In the Blink of an Eye - Part 5

Posted on 29 Jul 2023 @ 10:08am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde

3,326 words; about a 17 minute read

:: 2366 - 26 years prior to current time
Several hours after events in Part 4
Capital City of Sol, Vaeron ::


Alexion had found himself swamped when he'd arrived back at the hospital. Patients were huddled where they could, the blood was slick across every surface, and the staff were ready to drop. Alexion was no different.

They could only rely on their own shields for the hospital now, but they all knew that under direct attack, it wouldn't last long...and then they'd all be sitting prey for the Xaeon ground troops.

An injured but still lucid patient had volunteered to work the reception desk, watching the security cameras and opening a window in the shield to admit patients. He gave an unwarranted whistle across to the staff. "A guy with a gun is signalling to the camera for admittance."

Alexion and Hanri shared glances before moving over, followed by Nurse Ion and the usual receptionist who had been given the job of triage nurse. They watched the screen as the man with a rifle waved an arm at the camera before looking down the street anxiously.

"What if it's a Xaeon?" Ion asked with a frown, shaking his head with obvious worry. There were no outward physical differences between Xaeons and Vaerons. And he didn't recognise the uniform.

"No, it's alright," Alexion said quietly, leaning closer as he narrowed his eyes to study the figure. "He's one of ours."

"The uniform..."

"Elite," Alexion shook his head quickly, already moving back to work with a dismissive wave of the hand. "He's part of the Elite Guard."

Hanri gave a nod of confirmation to the volunteer and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

As the soldier ducked through the shields, he sprinted up the path and stairs to the large hospital entrance, banging urgently on the doors with a fist.

"Alright, alright, we heard you," Nurse Ion moved to get the door open for him, half stumbling backwards as the man pushed in past him.

He'd been in a hell of a fight, that was all too clear. The soldier was smeared in blood, his uniform was torn in places, and he moved with pain. His dark hair was plastered to his face with both sweat and blood and his dark eyes showed exhaustion.

He dropped his rifle, the butt clattering against the blood-stained floor. But Ion moved quickly to grab hold of the man before he fell, easing him to sit on the ground.

The nurse reached into his pocket, pulling out a small vial that was running desperately low, but he pressed it to his arm all the same. "I'm going to give you something to relax, just go with it, let us look at you."

The soldier was frowning with more than just pain though and he shoved the nurse's hand away before he could administer it. "No. I need to talk to whoever's left in charge."

"That would be me," Hanri moved to them, crouching close so he could see him as he watched on with obvious concern.

"Captain Eaest Lyre, Elite Guard," he nodded briskly to him despite his injuries. "They've broken through. The seventh division is fighting them on the ground, but it's not going to stop them. It's just buying time. You have at best a few hours before they reach you."

Hanri nodded gently to him, taking the warning calmly despite everything; the grim news was expected. "I guessed as much," he assured softly. "Just let them treat you. You've got your message through."

"I'm supposed to help guard you," Eaest replied quietly, meeting his eyes before giving a pained, bitter chuckle. "I know. Hardly the relief team you were hoping for. One man and a rifle."

"No, no, we appreciate it," Hanri assured in a whisper, and despite his frown his eyes showed his honesty. "It means a lot. Means we weren't just forgotten."

Eaest held his eyes for a long moment, his silence agreeing with him. "Well, all hospitals have weapons in the vault for emergencies. I'm supposed to show anyone who can hold a rifle how to use it, if they don't already know."

Hanri sighed, rubbing his face with a tired hand before nodding lightly. For all the good it would do. A last stand for the sake of holding a weapon when dying. Instead of just...dying. Not much of a choice between the two really. "Yeah."

Alexion watched them from where he worked, finishing the dressing on his patient before drifting over to them, listening in. "How bad is it out there?"

Eaest looked up to him, silent, his features hard as memories of the last two days washed over him. He shook his head bitterly. "They're vicious. They're killing everyone in sight....young, old, children, harmless, everyone. They haven't taken a single prisoner that I've seen. Just...cruel. Fire, blades, energy blasts...they're literally ripping people apart, butchering them."

Alexion's jaw tightened with both sickness and anger as he looked to Hanri. "We were right...this is a massacre. They're wiping us out....it's genocide," he shook his head slowly, breathing harder with the grim confirmation.

"Easy," Hanri frowned with concern as he stood, touching his friend's arm to try and steady him.

Alexion shook his head hard as he tugged his arm away. "No. No easy. I've had enough. I've had enough of waiting in this damned place to be slaughtered! What? Should we just lay down in front of them to make it even easier? Screw that, Hanri, it's time to leave!"

"I thought you'd decided to stay with us?" Hanri asked quietly, trying to be calm and soft spoken even in the face of Alexion's frustration and anger.

"No, I mean us," Alexion motioned a tense hand to indicate the hospital. "I know there's a lot of people who are too injured to move, but there's also some who have relatively less threatening injuries who could give escaping a damn good try. Those who can still move with their injuries should group together and get the hell out of here before the Xaeons arrive. The basement still has the old gates that lead down to the underground transport tunnels. We could get far enough away to come back above ground further out in the nature reserves, use the woodland for some shelter. It's better than everyone waiting here to be executed by that filth."

Hanri's eyes narrowed as he watched him, clearly considering the idea as he looked to Captain Eaest, holding his breath as a touch of hope stirred in him. "Do they know about the old train tunnels?"

"Not that I've seen," Eaest shook his head as his frown deepened, thinking carefully on the prospect. "We haven't used those tunnels for ages, odds are that they don't know they're there, and if they do, they're not using them. They're strong enough above ground."

"Is running even worth the trauma for the patients that can still move?" Hanri whispered, looking to Alexion, concern and fatigue etched into his features. "For all we know, they'll just end up dying down there, or as soon as they get above ground again."

Alexion shrugged, because it was about all he had enough energy for. But his eyes were resolute and honest when they met his. "Maybe, but if there are patients left here who can still put one foot in front of the other, and they feel the same way I do? If I'm going to be hunted by those bastards, I'd rather die making them work for it."

Hanri nodded slowly at the sentiment, but his frown deepened as he thought it over, trying to keep a level, calm head in it all. Which was easier said than done in the middle of a nightmare. "There won't be many left who are capable of running," he finally whispered. "Most of the patients who were well enough to move have already left, back when the air attack failed, to find their families or try and escape the city..." he met Alexion's eyes, his own showing a glimmer of determination. "But any patient or staff member left here who can still run should at least give it a go. You're right. We've seen it through to the end, there's nothing else we can do. We won't just lie down and die, we can still give some patients a chance. Pack up what we can for supplies and get a list of who's willing to leave, and who is physically able to, including staff; they've already gone above and beyond the call of duty. They can all leave together as one group, and the staff can help the patients keep moving."

Captain Eaest nodded firmly, accepting it easily as an order. Besides, if they had a chance of getting anyone out, he was going to make it happen. "Patch me up and I'll go and get the weapons, split them between those who stay behind and the group leaving."

Hanri nodded quickly, giving Eaest a look that clearly showed he expected no argument. "And you should go with the group that is leaving. You can do more good trying to help people escape than staying here."

Eaest hesitated as he glanced around the group. It didn't sit well with him and it felt unnatural, but he could see the sense in the decision. He had to let out a pained breath before he could reply. "Okay."

Hanri nodded with approval, squeezing Alexion's arm with a renewed sense of purpose. "Put the word around to get the escape group together and pack up. Tell the staff I want them in that group to help look after the patients trying to escape. They can do more good keeping them alive and moving than staying here to face the onslaught."


~~~~~


Alexion looked around the edge of the doorway to Hanri's office, motioning to his boss and friend with a tired hand. "That's it, we've packed everything we can carry, let's go."

"I..." Hanri said it loudly to get his attention when Alexion was about to move off again, but otherwise remained as he was. "I'm not coming with you."

Alexion stopped abruptly, turning slowly to watch him with confusion. "What do you mean 'not coming'? We don't have time for this, we have to leave the hospital now to get ahead of them."

"I'm not leaving with you and the others. I'm going to stay here with the patients who can't leave," Hanri said calmly, holding his eyes so he could see that he meant it.

Alexion walked slowly towards him, seeing the honest resolution in his eyes. This was no wanabe hero saying it to look brave and hoping that he'd insist he left with him. Hanri meant it. He wanted to stay with the patients who were too injured to escape. And the echo of himself and Laeon being in this same situation not so long ago wasn't lost on him. "Well that's tough, because you're coming."

"I can't," he said quietly, shaking his head as he looked away with a pained frown, not wanting to look him in the eye as he said it.

"Bullshit!" Alexion grabbed his arm, shaking it firmly to make him look at him. "Those people out there, the patients who are too injured to move, they will be dead the moment those bastards get through our shields. Do you hear me? They can't run, they can't fight. They're already dead. You are not," he spoke firmly and slowly, with the authority of a doctor taking control of an emergency. "You can run, and damn it all to ashes, even if I have to put the rifle in your hands myself, you can fight. You are still alive and have a chance to escape. I am not going to let you die."

"Alexion, I can't leave them," Hanri shook his head at a loss, tears in his usually calm, dark eyes. "I can't let them die alone. How could I do that? My whole life has been dedicated to helping people when they are most vulnerable. I can't defy the holiest scripture and let them die alone."

"I know," Alexion whispered, his voice breaking with it as he looked down, struggle on his features. It was clear he was having the same dilemma. The same instinct.

"No," Hanri said firmly, touching his face to make him look at him, all too clearly seeing his thoughts. "No, you're not staying too. You're a doctor, and right now, that group of patients ready to escape needs you to keep them alive, keep them moving...and to get them off this planet, whatever it takes. Do you hear me? That's an order, Alexion, those are your patients, and I'm ordering you to go with them to keep them safe."

"Yeah, well, with all due respect, Hanri, you can take your orders and shove them up Dr. Sinon's arse," Alexion shrugged, pursing his lips as he watched him with defiance blazing in his eyes.

Despite everything, Hanri chuckled softly, meaning it as he watched him with fondness. "That's what you said to me the first day we met," he said gently, moving to sit on the edge of the desk with slow, tired movements. "This...young, angry doctor, fresh from medical school. Angry because he didn't want to be a doctor, he didn't want to care, he'd been forced into the career because of his Talent. All he wanted to do was drink and gamble his father's fortune away, be a man of leisure who lived for drink, thrills and the next beautiful person he could get into his bed."

Alexion chuckled weakly as he moved to sit next to him, remembering all too well. He'd hated being forced to medical school. And most days, he still didn't like being a doctor. "Yeah. Now I just feel tired."

"But you're still here," Hanri looked across to him with a frown. "The playboy. The protesting doctor. You, of all of us, who hated being a doctor, are still at your post. Still healing, still caring. When so many of the others have deserted. Even Dr. Sinon, for all his self-righteous crap. You know, I found his house empty, his things gone. He'd packed and left the city with the first sirens. Never even reported in to the hospital."

"Yeah, well, Sinon always was more sickening than bacteria," Alexion looked to him with a weak smile, trying to find the energy to make light of it all.

"Yeah," Hanri chuckled softly, watching him in the quiet of the small office, the first breath they'd been able to catch for a long time. The first chance they'd had to just sit and talk in a peaceful place during this nightmare. "But now it's time for you to go, Alexion. The patients who are able to try and escape, they need a doctor to get them through. And with your father's codes you have access to more systems and buildings than anyone else on the team. You're their best chance. And if Laeon is left an orphan because you stay here with me, I will send myself to the Fires and Ash, never mind the Brothers doing it."

"Well, then you'd better come with me," Alexion said with a weak, tired smile, shifting his shoulders into a helpless shrug. "Because I'm not going without you. 'That's who we are. We don't let a man, who can be saved, die.'"

Hanri gave a half smile at his words being turned on him, but he finished the rest of the quote. "But if they have to die, we don't let them die alone. Alexion, I can't let the people who have to stay behind die alone."

"I know," Alexion whispered, reaching to grip his knee, squeezing it with a trembling hand. He looked to him with a frown, his eyes a shade darker with pain. "You know, the death they face at the enemy's hands...it could be horrific for them," he whispered. "The scorching and burning and gaping wounds we've seen come in. It's a cruel, painful slaughter they're delivering, even on civilians."

"I know," Hanri looked to him, his chest aching with the words. "I'd do...anything to spare them that. It's not right. The passing should be peaceful."

Alexion searched his eyes for a long moment before swallowing against the thoughts going through his head. "How many Transferers do we have left?"

Hanri took a breath as he tried to work it out. "Well there's you, the Nurse Yan...and Wyl is still around here somewhere, why?"

Alexion searched his features for a moment but had to look away. He couldn't look at him, scared by his own thoughts. For the first time, in a long time, he was actually scared of what he was thinking. "Transferring...draining the energy from someone until they die...it is a...peaceful passing," he whispered.

Hanri watched him with realisation, swallowing tightly at the suggestion in the words. "I cannot kill them," he whispered.

"I'm not asking you to. You're not a Transferer," Alexion whispered bluntly, finally finding the courage to look at him. "When you're fully drained by a Transferer, you die in physical and mental contact with that person, your energy passing to them. It is calm and peaceful if a Transferer does it right, if he uses the connection to pass back calm and warmth. A good passing to the next life. The Battle Priests do it, when it is hopeless for a comrade...to let them pass in peace, and in company. You know that. The two most holy sacraments; no man should die alone, and the passing should be peaceful. It is better than them dying in pain and fear, at *their* hands, by their cruel methods. Alone and scared. Which is the certainty of what they face. There's no hope of saving them."

Hanri searched his eyes with pain, the conflict all too clear. He had always been a more religious man than Alexion, who usually only showed the barest of respect for it. As he studied him, it became clear in his own mind it was their duty to the patients they had to leave behind. It was the last duty they could serve them...make it painless, calm, quick and with company. It was clear in the holy scriptures they had that responsibility to them, to make the passing peaceful, and to never let a person die alone. The Final Service.

It still went against everything he would usually fight for, to save someone until their last breath. He realised, as he watched Alexion, that he was right; their last breath had already been taken from them the moment the shields had fallen. "I....will go to those being kept alive by machine," he whispered, shaking his head. "Close them down, allow them a natural death with someone at their side. I'll call Yan and Wyl, tell them to meet you so that you can...provide the Final Service to those who are breathing on their own but can't flee."

Alexion closed his eyes tightly, the pain in his chest immense for a moment, so tight that he wasn't sure if he could take another breath. "How have they brought us to this?" he whispered, his hand curling tight in a fist, lost somewhere between pain and anger. "How could they drive us to this unbearable point?"

Hanri reached out, touching his face gently. "We will make sure that no one else under our watch has to suffer the same."

"We? Then you will come with us?" Alexion asked quickly, his hearts beating faster with it.

Hanri nodded with a heavy sigh, looking around his office as if it might be the last time. "When the others have all passed, I will come with you. There will be nothing left here."

[TBC]

RSS Feed