"Did you raise the platform? Did they get through?"
"I did. I saw them making their way here through the monitors. Are you alright?"
The commando sat against the wall of the cold corridor. A bullet wound in his leg kept bleeding, but the tourniquet helped. The small child before him shivered in his hospital gown as he witnessed the soldier silently wince in pain.
"I feel like I've been shot out of a circus cannon." the soldier laughed half-heartedly. The joke didn't seem to calm the child down.
"Can you move?" inquired the little one.
"I'm not dying yet, kid. Just catching my breath." scoffed the soldier,"Bear with me."
He planted the barrel of his shotgun into the floor for support and slowly rose to a stand.
"Let's get out of here. Come on." the commando said, turning and limping a few steps towards an open bulkhead. Suddenly a distant echo of hurrying footsteps caught their attention. Both turned around, looking the way the sound was coming from.
"Your friends?" asked the boy.
"Heavy Assault Units wear mechanized armor. These are too fast and too many of them." the soldier turned to the child, and said as silently and calmly as possible,"Run for the door. Now."
The kid looked at the soldier with questioning eyes, but he commando grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him aside while whispering, "Go. Now. Move."
A few moments later a dozen of armed and armored people came into the corridor junction. They looked around, spotting the wounded commando standing in the middle of the corridor.
"There he is!" bellowed one of them. His teammates quickly planted riot shields into the floor, aiming the guns at the lone figure.
The commando looked behind, to see if his protectee was still in view, but the boy was nowhere in sight. He turned back to face the troopers.
"You talkin' to me?" he asked, pointing his left hand index finger at his balaclava-clad face,"Are you talkin' to me?"
"Give us back the runt, swine, or we'll lead you dead and then some more!" the vocal trooper shouted loudly,"You hear me?"
"There's noone else here so you MUST be talking to me!" the soldier nodded.
"Are you stupid or what?" raged the trooper,"Where's the kid! You have seven seconds to answer. That's more than five and less than ten. One!"
The soldier sighed.
"Two!"
Even though his wounded leg pulsed with searing pain, he straightened his back and stood at full height.
"Three!"
Suddenly he heard a ticking sound in his earphone. Motion sensors he deployed earlier announced HAU units approaching the bulkhead.
"Four!"
"This. Is going. To suck." he thought dropping his gun at his side and tensing his intact leg for a jump.
"Five!"
With the sound of whooshing hydraulics he heard the door open behind him.
"Si... The hell!"
"Clear field of fire, Delta." came the command from his earphone.
The commando tried to lunge backwards but his leg slipped on the puddle of his own blood, sending him crashing on his back.
"Blast these bastards!" screamed the trooper, leveling his gun towards the end of the corridor.
"Engaging." announced the earphone as the automatic cannons of HAU gunners began to fire with a deafening roar.
The soldier stared at the ceiling watching the exchange of bullets as they flew over his aching body. Weakly turning his head to his right, he saw the child behind one of the many support columns, clutching his ears, kneeling in his own puddle, quaking in fear and shock, The fire from the trooper side fell silent, heavy steps of heavily armored gunners passing the soldier by.
Still in pain, the commando reached his hand out to the boy.
"It's alright." he said, though he couldn't hear his own voice,"It's alright. It's..."
...Over...
"It's over!"
The soldier quickly opened his eyes, although it wasn't apparent as his shades were still on.
"The movie's over, Dex! Wake up!" Kim prodded the soldier in the shoulder forcefully.
The commando turned his neck from side to side causing it to crackle a little.
"Dude! You slept through the movie?" Ron asked with a look of utter shock on his face,"You missed all the explosions!"
"Guy drinks six cups of coffee and falls asleep during the sickest action movie of the year." Monique's discontented voice came from the seat just over Ron's. She shook hear head slowly," That's not even weird. That's downright outrageous!"
"Wasn't exactly hard to figure out the outcome. Figured I'd nap until it gets interesting." the soldier shrugged, as they began moving towards the exit," Guess I overslept. Besides, I've seen better explosions."
"So all in all, thumbs up?" Ron inquired as they approached the exit.
"Let's just say..." The soldier sighed," I've seen worse."