Archaeologist's Nightmare. (ONC 2020)

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I stumbled back out into the light of day for the first time in...Oh God, how many days had it been? Eight? Maybe nine? The light blinded me, and I couldn't drag an arm up to block the sun. I had to use the one hand to keep Adelaide where she lay over my shoulder, and the other was occupied with a shotgun. I could hear a lot of shuffling around me. Slowly my eyes adjusted and I could see figures. Blurry shapes of people standing around, raising...were those rifles? I blinked several times and squinted harder. standing behind barricades, in a rough circle around the mouth of the cave were  half a dozen men and women, dressed in full combat gear aiming their guns at Adelaide and I. As my eyes adjusted more, I could soon make out their faces, and they were terrified. I took one more step and one of the men barked out for me not to move. I furrowed my brow. Why? I dropped the shotgun, partly out of exhaustion, hoping that would earn some trust. I couldn't blame them. No-one except Adelaide knew anything about what was happening. I opened my mouth to try and ask for help, but before I could my left leg gave out and I fell to a knee. The force of the fall nearly made me drop Adelaide and send her into the dirt. I moaned in pain, but forced myself to recover enough to speak.

"Help. Ady was stabbed, she needs a doctor." None of them moved. I knew why but it still pissed me off. I could feel the sick, wet puddle spreading down my back as Adelaide's bleeding refused to stop. The guards shifted uncomfortably but didn't move closer. They thought it was some sort of trap. Of course they did. Why wouldn't they. "Please!" I shouted. 

"Jack!" A high pitched voice echoed from somewhere behind the gunmen. I strained my eyes and saw a short woman sprinting across the field just behind the barricade. She bolted past the guards before any of them could react and ducked underneath the barricade. Every muscle in my body relaxed and Adelaide began sliding off my shoulder.

"Natalie! Thank God!" Adelaide's shifting weight slumped me over further, and Natalie made it to us just in time to catch Adelaide as I finally lost my grip entirely. Natalie fell backwards, the limp body of a woman quite a bit taller than herself nearly crushing her. Soon after her I slumped too far and fell over too. Natalie reached out an arm and slowed my fall, but I was way too heavy for her, and all three of us went down. 

"Jack! Jack get up!" She exclaimed. "What happened to Adelaide?" She shouted when she saw the dark red stain on Adelaides dirty shirt.  "Where are the others?" I got my arms underneath me and made it back up to a kneeling position, breathing heavily. 

"I don't know." I mumbled. "I have no idea what happened. It was all just a mess." 

"Oh God, she's still bleeding bad. Hey Assholes!" She shouted back at the members behind her, some of which had lowered their guns. "Get some help here eh!" I hadn't heard Natalie slip back into her New York accent in a while, but she was so flustered it was getting progressively harder and harder to understand her. "One of ya's git back to camp and tell those dayum da'ctors to git ready for trouble!" At first none of them moved, but a few more lowered their rifles and they all looked around at each other. "Well Git movin' ya useless sacks of cannon-fodder! You!" She pointed a bloodstained hand at the nearest guard, "'Elp me wi' this one, and You." She pointed at one of the more muscle bound men, "Git Jack on 'is feet an follow me." I smiled a little. Natalie was always a little too take charge, and not for the first time, I was glad for it. Soon the two she had called out were helping Natalie carry Adelaide and prop me up as one of them bolted back towards the camp. It shouldn't be far, the cave mouth and base camp were all within the same little valley between two hills. I could easily see all the tents and trailer set up for our little crew. But I could see there were new trailers and a lot more cars around belonging to the Army. Once the man had me on my feet and started me walking, I was able to regain some balance and start walking on my own as we reached the edge of the camp.