Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:30 am
Fireteam Glory Part 140
By the time Parvisal and Booth had reached the fight, it had begun to turn in the favor of Kip’s people. Calvin, a police officer with a lean but athletic body, had gotten Cass’s arm pinned behind her back and was holding her there. Santos was barely holding his own against Kip and Jarvis, with Nelson standing hesitantly off to the side of the fight. Jarvis landed a powerful blow to Santos’s shoulder, knocking him off balance and making an opening for Kip to slam him into the mud. Just as he did that, Booth launched herself into Jarvis’s chest with a flying kick. The sudden attack caught Jarvis off-guard and sent him tumbling to the ground. Booth landed on her hands and knees, wasting little time rushing Kip after touching down. He didn’t have time to react to her fist finding its spot firmly in his gut. He coughed and let out a quiet wheeze as he fell to his knees, face-first into the mud. Moving to where Santos was laying in the mud, Booth helped him stand up. His face was coated in mud, which he quickly tried to wipe out of his eyes.
“Thanks.” Santos said, blinking a few times to clear his vision. “I’m getting real sick of all this nonsense.”
Booth nodded in agreement. “Let’s work on pacifying Kip and the others. Oh, and go easy on Kip. I think his injury was a lot more serious than we thought. Probably shouldn’t have even punched him like that, but in the moment I really just needed him out of commission.”
Santos looked over at where Jarvis and Kip were laying, the first of which was now getting up. “Got it! Don’t rough up Kip, but make sure soldier boy stays down. What about Cass?”
Booth quickly glanced at where Cass and Parvisal were finishing with making sure Calvin wouldn’t be anymore trouble, having rendered him unconscious for the moment. “I think they’ve got it.”
By now, Kip had also begun to stand up. “You two… you sided with that coward! You… you…” He was slurring his words now, and Booth noticed that he was beginning to shake pretty bad. “I won’t die for some… some… you all are…” Before he could finish, Kip collapsed to the ground.
Booth quickly ran over to the pilot and rolled him so that he was facing upwards. He was breathing heavily, like he was completely exhausted. She opened his eyes and saw how one of his pupils was severely dilated compared to the other. Cursing softly, she quickly called for Teresa to come over.
Having stopped her nose from bleeding, Teresa was quickly at Booth’s side. She saw Kip’s eyes and his condition and knew immediately what was wrong. “The aggression he’s been displaying, the headaches, suddenly passing out. Should’ve caught this earlier, but I was too busy moping.” She had Booth situate herself so that Kip’s head and shoulders were slightly elevated. “He’s likely suffered some kind of brain injury. I need to make sure he doesn’t start breathing irregularly and that he gets rest. That’s all I can do without any kind of medicine. Something like chorotazine would be useful right now, but for the moment I just need him to rest.” She undid her armor and removed her BDU’s shirt, leaving her with the shirt she wore underneath it. She bundled it up to make a support for Kip’s head and let Booth move so she could set his head down on it. “This’ll have to make due until I can get a better treatment for him.” Sighing heavily, Teresa looked up at the rest of her fellow prisoners.
Calvin had been taken out of the fight quickly and Parvisal was making sure Cass wasn’t hurt. Santos had managed to subdue Jarvis, holding him pinned to the ground as Jarvis attempted to fight back.
“Say uncle.” Santos said jokingly. “Or I’ll have to keep you pinned here!”
Jarvis struggled a bit more, but eventually gave in.
“That’s what I thought.” Santos said with a hint of satisfaction. “Now I’m gonna let you get up, so don’t make me regret that.” He freed Jarvis and stood up.
“Good work, Santos.” Booth remarked. “Thought I would’ve had to step in again to bail you out.”
Santos smirked. “Nah, I had them on the ropes before you got involved. I was luring them in.” He chuckled to himself a little. “Nice kick by the way.”
Teresa looked up to Santos. “Did you break anything, either yours or his?” She gestured at Jarvis, who was picking himself up out of the mud.
“I’m fine, thanks for asking.” Jarvis said angrily. Teresa began walking over to check Jarvis for any injuries, but he stopped her with a grimace. “I said I’m fine.”
Parvisal and Cass, carrying the unconscious Calvin, approached the group. They set Calvin down next to Kip and joined the conversation.
“He should be alright,” Cass said as she pointed at Calvin, “he’ll wake up in a little while.” She looked at Kip. “That bad, huh?”
Teresa nodded. “I’m going to keep him like that. We can’t do anything with him until I can treat his injury and move him safely. If he doesn’t wake up within a few days, then I’ll really be worried. If he goes into a coma because of a severe injury, I don’t know how much I’ll be able to do for him.”
Cass rubbed her shoulder as it began to ache a little. “Without medicine, I guess that will have to do.”
By this time, the Brute pack had finally returned. Teresa hadn’t realized how long it had been, but the sun was now almost at the highest point in the sky. Cass, Parvisal, Booth, and Santos all moved to watch the returning aliens. They were whooping and hollering, surrounding the Chieftain, whose helmet crest they could barely see above the crowd, as they spread out and returned to their posts.
“Look at the ones that have stayed with the Chieftain.” Cass said as she pointed at them. “Armor’s just like the Brutes that ambushed us at the base, seems like they’re his personal guards.”
Santos gulped, then seemed like he was going to be sick. “Looks like they caught whoever it was that they sent into the jungle.”
From Santos’s words, everyone began to notice the carnage the Chieftain and his guards were covered in. The Chieftain was even holding something in its massive hand, and while they could all only barely see what it was, they could piece it all together from the glimpse they had. The Brutes had made their dinner, while the Chieftain had taken a trophy from that dinner for himself.
Cass tried to not let the disturbing image shake her too much, refocusing on their situation. “Teresa, we’re going with your plan. With Kip being in no shape to move and many of us rattled from the disputes taking place, breaking out right now would be even more foolish. So, we wait for a potential rescue. If within three days there hasn’t been any sign of an outside rescue or attack, we go back to the original plan.”
Teresa took Kip’s heart rate as she began to speak. “Sounds fair. And if the Brutes come for our pen during those three days, I’ll let them take me first. It's only fair that I go first if I’m going to be responsible for other people’s deaths.”
“No way, Teresa!” Santos shouted. “We need you to make sure people get treated if they’re hurt. I’ll go first if it comes to that!”
Cass interrupted. “No. Neither of you will go. Ivanoff… Richard sacrificed himself to make sure you all lived. I won’t let his sacrifice go to waste by letting one of you die now. I’ll do it, since if I can get away I’ll be able to stay unnoticed and find aid hopefully.”
“Well, I guess that settles it then.” Booth said as she wiped a little bit of mud off of her chest.