I do not own the rights to any Tom Clancy games, having said that, Enjoy!

Chapter 8. Licking wounds

Ben opened his eyes as he looked up to a roof of royal purple that worked with the walls that stood as a combo of the same purple and black that worked off each other. He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his bare chin before he sighed and sat up facing a black wall with a Breaking Benjamin poster at a slant facing the right before rustling on his left made him lay back down and sigh.

"I still think I should've slept on the floor" a voice slightly groaned as they were pulled from sleep as Allison opened her eyes and looked up to the roof.

"In my defense I was drunk and crying I dont think you would've won that fight" Ben smirked as he looked over to Allison, her deep blue eyes looked at him in a haze of still half asleep and groggy from a heavy night of drinking. "Thanks for coming over again" Ben shrugged as he sat up and swung his legs over the side of her bed.

"Its the weekend and it's not like I was doing anything important" Ben grabbed his boots and began putting them on as Allison got up and made a small squeak as she quickly grabbed a pair of plaid pajama pants before she stood up and walked over to an easel with a painting half done. "Wasnt there a party last night at Mandi's? Ben made a face before he shrugged and smiled.

"I think so"

"Shes gonna kill you" Ben laughed as he shook his head.

"Were one break right now anyways I can guarantee she would've gotten smashed and tried to cry her way into bed anyways...besides I dont even want to get back with her again, way to much drama at school" Allison chuckled as she grabbed the frame of the half done painting and took a knife slashing it and ruining the half done portrait of two people center stage in dress clothing, looking very regal.

"So what did he say anyways? You didnt exactly tell me last night" Allison took a phone out of her pocket and unlocked it before she tossed it over to Ben.

"Tom messaged him while he was in the bathroom and I kinda took screenshots of what they've been saying" Ben's eyebrows raised slightly as he looked over the screenshots she sent herself from Mike's phone.

Tom: yo, come hang out

Mike: I'm hanging with Alli.

Tom: jeez bro, how long till you break up with the fat bitch anyways?

Ben moved his free hand into his Jean pocket and clenched it, know full well he'll punch tom and Mike at practice on Monday.

Tom: besides Madison's asking for you ;) I think she wants the D.

Mike: where the fuck are you guys? I'll be over after I get done with her, she finally gave it up

Tom: remind me why your dating Shamu again?

Ben felt his nails digging into his palm as Allison turn to face him, still reading the phone as she tossed the painting in the garbage.

Mike: she wasn't fat in middle school, I think it was after her brother died she gained like a hundred pounds and stopped anything that wasn't painting or violin.

Tom: dude, just dump jabba and come get something that wont smell like arby's she's practically whiney your name like a bitch in heat. Ben closed the message and looked at Allison who had put a new canvas on the frame and began to braid her hair.

"He broke up with me two hours later by text and went to that party Mandi was having" Ben dropped the phone on the bed and walked over, Allsion walked closer and let Ben tower over her before he wrapped his arms around her before he felt her start crying in his shirt. "I thought he really cared about me, he said he loved me" Ben squeezed tighter as hs looked down at Allison who was crying into his shirt again.

"He's not worth it" Allison started sobbing as an orange glow caught his attention before he snapped up as a sharp pain tore him away.

Ben woke up feeling a pair of tweezers enter his shoulder, he looked over seeing Elaine digging around the now open wound on his shoulder. The pain set in as Ben looked around, he looked down seeing his grey t shirt was cut open and his vest was taken off, little holes dotted his stomach and chest as blood poured out of them before the tongs in Elaine's hands pulled out a large bullet from his shoulder before she walked away with it. Ben tried to sit up before he felt a pair of hands on his arms and other shoulder holding hin down.

"Easy brother, you need to stay down" Elaine looked over and grabbed a bottle next to them before she plunged a needle Inside, she took it out and as she approached Ben yanked himself free from craig.

"NO!" Elaine put it down as she grabbed his other arm helping craig.

"Ben you need to listen to me, you still have a lot of buckshot in your abdomen and I need you to be unconscious to get it out otherwise you could go into shock and bleed out" Ben tugged and tried to sit up as he looked at Elaine before he tried to yank his arm away.

"I don't want it!" Ben felt a soft hand cup and grip his as he looked to his left and saw Allison's blue eyes looking at him, calm yet full of worry.

"Ben, please, they need to get it out" Ben shook his head as she gripped his hand tighter and pressed her head to his.

"Please, people still need you" Allison closed her eyes as Ben's breathing started to calm down. "I'll make you a deal okay? You remember when I was in the hospital?" Ben began to take deeper breaths before he nodded. "You stayed there the whole time even when i went in for the amputation, you remember what you said to me?" Allison opened her eyes and looked at Ben palmer then she was when she arrived.

"I'm staying right next to you... not gonna let go of your hand for a second" Allison smiled as she nodded.

"You didn't, not even once my dad was pissed cause he had to work around you in the O.R" Ben nodded as she took her other hand and placed it on Ben's neck bringing his face close to hers again.

"I'll he right here the whole time, staying right next to you and the only thing I'm gonna be holding is your hand, let them put you under please" Ben took another deep breath before he nodded causing Allison to smile. "Thank you" Elaine took the needle of what Ben figured propofol and soon fell asleep, Elaine looked at him and checked his heart for a moment with a stethoscope before she turned to Craig and Allison.

"He's out" they both nodded as she got to work.

It took hours before Craig finally sat down, his curiosity finally getting the better of himself as Allison read the book In her lap as she clutched onto Ben's hand.

"So how long have you guys known each other? Allison looked up and closed her book as she turned to face craig.

"Since I was seven and he was eight, his dad got a job as security at the hospital my dad was an intern at. I was running to try and get a balloon when I crashed into him and smashed the candy bar he had and we were little monsters ever since" Allison smiled as she looked at Ben who was still unconscious on the table. "What about you?"

"We were dropped into Manhattan back in January, my team was sent in to try and help but a lot went wrong" She nodded as she looked at Craig's face knowing he wanted to ask her something.

"Go ahead and ask, I know you want to" Craig shot up back to attention after he slowly drifted off for a moment.

"What did you mean when you said amputation?" Allison looked down as she moved her left leg out and rolled up the black leggings, revealing a very intricate prosthetic leg shaped and modeled to look real, Craig looked at the knee seeing it joined all the way to her thigh.

"I was driving in a car with my mom when a drunk driver slammed into the passenger side and we were jumped off the highway into the next lane, ya know where the cars go the opposite way, my leg was crushed from the impact and it had to be taken off" Craig looked at the leg more, looking at the knee joint seeing it was on what looked like a ball brocket swivel like system. "My dad had to pull a few strings with an army buddy but he got me this, the ball is connected to the joints in my leg, when I move it..." she lifted her leg and began to move the prosthetic back and forth like she was doing a curl. "And it follows"

"When did this happen?"

"twenty-three" Allison chuckled as she closed the book. "its funny, my dad kept saying its like he found out and came home just for me" Craig slightly turned his head. "he came home from rotation like four hours before I went to the hospital, he came straight from the airport to the hospital" Allison looked at Ben as Elaine soaked a rag in water and ran it across his torso, and began to place gauze and bandages on him before she took bandages and wrapped them to cover his torso, covering his chest and his shoulder. "jet lagged and wearing his military fatigues but the first thing he did was find my room and sit next to me for two hours until I came too" Craig watched as Elaine took a tray full of small pellets and walked to the other side of the room and then outside. Craig looked over to Ben and looked at his chest, making sure it was still moving up and down. Before he stood up.

"I'm gonna go make sure the others are good, you got him?" Allison nodded as she reopened her book and found her page as Craig walked outside.

Allison looked over to Ben whose chest was still breathing up and down as she looked down to her leg and closed her book and looked to the door.

"I know you probably can't hear me. that is okay, I guess I just want to talk and if you can't speak back the better" Allison took her hand back and uncrossed her legs before she stood up. Allison walked to the other side as she picked up his right hand and felt the stub on his pinky and slightly shuddered feeling something that wasn't there. "I know I'm supposed to be angry and upset with what you did" Allison moved both hands to his, tears slightly welling up as she looked him up and down. "but I missed you, I miss you so much and I know you're here to do a job but I can't lose you ,we've been through too much to for you to go right now… please, please stay here, if not for your team then for me" Ben stood still as his chest rose up and down. "I didn't want to say in front of your team, but you scared me when they brought you back, unconscious and bleeding you really scared me Ben"

Ben woke up in the back room, his torso covered in bandages and his pa ts covered with blood stains, grogginess taking the better of him, he slowly rose and groaned as he sat up on the bed he was placed on, he looked over and saw as Allison was fast asleep with one hand on her chin, propped up by her knee and the other outstretched towards the bed. Ben threw his legs over the side of the bed and began to walk out.

He opened the door to the rooms and held up his hand to block the brightness as he looked around and saw his three squad mates and made his way over to them.

"I'm just saying that even if Ben's in bad shape, we shouldn't hold off doing anything, we still have other settlements that need to be checked on and the factions are in the middle of a crazy war right now" none heard ben walk over as he came up behind Craig.

"I agree" they all snapped around and looked at Ben in confusion.

"What are you doing up, you should be asleep" Ben shook his head as he walked to a chair and sat down, holding his stomach as he did so.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay" Ben scratched his head as he ran a hand over the graze mark on the right side.

"We all made it out okay, you on the other hand needed to be ran back"

"what happened, one minute I remember shooting Coyote and getting blasted with something cold and the next I was on that table" Craig pulled a small spray can and tossed it to Ben.

"some of the new tech we got, called bio-foam, you spray it on a wound and it prevents blood loss in wounds that be saved, nothing like a headshot but something like buckshot to the plates, or a shot to the shoulder that could work" Ben nodded as he tossed the can back to Craig.

"Where's Kelso?"

"at the Whitehouse, she's making sure Espinoza's okay, you want us to call her over?" Ben nodded as he stood up and walked closer to Em and Tianna when a door slammed down.

"BENJAMIN SHAY KELLY" Everyone looked behind to see Allison looking right at Ben arms crossed, worry and anger in her eyes and she was shaking her head.

"Shay?"

"you didn't hear that" Craig and Tianna both chuckled as Allison walked over to them. "I know I should be resting"

"your goddamn right, you just woke up" Ben nodded as he looked over to the others.

"make sure you let Kelso know I wanna talk to her" Allison grabbed him by the good arm and took him back to the doors.

"and where are you going?" Ben turned around and looked at them.

"I'm gonna go back to sleep" Allison dragged him back into the rooms as she let go of his arm and dragged the chair next to a bed.

"lay down"

"can I at least get a minute?"

"no, you just got twenty two pellets and a bullet out of your chest, you need to sleep for at least the night" Ben smirked as he looked down to his jeans, still covered in a lot of blood and scoffed and growled as the bandages around his abdomen were already turning red. "and now we should redress that" Ben almost chuckled but stopped as the pain hit him making him lean forward before he stood back up.

"what time is it anyways?" Allison looked at her watch and looked up to him.

"five past seven thirty"

"is there any food I can eat while you put me under house arrest?" Allison dropped her arm and gave Ben a stern look of anger and spite.

"you almost got blown away out there, if you didn't have those" Allison gestured to his torso. "I would fuckin hit you. HARD." Ben nodded as he looked over to the bed.

"I know, I'm sorry"

"you can't just expect things to work out all the time, if your not careful you're not gonna come back like you did today"

"I know… Allison I'm sorry" Ben began to smile as he she walked around frustrated.

"this is just the rotations all over again, you leave and you come back then leave AGAIN not saying goodbye and then you come back with new scars and ink acting like your fuckin invincible" Ben walked forwards approaching his friend. "I don't want to have to bury my oldest fuckin friend and one of these days I'm gonna have to! I mean, angry or not I don't wanna do that" Ben reached out and grabbed Allison's shoulders getting her to stop and look at him. Ben locked eyes with her as he noticed the bags and tears welling up,

"Ali, I'm sorry" the tears started to fall slightly as her lip trembled before he brought her closer, her arms went under his and as she embraced him getting him to do the same. "I didn't mean to scare you" he felt her breath hard as he ignored the pain in his chest.

"I was gonna slap you and tell you to fuck or go away or something, but then they brought you back, bloody and barley alive, and what happened to your finger!" Allison broke away for a moment to look him in the eye again, Ben smiled and chuckled as he looked at her.

"I lost it a while ago, something in New York" Ben felt a sting as she slowly placed her head back on his head and closed her eyes.

"I mean I felt scared before, ya know I would be doing the dishes and think "Hey what's Ben doing, maybe dodging bullets in a slum or something but I mean I've never seen that much blood, how the fuck are you even alive right now?"

"I assume the empty blood bags over there would give you a clue"

"Fuck, now I'm gonna need to tell Odessa, and ugh" Allison broke away and ran a hand through her hair, Ben looked over to the table and walked over to his bag.

"I didn't know I caused a ruckus"

"not a ruckus, just med supplies are tight a lot of the time and if this happens again Elaine might need more for someone"

"get me a list, we can get the stuff I'm sure" Allison looked at him again raising her eyebrows. "I mean after you let me go"

"we can get it, the big problem is bartering for it, the campus isn't really nice with sharing anymore"

"and who is that?" Ben pulled out bandages some scissors and a bottle of water. Allison grabbed the bags and grabbed a small trash can before she looked around for a towel, eventually finding one and wiping up the apparent liquids. Ben sliced off the wraps and threw them away before he took a clean rag and poured some of the water on it and wiped off any dried or new blood before he placed the new bandages on and began to wrap before he stopped.

"a group on the other side of the white, house they closed off after they lost a number of people to an outcast attack. Allison turned around and noticed ben couldn't really shift his shoulder and walked over taking him from him and began to wrap it. "they have a small clinic, like they managed to get a lot of stuff but its hard to even get in lately"

"like I said give me a list and we'll see what we can do" Allison looked at him as her arm went around him,

"we can do it to, this isn't something new and we have people to go looking for supplies" Ben nodded as she tied the last of the roll on him and took a step back.

"just trying to help is all"

"I appreciate it… you still hungry?" Ben nodded as he zipped up his bag "I'll see if I can grab something to eat" Ben nodded as he walked over to the bed next to him and sat down before he looked around and smiled as he saw a grabber claw. He took it and pulled up his cargo pants as he took the end of the lace and pulled before he kicked off his left boot and went to work the other one. Allison came back as Ben stood up and let his pants fall to the ground. "well that's interesting" Ben looked up as she was holding two paper plates.

"they're covered in blood; I should have some clean jeans or something in my bag" Allison walked over and handed him a plate as she sat down on the chair she dragged over. Ben sat down and began shoveling the food into his mouth before Allison giggled. "what's so funny?"

"it could be rice for all you care, and you still wouldn't taste it, ever since we were little"

"not every time" Allison raised an eyebrow and smiled as she took another fork full and carefully and slowly chewed it in front of him. Ben rolled his eyes and he lowered his fork and carefully took a handful of it into his mouth to mock her. Allison stifled a laugh as Ben picked up the fork as they finished the meal.

Ben woke up and looked at his watch, groaning when he looked at the time and saw it read it was only 11:34 he swung his legs over the side and slowly put a new pair of navy jeans on before. Allison was fast asleep in the chair next to the bed as he slowly walked over to the door and walked out. Kelso walked up the stairs and looked over seeing him and imedietly walked over.

"Shit, I am so fuckin sorry" Ben held up his hand and shook his head.

"don't apologize is Espinoza okay?" Kelso nodded as she looked down at Bend bandages.

"yeah, he was a little banged up, but he'll pull through, you look like death though"

"that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Ben pointed over to a chair as Kelso took it, Ben stayed standing as he leaned on a pole.

"what happened when I left?"

"that sniper I let go came back, this time with a shotgun and gave me a lesson" Kelso looked slightly puzzled. "this isn't new York, this is some other beast that I know nothing of and I cant play by old rules. I need to adapt otherwise I'm dead" Kelso nodded as she stayed silent. "having said that I owe you an apology, you know this place and the people better, I shouldn't have assumed it was the same"

"apology accepted" Ben smiled as he nodded his head and stood up right.

"if I don't go back to bed I'm gonna have a whole new enemy looking for me, ill find you tomorrow if you'll still be here… do me a favor as well?" Kelso nodded as she stood up. "find my team and see if they need back up, I'm sure they're out doing something right now" Kelso nodded and smirked as Ben walked back inside the room. Ben laid back down and groaned as he exhaled before he tried to close his eyes. Whimpering in dark stopped him from going back to sleep as he looked over to Allison who seemed to be practically jumping out of her spot, the noise escaping resembled something scared or in pain, very faintly he could hear her trying to speak but stopped and opened his eyes to look at her.

"Alli?" Ben reached out and shook her knee, unable to wake her "Alli" again nothing but the whimpering grew slightly louder. "Ally!" Allison snapped awake almost jumping out of the chair terrified as she looked around.

"Ben?" Ben nodded as he moved his hand over to her hand and squeezed.

"nightmare?" Allison nodded as she took a few deep breaths and regulated her breathing. "the car accident?" she shook her head.

"no something else"

"wanna talk about it?" Allison shook her head before she stood up.

"no, i need to do something"

"no you don't" Allison looked at him in a small daze "if I cant go out and do something, you cant either, c'mon, I could use the company" Allison shook her head and began to walk to the door.

"no I need to go on a run or get supply's or something" Allison stopped as the sound of boots hit the ground forcing her to look at Ben who was bragging a pair of socks and began to bend over lacing his boots up.

"what are you doing?"

"what does it look like?" Ben tied the knot on one of the boots and began on the other one. "if you go out, I'm going to"

"Ben no"

"do you remember the last time you went out for a midnight run?" Allison froze as she nodded.

"either you let me go too, or you come over here" Allison sighed and looked at Ben flustered and slightly annoyed before she almost slammed the door and walked back over to him.

"Fine, but I'm not gonna tell you what happened"

"you don't have to just try to get some sleep" Ben patted the mattress next to him as he took his boot off and laid back on his back as Allison laid down on her side facing him. Ben turned his head to face her and smiled. "thank you" Allison nodded as Ben shifted to his side as well and looked at her. "so, where's Jon?" Allison chuckled as she shook her head.

"just go the fuck to sleep, please" Ben nodded as he placed his hand on the bed in between them as she cupped it with her hand before he closed his eyes.

Later that night:

Nomad and Midas walked along the streets down near the castle. The silence crept up on them forcing Nomad to grip his LMG just a little tighter and cough to clear the air.

"so, where did they go missing?" Midas at the memorial just 25 feet away from them. he turned his laser on and showed to confirm.

"I heard the com and it was… creepy" Nomad looked over to him as they stopped a mere 5 feet away from the water pool on the outside of the memorial. "I heard gunshots and panicking before the feed just cut out" Nomad walked up to the memorial as he read the inscription or what little of it was left.

"This memorial is dedicated to the brave souls who gave their life in defense of this country during" Nomad shook his head. "can't read shit" Nomad walked out of the pool and gave it a salute before they began to walk away. Midas heard a clink as smoke erupted from nowhere. Nomad and Midas aimed around, not seeing the hunter standing up from the memorial pulling an M60 from his back. Nomad and Midas looked up just in time as he dropped a seeker mine and aimed right for them. Nomad pulled a flashbang from his bag and dropped it almost immediately. "DUCK" both men covered their eyes as the flash went off before they looked around seeing he disappeared.

"where the fuck did, he go?" Nomad backed up to Midas's back as they scanned the area looking around for the hunter who vanished out of nowhere. A faint glow appeared behind the memorial as the hunter holstered the M60 as he grabbed the axe dangling on his side and spun it ready to make a move.

As always feel free to leave any comments/reviews always helpful and ill see you next time!