Survivor

Chapter 44

Shepard
  Sweat ran down my brow and seemed to cling to my whole body, but I refused to stop for a break. As did the rest of my search team.
  We all walked along the rubble of yet another terrorist sabotage of one of the co-op shelters for those working on repairs on Earth.
  They had blown the two story building while the off shift workers had been sleeping. Over 200 people in the building.
  The easy access survivors had been removed already. 163 people removed alive, only 9 dead, but most were injured in some way. Even dust inhalation could be deadly to some races.
  Now it was our turn to use our Omni-Tools to scan for life forms, and then once located, work together to dig them out.
We were all working quietly, our first rescue mission as a team taken with a grim air about us.
My scanner vibrated and gave a ping, causing me to stop in my tracks. "I've got a life form!" I called as loud as I could before I closed my scanner and took a knee as the others hurried over.
The mound of rubble in front of me was composed mostly of concrete, with rebar and the occasional spatter of glass.
"Human, according to my scanner," I announced as my six teammates arrived.
"Alright, let's start with the topmost section of concrete here to get some weight off of the victim. Shepard, Khirus, you're the spotting team. If this shifts too much when we move things around, don't hesitate to call a halt. Are we good?" Artemis assessed us, looking for a negative answer, but we were all as ready as we could be for this.
Khirus moved to the other side of the mound, out of the way, and the rest got to work on moving the rubble away.
  Things seemed to move slowly and quickly at the same time somehow, as my teammates worked to remove the rubble as carefully and quickly as possible.
  Every time we heard some pebbles falling or thought it was about to shift, we all held our hands up and gave a brief pause to let the mound settle before the work began again.
  It was nothing less than stressfully tense to say the least.
I could feel the tension in the air, as we progressed. Occasionally Artemis would cast a questioning look at me, and I would reassure him that my scammer was still picking up life underneath with a thumbs up at him.
Two hours later, he approached me as the men kept working.
"I'm not sure what kind of condition we're going to find him in- if we even find him. This is getting ridiculous. There's a possibility the scanner malfunctioned..."
I shook my head immediately. "No. Not on our first positive life it couldn't have. That man or woman is down there, and it's our responsibility to find them. They're waiting for help. Expecting help. We can't let them down!" My voice had risen above the low tones we had been using, earning us a couple questioning looks that frustrated Artemis.
He grabbed my shoulder and moved us a few steps further from the mound. "Shepard, I know you want to save everyone, I know you've been able to do it, but do you think maybe... Maybe your experiences have your judgement a bit clouded?" Guilt was written on his face for even asking but it didn't stop my anger from exploding.
"You know what, Artemis? Take that comment and-"
Suddenly my angry retort was cut off by a shout from the men at the mound and they waved us over.
"Commander, we have something!"
Immediately I ran back as Artemis followed, calling in an emergency survivor extraction.
I skidded to a halt next to the small crater that had been made where the mound was and knelt with the others as we cleared away pebbles to reveal the body inside.
Sure enough, we uncovered a woman, probably in her twenties, her breaths shallow, her body battered and somewhat burned, clothes in bad condition.
The men moved to pull her out but I held up a hand. "Don't! Don't move her. She's already unstable. It's best if we wait for the medic to stabilize her first. Otherwise this will all have been for nothing."
As if stirred by my voice, the woman's eyes fluttered open and her breaths came faster as she took in the light and so many people around her.
"Where- where am I?" She asked through swollen lips.
"It's okay, you're safe," I said, even as my heart broke for her and my own anxiety threatened me.
How I wished that this is the sight I would have seen, instead of darkness. Felt the fresh air on my skin and in my lungs, instead of hot, old air that couldn't even feed my starving lungs.
I took her hand into mine and looked her in the eye. "What's you're name?"
Her frantic eyes met mine and she seemed to think and calm down as she worked the answer through her lips. "I'm Rose. Rose Wortham."
I smiled at her. "Alright Rose. You're okay now. We've got a medical transport coming for you right now."
She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "What happened? I had just gone to bed, then next thing I knew there was a loud sound and then..."
A sob escaped her and I used my free hand to brush her dirty hair from her face. "Don't worry about that right now. Do you have anyone you're looking forward to seeing?"
She nodded. "Wesley. We worked together but he was working when this happened. We were supposed to grab coffee together before my shift..."
"Well when he finds out you're okay, I'm sure he's going to bring you all the coffee you can drink. All the loved ones of the people caught in this are waiting for them at a central location. Every time someone is found, their name is announced and the loved ones can go ask about them at the desk."
"Really? Do you think he's there?"
"If he's as special as I think he is, he'll be there. He'll know you're alive in his heart  and wait for your name to be called."
I heard the shuttle approach, and hunched over Rose to shield her from the dust blowing about as it settled into its LZ.
Footsteps hurried to us and five medics laid a body board down across from me and edged me out as they worked to check her wounds and stabilize her and her broken bones.
"She's going to be okay," Artemis said next to me.
I turned to face him, fiery anger flashing in my eyes as I did. "So who the hell was letting emotions cloud their judgement? If it would have been up to you, she would have died down there! You fucking trust your equipment, because that's all you have to save the lives you were assigned to save. Otherwise, people die!"
He shook his head, his mandibles clenched to his face tightly in anger. "Yeah? How many other people died while we were trying to dig this single woman out?"
I shook my head, despite the guilt and anxiety tightening my stomach. "You can't think of that. What you have to think of is the here and now. What you're doing. Otherwise, you lose more people. You lose the one you found and the ones that would have been lost while you were able to save the single. It may seem brutal, it may seem unnecessary to have to chose, but you'll learn. Just not the hard way, though. Not on my watch."
I brushed past him to help the medics lift her body board and run it to the shuttle.
"You're in great hands now, Rose." I assured her one last time with a smile.
She smiled at me, now having been administered painkillers and medi-gel. "Thank you. Now I can say I've been saved by an Angel. The angel everyone thought was dead. She saves the living now."
My heart twisted as the medics forced me to back off and they shut the door, allowing the pilot to raise the shuttle into the air and back toward the hospitals.
"I'm no angel," I whispered as I watched them fly off until they were no more than a speck in the sky.
I turned around to see the others watching me, some looking for instruction, others in awe. Artemis simply glared, but I brushed him off.
"Let's get moving," I croaked, my voice cracking from the yelling.
Everyone immediately fell into the path that was set for us at the beginning of the search and rescue mission, all using their scanners to search for more survivors.
As much as I wanted to save them all, I wasn't looking forward to the toll I knew seeing all those battered forms was going to take on me.
Instead of excitement, I felt dread.
Dread for the added demons with each person we rescued.

((A/N: Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll admit I got stumped as to how to write this for a moment but when I got to sit down and separate myself from reality it became easier. I've got a few surprises for you guys in store, plus we all know there's a wedding coming now... Or is there? Lol
Don't forget that you can make my day by hitting that little vote button so I know you liked this chapter, and I would love to see any comments! Thank you guys so much for reading! Your support just means so much to me! Over 2,000 reads now! It's amazing and touching! You guys are awesome!! Thank you for that!!! Keelah Se'lai!))