"We need to have a serious talk about your
recklessness."
"Why?" asked Shelley, sounding genuinely
confused. "We killed all the enemies and secured the objective,
right?"
Tyler's response was to simply prod Shelley's heavily-bandaged
abdomen with a finger, causing her to wince. The Faction had been cleared away
from the supermarket and the remaining food secured, though some of it was
already out of date. With a path into the city already cleared, the army could
now begin delivering food supplies to the beleaguered populace. That wasn't the
end of it, of course. The Faction were sure to either attack the food convoys,
try and retake the supermarket, or both.
For now, though, Tyler and his small resistance group
were back at their hideout, an abandoned, heavily-fortified elementary school. Specifically,
they were in the nurse's station, which had been transformed by Dr. Hristov
into a makeshift hospital. Shelley was currently lying in one of the hospital
beds that had been crammed into the small space, having being shot repeatedly
during the mission to retake the supermarket. Although she had been wearing body
armour, otherwise her injuries could have been fatal, the bullets had still
left some nasty bruises.
"You can't go on a mission in this state," said
Tyler. "That means we're one member down, which puts us at even more of a
disadvantage. The Faction have hundreds of members here, if not thousands, and
we need every member we can get. So you going and getting yourself shot so
stupidly is a real pain in the ass."
"Sorry," said Shelley, pouting in a way that
made it clear she wasn't sorry at all.
"Look," said Tyler, "just… don't be so
reckless in future, okay? Stay behind cover, don't rush ahead, and don't
isolate yourself from us. I appreciate your enthusiasm, as creepy as it may be
sometimes, but the last thing we want is for you to get killed."
"Alright, I get it," said Shelley. "I'll
be more careful next time, alright?"
"Good," said Tyler.
"So, what's the next mission?" asked Firebrace.
"Shouldn't we start planning that before long?"
"I think, before any more missions, we should think
about finding more people to join us," said Tyler. "Five people is a
nice number, but it's nowhere near enough for a final assault on the Faction
headquarters, which is our end objective, after all."
Tyler couldn't help glancing over at James. During the
first few days of their invasion and takeover, the Faction had rounded up hundreds
of civilians and taken them by helicopter to their headquarters, a massive
sixty-storey tower block in the financial district that they had hijacked for
their own purposes. James' girlfriend, Louise, had been one of those taken, and
the team had come across him after he had tried to fight his way to the Faction
HQ all by himself to rescue her, and been injured in the process. At first he
had been impatient, insisting that they tackle the HQ first, but he had since
conceded that the rest of the city needed to be cleared out first, and the
group strengthened, before they could even think about attacking the
heavily-fortified skyscraper.
Unsurprisingly, James nodded in agreement. "Sounds
good to me," he said. "The army are arriving tomorrow, right? To
secure the path into the city? We could sure use their help."
"You think the army are gonna co-operate with a
bunch of guerrillas?" asked Tyler skeptically.
"Course we would," said Firebrace, grinning. "We'd
make a pact with Satan if it helped get the job done. Course, that hasn't
really worked too well for us in the past… came back to bite us big-time with
Afghanistan…"
"We're not the Taliban," said James. "All
we want is for this city to be free, and for our loved ones to be safe. Nothing
more."
"I know," said Firebrace, "and the army know
that as well. So yeah, they'll work with us."
"They damn well better," said Shelley.
"We've been busting our asses fighting the Faction, and where have they
been?" Suddenly clutching her aching chest, Shelley forced herself to calm
down, resting herself back against the cool white sheets of the hospital bed.
"Alright, we'll go out tomorrow when the convoy
arrives, and make sure the army are willing to work with us and any other
guerrillas who are fighting the Faction," said Tyler. "If there are
any other guerrillas out there, hopefully they'll get the same idea, and we can
all meet up and discuss joining forces. But for now, I think we could all use
some rest. Some of us-" he glared pointedly at Shelley "-more than
others."
"Good idea," said Firebrace. "Let's head
back to our bunks."
"Should I stay here and look after Shelley?"
asked Dr. Hristov.
"Yeah, but don't stay too late," said Tyler.
"You need your rest as well, Doc."
"I know of the importance of rest," said Dr.
Hristov, folding his arms. "I am
a doctor, you know."
"Good," said Tyler. "We'll see you later,
then." Tyler, Firebrace and James made their way out of the medical room, heading
back towards their bunks, leaving Dr. Hristov alone with his patient.
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