Trigger it with your blood

"wh-" Ocelot stopped abruptly, his head suddenly turned to the door. After a moment he glared back at the other for a second and threw a small hunting knife at him. Before Snake could make an attempt to catch it, he took out a silencer equipped revolver, made an aim at his leg and pulled the trigger.

Snake grunted as he fell to his knees, watching the back of the Ocelot commander disappear behind the glass door. Only a few moments must have passed when he heard a little shuffle outside the door and looked up to find the hazy forms of the two guards at his night duty. One of them came to the door to check on him. Snake moved with great difficulty and wrapped his fingers over the blade of the knife a few paces away and pulled it towards himself.

The guard looked at him suspiciously when he saw him crouched over, he took a few steps closer to the bars and narrowed his eyes at him, "why aren`t you asleep?"

Snake just grunted again and turned his head to the side, the pain in his leg was obscuring his sense of speech. He could hardly utter a single word. He thrust the knife deep into his pocket; thankfully his sitting position and the dim light hid this from the guard.

"what are you hiding?" he had a thick Russian accent marked with slight uncertainty and frustration.

Snake was gripping his leg tightly to somehow ease the stinging pain, he knew that the bullet was still in his wound and he wanted the guard to go away so that he would be able to process it further. His lack of nutrition in the last few days meant that a loss of blood could prove to be fatal. Curse you Ocelot!

The guard took a threatening step towards the bars and when Snake didn`t respond he unlocked them and stepped inside, "do you have a weapon, American?" there was an odd sense of revulsion in the way he called him that.

"no." Snake`s voice was hoarse as he tried to get up. He had to clench his teeth to keep himself form screaming at the agony of it. Apparently the guard had seen the stumble in his composure. He took out a flash light and traced it across Snake`s body. It halted abruptly at the pool of blood at his feet.

His eyes widened and he called out behind him, still too unsure to step nearer to the wounded prisoner, "we have an emergency here!"

Snake cursed inwardly as he watched another guard step inside and look at him, horrified, "who did this?" it seemed as though his concern for Snake was genuine, only because their careers were at stake. If anyone found out that they were neglecting their duty for a round of beer, they would have to suffer the colonel`s wrath.

Snake couldn`t say anything, he just groaned slightly before falling in his own blood. His mal-nutritioned body had been pushed to its limits.

He waited patiently for one of the soldiers to tell him about the sudden attack on the captive. When no one came after a full five minutes, he started to feel anxious. Maybe it was a little too rash to have done that. But he knew that Snake could take it, he was strong, and he had his faith. Growing impatient, Ocelot headed for the door, he must have taken a couple of measured steps when his ears picked up footsteps.

A moment later one of the guards came rushing in, his clothes covered considerably with blood. Seeing the red spots Ocelot wanted to shoot both his own legs, what was he thinking, draining him like that? He should never have done that.

"he-someone-sir… the American- he got shot!"

"what?" hearing the news, Ocelot couldn`t keep the loath away from his voice, he was responsible.

"yes sir." He started to lead Ocelot towards the medic`s office, "they pushed past us- we couldn`t do anything."

"they?" even if he hadn`t fired the bullet himself, he could have told with absolute surety that this was a very pathetic attempt at a lie.

"they, sir." He was panting as he jogged ahead, Ocelot`s brisk walk matched his pace effortlessly, "the native gorillas."

Even thought the anguish he was feeling was growing by the minute but the hopeless statement didn`t fail to amuse the major. There were no secret local army in this side of the forest, much less someone so well equipped perfectly trained to have pushed pass two armed guards. The mere idea of someone trespassing the military bounds was utterly laughable. Only one man could do that, and that man was already inside, being confined in its walls. They reached the office and the guard held open the door for Ocelot.

The medical treatment center of the USSR military was by far the most superiorly equipped but it fell into the category of one of the smallest clinics in the country. It had a ward for casualties of the war in the forest. The serious cases were treated here but most were sent to the supplementary, bigger, branch, since it didn`t have much room to hold in more than half a century. The total assets of the place consisted of an air-conditioned, high-ceilinged ward and a twin VIP rooms. Three highly qualified medics with six assistants did their work to the best of their abilities.

As Ocelot entered the ward, he felt the medicinal environment make him feel nauseating. The last thing he needed was to see Snake`s unconscious form with its lower limbs covered in crimson as a doctor and his assistant hovered over him. Noticing him walk in, Sergeikh turned to Ocelot and raised his eyebrows. The way his face looked, Ocelot assumed that he had been woken up from his nap to see a prisoner in the middle of the night.

"so you`ve been informed," Sergeikh assumed out loud before gesturing to the bed, "how long has he not had anything to eat?"

"it was a seventy-two hours interdict. No food, no water."

The medic knitted his eyebrows and shook his head in disapproval, "that`s quite a long while. Colonel?"

Ocelot gave a slight nod, remembering the Colonel was the last thing he wanted to do. The medic didn`t push any further, he already had too much in his hands. He was about to turn back to the bed when he suddenly remembered that the guard who had led Ocelot in was still standing there limply.

"why don`t you go out the door? You`re of no need here." Sergeikh suggested.

"of course." He didn`t make an attempt to hide the obvious relief in his tone as he passed an uncomfortable glance over at Ocelot and left.

Sergeikh sighed and went over to the bed for an examination. He had used some sort of gauze to retard the rapid loss of blood. He muttered something to himself as he took the pulse before turning to head over to the dispensary for some serious equipment. His assistant followed.

It took a lot more than what he had imagined for him to look at the pallid lying form. Now that no one was there, no one to distract him from the self loath he felt, Ocelot assumed with a great deal of regret that he might never be able to forgive himself for doing what he had. He took a step nearer to the bed and furrowed his eyebrows. He had almost forgotten how the dynamic face looked in the light. The impact of the dim light had been overwhelming.

He suddenly remembered the blade he had thrown at him. It was meant for self defense, if he needed any, but now it seemed that he wouldn`t be needing it anytime soon. He stood beside the bed and extended his hand to check his pockets. He came across a small object and couldn`t work against his curiosity to not take it out. Ocelot frowned; it could have been something important, something worth keeping. But it was only a bullet. He looked closely at it and realized, it was THE bullet. The one he had left in his revolver on purpose. He was sure of it since he knew his weapons just as good as he knew how to use them.

Ocelot couldn`t help but acknowledge the fact the something in his flat abdomen was twisting like a knot. He found it hard to swallow when he looked at the peaceful face and unconsciously, his hand felt the chain around his own neck. The bullet it had been adorned with was still there as cool as ice against his pale skin. And he thought he understood how Snake would feel if he ever lost it. Tucking it back in his pocket, Ocelot checked the other one and took out what he was looking for.

His mind had so much to wonder and the previous experience had left him half numb. His eyes studied the face, purposely avoiding the bloodied up garments, and then strayed to his smooth lips. He looked away quickly and took a step back as a resistance.

The medic walked in again, the assistant leading a trolley behind him. Ocelot straightened up and slipped his chain inside the shirt.

"I`m afraid I`ll have to dig out for the bullet and change his clothing." He gestured for the trolley to be brought near the bed.

"I`ll be just outside then." Ocelot said stiffly.

"you may stay here major."

"no," His eyes lingered on the other soldier`s body for a second before he faced the doctor again, "I need to make a few interrogations with the guards."

"fine. We`ll call you when we are through."

Ocelot didn`t pause to nod as he headed towards the door, without a second glance back. As he was about to step through the threshold, he stepped aside swiftly to avoid bumping into Tatyana who was charging in with an anxious expression on her face. As she saw Ocelot walking out, she glared at him and surprisingly he felt like he deserved it. Even though that didn`t stop him from glaring back icily.

A/N: I`m sorry, i did it in rather a hurry so please keep it calm. i didn`t have time to give it a second read or come up with an appropriate name even for that matter. lol. R&R. let me know what you think.