I BELIEVE IN YOU

PART 33 - ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

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Present day, clearing by the woods

Shen Wei was riding Daoji and Zurong ran beside him. Tori rode his horse about ten feet behind them, staying in the middle of the clearing and scanning the sky and woods for drones or movement.

Wei turned and took off Zurong's halter rope.

"I think you have it too easy, Sargent Zurong Liliang. Next run, I will saddle you and let Daoji run free."

Zurong tossed his head and took off before Wei said the command. Daoji followed. Soon they were galloping at top speed and turned at the end of the clearing.

"You REBELS! Bad horses!" Wei yelled as they took off.

He was unable to control Daoji which made him angry for giving Daoji loose reins in the first place. The horse took the bit in his teeth and went wherever he wanted to. "I know you don't like to follow rules, but this is unacceptable! Bad, bad horse!"

Tori saw drones lifting off of the tree tops. He shouted, but Wei couldn't hear anything. Tori's horse couldn't match Wei's horses to catch up, so he took his gun out and shot the ground near the horses and then shot at the drones.

The horses shied away from the bullet hitting the ground, and they heard the shots. Wei looked back and saw Tori waving him to the trees while shooting. Wei did not have a firearm but he gathered energy to blast the nearest drone that was firing bullets.

He yelled, "Swerve!" A command he taught all horses in the military and they performed zigzag patterns while running.

Tori kept firing at the drones coming over him as they headed toward Shen Wei. He pointed to the tree line again. And this time Wei slowed and took the horses under the tree canopy, after downing two drones by blasting one into another behind it. Tory continued shooting until he was under the trees. They slowly walked through them to make it hard for the drones to find them.

The drone operators must have been frustrated and so strafed the trees even when no enemy was visible. Tori called Chu and told him where the drones were. Chu relayed the info to the air force command. Tori had a tracker on his jacket and the air force arrived in 5 minutes, shooting the drones to pieces.

Wei and Tori rode to the fort. They unsaddled the horses, wiped them down, but Tori called someone and left abruptly.

Leaving without a word; It was unusual and Wei followed him.  Another guard came to escort Wei. "Where is Tori going?"

"To the med tent. He is wounded near his neck." The new guard had no reason to hide or lie about the fact that Tori was shot, though Tori said nothing about it.

Shen Wei ran faster than the new guard could and burst into the med tent. Tori was lying on a table with a doctor and nurse hovering over him. He grimaced and balled the table's sheet in his fist while they stripped off his shirt, cutting it with scissors.

The doctor put a rolled up cloth in Tori's mouth and said, "This will hurt even with the local medicine I gave you. You are bleeding too much and I have to get the bullet out and sew it up right now. We can't wait."

Wei started to sweat and squeezed his eyes shut. He was breathing rapidly. He heard the doctor ask the nurse for the forceps and scalpel. The smell of alcohol and medicine was strong. The tent was brightly lit and shadows fell on the floor. Wei shuddered when he opened his eyes and saw the shadows of the doctor and nurse moving their arms up and down.

They reminded him of ghosts. He is not afraid of ghosts, of course, but they represent the dead. He was afraid for Tori. Losing too much blood is a problem in their lightly equipped med tent. He thought, "Shouldn't I take him to the hospital?"