06-11-2014, 06:49 PM
Explosions rocked their vehicle, some harder than others. Instinct wanted Torri's head to whip around and see the terrible thing holding Michael's attention, but she dared not risk a blink anywhere besides her current patient.
Of the three soldiers earlier, one died. Legionnaires, dammit, she tried, but the self-correction wouldn't last. These men were fighting a CCD war, therefore, to her, they were soldiers. She lifted her fingers from Adrian's carotid. "TOD - damnit someone give me the time!"
She had none of her usual technologies. The sergeant's wrist suddenly thrust in front of her face; his timeband shone bright as the neon signs overhead. Torri swallowed dryly and called TOD. She moved on.
In route, she glanced up only once, when the convoy stopped for civilians. The normalcy of the mall turned to fortress chilled her spine. The glow of a McDonalds colored her coat orange and red, but she grit her teeth and went back to work.
Soon the skies cleared of city lights, and the expanse of the desert sky widened overhead. They were near the airport. They couldn't arrive soon enough when the Legion sergeant grabbed her on the arm. She whipped around as he barked a warning. "Brace yourself, doctor!"
A moment later, they were rumbling across freshly plowed barricades torn like paper by the lead bulldozer. Their vehicle roared over remnants of cement wall like the chunks were mere gravel, but she swayed and clasped the sergeant's arm in return none the less. Everybody held on tight.
What noises their convoy fled in the city were drowned in comparison to the intensity at the airport. Detonation shattered the night, the whirl of heavy-bladed VTOL's scrambled in and out of topless towers of smoke, and amid the chaos, human voices roaring together carried over the tarmac.
Despite the sergeant's warnings to the contrary, Torri pulled herself up for a look. She was haggard with fatigue, face bruised and eyes tight, but she was drawn with determination. To do what, exactly, waited to be seen.
Of the three soldiers earlier, one died. Legionnaires, dammit, she tried, but the self-correction wouldn't last. These men were fighting a CCD war, therefore, to her, they were soldiers. She lifted her fingers from Adrian's carotid. "TOD - damnit someone give me the time!"
She had none of her usual technologies. The sergeant's wrist suddenly thrust in front of her face; his timeband shone bright as the neon signs overhead. Torri swallowed dryly and called TOD. She moved on.
In route, she glanced up only once, when the convoy stopped for civilians. The normalcy of the mall turned to fortress chilled her spine. The glow of a McDonalds colored her coat orange and red, but she grit her teeth and went back to work.
Soon the skies cleared of city lights, and the expanse of the desert sky widened overhead. They were near the airport. They couldn't arrive soon enough when the Legion sergeant grabbed her on the arm. She whipped around as he barked a warning. "Brace yourself, doctor!"
A moment later, they were rumbling across freshly plowed barricades torn like paper by the lead bulldozer. Their vehicle roared over remnants of cement wall like the chunks were mere gravel, but she swayed and clasped the sergeant's arm in return none the less. Everybody held on tight.
What noises their convoy fled in the city were drowned in comparison to the intensity at the airport. Detonation shattered the night, the whirl of heavy-bladed VTOL's scrambled in and out of topless towers of smoke, and amid the chaos, human voices roaring together carried over the tarmac.
Despite the sergeant's warnings to the contrary, Torri pulled herself up for a look. She was haggard with fatigue, face bruised and eyes tight, but she was drawn with determination. To do what, exactly, waited to be seen.