For all disclaimers: see earlier chapters.
Faith
Chapter Ten
/January 4th 2001, northern Afghanistan/
05:59:50
Xenia's ears were still ringing from her proximity to the blast that had obliterated the Licker and her head wasn't as clear as it should have been because of the battering her mind and body had taken on their way through the Umbrella facility, but she would later still say that she should have seen it coming. Seen him coming.
The smoke and physical pain combined distracted her enough to make her miss Leon Kennedy's abrupt appearance ahead of her, but she'd never miss a gun being fired at her no matter where she was or what she was doing. The bright flash of close-range gunfire added to the whip-crack roar of gunfire came almost together she and Kennedy were so close together, giving her no time to think at all. But Xenia was a Veteran of a thousand battlefields and countless situations which involved a chance of life or death depending on what you did in the instant before that. She didn't need to think about it.
Without thought or hesitation she shifted her direction and ran straight into a wall with such force she rattled her teeth, even with her arms up and braced to cushion the impact. The bullet slashed through the meat of her left side, ricocheted off of a rib in a flash of agony that almost put her on her knees and spun away. She felt blood explode from the wound even as flesh tore and her left leg was instantly drenched, but she stayed upright.
If she'd been armed, Kennedy would have died for that. People who wounded her didn't get to survive doing it. But, as it happened, Kennedy would later prove to be a special case for more reasons than once.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE! HOLD YOUR FIRE! WE ARE AMERICAN SOLDIERS!" roared Matt, his voice booming so loudly in the sudden silence following the gunshot that the sheer volume actually made Xenia wince. His "parade-ground" voice, she assumed.
"Prove it, soldier. Name and number" snapped back Kennedy, his voice cold as ice in winter. He, Xenia couldn't help but think, had been taught to take no prisoners and no chances. That would do a great deal to help keep them alive now, she couldn't help but think.
"Matthew Ryan, Field Commander SOC Team One and Unit. If you don't know the designation I can't explain it to you" said Matt.
"Xenia Omerova, Military Adviser for the US Mission in Afghanistan. Special Forces" said Xenia, biting down on her limp to silence a groan of pain. She was going to be in bed for a week with just what she'd suffered so far today, she couldn't help but think-and that was after the Medics got done with her back.
"Anna Neagley, CO of Delta Force Fire Base Echo Company. I have to apologise for not giving you more detail, but I'm bleeding to death and in something of a hurry. Who are you, anyway?" snapped Anna, her voice suddenly so full of Command that Matt almost found himself snapping to attention as she spoke.
"Leon Kennedy, Special Agent. All I can tell you is that I receive my Orders direct from POTUS. No time for more. Tell me what happened here" said Kennedy.
"The base blew up and we all died because an idiot Secret Service Agent wouldn't run for his life and help others do the same when he still had time. You do understand that we know for a fact there's a Self-Destruct device counting down in here as we speak, don't you?" Xenia snarled.
05:10:39
"If it didn't go off and do this, what happened here? Why should I believe you?" replied Kennedy.
"To be honest, SS boy, I couldn't care less whether you believe that were all going to die or not. It's like this: were all wounded, bloody and battered. We've just fought our way through Hell and nearly been killed by a creature which looked like it had escaped from an H P Lovecraft novel. This is after nearly drowning, twice, before which we were nearly smeared into the landscape of Afghanistan forever by a flying wall and an underwater river. To sum up, on top of having a severe Concussion I am well and truly pissed off. Unless you want me to take all of that out on you, Kennedy, you will stop asking fucking stupid questions and get out of the way. NOW!" Anna exploded, levelling a thousand-yard stare at Kennedy that would have moved a tank crew backwards inside their vehicle.
04:29:33
"...Okay, but you all fill me in later. Lets go!" snapped Kennedy, suddenly realising that he did, indeed, believe what he was being told, mad as it sounded.
Xenia, limping but upright, needed no further invitation as Kennedy stepped out of the way and ran outside as best she could, trying to slow down the bleeding with a hand clasped over the wound as best she could until she could deal with it properly. Matt turned around as he heard a thump of impact and saw Anna on one knee, clearly having trouble standing up. That was when he noticed all of the blood covering her back-and that she was coughing up blood that was falling in bloody strings from her lips.
"Jesus Christ in pink-! Anna, why didn't you say you were hurt this bad?!" Matt asked, running over to help her up.
04:01:09
"I'm not hurt that bad, I bit into my tongue when we were fighting the Licker and it won't stop bleeding. Unless I want to choke on it, I need to stop and spit it out occasionally" replied Anna, before pausing to wipe her mouth clean with the back of her hand.
"Well, there's that and the fact I can't seem to walk in a straight line under my own power..." she muttered, so quietly he could barely hear her. Knowing her the way he did, he knew that he wouldn't have heard her speak unless she wanted him to. Which meant...
Before she could react, he stepped in, put one arm under her shoulders and another behind her knees then lifted Anna off of her feet. The expression on her face was half-surprised, half-pleased. "You got the idea then..." she whispered into his ear before resting her head against his chest. He turned to carry her out as fast as he could-and all of the lights went out.
03:40:41
"Bloody Hellfire! What's next, a rain of frogs?! KENNEDY! Some HELP HERE?!" Matt shouted out into the sudden total, dead darkness.
A pen-size flashlight snapped on, waved around for a second, focused on Matt's face and then went down to his feet, showing him the ground beneath his feet. He could work with that.
"Best I can do. Head straight for my voice, I'm standing in front of the exit" Kennedy called out, even as Matt followed the small pool of light as quickly as he could. He hardly seemed to have moved at all before he felt a hand grab his shoulder as Kennedy went behind him and stood close, shining the light ahead of them both.
02:50:59
"Follow the light and run for your life! GO!" snapped Kennedy, as the seriousness of the situation evidently finally sank in. Matt didn't bother answering, he just jogged as fast as his tired body could safely manage with Anna supported in his arms.
When he caught a glimpse of the approaching daylight and thought he'd glimpsed Heaven even as he put on speed. They'd make it yet-!
"Matt! Pass her through!" shouted Xenia, who was waiting outside the breach in the entrance passage Kennedy had entered through.
"I am not a piece of luggage-HEY!" shouted Anna, even as Matt passed her through the gap headfirst without slowing down. Xenia staggered away with Anna in her arms, wounded side slowing her down, but it didn't stop Matt going through the gap head-first the moment there was space. Kennedy was so close behind him that Matt came close to accidentally kicking the other man in the face as they got outside within seconds of each other.
"Walker! Get down here and help us-!" shouted Kennedy at three figures above them.
With a start, Matt looked up and recognised his two teammates from Team One-and the tall man who could only be his boss. Had Kennedy dragged them along or had they come looking for him? More to the point, why did he think that was remotely important right now?
02:10:42
Mark and Paul immediately ran down towards the struggling Xenia to help her while Walker headed straight for Matt and Kennedy. It seemed an odd choice to make to Matt, he and Kennedy were the two of the four most capable of getting out alive under their own power.
"Matt, what the Hell's going on here?!" shouted Walker, his voice sounding tinny through his closed helmet visor. Not that the body armour would do him any good if the Self-Destruct went off with them still inside its blast radius.
"BOMB! No time to explain! Run like Hell!" Matt shouted back, even as he took his own advice and headed up out of the crater at a turn of speed that would have impressed an Olympic Champion, Kennedy right alongside. Walker stopped asking questions, turned and ran himself.
01:42:02
Mark and Paul supported Xenia's injured side and managed to add enough of their muscle to her that she actually got up to a decent speed as she came up out of the crater at a steady, if slow, run. When the four of them got to the top, the near-exhausted Matt took Anna in his arms again and headed back to camp with the no intention of stopping until he was safe inside the camp again, even if meant he woke up in a hospital bed.
With Mark still supporting the wounded Xenia, nobody needed any reminders. They all turned and ran.
00:59:01
Xenia's couldn't help noticing that she was having increasing trouble breathing-and there was no way her physical fitness was to blame even under these conditions. It seemed that the wound in her side had done more damage than she'd realised. She wondered just how bad it was...
00:33:00
If it had been anyone but Matt carrying her, Anna would have found a way to wrestle free and run on on her own two feet. With Matt, though, she was enjoying listening to his strong and steady, if racing, heartbeat under her ear as he ran with her in his arms. She was no romantic, but there was something about the situation that she could appreciate in that sense. Matt's strong arms around her made her feel...well, comfortable, in a way very, very few could.
00:15:09
Walker couldn't believe the situation he'd found himself in. He'd had a flawless plan to take out Kennedy, no questions asked, all ready to go-and then who else but Matt Ryan, his own number two in Afghanistan, had come out of the hole in the ground he'd been watching like a Bat out of Hell.
If there was one person he couldn't stage an "accident" in front of, it was Matt. He knew the younger soldier already had his suspicions, he had to avoid giving the man any more ammunition one way or another. At least, not until his position was more secure.
00:03:09
By Xenia's count, they were out of time. She ducked flat-just in time, as suddenly the whole mountain seemed to explode all over again...
/End of Part Ten. All Reviews welcomed/.