Once the truck is parked, Magi and I use the laser lights on the ends of our guns to navigate our way which provides little to no light, but what choice do we have? Jake, Eli, and Shawn carry our hostage, half dragging him behind them.
Several minutes later, we enter a small clearing about one-hundred-twenty square feet wide. We agree it might be our best chance at a place to stay for the night. We must be at least one-thousand yards from the truck, but I’m not sure that is far enough if someone were to find it in the morning.
Magi hands her gun to Mar.
“Shine the light right here,” she says, pointing to a spot on the ground.
Mar does as she is asked, pulling the scope up to her eye so she can aim the light better. Magi then pulls a small, thin, foil blanket from her pack, laying it on the ground where the small light is shining.
“Where do you want him?” Eli huffs.
“Lay him here,” she says, patting the hard ground. “On his stomach.”
The boys hoist the lifeless man onto the thin blanket, laying him face down.
“What’s next?” I inquire.
“I am going to need your help, Liz,” Magi tells me, and I hand my gun to Samantha to light the way.
“Can you spare a light?” Jake questions.
“I think so, why?” Magi responds with her own question.
“Shawn, Eli, and I are going to put ammo back into our guns,” Jake answers. “Come with us, Samantha, you can light our way.”
Samantha follows Jake, choosing not to debate. Shawn, Eli, and Zac follow behind them, laying all our guns except mine and Magi’s on the ground, further in the clearing. Eli’s gun was blown to pieces, so for now, he will use a handheld we found at The Force right before we left.
Mar holds the laser as steady as possible as Magi begins surgery in the middle of nowhere, using only the red glow of a gun. Magi then lays all her things out on a thin cloth to make them more accessible.
“Hand me those,” Magi orders, pointing to a set of pronged pinchers she has laying out along with some other things.
“Now, I need you to spread the fabric away from the bullet hole as I try to pull the bullet free.”
“I can do that,” I say optimistically.
Magi pours a small amount of brown liquid onto the stranger’s back where the wound is, along with her hands, my hands, and the tool. My guess is it is an antiseptic or sanitizing liquid. The man lets out a small grunt in his sleep, indicating that he is both alive, and in pain.
“Alcohol,” Magi says, taking a swig of it and then putting it back into her bag. “It’s a good cleanser.”
“And pain killer,” I add.
“Yes,” she remarks. “It’s also good to steady the nerves.” She finishes with a smile. “You want some?”
“Nah.” I wince at the smell of the stuff.
I reach down and rip the man’s shirt a bit where the hole is. Magi begins to pull the bullet out, and I reach in further, trying to pull away the vest, but the material is too hard to move very much.
“What is that?” Mar asks.
“I think it is a bullet proof vest, just like Liz guessed,” Magi answers, “but I have never seen one in person. They used them back in the early two-thousands and before, but we thought they had been destroyed by The Elected.”
“I remember in class our first week at The Force we learned about them,” Mar says. “I’m sure The Elected horded them instead of destroying them.
“You’re right,” I say. “General R. J. Timothy tried to remake them but could never find the material they used in them or anything similar.”
We all three go quiet, most likely pondering the situation at hand.
Magi gets the bullet to come free without any more trouble. The vest has been punctured where the bullet hit, and broke skin, but barely, so Magi isn’t sure to what extent any damage was done. She says that there is a small possibility that it hit his spinal cord, but not likely with the thickness of the vest. There is a small amount of blood pouring from the wound, but Magi easily stymies the flow.
She finishes the procedure by pouring some antibiotics into the wound and then packs her gear up.
“How did it go?” Jake asks as he and his group walk back over to us.
“I guess we will see in the morning,” she answers. “We did the best we could with what we had; there is a slight possibility of him being paralyzed, if he even survives.”
“Good enough, then,” Jake responds. “Eli, Mar, and Zac, you have the first watch. Wake me and Liz up in two hours.”
They agree with apprehension, but my heart beams like the smile on Zac’s face. I guess Jake made the decision for them.
Let’s hope tonight goes more smoothly than the day did.
Chapter Six
Two hours pass by in what seems like half a second. Mar and Eli eagerly wake us up with their own sleepy eyes looking down on us. Zac looks like he could stay up for hours, but deep down, he knows time to sleep may be few and far between.
Through my own sleepy eyes, I stand upright, stretching my back and legs. Jake is a little slower getting to his feet, and I don’t blame him. I can’t say any of us have slept much in the recent past.
They take our places on the ground as
