The Tomorrow War {Dan forester}

Part 10

I felt my body hit concrete as a groan of pain escaped me. 

I slowly sat up as I heard voices all around me. I felt somebody grab me and I flailed out. My fist caught somebody in the gut as I scrambled up. I felt a wave of nausea overcome me as I stumbled and fell back to the ground. This time when the hands returned, I didn't resist and instead let sleep take me away. 

---

I groaned awake, rolling over on some sort of cot and looking around. I saw Dan next to me and the lady from before over top of me. She stared down at me and smiled. 

"You're okay now." she told me. I squeezed my hand shut and felt the vial in it.

"You have to take this. This is the toxin. It's gonna kill them all. " I started explaining. 

"And we have to mass-produce it and send it back," a groggy voice finished. I looked over to see Dan push himself up into a sitting position on the cot he was currently occupying. 

"The Jumplink just went offline, we can't send anything back." the lady told us. "We can't travel to the future. It's over." 

I saw Dan still and start talking to himself. I heard someone call for a Lieutenant Hart and the lady rushed away. She must have been Lieutenant Hart. 

I saw Dan glance at the other side of him. I looked over to see Charlie laying face down in the cot. 

"Charlie, you made it," Dan said, sounding exhausted but a little more happy than he was before.

He slowly turned to look at us and started to panic, thinking something was really wrong with him but then he said, "I hid."

I slowly laid back down and processed what he said as the words bounced around in my head. 

I hid

---

It all went by in a blur after that. I remember somebody coming in and cleaning and bandaging up my arm. I remember getting back the stuff that was on my personnel when we jumped. I remember someone taking the band off my arm. I remember walking out into a crowd, most of them doomed to walking away with a casket instead of their loved ones. And I remember realizing none of them were there for me. 

I pushed my way through the crowd and headed out of the building. I pulled my hood up over my head as I walked home, hating the fact I had not driven here a week before, knowing someone would have noticed the car gone. 

'A week. Can't believe it's been a fucking WEEK.' I hiccuped and felt tears start running down my cheeks. I cried as I headed home. 

A half hour later, I turned and started down Kindle's driveway.  I stepped onto her porch and slowly knocked on the door. I heard Nancy yell for Kindle and I smiled, excited to see her again. 

"Coming!" Kindle yelled as I heard her deadlock get pushed back. 

She flung open the door and she dropped the plate of food she was holding, the glass smashing as it hit the ground. 

"EMILY!" Nancy yelled as she pushed past her and flung herself into my arms. I cringed as she hit my arm and a bolt of pain flashed up it but I bit my lip to keep myself from making any noise.

Kindle finally smiled and started sobbing as she ran forward and hugged me tight. 

"Emily! Thank god you're alive!" she was sobbing and I hugged her close, refusing to let go of them both. 

After a while, Kindle pulled back and invited me in.  Nancy was still holding on to me but I couldn't support her weight with just one arm so I had to put her down. I walked in and shut the door behind me. I heard a crunch under my shoe and remembered the plate that had shattered moments earlier.