The moment that North heard her words, he reacted without thinking.
"Theta, the shield." He repeated automatically.
He could see the energy level of his suit falling when the shield started to spread out.
It was not a second too late as the snipers must have overcome the shock from Felix's death and had started to shoot.
Carolina was out and about a moment later. She wasn't as good in using her units anymore since she had lost Epsilon, but she could manage the Speed Unit since she had been working with it before receiving any of the Fragments.
The Reds immediately started to shoot with Simmons using some of the rockets from his rocket launcher to get rid of the snipers.
Mac, meanwhile, was on the ground and fighting the blood currently filling her lungs. Her breathing was ragged and there was an ugly gurgling sound in her lungs whenever she drew a breath.
Tucker was the first at her side.
"He—hey, come on, Mac, don't do that. You promised that you were going to come back!" his hands were wandering over her body aimlessly, lost about what to do.
"I did come back, didn't I?" she pressed out.
"Yeah, you did, but I didn't mean it this way!" the distress was palpable in his voice and Mac felt like she heard him crying.
"Come on, stop crying, kid brother. You're okay."
"But you aren't! Now fucking stop talking!" he snapped, looking up at Wash.
This seemed to snap the Freelancer out of his trance. He hurried over to York and grabbed at the unit slots in his back, tearing something out.
"What the hell are you doing back there?!" York exclaimed in surprise.
"Your fucking Healing Unit, she's going to die on us otherwise!" Wash insisted, running off with the unit to put it in Ala's armor in order to make it run.
It took a moment for York to process what had just happened, but then he muttered, "D?"
"I am here, York. I found the Sangheili that you—"
"Not important now." He interrupted the Fragment, "Go help run my Healing Unit in Mac's suit." He ordered.
Delta quickly looked over to Mac squirming on the ground and hacking up blood while Wash tried to press his hand on the wound under her armpit.
"Of course." With that the Fragment disappeared, a green flicker beside Ala announcing that D was working over there.
"And you." He looked over to North who was stuck in place, "Better go too. She needs you, you idiot."
North looked over to York for a second, before shaking himself back to reality and running over to kneel beside the head of the woman lying on the ground and fighting to get enough air in her lungs.
He had been in a state of shock since the helmet had come loose and only snapped out of it when York had told him to go over. It must be hard for him to have learned about everything this way, but that was the situation and they had to make the best out of it.
Looking up, York could see that the pirates were gone.
"York, Simmons, Grif. I need you guys to help me free Tucker's son." Carolina ordered.
All of them nodded and turned around to get Junior, while the medic, Doc and the Healing Unit were trying to get Mac stable.
Caboose was sitting beside the door and was crying with Donut trying to calm him down. Wash, Lopez, and Sarge were taking over the watch, though the shield was still active.
"We have the Sangheili. We're moving out!" Carolina's voice broadcasted loud over the radios.
"Okay, we have to move her and get the fuck back to the hospital now!" The medic ordered, "She isn't stable but she isn't going to make it otherwise!"
The young man got up and looked over the guys there, "Sarge, Wash, Tucker, take the guarding. North, carry her. You look like the strongest."
All of them nodded numbly and followed the orders, too numb to realize the situation yet.
Gingerly, North picked the black-haired woman up bridal style and turned around to run off towards the others, trusting Theta to manage the shield.
Tucker was already standing there, holding her helmet in one hand and the plasma sword in the other, waiting for him to pass. When North had run past Tucker, he turned around too, running after them and securing North's back.
It didn't look like anyone was still around there who could potentially be dangerous. It seemed as though after Felix's death the guys here hauled ass to get away, the ones who didn't were the ones that Carolina personally handed their asses.
Running over to the truck, he laid her down on the seat although he kept her back up by turning around slightly and steadying her. He couldn't lay her down. The blood would clog up her airways.
Junior looked slightly drowsy in the other car, but aside from that he seemed fine. Doc was with him to keep an eye on him since he knew him since he was a newborn baby.
"Burn rubber, York." North didn't care that he sounded like he was on the verge of a panic attack or that his voice was filled with worry and anxiousness.
York and the others didn't need to be told twice as all of them burned rubber. The Reds were in the front with York in the middle and the Blues making up the last car. They were probably breaking every safety rule in how they were driving now, but it still seemed way too slow for North.
"Hang in there." He muttered to Ala, holding her close to his body and steadying her on the bumpy ride until they reached a wide plain where they could drive even faster.
York was almost pressing the acceleration pedal through to the ground, trying to drive faster than was remotely possible.
A coughing fit racked Ala's small frame in his arms, blood splattering onto their armor and the seat. The medic was giving her another syringe to lessen the pain and did something that North would have loved to kill him for, but that probably saved her life in hindsight.
"I hate to do this, but it's necessary." He muttered, grabbing Ala's knife and pushing it into her body, right underneath the left part of the chest plate.
Ala reared up at the new pain with a guttural noise, writhing in pain when the medic pulled it out and put it back in the sheath on her chest plating.
Immediately, blood started to flow out, coloring her codpiece in an ugly red color.
"Can you do mouth-to-mouth?" The medic suddenly asked the man keeping the woman steady.
North looked over at him. He had taken off his helmet. It was rolling around in the trunk of the car—he couldn't care less.
"She's too weak to get rid of the blood. You have to help." The medic explained.
It took a moment for North to understand what he was saying, but then he lifted her head towards his and breathed in as much air as he could without making her gag.
North always thought of himself as being rather hardened to any kind of bloody shit given his past in Freelancer. Fuck, he hadn't even been fazed by the fight when Felix first lost a hand, was stabbed, and then got his head cut off! But this view here was horrible.
The moment there was enough pressure in the injured part of the lungs, the blood was pressed downwards, emitting a bloody spray on the medic, the Warthog, and Carolina's legs. All of that was accompanied by a strange howling sound from the leaking air. It sounded like a death howl.
The whole situation looked like a grotesque and surreal mimicry of a bloody well.
He had enough time to turn around without hurting Ala too much to throw up over the side of the car.
"You okay there, North?" York asked, his eyes glued on the plain before them while approaching the jungle fast. They had to drive through the jungle for most part of the time and after that over another plain and then they would be there.
"Fucking peachy." He grumbled and wiped his mouth, sitting back up and securing his arms one more time around the heavily injured Ala.
The medic didn't look any better than North felt. "It…" He started and paused to swallow dryly, "It was necessary. We had to push the blood out to buy time." He explained soundlessly.
"Wash, you read?" York asked over the open channel.
North had put his helmet back on at Carolina's advice as they were entering the woods with some low hanging branches. He would shield the black haired woman's head with his armored forearms.
"I'm reading. What's up?" He asked, driving behind them. They had to slow down to not crash in the woods.
"Permission to leave the convoy. You know my driving skills. We need to get her back to Armonia."
She hadn't been around the others much during the last few weeks, which made a lot of sense now that he knew who she really was, but he had heard enough about her from the Blood Gulch Crew and from North for York to know that she was an extremely valued member of the group. He would do the same for every one of the guys that he had grown so fond of since being stranded here.
However, it was still strange to refer to Wash as the leader now and not Carolina. But it seemed that she had to decide to step down and had done so voluntarily after seeing how good a job Wash was doing in the role.
"Permission granted. Stay safe. We'll see you in Armonia." Wash replied.
Grif had been listening in to the conversation too since the car in the front slowed down and made space for them to drive past them.
"See you there." York replied, again accelerating and driving at the limit to get back fast enough.
It was strange, since he had to focus on the street or the driving route, but he remembered having driven like a madman several times before whenever a member of the Project had gotten heavily injured and they had to drive back to the extraction point.
Switching channels, he radioed, "Kimball! You read?"
"Kimball here, what's the matter?" she asked calmly.
"Mac is heavily injured. Stabbed, punctured lung, heavy blood loss. We have an emergency entrance in about ten. You have to get a surgery ready." He shortly explained, hearing Kimball sucking in air at the news.
"Where are you?"
"Soon leaving the jungle." York explained, drifting around a tree trunk that had fallen down years ago.
"But that takes you more—"
Carolina cut in. They didn't have time for discussion, "You don't want to know Kimball, seriously. We're in in ten. The others will follow later. But we have to get Mac into surgery now!"
It was silent for a moment, "Copy that. I'll inform Grey and get the routes clear so that you can drive through to the hospital directly."
"Copy and out." York replied, speeding up again when entering the plains and already seeing the walls of Armonia reaching into the sky before them.
Shortly before they reached the gate, it opened just enough for them to slip through and York was happy that Kimball stuck to her word. The road was clear up to the hospital a bit further in the city.
He came to a screeching halt in front of the storage hall that had been reused as a hospital. Grey and four medics were standing outside.
York hadn't even stopped properly before North was already out of the Warthog and lying Ala down on the stretcher that was at the ready for her.
The medics put an oxygen mask on her face right away and started shoving the stretcher into the storage hall.
The medic ran beside them, "Lung punctuation under the left armpit. Cybernetics are shot due to overexertion after having taken damage. Had to make another lung cut underneath the chest plating to get the blood out of her lungs. Various internal bleeding is possible, a heavy concussion too. There also might be some broken bones. She fought Felix on her own." He explained, Grey nodding to that, although her expression went dark and even more serious when the medic explained the origins of the injuries. They all knew what kind of sick fucker Felix was when it comes to torturing and injuring people.
She looked over to the medic, who slowed down in front of the surgery room. Grey had to get ready soon too, but first they had to prepare Mac for the surgery so she had some time for the medic to give her all of the necessary information.
"One more thing." He started, Grey nodding to make him talk, "I'm going to throw up. You can find me in the bathroom." With that he turned on his heel and stormed away.
North, the Freelancer friend of Wash and Carolina, was standing beside her in front of the entry to the ER the medics with Mac disappeared through some seconds ago. His hands were opening and closing, and he obviously was having to actively restrain himself from storming in.
"You, my dear, are going to either take a shower or sit down here and wait until everything's done. You can't help in there. You could even endanger her life by entering, so you stay put." Grey informed him succinctly. Her cheery tone was gone and was replaced by a serious tone. That alone was alarming to everyone present and knowing Dr. Grey for some time. She rarely ever lost her cheery tone. And if she did, things looked dire.
Carolina stepped up and maneuvered the shell-shocked North over to the seats, York soon coming and helping.
Grey just wanted to turn around when Tucker burst in, "Grey!"
"Oh, Captain Tucker, I need to go and help your friend. I don't have time for chatter." She replied to his stormy entrance, but Tucker didn't listen.
Tearing off his helmet, he grabbed her by her upper arm and drew her out of everyone's earshot.
North looked over to them with a lost expression on his face. He tried to decipher what they were saying, but his lip reading betrayed him today and the only thing he could read was garbled shit.
He saw Grey nod with a stern expression, replying to something Tucker had said and then disappearing through the door to prepare herself for the surgery. Tucker was left there, drawing a hand through his dreads. He was shaking.
All the while, the members of the team had started to file in, taking up seats. All of them looked about the same.
Junior looked fine by now and, albeit being about two feet taller than his dad, was pressed up closely to his side, looking scared. He made those noises that North had heard on the distress signal before, Tucker answering in the same language.
The pale blond Freelancer now could decipher it as Sangheili. Tucker obviously was trying to calm Junior down.
Some medics showed up later, Junior going with them for a basic health check and to patch up his wounds.
North felt as lost as Tucker looked, standing in the middle of the floor like a puppy that had been kicked out in the icy rain.
North remembered the young man always being easygoing and of a happy nature, but now he was standing there looking utterly lost and desperately trying to decipher what had happened in the last few hours.
The oldest of the Freelancers averted his gaze when he saw Wash stepping up and pulling Tucker into a tight hug, but not before noticing how the younger man leaned against the Freelancer—face buried in Wash's neck, hands gripping the grey and yellow chestplate, as he started to sob quietly.
As far as North knew, he and Ala were the closest to one another. Almost like siblings, if only adopted and not by blood. It broke his heart seeing someone like that. Even more when he was suffering in the same way.
Closing his eyes, he drew a shuddering breath and tried to calm himself down. He couldn't break down right now.
There were enough of them doing that at the moment.
Caboose was crying with Donut trying to calm him down despite also crying himself.
Simmons had curled up in a ball into Grif's side, needing comfort.
Everyone's eyes looked hollow, save the ones who were crying.
Donut and Caboose had always been rather emotional, but Tucker crying was a rare sight when you could always rely on the other's jokes before the mission today.
York, sitting beside him, had an arm around Carolina as even these two needed someone to be there for them.
Apart from this moment, North didn't really realize anything for the next several hours. He was just sitting there.
He didn't even notice how Wash sat down beside him with Tucker, trying to be there for both of them as York had done with him and Carolina.
He faintly remembered throwing Carolina a thankful glance when she reached over and squeezed his forearm in an attempt to comfort him.
He vaguely remembered that, one after another, the guys shuffled out to get a shower and to get out of their stifling armor.
He followed York and Wash's lead numbly when they both ordered him to take off his bloody armor and to shower himself since he looked like he had been part of a massacre.