“You okay?” she asked as she struggled to stand, her leg obviously bothering her.
“Yeah.” He sat up, realizing that in addition to the bruise he’d received, the fall had crushed his coms unit. He couldn’t communicate with his team, and they couldn’t stay here.
Link stood, shaking out the pain as he pulled her up. "Hold on to me and stay safe. You got that?"
“Yes, sir.”
Her voice was weak, but she was awake and responding. That was good.
“Where is everyone else?” he asked, hoping she didn’t say they were right under the worst part of the explosion.
“The room we came out of. So back…” she glanced around like she didn’t know which way she’d come from. She really had been knocked for a loop.
“My name is Link. I’m going to need you to get it together. You understand?”
The woman drew in a slow breath and nodded as she moved beside him. “Got it.”
“What’s your name?”
“Ansley.”
“Okay, Ansley, let’s go get the rest of your team.”
Link turned and saw that Bean was up and moving down the hall. He followed, a bit slowed by the woman who still wasn’t ready to walk on her own.
He damn sure wouldn’t leave her behind, but she needed to get her wits about her so he could get the rest of the Marines out.
They were almost back to the room he'd seen her come out of when a door next to him opened, and they had to duck into another room. Bullets started flying, pinning them in.
It was odd that the group hadn't responded when they'd blown the door, but now they were going all out. Link had to find a way out of this hellish building, or they would end up dead.
Ansley was tryingto get her brain to work properly, but she was having a hard time concentrating. Bullets zipping around like flies at a barbecue was making her head pound even worse. Her attempts at thinking weren’t getting her anywhere, and she just wanted to close her eyes and take a moment, but she didn’t have a moment.
“Fuck, we have to get out of here,” Link said.
"Yeah." Ansley glanced around, trying to figure out where they were. She moved closer to the back wall and saw a door.
When there was a break in the bullets, she reached over and opened the door. It wasn’t a closet. The door led to another hall.
“Link, an escape, maybe.”
Link glanced over his shoulder and flashed a wide smile. “Awesome. Let’s go.”
She limped through first, then Link followed, closing the door behind them. Her head had cleared a little, and she was able to walk on her own as long as she kept one hand on the wall to keep from falling over. It was slow going, though, because of the wound on her leg.
Link put a hand on her arm, supporting some of her weight, and hurried them along. They turned the corner, and she spied a set of stairs about twenty-five yards down the hall.
“We should go that way,” Link said.
“Yeah, let’s go this way.”
She had to hold on to the handrail so she wouldn't tumble down the stairs, even with Link's help she was wobbly and unsteady. They were getting farther away from the mess where the bullets flew, but she had no clue where they were headed.
The stairs came to an end, and they were in what seemed to be an old tunnel. Link paused, looking left then right.
She glanced up at him and tried to hold his gaze, but her vision was swimming a little too much. “Which way?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Left?”
