Operation Anchorage

"Still a higher rank than me Mark... I'm your average grunt" She gripped the tweezers and pulled the piece of metal free. "There you go"

As the metal piece came out, he winced and punched the ground. "I'm right there with you Sarah, I only just got this rank. Besides, what do the Sargent's say if we call them 'sir'?.... Oh right! 'Don't call me sir, I work for a living!'"

He laughed a bit, while grabbing some disinfectant, and another rag, and for a large cotton pad.

She laughed at that. "You'll probably reach that rank before me" Sarah turned away from him and scanned the area around them for danger. She was cautious in case those Crimson Dragoons emerged.

Mark got up, "Alright, take my hand. And we'll get going, immediately." He put his hand out to help her up, once more.

Sarah accepted his hand, pulling herself up. "Thanks for the assist" She smiled at him, hoping that they would make it back alive and find the base well defended.

After a few hours of walking, Mark saw some smoke from a tent was rising. It was the other base, it wasn't touched by any bombardments, or blood. Mark smiled, his mission was almost over. Sarah could have some real medical attention, and he could get some whiskey to celebrate the accomplishment, "We're here! Thank god... I could eat... better yet, I can finally get you to an actual hospital bed!"

She felt her heart and spirit lift at the sight. "Yeah thank the Lord and you don't have to leave so soon after getting me to a bed" Sarah said smiling, never had seeing an American Base looked so good. "Uncle Sam can't be beat"

He smiled at her, "Alright. I'll stay for a bit, might go get us something to drink for celebration."

He nodded, thinking how great that would sound right now. How much he's waited, and how long he had been holding to go to the bathroom for. It was relieving to say the least, but not that relieving... Yet.

She nodded at that, pleased by the thought. "A nice drink? Well I'll have a whiskey then never been much for wine never had much money spare for it either"

Mark walked her down to the infirmary. It looked nice enough for someone like her, but it could be better. He was only glad he wasn't thinking out loud, she might've heard him. When he got her to a bed, the Nurses all crowded around her, making sure she was comfy, and safe.

Mark pulled up a chair next to her bed side, and passed out with his arms folded, and head tilted forward. It had been a long day, for the two members of Echo Squad.

Sarah did not have the strength to resist the tide of medical staff that descended on her. She reached out with a small, cold hand for Mark's hand. She had always found hospitals to be a bit scary and being swarmed... After such an exhausting battle was very hard to take.

He felt her hand brush against his, he smiled slightly grabbed it, and closed his eyes once more.

While he fell asleep, and while he was holding Sarah's hand, he had thoughts. Thoughts of going home, not being greeted as a hero but as just another person all over again. His dream consisted of trying to talk to people who didn't recognize him. No place he could really call home, nor anyone he can hug ask him how he was doing.

As he slept his grip would tighten on her hand, then relax, and doing it for a few.

Sarah felt comforted by his touch, her hand tightly gripped his. The left over of Echo squad stuck together... Always. She fell asleep too, due to the effects of several medicines, while her wounds where treated.

Mark awoke a couple hours later. It was dark, and his hand still held Sarah's. It was strange, to have someone still have a grip on your hand, especially since it was a new concept.

He slowly moved her hand back onto the bed. Covered her in the blankets, it was cold. The heater in the infirmary was doing all it could, but it wasn't working at full capacity because of the snow. So he went into the back, grabbed another blanket and covered Sarah up with some more. He then went to the bases store. It had one last bottle of whiskey.

He went inside, grabbed the bottle, payed for it, and went back to Sarah. Grabbing two disposable cups from the nurses station. He sat down, looked at Sarah for a moment. Then he looked at the clock, then remembered the Armored Soldier. What he said about Echo Squad... Never did say that they died, only said that communications was cut-off from them. Maybe I should look more into this... Maybe

Sarah shuffled silently under the covers of the blankets, she was still asleep her body taking full advantage of this brief opportunity to catch up on desperately needed sleep. She was so exhausted that her body did not even dream or stir when Mark moved away, or covered her in the blankets to try and keep her warm.

He covered his face with his hands, tears went down his eyes thinking of the loses he had seen. So many men and women, died in front of his eyes. He leaned forward, grabbing his bible from his bag. Reading a passage from it, "The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread? Psalm 27:1"

This passage calmed his nerves, even though he was part of the scientific field, and not many Doctors believed in a higher 'calling' or God, so to speak. He was one of the few. He looked at Sarah one more time before reading more. He just needed to get a hold of his barring, before going back out to fight.

Sarah awoke slowly, to the sound of Mark's voice. Her eyes fluttered opened slowly and immediately she tried to sit up, at first not recognising where she was only that Mark was nearby. After the intial moment of disorientation had past, she realised where she was.

"I guess nap time is over then" She muttered groggily, eager to be on the move again.

He didn't see her get up, but he heard her voice, and he quickly put away the bible. "Mornin' sunshine, didn't think you would have woken up yet." He wiped away the few remaining tears he had in his eyes and smiled.

"How'd you sleep? Good I hope."

She smiled seeing Mark, he looked well even if he did look tired, no he looked exhausted. "Morning and I slept well" Sarah felt her cheeks grow warm when he called her sunshine and she could not put her finger on it as to why.

"Have you been here all night?"

He nodded with pleasure, "Well of course. I know how ya feel about hospitals, so I stayed here by your side all night."

He remembered the bottle of whiskey and the cups, "You want a drink to warm up and wake up?" He smiled at the thought of an early morning drink, but what the hell. Might as well.

"Thank you Mark" She replied quietly, grateful that he had stayed. Sarah thought about having a drink for a moment and then nodded. "Sure might as well thanks" She, however was not much of a heavy drinker. Back home with such a large family almost everything was spent on food, clothing or medicine. The essentials people needed to survive. Alcohol was a rarity.

He smiled, and poured her a drink, and then himself. He raised his 'glass' in the air, "Here's to those who didn't make, and may God have mercy on their souls, and to us... May God smile upon us with his ever lasting light."

"Amen" She said taking her glass and downing it in one go. Sarah coughed feeling her cheeks grow warm. "That's good..." She gasped between coughs.

He smiled at her cough, and leaned back taking the drink. "The trick is to not to breath until after you swallow. It's like spicy foods." He chuckled, and poured himself another 'glass'. "You want another, Winters? Or you good?"

"I'm good for now I've never really drank much and getting tipsy or drunk probably is not advised when you are near the frontlines" She said happily. The hospital bed was rather comfortable, though Sarah would have preferred a hotel in Florida or in fact anywhere that was warm.

"I don't suppose you know when I will be able to leave the hospital?" She inquired, not pleased with the thought of having to spend too long doing nothing, in a hospital.

Mark shrugged his shoulders, while pouring another drink, "Unfortunately I don't know. You'd have to ask one of the nurses that."

He took his Bible back out, reading more passages. Than he looked back up, "I just hope it isn't soon. I honestly don't want to go back... And watch good men die. But if it is sooner than later, so be it."

Sarah found herself wanting to go back and fight, she needed to. "We have to go back... Mark we have to fight and avenge those who where killed and rescue those trapped in the bunker"

She knew that he was right about her having to wait, but if it came to another attack she would fight.

He closed the book, sighed heavily, "Alright... Alright. I'll... I'll do what I can to get you an early release form. After that we grab all the gear we can, and head back to the base." He put the book away and got up. Finished his drink, and went into the back. A lot of arguing was happening between him and the head doctor.

Some things crashed, and finally he walked out with the form. The doctor in the back was rubbing his head, as if he had a headache from the argument. "Alright... Fill this out, and I'll go to the armory and help myself to weapons." He started to walk then turned around, "By the way, which weapon would you like... If you would want any."

"Sniper rifle" She said eagerly with a wide grin. "I lost mine at the start of the attack and the R91 just does not cut it" Sarah began to fill out the form, swiftly as if she had not bothered to read most of it, just write on it.

"Oh and a winterised combat helmet.. I lost mine to an near miss" She explained, though Sarah did doubt he would find her a sniper rifle to use.

He nodded, and smiled. Then walked out the door lifting the face mask, as the wind was blowing. It was a struggle, but he managed to get through. He walked into the Armory, showed the Master of Arms his papers from the Head Doctor. Well 'papers'.

He let him through, but barely. He walked into the vault, was... Wasn't what he expected. No weapons at all. There was tons of ammo, but barely any 'good' weapons. But the amount of apparel, was limitless. He grabbed several helmets, well the smallest ones they had. He grabbed himself an Assault Carbine, and tons of ammo. Left the vault, and headed back to the Infirmary.

Sarah positioned herself at the left hand side of the bed and swung herself out, hiding the aches and pains that flared up at the movement. She found her boots and slid her feet into them before promptly lacing them up. She busied herself by attaching her armour plates, flexing her worn muscles, loosening them up.

It seemed as though the wind had kicked up right after he entered the armory. It was getting worse, so if they wanted to leave, it'd have to be soon. He stepped into the infirmary, stomping his feet on the ground, "Winds picked up out there. Oh, and here are some helmets... You didn't tell me which size was your's... So I grabbed you all of the small ones."

He handed them to her, then gave her some 5.56 ammo for the M4. "Didn't find you any sniper rifle, so I guess my rifle is going to have to do ya. At least he has a scope to it."

She put the first helmet on and strapped it up, tapping it with her right hand twice. "This one fits fine thanks" Next Sarah accepted the rifle and slid a fresh magazine into it with a clack.

"It's not a sniper rifle but it's better than nothing" She nodded approvingly the weapon was a good one. "Thank you" With the wind howling outside, she was slightly less eager to deploy but it would be the best time to move while they could not be seen.

He looked at her, lifting his goggles before they headed out, "Well... Pray to God that we don't get lost." He put down his goggles and walked outside, pulled out his rifle, and headed the way came from.

"If we hurry, we should be able to make it to the base in about 3 hours." He loaded his Assault Carbine with 5mm ammo he had found in the Vault, then took out his .45 and made sure he had ammo for that also.

Sarah followed him into the snow, moving somewhat slower than usual. The snow was thick already and she was small so the journey was going to be a hard one.

"Don't worry I'll be fine it has snowed worse at home than it has here" She said trying to encourage him.

He smiled under his mask, "Alright, well when I see a snow storm worse then these ones, I'll pay ya 1,000 dollars." He laughed, moving forward into the snow.

He looked around cautiously into the blinding snow, keeping near Sarah at all times. "Hopefully we don't run into any Dragoons on way back, eh?"

"A thousand? If you have that much money might as well ask my parents for permission to marry me" She chuckled quietly smiling behind her own mask. She found herself shivering at the mention of those dragoons and Sarah was grateful that he remained nearby.
"Hopefully the snow will hide us from them"

He laughed, "Well, if the Army ever pays me that much I'll let your parents know." As they kept walking, he looked around, cursing under his breath because he couldn't see under all this snow. "I hope so, but I really don't like the snow... I would rather be back home in New Mexico than be here!"

"Ah I love the snow and it sucks that your not rich I was hoping for the sweet life after this for me and my family" She commented good naturedly.
Sarah tripped over a tree root and fell face first into the snow, cursing she got slowly back to her feet brushing the snow off of her armour and gun. "Watch out for tree roots" She could barely see past her own rifle.

He smiled, "Well... I'm not rich, but my parents on the other hand... Their rich. They own most of the water rights from southern Colorado, all they way to Roswell... But me, naw." He watched her fall, and remembering her leg, he ran over to her, "Are you alright? And no worries, I will"

"I'm fine Mark don't stress" She said walking forward but with a noticeable limp. In the gloomy fog of thick snow fall she struggled to actually see where Mark was.

"Alright... But if that limp gets worse, you let me know right away, alright?" As he walked forward, he heard something from the distance. Sounded like people conversing but couldn't make out what they were saying, "Sarah... I think we got company. Maybe some Chinese Soldiers... Don't know."

Sarah nodded and had been about to say something when he mentioned that they might have company. She froze and crouched slowly. "I can barely see and hear anything in this blizzard" She whispered softly hoping that her words would not be heard by the potential hostile soldiers.

"Do you want to lead the way?"

Mark nodded, motioning his head for to follow his lead. There was a dim glow of yellow as they got closer to the sounds he heard. He couldn't make out the faces nor the words they were speaking, the wind was blocking it all out. All he could hear was muffled sounds come from the individuals.

He looked at Sarah, "I can't make out in what they're saying. And I still can't tel if they're friendlies or hostiles."

"Well..." Sarah shivered before she calmed her nerves by taking a deep breath. "Okay I suggest we try to move even closer and then attack should they be hostile"

Without waiting for a response, normally cautious Sarah began to creep forward, pressing herself flat against the snow.

Mark followed her slowly, being cautious and ver quiet. His adrenaline began to kick in as they got closer to the sounds. Then he began to think, *Well, I sure hope these guys are American.... and I hope I don't have to fix up Sarah after this...*

Sarah stopped and brought her rifle forward, resting it's stock against her shoulder. She sighted on what she hoped was a chinese soldier. She waited for Mark to tap her or say something that she was free to shoot. Sarah did not want to accidentally kill any American soldiers.

Mark hesitated for a bit, waiting for some brief moment to wait for these people to say one english word. Then a radio came on, it was talking to them in Chinese. The only thing he understood was "Dragoon". He tapped on Sarah's shoulder for her to open fire. As he did tha, he got up himself and started to rain American hell onto the commie bastards. "Yeah! Eat American bullets ya red lovin, American killin ass-hats!"

In his mind, he didn't know what had gotten him so out of control, all he knew was that it was out of revenge, for his fallen friends back at the base.

She sighted carefully before opening fire. Sarah was silent, focused entirely on the battle, she was in her sniper zone. Her fear, her pain, her anger all placed away, locked securely away till after the battle had taken place.
Sarah shifted so that she was kneeling all the while, firing in short accurate bursts. "Reloading" She said to Mark as she fumbled with frozen fingers to reload the weapon.

He kept shooting one of the dead bodies, it seemed as though shooting the lifeless body repeatedly... solved some of problems. It made him feel sick, yet relieved after doing so. After he heard the click from his weapon, all he could do was fall to his knees. His inides hurt, his head hurt. Everything began to hurt on his body, then he felt it. Some blood from his lower torso came out. It wasn't that it hurt, but the surprise of a shot coming from the unsuspecting party.

He the chinese soldiers dead, and grabbed his med kit. Dug into himself with some tweezers, digging out the bullet that went through him. He slowly pulled it out, wrapped himself with gauze , and fell to the ground, facing up. He lied there laughing, "ow! That hurt!"