The Five Unnecessaries

Chapter 27- Part 1

Alex leaned in to turn me around, carefully lifting my arm up and assessing the damage. He was out of breath. I couldn't imagine what he had done to get here. It almost proved my prayers were heard, but as he held his hand up, the tension rose again. There was rarely more than one Sentry on duty.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered.

"I got reassigned to this sector. I thought with all the kids living in these buildings, I'd be able to help some of them. Then it all became chaos tonight. There were too many of you in the Republic for any Sentry to be on standby. Yager and Hydech are both around here. We were together at first, but we split up."

He looked like he might be sick.

"Did one of them shoot me?"

Alex didn't answer. He pulled out and injected some kind of painkiller which gave me some instant relief. Still, he avoided my gaze. An idea pierced me, almost as sharp as the bullet. My voice shook.

"Did you shoot me?"

I was ready to unleash whatever energy I had left to condemn him. He pulled out another med pen. His eyes couldn't meet mine, but they stared at my wound, full of worry and regret.

"I'm sorry... I'm so..." He stopped to inject the next meds. "This should coagulate your blood, but if not, I'll have to cauterize."

"Please don't," I begged. If there was one part of field Med that scared me, it was having a flame-heated knife hitting my flesh.

"If the bleeding doesn't stop in five minutes, I'm doing it," he said, his voice unsteady but somehow resolute. "And I'm sorry. If I hadn't fired, Hydech would have taken the shot. And he doesn't miss. I told him I had you and I was locked on. If I'd missed you, he would have known I let you go. He would've killed both of us."

My anger boiled. I would have hit him if I had the use of both arms. Then again, his anguish might have stopped me. I found myself drawn into this game with him by still being alive.

I was now the piece of the game everyone was chasing. It made me wonder what move he was on and what move I should be making.

"What do they think you are doing here now?" I asked.

"Sweeping the building. I sent two of my men to the bottom floors. I have a few more minutes as a window to clear the building. Not enough time to cauterize, so keep pressure on it."

Alex looked toward the door, straining to hear. Footsteps echoed, climbing to the next floor.

His hand grasped the side of my head. He whispered, "Stay down, Aislyn. Stay down." He stood up and placed his gun on the opposite side of the room with the flashlight in his hand. Barely balanced, I lunged forward when he stood up, clinging to his leg so I didn't fall over. Alex turned as the door opened.

"Hydech, what are you doing here? I've got this floor."

"You've been up here for two minutes. If you were always this thorough, Sanderson, you would have killed your target instead of wounding her."

Alex lowered his weapon near his hip, pointed at the ground, inches away from my face. His stance was arrogant, but the hand holding the gun shook. I realized I was in the position that Collin never wanted me. Alex's life was now at risk, just as much as mine.

"You didn't do any better. At least I can hit one," Alex said playfully.

"Oh, you didn't hear? Since you were so busy on your little hunt, I got one five miles north of here about ten minutes ago."

Alex let out a scoff. "What about the 'it's not a competition speech' that the sergeant..."

Alex continued talking with Hydech. But I couldn't hear the words; the ringing in my ears grew louder. I clenched Alex's leg, hoping he wouldn't react in pain. I stared at the gun, still inches away, and a part of me wanted to wrench it out of his hands and kill Hydech where he stood. The sorrow paralyzed me, but I also couldn't risk Alex's life just to get revenge. When the ringing in my ears died down, I heard Hydech curse and Alex curse back, but jokingly wish him luck. Hydech left and continued up the stairs.

I looked up at Alex, now heaving breaths, his shoulders bent down in defeat. His expression looked pained. His eyes closed. I released his leg and he melted down to the floor.

"I'm so sorry, Aislyn. I was hoping he wouldn't get there in time. I even tried to divert him. I'm so sorry."

I listened for something insincere in his apology, but didn't find it. He reached for my hand, pulling it up to look at my arm.

"It looks like the bleeding is slowing, and considering how fast your blood was just pumping, I think you'll be okay to get home. I only have one minute, so any questions will have to wait until I get back. You should know..." He pulled my head up to see one glint of hope. "We saw your Unnecessary get to the fence. They didn't pursue because of the higher targets in the area. She's okay."

I breathed some relief as he moved some boxes around me. He pulled a vial from his pocket. I didn't recognize it.

"This isn't for sleep, is it?" I asked.

"No. This serum will cool your body temperature and slow your heartbeat. It changes your bodily functions, just enough to register as non-human on a drone's thermal scanners. The drones only identify anything with a temp 98.1 or higher to expedite searches. You'll be cold and miserable, but alive. It'll wear off in five hours. In eight hours, I'll sweep the buildings again, because we will have moved all the units off to other areas. I will come back for you. I promise I'm doing everything I can to keep you alive."

"Like shoot me?" I asked.

But I couldn't hide my fear. My lower lip quivered. Worry stretched over his face, contorting his striking features. He hesitated, but held out his hand. There were a hundred reasons why I shouldn't grasp it, but seeing him risk his life still made a strong case against them.

"You can trust me," he spoke in an urgent whisper. "But take this vial now, or we don't have a chance."

I stared in his eyes. Intensity and concern swirled there, both of which I had never expected to find.

I needed to know why he was helping me.

If I didn't take the vial, I'd never know. Once again, curiosity pushed me forward.

I took the vial and downed it, swallowing hard against the cold and harsh tasting substance. He held out a water canteen for me. There were gunshots in the distance as I drank. I panicked, but found it impossible to react, as if the meds had paralyzed me. If he betrayed me now, I was helpless. Maybe he recognized my fears. He laid me on the floor, as gently as he could.

"I've got you. Don't worry, Aislyn. I've got you. I'm not giving up on you now. I'll be back. I promise."

My teeth chattered. Something muffled my hearing. The cold overtook my body faster than I thought possible.

I stared at dirty cardboard, inked with a handwritten message. I couldn't think of how to read it or make any sense out of it.

A part of me screamed something in my mind, to remember it, that it was important. But I didn't. I fell into the power of drug-induced sleep, thinking of my promise to Collin.

That I would come back.

And Alex's promise was the only hope of me keeping my promise alive.