Dishonourable Discharge: Grace Augustine

51

Norm was crouched just inside the door of the Samson, helping Grace get Jake out of his wheelchair and into the back bay of the chopper.

Lights began to flash. "What the hell is going on over there?" Ivory squinted through the bay, struggling to make out the door that they had come out of. "Oh my god, get in now!" She grabbed her gun and fired, doing her best to aim from a distance.

Quaritch had thrown open the emergency airlock. He charged out onto the outer landing, drawing his pistol. He paused for a moment then opened fire. Bullets pounded against the sides of the Samson.

Grace threw Jake's wheelchair into the aircraft as it began to lift off.

"Come on!" Trudy screamed, her voice barely audible over the chopper's blades.

Norm reached down and yanked Ivory in. He reached back down for Grace, breathing hard.

That's when it happened. Grace didn't say anything, didn't scream. Norm dragged her into the Samson and she got herself into the seat beside Ivory, turning all of her attention to strapping herself in. Bullets raked the ship and Trudy banked hard, using Maya's base to shield them as the aircraft climbed out over the tree line.

Endorphins raced through the redhead's body. It barely even hurt at first.

Jake punched the air, an enormous grin on his face. "We actually did it!" He crowed.

Grace pressed a hand against her abdomen, looking down. Her palm was covered in blood. "Ah crap, not again."

"Everyone alright back there?" Trudy yelled, turning the Samson abruptly.

"Oh yeah baby!" Norm whooped.

Jake turned around to check on Grace and Ivory, the grin fading from his face.

"This is going to ruin my whole day." Grace clutched her abdomen, covering the rapidly spreading stain.

Ivory practically tore her seatbelt off.

"Grace is hit!" Jake shouted.

"Fuck." Trudy tried to twist around in her seat to look at Grace properly.

"Get the trauma kit!" Ivory ordered, crouching in front of Grace.

"Trauma kit is forward." Trudy told them.

"I'll get it." Norm unstrapped himself and climbed over the seats to the front of the aircraft.

"Oh holy shit, okay." Ivory took a deep breath, trying not to completely lose her head. "Keep the pressure on." She told Grace, undoing the other woman's seatbelt.

Norm clambered back, the trauma kit slung over his shoulder.

"Norm I need you to carry Grace. Put her on the back seats." Ivory took the trauma kit from him and wriggled through the gap to the seats at the very rear of Maya, yanking the kit open.

"Here. What can I do?" Norm asked as he spread Grace over the back three seats, doing his best to make sure all six feet of her was safely on.

"Give me some space to work and tell Trudy to get us to Site Twenty Six. Fast. I need my proper medical kit." Wind whistled through the bullet holes on the sides of the Samson.

"Alright." Norm climbed back to the cockpit.

"You're going to be fine Grace." Ivory pushed the other woman's T-shirt up, blanching when she saw just how bloody Grace's stomach was.

"Forget it, it doesn't matter." The redhead's head dropped back onto the seat.

"Don't you dare say that!" Ivory pulled a roll of bandages from the medical kit, wrapping them tightly around Grace's abdomen.

As soon as Ivory had moved her hands away Grace wrapped her arms around her stomach, her face white. She looked out of the window at the trees that were speeding past, committing it all to memory. If it was the last time that she was ever going to see the forest she didn't want to miss a single detail. She pushed her hands tight against the bullet wound. Every pint of blood that she managed to slow down was a few more hours to soak everything in: the agony in her gut, her rasping breaths, Polyphemus hanging in the night sky, the weight of Ivory's hand on hers.

As she reached down for the medical kit Ivory caught sight of the star that she had made Grace all those months ago, almost completely submerged in one of the small puddles of blood that now decorated the floor. "Really? You kept that all this time?" She rifled through the bag until she found a syringe.

"Yeah."

Ivory stuck the syringe in Grace's arm and depressed it. "Here Grace, that'll take the edge off." The younger woman smoothed Grace's hair away from her forehead. "Why'd you keep it for so long? It's just a scrap of paper." She asked, trying to distract her from the pain before the morphine kicked in.

"Because-" Grace broke off, coughing. Blood spilled from her mouth, standing out garishly against against her chalk white lips and splattering against the front of her exopack.

"Oh, no." Ivory breathed. Grace was definitely bleeding internally.

"I love you."

Ivory went quiet. Neither of them had said anything of the sort to each other before. She knew exactly why Grace was saying it. "Grace don't say that, you're going to be fine."

"It's a shame I didn't say it earlier really, we could've spent our lives together. I could've taken you back to Earth and introduced you to my family."

"So when we do go back to Earth what are you going to introduce me as? The woman you're screwing?" Ivory squirmed up onto the seats and lifted Grace's head, carefully lowering it into her lap. There was nothing more that she could do until they got to Site Twenty Six.

"No, I would have introduced you as my girlfriend."

Ivory pressed her hands against her face, almost knocking Grace in the process.

"Careful Ivy, I just got shot you know."

Ivory tried to force a laugh but a sob bubbled up instead, betraying her. "I love you too Grace."

"That's nice." She murmured and then passed out cold.

Ivory clenched her fist around her dog tags. It was happening all over again.