Chapter Twenty-Seven: Cut Deep

1912 Hours, January 20, 2553. Near the City of Portoviejo, Ecuador. "The Burnout," Planet Earth. Day Six of the Fate of Humanity

It was raining hard outside when I woke up.

I wasn't really aware of anything at first, not even the pain. All I knew was that I was lying on something cold, hard, and metal, and there was a Marine standing over me. I'd missed Willis so much in the past couple weeks that at first, my muddled brain registered the figure as him.

"W-Will?"

"Nope, not him. But this does look familiar, huh?" a male voice replied. "Your gaining consciousness after a particularly nasty hit, and asking about your flyboy's welfare before your own? Must be love."

His tone was light, but I could also tell that something wasn't quite right. With the state I was in right now, though, I just didn't have the presence of mind to try to figure out what it might be. I did, however, start to feel the dull throbbing on my face, as well as a terrific ache in my abdomen.

"Should I…get used to…waking up to your face from now on, Hayden?" I said in a low, hoarse voice before I opened my eyes a crack. "Because I'm…pretty sure Will would…have a problem with that."

Expecting my best friend to let out a chuckle, I was surprised when his reply sounded serious. "Natalie, I don't want to prolong this for you, ok? I'm really glad and relieved that you woke up, everybody is, but…there's some things you should know."

"What?"

Hayden's voice sounded different than any other time I'd heard him speak, and it worried me. "Do you remember what happened to you, Cooper?"

"Not…really. I don't…I don't remember much of anything."

"You uh, you almost bled out when the Covies attacked, Natalie. In fact, the only reason you're still here is because you were literally feet from the aid station when you got stabbed. Commander Osgood had to rush you straight to the surgical tent to get you stabilized, and even then it was close." Hayden paused to swallow and take a breath. "If that had happened to you in the field, with no doctors around and just a combat medic to help you, you wouldn't've made it."

Holy shit, I thought. I was stabbed? That explained the incredible pain in my stomach, but it didn't fully explain Hayden's strong reaction. "Well, I'm…still here, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but…" He trailed off this time, unable to finish, and my previously blank memory finally caught up a bit.

I felt sick as dread filled every part of me.

"Oh, God. Oliver, what about my kid?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you," he replied gently. "You lost the baby, Cooper. I'm so sorry."

The words hit me with an impact worse than anything else I'd ever felt. It was different from a physical blow---those, no matter how bad, were temporary and would heal. Losing my unborn child, however, was something I knew I'd never fully recover from. Willis's and my baby was gone.

Though the deep stab wound in my gut made it excruciating to sob, that's exactly what I did for several long minutes. Like when I'd found Willis alive at the conclusion of the forest battle in Austria, it was something I couldn't help, an emotional punch so hard it was uncontrollable. I wasn't able to stop until I felt Hayden grab my hand and squeeze it.

"Natalie, listen to me, ok? It'll be fine. I know how bad it hurts now, and I'm sorry for your loss. But you two can have another kid, Cooper. The doctors were able to do that for you." He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. "It was a close one because of where that plasma sword punctured you, but you can still have kids."

I didn't know how to reply without starting to bawl again, so I remained silent for a moment. Then, swallowing hard, I said as a half-hearted joke, "So what's the bad news?"

"I really wish you hadn't asked yet, Coop."

The queasy feeling of dread momentarily returned. "Willis?"

"Sort of. He's not dead, as far as we know, but Major Phillips got a report a few hours ago. His squadron's in St. Louis, Natalie. The city was just bombed, and apparently they went to pick up any remaining survivors. It was one of the last major cities left in North America the Covies hadn't hit yet, so it's gotten a lot of attention."

It was all too much at one time. I'd never expected Hayden to answer my sarcastic question with even more bad news concerning my family. I almost wasn't able to ask the one question that remained.

"What about my son?"

Captain Hayden shook his head. "We don't know, Cooper. I'm sorry."

"Jesus, Hayden," I was able to get out before emotion took over my voice again. "I can't lose all of them at once. I can't lose either of them. I've already lost---"

My best friend's hand squeezed my own a second time, even as I felt a renewed wave of tears roll down my face. "I know, Natalie. Don't worry, I'm sure Willis and Gabriel are fine. Your husband will take care of him." His expression morphed into a dark frown then. "And you can bet our battalion'll be taking care of the alien bastards that did this to you. I promise."


I lay in the medical tent for several more hours while the 102nd Battalion, which had managed to hook back up with Bravo sometime while I was out, finished mopping up the Covies that had stemmed out from the base attack. The burning pain in my stomach was a constant, and so was the nausea and vomiting that accompanied the wound. I felt dizzy from the blood loss when I tried to move my head as well, but the medical staff kept me as comfortable as possible nonetheless.

They knew I'd just lost my kid.

Shutting my eyes tight against the thought and the pain, I gently placed a hand over my abdomen, even though I knew my baby wasn't there anymore. I tried not to think of how devastated Willis would be when he found out…if he was even still alive.

Oh, God, I thought. How am I keeping it together after all this?

"Captain? Is this a bad time?"

I snorted even before I glanced over to see who it was. "It's going to be a bad time for a long time to come, Doc. Just…go ahead and say what you need to."

He sighed and held out a letchip. "You gave this to me in Cote D'Azur, ma'am, remember?"

"What is it?"

"In case anything ever happened to you, I was supposed to ship it to your husband. It's your goodbye video." Reynolds carelessly tossed my bloodied dogtags onto my chest, but then I heard him swallow. "Almost had to give those to the burial squad, too. I'd already told them to make sure they sent those to your son when they were done with 'em, as you'd requested, Captain."

"Shit. Doc…"

The medic shook his head to stop me. "Look, I know how awful this is for you, so I'm not going to stand here and make you relive it. Just take it easy, please, ma'am, and heal up quick."

Petty Officer Reynolds walked out before I could reply, but I didn't think there'd been anything left to say anyway. I picked up my dogtags from my shirt and slowly sat up.

The pain was worse than I'd thought possible. I grunted as I pressed my arm hard against my stomach, willing the searing pain to subside. It'd been over a year since I'd received the plasma wound that had landed me in ICU, and though I could never forget how bad plasma hurt, it hadn't exactly been at the forefront of my mind until now.

Noticing my obvious discomfort, one of the orderlies running by stopped to look me over. "Captain? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah," I answered through gritted teeth. "I need to…get back in the fight. Got a...remedy for this?"

"No can do, ma'am. Doctor's orders. You need to stay put for at least another twenty-four hours while your body heals up. It's a miracle you even survived that." He gestured to the arm around my middle. "I can get you another shot of morphine, though, if you need it. The 102nd resupplied us when they came in."

"What do you mean…another shot?"

"You were out cold for several hours after you took the hit, ma'am, and then given anesthesia and drugged up for the surgery. The pain you're experiencing right now isn't even a quarter of what you'd be feeling without morphine. It'll start getting worse as the medicine wears off, too."

At first, I didn't want to believe it. With effort, I grabbed my tags roughly with the arm around my abdomen and pulled them over my neck again. The Covies were still on the attack, and while Bravo had now hooked back up with battalion, I knew my company needed me. I needed them, to get my mind off what had happened to my child.

But I just couldn't do it. Not when the pain and the symptoms were this bad with the drugs.

Reluctantly, I accepted the fact and sat back, nodding in reply. It was the only thing I could do for now, but later…

Later, I'd make the Covenant pay.