Colors (Crankiplier)

Chapter 14 :

I woke up with a start.

I looked around myself and noticed that I was in a car with my soldiers. I was still in Mark's arms. He had put the gas mask on me which had probably saved me.

"Ethan?" Mark said slowly and I took off the gas mask.

"I'm here." I whispered and sighed. At least I could still talk.

Mark was crying. I slowly moved my hand up and wiped the tears on his cheek. Mark smiled at me. I could see that the gas had taken its toll on him. He looked run down and his voice was hoarse. Just like mine, probably.

I sat up but stayed on Mark's lap. I looked around and noticed that almost all of the team leaders were here.

Almost.

"Peter, report." The green team's leader straightened up as I called them.

"Most of our troops made it out in time. Some team leaders chose to stay with their troops while we chose to stay with our Chief, Chief!" I smiled at them and at all the soldiers present in the car.

"To how much has the loss been estimated?" Peter frowned.

"We've counted fifty plus before leaving, but I'm not sure it's the right number considering how fast we left. And we don't know the effects of the gas yet. Soldiers could be dying as we're speaking. That's all Chief." I nodded at them.

"I know the gas. I created but discarded it because of its effectiveness and hard nature to contain. I know how to make an antidote." Or at last I think so.

My soldiers sighed in relief. I looked at Mark and he kissed my forehead.

I relaxed into him. That was nice.

-+-

I woke up to Mark gently shaking my shoulder. "We're here, blue." I rubbed my eyes but winced as it stung.

Right.

The gas.

I got up and stretched a bit. "Where's everyone?"

"I told them to regroup in the infirmary. Well, as well as they could anyway." I nodded and started walking to my tent to start working on an antidote. Mark was following me which was good.

"We counted everyone. We've lost 129 soldiers." I stopped walking at that and took a deep breath.

"I need to get working on that antidote or that number'll keep growing." Moping would get me nowhere.

I got under my tent and immediately started working. I got my material out and started searching for my blueprint of the gas.

"Is this it?" Mark asked slowly and I looked up to see him holding up the exact blueprint I was looking for.

"Yes. Thank you. Place it here please." I said while pointing at my work station.

Mark could help me.

"Do you have a good memory?" I asked quickly while studying the blue print.

Right. I remembered now.

"I'm a fast learner." Was Mark's answer. "Good enough."

I collected the chemicals I needed to make for the antidote and laid them out in front of me. "Ok. If you've got questions, ask them immediately and I'll try to answer. This stuff seems pretty logical to me so I'm not great at explaining." Mark nodded and I smiled at him.

"The gas hurts your throat and damages your esophagus which causes internal bleeding as well as suffocation. To undo this effect, we will need to trigger vomiting in the subject to relax the throat -yes that seems weird, but rust me. We will also need to patch up any sore throats as well as eyes. Nothing some honey and salted water can't do." Mark furrowed his eyebrows.