Snap, knowing Moore was dead, crawled over to Davis, lying where the alien had left him. “Davis, Davis, can you hear me?”
West grabbed Snap’s sniper rifle and took up a defensive position behind the twisted metal. “Snap, is he alive?”
Davis had two perfectly round holes punctured through his armor. Snap recognized them immediately, the BMG round had passed through the alien’s armor, through the alien, and through Davis’ armor. Snap rolled Davis over to see if the bullets had passed through him, there were no exit wounds. Two BMG rounds were lodged in Davis.
“West, Davis has been shot. He needs medical attention.” Snap began to detach the helmet for a better look at the wounds.
“Is he going to make it?” West asked, as he peered into the scope of the sniper rifle towards the elusive enemy.
Davis’ eyes fluttered open.
“He’s alive, but I can’t tell how serious the injuries are. Got to get his FALOS armor off.” Snap began taking off the chest armor that was now adorned with two round holes.
Davis screamed and pushed Snap away. Snap tumbled backwards and Davis, half clad in armor, jumped on top.
“What the fuck,” Snap was cut short by Davis’ fist slamming into his already damaged helmet. Snap punched Davis in the chest hoping to connect with the wounds. Davis rolled off Snap howling in pain.
Snap grabbed Davis to control and comfort him. “It’s okay man, we got you. You’re safe.”
Davis’ eyes were open, but Snap could see that they were glazed over, like he was somewhere else.
“Davis, wake up. Wake up.” Snap yelled, as he slapped Davis on the face.
Davis continued to scream, “Stay away from me you monster. Get away from me.”
West turned from the battle to see what was going on with Snap and Davis. “Snap, what’s wrong with Davis?”
“I don’t know. He’s in some sort of trance. Thinks I am one of them.” Snap continued to cradle Davis in his arms, while he struggled to get free, screaming about demons and monsters.
“It might not matter. With Moore and Davis down, the Russians are advancing. Looks like we are outnumbered now,” West said, as he peered out from behind cover.
Davis stopped struggling, Snap could see recognition in Davis’ eyes – he was back. Snap released his grip on Davis.
“Major, Major,” Davis managed to spit out between gulps of cold air.
“Davis, take it easy. You’ve been shot. I need to see the wound. Let’s get the rest of this armor off.”
“We don’t have time, Major.” West yelled. “The Russians are charging our position. I need you here now.” West fired two more rounds from the sniper rifle, dropped it, and switched to this DE rifle.
Snap scrambled to the top of the pile of scrap metal and began firing at the advancing Russians.
“There’s too many of them. We’re not going to make it,” West said, as the several Russians encroached on their position and began to flank them.
Snap and West were on top of the heap of metal, and Davis lay below, where he could not move because of his injuries. Davis could not see the battle from his vantage point. Snap was focused on the Russians in front of him, firing his DE rifle when he heard a shrill scream.
Davis screamed from his lowly position. “Snap, drop the DE and pick up the Lynx.”
Snap dropped the DE rifle and dove for the 50 BMG.
“RELOAD.” Davis screamed.
How the fuck can Davis be giving orders from behind the pile of rubble? He can’t see shit.
Snap’s instincts told him to do what Davis said, despite it making no sense. In seconds, the boxy magazine clicked into place, and the charging handle locked one 50 BMG into the chamber.
“YOUR THREE O’CLOCK.”
Snap spun to his right to see nothing. How can he see anything?
“DOWN.”
Snap lowered the rifle down just in time to see an Ondagra emerge from the twisted metal. He squeezed the trigger. The Ondagra lurched backwards and tumbled back down the pile of debris.
“Shit, Davis. You just saved my life. But how could you have known that?”
Before Davis could answer, ten more soldiers emerged from the blinding snow behind the Russians.
Shit. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse.
“We have ten more operators joining the party at our twelve o’clock.” Snap said into the COMM.
“Roger that, Major,” Williams confirmed.
Then, the newcomers opened fire on the Russians. The Russians seemed to be just as surprised as Lightning Squad. Between the newcomers and Snap’s men, the Russians were surrounded and started falling quickly.
“Who the hell are they?” Johnson asked.
“I think they are the remaining crew, Impegi survivors,” Snap said, as he picked off a fleeing Russian.
A few minutes later, the remaining Russians were dead or running off into the snowy oblivion. Snap leapt down the pile of rubble to Davis lying below. Now that Davis had gotten his armor off, Snap could see the two bullet wounds.
“Shit, Davis. You look terrible.”
“Thanks to your terrible aim, Major.”
“Hey, I hit what I was aiming at. If not, you would be a cinder right now.”
They traded awkward glances and then looked toward Moore, who had caught the sizzling beam that was meant for Davis.
Davis shook his head, “That was meant for me.”
Snap applied pressure to the wounds with sterile bandages from a concealed first aid kit hidden within each of their armor suits.
“You’re lucky. The bullets lost most of their velocity when traveling through the alien armor,” Snap said, as he tossed a bloody bandage on to the deck.
“I don’t feel lucky, Major.”
“How did you know about that Ondagra sneaking up on me?” Snap asked, as he chemically cauterized Davis’ wounds.
“I saw him,” Davis answered.
“You could not possibly have seen him. He was nowhere near you, and he was on the other side of the rubble.”
Davis sighed, “Since you shot me, I have been having visions – hallucinations. I can see the alien that you shot.”
“Is he still alive?”
“Very much so. You hit him. Not fatal. He is back at his ship being patched up now.”
“How could you know that?” Snap asked, bewildered.
“I just know. I know that I know.”
Snap finished dressing the wounds and helped Davis put the armor back on.
“We’re not done yet,” Snap said, as he helped Davis over the mound of metal and crushed containers to meet the Impegi crew.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Snap, with Davis by his side, approached Lightning Squad, who were gathering just inside the bulkheads of the Impegi. The wind was whipping through the fractured hull, carrying with it freezing snow. The newcomers were joined by Fabris and Catrix. The Impegi crew were wearing the same battle armor, which closely resembled the FALOS armor of Lightning Squad.
As he joined the group of soldiers introducing themselves to each other, he noticed that the Impegi crew had raised the visors on their helmets, so that their faces could be seen.
“Hello, I’m Commander Caliana Furier,” the woman with stunning ice-blue eyes said, in perfect unaccented English, as she extended her hand in the customary way.
Shocked by the sight of such an attractive woman in this desolate place, Snap stuttered, “Hello, I’m Major Morgan Slade.”
“This is Commander Forte,” Furier said, as she gestured toward the man standing to her right. “He was the, as you would say, CO of the Impegi.”