Chapter II - Barely Breathing
Chapter II - Barely Breathing
Smell, smell was the first sense to return, arid smoke and noxious fumes. The sharp metallic tang of molten metal and the choking vapours of burning plastics.
She coughed into the smoke inhalation and swallowed. The bittersweet taste of terror clung to the back of her throat, she swallowed again, this time she tasted something coppery. Taking control of her tongue she probed the inside of her lower lip, wincing when she found the tooth-shaped cut.
She coughed again, more violently this time. Her seat belt bit sharply into her collar bone.
Her face felt flushed, swollen, the veins in her temple and jugular pulsed in time with her rapidly thundering heart. The back of her head rested against a hard surface.
Her thoughts spun chaotically in vertigo and haze. She struggled to bring some order back to her senses.
Her seatbelt held her upside down, binding her left leg in place, her right arm was crushed numb against her chest as it bound her against her seat, her head lay against the roof of the cabin, her chin crushed in against her chest.
Her brain pounded against her skull, fighting unconsciousness she tried to force her eyes to open. Slowly they eased open.
Her vision was filled with crimson red. The truck was on fire! Her panicked mind screamed. Oh. Wait. Alicia remembered her left arm and brushed aside the mass of her crimson hip length hair from her face.
As she had suspected, the truck had been flipped upside down. Her seat belt stretched across her left thigh, turning at the buckle it continued diagonally down her body, trapping her right arm against her chest. Her left right leg, somehow having come free, hung suspended above her, her foot having somehow caught against the large steering wheel.
Alicia tried moving out of her uncomfortable position and found she completely immobilised. She tried wiggling her right arm free, but she couldn’t get it to move, it lay bound, dumb and dead.
Next she tried to unlatch the seatbelt, stretching up and across her right arm with her left, between her legs to get at the release button at her right hip. Her fingers pressed at the release and slipped. The twisted inverted semi-fetal position was putting a strain on her neck, the blood pounded thicker through her throat.
Alicia’s ears began to ring and her vision began tunnelling, going hazy white around the edges. Grunting with effort she strained for the release again, her fingers jamming into the release with a relieving click.
The world spun violently as she collapsed out of her seat onto the cabin ceiling. Broken glass and plastics crunched and crackled as she tumbled to a slamming stop on her back, laying diagonally half out of the non-existent front windscreen, staring up at the buckled and pitted hood of the truck. The sudden stop knocked the wind out of her and she gasped in a choking breath, bursting into a coughing fit as she inhaled the black smoke-laden fumes that seemed to be everywhere. She laid there exhausted, fighting the urge to pass out, breathing in shallow gasps.
A prickling sensation began to build on her right hand’s fingertips and started to move its way up her arm. Alicia’s head lulled to the right and she stared, dazed at the world beyond her numb outstretched hand. Visibility had fallen, Alicia could barely see further through the black haze then twenty meters, what she could see was enough. The world was on fire, every flammable object within sight was ablaze, what wasn’t flammable lay scorched and blasted, broken glass and smashed concrete carpeted the road in every direction. The only intact shop window in her view exploded out in a fiery ball of jet black plume as the inferno consumed it from within.
Alicia barely noticed. Her eyes lay fixed on the object laying partially hidden the slightly cupped fingers of her out-stretched palm. She stared between her fingers like a child watches horror from behind her fingers. A two story inferno engulfed a wrecked vehicle lying on its side, wedged against an upright concrete pylon and a bent traffic signal.
What in Unity had happened? Alicia’s confused thoughts tried to keep up, scrambling through her strangely muddled memories. They had been driving through downtown Phoenix on the way to the base just west of the city, and then… then…
Something seemed to be blocking her memory, making it hard for her to focus. She eyes lay glued to the flames as they lapped the air. She pushed harder at her mind.
Then they met looters. A body of a woman lay silent against the road unmoving. Alicia winced at the memory, knowing that image would haunt her for years. But that still didn’t explain why she was laying half out of a wrecked truck in the middle of a firestorm.
Alicia stared, hypnotized by the light cast by the flames of the burning wreck, her muddled mind threatened to lose the thread of thought. Why was she finding it so hard to concentrate? Lack of concentration, feeling of great fatigue, sensation of vertigo, memory loss and a fixation on light sources. You, my friend have suffered a concussion. Her medic’s mind informed her. Damn! I thought the helmet was suppose to protect her from that. She fumbled at her head with her left hand. No helmet. Where was the blasted thing?
Something exploded in the burning wreck and with a whoosh the flames gained another floor, the light flare seemed to dim the world surrounding it.
Light, memory nudged at Alicia.
Flaring light.
Blinding light.
A half formed mushroom cloud. Great Dalia! The Asurians really dropped nukes! Alicia’s stomach sank into a pit of dread. Phoenix base was gone, buried under the radioactive plume. The next closest military base was… was… but what was to say that the Asurians hadn’t nuked that too?
Panic began to build in her throat. She was all alone out here, suddenly cut off from instruction, information and help. All she had was Spectre Element, her truck and the lead car.
The fingers in her right hand twitched in front of her. The armoured car… oh no. The sensation of dislocated sense of horror finally slammed home. Guilt crushed at her heart as she watched half her Element burning in front of her.
Sergeant Lucious “Miles” Dorn, her Third in command and her loyal friend. Her right index finger curled in. Corporal Killian “Adams” Moller, her heavy weapons specialist, the oldest veteran still in spectre and in a lot of ways her mentor. Her middle finger came down. The two newbie’s Private Alton Winfred and the silent Private Tara Arlette. Her ring and little finger came down. She knew next to nothing about the two newbie’s, but they were still hers, still her fault. Her thumb curled in to form a fist and Alicia clenched as hard as she could, savouring the burning pain running up her arm as she tried to blink away the blurring in her eyes.
Something exploded in the trucks engine bay, the hood crashed open against the road, obliterating Alicia’s view of the world. Startled she yanked her right arm back against her chest, hard hammering. The adrenalin cleared her mind a little. Alicia smelt petrol. She had to find the others and move.
Alicia rolled back into the truck and came face to face with Milo. Like her when she woke, Milo was still in his seat, held upside down by his seatbelt, like her he was unconscious and also like her his face was covered in red. But it wasn’t hair. Alicia’s heart ceased.
“Milo? Milo!” her voice croaked as she tried to wake him. No response.
Alicia cursed and struggled to get to her feet. Scrabbling across the littered cabin roof she came to a crouch beside Milo and felt for his pulse. Shallow and weak. Her heart thumped again in relief. Milo’s face was covered in blood that flowed from a bubbling wound in his throat. Taking a closer inspection she thought she saw a small shard of glass glinting in the ruined tissue.
“Dammit!” Alicia swore, this was bad, she couldn’t do anything here immediately, they needed to get some where she can take a better look at the wound. “Hold on Milo, I’m going cut you down.” She spun in her crouch and hastily began tossing the cabin floor for her rifle. There! She grabbed it, yanking it from its wedged position by her door and slid back beside Milo.
A low moan came through the cabin divider from the back of the truck.
“Pip! Wink!” Alicia yelled through the opening. Not slowing down she removed the sling from her rifle and slid the rifle in between Milo and his seat. Making sure that the rifle stock sat against the back of his head she used the rifle sling to bind the rifle against his back. That should prevent his head from being pushed forwards putting more pressure on his wound.
Something heavy clattered in the back followed by a grunt.
“Pip! Wink! Are you alright?” Alicia tried again, tucking her knee in between her rifle stock that Milo’s head rested against and the seat, she wrapped her right arm with his seat belt, bracing herself she pressed the release with her left. Nothing happened.
“Doc?” Wink whispered out of breath from the back.
“Davis! Are you alright?” Alicia tried the belt release again. The thing wasn’t working.
“A sec…” The truck shifted slightly as Wink moved in the back “Yeah, I’m good”
“Where is Chris?” Alicia asked fumbling at her knife on her right hip awkwardly with her left hand.
“I can’t see…” Wink paused. “Wait, I see his boots sticking out of a pile of crates at the back.”
“Make sure he’s alright” Alicia finally got the knife out and began sawing furiously at the tough belt near the release. From the back came Wink’s grunts of effort and a whole lot of clattering and thumping. Slowly the belt gave way thread by thread.
From the back somebody spoke in a low tone, too low for Alicia to hear, followed back a harsh bark of laughter. “Pip’s snoring.” Wink’s voice came through the divider, followed by a sharp smack of a slap. “Wake up boy! Having a nice nap?”
“What the hells Wink! Stop calling me boy.” Pip muttered, coming awake. “What in Unity happened?”
“We caught the outer edges of a blast wave from a nuke Pip” Alicia spoke towards the divider, the knife was half way through, the progress getting easier as the threads took further tension.
A moment of stunned silence answered from the back, Pip finally broke it “Dalia save us.”
“Maybe later, right now we have to save Milo, he’s been hit and I think it’s pretty bad. Hurry up and get his door open.” Sounds of movement travelled to the front as Wink and Pip immediately moved to exit the truck from the back. The knife slipped through the last thread and the full weight of Milo dropped onto her right arm, wrapped around the now loose belt. Even though she was braced for it the weight nearly caused her to fall. Dropping her knife she put both hands into action, recovering her balanced she used her knee braced against the rifle stock by Milo’s neck as a fulcrum, slowly slipping Milo out of the seat while bringing him horizontal without moving his head. Straining with effort she finally managed to lower him onto the debris littered ceiling.
Pips shock paled face appeared as he ducked down by the window near the road at Milo’s door. “Boss are you seeing this?” indicating outward towards the burning city street. Catching sight of Milo’s blood covered face he swore viciously.
“Hurry up and get that door open.” Alicia ignored his question and his spree as she began to untie the rifle sling and reattach it to her rifle.
Pip tried to pull the door but found it stuck. “Try yours Doc.”
Alicia scrambled back across to her side of the cabin and tried to push open her door, no luck. “Nope, stuck.” She replied simply.
Straining Milo tried again but still couldn’t get it budge. “Hold on Doc, it looks like both the doors have buckled.” Pip panted as he ducked down by the window again. “I’m going to grab the crowbar, be right back” His face withdrew to be replaced by Wink.
Wink grim face looked calmer and more collected, glancing at Milo’s neck then Alicia’s face. “You alright Doc?” he queried with a severe expression.
Alicia felt her head with a hand. “I’m not too sure, I think I’ve got a concussion. I’m feeling a bit dazed.”
Wink stared at her for a moment longer then nodded. “What needs to be done?” He asked.
Alicia took a moment to think. She needed to operate on Milo to see if she could remove the shard safely, she couldn’t do it here, inside of a upturned truck on a blasted street in a city burning from a nuclear inferno wasn’t the ideal location for a surgery. They needed to get to shelter, somewhere underground, safe from falling debris and the burning fumes. First they needed to move Milo safely without putting stress on the glass shard in his throat, the fact that he was still alive meant it had missed any major arteries, it wouldn’t be smart if they were to accidentally cause him to bleed out while trying to move him.
“Doc?” Wink asked, concerned at the pause.
“Right, I want you to go back into the back and take the lids off one of the long plastic crates. Then bring the lid back around here. Hurry! And ask Pip what is taking him so long.”
Wink nodded and withdrew. Just in time as Pip leaned down. “Sorry boss, couldn’t find the crowbar, found a shovel from somewhere though, I’ll have this open in a moment.”
Pip’s face disappeared and something impacted against the truck. Pip grunted and the sound of metal straining echoed in the cabin. Something popped and the door peeked open slightly, with great effort Pip proceeded to peel the door the rest of the way with his hands.
With care Alicia stepped over Milo and out of the cabin, reversing she kneeled back down, Wink came up beside her dragging a long slender black plastic lid of a crate by one of its steel handles, the other scraping along the ground behind it. Pip joined her, kneeling beside her, leaning slightly on the open door.
“Don’t you dare die Milo, you still owe me money buddy.” Pip spoke to the unconscious bloodied Milo still lying inside the truck.
“Alright I’m going to hold his head and neck still, you two each take a shoulder and haul him slowly onto the make shift stretcher.” Alicia placed one of her hands beneath Milo’s neck and the other at the back his head and evenly lifted it gently. Pip and Wink each grabbed a shoulder like Alicia instructed and began to slide him out of the truck.
“Gently does it.” Alicia warned. “What does he owe you money for?” she asked Pip.
“He bet against me that the Asurians wouldn’t use nukes.” Pip said gravely. “Kind of ironic now that you think about it.” They eased him onto the crate lid, fetching his rifle Wink placed it on Milo’s chest and Pip folded Milo’s arms over it to stop it from falling off.
“Looks like he is paying aplenty already. Hold on, we need to get to shelter.” Alicia stood up quickly, her vision tilted briefly, but she quickly reined it back in control. She took a quick look around coughing slightly at the choking smoke pouring from all of the burning buildings. Visibility was getting poorer by the second as the streets filled with jet black fumes, she could no longer see the burning wreck of the lead car, nor could she see any obvious ideas for shelter.
“Doc.” Pip's voice was muffled, fighting the encroaching smoke by burying his nose in his sleeve. “Milo’s barely breathing.”
“We’re all barely breathing.” Alicia looked back down, Pip was right though, pink bubbles were forming at the wound as air escaped out from Milo’s windpipe every time he tried to breath. But Milo was probably better off lower to the ground then they were. Lower, they needed to get away from the deadly smoke that was closing in, some where with light so she can take a look at that wound. They needed to go down, basement?
She spun around in place looking, all the shops within sight was ablaze, offering no shelter. She noticed that her upturned truck was smoking slightly from the engine bay, the smoke partially obscured a large city sign, and she moved slightly to get a better look through the haze.
‘Underground’, she read. And in smaller words underneath it ‘Metro’.
“Praise Dalia” Alicia sighed in relief, bad idea; she doubled over coughing as she inhaled even more fumes, one of the shops at the edge of the hazy blackness exploded with a large roaring fireball. Alicia fought the choking sensation to cough. “We need to move, grab a handle, I’ve got an idea.”
Pip and Wink set about each handle, and hoisted the make shift stretcher to hip height as Alicia dived back into the cabin for her field aid kit. Scrabbling back out she paused briefly to checked on Milo. Even in the extremely poor lighting she could see he was turning blue. Hypoxia. Dammit.
“Alright follow me, watch you footing, a lot of debris around” Alicia started slowly around the front of the truck, on hand on the upside down front bumper.
“Boss, I can barely see Wink.” Pip spoke from the back.
“Shut it Pip.” Wink grunted, “Just follow the stretcher your carrying, shouldn’t be too hard even for you.”
Alicia didn’t listen to Pips grumbled reply, her head pounded too painfully to register the words. Pip was right though, she could barely see more then 3 steps in front of her, hopefully the Stairs to the Metro subway wasn’t far.
She rounded the front of the truck onto her side and stumbled slightly, looking down she saw she had tripped on the curb of the footpath, her cabin door sat flush against it on the road. So that why it wouldn’t open. Looking up she strained her vision against the smoke, a slight breath of wind cleared the haze a little and she saw that the truck had been rolled to a stop against the subway stair’s top railings, smashed through it and was sitting a bit over the ledge, if it hadn’t stopped there. She looked to her right, they would’ve ended up in that burning café over there, most likely thoroughly cooked.
“Down the stairs” Alicia pointed and started forwards, half of Spectre Element followed her lead, descending below into the gloom.
