At twilight the enormous display of sand seemed like an obscure sea in which the soldiers' minds could easily get lost. Ray's eyes moved fast, checking every direction to not be caught off guard, but on the horizon the sun had definitively been swallowed by the sand and the visibility now was minimal.
Trent kept taking care of Clay and from time to time he would glance back toward the direction they came from, hoping to see his teammates pop out from behind some dunes.
In the silence of the night the two SEALs could hear Clay's teeth chattering as the cold air made him shake like a little leaf in the wind. And despite the darkness, they could clearly see his face growing pale and getting worse every second that passed.
"Backup will not get to us in time." Ray said, looking first down at Clay then again at the horizon. "We have to take the risk." He turned to look Trent in the eyes. "We have to move now."
Trent nodded to him then turned to Clay. "Can you get up?" he asked, explaining his words with his hands as he could not raise his voice anymore.
"Yeah." Clay accepted Trent's arm to help him get on his feet. He tried to move the first step along, but he limped and if it wasn't for his teammate's solid grip he would have fallen heavily on the ground.
Ray gasped and made a quick move toward them, but Trent made him a sign to stop.
"I got him." He assured, strongly sustaining Clay. "The lesions to his eardrums must compromise his equilibrium," he explained, still unsure if he could let the kid stand on his own.
He sighed. "He won't go far like this."
"Give me a minute, I can-" Clay started to say, interpreting his friends' looks, but he suddenly lost his grip on Trent's shoulder and collapsed on his knees. At that point he could only lay back down on the ground, not knowing how to respond to their concerned looks.
"Don't overstrain yourself, brother." Ray said in a firm and calm voice while vigilantly watching Trent make sure Clay didn't just caused himself further problems.
"Alright, I got him." Trent resolutely charged Clay on his shoulders. "Let's go!"
"Wait..." Clay whispered to Trent's ear not so long after they started to move toward their backup's position.
"Hang on, Kid. We can't stop now," Trent said, even if he knew Clay could not clearly hear him.
As they didn't put him down, Clay suddenly threw up all over Trent.
Despite the inconvenience, the older soldier didn't react at all, continuing his way while the younger laboriously swallowed in a solid attempt to not repeat the performance.
... ... ...
Jason's jeep stopped at the center of the street as numerous gunshots reached Bravo's ears. Sharpening their eyes, they noticed various men fighting in the darkness all along the road and down on the sand. So, they put the night visors on and rapidly started scanning the area to find their teammates.
"Jeez, it's really getting hot there!" Brock said, pointing at the flashlights lighting the night in the distance.
"Come on, let's go." Jason said, making sure his rifle was monition full.
"That's their vehicle, right there!" Sonny drew their attention on it. "Do you have eyes on them?"
"Negative," Jason pulled down the car window to take a better look.
"Me neither," Brock said pulling over next to the vehicle their friends left unattended and drilled of hits.
The three soldiers could clearly hear the gunfight approaching their position. They saw multiple militants fighting one against each other, but in those conditions telling who is who, was not easy at all.
"They said they were east from here, right?" Jason said, still looking attentively.
"There!" Sonny suddenly pointed among the dunes. "Right there!" He tried to look better as he spotted two figures running in the desert. Then he saw one of the soldiers was transporting someone on his shoulders. It's Clay, it is for sure, he thought, and the other two are Trent and Ray, they have to be. None of them could tell why, but they were all sure it was them.
"We have to move Jace," Sonny continued, spotting a small but well armed group of militants getting right to their teammates' position.
"No chance this thing can get down there, Boss," Brock said, turning off the engine.
"Alright, get out," Jason ordered. "Get out!" The three soldiers jumped off the jeep with their rifles in their hands and started running down into the desert.
"Brock, we need some cover," Jason said, now approaching more carefully. "Can you get up there and provide for it?" he continued, pointing to a small hill 40 meters from their current position.
"On it, Boss." Brock immediately put the orders into practice while the other two went on their way down.
As they got closer, Jason and Sonny could finally discern the three figures clearly. It was Trent that had the injured Clay on his shoulders while Ray desperately tried to cover for them. Not so distant, the enemies were approaching quickly and engaged with them. They saw them running as fast as they could with bullets flying over their heads, and no chance to find a proper cover.
The two SEALs hurried toward their teammates, approaching the enemies on their right side, and the fight got immediately crazy. At that point the Bravo members could only hope to not get caught in the crossfire and get hit by a friendly bullet.
Sonny got the first target down and Jason took his chance a second later. Then finally, Brock's backup from the high make them feel his presence, and the enemy soldiers dropped down one after another.
As soon as only the Bravo Team members were still on their feet, they could run to cover behind a dune and take a good look at their injured teammate.
"You okay guys?" Jason quickly checked on all his men.
"Never been so happy to see your ugly faces," Ray said, helping Trent put Clay on the ground.
"How is he?" Jason asked, making himself some room to see it with his own eyes.
"Not good," Trent severely said. "He needs immediate medical assistance. And by that I truly mean immediate."
All Bravo Team glanced down to Clay. He was just staring at them visibly confused while trying hard to catch his breath.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Clay kept muttering almost delusional.
"Hey, hey, hey." Jason rested his hand on Clay's chest. "It's okay, we're here now."
Clay laboriously swallowed, clearly trying to say something more, but this time his voice didn't come out.
"Save your strength Wonder Boy, we're not going to take back a corpse!" Sonny said. From his look he understood that, even if he did not get a single word of what he just said, Clay knew exactly what he meant.
"The medevac is 6 mikes away." Jason checked his watch. "Come on, they can't get to us here, we must reach the extraction point."
"One, this is Five," Brock's voice sounded from their radios. "Be advised, you have multiple hostiles approaching your position. You have to move."
"Copy that, Five, we are Oscar Mike. Meet us as at the jeep. One out."
Sonny helped Trent pulling up the helpless and disoriented Clay again on his shoulders. Then they started moving as fast as they could with their teammates covering their six.
As soon as they reached the jeep Sonny promptly opened the door for them and watched powerlessly as the others loaded Clay in.
"Careful," Jason said, sustaining the kid's head while Trent laid him on the back seat.
"Where's Brock?" He frantically looked around while Ray and Sonny jumped on the back of the vehicle, good to go and ready to cover for their run.
"Right here, Boss!" Brock came running and immediately jumped in the driver seat, starting the engine. As he got in, he instantaneously glanced at the rearview mirror to check on Clay's conditions. The sight of him laying there shaking and tossing under Trent's touch made him wince, but he knew he had to shake it off and bring him to safety.
He had to be strong. Clay was counting on him.
"Alright, let's go, let's go!" Jason ordered, settling in the front seat while Trent got in the back and tried to make Clay more comfortable, allowing his head resting on his thighs.
"Watch out, they, they're here!" Clay's ravings made them all look at him. "They're here... I need to-to..." he tried to reach for his gun which wasn't there. "We need-" he continued his delusional talk and tried to get up.
"Who? Who is here?" Jason turned to the back seat rising his voice.
"There's no one here. It's just us," he tried to reassure him. "Calm down Kid, we got you."
"No, no-" Clay's legs were restless and his hands were constantly searching the air, trying to grab something. "Where is my gun? M-my gun..."
"Slow down buddy, slow down." Trent firmly took Clay's hand in his then with the other hand he gently started to caress his sweaty forehead, moving his messy hair off it. "Look at me now, you are safe. We got you," he sounded as loud as he could, as the damaged eardrums kept making the communication difficult.
"I-I-" without any further warning Clay threw up again, but fortunately, his teammate was there to turn him on his side, preventing him to choke.
"This is definitely not my lucky day," Trent said, finding himself once again covered in his friend's vomit.
Ray and Sonny had to force themselves to not look back at the inside of the jeep to check on Clay's status. They knew they had to keep their focus on covering their six, but the thought he was suffering so badly while they could do anything for him ate them alive.
"That's the place, we're here." Brock pulled over.
"Where the hell is the damn helo?" Jason said, sticking himself out the car window to look up at the sky.
They stopped, eagerly scanning the place to make sure there was no danger.
At some point Trent's attention was caught by Clay's quickening breath and he saw the kid's face turning ghost-white within a matter of seconds.
"Damn it! He is going into shock!" his alarmed tone made all Bravo members jump to their feet with their muscles tense and their hearts pounding.
"Stay with us Blondie! You can't do this to us," Sonny yelled to him, opening the jeep's door.
They not-so-patiently waited for the help to come with Trent monitoring Clay's heartbeat and trying his best to calm him down. Despite all his teammate's efforts Clay's heart-rate skyrocketed and his conditions kept worsening. He was losing his focus and was barely able to keep his eyes open.
"Hey, can you hear that?" Sonny made them all look up to the sky. "They're coming."
He locked eyes with Clay, trying to give him strength. "I know you can hear this, Kid. Come on!"
Then he turned to Trent. "The backup is here, we just have to load him into the helo and everything is gonna be good, right?"
"Yeah." Trent's voice didn't come out convincing at all. "But then it will take, what? 10 mikes to land at the base camp?" Trent asked.
"More like 12, I think," Jason said, glancing down at Clay.
"He doesn't have that long, Boss." As those words came out of Trent's mouth their world stopped. Horror stamped on their faces as they kept staring alternately to Clay then to the landing helicopter and then back to Clay again.
"I think he's in hypovolemic shock," Trent said to the corpsmen as they jumped off the medevac. "He has possibly cracked ribs and I strongly suspect a spleen rupture." He continued while he and Ray helped them bring Clay on board. "He also had his eardrums damaged pretty badly."
"Alright, we got him. Step back," the medical officer said, checking on his patient.
"Ray, come on, he doesn't have time," Trent said, trying to pull Ray away.
"I'm not leaving him alone again." Ray turned to his teammates with his eyes full of tears and his jaw squared. "Not again."
The medics watched Clay slowly drift unconscious then turned to Ray in a rush. "Okay, jump in. We're taking off."
Jason silently nodded, so Ray followed his friend in and Trent made a few steps toward the rest of his teammates. Only when he was in a safe position, the medevac could take off.
Jason put a hand on Trent's shoulder, his eyes saying, 'good job taking care of the kid', but his lips were locked in a grimace of concern.
Then they all watched the chopper getting away in religious silence.
"They will fix him, right?" Sonny could not hold back his concern anymore.
"He sustained some pretty serious injuries." Trent sighed, his calm voice unsuccessfully hiding his worry. "I don't know."
After a few endless seconds the helicopter was completely out of their sight and Jason's voice broke the shock-induced silence. "Come on, let's go!"
... ... ...
As soon as the helicopter took off, the corpsmen started to work on Clay, checking his vitals, inserting IVs and immediately starting a transfusion.
Ray watched them breathless, clenching his fists. He was surprised and thankful to see how many things they could do even confined in that small space while flying across the sky. But at the same time the thought his friend needed all those cares terrified him.
"Stay with me Clay. Stay with me," Ray muttered, taking his friend's hand while staring at his increasingly pale skin. "I'm right here, I'm not leaving you."
"We're 3 mikes away from the base camp," the pilot let them know.
"Come on soldier, you can do this," one of the corpsman said. "We're almost there."
But after a few seconds Clay's heartbeat rapidly decreased till stopping. Ray saw worried looks drawing on the medical officer's faces while staring at the flat line that just appeared on the portable monitor. He kept holding his cold hand with both his, trying to transmit him his warmth and his strength. Don't give up on me, brother.
He could feel the life abandoning Clay's body and he saw his lips turning blue.
"Damn it, he's coding!" The other corpsman said, seeing he wasn't breathing anymore.
Ray had to loosen his grip on Clay's hand to give the medics more space to work. He watched closely while they frenetically moved to take care of his unconscious teammate, and his own heart stopped.
He carefully observed one of the corpsmen start the CPR while the other prepared the portable defibrillator. At that very moment, despite all the commotion, despite the air protection and all the rest, Ray could swear he heard Clay's ribs break under his pressure.
When the other one lifted Clay's shirt to place the electrodes on his contused chest, Ray gasped. That was the first time he saw the real entity of his internal injuries. He could barely stand the sight of Clay's left side, but he, however, kept his eyes on it. It was a rainbow of tones, going from blue to deep purple, and the bruise seemed to grow bigger when he didn't look at it.
He winced every single time he saw Clay's body slightly jump in the air with all his muscles tense because the little machine tried to shock him back to life. Don't give up Kid. Don't leave me, he thought, knowing the electric current flowing in his body at regular intervals was the only thing keeping him bound to this world.
As he watched them putting a plastic tube down Clay's throat, he had to close his eyes and started praying with every fiber of his body. "Good Lord, I trust your greatness, please don't call this young life to Your presence..."
"Hold on, we're landing." The pilot's voice caught the soldier's attention from the cockpit while they kept working on Clay in the back of the chopper.
When the rotors stopped the noise of the portable defibrillator releasing its shocks was the only thing breaking the silence of the night. And every time it reached Ray's ears, he could feel the chills down his spine like if the thing was connected to himself.
Jumping off the vehicle one of the corpsmen promptly started to brief the doctors. "Tachycardic, hypo tensed-" he said, helping them loading Clay on a stretcher, "multiple first and second-degree burnings, internal bleeding, and I think we broke him some ribs." He continued pushing Clay inside.
When they arrived Blackburn and Davis were already on the landing space, waiting for them. They looked Ray following Clay's stretcher out the medevac and stood there, watching breathless that horrific scene. They tried to catch Ray's eyes, but he would not take his gaze off the kid.
Then they followed the group inside, trying to understand the real conditions of their friend.
"Step back," a doctor said as Ray would not back off from Clay's side. "Let us work, soldier."
"Come with me." One of the corpsman made Ray step aside with him.
They all looked in dead silence the doctor taking stock of the situation. They saw him regulating the defibrillator's parameters and giving Clay's lifeless body a stronger shock. From the corner of the room Ray could see his friend jumping in the air as the electric current flew in him. Helpless, he kept praying God with every fiber of his body, his hands tightened in a vice, but this time he kept his eyes wide open, fixed on Clay.
"I got a pulse!" This few words allowed Ray to finally breathe again.
"Let's take him to the OR when he's stable," the doctor ordered, pushing his patient's bed while Ray trying once again to follow them.
"You have to wait here." A nurse firmly put her hand before Ray making him stop and not giving him any choice but to obey her.
Ray kept staring at the door in which his friend just disappeared, continuing to pray for his life. He was trying to not think that all that happened to Clay was the consequence of him and Trent leaving him alone in the first place, but he could not shake that though off.
Only the sudden touch of a hand on his shoulder made him come back to reality.
He turned to find Blackburn there and Davis right behind him, their faces giving away all their worry, almost terror Ray could say.
"We can't do anything for him right now," the commander said. "Let's go take a breather outside."
"I'm not leaving him!" Ray harshly said. "Never. Never again," he kept muttering as it was a mantra.
The other two soldiers looked at each other, sighing. "Alright, let's just go sit down there then." Blackburn tried again, glancing at some chairs right at the entrance.
"And that's an order!" He continued, seeing that Ray would not move a single step away from the OR door.
"Hey." Davis looked him straight. "Give yourself a break, this is not your fault."
Ray heard, but he didn't feel it. His heart was stressed out from the guilt, so no one could make him feel better till he knows his friend was safe.
"We all have something to overlook," Blackburn said under his breath. "He didn't deserve this."
... ... ...
The base camp was unusually quiet considering all was going on outside it. A feeling of expectation steamed into the air like if the whole base was waiting to hear about Bravo members' conditions.
As the jeep got back there, Sonny practically jumped out of the still moving vehicle, rushing into the field hospital. There he found Davis and Blackburn trying to comfort a seriously beaten up Ray and whitened, imagining the worst.
"Is he..." Sonny asked in a broken voice.
"No. No," Davis got up and went toward him, putting a hand on his chest while Jason and Brock entered the building right after him. "He was, but just for a minute and they brought him back."
Hearing those words, Sonny's legs almost gave way under him.
"Where is he now?" Jason asked.
"OR. " Blackburn glanced at the next room. "They are still working on him."
Out of the blue, Sonny grabbed Ray from his shirt and started yelling at him an inch from his face. "You should not have left him there!"
Ray looked at him in the eyes without although reacting in any way, his lips locked and his arms abandoned on his sides. Sonny started pushing him, once, twice then harder and harder.
"It was our only choice." Trent got in the middle of the discussion, defending Ray.
"No one is left behind!" Sonny continued yelling at them. "No one! Ever!"
"Do you think I don't know that?" Ray suddenly started to push him back. "Do you think I am not already beating myself for that?"
"Hey! Hey, enough!" Jason ordered, dividing them with Davis and Brock's help. "This is not the place for that, understood?"
"Listen to me very carefully," Blackburn intervened as the tension between Bravo members continued to rise. "This is part of the job."
They all stopped while Davis made sure Sonny was calm enough before letting him go from her hands.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm cool," he whispered to her, stepping back.
"We have our rules of engagement," the commander continued, "and those rules say civilians' safety comes first. That's what we did today." He looked every one of his subjects right in the eyes. "And no one can blame Ray or Trent for doing that. No one." He faced Ray, making sure he well understood that 'no one' included him.
"He should not have let him go in there alone," Sonny continued, raising his voice.
"That was my decision. If you have any problem with that, come and say it to me!" Jason got close to him, talking directly in his face.
"Enough!" Blackburn's severe tone made them all freeze in their positions. "You are behaving like children, all of you!" His straight look made them hold their breath. "And I'm having enough of that!"
They all forced themselves to calm down, fearing their commander's rage.
Blackburn paused, inhaling loudly. "You took Clay back here and that's the only important thing right now. We are here for him and for him only." He made them glance at the OR door.
They all nodded, barely having the courage to look one another in the eyes.
"And now," Blackburn continued, pointing at Ray's shoulder. "You go get checked, you're bleeding."
"I'm fine," Ray protested. "It's just a scratch."
"This is not the time to argue with your commanding officer, senior chief," Blackburn barked and then turned to Sonny. "And you need to take a walk outside, now."
"I'm not leaving." He shook his head, hardly managing to control himself.
"Don't make me say it again Sonny!"
"Come on, let's go." Davis gently pushed him outside with her. "They'll call us if there is any news."
"And you, Trent," Blackburn turned to him, lowering his voice, exhausted, "you go take a shower, you really stink."
"Yep, not arguing with that, sir," Trent said, looking down at his dirty uniform with his friend's vomit all over it.
Mandy ran in at that moment, almost bumping into the furious Sonny while Davis was taking him out.
"How is he?" she asked, sitting near Jason who just settled in the corner of the room, staring at the OR door.
"No news is good news." Blackburn said as no one else could speak, broke by the exhausting wait.
... ... ...
Author's Note: Thanks for the kind reviews, every comment is well appreciated.
On a technical note: in the army a 'corpsman' is a trained doctor or a sort of EMT soldier that intervene in the field.