“Time’s up, I’ll need an accurate account of everything we got” The commander yelled out, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and holding his rifle in the other hand.

Jimmie massaged his eyes for a moment, trying to gather himself, to look strong. Dick got to his feet, jogging over to where he had dropped his earlier equipment and started shuffling through. Jimmie glanced over at Dick as he walked away, his chest less restrictive, head clearer, emotions under check. He breathed out, then made a move to remove his backpack, only to find nothing.

He looked over his shoulder, trying to see his back, seeing nothing. He turned around and around, quickly going up to his feet as he feebly searched for his pack, but found nothing. He let his eyes dart around, seeing Piernov hunched over his own pack, two rifles to his side. Jimmie walked up to him.

“Where’s my pack?”

Jimmie asked, and Piernov looked up to meet his eyes. Then they narrowed as he stared up into the sky. A moment passed, and he said.

“You dropped it on the hill when you started killing those aliens”

Jimmie blinked as he looked down on Piernov, Piernov focused back on taking out mags and ration bars. Speaking up suddenly in a low voice.

“Thanks. I think it was only you and Bill that killed any aliens, and… Saved me”

But Piernov’s voice fell on deaf ears, as Jimmie was already walking away with his rifle in hand, cursing soundlessly to himself. Fuck, not only am I weak, but I’m fucking stupid too, shit.

He zipped towards the commander, but as his eyes fell on Chris, his steps slowed, slowed down to a crawl. He stopped a few meters away, the top of Chris' head faced towards Jimmie, enough for Jimmie to see his chest moving up and down, periodically, looking like he was sleeping.

Jimmie sat himself down, making it hard for himself to see Chris face. The commander nodded to Jimmie, then turned back to fishing out the last pieces of stuff from his pack.

Jimmie looked at his rifle while he sat, seeing a red “50” flashing on the screen. He noted that he also had four mags in pockets on his body armour, and a single ration bar on the backside. He sighed.

And the minutes passed on in silence. Until the commander yelled out.

“Okay, gather round everybody. I got news,” Pausing as he waited for everyone to move close. And when everyone did, he looked around, letting the group speak one at a time and getting a tally on how much ammo, food and general supplies the group had. From it, Jimmie gathered that almost everyone had used two mags during that fire and assault, which surprised Jimmie.

When the commander looked at Jimmie, he hesitated for a moment, then said.

“I lost my pack on top of the hill, I got one ration bar and four mags”

Getting a firm nod from the commander, and the stink eye from Rick, who had not stopped glaring at him since the incident.

“Hmm, okay okay. So, if I’ve counted correctly, the next fortification, Warden depot, is about a nine days walk from here. If we’re sparse with using our food, we’ll get there with no problems. But I think it would be unwise to lessen the amount of food Chris gets, so we must go at least two days without foo-“

Before the commander could finish, Rick spoke up.

“That will be no problems, sir” A determined voice, his eyes firm. The commander met those eyes, then looked around, asking.

“All okay with that?”

The group shared a look, but there was no question on their answer, as the group unanimously agreed.

“Okay, less food it is. Rick, you got a stretcher, right?”

Rick nodded.

“Good, and we must share our water with Jimmie, we’ll split the duty amongst the group. Jimmie, you’ll have to get by with only half a bottle a day, that okay with you?”

He said while looking at Jimmie, Jimmie pondered for a moment, knowing how hard it will be to get by with that little water, but never the less, he still nodded. Somehow, not feeling bad about it, it felt deserved somehow. Rick’s glare told Jimmie that he agreed.

The commander nodded, then continued.

“Jimmie, give three of your mags to the others, and Bill, you got four grenades right?”

Jimmie shook his head upon hearing the commander’s words, he felt as if he hadn’t heard that right. But he held his tongue, feeling that there must be a reason, a simple reason that must have just slipped Jimmie’s mind.

“No sir, I actually got five, and one smoke grenade”

Bill corrected the commander, none the wiser about Jimmie’s thoughtful silence.

“Even better, give everyone your explosive grenades, keep the smoke and one explosive for yourself.”

Bill nodded, then turned around to rummage through his pack. The commander spoke up.

“Right right, that’s everything sorted. Piernov, you’ll have to pull double duty, I need your eyes, you got to keep a very close eye on our perimeter. During night shifts, you’ll have to do double shifts, that okay?”

Piernov didn’t react, his face neutral as he responded.

“Yes sir”

Getting a nod from the commander.

“Perfect, and don’t worry, I need you sharp, so you won't have to carry Chris” The commander paused for a second, looking up at the sky as he thought. The seconds ticked by in silence, Bill handed out his grenades to the rest of the group. The commander looked down again, saying.

“Bill, you’ll have to carry Chris’ rifle and ammo” A loud grunt came from Bill, not a protest, but visibly deflating. The commander continued talking, giving Bill an apologetic face.

“Sorry Bill, but the amount of ammo you used during that last fire and assault leaves us with just enough to carry out one more of those, or two if we're lucky. And you don’t have any other weapons, so you get Chris’”

Bill grunted again, getting a punch to the chin from Dick as loudly said.

“Dont be a puss Bill, we all know how proud you are of your muscle’s”

Bill shuckled at that, but didn’t deny, a smug smile forming on his lips, leaning back on big arms.

The group turned silent again, focus back on the commander who looked. Unsure? Jimmie felt himself taken by surprise, he hadn’t seen the commander hesitate before.

Time went on in silence, only stopping once Dick "hrmpfd”, making the commander shake his head and cough.

“Ahem, yeah... So Rick, how’s... What’s Chris situation?”

The group looked at Rick in unison, waiting for the fateful words. Rick looked solemn, eyes firmly placed on Chris, his sleeping form looking peaceful, if not for his missing hands.

“He’s missing blood, but food and sleep will fix that. The wound shouldn’t be infected unless those aliens weapons were somehow infectious, which we’ll just hope that they aren’t. So my verdict is that he’ll survive. But.. I dont think we’ll get much sleep.. Once the drugs seeps out of his system, it’ll crash down on him all at once, and then..”

He let the last part slide, but the word hung heavy in the air.

Jimmie didn’t look at Chris, he didn’t dare.

Then the commander breathed out heavily.

“Okay. You got my permission to use sedatives to keep him sleeping, if possible... Not during the day though, we might need them if anyone else gets wounded.”

Rick nodded, his face crunching up, dissatisfied with the commander's words, but not voicing his opinion.

Then the commander stood up, looking around as he spoke.

“Jimmie, Rick, you’ll be the first to carry Chris. Bill, you’ll be rear guard again. Dick, you stay with Chris. I’ll be with Piernov at the front. We’ll rotate positions every few hours. Everyone got that?”

The group moved to gather their gear while the commander spoke, and when he finished, the group all responded with “yes sir”, moving to their designated posts.

Bill grunted as his equipment he had to carry practically doubled his weight, his face full of resignation to the long task.

Piernov and the commander was the first to start walking, keeping the pace slow, glancing back to not get to far ahead.

Jimmie felt a bit miffed about his designated role, but didn’t fight back, he understood its importance. He moved to grab Chris’s legs and help Rick lift him, but felt a hard push to his chest, forcing him to take a few steps back.

Looking up, he noted Rick’s narrowed brows and angry expression.

“You take the head” He practically whispered, voice seething with hatred. Jimmie met his eyes, but looked away quickly. He already felt exhausted, his usual anger didn’t blossom as it usualy would. And he just felt to, hollow, to be angry at Rick.

He moved to Chris' head, looking down to see him with closed eyes and a slightly pained expression. Jimmie paused, his chest felt restrictive again.

And he stood there.

Hearing Rick cough took him out of it, peaking up through lashes and seeing Rick holding softly to Chris’s legs. Jimmie bent down, grabbed Chris’s shoulders, then hoisted. The two gently carrying Chris to the stretcher, each grabbing their respective end and pulling him up.

Feeling Chris weight on his arms made Jimmie very aware of the long journey, as his arms already felt exhausted.

This would be a long week.