I sighed back in my cell. She never came with us again.
Instead she took on her mission saving soldiers in my army.
Which all turned out for the better, really; she'd even saved my life a few times.
Another memory consumed my thoughts:
The sound of the Colonel?s voice filled my ears once more.
"Commander! We gotta get outa hear!" he yelled over the roar of the enemy's fire.
"Three quarters of the troops have already fallen back. If we wait any longer we won't make it back ourselves."
"Go ahead, Colonel," I called back. "I'll be there in a minute."
"No! I'm not leaving you! Either we both go now, or we both die here. Either way, I'm with you."
I growled to myself. I hated it when he decided to be stubborn. A heavy-artillery round hit near our cover and caused it to shake violently.
"Colonel! I'm telling you to fall back with the rest of the troops. That's an order! And you better do it double time!"
"Negative, ma'am. Not without you."
"Dammit, Colonel! You're no good to me dead."
"And you're no good to any of us dead."
Another ground rattling round hit. Their aim was getting better. Colonel was right, we had to go now.
"Alright! On 3, I go. On 5, you better be right behind me. 1... 2...3!"
I sprinted back on three and by the time I got to five, I heard the Colonel's boots behind me. If I had still been counting, the shot would have hit by eight.
I fell to the ground like I'd been trained to.
"They won't shoot again if they think they got you the first time." My father Malaki Bold's words rang in my ears. By ten, the colonel had killed my attacker.
He rolled me off of my stomach. That's when I felt the flood-like pressure of the bullet. It released its chemicals quickly, and soon I felt the strange wave of sensation that was blood flowing into my lungs.
"Can you walk?" Colonel urged.
"It's best if I don't. Blood-letting round."
"By the word of Skorm!" Colonel swore. He lifted me over his shoulder. I only barely held back a series of drowning waves; Then he started jogging. . . And I couldn't hold them back any longer.
"Argh. Dammit Bree!" He complained as he began to feel the trickle of blood down the back of his boots. "Hold on, I'm gonna get you out of here," he growled as he picked up his pace. The constant bouncing produced another upheaval of blood and pain despite my efforts to keep it at bay. Uh oh. This one forced even more blood than the last one. That's what blood-letting bullets do. They let your blood flow until you drown in it.
Colonel carried me to the Evac pickup point. From there I was rushed to Mel in the medic center.
"Jeez, Bree," she groaned as I was placed on the medical bed. "I told you to take care of yourself before you left, and this is how you return to me?"
"Not now, Mel," I choked out.
"Of course not now," she said mockingly. She snapped on gloves and called in her team to their various stations. "OK, Bree, you're gonna have to work with me on this one. Where is the bullet?"
"Left side of the stomach."
"Here?" She poked me with a scalpel.
"Ow! No! The gut, Mel. The GUT!" I hollered.
"Sorry, but I'm gonna need you to be accurate and a little more specific!"
"Just follow the blood!"
"There's blood everywhere!"
"Mel! You aren't helping me!" I complained.
"Because you aren't helping me! Just give me some directions!"
"Fine! Lower. . . Lower . . . C'mon Mel, lower."
"I am going lower!"
"Like . . . 15 centimeters lower."
"Thank you! ... OK, I think I've . . . Yep! There it is."
A sharp pain was accompanied by the "tink" of metal on metal.
"OK, hand me the grippers." Mel was all business now. Her partner handed her a large pinching tool.
"Mel; Use the smaller ones." I exclaimed feebly.
"Restrainers get in place," was her only response.
"Restrainers?!" I shrieked. Four huge guys came and held my arms and legs stiffly against the table.
"Mel! Use the smaller ones! Use the smaller! ARGGH!" I was unable to stop my own scream as she tugged at the remnants of the bullet. I struggled instinctually, flailing wildly to stop the pain, but the restrainers managed to hold me.
"Ah, there's the little monster." Melissa inspected the bullet as if it were of great interest to her.
"I hate you so much," I panted.
She smiled. "I love you, too, Bree. Very much."