Beyond the Point(31)
Dried leaves crunched under their feet. Branches snapped, far louder than they should have.
“Shhh, Coleman,” Dani whispered. “Walk lightly, dude.”
Perhaps they should have returned to the rest of the platoon by a different route than the way they’d come, Dani thought to herself. If anyone had seen their tracks, walking toward the water buffalo, they could have staked them out, easily. As soon as Dani had considered that possibility, Locke stopped in his tracks. Silent, Dani gripped her rifle even tighter. She knew it was all in fun—just practice—but her heart was still pounding in her chest. She checked the laser attachment on the end of her gun, to make sure it was ready to fire.
“Do you hear that?” Avery asked, her voice a whisper. She stood right behind Dani, breathing like she’d just run a 5K. In the distance, a faint echo of loud voices rose into the trees.
“Turn up the radio, D,” whispered Locke to Dani.
Dani turned the volume up slightly, just as she saw a man dressed in black behind a tree. He raised his rifle and aimed it directly at them.
“GET DOWN!” shouted Dani.
Pow! Pow! Pow!
“MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!” yelled Dani into the receiver of the radio. “COME IN, SPEER! WE NEED BACKUP!”
“Oh shit!” yelled Locke, seeing a whole new crew of men dressed in black moving their way. “Run!”
Avery took off sprinting through the woods, separating from Locke and Dani just enough to provide them cover from behind a rock. Out of the corner of her eye, Dani spotted another man in black, and she shot—hitting him square in the chest. Take that! Dani thought. I’m a sniper! At that moment, another enemy combatant emerged from behind a tree and took aim at Locke’s back.
“Coleman! Get down!” Dani called out, then she fired her gun. The enemy fell to the ground, his laser attachment lit up in red. Dani smiled. But turning back to look at Locke, she realized her shot had come a moment too late.
“He’s hit! I’ve got your cover, Dani!” shouted Avery from across the woods. “Go! Go! Go!”
Her legs flew across the expanse of leaves and shadows. When she arrived at Locke’s side, he held up the white injury card in his hand. “Head wound,” he said. “Traumatic brain injury.”
“Okay,” panted Dani, trying not to panic. She tried to remember the first aid training she’d been given the week before. “We’ve got to keep your neck stabilized and get you to the safe zone.”
The reality that he was nearly twice her weight suddenly struck Dani in the gut. How was she going to get him through a half mile of woods without getting shot? And how was she going to do it with this pulsating pain flaring up in her back? She looked around her and realized there was only one option. Dani struggled, shifting his weight from the ground to her back. Once she had him on her back, she began walking, one hobbling step at a time. Her hip screamed out in pain, like all the cartilage in her joints had disappeared. Bone rubbed against bone.
“I need cover!” Dani shouted to Avery.
“Go!” shouted Avery. “I’ve got your cover! Go!”
“Oh my God, Locke. Why do you have to be so huge?” she said. “I thought you said you’d lost weight.”
“You got this, McNalley.”
“Shut up. You’re dying. Save your energy.” She felt him laugh.
When they finally reached the hill, Dani watched the rest of her female company mates zigzag across the valley, providing cover fire and dragging the rest of the guys in their platoon, with their various feigned injuries, up to the safe zone. Apparently the ambush had been swift and fierce. Bodies were strewn everywhere. The girls had all survived, while the boys in their platoon had all been taken out of the game. Apparently the boys had been a bit overly aggressive; the girls had the presence of mind to assess the threat before taking action. Clearly, that was why they were the ones who had survived.
“GO, DANI! GO!” Hannah shouted when she saw Dani approaching the bottom of the hill. The final few OPFOR combatants exchanged fire with Hannah as Dani heaved as fast as she could up the hill with a two-hundred-pound football player on her back. When her legs gave out, she put Locke on the ground and pulled him up the hill by his foot, sliding him into the safe zone like a sack of heavy potatoes.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say we failed this mission,” Locke commented. “I had a head injury and you pulled me up the hill upside down, McNalley. I’m pretty sure I bled out.”
Breathless, Dani tried to stand up, hoping to go rescue another fallen comrade. But the pain in her hip suddenly exploded into her back and skull. The woods went white in her eyes, and she cried out before hitting the ground. With her eyes closed, all Dani could hear were voices in the dark.
“We’re in the safe zone, D,” someone shouted. “You don’t have to pretend to be injured.”
“What’s going on?”
“Hey, I think she’s hurt.”
“What’s her card say?”
“No, dumbass!” Someone shouted back. “She’s actually injured! Hey, someone call a medic!”
The next thing Dani heard was the loud peal of a siren over her head.
Eyes open, trying to focus through the pain, all she could see was blurry faces surrounding her in a small white room. Or was this a vehicle? Her body felt as though someone had taken a hammer to her lower back, crushing every bone into a million pieces. How would they ever put her back together again? The thought forced her to close her eyes and bite her cheeks. She tasted iron and smelled the scent of hospital bandages. They were driving fast. It was definitely a vehicle. An ambulance.