Chapter 6

"Mat, you're a fucking idiot," I said as I dragged the RPD SWAT team member back around the corner after he had just gotten hit by a couple of gang members. "I told you not to go into that fucking room without backup."

"I thought you and I could handle it," he groaned in pain as I began to pack field dressing into the open wound on his thigh.

"Yeah, but the rest of the team got separated from us when they started setting rooms on fire," I finished packing the wound before wrapping an Israeli bandage over it and creating added pressure. "We're both stuck here until STARS or SWAT team Bravo shows up to bail us out."

"Why does it hurt so much?" Mat groaned. "When I broke my leg it didn't hurt near this bad."

"Because you got shot," I said as I finished dragging him into a hard corner. "Give me your extra mags, I'm gonna need 'em."

The wounded man passed me a handful of Stanag magazines for the AR pattern rifle that we had both been issued.

"Thanks, now keep quiet. If they come through that door I want them focused on me," I hushed him and stuffed some clean gauze in his mouth to bite down on if the pain got worse.

I readied my rifle, stood at an angle that would be hard to see from the entryway, and waited for the rest of the gang members to come through.

The first gang member to come through the doorway got a nearly perfect Mozambique Drill that dropped him perfectly. My rifle had lightly kicked against my shoulder and the minimal recoil allowed me to reacquire my target fairly quickly.

Moving back to the hard corner that Mat was hidden in, I double-checked his field dressing to make sure that he wasn't bleeding any more.

"Stay with me, Mat," I grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him into being fully awake. "You can't go to sleep, you have to stay awake or you won't be able to see your fiancé again."

"I'm awake!" Mat shook his head and pinched himself. "I'm awake Dammit!"

"Good, you need to stay that way or you'll start going into shock," I handed him a small bottle of something out of my pack. "Drink this, it's an IV in drinkable form."

"Ugh," Mat's face twisted in horror as he drank the small bottle. "That's disgusting, why would anyone drink that shit?!"

"Because it works," I turned slightly and raised my rifle to high-ready as I heard a sound by the doorway.

"I'm gonna die on my feet," Mat muttered as he used my pack and my tac vest to pull himself up to his feet behind me. "I hope you got earpro," Mat told me as he used the side of my shoulder to help him brace his rifle. " 'Cause otherwise I'm not sure your hearing will be intact after this."

"Earpro is on," I replied. "But it won't matter anyway if we're both dead."

Then gunshots echoed through the other hallway and we heard the distinct callouts of the rest of the SWAT team that we had been separated from.

"Blue!" I yelled from the doorway as I saw some of my teammates enter. "Mat's wounded, we've gotta get him outta here."

"The gang is down," Lieutenant Marvin Branagh told me. "Site is secured and we've called for both EMS and the fire department."

"I'll start patching everyone up then, boss," I replied to SWAT team Alpha's CO. "Mat can't be the only one who was hit or hurt."

"EMS will take care of us, Mark," the SWAT team captain replied. "As long as Mat won't bleed out in the next hour or so, that is."

"He's good until he can get to a hospital, but why don't you need me here?"

"You weren't even supposed to be on this op," Marvin laughed. "Someone screwed up the paperwork, and you're double booked for today."

"How long until Bravo team leaves?" I asked as I pulled Mat up and threw gum across my shoulders.

"You've got a couple of hours, just long enough to grab a shower and replace whatever piece of kit you need to replace."

"Gain way!" I yelled at the crowd of police officers that were crowding the entrances to the apartment complex we were at. "Wounded coming through!" I carried Mat directly to the ambulance that was on standby. "Hey, Jess! I greeted my once teacher and now friend. "Mat's a bit shot up, he's also got some cuts and bruises. Upper left thigh, it missed the artery and I packed it and put a pressure bandage on it after I sprayed some of the Umbrella Corporation's Antibacterial/antiviral on it."

"We've got it from here, Mark," Jessica said as she helped me load Mat up into the ambulance. "I think the Chief wants a word with you." She nodded her head at Chief Irons who was red-faced and seemed extremely angry.

"Can't I just tag along with you?" I quipped. "I'm pretty sure that it would be safer than staying here."

"Sorry," she shook her head. "I'm not throwing myself into that line of fire for you."

"Fine," I groaned. "I'll go face the red monster."

"Officer Matthias Dawson looks like he'll make a full recovery chief," I inclined my head towards the ambulance that was closing its doors. "I'm about to borrow an officer and get to HQ so that I can join Bravo team on their op."

"You were supposed to already be at the police station!" Irons bellowed at me. "How the hell did you end up here?"

"Chief Irons," I responded calmly and respectfully. "I'm supposed to go out with every team as a medic. It's a part of my contract, and if I hadn't been on this op today then you would be down at least one, if not two SWAT team members." I shrugged. "I'm still good to go, I've just got to replace some of the kit that I used and I'll be heading out to investigate the murders with Bravo team."

The hefty man sputtered at me as I took the wind out of his sails and began walking toward one of the LEOs on scene and asked for them to take me to the HQ.

"You alright man?" The Officer, Kevin Ryman asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied as I opened up a bottle of the anti-migraine meds that I had been taking for the last year and a half. "Just a migraine, they come and go."

"Well, try and get some rest while I finish taking you to HQ," Ryman replied. "You're heading out with Bravo team, right? You're gonna need the rest."

–

–

"Chambers!" I barked in my command voice as I entered the room where STARS team Bravo was getting ready for the foray into the Arklay mountains. "Please tell me that you're not about to go out to investigate a series of murders in the twilight of the fucking mountains with just a handgun and a tiny medkit."

"Captain Wesker cleared me though!" Chambers tried to defend herself before I shut her down.

"I don't give a flying fuck about what Wesker told you," I replied heatedly. "I'm the one who's been training you, and you know that you're supposed to carry an SMG with you at the absolute minimum," I sighed. "We're going to the armory, you're not heading out to investigate people who are possibly drugged out of their minds with just a pistol."

"I'm sorry," Chambers said shyly as she glanced down and away from me. "I tried arguing with the Captain but he shut me down and I didn't know how to respond."

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," I pulled the girl that I had taken under my wing over the last six months into a side hug. "I shouldn't have barked without getting all of the correct information first."

"You're forgiven," Chambers smiled.

"SMG or rifle?" I asked as we entered the armory and greeted the quartermaster.

"SMG," Rebecca replied. "I packed a larger medkit, but it's sitting in the STARS offices."

"I'll grab the kit, you make sure that you get a full load of mags for everything," I shook my head as it started to pound. "And bring extra batteries in a waterproof bag, it'll come in handy later."

I headed to the STARS offices to be greeted by the frowning Captain Albert Wesker.

"Why are you making Chambers bring a full combat load for an investigation?" The man glared at me from underneath his ever-present sunglasses.

"Because it's the way that I've been training her," I grabbed the large medkit from Chamber's desk. "If you had any idea of how combat really works then you would know that you always train how you would fight and with what you would bring," I smirked. "But you don't train, all you've done since I started working here is sit and do paperwork, you're sloppy, and if you slip up out in the field it'll mean your death."

"Confident in that are you?" Wesker asked with a smug smirk on his face.

"Yes, I am," I replied as my head began to hurt worse than it did before. "And you'll find that out soon enough." A scene of Wesker dying by falling into a volcano flashed in front of my eyes. "Sorry, but I've got murders to investigate, so if you'll kindly get the fuck out of my way then I'll go get rained out on the mountains."

"There's no rain in the forecast," Wesker raised an eyebrow. "It's clear for the next two weeks."

"There'll be rain all right," I replied coldly. "See you soon."