0-SA (The Last Ship Series)

Chapter Eight: Abandoned

"U-Ugh.." William's ears were ringing as he woke. Though as quickly as he did became sentient, the man was frantically grabbing at his mask and tanks. Thankfully, nothing had been knocked loose. The soldier let out a sigh of relief.

He scrambled to his feet, still truthfully feeling a bit disoriented from the smack to the head, "R-Raven?" He called out, "Raven where the fuck are you!?" No answer. The last thing he remembered was thinking he was about to blast his own head off as Sage nearly did.

"William, Raven, fucking copy!"

Jacques could be heard yelling over the radio. William took hold of the radio, fumbling over the buttons as he frantically clicked the button to call in.

"Captain, it's William copy. Can you hear me?"

"William! Oh thank christ. Listen. We have a hoard of poppers behind us, and I think a leech head. We've gotten them off us a bit, but you and Raven need to be ready with the load so we can get the fuck out of here. We'll be there in ten. Copy."

William sat quietly for a moment, really just taking in what Jacques had just said, "Captain we have bigger problems. Sage and Raven got the bags mixed up. We, we ran out of tranquilizers and Raven's and the leech head are gone. Fuck!"

The radio was silent for a moment, before Jacques suddenly spoke again.

"What do you mean they're gone? William what the hell is on down there!?"

William leaned up against the wall; resting his head on it before pushing the button to speak again, "That fucking thing woke up Captain, and when we didn't let it out, it knocked me out cold. I-I think it took Raven. She's not here. Copy."

"Shit...William be ready for extraction. We'll get you and the supplies out and head back home. Copy."

"Wait a minute what about Raven? We can't just let that thing have her!" William threw his hand up as if they were in front of him, "What about the mission? We're just going to forget that too?"

"William! We have enough to deal with right now. Even if we wanted to help Raven right now, we can't. We don't even know which way we're going to take to get the fuck out of here! Have your supplies ready. Have everything ready to haul ass into the truck. That's an order. Is that clear?"

Silence. William didn't seem interested in responding at first.

"I said is that clear, William?"

William swallowed, finally responding, "Yeah, it's clear sir. See you soon." The man stuck his radio to his side before hurriedly grabbing their bags and tossing them at the entrance. The idea of leaving someone behind wasn't on his agenda, but it seemed like it wasn't really something that was on Jacques list right now. None of them were exactly fond of this mission. Things had just taken a turn for the worse. Raven was abducted, and now Sage and Jacques were heading back with infected. "Damn leech heads."

_____

It wasn't long before William heard the truck. He hadn't moved from the doorway since retrieving their things. As the truck pulled up, he watched Jacques and Sage quickly get out of the truck.

"Where's the hoard?" William looked around, rather confused as he thought they were being chased.

"Not far behind." Sage grabbed some of their supplies before heading back to the truck, "Move your ass! I'm not about to turn into their dinner."

William grabbed the bags before walking towards the truck, "Yeah, working on it. Where are the infected, Sage?" He looked at her, and back at Jacques.

"Not far behind. We managed to get ahead of them but Jacques was hurt when we got slammed into. I'm sure they can smell him." Sage wasn't wasting any time trying to get things in the truck, "The longer we're out here the worse off all of us are."

"W-What about Raven? We can't just leave her out here!"

Sage threw her bags in the truck before turning to William, leaning close, "We have no choice! We don't know where it took her, and we don't have the supplies to find her. We'd run out of bullets before the night is over. It's a fucking suicide mission to go look for her out in this shit."

"So we're just going to let her die!?" William got in her face, pressing his mask to hers, his fists curled.

"She's probably already dead, William! If the leech head took her with it god knows what's happened to her." Sage leaned back into his mask as he knocked into hers. Needless to say, she wasn't intimidated. "You gonna do something?"

Jacques came between them, shoving them apart from one another, "Would you two stop it already? William, we can't help Raven if we get killed tonight. We need to make it to a safe house, and get back to the city for more supplies. Otherwise, none of us are going to come out of this."

A loud screech could be heard, and immediately they all looked back. Jacques groaned out, "Get in the truck, now." The man made is way to the drivers seat and got in.

"Woah, Captain you can't drive. You took a hit you shouldn't be-"

"Sage, I need you shooting. You're a better hit. Now get in the truck now, before I leave you both." Jacques cut Sage off. He wasn't joking. The ground beneath them was vibrating.