Heading Out
1922 Words
“That’s looking a tad less angry than before. I’ve found some burn gel in the bottom of that first aid bag. It’s out of date but there’s still a packet of vinegar left from the rations so I’ll put that on then this gel over the top and re-dress it, okay?”
“Thanks Damien, I appreciate it, Sorry I’ve been crabby,” Gabrielle apologized.
“It’s ok, I’d be cranky if I had this amount of sunburn as well. This is gonna sting like a motherfucker... 3,2-“
When the vinegar touched her skin, she violently jumped. “f**k! What happened to one, Damien?” She screamed “It f*****g stings, alright!” she grumbled.
“Sorry, but it had to be done. Now, you’re not gonna like me. This gel will cool the burn but it’s gonna feel like goop on you.” He sounded somewhat cross, even though his words were gentle. “I’ll go on 1 ok” he said “3,2,1”
“Ah!” she cried out. Her eyes watered especially when he was doing the top of her back around her neck. There was a blister there that bit. He pulled the seran wrap out and stuck it down with tape. This time he put another layer over it to protect it from the sand once they went back outside. She wiped her face.
He could see she was upset. “You okay, Gabrielle?” He took a step back from her. She still had a stray tear rolling down her cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb.
“Thanks, Damien, for the first aid.” She gave him a small smile. “Now, I think we need to check what supplies we need to take, pack up and move.”
As she was packing stuff into a rucksack they had found in the bunker, her mind drifted back to the kisses earlier. Oh girl, you know what he’s like. He’s a love ‘em and leave ‘em type of guy. NOT your type. He’ll hurt you. She mentally shook herself and told her subconscious to shut the hell up. She stole a glance at him: could see his muscles under that tight Marine issued t-shirt. It stretched over his shoulders and clung to his body. Imagine what he would feel like naked, holding him, touching you, kissing him…
Oh! Cut that out!
“Nearly done Gabs”?
“Oh.. yeah. Just double checking we’ve got everything,” Gabrielle replied, glad for the interruption.
“I’m gonna carry the rucksack. I found some other old uniforms and hats, they’ll protect us from the sun a bit better. We don’t need you like crispy critters,” he laughed.
She smiled, and nodded. “Yeah, being fair skinned sucks sometimes.” She eyed him then. “Thanks Damien, I mean it. But what happened down here, stays here, okay? I don’t want you talking about it back with your buddies, okay?”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied. “But, Gabs, I wouldn’t do that, not to you. I respect you too much. I know I’ve been a d**k and I’ve f****d about. But a woman who will fling herself at me and I won’t see again? They don’t mean anything to me.”
“Right…” Her brows drew together. Why did he feel the need to tell her that? “You got guns and ammo?” She asked, changing the subject.
“Yup, also got some grenades, here.” He turned around and faced her, holding a Kevlar vest. “Is this gonna hurt your burns if we put it on?” It had extra rounds and 4 genades on it. He helped her put it on. “Okay?” he asked.
“Thanks, Damien, it’s fine.”
“I’m gonna go up the rabbit hole first, see what’s happening up there.” Damien stalked over to the ladder leading up the rabbit hole, climbed up. Grunting, he managed to get the hatch open. Holding his M16 at the ready, he poked his head out of the hole. Cautiously he looked around. He climbed further up the ladder to where his torso was sticking out of the hole. Rifle in hand, he did a sweep. The piles of sand attested to a recent sandstorm, it covered even the nearby boulder that marked where the cache was. He pushed back the hatch further and climbed out.
Gabrielle watched him disappear for several moments. In minutes he was back looking down the hole. “All clear?” Gabrielle asked.
“Clear,” he replied. “Come on up.”
She slung her rifle over her shoulder and began to ascend the ladder. Once outside, she got a look at the landscape. “Wow…”
Damien chuckled that infectious laugh. “Bit sandy!” he quipped. “You did say you wanted a beach vacay, right?” He snickered as she rolled her eyes at him. “We’ll need to use some of this sand to cover the rabbit hole.”
“Got it,” she said as he closed the hatch. They both began to push sand over the obvious silver gleaming hatch.
Once that was done, they started their trek across the desert.
Gabrielle and Damien had been walking for hours under the beating sun. They had tried to conserve water as best as they could and Damien insisted that she kept as much of her skin covered to avoid more burns. It was hard walking along the dusty track as the sand kept being whipped up straight into their faces.
“Gabs, come on, we need to find somewhere to rest,” Damien said. He looked around and saw an old stone stable in the distance. “Over there, Gabs at 3 o’clock,” he pointed.
“Let’s go,” she said, diverting to walk towards the building. “There might be a well around here somewhere.”
Cautiously, he scoped the place out and looked inside. Nothing more than a few buckets and some animal feed. He did find a well though so they could fill their water supplies up.
Once inside and in the shade, Damien reached toward her rucksack. “Come on, sit down.” He helped her to sit in the shade of the building. He gave her his water he had been carrying. “Someone is looking down on us, Gabs” he said enthusiastically. Going to the well, he pulled out a bucket of water and splashed some over himself to cool off. He then took the pail of water over to Gabrielle so she could do the same.
“Thank you,'' she said as she put her hands together and scooped some water and washed her face and poured some down her top.
f**k me, she’s now got a wet T-shirt on… Damien thought as mental images rushed through his brain. Control yourself, asshole!
“Thanks for that, Damien,” she said looking up at him. Her turquoise eyes looked up with appreciation.
Before he could say anything, Damien’s ears pricked up at the sound of vehicles in the distance. “s**t! Gabs! We’ve got company!” He dragged their stuff to the other side of the building out of sight. “Get down! Crawl to me,” he said, not taking his eyes off the vehicular movement coming towards them. “We’ve got to try and get one of those jeeps, Gabs!” He checked his side arm. “I’m gonna distract them. I need you to try and get to one of those cars. If necessary leave me,” he said.
“I’m not leaving you, Damien,” she said looking at him like he’d lost his mind. “You’ll be dead within seconds.”
“If you’re safe, that’s all that matters,” he replied, nonplussed.
She stood up out of view. He pressed up against her so her back was against the building. “Wanna go for a drink after this?” he grinned down at her with that crooked cheeky smile and kissed her on her forehead.
“Don’t die, asshole,” she said loud enough for him to hear.
“They’re coming, I’ll countdown. On one we go. You get to the jeep, you pick me up if you can. If not, you go, okay?”
“I’m still not leaving you.”
Meanwhile, the two vehicles parked not far from where they were, with the men getting out.
“3-2-1!” he said loudly, SIG Sauer raised as he ran out in front of the newcomers, shouting for them to drop their weapons. As expected, that wasn’t happening.
Damien seemed to be their main target as Gabrielle managed to get to one of the jeeps easily, gunfire zooming past her. It just so happened to have guns stashed in the back of it. She jumped in the driver's seat and started it up. She drove at a few of the insurgents and hit them, reversing to make sure they stayed down. “Coyote, coming to you!” she hollered.
Damien had about six insurgents pinning him down and he couldn’t get out. Gabrielle grabbed a gun with a scope on it and aimed and fired at one. She then picked off the next one. “Coyote, talk to me!” she screamed. She looked over and could see Damien wasn’t looking right. He looked like…
….he’d been hit with a bullet. She focused on the remaining target and took him out. She drove over to where Damien was lying. He’d been shot in the top of his thigh. But that wound wasn’t the problem. It was where blood was gushing out: he’d been hit near the femoral artery. “s**t! Damien, stay with me. Tell me what to do!”
“Backpack, first aid kit...” He pointed to where he had left it near the building. “f**k!”
She ran, grabbed it and dashed back to him. “Damien, I need you to get up in the back of this truck, there’s no way I can lift a big ass lump like you if you KO on me, okay?” She helped him to stand and got him into the back of the jeep. She climbed into the back as well and took his belt off.
“Didn’t think you’d be taking...my belt off like this…” he smiled. His coloring was fading to a gray pallor.
Gabrielle created a tourniquet with the belt around the top of his thigh. That would hold for a bit until she dealt with the wound..
“Grab the pads in the bag,” He pointed to the rucksack.
She tipped the contents on the floor of the back and grabbed the pads and applied pressure to his leg. She pressed down on it for maximum pressure.
“Damien, stay with me! Don’t you f*****g die on me!” she said looking down at him. “Focus on me, I know you do a lot anyway,” she smiled a knowing smile. He would not die.
I wouldn’t want him to die, not out here alone.
“Gabs, tell my-“
“f*****g hell no!! I’m not telling any f*****g parents you love them, you do that yourself! Now tell me what to do next, Sergeant!” She didn’t mean to yell. But she didn’t want...
He gave a look that told her he wasn’t actually going to say that. “Get water, cut my pants and clean the area, can you see the bullet?”
Gabrielle pulled a pocket knife she had found in the bunker and cut his pant leg all the way to the top. She rinsed it with water to clean it. Before the blood started to gush back she looked into the hole.
“Is there alcohol in the med kit?”
She nodded.
“Okay, pour some over the knife to sterilize it.” When she did, he said, “Now put your knife blade into the wound.”
“Damien, I can’t do that, I’m not trained, I could kill you!!” she snapped at him.
“I’m gonna die if you don’t try. Anyway, if you hit the artery, I’ll bleed out quicker.” She frowned at him for that remark. He sighed shakily. “You’re gonna try! You can do this, Gabrielle Armijo, I believe you can.” He squeezed her hand.
She picked the knife back up and slowly put the tip of it into the wound.
He tried not to show how much it was hurting. “Can you feel it?” he asked through gritted teeth.
- Writer
