46
Thank you once again for all your lovely reviews and support, I am so sorry if I haven't yet replied, work is getting busy and I am struggling to write. Figure you might like another chapter more? sorry this one is a bit lengthy, there's a lot to digest with this story but we are well over half way and closer to the end than the beginning now.
Initially; instructions were to head to a rendezvous point for extraction but midway through the second day (whilst they were sheltering from a torrential downpour) a drone had arrived with a new scenario. One of them was seriously injured and unable to move. They would no longer make the extraction point in time. They had to decide what to do next.
"Well; if one of us is injured that severely then it wouldn't make sense to travel, better to stay still and conserve resources and await rescue. Provided their suit wasn't damaged whilst they were injured, we'd all still have air for another forty-eight hours." Voiced Alan frowning as he concentrated on formulating a new plan. He hoisted his backpack higher.
"Wouldn't it be better to split into two teams; one remains with the casualty the others go to the extraction point and lead help back here? Katie looked up from repacking her supplies.
"We still have many miles to travel, how could we be sure to relocate them again?" John questioned.
"I think Alan's idea is the best. We can make a camp here under these trees and we are right on the shore of the lake so we can make a fire or SOS sign to make ourselves known and try and hail a rescue. There's a good water supply here and food." Chole surmised.
"I agree, at least we don't have to rely on LOR these days (Lunar orbit rendezvous), otherwise we'd have no chance." if you missed the rendezvous point you would have missed your ship and your only chance. John shuddered. Space technology had come on leaps and bounds since the first lunar landing. "OK, Alan; you and I will collect some materials to make another shelter, Katie and Chole can you concentrate on grabbing us some fresh water and firewood?" They nodded.
"Great; we'll reconvene back at this point. Don't stray too far we need to be able to hear each other in case of an emergency."
They nodded as they disbanded. John and Alan headed deeper into the woodland, ducking under the lower limbs and looking for large branches to construct their shelter. Their footsteps were muffled by the dense blanket of pine needles and soft earth. John did his coat up tighter it was chilly in the shade. "Do you think we've done enough to pass then?" Alan asked.
"I think so, provided we can successfully attract the attention of the rescuers. I've been keeping a checklist on the assessment criteria."
"How did you sneak that in? We didn't even know when the training would be! We've been in the dark Since the beginning of term!"
"I've kept it in my pocket since the beginning." Grinned John. "Boy Scout one-oh-one, always be prepared."
Alan looked at him in disbelief. "You are such a nerd."
"I have a masters and two PHD's already - of course I am a nerd and proud!"
Alan grinned as he picked up a suitable log. They began to drag it back together. They took a slightly shorter route between the trees with John in front, the leaf litter was thicker here. "We'll take this one back and then we'll – AGGGHHHHHHHH!" Yelled John as he collapsed to the ground. The log abandoned by his side as he clutched his leg.
"John!" Alan rushed to his side.
"Careful! There might be more!" John gasped. God! he could see stars and it was daylight. He swayed a little where he had landed. Alan crouched next to his brother who was white as a sheet and looked down at his calf which was firmly sandwiched in the jaws of a bear trap. The rusty metal glinted through the covering of pine needles and leaf litter, it had been very well hidden.
"Shit! Ok John. I need you to wiggle your foot if you can for me?"
He tried. "OWWWWWWW! Fuck!"
"I take it you can still feel your foot then?"
"I would fucking say so yes!"
"Ok, Alan quickly scrambled in his back pack for the paracord he had been using to tie their shelter together. He quickly used his knife to cut it into two long pieces before starting to thread it through the spring loops. John saw what he was doing and quickly started on the other side. He wanted his leg out of here, like yesterday!
Alan quickly stood up and pulled the looped end of the paracord over his foot. "This might hurt for a moment."
"Just do it!" hissed John as he got ready to pull on his.
"On my count 1…2…3" Alan heaved the rope up which squeezed the spring mechanism. John panted as the pressure was blissfully released. Alan quickly secured the safety catch before grabbing the other one that John was struggling with and doing the same.
Alan carefully moved the trap out of harms way to the base of a nearby trunk before crouching in front of John. He put a gentle hand on his brothers' shoulder. John was crying with the pain, it was intense. "Your doing really well John, just hold on for me while I have a look ok?" John nodded biting his lip.
Alan quickly pulled out the first aid kit and ripped it open, gloving up and grabbing the scissors. He cut up the length of John's calf so he could see the damage. He tried not to wince. "Luckily it doesn't look as bad as it probably feels on first glance." Alan could see there were four deep puncture wounds from spikes, this trap had spikes instead of serrated teeth it wasn't meant to amputate as the animal then might get away. There was already some immediate colouring with some impressive bruising coming through. He talked as he assessed the wound to reassure his brother. "There are some puncture wounds and some bruising but no obvious external break but you may yet still have one. What's the pain on a scale of one to ten? Ten being Excruciating, one being minimal."
"Ah! Erm, nine" John was sweating.
"Ok possibly broken. Let's get you patched up." Alan grabbed a bandage and gently started to wrap John's leg. John yelped and nearly hopped up in pain before Alan gently but firmly settled him again. He worked quietly and quickly wrapping firmly enough to apply pressure to the puncture wounds but not tight enough to constrict circulation. He then used some sticks and paracord to create a makeshift splint. Satisfied with his handiwork he passed John some water, he wanted to give him painkillers but he was worried because they hadn't eaten much. He gave John his last ration bar. Eat this then I can give you some painkillers when we get back to camp. John nodded. Tears had stopped but his leg was throbbing with such intensity he wanted to knock himself out, anything so as not to feel this pain. Alan cleared up and searched the surrounding area carefully in case there was anymore traps. Where the hell were the girls? John's yell was positively blood curdling, he had never heard any of his brothers yell like that in his life, not even in the avalanche. They must be right down by the shore.
Alan headed back over to John. "Right let's see if we can get you back to camp ok?"
"Alright." John leaned heavily on Alan as he pulled him up. He tried to stand up and swayed violently. "Agggh!" he collapsed again, cradling his leg close. Alan Frowned. This was no good! There was no way John was walking out of here. Luckily his elder brother was light if tall. Alan made up his mind. He stashed John's kit safely in a corner and slipped his arms through the straps so he was wearing his backpack on his chest.
"Alan, you can't carry me, you'll kill yourself!" John tried to stand up on his own.
Alan rolled his eyes. "Oh John, don't be so melodramatic. I'll be fine come on! Fireman's lift."
Still rather reluctant but seeing no other way out, John allowed himself to be hauled up onto his little brother's back like a sack of potatoes. Alan grunted at the immediate weight, shifting him slightly as John tried to breathe his way through the pain.
"You know they jinxed us, until we got this injured person scenario thing, we were fine." Alan tried to get a conversation going to keep John occupied whilst carefully trying to watch where he was placing his feet.
"Well it just suddenly got a lot more realistic at my expense." John groaned in pain.
"Just hang in their buddy. We're almost back at camp and we'll get you all comfy. I'll make you some pine needle tea and we'll get all wrapped up in a parachute snug as a bug you'll see."
"Snug as a bug that sounds nice." John's voice was getting weaker.
"Johnny don't you go to sleep on me." Alan strained under his weight he could see the camp clearing now.
Chloe saw them first dropping her firewood. "Oh my God! John! what happened?"
"Bear trap." Alan gently set John down on the floor and with her help they propped him against a tree. "Can you keep him warm Chloe and keep him comfortable?" She nodded. John had started to shiver so she quickly stripped off her coat and wrapped it around him as well as one of the shutes. John snuggled in, teeth chattering.
Katie was hesitating on the edge. "Katie come with me; we need to attract the attention of one of those assessment drones."
They both sprinted off to the shore.
Chloe got some pain killers into John and quickly began to set up a base for the fire, praying she could get it going like John could. She tried for several minutes, they had kept some dry wood and tinder in her backpack in case it rained, luckily it was still dry.
"You need to push a bit firmer and faster, hands lower down the er…stick" John stuttered.
A few minutes later there was a spark, she was so surprised she nearly extinguished it. Chloe gently nursed the beginnings of the fire with tinder before adding the kindling and building it up.
"Nicely done." Smiled John weakly. She smiled back adding a few more sticks.
"How are you feeling?"
"Erm. Its kind of an all-encompassing pain that's flooding my mind and I'm c-cold."
The fire had taken hold nicely now so Chloe shifted over to John and snuggled underneath the parachute with him. "Maybe I can help with the cold."
The immediate flush of warmth of her next to him was heavenly. He leant on her shoulder heavily. Chloe gently reached over grabbed his hand rubbing in small circular motions on his palm. He focused on the touch, it soothing him a little.
Alan and Katie had found some large sticks and stones to formulate a large SOS sign on the bank. Alan was sure it would stand out once complete. The drone's tended to check in on them every two hours but Alan couldn't remember when the last one had flown by. Soon they had finished the sign, Alan just hoped it was clear enough.
Katie pointed to her pile of damp firewood. "Shall we see if we can get this lit? the wood and the pines are semi damp - it should smoke well once strong enough."
Alan quickly grabbed into his bag for the tinder, firestick and wooden plank. After about ten minutes of cursing the thing to eternity he got it to light. They built up the fire with more dry driftwood until it was raging, then started to add the pine needles and all the greenwood they could find to make it smoke.
"What ever we do Katie; we can't let it go out." Alan looked worried.
"How bad is his injury?"
"His leg was crushed pretty badly but there's no external fracture or excess blood but he is in a lot of pain, the sooner I can get him out of here the better." He pulled through his bag for the parachute. It had a red section of fabric which Alan hastily cut out and tied to a large branch. "Here if you see the drone, wave this like a mad thing."
"Will do."
It soon headed into early evening. The sky becoming a deep grey dusky colour. It looked like it was going to be a cold and wet night. In the time that Alan relieved her from looking after John, Chloe had headed down to the lake, stripped to her trousers and waded in up to her thighs with a three-pronged sharp stick she had whittled. After thirty minutes she had managed to spear a large trout. She wandered back up the bank as Alan went to relieve Katie. They had got John into their newly assembled shelter where he was currently resting fitfully, his blonde lock of hair fallen over his accentuated cheekbone.
Alan relieved Katie who had dutifully kept the fire going. It was low dusk now and visibility was becoming poor. "Anything?" Katie shook her head and gave him a quick hug of reassurance. "They'll come soon."
"I sure hope so." Alan chucked a few more pine branches on before settling down on a large slanted rock. He hugged his knees to his face. This was certainly more than he had bargained for. He stood up sharply on alert - what was that? It was a buzzing sound. Alan could see a little red LED light in the distance. "Yes!"
Alan quickly ran and wrapped his flag from earlier around the branch. He then added some pine bark and stuffed it in whilst lit. The whole thing went up in his hand in a bright orange glow. He waved it furiously. "Hey! Hey Over here! Mayday!"
The Drone got to Alan's face level and hovered. Relief rushed through him. "This is Alan Tracy; my brother John has really been injured on the survival exercise. His leg got caught in a bear trap we need assistance urgently. He can't walk, suspected broken if not badly bruised with four deep punctures." The drone continued to hover but started beeping.
"Understood, stay where you are Tracy. Emergency assistance is on route."
Alan let out a sigh of relief.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXXOXOXOX
John woke up in his dorm groggy and disorientated. He looked at his phone. Ten am. He groaned. Dear god his leg hurt; he'd been up several times in the night despite the meds. "Morning Sunshine!"
John startled, surprised as a hand settled a mug of coffee on his bedside table. "Alan! What are you doing in here?"
"Remember they only promised to discharge you if you had someone who could monitor you so I stayed. How are you feeling?"
"Rough as hell but I'll live. Did we fail our assessment because of me?" John was fretting as he had realised that they were back on campus a whole day early.
"Trust you to think about the calamity of failing an exam and not being thankful for the fact that you still have your leg and woke up in a warm bed and not on a forest floor. As far as I am aware the instructors were actually really impressed with how we handled the situation. They were confident we would still pass but they just need to confirm our marks."
John sat up against his pillows. There was a heavy knock at the door. John looked confused as did Alan. Alan cautiously headed out and went out to open the door. John couldn't see from his room who it was but Alan sounded surprised. There was a muffled exchange of words before they both came back in. John quickly tried to neaten his hair praying he didn't look too rough for whoever this unexpected visitor might be.
"Dad!" Exclaimed John. "What are you doing here!"
"Nice to see you too, son." Jeff smiled but it looked strained, there were dark circles under his eyes too as well as a worn expression. He sat down heavily in the chair that Alan had vacated. Alan walked back in with another coffee which he handed to his dad. "Looks like you could do with one of these, or something stronger." Mused Alan.
"Thank you" Jeff took the mug and turned it around to grab the handle. "How's your leg son, when the instructor called me, he said it was quite an injury."
"At the time it killed but its just a constant throb now, I have to stay off it for at least three days and keep it raised to let the swelling go down. Thankfully its just a greenstick fracture, it should heal pretty quickly now it's been cast."
Jeff sighed that was a relief! Three of his boys being injured in such a short space of time had frayed his nerves even more. At least this was something John could recover from ok. "The instructors were impressed with how you managed to call for help." Jeff took a sip of coffee.
"Alan was amazing dad. I honestly don't know what I would have done without him. He managed to free me from the trap, assess my injuries, give me first aid and then carry me back to camp. As well as managing to get the drone's attention too."
Jeff looked at his youngest with pride. It was great to hear that he was finally starting to show some maturity, Jeff had been beginning to wonder if it would ever show itself. He knew Alan had such potential if he could just apply himself. "I'm proud of you son, that was a pretty amazing rescue and from the sounds of it you have the makings of a fine survivalist and maybe even a rescuer!"
Alan beamed at the praise. "I was just glad I was there to help; John would have done the same if the roles were reversed."
John threw off his duvet and gingerly brought his legs around to the floor. He was wearing shorts so Jeff could clearly see the damage through the clear cast. "Christ, that's some bruising! Where are you trying to go son? Let me help."
"Er, the bathroom" John replied embarrassed. Jeff slid a shoulder under John's arm and helped him limp the short distance to the bathroom.
"Thanks."
"Just give me a shout when your ready to come back." Jeff leaned heavily against the wall.
"Father are you well? You look tired, I hope you've not been pushing yourself too hard with this IR business?"
"I have some news I have to tell you and your brother." Jeff heard the door unlock and John walked out looking pale.
"I err- don't think the painkillers agree with me." Explained John weakly. Jeff gently rubbed his back in sympathy as he led him back towards his bed. "Alan can you make your brother a peppermint tea please."
"On it." Jeff fluffed up John's pillows before letting him sink back, he pulled the duvet up and swept his blonde lock back out of his eyes. John was surprised by his father's reaction. They all knew their dad loved them very much he just wasn't the full-on paternal type, especially not now they were basically adults. It was rare for him to display this kind of full on affection and worry. It concerned John rather than comforted him. "Dad, you said you had something to tell us?"
Alan walked back in and sat on the edge of John's bed, careful not to squish his legs as he passed over the tea. John placed it on the cabinet to cool. Jeff looked at them his face etched with concern. "Boys I have some bad news about Gordon that I wanted to tell you in person."
"Bad news! What's happened!" Alan leapt off the bed. John stifled a yelp.
Jeff raised his hand. "Please Alan; what I'm about to say is the one of the hardest things I've had to tell you after your mother and grandfather." Alan stood against the wall and piped down.
"Thank you. Your brother had an accident while on tour. He was out on an exercise in the Indian ocean testing the latest hydrofoil yacht for W.A.S.P when it suffered a fault and exploded. Gordon was thrown violently from the boat and broke his spine in two places." Alan's hand flew to his mouth, John gasped. "Its not good I'm afraid boys he's in a coma and chances are there is a degree of paralysis but its too early to determine how severe."
John started retching again. His father quickly grabbed the bin and held It under his chin until he had finished. He rubbed his shoulder gently until the heaving had passed. "Sorry I" –
"Don't apologise its not your fault. I'll talk to the doctor and see if we can get your prescription changed."
Alan looked daggers at his Dad. His face like an incoming storm. "How long has he been in coma?"
Jeff thought this might be a problem. "About two weeks or so."
"Over two weeks and we only just know are you kidding me!" Alan raged. "I want to see him now!"
"Look Scott doesn't even know yet, we've been trying to get hold of him and we can't. I knew you were at a crucial point in your studies, you couldn't miss the survival camp you would have failed your whole training." Jeff tried to keep the bite out of his voice but he was struggling he was stressed enough as it was.
"Why can't you get hold of Scott? Nothings happened to him again has it?" John asked anxiously.
"Not that I am aware of or have seen reports of. Chances are he's just on a mission but I am worried, its been a long time since he last checked in. The warfare out there intensifies daily."
That seemed to sober Alan a little. Poor Scott would be devastated when he found out. "Well we might have still failed our training anyway thanks to John's little accident." Alan crossed his arms haughtily.
"You said the instructors told us we'd be ok?" John looked like he'd been smacked. A small flicker of guilt registered on Alan's face before he became indifferent again. He just shrugged.
"Look I know this is a terrible shock for you both and I am really sorry I didn't tell you sooner but Gordon will need us and its important we maintain a united front together to aid his recovery ok?" Jeff looked firmly at Alan.
He stared defiantly back but didn't say anything. "The Doctors have stabilised Gordon but its very unlikely he will wake in the next couple of weeks, his body has experienced a lot of trauma therefore if you feel willing, I would prefer it if you completed your studies." Jeff saw Alan about to erupt again. "Your two weeks off summer break then you can come and see him with your Grandma."
"She's not seen him yet either?" Cut in John before Alan could start his outburst.
"No, she wanted to stay here in case anything happened to you two, in fact she should be here very soon as soon as she heard you were injured, she wanted to check in on you. I didn't know how soon I could get here so she was coming just in case."
"I want to see him. Where is he being treated?"
"He is at the W.A.S.P rehab centre in Sydney. They are quite strict on the number of visitors because its behind the wire but I think I can pull a few strings."
Alan was tearing up, he couldn't help it he was downright livid! How dare their Father keep this from them. Before he'd really decided what he was doing he stormed straight out of the room and the dorm.
"Alan!" his father and John called after him. Jeff was hot on his tail catching the door before it banged. Alan nearly ran smack into his Grandmother. "Oh my! Alan! What on earth is going on!" He tried to bolt past her but she was strong for an old lady and he didn't want to hurt her. "He knows" Jeff mouthed over Alan's shoulder. Ruth nodded with a clear leave this to me. Jeff thanked her silently. "Come on young man, show me where you've been living and we can have a good old chat together." She wrapped an arm around the middle of his back (She couldn't reach his shoulders anymore) as they walked off down the corridor together.
Jeff closed the door and headed back in to John's room. He was sipping his tea. He was too sick and not sure how he felt about anything at this point in time. "I'm sorry if your angry too, I understand but I just thought I was doing what was best. When I called you were already at the camp completing the practical training, they told me if I pulled you out you wouldn't get another chance this year."
"It's ok Dad I get it. It was a tough call. Has Gordon shown any progression since he was admitted?"
"No, he had to have several surgeries in the first few days, his condition has remained unchanged but then they say the swelling needs time to go down. I've been with him nearly every day. Virgil's taken over the business."
That surprised John, Virgil had always shied from the responsibility saying he didn't have the business acumen when really John knew he was fully capable he just needed to give it a go to get some confidence. With Scott still posted he guessed Virg hadn't had much of a choice.
"Dad; thanks for coming to see me but you need to get back." John put down his tea.
"John you need someone to look after you."
"Like you said Grandma is here for us, we'll be ok. I'll talk Alan down."
"Are you sure? he's gonna be in a fine mood if he finds I've gone without him."
"Dad, he knows how to book a flight, if he wants to get to Gordon, he will but in the meantime Grandma and I are here. I can't really travel like this anyway. Better to wait until summer break when I've healed a little and then we can see Gordon together, hopefully with Scott."
"I don't deserve you John, only if your absolutely sure your going to be ok?" Jeff instinctively put a hand on John's forehead, it having just occurred to him John could be vomiting because of an infection. Hmm.. he was a little warm.
"Dad, I'm fine." He half heartedly tried to swat his dad's hand off.
"We'll let the doctor be the judge of that, if they give you a clean bill of health in my presence then I'll think about going." Jeff pulled out his phone as John settled back into the covers defeated, hoping that his poor brother would be ok as he drifted off.