CHAPTER 12

'She's hit!' Axton exclaimed.

'No shit! Quick give me that vial.' Mordecai reached out his free hand as he craddled the sirens limp form with his other arm. Axton passed him the syringe, and knelt down beside him. 'You got any more?' Mordecai asked Axton. The commando quickly fumbled around his belt. Willy stepped forward, handing two health vials to Mordecai.

'Holy crap.' He said softly as he examined the injury in the girls chest. Mordecai jammed the two needles into the sirens wound. Once he had emptied them, he stuck his fingers inside the gaping hole.

'Well, I aint no doctor, but I can feel the bullet...think I can get it' He muttered, as he tried gently to extract the projectile. He withdrew his bloodstained fingers, and held out the shiny peice of metal to Axton. "the bleeding is slowing, but those vials aint enough. We gotta get her under cover'

'I'm gonna climb to the top of that outcrop over there' Axton pointed westward. 'If I can get onto Lillith, she can phase her back'

'Best idea I've heard come outta your mouth in awhile' Mordecai grumbled, and Axton took off in a jog. Mordecai tore a strip of cloth from the hem of his shirt, and pressed it against the girls wound.
The wound was just below her collar bone, but luckily, above her heart. Mordecai lowered himself into the sand, and positioned the girl so that she was sitting slightly upright in his lap.

'C'mon kid. You gotta make it. Lillith an Maya will kill me otherwise.' He said softly, pushing a loose strand of greenish black hair back off her face.

'Oh, is that all' Her voice croaked, and she coughed as her eyes blinked open groggily.

'Shh, sorry. Dont talk right now. We're gettin you some help' Mord promised, although he didn't know how accurate that was.

'I can feel it you know.' Montayva persisted.

'Feel what?' He asked

'Your doubt.' She replied, before she slipped back into unconsciousness.

'Montayva? Hey, wake up!' Mordecai cursed under his breath again. The wind was beginning to pick up, swirling the sand and dust around them

'Shit. Old man, we need a better plan' He looked up to Willy, who had been watching the whole thing.

'You want me to check on Axton?' He offered.

'Anything! Just do something, we cant let her die out here' Mordecai was frustrated as he watched the older soldier scurry off towards the first. He knew she had taken the bullet for him. If she died, it would be another death on his conscience. No one survived around him, he began to think he was cursed.

He had been waiting for what seemed like hours for the two soldiers to return. The blood from Montayvas wound was beginning to seep through the cloth he held in place. Mordecai had to move. The sun slowly rose toward midday, and the pair would be either buried or baked alive if they remained out here. He shook the sand from his clothes, and tried in a futile effort to dust of the girl. But no sooner had he done so, the wind had deposited more.

He pulled the canteen from his belt, and took a long swallow. He wiped his face on his sleeve, and then bought the bottle to the girls mouth. He tilted her head carefully, as to part her lips some so he could trickle a little water in. She coughed a few times as she swallowed, but never roused fully from consciousness.

When he had secured the canteen back on his belt, he lifted himself and the siren out of the sand. He bent to scoop her in his arms, and began the slow journey in the direction of the others.

'Mordecai...' Mordecai snapped abruptly back into reality when he heard her speak his name. He stopped at the top of the next dune, and lowered Montayva to the sand. He had been trudging along aimlessly. The wind and sand obscuring his view His goal now was to simply find shelter. He had followed the sun, so he knew he remained heading in the same direction.
'Mord... ecai' She breathed again.
'Yes?' Be bought his face closer to hers, so he could hear her soft voice. He hoped fervently that these weren't her last dying words!

Montayva lifted a quavering arm and a finger pointed slightly off the path that they were currently travelling.

'That way' she said, and paused to cough again. When she finished, blood dribbled from the corner of her pale lips. 'Lillith is that way'

Mordecai looked in the direction she pointed. He couldn't see far in the swirling dust storm, but he was smart enough not to doubt the siren.