Chapter 17

Delta – 1 hour ago

No one moved.

One by one, Delta came back to life, slowly moving limbs and letting out low grunts and coughs. Most of Delta made it to the far end of the room before the car exploded, but three lifeless bodies littered the floor close to the room's entrance.

Delta 2 was first on his feet alongside Metal as they slowly went around the room assessing injuries. Delta 3 and 5 were pretty banged up with bruising and some superficial burns on the back of their legs but alive and conscious. Delta 2 wrapped their legs the best he could without proper burn wraps, and as he looked over, he saw Metal hovering over the lifeless bodies of Delta 1, 4, who was also their much-needed medic and Liz.

….

"JASON!" Blackburn came barreling into the room and spotted Clay and Jason still on the floor, heads hung, not speaking as they stared into the open space. Blank expressions as they avoided any thoughts, good or bad, from entering their minds. Holding off any dread or hope, just waiting.

Jason snapped his head up, connecting his eyes with Blackburn's and registering his expression. There was news.

"We have heard from Delta support. It was spotty as their coms were lost, but they have the team and are heading back. They are ten mikes out. Unfortunately, their coms were lost before we got any updates." Blackburn rambled, looking past Jason to Clay, who was still unresponsive. He was lost in his world of shock.

"Get someone here to sit with him." Jason bellowed as he was on his feet and heading out, seeing the rest of the team running up behind Blackburn. "He needs to stay here."

"Copy," Blackburn noted as he followed Jason out of the room. "Who do you…?" But it was too late. Jason was already halfway to the gate that led out to the main area where the medical center was, along with the helo landing pads and trucks. The rest of the team is hot on his heels, trying to keep up. When Jason was on a mission, his long strides were no match, and he could cover large distances in record time.

"I'll stay," Brock noted as he stayed behind, knowing Clay needed support even if it would be sitting in silence.

…..

Delta – 20 minutes ago

As everyone realized their situation and watched the flames creep slowly into their position, they heard two trucks pull up towards the house and a large eruption of gunfire.

Metal and Delta 2 got everyone towards the back wall and braced themselves in a crouching position guarding their wounded, waiting for a figure to walk through the door. They did not know who this was outside as it could now be a tribe war or their QRF swooping in to be their knights in tan armour.

Delta 3 and 5 tried to position themselves on the ground on either side of the wounded, pointing their handguns out along the broken sides of the wall. There was no time to compose any further aid and review the complete status of their 3 team members as they held their position and braced for any impact. They could only hope the three members behind them were still breathing.

The conscious members heard shuffling advancing towards them through the house just as the gunfire started to die.

"HAVOC, we have Jackpot."

And with that, Delta was slowly able to relax. Their knights have arrived.

Metal whipped around to Liz lying behind him as he perched himself up on his knees in front of her, keeping her close, unwilling to lose contact with her. As he made contact with her torso, he heard her whimper under his grasp. There was no way he was losing her and coming back to Bravo's wrath.

"Hey, lil lady, you are ok. I will get you out of here and back home to your mothers. Have them cluck over you themselves." Metal joked as he examined her body quickly, unwilling to poke and prod too much and cause more damage. He could see blood on her clothes and blood dripping down her temple. Her lower arm was lying in an odd position, and he hoped it was only a break, not something worse. She had burns on her shoulder, unprotected from her vest and more blood on her hip and thigh. He hoped it was the blood from the bullet graze she got earlier and nothing new. He could also hear wheezing on her breath and worried something was going on deeper inside than the surface he could see.

Metal could only grimace as he picked her up and heard her cries in pain as he walked her out towards the trucks waiting for them. The rest of Delta helped their own into the trucks as their support team watched their six and set up a protective front around them.

…..

As the team ran towards the medical tent, they came up short. The team has not arrived yet.

"This can not be happening! Where are they?" Sonny spits out, getting anxious as they pace the halls outside the doors to the helo pad.

The last they heard the news, a helo was sent to intercept the QRF trucks outside the city for urgent medical evacs. There was no mention of who coordinated to meet up and how many were injured before the coms went out again after they got on the road.

"CLAY!" Brock yelled as he chased Clay toward the team.

When Clay heard from Brock, three were severely injured, but their identities were unknown; he snapped back to reality. He was supposed to wait in the bunk room, but after a few minutes, he could not sit aside any longer as he slowly got out of his shock state. If Liz was injured and he was not there, he would regret it for the rest of his life. He needed to be there for his best friend.

"Hey, hey, they are not here yet. It should be any minute. You need to calm down. Liz needs you calm." Jason grabbed Clay's arm and pulled him back from the door, where he was franticly looking around and pacing.

"Pebbles may not be one of the injured. You need to relax and breathe." Sonny pipped in as he walked to Clay's other side, holding him back against the wall.

They all stood like that for the longest five minutes of their lives, leaning against the wall with their heads down and eyes closed, composing themselves. And then they heard it. The standard blades of a chopper. They all then tensed back up, looking at the door along the wall they were leaning on and sucked in a breath. First, they saw Delta 1 wheeled in on a stretcher; he was conscious but had an oxygen mask over his face and only looked at them with hollow scared eyes. Next, their medic was brought in unconscious, wrapped in blankets and an oxygen mask over his face. He was motionless, and this scared the team. How bad were they injured over there, laying defenceless hoping help would arrive?

The Full Metal burst through the doors, paused and looked at the team. His eyes were blank, emotionless at first, until he realized he was staring into the faces of 6 terrified Bravo team members. He glanced down at the blook on his gloves, sleeves and chest, inhaling and meeting Jason's eyes. With this, Jason knew it was Liz; he worked with Metal long enough to read his cues and understand him without words. His heart dropped, and he grabbed Clay's shoulder and squeezed. Clay then shot off the wall, storming towards the door where he was met with a stretcher barreling in. He froze and took a step back to let them enter the hall.

They could see her tiny figure wrapped in a blanket with a head bandage and oxygen mask covering her small face. Her eyes were closed, but her brows were furrowed together with wrinkles of pain.

"Give them a moment." Metal told the nurses and doctors, wheeling the stretcher in.

Bravo rushed and surrounded the bed, all putting a light hand on Liz, not trying to put any weight on her but needing to touch her and see she was, in fact, in front of them. Trent, Brock and Ray hovered around her legs; Blackburn and Davis were together, watching at the foot of the bed, not wanting to be in the way as the team assessed their youngest member. Liz was younger than Davis, and she didn't mind, it actually gave them more than a friendship as she looked at her the same as an older sister would protect her younger sister. Davis knew they needed to be there for her and themselves, and when she could, she would slip into Liz's room and make sure to hug her best friend. Jason went to grab her left shoulder; Sonny was at her right hand, and Clay was at her face beside Sonny. He reached up and stroked her cheek with his thumb as he cupped her face.

With that, she shot open her eyes and met Clay's gaze. He saw that her eyes were almost black, dilated with morphine and fear as she lay there and tensed. He stared at her for a moment, not saying anything, overwhelmed with the emotion of her being here and alive. A small smile tugged at his lips as he never broke her gaze.

"Hey, darlin'," Clay whispered

Liz never broke her sight from Clay, and as she started to flutter, her eyes closed and tensed up, and she barely got out a whisper, "I'm sorry."

And with that, she closed her eyes.