🐺 ~PROJECT SAC-1~ ⚔️

Chapter 7 - If Given a Second Chance- 🤲🏻

Hunter was no stranger to gore either... but he nearly vomited at seeing the complete lower half of her left leg sliced clean off, a pool of the thick, red, life-sustaining substance around it. "Oh kriff." Completely out of character, he had a hard time activating his comm, his hands were shaking so bad. "I found her - Tech, get here now, her injuries are more than I can handle." He sputtered his location.

When the coordinates came through, Tech's cautious steps turn into full on sprints heard through the channel. "On my way!"

Carefully Hunter knelt down by her. He placed his flashlight on a rock nearby so that there'd still be light and took off his helmet and set it aside to see better. Reaching for her cracked one he did hesitate before gently grasping and taking it off her head, praying he didn't aggravate any neck or head trauma. The piece of garbage was tossed aside and she was nudged back against the wall, which raised her head. Her eyes were closed, a deep frown was set on her battered and bruised and dangerously pale face, marred by a gash over her right eye. Through the blood, it seemed that her eye survived, or maybe it was just because Hunter didn't think he could handle any more lost body parts and convinced himself of that.

This image would haunt him through nightmares for the rest of his life, he was sure of it.

His chest constricted when sensing her weak pulse, and he gave her a little shake. "Hey... Hey." Still no response, so he shook a little harder, and wished she had a real name so he could be more personal with his pleas. "Come on, soldier, wake up!"

With no warning her entire body tensed and with a gasp her eyes shot open, a blaster was shakily aimed at him. Hunter quickly held up his hands. "It's just me! It's just me."

It took a few seconds for her panicked eyes to somewhat focus. But everything registered and instant relaxation made her thump against the rock wall again, blaster dropping in the process when her hand became limp.

After a beat, Hunter tentatively grabbed her shoulder again in a feeble attempt at comfort. "How, uh, how are you feeling?"

Her heavily lidded eyes meeting his, Hunter detected a hint of a glare among the haze. "Do you not see that half of my leg is gone?" She pointed out through gritted teeth, the searing pain manifesting there again... and in her ribs... and in her head.

Hunter dared another glance at the severed limb and felt bile rise in his throat. "Yeah... Kinda hard to miss." In a moment of clarity, he remembered he had a medpac and quickly unstrapped it from his back and dug in, looking for the meds.

But when he went to apply the painkiller injection she latched onto his wrist with what little strength she had left. "No needles." She seemed to plead, coherent enough to see what he was going to do.

"You need the pain relief." He insisted with as much softness his gruff demeanor allowed.

SAC-1 blinked several times, trying to make sense of what he was saying, before promising, "Give me the capsules, I'll take the capsules."

Unable to hold back a noise of frustration, Hunter thought that there were more important issues at hand than her apparent needle phobia, yet his guilt made him enable her.

The pills were downed at once like it was nothing, and the cool water was heaven for her dry throat. This zapped the last of her strength though, and the canteen was accidentally dropped, spilling water everywhere. "Sorry." Exhausted SAC-1 muttered out of habit.

Hunter shook his head in amusement and picked up the bottle, screwing on the cap. "I think there's more serious things to worry about than some spilled water."

'Like a severed limb... That I set you up for.' Remembering what he had said to Tech, how he wished he could have actually said sorry to SAC-1 for everything he put her through, Hunter regarded at her pitiful form with a pit in his stomach. In a stroke of stupid luck, he was presented with the opportunity to apologize... but he found himself hesitant. 'What if she doesn't forgive me?' Her horrid state of being was because of him, so it would only be natural if she rebuffed Hunter, and for some reason he didn't think he could handle that.