thebrotherhoodoftun

CHAPTER 28

 

Tex took the handset back from Diesel yet he never took his eyes from the opposite bank. He pulled out a small map and photo case, he knew that either Gunny or Diesel would be asking for it soon.

“Tex let me have that map case,” Gunny’s voice was deeper than normal. “Next fireteam move out. Keep a sharp eye out for any unwanted visitors.”

Tex continued to scan the river bank, Domino’s fireteam was making good time in its crossing. The first person across was Greywolf followed by Doc. Tex could see Domino waving Greywolf and Doc to move out for the OP.

Greywolf scrambled through the woods towards the OP with Doc hot on his heels. The entire time they ran through the woods, their heads were on swivels as they searched for unfriendlies. It still took them 10 more minutes to reach the OP.

Greywolf and Doc crested a small rise and went belly down; Greywolf brought up his weapon and sighted it on the OP. “Jafe this is Greywolf, over.”

“I read you Grey Wolf, over,” came Jefe response.

“We have you in sight, over.”

“Then get your ass down here.” Jefe replied rather sharply.

“Be there in ten seconds.” said Greywolf tersely before he tripped up on a root as he started off for the OP.

Both men were alert for any movement. Their path to the OP was not a straight path towards it. Their mad dash included dodging, ducking and diving behind the vast amounts of wreckage strung about the woods.

Doc made it to the OP first. His face was streaked with runnels of sweat that had made camouflage stripes through the grey-white ash that now covered his person. Doc’s body hit the upper lip of the berm that helped shelter the OP and rolled over it to enter the OP. He landed in a crouch, tossed his weapon to Punk and practically flung himself towards the two wounded men. Doc’s medic bag landed with a heavy thud beside him as he quickly began to assess the down men.

Punk, who had deftly caught the tossed rifle, now took up a position on the firing step of the OP’s wall facing the direction that the APC came from, holding both weapons. Doc was too busy with Deuce and Fish to notice Greywolf diving over the lip of the same berm that he moments ago came over.

Greywolf used his momentum from the dive to roll and came to his feet in a crouch. He too looked like a grey-white ghost as he also took up a position on the firing step next to Punk. Grey Wolf used the quick releases on his pack to drop it to the floor so he could have more freedom of movement.

“Punk, get over here and give me a hand,” said Doc almost casually.

Punk handed over Docs rifle to Greywolf and moved over to where doc was. Doc was rummaging through his medic bag. “Punk I need you to roll up their sleeves and then I will need you to help me clean up their wounds. I need to see where this blood is coming from.”

Jafe looked over to Greywolf and then said “just another day in paradise.” They could hear Doc working quickly to find out what injuries both men had. Greywolf and Jefe swept the area in front of the OP for any movements.

Doc took a second to make sure he was on the right radio freq. “Diesel, this is Doc. Over.”

“This is Diesel. Go Doc. Over.”

“We just got here to the OP. I have bleeding from the ears and nose, on both men. Both are out cold. No obvious broken bones. Out.” Doc spun on his right knee to spit out a large glob of dust filled phlegm. “Punk I need you to pour some water on these wounds to flush out the dirt and dust. I need to get some antibiotics ready for them.

Punk did just as he was asked to do. When he was done, Doc gave both men injections and using cotton swabs to clean out their ears. Doc then looked in the ears of both men. Doc was muttering to himself as he did his work. After inspecting the damage to both men’s ears Doc put an antibacterial cream in the men’s ears. This done he cleaned out their eyes of any debris that may have gotten lodged there. Lastly he covered their ears with a glaze pad and wrapped the pads in place with a green bandage.

“Diesel this is Doc. Over.”

“Go Doc.” Replied Diesel

“Both men are stable, Both men have ruptured ear drums. Slight to mild concussions. Both are still out cold. What is your ETA? Over,” asked Doc.

“We will be at your position in 15 mikes. Will they require a dust off? Over.”

Doc’s response was a candid one. “Unknown at this time, I will know more once they‘re awake. Over.”

Diesel closed his eyes and responded. “Understood. Out.”