A World for the Taking Ch. 09

"There you are!" she hissed, snatching up the small box. "Oh thank God! Thank God!"

She was so glad to find the compact device she actually kissed its case before opening it and scanning her clearly broken arm.

"Jesus!" she swore an instant later. "Both bones? How..."

She did not finish the question. Her mind had finally begun recalling the events leading up to her falling into this hole.

"Jean!" she cried and immediately clamped her mouth shut. If the enemy turned back and caught her, her sister and the others would be much worse off.

Everything inside of Tammy wanted to run up to the tower and make certain her sister was safe. However, she was in no condition to run anywhere. She probably couldn't even walk just then. Her back and legs were burning from over use and her broken arm had to have some attention before she could risk trying anything as dangerous as standing up.

In the faint light from the med-kit's screen she saw her arm was swollen to the point where her flannel shirt sleeve was stretched like a sausage skin. Her fingers actually resembled furry sausages and she could barely move them. An injection sent pain relievers and anti-inflamatories into her system. She felt the effects immediately, but there was no instant reduction in the swelling. The med-kit recommended a splint and immobilization. That could wait until she had checked her head wound.

"Not so bad. No concussion," she said, reading from the screen once she had run the scanner over her scalp. "Wish I had something to wash it with."

Thinking of washing her wound made her thirsty. She took a drink from her canteen and felt better. After a minute she decided to drink again. She took small mouthfuls and allowed the water to wash into her slowly. When her canteen was empty she felt a lot better. Even her head did not throb as much. By then her arm was showing signs of returning to normal size, though she guessed it would still be a while. The pain of the break was far less, at least and she felt all of her muscles relaxing. With only mild discomfort Tammy sat up and took a look around her, searching for a stick or branch.

"You should work," she said and picked up a long stick.

It was in decent shape. The bark was mostly gone, but as far as she could see, the wood was still sound. She took her knife from her belt and cut the stick down to size. It was awkward at first, but when she used her feet to hold it steady against the dead white pine the work went faster. Carefully she braced the stick in the bottom of the hole and held its base with the toes of one foot and the handle of the knife with the toes of the other while she rapped on the back of the blade with the piece of stick she had cut off. Once the knife started into the wood it did not take long to split the stick in two more or less even pieces. The real challenge came when she had to apply the bandages to hold the splint in place. Thankfully, by the time she was ready, the swelling in her arm was way down and she could move her fingers almost normally, though it made her injury ache fiercely. Tammy improvised a sling by tearing a slit in her haversack and shortening its strap to allow her arm to rest with a ninety degree bend at her elbow. Another dose of pain killers and she felt ready to try standing.

"Well, I'm not dizzy," she said to herself. "Hungry, though."

Among the contents of her haversack were a few rations she now distributed in her pockets. A thick strip of freeze dried venison satisfied the worst of her hunger. She was tempted to eat another, but given her situation, thought better of it. When was she likely to get more food? Water wouldn't be much trouble. Streams were common enough around this area. Early spring meant there would be no nuts or berries. Even stealing eggs from nests was out since the birds had not begun laying yet. Fish might be a good option.

"Worry about that later," she told herself. "Call Jean now."

She took her data pad from her pocket and her heart sank. The pad had been designed for use in extreme conditions but it was not invulnerable. Probably during her fall through the branches it had struck something hard enough to bend it. Nevertheless, she touched the power button, hoping it would still work. Nothing happened.

"Fuck," she swore softly.

Tammy had no idea what to do. It was night and the forest was dark. What was there to do? The moons had not risen yet. Looking up through the trees she saw stars and a few clouds illuminated against the darkness.

"Not long until moonrise, then," she whispered to herself. "Up hill. You can feel your way. When the moons come up, you'll be able to see. Just go up hill."

Worn, battered and sore Tammy collected herself and began her cautious trek south and up.

*****

"Come on, Mr. Vemmo," said Roy, turning aside from the game trail. "We need to check their position again."

"Roy, I'm tired," the petite Vespan said, trudging after him.

"Me too. Come on."

Roy broke through some scrub, ignoring the pain in his side. It wasn't a really bad pain, not like it had been at first, but it was more than an ache. Until it got so bad he couldn't think straight he did not want to stop to check the scorched gouge in his side. Every minute lost was a danger to his friends and the girl he loved. After realizing what the Dusig might be up to, Roy and Vemmo had decided to press on through the night. They had been forced to stop for a couple hours' rest around dawn. Since rising Roy had pushed and pushed, driving them forward out of sheer stubborn will. Somehow Vemmo had kept up. Gamble brought up the rear with his head bowed and steps plodding, but he had not tried to wander off. He was a good steelie and Roy did not fear losing him in the forest.

"Look," said Roy, sounding slightly more energetic. "See? That big boulder should do."

"No. I do not have NVGs."

"Right," Roy sighed. He was getting punchy and forgetful. Until the moons rose there was only starlight to see by. "Sorry."

"It is alright. Think you will be able to see anything?" Vemmo wondered halfheartedly. "Last time there were too many trees."

"I don't know," Roy admitted. "According to the map, the trees thin out in places down below. Maybe we'll see them. Maybe we won't."

"How much farther to the tower?" asked Vemmo. He stumbled over a root and fell on his face. Roy turned and gave him a hand up. "Very nice of you, Roy, but I am a male, in spite of what I look like to you."

"Whatever," snorted Roy. He hauled the Vespan to his feet and got back to climbing. "If I fall over, you damned well better help me up."

Vemmo chuckled dryly and did his best to follow the teen. A moment later he walked right into Roy's back and stumbled again. Roy caught him by the arm and steadied him.

"Sorry, Roy."

"I see someone moving below us," Roy whispered.

"Just one?"

"Yeah," Roy said. He took out his binoculars and handed his NVGs to Vemmo. "Down slope about a hundred meters. Moving slow. I don't see anyone else around."

"I do not... Wait!" Vemmo said tensely. "Yes. I see them."

"See any others?" asked the teen, peering intently at the lone figure.

"No," said Vemmo. "Will you shoot him?"

"It's not a him," Roy breathed. He dropped the binoculars from his eyes, shivering with reaction. "That's Tammy. And she's hurt!"

Before Vemmo could stop him Roy bounded down the slope through the trees in a wild dash. Beyond hope he had found Tammy and he was not going to let her go again. Not ever! Blindly he smashed through undergrowth and shrubs. Thorns tore at him and branches whipped him, but Roy pressed on. Small animals sprang from his path. He careened off a tree, fell and sprang up to continue his mad rush. There was movement ahead and he slowed to orient on it.

"Tammy?" he called.

"Roy?" she called back and suddenly there she was. He could barely see her in the starlight, but he found her.

"Tammy!" Roy cried and hugged her fiercely. "Oh God, Tammy! I love you! Oh God!"

"Roy!" she gasped and kissed him fiercely. "I love you, Roy!"

The young lovers embraced and kissed and held each other, thankful for the strange chance that had brought them together again.

"Hush!" hissed Vemmo from behind them. "We do not know where the enemy is!"

Abashed, Roy relaxed his grip on Tammy and set her down.

"Oh Roy," Tammy sighed. "I was scared. I didn't know what had happened to you and I had to kill a bunch of them and they shot at me and I fell and my pad is broken and I couldn't call and..."

"Ms. Mackey!" Vemmo scolded. "Please!"

"He's right, Tammy," Roy said, taking her gently by the shoulders. "We need to be quiet."

"I don't think we need to worry much," she said, slumping to the ground. "They ran by me about... I don't know. It was a while ago."

"You are injured, Ms. Mackey," Vemmo said, coming up to them. The shape of Gamble loomed in the darkness behind him.

"I broke my arm and hit my head," she said and began chuckling weakly. "I took some meds and I'm high as a kite right now."

"Let me see," Roy said, going to a knee beside her.

"Get out of my way," Vemmo ordered him. "Get the box off of Gamble. I think we are going to need more than a simple kit to treat this."

Roy did as he was told and minutes passed while the Vespan examined Tammy's injuries.

"Let me wash this blood off," Vemmo said. "Lay your head back."

"Blood?" demanded Roy, stepping closer.

"From a scalp wound," said Vemmo. "Give me a canteen."

Using disinfectant soap from the medical kit and a sterile sponge Vemmo cleaned Tammy's scalp.

"Does not look too bad," he pronounced. "Why did you not treat this properly?"

"Because I have broken arm?" she replied a little sarcastically.

"Oh," he said. "Of course. Forgive me. With all of your fur I cannot put a plaster on it. I am afraid synthaskin* will have to do. And a compress."

Tammy waited patiently with Roy holding her good hand while Vemmo applied the dressing to her scalp.

"Now let me have a look at your arm." The Vespan removed the makeshift sling and ran the medical scanner over the injury. "The splint helped. And you have already taken anti-inflamatories. I am going to replace your splint, though. This will probably hurt. Try not to cry out."

Tammy braced herself and squeezed Roy's hand. Vemmo was quick and his fingers gentle as he inspected the break. From the medical kit he took an inflatable cast and applied it to her arm. Sealing the fastener he depressed the button on the side that released the catalyst. Almost instantaneously the gasses in the cast became a rigid solid. Tammy hissed at the increased pressure and all but crushed Roy's hand. He said nothing and gradually she relaxed her grip.

"That's better," she sighed. "We really need to get going."

Roy was about to reply when a distant explosion rang through the valley. All three looked up towards the tower where it stood clearly against the lightening sky.

"Oh shit," swore Roy.

"Was that a demolition charge?" asked Vemmo.

*****

"They're coming!" screamed Jean, dodging back through the door. She spun and fired half a dozen rounds through the opening. Figures in the darkness beyond dropped to the ground and returned fire. Viridian bolts slapped against the tower wall outside and a pair slashed through to splatter vividly against the interior ferrocrete*.

"Get down!" Yoshi yelled and tackled the girl to the floor as more bolts screamed past. F`reet `du Hom darted to the side of the doorway and fired, matching bolt for bolt with the attacking Dusig.

"Did you send the message?" Jean asked, rolling away from Yoshi.

"Yes," he gasped and ducked as another volley of shots flew by. "And she did something, too."

"Something?" Jean demanded and scooted closer to the wall.

"She sent a message, too," he said, following her. "I don't know to who. She got on as soon as I was done. Actually talked to somebody."

"Did you get a reply?"

"It'll take a couple of minutes to reach the company's outpost," he said, dragging his shotgun closer. "I sent a burst. Just text. I included as much as I could think of. Kept it short."

"That's good," Jean said. She brought her rifle to her shoulder and fired into the night. "What do we do now?"

"Get out of here if we can," he said. "Did you disable the flyer already?"

"Main power linkage," she said. "Tore it out. Threw it into the woods down the slope."

The shooting from outside ended and F`reet `du Hom chanced a quick look. A bolt skimmed past her head and she returned fire, screaming something.

"Blow one of the bombs!" Yoshi shouted over the noise.

Jean pulled out her pad and pressed the icon for the first detonator. A loud slapping crack sounded from outside and all the shooting stopped again. F`reet `du Hom fired a few more times and then dodged across the open doorway to the opposite side. She looked out. No shots came.

"Can we go now?" Jean asked tensely.

"I don't think we're going to be able to," said Yoshi. "I think we're trapped."

"What do we do?" she asked, a fresh quaver in her voice. When Yoshi didn't answer, she demanded a little more desperately, "What are we going to do?"

They were both startled by the sound of the heavy door slamming shut. Looking up they saw F`reet `du Hom turn the manual latch and set the dogs to seal it. She thumped it solidly with the edge of her fist and snorted before walking over to the teens on the floor and motioning them to follow her.

"Come on," Yoshi said hesitantly. "Let's see what she has in mind."

*****

It seemed to take forever, even moving as swiftly as they could. At first they had been reckless in their urgency. As they drew closer to the tower, though, caution had reasserted itself. Now Roy, Tammy and Vemmo along with Gamble stood less than two hundred meters from the tower. Coming up the long spur their climb had not been overly arduous, but short rations, injuries and days without enough rest had long since tapped their reserves. Gamble, as big and strong as he was, gave up and lay on the ground in a patch of old leaves, his head drooping. Roy did not have the heart to rouse him in order to remove the saddle and other tack. He left his old friend where he was.

"Thank goodness the moons are up," Tammy whispered a little breathlessly. She was feeling winded and lightheaded after their long, hurried trek.

"There's the flyer," Roy said woodenly and found a stout tree to lean against. "Service hatch is open."

"Maybe Yoshi or Jean disabled it." Tammy bit her lip, hoping her sister was okay. "See anyone?"

"No," said Roy, getting his binoculars out. "Where's the door?"

"On the west side," she said. "Can't see it from here. Should we try calling them?"

"Use my pad," Roy said and handed the small device to her.

"Jean?" Tammy whispered into the mic. "Jean? It's Tammy. Are you there?"

A tense minute went by and Tammy was about to call again when a small, frightened voice came over the speaker.

"Tammy?" Jean asked. "Where have you been? I tried calling and you didn't answer."

"I lost the little radio and I broke my pad," Tammy explained. "Are you alright?"

"So far," said Jean. "We're closed up inside on the second platform. Where are you?"

"A couple of hundred meters east of the tower in the woods," Tammy told her. "Where are the bad guys?"

"On the western slope, we think. We fought them off and closed the door," said Jean. "F`reet `du Hom got us all up on the service platforms, even the steelies."

"Well, that's something," commented Roy.

"We heard an explosion a while ago, Jean. What was that?" asked Tammy

"A bomb," the younger girl said. "Like what you and Roy used. I packed little rocks all around some Pugh 36. There are a few more. Tammy, I want to get out of here and go home."

"I know," Tammy said. Her ears lay out to the sides of her head and her tail drooped to the ground. She looked beseechingly up at Roy. "We're working on it, baby sister."

"If they cannot tell us where the enemy is, how will we find them?" asked Vemmo, gripping Roy's large pistol.

"Have to scout them out," said Roy grimly, taking another look through his binoculars. "There are all kinds of little hot spots over there. I'm guessing that's from the gun fire. I don't see any of the soldiers."

"Good thing it's not the middle of summer," Tammy said. "Forest fire would be a bitch right now."

"Have they sent the message?" Vemmo wondered.

"Jean, did you send the message?" Tammy asked immediately.

"Yoshi did," said Jean. "And we think F`reet `du Hom did, too."

"Good. Hang on," said Tammy with considerable relief. She muted the mic and said, "That means sometime day after tomorrow the relief force will get here. How do we get them out of the tower?"

"I don't know," said Roy. "The group we were following, the one that ran past you in the dark, was about eight soldiers. And they were pretty good. Not like the first group we ambushed. That's why I got shot."

"You got shot?" she demanded. Roy hadn't mentioned any wounds.

"I patched him up," Vemmo assured her. "His wounds are no more severe than yours, I think. Perhaps not even as bad, considering your head injury."

"It isn't important right now," Roy cut in, grumpy and impatient. "We've got to think of a way to route those fuckers and get the others out of the tower."

"Where will we go when we do?" Vemmo asked. "Perhaps we should simply try to get ourselves into the tower."

"What?" Tammy and Roy asked in unison.

"We know the reaction force will be here in less than two days," Vemmo began. "If we could hold the tower against the Dusig until that force arrives, they can send a rescue party."

Tammy looked up at Roy, uncertainty plain upon her face. Roy licked his lips and wiped sweat from his brow, smearing dirt and grime.

"I don't know," he said after a while. "I mean, Steve knew we were coming here. He'll have told somebody by now. Maybe someone is already on their way to help, but that doesn't mean we can hold the tower. It isn't a fortress."

"It is better than being out in the open," argued Vemmo.

"Not if they bring in more troops with explosives to blow the door off," Roy countered. "Hell, those rifles of theirs might do the trick. We just don't know. Or what if they get one of their shuttles up and running? They could blast the tower with their cannon. With us trapped inside, we'd be dead."

"You do have a point there," Vemmo conceded grimly.

"We could try luring them away," suggested Tammy. "We still have Gamble. Have you still got explosives?"

"Some," Roy said. "Gamble is in no shape to keep moving, though. He needs rest. We all need rest."

That was true. Tammy had never felt so weary in all her life. And how was she supposed to fight with a broken arm? She couldn't go jumping through the trees in her condition. And Roy was right about Gamble. The big stud was snoring softly behind them.

"A cup of coffee would be great about now," she said, smirking.

"I do not know how you people can drink that stuff," snorted Vemmo disgustedly. "Brown and bitter, or too sweet when you add that creamer and sugar. Tea is far better and yet not particularly palatable."

"Mr. Vemmo, you don't know what's good," Tammy chided him. "Sugar does ruin it, though. I'm just too tired to think straight."

Roy dug in one of the pouches on his belt and took out his med-kit. He applied it to his arm and there came a soft hiss of an injection. He fiddled with the controls and pressed it to Tammy's shoulder. Before she could pull away she felt the brief sting of an injection followed by renewed energy and wakefulness. Vemmo backed up when Roy made to inject him too, but Roy caught hold of the petite Vespan's arm and dosed him.

"Roy!" snapped Vemmo. "I did not wish a stimulant!"

"Sorry," Roy apologized, not sounding particularly sorry. "We all need to be awake and alert. Now, let's think this through."