Chapter 43: What We Leave Behind

Liquid was aiming her P90 forward, ready to take down whatever came her way. More often than not though, she just double tapped the zombies on the ground Roach left in the wake of his carnage. His tactical tomahawk in one hand and a fire axe he found in the other, her partner was simply waltzing among the B.O.W like a tornado of steel or the Grim Reaper on speed.

Zombies were either decapitated or lost a leg, making them fall to the ground. Hunters had their skull split in half and the few lickers encountered had their huge oversized brain sliced vertically, the severed part usually being sent flying.

All Liquid had to do was make sure everything he left behind was dead for good.

The sight of him going and going without stopping reminds her of their mission on the Spencer Rain. The difference this time was that the corridors were not cluttered and narrowed. Roach didn’t have to stop or fight restrained. He was going all out and Liquid could barely keep up with the cadence.

She could understand why and agree with what he was doing. Sky was in dire trouble and wounded. Not only that, she had left behind a trail of blood directly to her.

Roach quickly found the fire escape. It had been easy, they were always either positioned at the edge of the building or right in the middle. Since they were cut off from the whole West Wing and they had found none in the center area, it only left East.

From B4 they went to B5, Roach giving Liquid a few moments to catch her breath in this relatively secure place. She felt an ounce of jealousy watching him breathing as if he hadn’t exerted himself while she felt her lungs burn. Usually when she felt like this, it was because she was completely knackered after hours of sex and he was still ready to go.

Before opening the door to the floor, Roach checked with her if Liquid was ready. A curt nod told him that she was.

“Sky said she was hit by a bullet, so be ready to hit the deck and stay farther away from me.”

Another nod and he stepped outside the fire escape. Immediately he started to run at a pace Liquid could follow. At the first intersection he focused on his hearing trying to find any sound, any noise that could give him a direction to go. He didn’t have to wait long before he heard faint voices coming from the right.

Roach signaled Liquid who was a dozen feet back and followed what he heard. Not waiting for her, he went ahead. After another intersection, still following his ears, he went left but not before creating a wide gash onto the wall to indicate to his partner the path he took.

He found bodies of mercenaries along the way. The letters ‘HCF’ written on their back. From a quick look, he noticed bullet wounds. Immediately he thought of it being Sky’s handiwork. Since he had found a blood trail from the way he came he supposed that she was further down the current path he was on.

At a four way intersection he found more bodies but this time there was a bloody handprint on the wall leading forward. Another hit of the fire ax on the concrete wall for Liquid and he kept going.

The voices were getting louder now and he heard something heavy knocking against something made of metal. Thanks to his enhanced eyes he was able to see clearly through the weak luminosity and the red light emitted by bulbs powered by a secondary power source.

Right there was a group of six men in front of a reinforced door. Two of them were swinging a ram straight into it. Roach didn’t even hesitate. He sped up and threw the fire awe onto one of the two, burying the entirety of the blade into its head and killing him on the spot. Before the other could react he was already relieving the head of the closest mercenary to him with his tomahawk.

Only then did they act. They pointed their guns at Roach and fired. He dodged the bullet with ease. To them he had just disappeared out of sight to reappear behind the one nearest to the wall. As if he had teleported. The poor man had his head crushed against concrete into a paste while the tomahawk lodged itself into the chest of its intended target. The two soldiers left aimed again but Roach drew his sidearm and put a bullet in each of their heads before they could pull the trigger.

Setting his foot firmly on the one still breathing, Roach pulled out his axe and let the guy bleed to death. Confirming everyone was dead, he picked up his radio and contacted Sky.

“This is Roach. Ma’am, I think I’m outside your room.”

“So they stopped… knocking because they’re… dead.” Sky answered through the comms. “I’m sorry… I don’t think I… the strength to…”

The conversation cut off abruptly. Understanding that he had very little time, Rick tried to burst the door open with the ram. Unfortunately, the amount of strength he put into the very first hit was too much for the handles which broke. Without explosives there was no way for him to create a breach.

‘Come on! There must be something! What the use of all those abilities if I’m blocked by a fucking door! That never stopped Mr—’

His eyes widened at the thought that crossed his mind. He didn’t even ponder if it was possible or not or if it was asinine. He simply moved to the side and as far away as possible from the wall. Taking a deep breath, he ran as fast as he could against the concrete, arms raised protectively in front of his face.

Where anyone else would have just flattened violently with a concussion at best, Roach went straight through. Debris and blocks were sent flying everywhere but he got inside the room. With the adrenaline coursing through his body, his hyper alertness caught the sound of a hammer being cocked. Reacting on the spot he rolled forward and dogged a couple of bullets.

Turning around, reading to strike, he saw Sky on the ground with a good amount of blood pooling under her. She had a hand on the side of her stomach.

“R-Roach?” She said weekly when she realized who it was. Her face had lost all its color making her look like cadaveric with the blue lips on top of the paleness of her skin.

Quickly he went to her side. “I’m as surprised as you are, ma’am.” Dropping his tomahawk to the ground, he opened his medical pouch with one hand while he pry away hers from her wound with the other to have a look.

“You shouldn’t…” She didn’t even bother finishing her sentence. Roach wasn’t even listening to her anymore, too focused on treating her.

“Alright. Bad news, you probably lost a kidney. Good news, the bullet went through.” Quickly, he drew his knife from his boots and cut the straps of her tactical vest then the cloth of her winter suit to have a better look and better access to the wound.

“Take… Take…”

He barely acknowledged her. “Shut up, ma’am, I’m busy.”

Picking up his anti-septic spray he used all he had left on both sides of the injury. Just like Liquid earlier, Sky reacted to it. However, instead of grunting and stifling her pain, she screamed loudly, too weak to hold it back.

“Roach are you in— Shit, Sky!”

Liquid had made it to the room through the auxiliary entrance Roach had created and quickly made her way to them. She kneeled down on her Captain’s opposite side to not bother Roach.

“Liquid? I thought…”

“We lied.” She quickly cut Sky off. “We didn’t know who the traitor is, still don’t, so by saying I was dead we were hoping they would drop their guard. Roach is the one with the highest survival rate so it made more sense for him to be still alive. We also didn’t know if our comms were taped or not.”

“I don’t… It wasn’t one of us… I think the leak comes… from outside.”

“Or the lead is someone on Team Beta.” Roach corrected in his pragmatic tone. “Shit, I can’t only slow down the bleeding, not stop it.” He shared with gritted teeth.

“In my… vest… There is… a hard… drive.”

Liquid immediately took the bloodied tactical gear. From one of the front pockets she found a thick USB stick and tucked it into her own vest. “Need help?” She asked Roach.

“Yeah. Put pressure on the wound.”

Letting go of her P90 which swung down thanks to the straps it was attached to, Liquid put both her hands on the red compressed over the bullet hole. Roach, picked up his sidearm and pulled the slide back multiple times. Each time a bullet was expulsed from the chamber.

Taking pliers from another pouch, he secured the butt of the cartridge with it and the tip of the bullet with his teeth. Pulling strongly he separated the two and poured the black powder into the discarded wrapping of the compress.

Liquid’s eyes went as big as saucer when she saw him do that. “You’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re thinking of doing, are you?”

“It’s that or she dies.” Roach spat the bullet and took another cartridge in hand.

Quickly he recovered all the black powder he could and signaled Liquid to move. She took the compress with her and threw it to the side. It was with worry and apprehension that she watched her partner funnel everything into the wound, using one of the antidote injection pens he had left to make sure the powder reached the bullet exit hole on Sky’s back through its path. Without surprise, the woman screamed in pain.

Roach gave Liquid a look and she quickly folded a strap from Sky’s discarded vest to put it in her mouth.

“Be ready to slap the shit out of her if she goes into shock.” He warned while discarding the pen.

Taking a lighter from his own tactical gear, he put it close to the wound to ignite the black powder.

“On three. One…” He never finished counting and simply turned the spark wheel.

What was expected to happen, happened. A bright flame roared through the entry wound and propagated up to the exit, burning the flash along the way and cauterizing every blood vessel. Sky had let out a blood curling scream, muffled by her jaw clenching on the strap and passed out. It wasn’t ideal. It was dangerous even but at least Sky had stopped bleeding from what Roach could see.

Checking her pulse, he barely found one. “Liquid!”

Her hand was already midway to Sky’s face but she got no response.

“Grab her legs and pull them up!” Roach quickly removed the rest of Sky’s suit and began CPR. He blew air into her mouth then massaged her chest but the Captain had no reaction. He did it again and again but to no avail. “Damnit! Don’t you die on us!” In desperation he slammed the palm of his hand onto her chest with quite a bit more strength. A few ribs cracked under the sudden strong pressure, he could tell but it didn’t matter. Sky had taken a deep breath as a result but was still unconscious.

“Oh, god.” Liquid exclaimed in a mix of relief, worry and fear.

Roach wasn’t done however. “She needs a transfusion and I can’t give her my blood.”

“I’m AB.”

“I know.” His dry answer didn’t hurt Liquid one bit, there wasn’t time for that kind of sentimentality right now. Thinking fast, Roach came to a conclusion. “We need to go back to the plane. There is everything we need there.”

Her protest came swiftly. “It’s three km away! And it’s the middle of the night! We’re in a bio weapon research lab, isn’t there—”

“Exactly! If there is blood here, it’s probably contaminated. I won’t risk it.” Roach removed his tactical gear then his coat to wrap Sky in it. “I’ll carry her.”

“It’s under 30° outside!”

Making sure she wouldn’t feel the cold too much, Roach put back his tactical vest on. “Do you have a better idea?!”

Liquid bit her lips, shaking her head. She had none. Reaching the plane who had all the medical equipment needed to stabilize Sky was the only option they had other than letting her die here. Resolute, she sighed.

“Help me carry her on my back.”

Roach kneeled down and let Liquid position Sky in pack-strap carry. With their Captain unconscious, she couldn’t hold onto Roach’s neck so Liquid had to attach her with her own belt. Once their commanding officer was secure, Roach picked up her P90, checked the number of bullets it had and put the full spare magazine he had into a front pocket.

He checked with his partner if she was ready and when he got an okay sign he exited the room and made their way back. A few feet away a violent explosion shook their surroundings and debris fell in front of the fire escape door. Roach grabbed the biggest boulder and tossed it to the side freeing the way. Unfortunately for them the stairs had collapsed.

Without so much as exchanging a word, they backtracked a bit and took another direction. If the East fire escape was unusable then then it left the West one. Turning at a corner, Roach fired a hail of bullets into a group of mercenaries he had heard coming long before. None survived, dead before their brain could register him, Liquid and the surprise at seeing them.

It was a long detour they did and they may have gotten lost a bit but they finally reached the fire escape and went back up to ground level. The front entrance was closed and the entry point Team Alpha used was crawling with Zombies now. With not much of a choice, they turned around and went for Team Beta’s infiltration point. While there weren’t any B.O.W to deal with, the area was almost completely destroyed. Barely standing walls, mercenaries bodies, fires…

“Liquid.” Roach pointed at a body, split into two at the waist. It was one of theirs and from the size and build it could only be one person.

“God, White.” She walked to the top part of her friend’s body and picked up her dog tags.

White was the expert medic of Team Beta which was more of an assault and demolition team while Team Alpha was an infiltration and assassination one. He had been the ‘rookie’ of the Unit before Roach and Liquid joined. If they remembered correctly, he had a boyfriend of three years waiting at home.

Going down the path they found the rest of their comrades. Queen, Blast, Chaser and finally Snark. All had a few people waiting for them at home with the exception of Chaser whose last relative passed away eighteen months ago.

From the marks of battle, the dead mercenaries and the dead bio-weapons surrounding the place, Roach could tell they were attacked by surprise by the B.O.W, first. Blast split open skull reminded him of damage done by a Licker’s tongue.

‘He must have been the first to die.’ He thought.

Liquid was picking up their dog tags when she spoke up. “From the position of the corpses, the mercenaries must have come after when they were already tired and almost out of ammo. Queen must have sent White to join our group.”

“And the mercenaries we encountered must have been the leftovers from here.”

They crossed the area and Roach silently ponder why Team Beta had been confronted with human opposition when Team Alpha only dealt with bio-weapons. A question that maybe only Sky knew the answer to.

Just as they exited the area, Liquid fell to the ground as a gunshot echoed. Roach immediately turned around, his hearing and sight helping with locating the shooter. When he saw a mercenary sitting down against a wall, heavily wounded, he didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger while aiming at the head and killed him on the spot.

“Liquid?” He called out to her while scanning the room for more unpleasant surprises.

“I’m… I’m alright.” She said in a weak voice. “He hit nothing vital but…”

Roach turned to her and analyzed the situation. The bullet had caught her in her calf and from the size of the bullet hole, the projectile was still lodged in her muscle.

“Go on… take—”

Roach didn’t even bother listening to her. He walked back to White’s body and took all the medical supplies he could before going back to Liquid. Removing the bullet, disinfecting the area and bandaging the wound took less than five minutes. Time hadn’t been an issue. The issue was that Liquid couldn’t walk properly if at all.

“It’s alright, I can do it.” Her lie was as weak as her smile. There was no way she could walk three km in the snow in total darkness and they both knew it.

Her partner wasn’t about to leave her here however and swept her off offer feet to carry her in a bridal carry. It was so insane a move from his part that she let out a tired and done chuckle. It was more out of despair and resignation than anything.

“It’s alright, Roach. I can—”

“Shut up. That’s what you can do.” He cut her off, walking toward the exit. “I’m not leaving you behind. Period.”

“You’re a fool.” Liquid muttered but didn’t fight him on this. There was no point because he wouldn’t listen. Instead she rested her head against his shoulder.

“So are you for underestimating me. I’m going to run as fast as I can. Once we’re on the plane, I’ll deal with Sky first while you use the satellite phone to contact the Major and request for back up and report. Afterward we improvise.”

She said nothing and simply closed her eyes. She felt the breeze of the cold winter wind smack her face as Roach was carrying her and Sky at inhuman speed. When the wind stopped and only the cold remained, she dared take a look, thinking there was another problem blocking their escape.

To her surprise, the plan was less than a hundred feet in front of them.

“What the fuck?” Liquid whispered and only then did she notice how rough Roach was breathing. It was now obvious that he had run as fast as he could without stopping and make the distance as short as possible. She didn’t know how long her eyes had been closed but she was certain it had been only for a few minutes.

Silently, Roach approached the plane and let Liquid down. He opened the side door and helped her get in. Once inside, he closed the door behind him and went straight to the crew area. He mentally thanked the Major for agreeing to modify the plane and make it a mobile base all those years ago per his recommendation.

Roach had argued about having medical supplies and environment gear at the ready in case they were stuck on the ground or had someone wounded. As a Black Ops Unit, they couldn’t go to the nearest hospital to get treated after all.

He picked up an air mattress and used the pump next to it to make it usable. After laying Sky on it, he quickly went to pick up everything he needed for a blood transfusion. Thankfully, White had insisted on having blood packs at the ready inside a small fridge for situations like this.

Soon enough Sky was getting her own blood, replacing what she had lost. Once he was sure she wasn’t in immediate danger anymore, he took the tent for a cold environment and unfurled. The plane was not wide enough for it but it didn’t matter. All Roach needed was to hook it up and create a closed space where he could generate heat and warm everyone. The plane was after all just a giant metal tube and it was freezing inside.

Liquid came back from the cockpit when he was right in the middle of it. She paused an instant when she saw what he was doing then understood what it was all about.

“The Major is sending back up as soon as he can and will contact the president about the leak. We’re to be on stand-by until then.” She shared while pulling on a rope, pulling the tent up.

Roach pulled another rope and attached it to a hole in one of the beams. “Better be a helicopter to evac’ Sky because she can’t fly in high altitude like this. Not for a few days.”

Liquid dragged the air mattress with Sky on it, inside the tent and covered her with an emergency blanket her partner had given her. She thought everything was good until she heard him shiver. Only then did she realize that Roach had carried her and Sky in the frozen cold while only wearing his suit which wasn’t insulating at all.

Smiling weakly but with mischievousness, she went to pick up another blanket and pushed him down on the other air mattress he had just put down. Straddling him she began to remove her gear and discarded it to the side.

“I’m way too tired for sex but I do need some body heat and so do you.” Liquid joked, not thinking about the utter fiasco of the night and focused on the present task.

Roach rolled his eyes, and undressed too. Once both of them were naked, he pulled her down to him and began to kiss her, his hands roaming her body to create friction and heat. Liquid answered eagerly and did the same.

Soon enough the part about not having sex went through the window, so did everything else. Not because they were feeling lustful, they couldn’t after losing almost all their comrades but because the warmth they were making was addictive and they wanted more.