Chapter 24: One battle won, another to be fought.

"Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid."

-Colonel David Hackworth

Conciousness slowly returned to the injured fox though his eyes remained shut. Despite waking up he felt unbelievably tired. It was like he hadn't actually been sleeping for however long he'd been out as his arms were lumps of lead and, despite the fact his eyes were close, his head was spinning. His body felt like a polar bear and mauled him, ripping his organs and crushing what was left. Trying to move only resulted in an explosion of pain from his abdomen and leg. Gasping he collapsed back onto the surprisingly springy ground while panting until the discomfort abated. Why did he feel so shit?

Cracking his eyes open he wasn't met by an exquisite blue and cloudless sky but instead by a bland, white ceiling. 'How'd that get there?' There was a slight swaying motion as slowly but surely his other senses came back to him. Looking to his left he saw farmland. Vast uninterrupted fields sped past him in a kaleidoscope of colours, elegantly rolling over hills and towards the mountains in the distance with grey and tan rabbits working in said fields. For a second he thought he was flying a sign that he was actually dead this time. However it was when he extended a paw, trying to feel the wind in his fur, that it was stopped by some kind of forcefield.

A window. It took an embarrassingly long time for him to realize it was a god damn window. Nick's exhausted brain was finally able to put the pieces together and the events in Somalia finally came back to him. The vulpine was on a train with the alien smells of cleanliness and antiseptic in the air. The drop in temperature almost made him shiver though that could just be due to blood loss. His vision was floaty and slurred the tell tail paw print of the morphine flowing through his system.

He'd thrown himself on a grenade. Although it was one of the dumbest things he'd ever done, up there along with selling a skunk butt rug to a mob boss, it had been to protect a friend. A friend who wasn't here. The battered fox looked to his right, looking for the gravelly sergeant, alluring vixen and the big fuck off snow leopardess. But they weren't there. Instead the carriage was packed with mammals laying on stretchers in stacks of three with the smaller mammals on the top rungs. Most were out cold although a few were awake and paw full were groaning from their injuries. A butchers shop would have had a smaller selection of cuts and mangled limbs than this place.

A charcoal black ram was opposite Nick laying unconscious with both his legs missing at the knees. An intravenous drip was feeding into his arm and most of his wool had been shaved off making the use of a thick blanket necessary. Others had dressing in various places covering gun shot, stab and shrapnel wounds. The cheetah below the ram had his head almost entirely bandaged with only one eye exposed, he was reading a novel of some description that was sellotaped to the stretcher above.

Maybe he'd been a medic too long because with all the injured laying around him, some in obvious pain and discomfort, he felt the need to get up and tend to their wounds. 'You really gonna try and get up again?' good point he conceded to himself. Unable to move much Nick settled again staring up at the featureless ceiling whilst fighting to stay awake thought the overwhelming urge to sleep soon took him.

Two weeks later

Zootopia Military Hospital. The point at which the war was brought home to those in the city. The images on the T.V always tried to insulate the public from the reality of what their sons and daughters were doing and going through in their name. However here the visitors coming to see those sons and daughters could see some of the costs of this war. The injured who came home were always the once in the worse shape as it made more sense, from a cost and logistical standpoint, to treat the majority of wounded where they were serving. So the most of those here wouldn't be going back to the front.

Nick lay there currently watching the news as it covered the final capture of Mogadishu. Unsurprisingly there was no mention of the Nighthowlers. Images of the allied flag being raised over the ruined city along with what remained of the defenders under armed guard, dishevelled and dejected. "….Lieutenant Mahad officially surrendered the city at 4 o'clock this morning local time…." Nick was so accustomed to the city he was now watching that he swore he could smell the thick acrid smoke through the screen. The report went on detailing the events of the battle and, in a move that surprised the vulpine, the reporter showed the black shiny body bags filled with allied soldiers bodies as she detailed the cost of victory.

Though she did end on a high note as the last piece of film had soldiers whooping and cheering beneath the newly raised flag. "…this has been Fabienne Growley Zootopia news." The pain killers in Nicks system where still effecting his vision and metal capacity. If they hadn't been there he would have spent longer wondering how the news had been allowed to show such distressing material, as it was though he just settled back into the warm embrace of the hospital bed.

A sudden burst of pain from his stitched up stomach had him pressing the button under his left paw, releasing more morphine into his system. 'God I love this button' A side from the spasms in his core muscles and leg physically he wasn't all that bad…taking everything into consideration.

The surgery on his stomach had commenced as soon as he'd arrived which was odd. Penal soldiers consistently were considered a secondary priority to others and another peculiar incident was that Nick had a private room. All the other wounded were placed into large wards the only exceptions being made for high ranking officers or influential individuals. To be honest though Nick would have preferred to be in one of those wards. This was the first time in 10 months he'd been left on his own as in the battalion you did everything together. Eat, sleep, and fight. Even when you went to a quiet corner for some 'me time' you were still easily within ear shot.

The comparative silence was playing havoc with him. At the front you wanted to hear the guns going, jets flying and the whistle of shells in the distance because it meant you knew you weren't under attack. Silence only meant you were the next target for a surprise attack, barrage or air strike. Now though he felt completely isolated and defenceless. More than a few times he had woken with a start at some nightmare though he hadn't screamed…much. It was another hold over from an environment where you wanted to hear but not be heard.

He also had no news on his squad mates. No messages and no visits and he had begun to suspect the worst but then how was he here. Maybe he was dead and this some bizarre cosmic joke. Nick was so confused and the lack of any real conversation wasn't helping to quiet his active mind.

"Nicky?" A familiar warm yet chilled voice came from the door. The injured vulpine cranked his head towards the noise. His mother stood silhouette in the door way like some sort of angel coming to redeem him. "Nick?" she softly asked again like she couldn't believe what was in front of her. She wasn't the only one. He closed his eyes and waited for a few seconds. He slowly cracked them open again. She was still there. "It's me Nicky I'm really here" Her voice was soft and without any anger present as she approached.

"Mom?" he croaked. The mature vixen nodded while she gently stroked his cheek. The tears formed and fell before he could stop them. If she was here, then she knew why he was here…and how he'd ended up in a penal battalion. A distressed whine left him, and his ears pinned back against his scalp before he could stop them. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" He sobbed over and over again. This carried on for several minutes while she tenderly held him there until the burst dam finally ran out. It reminded her of the night after the ranger scouts incident.

Nick stayed where he was with his fuzzy head, in every sense of the word, gently tucked into his mothers chest. When she next spoke she chose her words carefully "I'm not angry Nicky. I'm just glad your home"

'Not angry?' Nick's mind queried. 'How can you NOT be angry?'

Unaware of what was going on in Nicks head his mother continued to slowly pet the fur between his ears "What were you thinking joining up and not telling me?" she began choking up. Nicks brain may have been slower than dial up but it was still fast enough to put 2 and 2 together. 'She doesn't know. She doesn't know! How!?' It was then he noticed the small brown package she'd brought with her. "I had to wait for the army to tell me! What if you never came back? " It was she that now began to quietly cry, as a very quiet whine of her own left her, and Nick raised an arm to encircle the vixen in a weak, awkward embrace.

"I-I'm…" He began but was cut off. He was still thanking his lucky stars she didn't know all the details.

"Shhhhhh, All that matters is your safe" After placing a brief kiss atop his head she turned her attention to the box. "This arrived with the message that you were here." the package appeared to be 2 small rectangular boxes wrapped together in brown packing paper. "It was addressed too you so I left it as it was when it arrived." Slowly ripping the paper revealed the two flat, black boxes within. There was nothing on the outside that gave a clue to what they contained though they resembled jewellery boxes.

Carefully opening the first one revealed a perfectly polished Purple heart. The gold bordered heart shaped medal may have been common around here, being that it was awarded to all those killed or wounded in service to their country, but too Nick it carried hidden weight. With the knowledge of how he'd been wounded to begin with, it would forever remind him that the most important thing in life was those around him.

He wasn't too surprised by the first box. The second though nearly gave him a heart attack. Removing the lid exposed the, simply designed but none the less impressive, bronze star held within. Nick stared for a moment. Did he really deserve this? He slowly ran his fingers over the cool metal as if it were made of glass. Beneath the medal was a small plaque and inscribed upon it 'Awarded to Nicholas. for exceptional and heroic actions under hostile fire. Battle of Mogadishu 2012.'

His mother may have been as surprised as him but pride was also there in equal measure. "Nick, what happened?" His mother sounded almost excited, Though Nick's throat and lips suddenly went very dry as he tore his gaze away from the medals.

Meanwhile: somewhere along the Yalu river, North Korea

"Jackal 7, this is Blueberry 3, approaching junction city, requesting landing permission, over" The comforting clap of multiple helicopter rotor blades almost drowned out the sound of the static over the radio, as the pilot waited for a response.

A frantic voice came back "Blueberry 3, Thats a negative! Wave off! We got Chinese all over the fucking place!" As if on cue flack rose up to meet the formation. The aircraft shuddered and jumped violently as they were bracketed by black poofs of smoke and flashes of orange flame. The control stick threatened to be ripped from the Rabbits paws. Metal sliced through metal as it punctured the air frame.

"BLUEBERRY 1's HIT!"He copilot called out. "GO EVASIVE!" A flack shell had hit the vehicle in front square in the passenger compartment blowing the helicopter into pieces. It now tumbled to the earthwards.

"Calm down Cervidae. Juliet 2, this is Blueberry 3, Blueberry leads down, leading for emergency drop, over" She was calm and focused on the job at paw.

"Roger that blueberry 3. good luck, out"

"All flights on me! Blueberry and leopard flights lead in, followed by Red and Gaul, then green and Shogun. Emergency drop. How copy, over?" Her voice was filled with authority but a hint of fear was still there as she waited. One by one the other flights called in that they understood and were ready. The rabbit then turned to her passengers. "This is going to be close mammals, get ready because we wont be landing or stopping so you'll have to jump!"

A familiar wolf looked into her eyes and with a confident smile laughed "Nice to see we're making this interesting Hopps"

She smirked in reply "You wouldn't have it any other way John" then turned forward again.

"True enough." He bullishly replied while fixing his bayonet "You girls ready?" Sasha gave the thumbs up

"OUI!" Jazz shouted as miss Winters tightened the straps on her medical webbing, Wincing due to her shoulder.

"Easy Sky, down want you hurting yourself" she bellowed back "I can do this!"

John nodded with his grin still firmly in place."Lads?" he turned to Balto who gave him a good, honest smile while Leroy spat out the side of the helicopter "I am now"

Speaking around a cigarette John compelled Jackie on "Take us in Jackie!" The rabbit stayed facing forward as a self assured smirk split her muzzle and the helicopters then one by one dived into the battle, nose to tail, into a hail of bullets, rockets and shells.