Kirkby In A Nutshell: A Rewritten And Improved Edition.

Chapter 41: Ceasefire-Count your wounded...

I awoke to find myself laying back in the old base, in my old bed, with a strong ache in my arm. It felt as though somebody was pouring acid or bleach onto my arm. I looked down and saw a bandage pressed into my arm, with blood slowly seeping through from a single point.
"Kay?" I asked.
"Yeah?" She said poking her head around the corner of the door. She had a bloodied nose, a swollen lip and her hair were matted with the blood trickling from her head.
"Did I get shot?"
"Yeah, and you passed out, as per usual." She smiled as she walked away. I stood up and pulled on my leather jacket carefully.
I walked into the communal area and saw Ava, Emma, Amelia, James, Mason, Jaydan and Micael. Ava was the least affected and was caring for the triplets. Amelia had cuts around her eyes, and a large cut down her arm that had been stitched up. James was suffering and has blood pouring from his lips, nose and ear. He had a large gash on his shoulder, and his clothes were torn. Mason was tending to James' cuts and wasn't too badly injured. Micael was lay, and I wasn't a hundred per cent sure he was awake.
Kayleigh was huddled over Jaydan...
I walked over to then and Jaydan looked mangled. Blood matted in his once blond hair, and now his face was bruised and swollen. There were small cuts all over and a very long cut from his cheek all the way across his eyebrows. He was missing a chunk of his nose, and lots of his hair had been pulled out. Blood trickled out of his nose into his mouth and from his busted lips to his chin. I got closer and saw his clothes, which were practically torn off. There was a blood-stained rag pressed into his stomach. Through the rag, I saw a small hilt, with the double-headed eagle, a Russian symbol.
"Warren, some stats on the battle," said Mason pulling me to one side. "Cerca fifteen-thousand British troops have been killed, and cerca two thousand allied mercenaries. Major General Armstrong has fallen and he was the last leader who didn't believe in chemical warfare. They are officially calling it the Battle of Nottingham. Your pal Isobel, she's dead in no-man's-land."
"Okay, have the Russian army got many soldiers left?"
"No, but the ones they do have are the stronger fighters, snipers and artillery shooters." He said, walking back to James.
"D-Da-D-Dad." Stammered Jaydan. I could hear the agony in his voice.
"Son?" I said, kneeling at the side of him.
"L-Lei-Leilani, she got-got l-l-l-los-lost i-i-in the fight-fight. With an R-Rus-Russian b-boy"
These were the last words an angered father needed to hear...