ALICE

Chapter 48: MOBILIZE

 Nearly half an hour later, Alice hit the ground. She tumbled in the snow. As she rolled over the ground she accidentally punched a rock beside her. She grunted as her knuckle fractured. When she finally stopped, Alice sat up, clutching her gloved hand. She pulled it off, and gingerly rolled up her sleeve. The burn was worse than she thought, up to her elbow. She took a handful of snow and put it on the burn, along with the broken hand. It was a small relief.

 She then opened up her rucksack and pulled out the first-aid kit. She popped it open and pulled out a roll of bandages. She then got a small tube of burn ointment and rubbed it gently onto the arm. It stung at first just to touch it but it got better eventually. Alice then paid attention to the hand. She had no splints or anything like that, and so she took a peice of rubber in her teeth, and her own hand in her other and pushed down on the ring finger knuckle until it clicked into place. She pushed her mouth into her sleeve and screamed into it. Now that her knuckle was set, continuing to apply heavy pressure to the knuckle so it didn't slide back. She then wrapped the bandage around the hand, as tight as possible, pinning it together. Then she slipped her glove back on, put the stuff back in the kit, back into the bag, and the bag on her shoulders. She pulled off her parachute, and picked up her rifle where it had fallen further behind her. Alice pulled the black insect-like mask off of her face, sucking in the cold air from the snow.

 Alice took the laborious task of folding up her white parachute into a small bundle. She then moved to a tree well in the deep snow and stowed the parachute there, along with the oxygen mask and the tank, then burying it in snow. Satisfied that her presence was hidden, she paid attention to her walkie-talkie, ready to switch it on to speak to her team, but when her hand touched it, she felt something wrong. She looked down to her vest where her different gear hung, ammo pockets, a .45 pistol horizontally holstered in her diaphragm area, her combat knife, and what was a radio. The entire bottom part was missing, with just an antenna left. She swore.

 Alice's only other form of communication was a short range mission headset that was to be used when you were close to your team so you could listen without being detected. She put it over her ear, and switched it on. She heard nothing. She switched it off again.

 Alice needed to make sure her weapons worked. She pulled out the .45 pistol, the fat suppressor on the end. Alice slid the mag out of the bottom, and put her hand near the ejection port as she pulled the slide back and caught the round in the chamber. She put them in her pocket and laid the gun out on the most dry part of the ground. She unscrewed the silencer from the gun and set it down, then pulling the slide off. She looked at the barrel, ensuring it wasn't dented or cracked, potentially causing the gun to misfire or even explode. It was in excellent condition. She looked up the handle to make sure the springs and such were good. The gun was good enough to fire, to make one final check, she reassembled it, silencer and all, pulling the slide back and using her thumb to pull the hammer back as if it was loaded to fire, and lined up the subtle iron sights with a slender tree trunk. She squeezed the trigger, letting a quiet thud erupt from the gun.

 Alice did similar tests on her rifle, and determining it was in good condition, she finally began to move. The trees were dense, but the snow was firm underfoot. She was wearing a heavy coat, yet was still shivering slightly as she moved throughout the forest.

 Alice thought to climb a tree, perhaps get a lay of the land or at least find a member of the team. It was just bare, desolate trees over acres of snow.