Chapter 31

Present – Maria – In the tunnels

After hearing the gunfire, I practically run my ass off getting around the corner ... And son of a bitch! My princess boss is down and so is someone else. I run toward Jens when the door on one of the rooms begins to open, I stop and train my rifle on the doorway...

Present – Liz – In the tunnels

I yell at Bernie, "Get over here and take Ivan."

I begin to open the door and end up staring right into the barrel of a rifle. I raise my hands and plead, "Please don't shoot me."

Then I hear Jens' aide Maria say, "Shit, I almost shot you! Give me a hand because Jens has been shot."

We run over to Jens, roll her over and she asks, "Liz, where did you come from? Tell me, did I get the bastard?"

Maria is checking Jens and I answer, "Yeah Jens, you got him."

Maria swears, "Jens dammit, what happened to your body armor plate, it's missing?"

Jens laughs, coughs up some blood and admits, "I got tired of wearing it so I took it out. I guess that wasn't such a smart idea?"

Maria continues, "It sure as hell wasn't! Why didn't you wait for me?"

Jens laughs, coughs up some more blood and apologizes, "Sorry about both of those. So how bad is it doc?"

Maria says, "Well I've seen worse, so where are your medical supplies located?"

Jens coughs some more and says, "Many of them are in the equipment room where we are headed."

When we hear the noise of a machine gun going crazy, I say, "From the sound of that machine gun, maybe it's good we're down here."

Jens answers, "Hell no, that's my autonomous machinegun that protects the air ducts."

I give Maria a quizzical look, she just shakes her head and I decide to let the subject die.

Maria orders, "We need to put some pressure on this wound then I want to move Jens to the equipment room. Do you have anything that would work as a pressure dressing?"

I yell, "Hey Bernie, bring out Ivan and the diaper bag."

The door opens and Bernie comes out holding Ivan with the diaper bag over his shoulder. Maria says, "I hope you have some clean diapers - they will work perfectly."

Ivan says, "I good boy and not dirty many diapers much more. Is Ms. Donaldduckson hurt?"

It took me a second to understand he was referring to Jens and I answered, "Yes, you are a great boy and yes Ms. Donaldson is hurt."

He adds, "I help when young girl was hurt by sitting on diaper."

Maria has already started to put the pressure dressing on Jens' wound using the diaper and answers, "Well, we will need to carry her to the equipment room so we won't need you to sit on her wound this time."

Maria looks at Bernie and questions, "Are you up to helping me move my Princess Boss?"

Jens coughs and complains, "Hey, I thought I told you not to call me that or I will kick your ass!"

Ivan giggles, "I not know Ms. Donaldduckson a Princess."

Jen complains, "Great, now you have him calling me a princess."

Bernie answers, "Sure. Liz please take Ivan and I'll take the head end."

I take Ivan, Bernie moves to Jens' head and reaches under her shoulders. Jens moans and passes out as Maria and Bernie pick her up.

Maria orders, "Let's haul ass; she's in worse shape than I let you all know."

I do pickup Maria's and Jens' rifle and we run like crazy for the equipment room...

Present – Masha – At the cabin

I pet Jennifer's dog and wait for the ketamine to take effect when I notice some movement. I prepare my pistol in case the fake Marines return when I notice it's the fox. She approaches so I talk to her, "It is okay girl, I am going to help your dog friend."

She moves to the side, sits and watches me while I continue watching Jack and the craziness at the ventilation shaft. I am thankful for once that Jack isn't the crazy one. The machine gun stops, they help the man out, congratulate him and then...

Present – Jack – At the cabin

The Marine finally rides the fucking killer machinegun into submission. In other words it ran out of ammo. We help him get off the fucker, are slapping him on the back in congratulations when I hear a funny noise from the machine gun as it swings toward us and I yell, "Hit the deck!"

We dive to the ground just as the fucker opens up on us again and almost caught us with our pants down. I swear, "That son of a bitch reloaded itself! I've had my fill of this bullshit! We need to bust this fucker for once and for all."

I look down at some of the metal we've ripped off the ventilation shaft and I get another half-baked idea...

Present – Linus – Rescuing the survivors

We help Mabel up and surprisingly she's not too badly injured. She has a few burns but they are not nearly as bad as those suffered by others. She begins tearing through the mess and I question, "What the hell are you looking for?"

She answers, "My spoon is missing."

Then she looks up and sees some of the men and she declares, "My Lord! Don't tell me my cooking tent did this to them?"

I reply, "Mabel, you know it wasn't your cooking tent that wounded the men, it was the fucking terrorist's bomb that blew it to hell."

She quickly ran over and began taking care of the wounded men...

Present – Alexi – At the cabin

I briefly consider giving my sister Mira a transfusion, however I am sure she would fight me incessantly if I attempt that feat.

Mira complains, "Alexi, you must stop the transfusion as your primary mission is providing protection while we are incapacitated."

I boldly command, "Mira, quiet yourself and rest. I am performing my primary mission and also my secondary mission of providing blood for Ira and Todd."

Mira countered, "If I wasn't so completely incapacitated, I would take you over my knee for speaking in such a disrespectful manner to my corporeal self."

I laugh and taunt, "That my sister will not happen again."

Present – Jack – At the cabin

I begin to work on my plan, "One of you take one of these big bars and get on an opposite side of the fucking killer machinegun." The 'cowboy' grabs the bar and crawls to the other side. I look at the other two men and order, "You're going to use something on a stick to keep the fucking killer machinegun busy."

I command the cowboy, "When they have the machine gun busy, we are going to put these fucking bars under the barrel of the machinegun and pull down as hard as we can."

He asks for confirmation, "So you want to try to bend the barrel?"

I answer, "That's right. If we can bend the barrel enough this fucker will blow itself up."

The two 'extra' Marines tease the killer machinegun into firing, the cowboy and I rise up, jam our bars under the barrel and start pulling down with all our might. It's not working so I order, "Come and give up a hand"

The other two Marines join us, we feel the barrel begin to bend and then...

Present – Maria – In the tunnels

We get Jens into the equipment room and put her on a work table while her fucking mechanical machinegun is going crazy. Then something blows the hell up, making a hell of a noise and filling the equipment room with dust. I dive on top of my Princess Boss to keep the dust off her...

Present – Masha – At the cabin

Jack and his men are still fighting with the machinegun at the ventilation duct but it's time for me to begin my work because the ketamine has taken affect and Jennifer's dog is fading in and out of consciousness. I open my purse pull out my scissors and use them to cut off part of my scarf, then I take the dog's leg, slowly pull on it and rotate it until I feel that it's close to being in place. The dog whimpers and his friend the fox runs up and snarls at me. I talk to her, "Sorry but I had to hurt him to try to fix his leg." She sits down closer than ever to me and watches me closely.

I feel along the dog's leg. It feels close to being aligned but it is not quite right. I look at the fox and explain, "I need to hurt him some more to properly repair his leg." I again pull and rotate his leg to achieve better alignment. He whimpers again and the fox jumps toward me but then is frightened away by the sound of incoming helicopters...

Present – Zarika – At Yasmeen's hospital

Our class finishes and we are issued 'uniforms'. I have determined (from the class) that we are to help the nurses by being their 'menial slaves', taking care of things like filling water pitchers, emptying bedpans and talking to the patients.

However my goal is to find Yasmeen and help her escape this hospital prison and then find our way back to our Ben's cabin. I am assigned to a floor where I begin to make friends and perform the menial tasks they ask of me while I say a few prayers for Yasmeen because I sense evil in the men who work here...

Present – Ben – On the road

Destiny stuns me when she says, "Don't worry, I'm not going to be captured by the Special Forces."

I complain, "How the hell did you know what I was thinking?"

The bitch smiles and says, "Because I'm a Shaman. And how do you plan on not being captured by the Special Forces?"

I scoff, "I've met real shaman and you're not like any of them I've ever met. I grew up in those mountains and better men than the Greenies have tried to find me there but never could."

She laughs, "You of all people should know better than to judge a book by its covers."

I demand, "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

She looked deep into my eyes and explained, "Well, on the outside you look like a normal veteran, in fact you try your hardest to portray that persona to everyone. However, we both know that you have some very large problems under that veneer."

Like a spoiled teenager I counter, "Like hell I do!"

She closes her eyes and asks, "Do you really want me to go into this in front of others."

I think for a moment and declare, "I don't want to go into anything with you now or ever and I still stand by my previous evaluation - you aren't going to last a day at the cabin before the Greenies grab you. When that happens I'm sure as hell not going to rescue you."

She smiles mysteriously and offers, "I will make a bet with you. If I don't get captured by the Special Forces on the first day then you must promise to listen to what I have to say."