I'll Be Back

Survival Of The Fittest

Lisa opens her eyes. The sun is still shining down on her, though the cold breeze still bites at her exposed body. She registers the dirt still piled onto her torso. She knows she must have passed out from the immense feeling of abandonment. If she was out for awhile, the Reapers surely would have come by and checked to see if the body in the shallow grave was indeed dead. But then a thought hits her. He lied. Of course he lied about it. He was constantly worried about everyone making too much noise and yet, he was screaming at Artigas and not even telling Lisa to shut up with her groaning and grunting. Michael Quint sat up in the evening and thought of a plan. He thought of the one thing that would terrify an eighteen year old. The possibility of death staring him in the face only a couple miles away. He chose to do this to Lisa. But what he isn't expecting is Lisa's will to live. He thought Lisa would just lay here and take it, and Lisa will admit, initially that is what she planned on doing. But once more, she refuses to give Michael Quint the satisfaction of her dying here. No, she wants to see the look on his smug face when she strolls up to home base, very much alive.

Lisa decides on a plan. She knows the area. She knows where to go in order to make the 1500 mile trek back to home base. Even so, she'll hit an American camp at some point on her way as the United States continues to move further inland. If she can just get to a place where she can rest without being spotted by Reapers or Azgeda rebels, she can make it. She believes she can, because she has a family to go back to. She has an enemy that she needs to enact her own revenge on. Revenge and love. That is what will keep her alive, she's certain. So Lisa grits her teeth as she flips over onto her stomach. The minute her abdomen hits the ground she whimpers. It's tender from the stab wounds and broken ribs. She takes a second to control her breathing so as not to pass out. After a few moments, she uses the arm that hadn't been broken to start dragging her upper body up the tiny slope. She groans at the sensation of her stomach, only a t-shirt is separating her from the cold ground, being moved against the dirt and twigs. Her stitches constricting against the friction. She makes it a few inches and takes a second. She needs to be on level ground if she wants to get anywhere. So she grits down and yelps out as she uses both her non broken arm and her arm with the broken wrist to drag herself out of the shallow grave. When she's half way up, she surveys her surroundings, her broken ankle dangling into the grave with her other out of commission leg with the thigh stab wound. She pants from the exertion. The forest is quiet and there's nothing but trees in sight. She looks over to where her stretcher lay still and the long burned out fire pit rests. She sees her Army jacket and her pack. Thank god they didn't take that. Lisa tells herself to just make it to her pack and jacket and then she'll reassess situation.

She drags herself completely out of the grave, yelping a little when her ankle lays back on the forest floor. She takes a breather and then starts up again. She pushes through the aching pain until she's in reach of her pack and jacket. She makes herself prop her back up on the slab of rock her stretcher is laying on to get air in her lungs. She looks down at her torso and sees the blood soaking through her t-shirt. She gingerly lifts up her shirt and sees the injuries clearly for the first time. A bone from one of her ribs is protruding out. She has two lengthy stab wounds on the right side of her abdomen. Most of the stitches are still in place but a few have popped out, causing the bleeding. The area around it is streaked with angry red marks, a sign that it's possibly infected already. She groans and looks up briefly at the sky. She then strains herself to reach for her pack. She opens it up and slowly rummages through it to see if maybe she had packed some medical supplies. She doesn't find anything but an extra t-shirt, the MRE, a blanket, letters from Jennie and Aden, ammunition. That's when she realizes something. The bastard took her wedding ring and dog tags. Lisa curses through her gritted teeth. Thinking of Quint having possession of her wedding ring makes her stomach churn. All the more reason to walk into home base and take it back from him, while simultaneously kicking his ass.