Page 19 of Agent's Integrity

With that determined, I stood up and pulled her up with me. Looking around, I couldn’t see anything but sand. I grabbed my GPS, knowing I would never find my way back to the cave without it. I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of my face, and thunder boomed not far behind us. If we were stuck out here when it started raining, we were goners.

Following the screen, I turned left and started jogging. The woman kept up well now that we weren’t struggling up the dune, but she was either injured or exhausted or both, which hindered our pace. We didn’t have time to rest, so I silently apologized and kept jogging.

A quiet hiss sounded through the air, and my heart started racing. I didn’t bother glancing behind me, knowing I either wouldn’t be able to see anything, or I would see the rain dampening down the dust, and neither would be helpful.

We were almost there. I ran faster, and when the woman stumbled, I scooped her into my arms without hesitating. She was tiny, but heavier than I anticipated. She must have more muscles than what I could see. I cradled her close and ran with everything I had. The hissing sound was coming closer. The looming outcrop of the cave came into view, and I pushed harder as little drops of rain started to fall. I felt them pelt my back. I grabbed the woman’s head, tucked her into my chest to protect her exposed skin, and bent my head as well.

Once we finally reached the relative safety of the cave, I slowed. As soon as we approached the force field surrounding the ship, it dropped. I raced through it, and the field went up right behind me. It was a good thing Andy was paying attention.

The door to the ship opened and Andy appeared. I didn’t stop to talk. I ran right up the steps and into the safety of the ship. He closed the door behind us while I went straight to the lab. “Andy, get this stuff off of here.” My voice was muffled, but Andy’s hearing was impeccable. He went to the table in the middle of the room and cleared it off, shuffling papers and charts out of the way. I carefully set the woman down. She immediately started coughing, and I rolled her onto her side.

“Get the med kit.” I gave the woman a quick look over as Andy moved to one of the cabinets. I didn’t see any rain on her anywhere, so I yanked my own jacket off before the rain could burn through to my shirt. I dropped it in the sink and went back to the woman. I leaned over her, pulling her bandana off to get a look at her face.

She was young, or at least she looked young. Mid-twenties. Her hair was caked with dirt and dust and fell wildly around her face, but I could imagine it was quite beautiful when clean. Pale skin was streaked with dirt and blood and who knew what else. Her lips were chapped and caked in sand. She was wearing black pants. What once was a blue colored shirt was now torn, stained, and covered in grit. A black jacket sat over the shirt and was also ripped in multiple places, and one sleeve was half torn off. Nondescript, scuffed, black shoes adorned her feet. Black gloves covered her hands, completing her outfit.

“Are you alright? Did the rain touch your skin anywhere?”

The woman turned and her brown eyes, the color of dark oak, settled on me. My right hand tingled, and I squeezed it into a fist to cut off the sensation. The eyes widened as she looked me over. I couldn’t blame her for the fear. I was looming over her with a bandana and goggles covering most of my face. My hair was pulled back, but dreadlocks tended to put off a lot of people regardless of whether they were tied up or loose. My skin was naturally brown, and it was coated in sand and dirt, making it look several shades darker.

In an effort to calm her fear, I pulled off my goggles and yanked the bandana down. “Did any of the rain hit you?”

She coughed again, but her face relaxed marginally. “No,” she choked out, her voice sounding like she’d swallowed gravel.

“Andy, bring some water.” I took the med kit from him, cracked it open, and started lining supplies up on the counter so I could see them.

Andy returned quickly with a glass. I slid my arm under the woman’s shoulders and lifted her into a sitting position. She winced in obvious pain and cradled her right arm against her body. At least that wasn’t the arm I had been yanking on.

I took the glass from the android and held it gently to her lips, helping her drink. She took a few sips and tried to swallow it but ended up gagging. She spat out a couple mouthfuls of sand and grit, but eventually she was able to take a few real gulps. She winced again.

When she was finished, I lowered her back down. I started to check her over, beginning with her head. Blood matted part of her hair and ran down her right cheek and jaw. It seemed to be a superficial cut and not something more serious. I grabbed a wet towel and gently began rubbing at her face to clean off some of the dirt and blood.

Pain crinkled the skin around her eyes, but she said nothing. She took deep, gasping breaths. I cleaned enough of the skin around the wound to properly dress it. By the time I was finished with that, her breathing had settled. It looked like the shock was starting to wear off.

“Where are you injured?”

Her eyes flew to mine. She swallowed. “My shoulder.” Her voice was still raspy, but not as bad.

I nodded. “Anywhere else? Stomach, chest, legs? Your neck? Anything vital?”

When she shook her head, I relaxed a little. She was obviously in a lot of pain, but it didn’t appear as though she was dying. I turned to the med kit and pulled out a syringe with a strong pain medicine. If her shoulder was out of place, which I suspected it was, she would need a good dose of pain killers.

I lifted the syringe to check the dosage. Her hand shot out and clamped around my forearm like a vise. “What’s that?” she rasped.

Speaking gently, I tried to calm her fears. “It’s pain medicine. I think your shoulder is dislocated.”

Her eyes turned wild. “No. No pain medicine.”

Maybe she was hurt more than I thought. If she had a head injury, it could confuse her. I gently pried her hand off my arm. “It’s okay. It’s just medicine. I promise. You’re going to need it.”

She shook her head, her lower lip trembling. “No. No pain medicine!”

“You need this.” I didn’t understand her reluctance, and I reached for her arm where her jacket was torn, revealing bare skin.

“No!” She thrashed, pulling away from me. “I don’t want any! I’ll be fine.”

Her hand launched towards mine, and I jerked the syringe out of her reach. “Andy, help me restrain her.”

The android stepped forward and her head whipped around to face him. Terror filled her eyes. “No!”

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