Chapter 19
I was limping, slowly and occasionally clumsily, but I was moving. After the huge explosion that had been a bit much even for Matthew, we had started to head to the LZ. It wouldn't be long now, having been moving for perhaps forty minutes already. I cringed, pain shooting in my limbs as I took a misstep and my knee nearly buckled beneath me. I stood rigid for a moment, and then started after the others who didn't seem to have noticed what just happened.
Looking around, I noticed that the explosion had scared away all the animal life I had spotted on the hike down. Not a single bird dared to sing a song, nor any crickets make their somewhat amusing sounds. Then again, they probably don't even live on this planet. I thought to myself for a moment, musing it around in my head. Gazing at the sky, I could see one of two moons rising around Grydo. There was only a few clouds still hanging in the darkening sky, pink rays of light reflecting on their white bottoms. They clung around the mountaintops, making them look like blankets rather then clouds. Mixes of pinks, reds, blues, and yellows danced on the horizon. While the sky above us was a dark black already, a few stars peeping down at our squad from where they were hiding away from us. If it wasn't for all the covenant, and dangerous terrain, this planet might have been a nice tourist spot.
The sound of Danny grunting brought be out of my thoughts, he had stumbled. I limped over as quickly as I could, Becca had made him sit down in the tall golden grass that engulfed us like a sea. John, Matthew, and James were standing a good bit of distance back, giving them room. Kneeling down, I pulled off my helmet and gave Becca a worried look. "We need to get to the LZ, and quickly." She said frankly, trying to mask her fear but it was obvious. We were all terrified for Danny. John came over, and picked up Danny, throwing him over his shoulder and we all went into a semi dead-sprint to the LZ
The high-pitched sound of the transporter coming down for pick-up made my heart skip. John didn't make a sound or complain, but I could tell he was relieved about not having to carry the giant Danny any longer. We all ran up the platform that hadn't even touched the ground when we started up it. Carefully, James helped John get Danny into a seat, Matthew banging on a door yelling, "We need a medic!" Through the metal wall. A moment later, a man with glasses, short hair, and white clothing came through the door. He held a far more advanced medical kit in his hands and rushed to Danny.
Becca and I got strapped in, casting nervous glances back and forth at Danny and each other.
The transport started up, lifting us into the air with a bit of a jolt.
Hours passed, and all I heard was Danny's ragged breathing, the ripping of bandages, and hum of loud engines. I closed my eyes, trying to zone it all out. I was useless right now, nothing more then a waste of space. Then the medic got up, shaking his head grimly, and left the transport carrier room. Probably sitting in a comfy chair in the cockpit. I sneered internally, While Danny gets a hard military, barely padded chair. I wouldn't have minded the hard metal chairs with large straps that were annoying to deal with if they snagged on armor. But Danny deserved better then this!
Just concentrate on something else, nothing you can do anyways... I pushed out the darkening thoughts that were pressing in against my head. See how the others are.
Looking up, I saw James across the transport from me, left foot tapping with nerves like he did before an exam from the doctors. Becca was one or two seats from his left, my right, and looked like she was calculating something. Better just leave her be. I decided and turned to see Matthew was... Asleep? Looking closely I could tell his head was down, eyes closed and body relaxed. Yup, he's asleep.
I turned my head to see what John was doing. He was just sitting there, staring at the wall blankly, with his helmet on. I wanted to go over and talk to him, but something in my head told me not to break the silence. I closed my eyes, and tried to block out the sounds, the smells, the light... Everything. I slowly found myself drifting off into a train of thoughts that was growing duller every second. After about a minute of just trying to clear my head and focus on nothingness, I fell asleep.
I awoke with a start, the transporter was landing by the way is racked us about like rag dolls. I gripped the straps in a quick flash of panic and confusion. James shouted once or twice as we seemed to loose control of the ship. The sound of crates moving around uncontrollably, shouts, groans of pain from Danny, screams from Becca in shock, and bulkheads creaking, engines roaring. But there was something else above all the sound, and it caught my attention in the sudden turmoil. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the single sound.
Plasma fire...
"We've gotta land!" The pilot's voice rang in over the sound. We lurched to the right and the full blast of downward motion clutched my stomach. The metal shook and screamed as heat began to burn through the floor and walls. I held in a scream of terror, all of us were silent. Bracing ourselves against the chairs, I could only count how long we had before we touched the ground.
Five
Four
Three
Two
One
Zero...
