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A hundred things seemed to happen all at once. Bullets flew from both directions, lights strobing, guns screaming. Ollie’s tail flew out, stabbing into one of the soldiers nearby. He roared and barged forward, knocking two soldiers off the stairs and into the yawning abyss. Another, even more terrifying roar filled the darkness and a larger, more toothsome and feral-looking version of Ziggy charged into the other group of soldiers, claws and fangs flashing. Honor started shouting for them to hold their fire so they wouldn’t hit Ziggy, but their guns weren’t needed, anyway. Between me, Ollie, and Ziggy, we made short work of one group of soldiers while the others fired on the second.
Bullets cut through the air, making sharp hissing sounds near my head. One of them slammed into my armored side, burying itself in the thick outer shell. I snarled at it and scurried downthe side of the stairs to yank one of the soldiers from the stairway. He screamed as I tossed him into the darkness.
Beating wings filled the air and Cupid appeared, brandishing a gleaming sword. Two of the five remaining soldiers turned on him, guns at the ready. With a shout, the Dominion took off one man’s head and slammed his shoulder into the other. The move knocked the second soldier off balance, but not enough to make him fall. Charlie took advantage of the opening, running forward to shove the man. He fell like the others, screaming and fading into the dark.
A shotgun boomed, and another soldier stumbled back. Hopper pumped his shotgun and fired again, peppering the soldier’s body with gunfire before he went down. Robert kicked the dying man aside and leapfrogged past Chris, both of them firing at once to take out the final pair of ESCU soldiers.
Silence followed, filled only with panting and a light shuffling as everyone turned around.
After a minute, there was a choked sound. “Medic!”
Charlie turned, breathing hard, shoving people aside. The stairs were narrow, but they managed to move around enough to let him through. More flashlights clicked on, searching before they landed on Honor, who sat pale faced on the stairs, a hand to his shoulder. Ziggy was beside him, still transformed and breathing hard. Blood poured from a wound on Honor’s shoulder, dripping down his arm.
“I’m fine,” Honor growled through clenched teeth. “Fucking thing went right through.”
“Let me see.” Charlie pushed honor’s hand out of the way and more blood flowed out. Too much blood.
My tongue flicked out, tasting blood and gunfire on the air. Not all of it was Honor’s. There was blood all over the stairs from where the soldiers had died, blood on my claws, on me. I looked down at my side, trying to gauge how badly I was injured. Thebullet had gone in and my exoskeleton was cracked enough that there was blood, but I couldn’t make out if it’d gone any further, not in the dark.
“We need to keep moving,” Phoenix said. “The clock is ticking, Charlie.”
“Just give me a goddamn minute!” Charlie spat, probing Honor’s wound.
Honor cursed. Loudly.
Charlie shook his head. “The bleeding’s not slowing. We need to get him back up to the surface. Hopefully, Mozley’s people have triage set up.”
“We don’t have time for that!” Honor barked.
Phoenix nodded. “He’s right. We’ve lost enough time as it is.”
“I can fly him up,” Cupid volunteered. “But someone will have to go with Charlie. I don’t want him going through the base alone.”
“I can escort,” Hopper said. “I’m out of my depth down here anyway, if I’m being honest.”
“Oh, but you fucked that one guy up good, Daddy.” Robert grinned.
“Thank you, Princess.”
“Enough!” Phoenix muscled his way through the crowd. “Cupid, Hopper, Charlie, and Honor are all going back up. That means you need to pass the radio to me, Cupid. When you get up there, the rest of you get the hell out of the blast radius. The rest of us are going down. We’re getting Axel, and then Ollie will portal us to safety. Any questions?” He scanned everyone’s faces. When no hands went up, he said, “Good. I’m on point. Ghost will cover our flank. The rest of you, weapons hot. Let’s go.”
I snorted and nodded in agreement, shaking the threatening worry from my mind. I could worry about all the blood and the death later. We had to save Axel first. That was the only thing that mattered.
“Hey, Phoenix,” Honor called as Cupid scooped him up. He was sweating and pale.
Phoenix turned around. “What is it, old man?”
Honor leveled a serious glare at him. “You bring my boy back, you hear me?”
“Copy,” was Phoenix’s only reply as he clipped the radio to his belt.
Cupid took to the air, Honor in his arms, and Charlie and Hopper began the long climb back up.
I scrambled down the wall vertically next to the stairway, the pale white glow of my lure lighting the way.
I wanted to ask how much time we had left, but I didn’t. There wasn’t time to ask, not if we wanted to make it. There was a new anxiety in the air, feet moving faster, the conversation less. Still, I heard Robert whisper to Ziggy, “Honor’ll be all right. I know Charlie’s not a doctor, but him and Cupid will get him fixed up. You’ll see.”
The t’chl’s only response was a worried whine.
