It seemed to happen in slow motion one moment she was helping Dr Antonio get the gun from Poya the next she shuddered as the gun went off and then she started falling backwards and Poya was getting further and further away and then she hit the floor.
"Molly" Antonio shouted and then elbowed Poya in the face and he dropped the gun, so the Doctor kicked it away and now he went over to help Molly.
"Keep your eyes on me, sweetheart" Antonio spoke and made sure she was looking at him "Hey! Molly!" he shouted at her "Keep those beautiful eyes on me" the door opened to his right and he just caught Poya running out of it "Bastard" he spoke and then looked around the office and grabbed hold of Molly's med kit bag and then he heard yelling and saw that the phone hadn't been hung up just yet.
Antonio grabbed hold of the phone and brought it with him and over to where Molly was lying on the floor he put the receiver to his ear as he ripped open Molly's bag "Hurst Molly's been shot and I can't get out of here because I don't know how many are out there and Poya ran"
"We're bringing Special Forces back but its going to be a while before they get back here, you're going to have to just sit tight and pray"
"I do that every day but I'm going to keep this line open" he put the receiver down on the floor and then put his full attention on Molly and getting everything she had in her med kit bag out.
He could feel the warm blood pooling under his fingers and the last thing he wanted to do was lose her. Antonio wasn't going to lose Molly but at the same time he needed to get her out of here and he couldn't move her on his own and if they went out this room then they would likely be shot.
Back in the UK
Special Forces were being called back out to Afghanistan and while some of them were injured they made sure to be on that damn plane out of the UK. Elvis and Blue was among them, Elvis had decided to take second in command rather than taking the team back from Blue; after all he was rusty as he had been away for the last two years.
Afghanistan
"I don't know if I can stop the blood, Hurst" Antonio called out to the phone that was near him and he was in a situation where he couldn't protect himself and Molly while trying to stop her from bleeding. There was no way he would be able to get both of them out of here alive and if he didn't stop the bleeding then he wasn't going to get Molly out of here at all.
Antonio picked the phone receiver up and put it against his shoulder as he spoke in to it "You're going to have to get 2 Section on this because there is no way I'm going to be able to get Molly out of here"
"We're on our way, just take care of our girl" Hurst spoke back.
"I will, just be careful who you guys trust" Antonio put the phone back down and grabbed another lot of bandages to stop try to stop the bleeding. He looked around the room, this was his fucking office he had to have things in here that would help save this girls life. The problem was that if he moved away she could bleed out and he didn't want that to happen.
"Stay with me Molly" he spoke down to her.
Before darkness took her she was reminded of another time in Afghanistan when she was telling someone to stay with her, it was the time when they were looking for Bashira's dad and ended up on that bloody bridge. Charles and Smurf had been shot and she was saying the same thing to her then future husband as she bandaged him up as he called out her name.
Back at the base
2 Section were rushing around to get everything they would need to go in to the hospital. Prof was unfortunately still led up with the cramp and there was no way in hell he would be able to get up and do anything and it took Sophie to yell at him and say about tying him to the bed before he listened to what she had to say. He didn't like the thought of not going out there to save one of his own.
Soon enough they were heading out of the base and towards the hospital and with the flight time between the UK and Afghanistan it would probably be over before Special Forces got here but at least they were on their way to them. If Molly was as bad as they said she was then they would have to get her back to the UK and to Birmingham.
They were close to the hospital when gunfire started to hit the side of their vehicle and one hit a tire which then sent them spinning and over they went. 2 Section at the moment was out of commission.
Hurst cursed and not in a good way and they were down three people with Molly in the hospital, Fingers on his honeymoon and Prof was still healing from the bad bout of cramp that he had gotten thanks to doing all that running they were going to be stretched but they were going to make damn sure that they got Molly out of that hospital.
"Everyone alright?" Hurst called out and voices met him in unison with the sound of 'yes sir' and while they were in each others laps none of them had got hurt which he was thankful because no one else was going to get hurt here in this damn place.
"Where did that come from?" Monk asked and knew it had come from their right but clearly they were protecting whoever was in that hospital with Molly and he was going to ask another question when gunfire started to hit the side of them again but this time it was coming from their left or at least that's what it sounded like but that could be because they were on their side.
"Kingy we've got to get the team out of this cab because we're sitting ducks and the hospital isn't that far" but he also knew that if they had snipers then they could pick them off once they left the cab but one stray bullet could send this going up in flames.
Throbber then looked towards the back of the cab and at the door and he came up with a really crazy idea and before he could really go in to the details he looked over at Monk and said "Make sure that you get the sniper" and with that he got up or at least as best as he could before he then pushed open the door of the cab; which was damn heavy and then he heard Monk shuffling forward and Throbber took off.
"What the fuck is he doing?" Hurst yelled but at the same time Monk pushed the door open and then he caught sight of the first sniper and started firing and this time the gunfire was directed at Monk.
After five missed shots Monk finally took the sniper out and then looked back at Hurst "He's dead but not sure if he's the only one or if there is two so we're going to have to hurry up and get to the hospital"
"Let's go guys" Hurst said and unfortunately he had to take the chance that there was another sniper out there because they had to get to that damn hospital which was a couple blocks away from them.
Monk was the first at the door but he was making sure that he had Throbber in his sights and got the signal from him before he let Sophie go and once she had got to Throbber without a shot he then looked over at another of the team and tapped him on the shoulder to tell him to wait before he got the signal from Throbber and sent that guy out to meet the others and he done it again and then came to Hurst and Kingy and he was the last one as the driver had already left the cab and was with the others. This time it was his own turn and he had no one else to turn to when it came to leaving the cab but he knew that the others would have his back and as he ran, but keeping sight of everything around him, to where the others were he felt like the team they should've been not the team that had been at each others throats before.
They got to the hospital without another incident which was a little suspicious and Hurst didn't trust it and he was right now to trust it because when they got to the front of the hospital they could see wires coming out of a bomb and if anyone crossed it then it was going to go off and take the hospital, and the person, with it.
Inside the hospital
Antonio had managed to get the blood to stop but he desperately needed to get Molly out of here and that's when he spied her radio and even though he still had bloody hands he picked up the radio and the earpiece and mic before putting the earpiece to his ear and the mic at his mouth then pressed the button for the radio and prayed that this would work. "Hurst, it's Antonio" he was then relieved to hear the voice the other end.
"This is Hurst, we can't get in to the hospital, they've got it bombed off and if we do then we're only going to kill one of our own and probably bring the hospital down, we're going to have to wait for Special Forces, I'm sorry"
"Fuck" Antonio spoke out loud but not loud enough that someone would come rushing in. Even though Poya knew where they were and could bring his friends in at any time.
"How's Molly?" Hurst asked and looked up at the rest of his team that had retreated a little away from the bomb.
"I've managed to stop the bleeding but she needs to get out of here, I really don't know if she's going to make it" Antonio wasn't going to lie about this because in truth he didn't know if Molly would make it out of here on a stretcher or if she's going to go home in a body bag.
Hurst closed his eyes at that and looked down. He wasn't going to let one of his own die on his watch but unfortunately he was limited in what he could do especially when he wasn't tried the same way that Special Forces were. He opened his eyes after a moment and then spoke back in to his radio "You're going to have to hold tight in there with Molly, Special Forces are on their way and we will make sure that everything goes as smoothly as it can this end"
Antonio couldn't move Molly but it must be awkward laying on the ground even though she was out of it. He put her radio where he could get hold of it the next time and then checked on her to see if she was still alive and thankfully she was.
He has never felt so helpless especially when the AK47 was staring right at him and he was so tempted to go out there and shoot as many as he could but if he got himself shot then he wasn't going to be any good to Molly. He sat down on the floor by her and watched her, he moved a strand of her dark hair out of her face "Hold in there Molly, I'm going to get you out of here I promise"
Special Forces landed:
It was dark by the time they got to the base that 2 Section had been on and found out that Hurst and some of the ANA had left the base a few hours ago and they couldn't get in because of the bomb. Elvis went deadly white when he found out that it had been Molly that was shot and was barely hanging in there and then he felt rage running through him. Elvis was going to make sure that they got her back to the UK alive.
"You need to keep your head clear and in the game" Blue said and put his hand on Elvis' chest and looked right in to his brown ones "Molly needs us, 2 Section needs us, you need to keep calm"
"I put her in to harms way and now she's in that hospital and we need to go, right now"
"And we are but you need to keep calm, like I said" blue watched him for a moment and then grabbed his gear and headed out to the car they would be taking to the helicopter that would take them to the hospital.
Special Forces were packed and ready and headed out to their ride then once they got the helicopter they were going to make sure they got their girl out alive and having devised a plan with the 2 Section on the ground, they would take the back way which they should've taken anyway but with Special Forces as their back up then they would be able to get in there.
Special Forces landed on the roof and the helicopter flew off but would be back to take Molly and anyone else hurt to where they could be treated. They would take them to the former Camp Bastion the Americans had allowed them access for their injured medic and they would fly from there anyway.
The last time Elvis had been on a roof he had pretended to die so it felt like it had come full circle really and prayed that he wouldn't end up coming off this one.
2 Section went in first and would be the distraction before Special Forces headed in but the sound of the helicopter was enough to wake anyone up and it had been that noise that Antonio had loved hearing even if it was the Brits that had come to save him. Both Special Forces and 2 Section met up and they went their own way, Hurst was in contact with Antonio all the time and then there was a knock on the door and just to make sure he grabbed the gun and then walked to the door and opened it up and was glad to see Hurst on the other side.
"Special Forces are dealing with the rest" Hurst admitted and then looked down at the floor where Molly was, it looked as if Antonio had tried to keep her warm and comfortable but either way it hadn't worked because she didn't look comfortable.
The gun fire was getting quieter and quieter and then finally it had stopped and it felt like they were all safe apart from the bomb that was being defused out the front. Someone from bomb squad was outside right now and once that was done they would be able to get Molly out of here but first they had to get her up from the floor.
"Did you find Poya?" Antonio asked.
"He wasn't part of the ones we took down, Elvis and the others could've but we didn't see him" and then Hurst looked over his shoulder "Sophie, Monk, find a trolly that we can put Molly on" and they walked off.
They brought a stretcher back for Molly and Sophie and Antonio was being careful and they put her on the stretcher, being very gentle and then just as they stood up Elvis came to the door and looked down at it. "Is she?"
"Not yet but we need to get her back to the American base" they put the stretcher on the trolley and grabbed everything they were taking with them like Molly's radio and her med kit bag.
Elvis couldn't help but eye the blood on the floor and knew that they could've lost her and it would've been his fault because he had been so fucking stupid when it came to Omar. Of course the guy would have supporters out there and Elvis had been cocky and now Molly was paying the price for that.
"Did you get Poya?" Antonio asked Elvis who had looked up at him.
"No, he wasn't among the ones that we killed but we will have to get a better look at them so that we can scratch them off any list that they might be on"
"We've got two helicopters waiting for us to take us all to the American base and for Molly to get the treatment" Blue announced and looked down at Molly himself and swallowed hard, she was short compared to him anyway but laying there she looked so much smaller and he wanted to reach out and kiss her forehead but that wasn't to do with him. He wasn't anything to do with her.
They waited for the bomb to be defused and carefully taken away before they could open the doors of the hospital and get Molly out and into the back of an ambulance that would take them to where the helis were waiting. The Americans would take over from where the Brits had left out and would get the dead bodies out of here and the two teams, including Dr Antonio got in to the trucks that had been provided for them before they wer taking to where the helicopters would be taking off from.
They put Molly in the first helicopter Dr Antonio and Jackson wanting to be in there with her and then the rest got in to the other heli and they were flying towards the American base that was the former Camp Bastion. In the other helicopter Elvis was looking out at the scenery and remembering what he had said to Charlie and this didn't feel like he was looking out for her. This felt like he had led her in to the danger and just abandoned her which seemed like something he would do.
After what felt like an eternity they landed at the American base and Molly was wheeled in to the hospital.
UK
Across the other side of the world a door was being knocked on to tell them that their loved one had been shot. The two men waited for a moment and then finally the door opened.
"Are you Charles James? The next of kin for Molly Dawes?"
Charles didn't understand why Molly hadn't changed over her next of kin but at the same time he felt sick to his stomach when he saw the men there and now he knew what Molly must've felt everytime he had got injured while away. He let the two men in and they stood by the door. "Yes"
"Mr James your wife has been hurt and she's been taken to the former Camp Bastion"
Charles' heart was pounding hard and his mind was going a million times a minute and he had to reach out for something to grab hold of but he managed to stay standing. "Will she be all right?"
"That's all the information we have right now only that she has been hurt and is now receiving medical attention"
Charles nodded once and then looked around to see his mother come down the stairs "It's.. Molly" he needed to ring Molly's parents because really they should have been the one to get this news and not him as they are no longer married but clearly Molly hadn't taken him off her next of kin list.
He blocked out the rest of what was being said as he pulled his phone from his pocket and then looked up Belinda's number and pressed call but whether she would answer him was another thing.
Afghanistan:
The two teams, 2 Section and Special Forces, including Antonio waited out in the hallway but made sure that they weren't in the way as they waited for news on Molly. Antonio had tried to get her blood off his hands and some of it came off but there was still quite a lot on there.
They all stood up when someone yelled the words that they didn't want to hear "She's crashing!" then the machine went off.
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A/n: I don't know if Camp Bastion is a now American base but I needed somewhere for them to take Molly