She wanted to cry from the frustration, but he was right, and knowing he was alright helped her find confidence to follow along as told. She had to move, and there was no telling who may have been tailing her. She spent another few moments gathering her bearings, noting that no one approached. The only sounds she could clearly make out was a slowed but steady exchange in fire between two parties, and it was evident that she had caught the tail end of it before changing routes.

OK, she thought as she realized where she was currently. This is the wing that takes me to the staff offices. The hangar would be way the hell over… wait! She remembered Sebastian, Kerry, and Andre being in the courtyard last time she saw them. If I go back this other way I remember, it passes by the other side of that courtyard! She took a few more deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down enough for a focused dash, then took off down the hallway, rifle shouldered but lowered at the ready and finger up and over the trigger guard. She had only so much training back during her time with the Naval Academy, but it was enough drilling experienced to stick with her in times like this.

Wait, doubts pervaded what thought she had collected. This is Sebastian and Kerry we are talking about. There’s no way they’re just hanging out if they survived!

And as she heard a commotion come from the intersecting hallway, the sound of panicking staff members and other workers brought her to a halt. She pulled her rifle in anticipation, not wanting to come off as a threat, and as the rush of fleeing workers turned the corner and headed towards where Sam just came from, it gave her an idea.

If they’re headed from that direction screaming like that, that means-

­“Sam!” She heard Kerry shout from the tail end of the stampeding crowd, snapping her focus in utter disbelief as her heart skipped a beat. “Run!”

As she watched her and Andre shoving the tail end of the crowd around the corner, she felt the crackling of drywall behind her, followed immediately by the volleys of gunfire coming from flashes far down the end of that hallway. As the injured fell, dragging down Kerry and Andre along with them, Sam crouched, swung her rifle to the ready, and aligned the puffs of smoke with the bright red circle set.

*BDA-DA-DA-DA-DAH!!*

Screamed the rifle as Kerry and Andre felt the return volleys’ flashes of heat and the pain ringing from their eardrums.

“Damn it!” Kerry shrieked as she covered her ears, keeping her head down as she lay on the ground with the others. She waited for Sam’s second burst to continue: “Where’d you get that from!?”

Sam didn’t think to piece together what she had said through her own temporarily impaired hearing as she anxiously attempted to swap magazines using what was left in the plate carrier rig she had stolen, trotting off down the hallway.

“Sam!” Andre was now shouting out as he curled around. “What are you doing- now’s our chance to make a run for the hangar!”

She didn’t hear that, either, or she didn’t care. She finally got the magazine switched out after tossing the other, now aiming back up at the three men downed. She noticed two were motionless while the third was reaching for something from one of his chest rig’s pockets. She moved the reticle over his head, and just as he started to speak into his headset, she squeezed the trigger.

Kerry and Andre both looked on in shock for a few moments before turning back to the two who had been hit by gunfire just moments ago.

“Has she lost her damn mind?!” Andre fussed as he turned to a staffer grabbing his leg. “Let her go! Help me wrap them up so we can-”

“But we can’t stay here long!”

“No shit!” He fussed as he ripped his left sleeve to prepare a makeshift wrap. “Wrap and carry!” He then looked to the man’s face to check his condition, noting his silence but could see the grimacing through the pain. “Sir, you with me?!” He saw the fear-stricken nod as he started tying around the entry wound on his calf. “We’ll get you out of here!”

“She’s only grazed!” Kerry said with a pat on his shoulder, standing up together with the staffer she was tending to. “We gotta evacuate them!”

As Andre got the man halfway up, lifting him up off of his bad leg, Sam approached from the rear with heavy gasps for air. “Sam, you ok!?” he asked with concern that surprised even himself, looking upon a version of Sam he had never seen before. Even the look in her eyes gave off that of a completely different person. And with a jump, he awkwardly caught the rifle tossed his way.

Kerry put her hand out to take the other confiscated rifle from Sam as she looked back at the wounded she was tending to, trying to pretend she didn’t feel a certain way about the blood on her, reminding her of the other night but with even more of a frightful appearance. “But we can’t just leave them!”

“She can stand,” Sam spoke through her gasps, pointing to the one with the graze wound. “And she can help him. That exit is clear. But we,” she now spoke with her finger pointed to Kerry and then to Andre. “We need to get to the hangar, like, fucking now. And those were orders.”

“Well! Fucking A’,” Andre said with a sudden change in mood. “I wasn’t ready to just sit back and take shit like we did at Dhaka!” he shouted with nervous but revitalized spirits, inspecting the rifle’s condition before putting the sling around him.

“Andre, you can’t be serious! Sam has-”

“-Lost my sanity?” Sam snapped as she tugged at her plate carrier which weighed heavily on her shoulders. “Fine, do as you please. I’m not waiting to get killed.” She then turned back down the hallway with a sluggish, forced trot. Andre was then quick to follow without a look back at Kerry, who a second later reluctantly went along.

“I know what you’re thinking Kerry!” Andre shouted without turning, keeping his eyes down the hall. “I don’t give a shit about what was said about Sam earlier! I like moving forward, and she’s got us seriously moving forward!”

Kerry wanted to respond, neither liking nor trusting the direction this was headed in one bit, but couldn’t find the words after seeing Sam like that. She was sure she saw blood soaked over her whole left side below the plate carrier. Whose blood was that? And the spatters across her face, they were more pronounced than last time. But most of all, it was that look in her eyes as if she lost some of her humanity that had her at such a loss of words.

Andre continued as they neared the door at the end, still held open by the corpses of those disposed of by Sam moments earlier. “These are the same damn tactics the Cloak’s guys used on us at our Dhaka base weeks back! No way in hell you forget that, right! This is NOT happening again!” As they approached it, he naturally took the lead as he checked each direction before covering for the others.

“Kerry, you know these halls better than us. Set our path. Me and Sam will keep watch.” He looked over to her to see if she was able to hear, and then back down his sights again after seeing her confirm with an emotionless nod. “Oh, and Sam,” he spoke in a lower tone as Kerry caught up to them. “If you were concerned, Sebastian went looking for you, but thought you’d head for the control room and not the hangar. Do you think he got the same orders?”

“I don’t care,” she shot back as she slowly started to catch her breath. “Can you talk less?”

“If we have to do this, just shut up and follow me,” Kerry huffed, reluctantly taking point.

.

.

▽　▽　▽

.

After that last scuffle, there wouldn’t be another invading soldier they would stumble across. And along that path by which Kerry had led them, the only sounds they heard outside of the distant exchanges of gunfire and shouts were those of hover carriers serving escort to medevac and fire control personnel. In their minds, whatever invasion they had survived was coming to a close, but all three of them knew this was only going to be at best a first wave. Andre had already mentioned how it likened to their near-death experience in Dhaka before Sam’s entry into the program, and Sam didn’t need any more of a trial run than provided.

But at last, the final set of approaching double doors brought about an enormous sigh of relief, knowing they reached one of the guarded entrances to the hangars. With the exception of Sam’s gear of unknown origin, their markings on everyone’s outfits had already served the soldiers standing guard plenty of identification, cueing them to hold up a hand signal to let them through.

.

And once they stepped into the main LTAC staging area where armed PMC members had guided them to, they looked to the center to see a larger gathering of staff members, directors, and three familiar faces in the middle. But it was one who stood out most.

Dad…

All the adrenaline that had been working well past overtime had brought on an onslaught of trembling and quivering, feeling as if she would collapse there on the spot.

“Woah,” Andre was the first to speak of the three as he stepped forward first toward the crowd. “How the hell did this place go unscathed?”

“Dad!” Sam shrieked out, using the last gasp of energy she had, dashing off toward him as she felt the uncontrollable burn of tears kick in.

Sebastian watched as the two embraced, not only hurt from the thought she never noticed him standing two feet away, but he also felt sorrow in a way he hadn’t before. She was the most traumatized he had ever seen her, blood spotted all over and far beyond visibly shaken. He even felt traces of guilt, having the intention to do everything he could for her, and he thought perhaps this could be another chance he’d miss if he just sat back and watched like he tended to do around everyone else since leaving home.

Kerry read his reactions, putting a hand on his shoulder with a shake of her head. “Whatever it is you feel like saying or trying to do to step in… let her be. You don’t know half the shit she’s gone through.”

.

Long seconds had passed before Sam finally loosened her grip she had on her father, struggling still to breathe between the sobs. And at last, she found the energy to speak through her drying throat: “I thought I would-”

“-Shh-shh,” he hushed her through his own battle with emotions and held-back tears as he continued to console her. “Sam, we’re all OK. We’re all glad you are, too.” He didn’t expect himself to be in this position emotionally, having been separated from something of this level for more than a decade. Seeing her this hurt and begging for solace brought back memories he had forgotten existed.

He then looked to those standing around, immediately feeling bothered. “Give her some space and continue what we were discussing! We’ll obviously be a minute!”