swirls, running through the darkness and the figures, chasing his illusions with a new determination.
A/N: Sorry if the ending is a bit... off of my style. I just finished reading Eragon for the 7 millionth time (LOVE that book), so adventure-fantasy is clouding my mind. I bring you updates in the near furture, PLEASE review, it's how I know peeps are still reading :) IYD24