Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“The sun sets in a few hours.  We have to move.”  

MELEE stood within the exam room’s doorway shaking his head at his comrade’s concerned argument.  He understood very well that his squad needed to return to base before sunset, but now that they had found Casey, his hands were tied.  She shouldn’t be moved as of yet, not until she woke and he gave her the vaccine.

The man held his assault rifle close, flat against his torso, as he spoke.  “MELEE, we are only able to stay safe here for now because of the daylight outside.  God knows how long it’ll take for that girl to wake.”  He paused swallowing hard taking a step closer to him in an almost pleading way.  “If we don’t get back to the base in time we can kiss our asses goodbye.”

“Don’t you think I know that AUTO?”  He replied firmly.  “There is no way for us to move right now until she wakes and we give her the vaccine.”

“But-“

“From the beginning we swore we would rescue and protect any survivors we came across.”  MELEE pointed back to Casey who laid flat on her back on the bed.  “She is the only one we came across.”  Lowering his arm, he looked back to AUTO, his tone softer.  “If we move her now we could lose her.  Do you really want that?”

AUTO lowered his head shamefully.  “No, of course not.”  He let out a long breath.  “You’re right.  Ack…”  He rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand, his gun still raised and up pressed against his chest as he turned from him.  “It’s not easy being the good guys, huh?”

MELEE only smirked, watching his companion walk back to his post by the main entrance to the ER.  Turning back to Casey his features hardened his thoughts drifting back to the start of this nightmare…and to GUNNER.  He was the weapons specialist of the group.  Now, he was just a mere memory.

 Lifting his face guard up over his head, he rubbed a gloved hand over his brow wearily before taking his dagger from the sheath strapped to his upper left shoulder.  He began to twirl the tip of the blade methodically between his fingertips, a habit he had obtained since being in his possession.  It had been almost a month since everything took place.  The time had come when they would pay the b******s back that threw each one of their lives out of whack.  Testing on them, subjecting them to things no normal child should go through.  They were all going to pay for it all.

If only we hadn’t been so cocky, GUNNER would still be alive.

The sound of his screams would haunt him forever.  There was only one door separating them…Just one door but that door was enough to prevent them from reaching their friend in time.  They barged into the room, their guns raised and ready to fire, only in time to see GUNNER’s throat ripped from his body in a bloody mass as the creature fed from his still squirming form.  It took a few shots to take down the creature but it was already too late.  After the creature fell to the floor with its last dying screech, GUNNER’s gurgling breath echoed through the air before he himself grew silent; his eyes glazed over as he stared lifelessly up at the ceiling.

Regret weighed heavily on his heart at the loss of his comrade, his friend, his brother.  After going through all they had together, the eight of them had grown close.  They were family now and he prayed he wouldn’t lose anyone else.

“Nick…”

MELEE looked up at the sound of Casey’s voice.  At once, he sheathed his dagger, making his way to her bedside.  Is she waking up?  Her lids were shut tightly, her teeth clenched beneath tight lips.  Is she having a nightmare?  Leaning over her to some extent, he grasped her right shoulder, squeezing it firmly as he called her name only to be greeted with one of her flailing arms making direct contact with his nose.

He staggered backward covering his nose with both hands.  “God Damn it!  Son of a B***h!”  He hollered painfully looking to a fully attentive Casey sitting erect in bed watching him with wary eyes.

“W-who are you?”

The door to the exam room swung open with a bang, three men filing inside urgently with guns held high, “MELEE, what happened?” The man in front questioned sweeping the area with the assault riffle’s nozzle.

MELEE lowered his hands to his sides, revealing a faintly inflamed nose and reddened teary eyes.  “Everything is fine.”  He gestured his head towards Casey.  “Just an unexpected awaking.”

The soldiers relaxed their guard a bit relieved that it hadn’t been one of the creatures.  The closest one to the front looked to Casey.  “Is she alright?  Should I get MED?”

She swallowed, looking the uniformed men over.  Their uniforms looked familiar but she couldn’t pin point from where. “I’m fine.”  

The man hadn’t made any notion to if he had heard what she said or that he was even listening to her for that matter.  He only remained staring at the man, MELEE, standing a foot away from her bed.   After some time passed, he nodded to the others before they turned to leave the room, the door being pulled shut behind the third.  Again, it was just the two of them. 

Their gazes locked.  “Who are you?”  Casey questioned again looking him over, eyeing the uniform he wore.  It looked familiar, but she couldn’t recognize the man himself.  He had brown hair that was shaved short and eyes that were almost as equally brown.  His clear skin was bare of any facial hair giving his masculine features a boyish charm.  When she saw the splashguard over his head, she realized he was wearing the same uniform as the other soldiers.  

Then in flashes, she remembered bits and pieces of what happened.  Coming to town, her father’s house, the hospital, that creature, and…a soldier that had saved her from that thing.  “You’re that man from before aren’t you?”

“Yeah, nice to meet your acquaintance.”  He rubbed delicately at his aching nose and winced. “Damn it.” Pulling his hand away, he examined his palm for blood.  

Feeling uncomfortable with the situation, Casey bit at her lip, swallowing once more.  “I’m sorry about that.”

MELEE looked to her, lowering his hand to the side, knowing by the way she watched him, that she was scared.  “It’s alright.”  He assured her, taking a step closer.  “I understand. After what just happened I probably took you by surprise.”

“Just a little bit.”  She placed a hand to her forehead.  “My head feels a little fuzzy.”

“Oh, right,” He opened the flap of his left vest pocket and reached inside before pulling out a capped syringe.  A yellowish liquid could be seen within its clear casing.

She eyed the syringe carefully.  “What is that?”

“It’s a vaccine to the toxin in your bloodstream.”  

She looked to her bandaged arms.  Again, she vaguely remembered the attack, how she escaped…how he had saved her.  Her attention went back to him when he pulled the cap off the needle and grabbed her arm gently.  

Pulling her arm back, she shook her head.  “I don’t think I need that.”

With his hand still to her wrist, MELEE pulled her arm towards him roughly and injected the vaccine into her arm without saying another word.

Casey squinted, turning her head off to the side as she felt the small metallic needle puncture her skin then being removed.  It all lasted a few short seconds, but felt excoriatingly long to her.  When he released her wrist, she immediately pulled back her arm, cradling it against her chest, glaring at him with narrowed brows.   “Really, you could have warned me.  I hate needles.”

He dropped the syringe to the floor turning from her.  “Can’t be helped Casey.  Without it your immune system could relapse and you’ll die.”

“Great…”  She said lowering her hand to her lap before looking to him puzzled.  “How do you know my name?”

MELEE bent down in front of the chair he was using a few hours earlier.  Grabbing her wallet, he turned throwing it to her.  “IDs can tell a lot about a person.”  He watched as she tossed it from hand to hand.  “It can tell you someone’s name, age, height, sex (for the really difficult ones), and eye color.”  He crossed his arms over his chest.  “It seems like a life story.  By the way, do you still have that scar from when you broke your ankle?”

Casey’s brow rose.  “That happened when I was 7…how do you know about that?”

MELEE watched her with a grin.  “I know a lot about you Casey,” he began returning to her bedside, “at least through the childhood years.  I’ve missed the last fourteen.”

Her gaze lowered to her wallet in a thoughtful frown.  The only one she hadn’t seen for that long was…She gasped looking to him dumbstruck.  “Nick?”

He nodded a feeling of satisfaction washing over him.  “For a moment there I thought you had forgotten about me.”  She took in a shaky breath of relief before lunging at him, burying her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around him, embracing him.  “Whoa, Casey!”  Nick placed his hands to her shoulders, regaining his balance and supporting her as he moved closer to the bed, closing the space between them.  “Easy, you are going to fall!”

“Not for a moment.”

“What?”

Casey strengthened her grip.  “I haven’t forgotten about you for a moment Nick.”  She pulled away, her eyes shining with tears that streamed down her flushed cheeks.  “Not a day went by that I haven’t thought of you.  That I haven’t hoped I’d see you alive and well.”  She buried her face back into his chest.  “I was so afraid for you.”

Nick slid his hands around her shoulders to her back, holding her close.  “I had no idea.”  He rest the bottom of his chin to her head.  “I am just fine now Casey.”

She closed her eyes, relieved to hear the words.  “I know now.”  She smiled as they pulled away from one another.  Wiping away her tears, she laughed.  “I’m sorry.  I’m not normally so emotional.”

Nick smiled.  “You seem the same to me.”

Casey gave him a look.  “Jerk.”

“What happened to missing me?”

She laughed lightly, wiping her face free of tears.  “I did miss you.  But you are still a jerk.”

Nick laughed, his gaze falling to the window noting it was still light outside.  If we go now, we should be able to make it back in time.  Looking back to her, his smile faded.  “How do you feel?”

Casey took in a long deep breath, concentrating on how she felt.  She nodded.  “I feel pretty good.”

“Can you stand?”  He asked stepping away from the bed.

She swung her legs slowly over the side of the bed, before lowering her feet to the floor and pushed herself off the bed.  After a moment of making sure she was standing solidly on her own two feet, she looked to Nick.  “So far so good.”

“Good.”  He turned from her heading to the exam door.  “We should get going then.” 

“Right.”  She followed him, the first few steps were shaky before normalizing.  “But where to?”

He pulled down his face guard, pulling the door open.  “To where this all began.”