Wildlands (rskde & BurningWillows)

[Risky]

He nods, slipping one of his hands under her legs, and the other behind her back before lifting her up bridal style. He begins to run through the woods, trying to keep her as still as possible as he runs her to the nearest town.

It's a half hour before they reach the town, he runs into the local clinic, they both receive a lot of sideways glances from the fact they look like soldiers.

He brings her to the front desk. "Please, you have to help her." He pleads. The nurse yells something in Spanish before a rolling bed is run out from the back.

Kyle places her on the bed and walks with her to the surgical area, Max follows him.

 

[BurningWillows]

Arya clings to Kyle with all the waning strength she has, realizing her life was in his hands. If he didn't get her to a clinic, the internal bleeding would kill her slowly. Every breath was labored and she worried a rib or two had broken and punctured an organ.

As they reached the clinic, Arya's eyes were barely able to open, one arm limp and hanging down, the other draped weakly over Kyle's shoulder. She could hear words and then feel a stretcher as he placed her down. Instantly her hand seeked his, afraid he'd leave her there.

"Internal bleeding," she gasped, her voice hoarse as she coughed more blood, "Need...surgery."

A woman was chattering in Spanish, whether it was to her or someone else she wasn't sure. Two more nurses arrived, all of them wheeling her away as someone stopped Kyle in his tracks.

"You. Wait outside," he ordered, pointing back at the waiting room as Arya's grip on his hand broke and her eyes strained to stay open, "No dog. No soldier. Only patients and doctor."

"Kyle!" Arya gasped, "Wait in...lobby...for me-"

Her words were cut as a breathing mask was stuffed on her face, and all too soon her eyes fell shut, darkness enveloping her as unconscious won.

 

[Risky]

"Who the hell do you think-" He starts to say before he hears Arya.

"Cmon bud." He says before snapping his fingers, Max follows him into the lobby. Kyle sits down in one of the waiting chairs before grabbing his untraceable cell phone from his pocket. Max sits at his feet while he starts to dial the number Shrake gave him.

As Shrake had told him, the phone was never answered, any message would go on voice mail and would be encrypted immediately.

"Arya. Surgery. Late." Kyle simply says before turning off tge cellphone. Short and informative messages.

 

[BurningWillows]

Hours later the steady beat of a heart monitor is the first thing her ears catch as she wakes. Her whole body feels numb from the neck down, and she notices she is lying in a clean bed under an itchy blue blanket.

The surgery must have been successful.

Looking around, she spots someone at the end of her bed, writing notes on a clipboard. A tired looking older man with salt and pepper hair looks up, smiling warmly at her.

"Your awake."

"How bad was it?" she asked first, wincing as a shock of pain ran across her chest.

"Punctured lung," he murmured, "Broken ribs. Had to take appendix out too, almost burst. Your on heavy medication ma'am. Rest for today."

"Graci," she replied, wincing at the pain again, "Can I have visitors? There's a man in the lobby, with a dog-"

"Only relatives ma'am."

"He's-" she had to think quickly, her brain foggy from the drugs, "My husband."

The doctor gave her a look that told her he wasn't buying it, "You soldiers. Your clothing says so."

Shit.

"Yes, but...he's still my husband. We were...trying to come home to America and took wrong flight. Got stuck in Bolivia. Was trying to find way home, and I got hit...by a car. We aren't on duty, I swear."

It was the best lie she had.

The doctor chewed it over, looking like he wasn't 100% sure if she was being honest, but she seemed sincere and he really didn't want to fight. Finally he nodded and disappeared, hopefully to get Kyle and Max.

 

[Risky]

Kyle had fallen asleep.

It hasn't been one of his best days, and sitting there waiting for hours got the better of him. He wakes up to Max moving, barking loudly.

The doctor had walked up to Kyle and spooked Max, but Kyle is able to calm him down.

"Is she okay?" He asks the doctor groggily.

"Your wife wants to see you." The doctor says to him.

Wife...?

"Right, show the way." He says to the doctor before getting up and walking with him to the operating room with Max in tow.

He walks in and hopes to God the doctor will just leave them alone, which he does not. The doctor stands in the doorway, looking suspiciously at them.

Kyle walks up to Arya and leans down, pressing his lips to hers. Of course it was all so that the doctor wouldn't think that they weren't actually in a relationship.

The doctor seems satisfied by this, he walks away.

Kyle breaks away and leans against the wall. "You alright?" He asks her softly.

 

[BurningWillows]

She sighed in relief at the sight of him, intact, with Max at his heels. This kiss was unexpected though, and Arya felt shocked, but not revolted by it. His lips were warm against her cold skin, and it almost felt too brief.

"Uh..." she mumbled, trying to find her words, "I think. Thank you Kyle. Without you and Max finding and getting me here, I'd be dead."

 

[Risky]

He nods. "No problem. How long did the doctor say you'd be here? We can't really afford to keep you away from Casper for too long." He says to her.

"And we're pretty big targets here, considering we're right smack in the middle of.. SBDC territory." He says the last part quietly. There are apparently cartel spies everywhere, they both need to be subtle.

 

[BurningWillows]

"Well as my husband I'm sure you can ask when they'll release me. But I agree. This is too out in the open. I'm in no condition to walk though Kyle. I'm...I'm depending on you here."

 

[Risky]

"Funny. Honestly, if we stay for another two hours we're going to be shooting our way out. So I coukd carry you back to base, if that's what you're asking." He says to her.

"Personally, I think we've gotten into enough trouble for the day." He explains.

 

[BurningWillows]

Arya nodded, "We might have to sneak out. I can't even feel my body right now Kyle, they gave me enough drugs to kill a horse. The only reason I think I'm coherent right now is the morphine hasn't kicked in completely yet."

She pushed the blankets away, with the little strength she had. they had dressed her in a hospital gown, making her blush because she knew there was no way she could dress in her clothes. They'd press too tightly to her stitching. Pulling at the collar of her gown to check the damage, Arya grimaced.

"Uh i can't be carried," she whispered, You don't want to how much stitching there is."

Fuck...just fuck.

"Do you trust me?" she asked, looking him straight in the eye, "You're not going to like my plan, but you'll have to trust me."

 

[Risky]

He raises his eyebrows. "I'm not going to like it? You'll have to tell me the actual plan before we can dictate whether or not I'm not going to like the plan you have thought of."

He continues to lean against the wall while listening to what she had to say, he reaches down and scratches Max behind his ears, making his tail wag excitedly.

 

[BurningWillows]

She sighs, "I want you to leave me here and go back to base."

She can see his reaction, already knowing he doesn't like this.

"Let me finish. Go home, round up the troops. I will convince them to send me to La Paz in a ambulance, where my husband returned to for our hotel or something. Get the gang, intercept the ambulance as it passes. We get me there safely and everyone wins. You just have to leave me behind here, and take Max."

 

[Risky]

He shakes his head. "Arya, we can't risk that, and you know it. Like I said, the cartel will be here if we don't leave soon so listen closely. I'm going to set up a distraction, there's a van outside that I can easily get into and then roll you into it. I'll shoot my way out of here if that's necessary." He says to her.

He kneels down next to Max, speaking to him softly. "Max. Make some noise." He says to the dog.

Max runs out of the room, padding his way over to the counter before biting the ankle of one of the nurses and continuing to run around, biting every uniformed doctor and nurse he can find. When the uniforms begin to chase him, he runs around, making them run into each other and various obstacles around the clinic.

Kyle walks out and checks to make sure the coast is clear before grabbing a rolling bed from outside, rolling it into the room and picking up Arya for only a second before laying her on to the rolling bed. He grabs the M16A4 from his back and points it in front of the bed as he rolls it out of the room.

The doctor from before notices Kyle and calls out to him. "Hey! She can't be released until she is fully healed!" He yells to Kyle.

Kyle points his rifle in the air and fires a single shot. "On the fucking ground!" He yells. This effectively causes everyone in tge clinic to drop to the floor.

He runs the rolling bed out to the parking lot before smashing the back window of the van with the butt of his rifle. He reaches through the broken window, which causes a long cut to appear on his forearm. He unlocks the van and lifts the rolling bed inside before slamming the door shut.

He runs over to the drivers seat and unlocks it with the butt of his rifle, once again smashing the window before stepping inside and using his Kimbar knife to slash open the dashboard of the car. He pulls the wires out from inside and cuts one of them, he then jams the wire into the ignition, causing the van to roar to life.

Max jumps into the passengers seat as sirens begin to wail, several police cruisers sliding around the corner and targeting the van. Kyle speeds off and they pursue.

 

[BurningWillows]

He didn't give her much of a choice. And there wasn't much she could do. The morphine kicked in as Max started making noise, and after that everything was a blur. She could hear screaming and sirens and glass smashing, but her eyes refused to remain open.

"Kyle..." she slurred, confused and fearful. Ghosts should never be this vulnerable, this weak. And it worried her of just how vulnerable she was making the three of them in her condition.

 

[Risky]

Kyle looks up in the rear view mirror, cursing to himself quietly as he continues to drive, trying to keep them steady as to not hurt Arya. He grabs his cell phone and dials Shrake, this time the man picks up.

"So how're things?" Shrake asks tiredly.

"Not good, I'm in a police chase." Kyle replies.

"What town are they from?" Shrake asks.

"Oruro." Kyle says.

"They're from the corrupt side then, if they interdict you're green to attack." Shrake says before hanging up.

Kyle puts the phone away and continues to drive until he spots a roadblock ahead of them. He stops the van quickly, forcing it to screech as it slides along the road, making a perfect mobile cover for him. He jumps out of the van with his M16A4 in hand.

A police officer yells into his megaphone. "Esta es la policía ! dejar de dónde se encuentra!"

Kyle uses the door as cover from the road block as he engages the police in front of him, blood flies in all directions as he takes down an officer at a time. The roadblock opens fire on him, he feels a searing pain in his side but he continues to fire. Another painful explosion hits his shoulder, he notices blood splattering against the van out of the corner of his eye.

He turns and opens fire on the roadblock. It only takes a couple of seconds for the officers to be dead.

Kyle looks around for a moment before his hands drop his rifle and he collapses, losing consciousness immediately.

 

[BurningWillows]

She's not sure when she wakes whether its been minutes or hours. All she knows is they've stopped moving, the drugs in her system is starting to fade and new lancing pain i taking over her senses, and worst of all she can't hear or see Kyle.

"H-hello?" she croaked, trying to lift her hand only to gasp in pain as her stiches pulled, "Kyle?"

No answer. The only reason he wouldn't answer was he had left the vehicle, abandoned her, or died. She prayed it was the first one, because the other two made her stomach knot and her heart ache.

"Kyle? Kyle! Max?" she called out louder, wincing with each word. Someone had to hear her.

 

[Risky]

Max barks loudly, he had been laying down next to Kyle who seemed to be wounded badly. He continues to bark, as if trying to get help for his fallen master.

The dog whimpers and lays down next to Kyle again, nuzzling him gently as if trying to wake him up, but Kyle is unresponsive, though he has a faded heart beat his wounds are bad, and are fatal if left untreated.

 

[BurningWillows]

Well at least he's there.

She can hear Max, but not Kyle. And judging by the panicked whimpering, Kyle was in a bad spot too. But she couldn't sit up, let alone walk to him. Desperately she lifted her only working limbs and felt around, wishing she had her clothing with her. Sure enough it was there, in a pouch on the side of the bed for her to retrieve. Rummaging in it, she bit back the pain as it grew worse looking for her radio.

Finally...

"Doc to base," she croaked, turning it on and hoping to god someone was listening, "Doc to base. Two down. Need immediate assistance. Fuck...someone please respond. "

 

[Risky]

Shrake and Al both hear the radio, Shrake motions for Al to follow him as they make their way up to the roof. They are both still in combat dress as they get into the helicopter.

They fly to the last know location on Kyle's phone, where they can see the van. They land the helicopter and grab a stretcher from it, getting Kyle and Arya inside. Max follows as they take off, headed back for base.

 

[BurningWillows]

Arya feels useless, unable to get up from her stretcher. But knowing that Kyle's bleeding out makes her panic even more and with an adrenaline boost she can at least sit up, directly defying what she knows she should be doing. But damn if she would let another one of her teammates die on her watch before her own life drained out.

"Al, you need to add pressure to those wounds," she coughed, instructing him as her weak arm pointed, "Wherever he bleeds, put cloth or bandage there and hold it to help stanch the bleeding. We need to get those bullets out then stitch the open skin. Can you do that?"

 

[Risky]

Al listens to Arya closely as he starts to patch up Kyle, taking all of her orders into account as he proceeds with bandaging the fallen soldier.

When he is done and the bleeding has stopped, he checks for a heart beat.

"He's stable, should be alright." He says before moving over to the cockpit where he sits down in the co-pilot seat.

 

[BurningWillows]

With Kyle safe, Arya could relax. As the adrenaline drained she fell back into her bed, the pain too much to bear. It pulled her under, the world around her going black as she fell unconscious.

Red was on patrol when the helicopter landed, and helped the other two men transport the two wounded soldiers downstairs to the makeshift medical lab. With Arya being one of the two wounded, there wasn't much more than simple first aid they could apply. But Red had seen enough to know how to hook them up to a morphine drip, knowing Arya would need one after they checked her extensive wounds.

"I can go get Winters on patrol and then station myself here," he offered Shrake, "Someone should keep an eye on them and make sure they stay stable."

 

[Risky]

Shake shakes his head to Red. "You stay up here, I trust Al to look after Arya more than you, no offense but I've worked with him for longer." He says to the man. "Go ahead and stay up here and watch out for any contact, the police radio is all over the place with chatter."

He motions for Al to grab Kyle as they lift the stretcher from the chopper, running it down to the led at before going back up and getting Arya, laying her cot next to Kyle's. Kyle is still unconscious.

 

[BurningWillows]

Days past and from what Red could hear, Arya had yet to waken once, and some were beginning to worry she might not. Red and Winters were taking turns on patrol while Al was stationed over the two recovering teammates. They were short staffed now with two down, and while Red kept smiling, inside he was worried that their short numbers could be exploited.

On the fourth day, as Winters took over patrol Red slipped downstairs to check on Arya and Kyle. Stepping into the medical lab, he turned to Al.

"Hey. Have either of them woken yet?"

 

[Risky]

Al just shakes his head. "No, their heart rates are fine, but Kyle is still in a lot of pain and Arya reopened her wounds by standing on the chopper, so she's in a lot of pain as well." He admits.

"I'm no doctor, so I'm not giving either of them morphine until Arya wakes up." He explains to Red.