Alex Rider pays a visit to Brecon Beacons...

Saving a life

Viper rushed back over to the injured man, the medical kit Snake had thrown over the fence in his hand. The man was screeching in pain, but not quite crying. His leg was bent at an unnatural angle, and his ankle was out of place. Kneeling down next to him, Viper got out a small syringe with painkillers in. After injecting it into the man, he seemed to shut up a little more. Gently lifting the broken limb, he moved it back into its correct position, drawing more noises of pain from John. After checking position again and again, he slowly but tightly wrapped it in bandages. Tying them off, he moved to his right ankle, which was clearly dislocated.

"John, this will hurt. A lot. Don't move, I need to put your ankle back in place." John nodded to the serious man in front of him, closing his eyes and bracing himself. Viper took off John's combat boot, getting a grip on his ankle before yanking it back into place. John screamed, but quickly stopped after he realised his ankle was back in place. Viper wrapped it tightly in bandages and development died he had done all he could. Returning to Snake at the fence, he told him his plan."There's no way I could carry John down the last few hills, the only way would be to go back. I could use the passage way, but I would still need to climb a few hills to get to it. Where are the medics?"

Snake turned around to look."Their just here, I will tell them to meet you at the start of the course, is that good?"

"Yep, that's fine. Tell them to bring a stretcher."

Snake nodded and indicated towards John."You'd better start moving then, take it slowly and don't suddenly move or you might move his leg and set it in the wrong place, or dislocate his ankle again. Try and hurry, but don't rush too much."

Alex turned around and headed back to John. He gingerly picked him up, holding him in his arms like a child. Slowly he started to make his way toward the cliff that John had stupidly jumped down, wondering how to get him up."hey! How many of you are up there?" Viper shouted up the face of the hill, only question few metres high but still a challenge to get up when your carry an injured man with both hands.

"Uh, eight I think. Why?"

"I'm going to climb as high as I can, but then can you help me up the last section as I can't without my hands. Will you help me?"

"O-of course! Tom, you and your friends come help me!" The other seven or so people came rushing to the edge, quickly figuring out what the plan was. Viper slowly climbed the first few feet, using his fingers to try and grip the side.

"Right, don't move his leg or ankle, and make sure your holding him tightly. On the count of three, lift." The group reached down and grasped John securely.

"What about you? You'll be pushed off by the force of us lifting him!" It was the shy girl, Kathryn.

"I will fall back to the ground, unharmed. Ready? One, two, three, lift!" Viper helped lift him slightly, grinning as John was pulled safely up the ledge. The grin quickly fell of his face, though, as he started falling backwards. He turned and saw the ground was almost upon him so he leapt away from the cliff and rolled to absorb the impact. The recruits grinned at him from the top and Viper nodded, already making his way up the near smooth cliff. He grasped onto the top and pulled himself up, readying himself for the next smaller hill.

Picking up John, he noticed he was growing paler. The once crisp bandage had acquired several large blotches of blood. "Snake!" He spotted the medic following their progress from the side of the course. "Snake I think his bone has pierced the skin! He bleeding and going pale. Tell the medics to use the passageway. The codes 874265, and they'd better hurry!" Snake nodded and ran off to the medics, while Viper sped up and ran to the next hill.

Another four recruits stood there, and having witnessed the basic idea of the hill before, readied themselves. They watched as Viper started up the cliff, an unconscious John in his hands. They safely grasped John and helped him up while Viper rolled to the ground. He climbed, and again lifted John and ran to the final hill, where he could simply reach up from halfway to deposit John at the top before following. Sprinting now to the passage entrance he punched in the six-digit code before sighting the medics up ahead and running to meet them.

He laid John on the stretcher, telling the medics all the information he could while simultaneously jogging with them back to the infirmary. Reaching the other side, John was rushed away and Viper was told that without his immediate reaction to the situation, John could have died from blood loss with no way to get out of the course safely.

Viper swiftly made his way back to Snake, who was standing amidst the recruits who had completed the course and the other half of recruits who had heard the noise and returned to see what it was about. Fox ploughed his way through to get to Viper, asking "What happened? I heard the shout about medics and a code, and saw the medics rushing off with someone but I don't know the full story. Can you fill me in?"

"Some idiot tried to jump the third hill and broke his leg and dislocated his ankle. I ran through the passage and wrapped his leg, relocated his ankle then took him back up the hills and through the passageway to the medics. I don't expect him to be able to partake in any physical activities while he is here, so he'll be attending lectures."

"Viper, you just saved a man's life! He wouldn't have lived if you hadn't have reacted like that. I heard the medic. He would have died. But you saved him. You saved his life."

"I know, but anyone would have done it if they were in my place."

"But they couldn't. They don't have the skill."

"Fine, whatever you say, don't argue. We need to get these recruits back to training." Viper turned to the crowd."If you haven't yet been on the course, line up at the start, but do not jump down the third hill or any after. If you just finished the course, go with Fox here and learn about fitness and exercise."

And so, the courageous moment of saving a life, ended.

--Authors note--

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise from the Alex Rider series.

Here it is, another chapter. Sorry for the wait, but you'll be pleased to know I suddenly had loads of time so I finished my oneshot, and wrote this whole thing. Sorry there was no huge amount of action, but the main action should start in a few chapters. Please review your thoughts, book ideas or any other random idea. Thanks,
Teddybearcrazy.

Date published: 27th December 2016