"Rise and shine!" Lewis' voice jolted him awake. Beside him, James stretched, yawned, fumbled for his glasses and staggered over to the bathroom, pushing Lewis aside. Brown groaned with fatigue, and only rose when Lewis prodded him in the side.
"Go take your shower and eat your food. James will be back up here in an hour. He's got to handle some stuff down at the medical wing. He's taken a few days off. Just for you."
"Oh." He pushed himself to his feet and dragged them toward the bathroom, which was devoid of the usual queue. He showered in a dreamlike state and made his way out into the living room, dressed only in the Coalition's green and brown camouflaged trousers. As he sat down at the table, he noticed that both the Silvers were absent.
"Hey, where are Matt and Martin?"
"Oh, they've gone down with James to get the hydrostatic implant." Lewis replied. "You need to follow him after your lesson to get your augmentations."
Brown nodded his head. Jaeger came from the kitchen holding a pitcher of orange juice while chewing his breakfast and sat next to him. He filled everyone's glass and set the pitcher in the middle of the table.
"You alright?" The Swedish boy asked him. He nodded.
"It hurts a little."
"Oh, it'll soon fade. It always does."
They ate breakfast in silence. After they finished their meal, Brown made to help Lewis bring the dishes into the kitchen, but the squad leader pushed him back onto his seat.
"Try not to move around too much, Mike. You need to get used to the gel in your body." He piled all the dishes into his arms and staggered into the kitchen himself. Brown, with assistance from Jaeger, made his way to the couches and lay down on the leather sofa, torso stretched out. He sighed as the cool leather made contact with his body.
The rest of the younger team members bustled in and out of the rooms, searching for their socks and shoes. Brown even heard a "Has anyone seen my rifle?" from Lee as they eventually left the building, leaving only the senior members and a grinning Jurgen, who sat at his feet.
"Oh, what are you still doing here?"
"I'm supposed to do my lesson with you."
"Oh yeah."
"How does it hurt?"
"It was pretty bad yesterday. Today's fine, though."
Jaeger leant forward and laid his head onto Brown's chest, causing him to gasp as his sensitive skin made contact with Jaeger's hair.
"It's much firmer now." Jaeger commented, prodding Brown's left breast with his index finger.
"No, stop..." Brown groaned with pain. "It hurts."
The door slammed, and Brown looked around. Both the Silvers had entered, followed by a grinning James. The twins looked positively faint, and helped themselves to the bedroom, where loud groans of "Oh god, no." were audible when James entered. Jurgen giggled.
"He's going to rub them really hard."
Sure enough, the whole apartment was soon full of Matthew's and Martin's moans of "Oh God, it hurts." And random "Aaaahh..."s rang out through the silent building.
After twenty minutes, the moans subsided, and the room door opened. James' head appeared, and he beckoned Brown and Jurgen in.
"Now. Your very first lesson in the treatment of a soldier who's just had his hydrostatic implant." He motioned to the brothers lying side by side on the bed. Matthew took one look at them and once again groaned "Oh god no."
"Oh god, yes." James corrected him. "They're going to be doing the massage now. And it'll hurt a lot less because I've just finished with you."
"Oh, whatever." Martin sighed.
"Alright." James continued. "Place your hands on the subject's chest, as so..." he dug his thumbs into Matthew's chest, above both almost invisible pink protrusions. Matthew grunted with pain as Brown took James' place.
"This is going to take awhile." James sighed.
A couple of hours later and after a load of complaints from both brothers, Brown finally worked the fluid down to Matthew's stomach, and patted it gently. The New Zealander groaned.
"Oh please, no more... no more... let me die in peace, pleeease."
James smiled. "Course you can. We're done."
"Oh, thank god."
Matthew rolled onto Martin, and both of them promptly groaned in pleasure as their now bulging chests made contact. James chuckled.
"Oh, come on. Let's leave these two lovebirds. Time for you to get your augmentations." He led them out of the apartment, to the elevator and finally back to the same floor that Brown had acquired his hydrostatic implant. His blood chilled when he walked past the same room, with that infernal machine.
"Don't worry about it." James tried to reassure him, his chest and stomach vibrating slightly with his footsteps as he padded down the corridor beside them. "You'll get used to operating that machine."
"And cause pain to other people?" Brown questioned. James shrugged.
"That's what doing medicine is all about. Saving lives and causing pain. How's that for philosophy?"
They reached a room titled "Soldier Augmentations". James pressed the buzzer to let them through, but it appeared that nobody was at the reception desk inside at that moment.
"Please verify your identification." The familiar computerised female voice stated. James sighed.
"There's no escaping this." He stepped up to the machine and followed the standard procedure, letting out an "Unghh!" as the needles pierced his nipples, wobbling slightly on his feet. Brown grinned. There was something satisfying about seeing the doctor in pain that fulfilled his lust for revenge against Lewis' brother.
"I'm alright..." James mumbled vaguely as Brown moved to catch him from falling, once again taking guilty pleasure of feeling up the doctor's smooth skin, especially on his chest and stomach. He pulled the doctor into the room.
"Ah, let's get cracking, then." James said. He motioned to an examining table, and the two boys perched on it. A rusty haired boy appeared behind them. Like James, he had the cross implanted upon his chest.
"This is Doctor Cunningham. He'll give you your augmentations." The boy nodded, and stepped toward Brown.
"Turn around and raise your arms, please." Brown did as he was told. He felt alcohol being swabbed over his kidneys along with his spine and braced himself for the pain. He gasped as the wire was threaded through his kidney area to his spine, but the feeling was more strange than painful. Jurgen stared with trepidation.
Finally, Cunningham stepped back and admired his handiwork. There was a black wire running neatly from Brown's waist to his spine, passing through the area of fat that surrounded the left kidney.
"Now you'll just need to get the regulator and the infantry support system. Hang on..." James said. Cunningham nodded, and moved on to Jurgen. As the wire was threaded through Jurgen's kidney area the Dutch boy let out a great gasp and gripped Brown's arm tightly.
"Ohh... that feels so weird..." He whispered into Brown's ear. He shuddered as the wire was finally embedded into his spine, and let out a little moan.
"Okay, we're good." Cunningham stated with satisfaction. He disappeared into the other room and returned with two standard issue regulators, which he connected to both boys. He booted the software and set the temperature to twenty-five degrees Celsius, the standard temperature. Brown felt a cool sensation spread from the centre of his chest to the rest of his body. He revelled in the sensation for awhile, and then James was gently prodding him in the ribs.
"Come on." He pulled Brown to his feet and took Jurgen's hand. Cunningham nodded at James and they all left the room.
"Time for lunch." James said.
An hour later, they headed back up the elevator into the quarters, Brown nursing his bulging stomach. As they entered the room, Lewis exclaimed
"Ah, there you are. I've got two more people for the implant." He pointed to Lee and Fuchs, who looked positively faint. James sighed.
"Ah, the work never ends. I'll see you in half an hour, Mike, Jurgen." He beckoned, and both the Asian and European boys inched toward him, Fuchs attempting to hide behind Lee. Brown stared at Jacobus.
"Oh well. Guess we'd better chill out while we have the time." He made his way to the bedroom to check on the Silvers and found them dozing, a clutter of arms and legs.
"Might as well join them." He thought, and climbed atop the bed. To his surprise, as he pulled the sheets back, he found Roberts in a state of semi-consciousness, lying facedown at the far end of the bed. He was taken aback by the shapely form of the half-oriental boy, and wondered what it would be like to feel the body that was lying prone in front of him. Roberts let out a little snore, and shifted slightly. Brown prodded Roberts very softly, and waited for his reaction. Nothing.
"Ah, screw it; I'll just go for it." He thought.
He very gently ran his hand over the dark haired boy's back, and rested his palm on the exposed ribs. To his surprise, the skin was smooth as silk, and extremely soft.
"Mmmhh..." Roberts sighed as Brown continued to pet him, startling the brown haired boy. He withdrew his hand sharply, and pretended as if nothing had happened. Roberts turned over, and Brown's stomach lurched as he saw the well-formed abdomen and chest of the Tibetan youth.
"I... err..." he stammered, trying to find words to explain his position. Roberts simply stared at him, and closed his eyes again, while lifting his hands above his head and lying on them.
"Well come on!" he exclaimed, a couple of seconds later. "Don't just look, do something!" Brown jumped, and resumed petting the youth. Roberts had quite large round pink nipples, although not as fantastic as Jaeger's. His navel was an almost invisible slit that was about half an inch in length. As Brown's fingers went over his nipples, the boy went stiff, and let out a little moan of "Oh god...", while closing his eyes and pushing his head back against the sheets.
Brown ran his hands over the whole of Roberts' torso, trying to feel as much as he could before time ran out. Roberts appeared to have dozed off, before he finally called it a day, and lay his head down onto Roberts' heaving stomach. He lay there for the next ten minutes, listening to the boy's anatomy.
"Mike! I've got some more people for you to practise on!" It was James, and he had returned with a groaning Fuchs and Lee, who promptly collapsed upon the bed across the room. Roberts was plainly asleep; his arms were askew and he was breathing in and out with a sigh of deep contentment. Brown sighed, and made his way across to the other bed.
"Aww, Mike... it hurts..." moaned a delirious Fuchs. "Please... please... make it stop."
"Well, Mike. You know what to do. Jurgen, you too." Lewis said, already on his way out of the room, presumably to get a snack from the kitchen. Brown glanced at Jacobus, and both of them very carefully massaged and worked the fluid inside the two lying boys around their body, amidst loud and heavy groans, of course. Finally, it was done. Fuchs had fallen asleep, but Lee was still awake, although wavering.
"Hey, Josh."
"Yeah?"
"Your nipples aren't inverted anymore, man."
"What?" The oriental boy lifted himself up by his elbows. "Oh yeah." The gel must have made them expand outwards, and now Lee had a normal torso.
"Can you feel this?" he ran his fingers over Lee's brown nipples. The Chinese boy moaned loudly and arched his back upwards.
"Uaarrghh... yess."
"Good." He prodded Fuchs' breasts, and the German boy awoke with a gasp of pain.
"Here. Josh will lie on you till dinner. Both of you should feel better then." He hefted Lee up under his arms, and placed him over Fuchs, eliciting loud moans from both of them. Brown and Jurgen exited the room, into a heated debate between the Lewis brothers.
"No, I most certainly do not agree with you joining our team!" Lewis said crisply to James. He looked upset.
"And why not?" an equally incensed James shot back.
"Because... because we're full! I don't want anyone else coming in here and messing up all my good work. Not especially you!"
"But Dennie... I want to be with you. You're always out on missions and whatever, and I never ever get to see you."
"I come back, don't I?"
"Not often enough. I miss you, Dennie. I want to see you more often. You're the only one I've got. I don't want to be the last to hear of anything that happens to you out there because I'm stuck here doing boring old medicine."
"You're not joining us. That's final. I cannot risk your life, and if you get killed out there, I would have contributed to your death."
"Fine!" James exclaimed. "If you won't accept me, maybe the army infantry will." Lewis' eyes widened at those words.
"You... you would... do that?" he stammered.
"Yes." James said firmly. Lewis began pacing the floor, evidently in a significant amount of stress. The rest of the team looked on. As much as he wanted to see the conclusion of the argument, Brown felt that it would be best for him to retreat back into the bedroom. He hated seeing anybody in distress, and was not about to take comfort in seeing two of his friends fighting.
"What time is it?" a drowsy Roberts groaned, as Brown laid his head on his stomach.
"I'd say about five o'clock." He replied. "Cayden and James are arguing outside."
"Oh, not again." The Tibetan youth sighed. "Cayden's always on about how and why James should stay here and not follow, and James always wants to come along. God, when will it end?"
At that point, the door slid open to reveal a livid James, who had removed his glasses. Traces of tears were visible around his eyes as he checked on Fuchs and Lee, roughly pushing the Chinese boy off Fuchs. Lee groaned in protest as his chest and stomach were prodded. Finally, James finished examining both of them, and strode over to Martin and Matthew.
"Ugh!" he exclaimed in exasperation, as he finally lay down beside them. "Cayden always thinks I'm a pain in the arse, no matter what I do. Why won't he let me be around him?"
"Did you mean what you said about joining the infantry ranks?"
"No. Have you seen the conditions in which they operate? Appalling." Brown grinned. "I just want him to know that I love him and want to be with him. Sometimes it's so hard to communicate with him."
"Don't worry, man. I'm sure he doesn't want you to be put at risk." Brown reached over and stroked the doctor's smooth stomach. James sighed.
"Yeah, I guess. Why can't he accept the fact that I'm not what I was when I joined? I can take care of myself by now. I know how to fire a rifle. I know squad tactics. Pored over them over and over again. There's a high rate of fatalities in the infantry. They're the first to come, first to go. I can only take so many bullets before it hurts too much. Then I faint. And god knows what they'll do to me." He explained. "Ooh, that feels good."
Brown was gently stroking his chest, taking in the soft downy feeling of the doctor's skin. It was not as firm as his battle hardened brother's, and was silky smooth. James sighed softly.
"Maybe I'll just remain here. This may just be the place for me." He rambled. "Maybe Dennie is right."
"Don't worry about it." Brown reassured him. "We'll be here most of the time anyway. I think..." he was interrupted by the door sliding open showing a downcast Lewis.
"Okay, you win." He sat down at the edge of the bed. "I'll let you join the team. That'll mean that I need to suck it up with Richmond again. That's fine. I cannot let you doom yourself to certain death by joining the infantry ranks."
"Dennie, I was only joking about the infantry thing. I don't want to die."
"Still... there is some times where you scare me a little."
"Oh, get over it." James shuffled over, facing his back to Lewis. The staff sergeant sat there and stared at his brother's smooth back. His face wore a pained expression. At length, he leaned over and started stroking James' bare arm.
"Do you remember when we used to go exploring near the Thames? You wanted to swim in the river but I stopped you. Just in time, I suppose. You would have been poisoned by the water. All of it was fun. I never regretted doing those things with you." James shifted, and turned to face Lewis. "When mom and dad died, I didn't know what to do. I tried to run away from the truth, but I realised that that wasn't the way. When the Coalition picked me up, I begged them to take you as well. I couldn't leave you at that orphanage. Please, James, you need to understand. I don't have a life. You are my life. It ends the second yours ends. I can't let that happen. I love you too much, I wonder if that's a crime."
An unintentional tear rolled down James' cheek, making a plop as it hit the sheets. He lay, breathing gently, as he relived the moments Lewis spoke of. Roberts had fallen asleep again, snoring softly as his stomach heaved up and down. Lewis very slowly leant forward and placed his head on his brother's chest, closing his eyes. James ran his fingers through the sandy hair.
"Mmm... I remember this." He whispered. Brown watched. "I want to come along, Den." James continued. "I'll be your medical support."
"We already have Mike and Jurgen for that."
"They'll be too busy fighting."
"I guess..." Brown could see that Cayden was about to be swayed.
"Come on, Dennie. I want to."
"Oh, alright." Lewis gave in finally. James' face lit up.
"Oh, Dennie. My dreams just came true."
"Glad they did. I need to make dinner now." The team leader got to his feet and strode out of the room. James lay for a few minutes, until he decided to take a nap as well. Brown, however, shuffled over to the sleeping twins, and checked on both of them.
Matthew sucked in air as Brown pinched his almost invisible nipples gently, making them erect. He groaned softly, and stirred. Martin was the same, mouth agape with pain as his stomach was prodded. The door hissed open. Brown started, and hastily looked around.
"Is everything alright? I didn't want to come in after I heard the shouting." Jaeger crept in warily.
"Oh, we're fine here." Brown replied, eyes on Jaeger's chest.
"Ah, good." The Swedish boy dragged a chair across the room and sat on it. "Mind if I get a massage please? My back aches like hell."
"Sure."
Brown had never massaged Jaeger before, although he had felt almost every part of the boy's torso. He very cautiously stroked the smooth back displayed in front of him. Silky smooth and slightly cool. Jaeger drew in a breath, and Brown started his work.
Plenty of groans later, Brown finally rested his tired fingers and lay back onto the sheets, spread-eagled. He felt Jaeger's fingernails tickle his exposed stomach and shied away quickly, choking with laughter. The tickling was slowly replaced by a stroking, and eventually Jaeger's head being placed on his solar plexus.
"Dinner!" Lewis' voice startled Brown twenty minutes later. Roberts sat up abruptly, and fell back onto the bed with a moan. James stirred, and slowly raised himself up on his arms.
"God, already?!" he sighed, and exited the room. Jaeger was still snoring atop him, so Brown reached down and kneaded the extremely large nipples between his knuckles.
Jaeger awoke with an exclamation, and started moaning with pain.
"No, stop. Uhh! Please!" he tried to fend Brown's hands away. "Uaarghh... Mike, please! Ahhh!" he moaned as Brown pinched them. He gasped as Brown let them go, and sat up, rubbing the light pink protrusions.
"Uhhh... uhhh... why are you so cruel to me?" he moaned, while nursing himself. Brown grinned.
"Maybe it's coz you're so nice to me." He replied, scratching Roberts on his stomach, causing the muscular abdomen to tense as the Tibetan boy woke again.
"But... but... that doesn't make sense." The poor Swedish boy groaned, bent over with pain. "God, that hurts. I'll get you back for that." He flashed a mischievous grin at Brown. All was well.
"Oh!" Brown dropped to his knees, nursing his stomach. The bullet had penetrated a few centimetres, but not enough to cause any damage. Jaeger looked around, eyes wary for danger. There was gunfire all around them.
"You alright?" The Swedish boy asked.
"Yeah. I'll be." Jaeger nodded, and popped from cover, firing his weapon. He ducked down again as a flurry of bullets whizzed by. "Holy shit!"
"Alpha team, this is HQ. Backup headed your way. Approaching from the north. Do not fire." Lewis' radio crackled nearby.
"Mike! I need your help!" Roberts called from the far side of their cover.
"Cover me!" He yelled to Jaeger. He sprinted to the Roberts amidst the firing, and hit the dirt, wincing as his ribs scraped on the ground.
"Yeah?"
"We're gonna flank those bastards on the right side!" Roberts yelled at him. "I need you to follow me. Watch our six. You ready?" Brown was about to say "no", but Roberts shouted again "Go! Go! Go!" and ran toward a narrow opening in the ruins. Brown sprinted after him, and got hit twice in the chest by .50 Browning bullets. The pain was excruciation, but he screamed it off, and dived into the building.
"Oh, God, it hurts!!" he yelled, sinking to his knees. Roberts pressed his hands onto the bullet holes, and it seemed to help.
"Alright, let's go. Don't be hasty." He aimed down the sight of his G36 and advanced forward slowly. Brown, tearing with pain, hoisted his own XM8 and guarded their six. Muffled explosions along with pieces of plaster falling amongst them were the only things Brown heard.
"Tango! Three o clock!" Roberts shouted, taking cover behind a pillar. Brown did the same. He eyed the area, and spotted two helmeted heads, and pointed. Roberts noted that, and acknowledged. Brown aimed down the sight of his weapon and switched the laser sight on. Suddenly, an enemy soldier, a boy wearing a unbuttoned green army vest showing part of his bare torso popped up. Brown fired two rounds and each hit the boy in his exposed stomach; one directly below his navel and one two inches to the left. The soldier's AK47 rifle dropped to the ground as he clutched his abdomen.
The boy tried to scream, but his voice came out a croak. He walked forward two steps, nursing his profusely bleeding stomach, and dropped to his knees with a groan, breathing in and out. His face was twisted in extreme pain.
"Left!" yelled Roberts, and fired a burst from his submachine gun. Six rounds penetrated the body of the next soldier, a blonde haired, un-armoured youth.
"Uhh... uhhh... uhhh..." the boy moaned, as he collapsed to his knees. He knelt there, faltering for a few seconds, before falling backwards into a pillar, grunting as his back made contact with it. And there he lay, breathing weakly. His eyes were half-closed, staring at them as his life bled out of him. Brown stared with pity at the dying soldiers.
"Mike! What're you doing? We have to move. Now!" Roberts' voice barked in his ear. Reluctantly, he advanced forward, leaving the helmeted soldier as he keeled over in pain, clutching his abdomen. Their moans faded as the duo advanced.
At length, Roberts stopped at an opening in the wall and whispered to Brown: "There. You hear that?" The sound of the machinegun was deafening. "We'll give them a chance to surrender, and then if they don't... well... you know what to do." Brown nodded. They leapt out of the opening and aimed their rifles at the machinegun emplacement.
"Drop your weapons! Do it now!" The brown haired soldier mounting the machinegun looked around in surprise. There were two Coalition soldiers, fully equipped, with blue eyepiece, radio, and regulator. They were only two against four of the troops manning the machinegun. They could take them on...
"Weapon!" Three shots rang out, and the brown haired soldier felt an excruciating pain in his breasts. He dropped the pistol he was about to draw, and looked straight at Brown. Strangely enough, blood didn't gush out of his chest. The rest of the enemy soldiers dropped their weapons.
Brown stepped up to the soldier whom Roberts had just shot. The boy looked up at him with big eyes and a face wracked with pain. The soldier gasped once, and started breathing heavily, chest and stomach expanding. He was still standing, albeit slumped with pain. Brown knew that the bullets Roberts had fired had clogged up the entry wounds, but would soon dissolve. And once they did...
The soldier felt a pain building up behind both his breasts, and groaned loudly. Oh god, it hurt. Oh... ohh... OH GOD!
"Uaaaaaaah!!!" the boy screamed, as blood burst out of the bullet holes in his breasts, staining his military trousers and everything around. He arched his back as more blood began to ooze out. There was a Coalition soldier, with brown hair just like his, only that it had blonde streaks running through it. This soldier was holding out his arms. Well... why not? He was going to die anyway.
The soldier took Brown's hands, and collapsed onto him with a groan. Brown lowered him to his knees, and held him to his own chest. The boy was moaning and moaning in pain as his blood spurted out of his wounds, draining his life away. Why did he ever join the army in the first place? Oh wait... he hadn't a choice. Everything could have been different... if only his parents hadn't died. If only... if only... he had another chance.
"Mike! What are you doing?" Roberts yelled at Brown again. He looked up at Roberts, cradling the boy in his arms. Already, his body had stopped the enemy soldier's chest from bleeding.
"I can't let him die, Mark."
"He is an enemy of the Coalition."
"He's only a boy, for god's sake! Do you think he had any choice here?!" Roberts threw up his hands in exasperation. The rest of the team took position around them.
"Good one, Mike!" Jaeger's voice sounded in his ear. "Yeah!" Fuchs cheered. Brown was not concerned. All his attention was on the dying thirteen year old in his arms. He reached into his backpack and drew out a syringe. He filled it with hydrostatic fluid from the portable container, and prepared to inject it into the boy.
"I hope you know what you're doing here." Lewis said. Brown nodded. "He'll have to join us now. We can't leave him here."
"I understand that."
"Then he's your responsibility."
Brown injected the fluid into the boy's pink nipples, and the soldier screamed in pain again. He subsided after awhile, and stared at Brown.
"You speak English?" Brown asked. Silence. Then a tentative:
"A little."
"Okay. You are going to live. But you need to follow us. Do you understand that?"
"Yes. Thank." At that point, Fuchs hurried over.
"I recognize that accent. Woher komst du?"
"Deutschland."
"Ah, ich auch. Ich heisse Fritz, und das ist meine freunde, Mike. Kein problem, du hast helfe." Fuchs spoke haltingly. He grinned at Brown.
"At least I remember a little of my mother-tongue."
"Yeah."
"Eh, Fritz. Remind me what we're doing here again?"
"Search and rescue. One of our choppers went down here in Belgrade. Crew possibly alive."
"What were they doing here?"
"Evacuating the area. They just gathered up some new recruits, but got attacked on the way."
"God, I hope they're alright."
"Well, we're about to find out."
"What do we do with these prisoners?" He motioned at the other three terrified soldiers who were huddled together in the dirt.
"I've got a good idea." Said Roberts, releasing the safety on his weapon. The soldiers widened their eyes in shock, and huddled even closer together.
"Knock it off, Mark." Lewis said. "Lead them back to the chopper, since you're so eager to be rid of them. Backtrack the way you came, and watch out for enemy units."
"Yeah, alright." Roberts nudged the boys to their feet with the muzzle of his rifle. "Come on, let's go."
"And keep that safety on!" Lewis barked. Roberts said nothing, but slung the rifle over his bare back as he jabbed the last soldier forward.
Brown stared down at his own chest. It was coated with the boy's blood, and the bullet holes from the machinegun were still there. He tentatively squeezed the flesh around the bullet hole, and groaned with relief as the bullet eased its way out with a "Squelch". He did the other hole as well and finally sat down on the cracked gravel.
At length, Lewis patted him on the shoulder. "You might want to take your boy back to the helicopter. James is on site; he'll tend to him." Brown nodded. He went over to the brown haired soldier.
"Can you walk?" The boy stared at him, unable to comprehend. Fuchs came to the rescue again and whispered words into the boy's ear. The soldier nodded, and tried to rise. He sank back down onto the ground with a wince and a groan of pain, as a quart of blood spurted from his chest.
"Come on, I'll help you." Jurgen came over and took the boy by his legs. Brown lifted the boy up by his shoulders and they trudged toward the drop site. There was nothing but the sound of burning buildings and the smell of blood as they headed back the 100 metres. There was already a base camp set up, with camouflaged bullet-proof tents erected. Brown could see the outline of James inside one of the tents.
"Eh, what's this?" James asked, as they lowered the soldier onto a stretcher. "He's not one of ours. With those wounds, he's supposed to be dead already. Unless..." he stared at Brown accusingly. He raised his hands.
"Alright, alright. I injected him."
"Oh come on, Mike. That fluid's meant for our own."
"I couldn't let him die in cold blood like that."
"Oh fine. He'll be your responsibility from now on."
"Yeah, yeah. I know that one." Weeks of combat simulation had not prepared him to accept the fact that killing was a thing of war. A necessity. Already, images of the two dying soldiers flashed through his mind.
"Alright, I gotta get back." He told James.
"OK, mate. Take care. I'll see you for dinner." For some reason, he found that comment hilarious, and started chuckling as he turned around.
A hand caught his wrist, and he turned around. The injured boy looked up at him. He pulled Brown's hand toward him, and placed it on his chest, covering the bullet holes.
"Franz." He pointed at himself. "Vielen Danke." Thank you very much.
"I'll take care of him." James reassured Brown. "Go on."
Brown returned to his team, Jurgen in tow.
"Good to see we're all back." Lewis said, as they approached. "Let's move." They advanced more than two kilometres, keeping a wary eye on the surroundings until:
"Sergeant Lewis!" a pubescent voice called to their East. Out of reflex more than anything, the whole squad aimed their weapons at a nearby building.
"Identify yourselves!" Lewis shouted.
"Bear company, sir! We've been sent to help you."
"Acknowledged. Come on over." Half a dozen boys soldier boys clad in army vests and helmets holding M4 rifles exited the building and headed toward them. The only soldier without a helmet and a vest jogged toward them. He had two blue stripes implanted onto his chest, so Brown knew he was a lieutenant. The boy pushed his blonde hair out of the way and saluted to Lewis.
"Lieutenant Jones at your service, sir."
"You're of a higher rank than me. Let's stop with the sirs now, shall we, lieutenant?"
"Sergeant."
"Better. What happened to your radio?"
"It's broke, sergeant." The Coalition was running too low on supplies and resources in order to allow every single soldier on the battlefield to have a radio.
"But how? You've only just arrived."
"Lenny here mishandled it as we `chuted down." A helmeted head bowed slightly in embarrassment.
"No worries then." Lewis eased the tension. "Let's move out."
They headed through a part of the city which was surprisingly intact. It was a church, and its courtyard was still smooth and polished marble. Jaeger sighed as they stepped onto the marble.
"It's been too long since I've seen such a sight." He said. "I need to take a picture of this." He worked a dial on his eyepiece, and Brown could hear faint clicking noises as Jaeger captured the beautiful images and saved them onto his hard drive. The Bear company detachment looked on in amusement.
"Keep your eyes peeled, squad." Brown heard Jones whisper. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. They were very vulnerable in open ground. Brown was just about to mention that to Lewis when a faint whistling sound caught his ear. It was the sound of a projectile being propelled at high speed toward a target. There was a "Thak!" sound, as the sniper's bullet caught one of the Bear Company's squad members in the abdomen, followed by an anguished scream from the soldier, as he clutched his stomach and stumbled backward.
"Sniper!" Blake yelled.
"Get him into cover. Now!" Lewis barked. Brown put his arm around and dragged the bleeding soldier toward the church, and they holed up inside.
"I... ugh... aghh..." the soldier choked, spitting out blood. An upside down V on his arm told Brown he was a private. He lowered the boy to his knees and leant him against a pew.
"Don't try to talk." Brown said to him. He tried to pry the boy's hands away from his stomach, but the soldier held onto his guts with a groan of protest. "I need to see." Brown insisted. He managed to lever the soldier's dirty hands off his torso, and had a look at the severity of the wound. The bullet was buried in his small intestine, and was causing massive bleeding. Brown had to do something fast. He removed the boy's vest, revealing his soft body.
Someone removed the boy's helmet, and Brown had a glimpse of dirty blonde hair as the boy gasped in pain. He removed his backpack and drew out his medical kit. He fished inside for his instruments, and took out a large wad of gauze.
"Here, hold this on the wound." He instructed Fuchs, who promptly did so. He took his eyepiece off, and tossed it to Lewis, who caught it neatly in his right palm.
"Lie down." The boy was only too glad to oblige, resting his head on his team mate's lap.
"Am I... am I... gonna... die?" the boy rasped.
"Shhh..." Brown silenced him, as he applied Edirol painkillers to the wound. Now where were his surgical tongs? There! He fished them out, and extracted the bullet neatly.
"Muzzle flash!" Lee shouted. "Somebody take him out!" Fuchs hurried over with his sniper rifle. A few seconds passed, and then the deafening roar of his M95 reverberated around the abandoned church as he fired out the window.
"He's gone. Bloody curly haired bastard. Took him right in the head." Fuchs snarled. Brown looked over in surprise. He had never seen Fuchs lose it before. The German boy hurried over and began stroking the wounded soldier's chest.
"No worries. You're gonna be fine." The soldier seemed to calm down, and started breathing slowly.
Brown nodded. Now to stop the bleeding. He pulled out the aerosol can containing the quick-dry bandage, and sprayed it into the wound.
"This is gonna hurt, whether you got painkillers or not." He informed the boy. The soldier nodded, and a few seconds later screamed loudly in pain, gripping Fuchs' arm in a vicelike manner.
"Okay, he's fine. Danger's over." He announced. "Cayden, we need an airlift." Lewis nodded, and dialled a number on his personal radio.
"HQ, this is Sergeant Lewis of Black Operations Detachment Two. We have a wounded marine, and he needs a medevac. Our coordinates are..." he rattled off a number of digits, and cut the transmission.
Brown felt pity for the army infantry. They were only young teenagers, and yet they had to go out into the battlefield, with no armour whatsoever. The coalition felt that they were expendable. He patted the boy on his stomach, causing a groan of pain followed by a "Don't!"
"Alright, John. We're gonna push on without you, OK? See you at base camp." Lieutenant Jones said, retrieving the soldier's ammunition. "I'll leave you one magazine. Just in case."
"Let's move." Lewis ordered. They marched on. After approximately five hundred metres ahead, Lewis held up his fist to signify a halt. They took cover behind ruins.
"Okay." Lewis whispered. "You see that?" He pointed, and Brown immediately saw the wreckage of a Chinook helicopter. "We're going to flank that position. Watch out for enemy troops. They'll be only too happy to mow us down once they see is nosing about around that chopper. Lieutenant, take the right side, please."
"Aye-aye, Sergeant." Bear Company filed out. Brown's squad advanced slowly from the left, warily looking up at destroyed structures to ascertain snipers' positions and anticipate any ambushes. The sound of a machinegun firing jolted them to full alert.
"We're pinned down! Need backup!" Jones' voice crackled through their radios.
"Let's go, let's go!" Lewis yelled, and they rushed toward the helicopter. There was a .50 calibre machinegun emplacement, firing relentlessly at Bear's position.
"Take him out!" Lewis ordered. Roberts drew his pistol, and fired two bullets into the back of the gunner, and another three into the kidneys of the feeder, who was scrabbling about for his rifle. The gunner arched his back, screaming in pain, while trying to reach for his wounds and the feeder cupped his hands to his right kidney, gasping for breath as he leant against the sandbags. Their blood pooled on the ground as Bear Company headed up, rifles at the ready.
"One more!" Blake yelled, as a black haired soldier charged Roberts. The Tibetan boy turned around swiftly and drew his combat knife. He pinned the shirtless boy against the wall of the helicopter and stabbed three times into the exposed stomach. The soldier dropped his knife and arched his back forwards as the soft white skin of his stomach was punctured.
"Ungh! Ugh! Ahh..." the boy moaned, as he collapsed; limp, over Roberts' shoulder. Roberts stepped back, and the boy fell with a thud, face-first, on the ground, still moaning.
"What did you do with the people aboard this helicopter?" Lewis asked the bleeding gunner. The boy did nothing but moan in pain, as he tried vainly to reach his wounds.
"For god's sake, someone give him some painkiller." Brown went over and pressed his hand to the bullet holes, staunching the bleeding. Lewis tried again.
"They... uhh... they're in... there." He pointed to a nearby building. Lewis motioned with his hand, and Jaeger strode into the building, rifle across his back.
The feeder gave one last gasp, and fell unconscious. However, the boy who was stabbed was squirming on the ground, letting out the most blood-curdling moans of pain.
"Oh shut it." Roberts cocked the hammer of his Beretta and aimed directly at the boy's head.
"Don't be silly, Mark." Lewis said. "Mike! Take care of him."
Brown knelt down beside the soldier, and gently turned him over. Three slits in the boy's stomach oozed blood. Roberts had not stabbed very deeply, but the bleeding needed to be staunched. He squeezed out some fluid from his navel, and applied it onto the wounds. The black haired boy hissed in pain, and then his face took on a serene expression, as he stared up at Brown.
A few moments later, Jaeger rushed out of the building.
"They're in there!"
"Acknowledged." Lewis replied. "Bear Company, could you provide assistance?"
"That's what we're here for, Sergeant." Jones replied. Everybody with the exception of Brown and Jaeger hurried inside the building.
"Thank god." Brown said, applying gauze to the kidneys of the gunner. Jaeger didn't reply, but stood there, swaying slightly.
"What's up?"
"There was someone in there. He managed to get a shot in before I disabled him." Jaeger forced out, face wrung with extreme pain. Brown knew this was no ordinary shot, as Jaeger usually just shrugged off the pain.
"Where?" Beginning to shake, Jaeger pointed to his chest. There were no bullet holes anywhere. "Where?" Brown asked again. With one last effort, Jaeger pointed to his large nipples, and then dropped to his knees, groaning with pain.
"No way." Brown exclaimed in disbelief. There were tiny bullet holes in the nubs of Jaeger's nipples, and his areolas were beginning to get darker in colour.
"Oh god, what's happening?" Jaeger cried out. "Mike, it hurts. Oh god, it hurts." Brown knew that Jaeger had been pierced by the Goliath N913 bullets. The Liberation army watched and learned from the frontline. They knew that Coalition soldiers had these hydrostatic implants, and the points of entry were their nipples and navel. Each of their squads had then been equipped with this ammunition, designed to track and pierce the areas of most hydrostatic concentration. Once embedded, they sucked out all the fluid in the entity's body, and spread it out, causing extreme pain and even death.
Jaeger screwed up his eyes as the pressure built up behind his nipples. Brown seized the protrusions and began massaging them earnestly. Jaeger moaned and moaned in pain as his life was sucked away. He gripped Brown's kidneys as the pain built up. His nipples were now dark red, Brown noticed with a jolt of fear. What could he do? An idea sprang to his head. He reached into his medical kit and fished out the hydrostatic syringe.
"Bear with me." He told Jaeger, and injected his left nipple. Jaeger arched his back and screamed as loud as he could. After a bit of pressure was applied, the bullet popped out of the nubbin and entered the syringe. Brown did the other nipple as well, and Jaeger became delirious with pain.
"Oh Mike... ungh... ungh... just kill me... Aargh! Just goddamn kill me... pleeeease." He moaned. He felt the pressure reach its peak. He held Brown's hands to his breasts as the pain built up to a climax. "Ahh... ahh... aaahh... AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!! UAAAAAAARGH!"
He arched his back and sprayed a mixture of blood and hydrostatic fluid out of his nipples in droplet form. It was as if his chest had sneezed. His nipples slowly turned pink again. Brown watched with horror, as Jaeger crumpled forward, limp, onto him with one last moan. He very slowly eased Jaeger to a sitting position, and tentatively touched his nipples.
"Ah!" Jaeger cried out with pain. Brown was elated. His best friend was still alive! He threw his hands around Jaeger and sobbed into his chest.
"Don't ever go anywhere without backup again." He sniffed. "I can't lose you." Jaeger managed to let out a nod, before he fell unconscious. Brown listened to the faint heartbeat, and injected hydrostatic fluid into Jaeger's navel to sustain him. He heard the squad approaching behind him.
"Jesus Christ, what happened?" Matthew Silver exclaimed.
"He nearly died, that's what's happened." Brown replied, slightly annoyed at Matthew's naivety.
"HQ, I need another medevac. We're two clicks North of the last coordinates. Please respond." Lewis spoke into his radio, a few minutes later. "Affirmative."
"Mike!" Brown turned his head in alarm. "More patients for you." Martin and Fuchs lowered a wounded pilot onto the ground beside him. He had been shot two inches below the solar plexus and had a knife wound beside his navel. Brown removed the pilot's shoulder pads and brushed away the dirt from the boy's face. His dark brown hair flapped in the wind.
"They came for us." He whispered, breathing slowly with pain. He let out a deep breath as blood trickled out of the bullet wound. "We were caught, just like that. Never had a chance to fight." He whimpered with pain as Brown applied antiseptic to his knife wound. His grey eyes gazed deeply into Brown's. This boy was barely thirteen, and already he had witnessed the horrors of war.
"Shh... everything will be alright. You're gonna live." Brown assured him, as he swiftly stitched up the knife wound. He gave the boy a minor suppressant, and patted him on the chest. The whupping sound of a helicopter slowly became louder.