The alarm was sounded through the base in the middle of the night, a call ringing down to Marcus' office. A quick answer and reply had Marcus quickly pulling on his jacket and boots as he ran down the hallway to the elevator. As he ran through the hallways, he quickly grabbed people as he passed them, shouting orders to follow him and dress for bad weather.

Within minutes, ten people were topside and ready to run down the tunnel when the first of four large draft horses came pounding down the tunnel, sweating, shaking and steam rising off their wet backs as they came in wide eyed and frantic. The last one in was covered in blood and had someone hunched over its back.

One of the people in charge of the draft horses used to haul sleds was familiar with horses and got people together to calm the horses down. He calmly spoke about how to approach them, how to bribe them into calming down with familiar things and getting them walking up and down the tunnel to cool down or they would get sick and die. The last horse that had come in was in a daze as it stood utterly still, its withers and flanks shivering and twitching, its eyes wide as it showed the white around them from fear.

Marcus slowly approached him, trying to take a gentle hold of the lead rope. His hands had just come to grip the rope when the rider slowly straightened. Marcus could only stare at the bloodied face that turned towards him. His heart nearly froze in his chest as it focused on him. It was Mal. She had lost her hat somewhere and she bled profusely out of a gouge along her hairline. She slowly lifted her right arm and pulled off the sachelle she'd carried with her the entire way. She held it out to him as she struggled to stay sitting up.

Her body showed evidence of several bullet wounds and it was hard to tell with all the blood how serious she was. Marcus took the bag and handed it backwards to someone who took it from her fingers. He reached up hands to offer her a way off the horse but she could only sit and stare off into space now. He realized that it might be dangerous for her to try and slip off the back of the horse in her condition so he led the horse over to stand next to a truck. He gave the reigns to Kurdy and climbed into the truck.

He reached out and gently pulled her towards him with the help of several other people. Her eyes looked through him as he got her laid out. Her hand was still trying to grip the harness that they had to cut away from the horse to get her off. She finally focused on him. "All the boys here?" she asked in a near whisper.

He nodded, "Yeah. They all came in and are being cared for." He said gently. A backboard arrived and they quickly slid her onto it and strapped her down. He gave her hand a quick squeeze and climbed out of the back of the truck to help haul the back board as they headed towards the elevator to take her to the infirmiry. Kurdy made a quick call to the medical ward to warn them of the incoming trauma.

Moments later, the four people carrying her burst through the door of the medical bay and they found the staff ready with a bed and bright lights lit. They carefully laid her out on the table and stepped back. The medical staff quickly swarmed around her, blocking the view of her as they worked. The other three soon stepped out into the hallway but Marcus stayed behind. He kept his back to the wall to be out of the way but Kurdy soon joined him and convinced him to go back to his room. "There's nothing more you can do for her. If they need something, you'll be the first to be called, I'm sure. Right now, we have to find out who did this and where. Lex says that it looks like some of the horses got a bit of singed hair as if they ran through fire. One of the horses took a bullet to the flank and the one she came in on has one in its shoulder. Once they calm down and get warmed up and fed, relaxed some, then he'll see about trying to remove the bullets."

Marcus looked at Kurdy. "Who the hell would attack in weather like this? They were risking their own lives in this cold. Why?" he said, sounding almost frantic.

Kurdy shrugged, "I don't know but I know that where ever it happened, we'll find the sled I think. The entire harness was cut apart and probably by her so that the horses could run free. She's a smart woman. Whoever ambushed her must have been smart enough to plan it just right for the best success. Or they just got damned lucky."

Marcus sighed and rubbed his face. "Thank you Kurdy for the report. Let me know if you find out anything else. We need to get in touch with the other towns and tell them to be very cautious but to keep an eye out for strangers on the roads or heaven help us, the sound of choppers."

*****

The rest of the night went agonizingly slow. Finally Aaron came to Marcus to give him an update. She found him sitting in his office, staring out the large plate window in the shadowed dark. "Marcus?" she called out.

He didn't move, "How bad is it?" he asked simply.

Aaron sighed, "It's at times like this that I wish we had someone here that knew all the old ways of medicine. It's a wonder she's lived this long." She came in and shut the door behind her and went over to sit near him. "She's fading Marcus. She took bullet graze to the head along her temple. It isn't so bad but it bled a lot." She was silent again for a moment.

"She was shot four more times from above and straight across. It was an ambush, no doubt. Some of the bullets enter in at an angle suggesting someone shooting down from above. The others come in straight across as if level with her on horseback. She took two in her right thigh, one in the back of the right shoulder that exited the front. The last went in near her heart. That was the on that went straight across. If it had entered at the angle the others had, she would have died instantly. But as it is, she's very weak from loss of blood and from the deadly cold outside. The horse kept her warm but not enough to stave off hypothermia." Aaron looked at Marcus in the half dark.

Marcus was quiet for a long time, "Is there anything that can be done for her?" he asked.

Aaron sighed, "Possibly but it may not do her any good by now. She needs a blood transfusion and …. You're the one of two people registered on base that have her blood type. But she's going to need more than you can give because she's almost bled out. It's a wonder her heart is still pumping."

Marcus blinked, "Why didn't you ask me this earlier?"

Aaron looked at him, "Because we're not sure if it will do any good and it might mean you'd be out of commission for a least a few days. The other person is off base right now, up at Millhaven. Are you willing to give this donation of blood even if it might do nothing for her survival and possibly put yourself out of the action for a few days to a week as your body recovers?"

Marcus stood up and was already to the door, "Damned straight I am. Have Kurdy and Lee meet me at the Medical Ward. I've got work for them since I can't do it myself." He said, storming out and jogging down the hallway, with Aaron close behind him.