I was reminded that I have not posted any one-shots here. Since I can't get to Rabbit Hole right now, I thought I'd offer this shortie up as a "thanks for being patient".

So, thanks.

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She was conscious first of dust and smoke, or maybe more that she was coughing and choking on it with each breath. It had been dark to begin with, but now a haze of debris limited her vision to the rubble in front of her; rubble that she realized was pinning her in place; rubble that had not been there last she remembered.

Zhou ma, they were hit. Must’ve been the last strike they’d called in.

“Elster?”

Radio man had been to her right. Zoe twisted her head to look for him and sucked in a breath as her body protested. Gorram piece of metal was spiked right through her shoulder, into the pile of wreckage behind her. Reaching with her free left hand, she probed, trying to get a read on the wound as best she could.

“Elster?”

Three inches in diameter, maybe, not too big, wedged right in there between her shoulder and collarbone. Pain was tolerable unless she moved. Small comfort but she’d take it.

A flash of light and she made out Elster’s face, some ten feet away, eyes closed. Looked to be trapped like she was, alive or not she couldn’t tell. She turned her attention left.

“Sergeant?”

A steel beam obscured her view. Nice to know it had missed her head.

They’d been on the lower roof of an old warehouse, calling in fire on the city. Last she remembered was laying flat on their bellies, peering over the roof peak, taking advantage of the shadows the higher wall provided. Piece of that wall was likely what had her skewered now.

The occasional explosion of incoming missiles and flash of tracers through the smoke told her the mission was still go. Even sounded like they were hitting where the sergeant had spotted the big Alliance guns, which, thankfully, was away from their position. Not that it had made much difference with this la