Stasis || Bucky Barnes (1)

Five

"Medic! Medic!"

Basil ducked as a blue canon blast blew apart a tree somewhere behind him. Splinters of wood raining over his helmet and his coat. The heavy medical bag banged against his side as he ran. Around him men screamed and wailed as they charged. Flashes of blue and dark soldiers in black gear. Explosions pounding in his skull. Blood on the forest floor. An occasional limb or body with empty eyes. Basil continued to run towards the call, his pulse pounding in his veins. His gun clutched to his chest.

The situation and dissolved faster than they could have anticipated. The hydra base was armed with a force half their size but each black helmeted soldier was armed with weapons more advanced than led bullets. They seemed to shoot blue energy that dissolved men to dust before his eyes. Huge armoured tanks that drove over the trees like kindling. All around him men in green were falling. Their ranks were shattered and their plan ruined. The 107th was being slaughtered.

"Retreat!" The cry was circling. "Retreat!"

Around Basil men were fleeing into the trees and away from the grey fortress. From the corner of his eye, Basil saw a man get shot in the back. He screamed as the blue shot burnt a hole through his chest. The corpse fell to the earth, helmet rolling away as black boots stomped past.

Basil fell to his knees at a fallen man's side. This one was still alive, another soldier kneeled at his side. It was Davis. His dark hair was stuck to his stuck to his forehead with sweat and he was panting heavily. There was a bloody wound on his side, just under his rib cage. He had been shot. The blue energy passing through the skin near the abdomen. Basil's hand scrabbled through his bag as he pulled out rolls of bandages. Next to him, Avery was sobbing. His gun in his lap.

"You need to go!" Basil ordered Avery as he began wrapping bandages round the wound. If they were lucky, he might just save Davis. He pressed down hard and the man groaned.

"Have you seen the others?" Avery croaked. Basil shook his head. He was lying. He had seen Todd get shot down. The tall man falling into the dirt, red hair stark against the brown. His body was lying dead somewhere. Blair he had not seen since the battle started. Bucky has also disappeared into the chaos. Basil hoped that both of them were still alive.

"Avery", Basil shouted. "You need to retreat before we get overwhelmed". Avery shook his head and sobbed harder. His blonde curls and young face streaked with dirt and blood. Basil cursed, Avery wasn't much more than a year older than him. Davis wasn't more than twenty three himself.

Basil worked faster, securing Davis' wound and managing to slow the bleeding. He looked up and paled. A line of black clothed men were advancing between the trees. Their guns were primed as they moved. He cursed under his breath and tightened the bandages as much as he could. "Help me get him onto his feet!" Basil ordered. Together, him and Avery pulled Davis' arms over their shoulders. Davis cried out at the sudden movement as they began to run through the trees. Davis a dead weight between them.

"You're not going to make it", Davis muttered, voice weak from pain and blood loss. "Leave me".

"Shut up", Avery shot back, gritting his teeth. "I'm not leaving you Bastian. I promised". He gripped Davis more securely and picked up his pace.

Basil looked back and sighed. The black line of advancing hydra soldiers were still coming but they were further away. "You!" He called. A soldier running behind them jogged over. He was a big man, broader than all three of them and looked to be in his early thirties.

"Yes corporal", he gave a messy salute.

"Take my place and help get these two out of here", Basil commanded. He pulled Davis' arm off his shoulders and passed him off to the big man. The soldier nodded, easily pulling Davis' weight so that the injured man was leaning on him.

"Parrish", Avery called. "Where are you going?"

"Retreat!" Basil called as he began jogging off through the trees. "Get out of here damn it!" Avery nodded and the three men disappeared into the trees.

Basil ran through the trees and round the deserting men. He pulled those who had fallen over to their feet and shoved them forwards. Time faded from reality as Basil bandaged wounds and pushed soldiers away from the enemy. Booms sounded as the canons blasted. Screams. His ears were nothing but white noise. However, he couldn't stop now.

His luck finally ran out after a while. He was knelt at the side of a soldier who had been his in the leg. Inner thigh, Basil couldn't help him. It was an artery and he hadn't gotten there in time. The man sobbed quietly as he bled out. Blue eyes glazing as he died in his arms. As Basil stood up a blue shot hit the tree over his shoulder. Jerking in surprise, Basil felt back onto the forest floor. The weight of his medical bag dragging him down as he unbalanced. Fingers scrabbled for his gun as black figures appeared in his vision. One shot, aimed badly out of pure adrenaline. Two shots, the gun clicking in his hands.

A boot kicked the gun out of his grasp and Basil was faced with a barrel pointed at his face. A hydra soldier had advanced from behind. Basil hadn't seen him until too late. Slowly, he raised his hands in surrender. The soldier pressed his boot heavily to Basil's chest. The weight making it hard for him to breath. Basil waited, heart pounding as he stared at the gun above him.

More black clothed soldiers advanced. They yelled something to each other in German, looking down at Basil. He glared at them but couldn't do much with the boot pining him to the ground. After a tense second where Basil really though he would die there, die with the scent of blood and the forest in his nose, the boot lifted. Before he could scrabble for a weapon, he was being heaved bodily to his feet and thrown into a tree. He hit the trunk hard. A hand cracked his skull against the wood and Basil saw stars. His medical bag was torn away as hands searched him. They were not kind. He was forced to his knees as they pulled everything from his pockets. Dimly, he could feel blood dripping down his forehead. He must have cut it on the bark.

One hydra man pulled a small paperback novel from his pocket and laughed. He tossed it to the floor and Basil scrabbled for it. He gripped the fragile paper in his hands as they stamped on his fingers. He clutched it tightly to his body, his brain blaring for him to protect it. One kicked him in the teeth and he grinned bloodily at them. After a few more minutes of beating, they appeared to grow bored. The two soldiers heaved him to his feet and began pulling him along through the forest. Basil stumbled, suddenly aware that the canon blasts had stopped. The air was hauntingly quiet.

As the trees thinned out and the hydra base appeared, Basil felt his blood chill. He just hoped that Avery and Davis had gotten away.