Strength Together

Chapter 5

TW: Blood, medical, guns, violence, mild language
WC: 2488

Ophelia paced the small living space in the safe house she was stationed in. It had been a few hours now since they had left and she was growing to hate the silence. The men who were stationed outside and in the safe house didn't speak much to each other or her, making these last few hours incredibly lonely.

After the fifth hour ticked by, the men outside the safe house began to shout. Something was wrong and the hairs lining her arms stood on end as she tuned into their words.

"We've been found. Get her in a vehicle now! Move! Move!" One of the guards shouted, unfortunately his words were followed by gunfire and it sounded close.

Ophelia had followed Ghost into the shooting range many times but she always had earmuffs. She had never heard gunfire without them before and it was loud, too loud. Her hands flung to her ears as she stifled a cry. Strong hands gripped her under her arm and dragged her outside. He had her medical bag slung over his arm as he pushed her out the door and into an armored truck.

"They found us, Doctor. We need to move and fast." One of the guards she had learned was called Sergeant Fang, demanded as he moved faster than she could. It wasn't long before he had her in the truck. She could see two of the five guards laying dead on the ground near the safe house as the truck sped off. The other three were in the truck already, heads sticking out of the truck windows, ready to fire back if needed.

"Where are we going?" Ophelia shouted over the chaos.

"The next safe house. It was marked on your map, remember?" Sergeant Fang responded as he focused on driving down the dirt road to the next safe house which was 3 clicks away.

Ophelia tried her best to calm her heartbeat, something was wrong, not just with them over taking her safe house, but there was something else keeping her nerves from calming.

"Captain, do you copy?" Sergeant Fang asked through his coms now that they had managed to cover some ground.

Ophelia could hear the faint static of Captain Price responding on the other end of the small earpiece Sergeant Fang wore. A small wave of relief washed over her, Price was alive.

"Ghost? I thought that man couldn't be taken down." The conversation was one sided for Ophelia but that alone told her what she needed to hear. Her heart sank, tears threatened to spill.

"She'll be at the safe house 'hound'. I'm sure you can see that the safe house 'rover' has been overrun." He listened for a beat. "Yes sir, I'll have her medical station set up as soon as we get there. Over."

Ophelia turned her whole body towards Sergeant Fang in anticipation of any shred of good news.

"Ghost is injured. Bad. If you don't start working as soon as they reach us, he won't make it." Fang informed her as he pushed the accelerator down as far as it would go.

Mixed emotions flooded her, he was alive but not for long if she didn't do all she could. "Are Gaz and Price okay?"

"As far as I can tell, yes. The safe house is just up ahead. They should be close. Check your GPS to see how far out they are." Sergeant Fang was more than helpful with his calm tone, keeping her from fully breaking down. This was the most action she had ever been in.

The new safe house wasn't that different from the first, the same run down look but somewhat cleaner on the inside. Sergeant Fang was quick to set her new base up. The other two men stood guard as she set up her station. She cleared the full sized dining room table of any debris, making a place for her to work. She pulled up a chair from the table and began laying out her supplies. She had no idea what his injury was but she prepared for it all.