Short Time

Allison tried to ignore the numbness in her leg down past her knee and pushed on. She had seen her fair share of grisly scenes involving infected clearing operations down in the Balkans. She’d seen what they did to recon teams and how they overwhelmed squads in numbers and pack tactics. Charlotte didn’t stand a chance alone. She had to get there. She pushed herself down the street on a northern heading. She could hear some kind of semblance of activity in the town but had no idea what it was. She had a sinking feeling that command had placed them in a town they only thought they had cleared. Military intelligence at its finest.

Allison pulled the radio out of her pack and spoke, “Two! This is Five! Where are you, over?”

She passed by a large office building as she hobbled up the main road. There was also some sort of storage lot on her right. She pushed ahead. Her foot all but dragging behind her. Blood trickled down her face from the various cuts, and got into her eye a few times. It stung. She stopped and pulled out a small bandage and put it over the top of her head right above her right eye. The shrapnel had split the top of eyelid open, but thankfully she hadn’t lost her sight. She worked quickly to keep herself up and moving. No telling how far Charlotte was into town.

The thought came and went in her mind. By the time it had, the door at the top of the building on her left burst open. Allison looked and watched some figure run up and jump off the railing and land onto the ground with a sickening muffled snap.

“ARGH! FUCK! FUUUUCK!”

“Charlotte!” Allison shouted.

“There! Up there! Shoot!” She ordered.

Allison’s gaze shifted up. There were other figures there now too. Their gait indicated they were infected. They always had a sort of ungainly way of moving. Like a predator gone hungry and chomping at the bit for its next meal, which in this case was Charlotte. Allison took a knee and pulled the rifle off her back. She seated the stock into the crook of shoulder and put the sights up to her eye. She squeezed the trigger, but it wouldn’t go. She took her finger off the trigger and felt up. The safety was on. She calmly flicked it down to the semi-automatic position. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. She told herself. She breathed as the infected reached the railing.

They were growling. Mingling. Trying to decide if it was worth it to jump down there immediately or make their way back down the stairs. Allison pulled the trigger. It did nothing. She cursed and breathed to keep calm. Her hand came off the handguard and smacked onto the side of it. She felt the top of the charging handle and pulled it off to the left from its position. Then, with it extended on the left side, she swiftly pulled it back. She heard the bolt cycle. For posterity, she reached underneath and smacked the magazine up to make sure it was seated properly and hadn’t been moved in the scramble from the truck’s wreckage. It didn’t move, meaning she was good to go. She picked a target beyond the railing.

One of the infected made a venture. It hopped up and grabbed onto the railing with both hands, leaning over. Allison squeezed the trigger. The shot went wide. She fired again, and planted a bullet in its shoulder. That knocked it back off it and onto its side. She shifted right. The infected were aware of her now. She put a few more rounds down towards one and watched it tumble. She shifted left, and watched it tumble over the side. She followed it down with her aim. There was nothing to be gained from letting herself panic. Charlotte, for her worth, was already crawling towards the road. Allison put a round into the infected as it stood up. It roared. She answered with five more rounds at it until it dropped. Then she shifted back up to the top of the railing. The first infected had stood back up. She planted a round into its head and put it down for good this time.

Allison let the shots ring out into the night. She heard no answer. No growls indicated more infected were there. Nothing. She stood up and winced in pain. Charlotte came up to her and put her hand on her shoulder.

“Did you get ‘em?” She asked, panting.

“Yeah. There weren't that many, Sarn’t.”

“I’m out of ammo. Couldn’t take those last ones cause they wouldn’t split up.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“I broke my leg in the fall and my arm got dislocated.”

“You love making my job harder, don’t you?”

“I’d rather have my bones broken than be infected. At least bones heal.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that. C’mon.”

Allison took Charlotte’s arm around her shoulder and moved toward the office building. There was another building behind it that looked good enough for a landing. She grimaced as the pain kept up.

“What did you do to yourself, Corporal?” Charlotte asked, looking down at her bloody leg.

“Let’s save it for the debrief. They really didn’t want to leave.” Allison replied.

There was a blood-curdling howl off at the north end of the town. Allison looked over. She knew that sound. The calling of infected wherever they could hear.

“Oh fuck. Move. Move!” She said, pulling Charlotte along with her.

The two limped up to the other building. It looked like a material storage and, venturing a guess, was related to the previous building behind them. Allison found a door and went for it. It didn’t budge.

“Come on!” She shouted.

She kicked it with her good leg a few times. Nothing. She groaned and hefted her rifle up, holding it in place by pinning it to her side under her armpit. She pointed it squarely at the lock and shot off a few rounds. She let the rifle hang down and put her shoulder into it. The door gave way. She pushed ahead and slung the rifle over her shoulder again before pulling her pistol out and shining the light around. She followed in past the broken windows and saw stairs at the other end. She hefted Charlotte up and went for them.

“Come on, we’re almost there. We make it to the roof and you get on the horn. Got me?”

“I got it, Corporal.”

“How’d you even manage to not get picked up sooner?”

“Those same guys who busted you up came looking for me. I didn’t have anything to fight them with after my autocannon went up in smoke. They cornered me and took me out. Spent the next several hours snug up in a vent, listening to them search all over for me until they gave up. That was right about when you called.”

“Well ain’t that just peachy.”

“Look, we gotta make a move for it.”

“You’d be a much better help if you didn’t have your leg broken. Come on. Up we go!”

Allison pulled Charlotte up the stairs. The adrenaline was back. She was happy she took the time to get some food in her so that she wasn’t running on empty for this. Still, it had been about two hours with that tourniquet on. She had to let it go or she’d risk losing her leg entirely. She found the roof access at the top of the stairwell and came out into the weather again. Thankfully, the storm had eased up. The clouds were parting to let moonlight in and there was a mist in the air. Fog was rolling in too, making it harder to see out onto the street. It just keeps getting better and better. Engaging the infected at street level was now no longer a valid option.

They found a spot near the edge of the roof. Allison sat Charlotte down and let her pop her arm back into place while she undid the tourniquet. Blood rushed from the wound, causing her to groan.

“That doesn’t look good, Corporal. Let me see it.”

Allison sucked in air through her teeth as she felt Charlotte prod in her bullet wound after taking the field-dressing off.

“Well it doesn’t look like arterial bleeding, but that’s still not good. Here lemme get this going.”

Charlotte pulled out the hemostatic gauze from her own pack and put it on over the wound. Allison got a wrap out and put it around the gauze to keep it secure. She sat there and checked her pack. Her gear. Her kit. For all his bluster, Faulkner had not found her PDW or her survival vest. It was all gone. All she had was the rifle she currently had, her pistol belt, and her rucksack with the rest of her supplies she carried in it. Thankfully she had managed to grab a load bearing vest from one of the soldiers he had killed back in the interrogation room. She checked its pouches and found it had a good few magazines in them. It would have to be enough for now.

“Get on the horn. I doubt we’ll have much time soon.”

Charlotte pulled out her radio and unfolded the antenna.

“Archon, this is Bushmaster Two. Come in, over?”

“Bushmaster Two, this is Archon. Give me a SITREP, over.”

“Situation is FUBAR. Infected are converging on our position. Two has linked up with Five but we are both seriously wounded. Requesting immediate pick up, over.”

“Archon copies all. Rescue team is still en route. Mark your position for extraction, over.”

“Archon, what is the ETA of the rescue team, over?”

“Bushmaster Two, rescue team ETA is five mikes, over.”

“Nothing takes five mikes, Archon! We’ll be dead in two, over!”

“The rescue team is on their way. You will hold your position. Archon out.”

Charlotte put the radio in her pack and dug around.

“So that’s it then.” Allison said.

“Five minutes.”

“Well, that sounds lovely.” Allison bemoaned as she hefted herself up onto her knee. She took up a position with the rifle pointed at the roof access door. “Only five minutes to go. I guess we’ll have to make time at this rate.”

“You got anything for me?” Charlotte asked.

Allison pulled her pistol off her belt and checked the mag. It was empty. She checked the chamber. A bullet sat in it. She took a magazine off her belt and loaded it in before tossing the handgun to Charlotte.

“You got nine rounds.”

“Are you kidding? You’re not using a nine mil?”

“No. I’m not.”

“Goddamn, girl.”

“Count down from eight and then turn it on yourself.”

That shut her up and reminded Charlotte of just how grim their situation really was. She leaned up and held the pistol in her hands.

“Take any that I can’t hit in time.”

“Copy.”

Allison pulled a magazine out of her pocket. She took the time to learn a lot about firearms and weapons she might use in the field, even if she wasn’t equipped with them. The best thing about this rifle’s magazine design was it was made to be easy to clip two together. She took a fresh mag and hooked it up to the left side of the gun for easy exchange. It was all about the little advantages now. Every little thing mattered. She looked to Charlotte. They nodded, and an infected howled out on the street next to them, bringing their attention back onto the roof access door. Allison’s heart pounded in her ears and in her chest. She felt her blood circulating through her body. An intense focus. This was it. Do or die.