<span style="color: DarkRed">“Shit! We got Grubs below, I see one hole and a Corpser. There may be more. Everyone keep your eyes open!”</span><br/><br/>At these words Jessica's head shot around to where the Staff Sergeant was standing, a smile hidden by her helmet coming to her face. Almost immediately she stood up, nothing but her safety line connecting her to the King Raven. Thoughts ran through her head as she made her way over to the left side door, the short trip seeming to take forever in Jess' mind, achingly slow step after achingly slow step as one particular memory took hold of her. One of a warehouse and a box...<br/><br/><div style="padding-left: 30px"><i>Jess pressed her eye to the hole in the crate she was hiding in. She'd always been able to fit in to places like this. Mummy told her she wasn't small, but all the other kids were just too big. She watched as her mother moved away from her position and hid in a dark corner. She was too big to fit in one of the crates like Jess and so had to hide in the shadows and hope the ugly Grubs didn't find her. The young girl could hear them moving about and chattering about something she couldn't understand.<br/>
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A noise louder than any Jess had ever heard suddenly screamed from her right, drawing a surprised squeal from the little girl; a squeal containing no small amount of fear. With her eye pressed to the hole she saw everything. The scream of pain from her mother, the creature - the Grub - launching itself at her. And the blood. Oh God the blood. It was like it was raining red as the evil thing tore her apart. The screams and cries were the worst part, and Jess could feel the hot tears cascading down her cheeks. Hard as she tried, the girl of only 9 could not wrench her eye away from the hole. It was as if some unknown, immense power had taken hold of her and was forcing her to watch every gruesome, terrifying moment as her mother was murdered.</i>​</div><br/>It had felt like an eternity before the screams ceased and even longer before the Locust had finished tearing her apart. Jess had in actuality no idea how long the whole event had lasted. Only later, looking back on that day had she realised the only reason she lived was because the sound of the Locust's gun firing had covered the squeal she'd let loose. And still to this day, Jess had no clue how long she sat in that box, arms wrapped around her knees which were against her chest, crying.<br/><br/>Shaking herself, the doc looked around. She was standing at the edge of the opening in the left side of the chopper, Lancer in her hands, bullets flying at Nemacysts quickly approaching the Raven. She could hear the same sound from the other side of the chopper behind her too and concluded the deadly little creatures were approaching from there too.<br/><br/>Then the Raven rocked a bit, causing Jess to stumble slightly. As she looked around she was in time see one of the men take a face full of ink. A cacophony of voices announced it, but already she was heading over to him. After only glancing at him she knew there was nothing she could do. The amount of ink that had hit him and that he was undoubtedly absorbing would kill him very soon. She turned to move back to the open door, however the Raven shaking more violently caused her to lose her balance mid-step, one foot in the air. She fell, colliding with the floor painfully, her armour sending jolts through her form. Nothing serious, though. Only a fall.<br/><br/>Just as Jess began to pick herself up, yet another explosion could be heard, but this time she could automatically tell it was different. The world outside the right door that she was currently looking at began to spin and her safety line pulled taught with her helmeted head and armoured shoulder sticking out the door. Everything seemed to slow down here and she watched in slow motion, helpless, as her companions were thrown about.<br/><br/>Then it happened. One of the men, James she thought his name was. Funny, how at a time like this, when the chopper she was in was spinning out of control and she was sure she was about to die, she remembered names. James' weapon, his Retro Lancer, flew from his grasp across the bay. One single thought went through her head as it happened.<i>So this is how it ends.</i>Then the bayonet cut her safety line like a hot knife through butter and she flew from the ship. Dying gave her an odd clarity and all she did as she flew from the craft was stair at it spinning, coming straight for her. Then something shocked her back and she heard something directly behind her shatter. The last thing Jess saw was a broken window...<br/><br/>----------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>When she awoke she was lying on the floor, pain shooting through her body, especially her back. A shrug of her shoulders sent pain lancing through her back, but she could tell nothing was broken. Her arms hurt, but she could ball both of her fists, so she knew her arms weren't broken. Her legs worked. No serious injuries, however her left leg did hurt a little more than the other and her back was paining her.<br/><br/>A quick glance around showed her Gnasher in a corner behind her, her Lancer at her feet and a great gaping hole in the floor, through which she could see a King Raven. A small laugh echoed from her mouth. What luck, to have your safety line cut by a bayonet and to go flying out a chopper only to crash through a window and land on the floor intact with only minor injuries.<br/><br/>At the call of "Medic!" Jess was still laughing and she said through her radio, loud enough for them to hear her below without their radios, "<span style="color: Magenta">Look up. Seems someone thought it'd be funny to throw me through a window like a brick.</span>" For some reason she found the incident hysterical and couldn't stop laughing, but she knew she had a job to do so, still laughing softly, she pulled herself to her feet, limping slightly, a hand going to her back, and picked up her Lancer and Gnasher.<br/><br/>As she approached the edge of the hole in the floor, Jess wondered where her med-kit was. Then she spotted it. "<span style="color: Magenta">Ah, there it is. So nice of you to place my med-kit in the corner like that.</span>" Replacing her Gnasher and Lancer on her back, the scarred, obviously hysterical woman turned around and stepped off the edge of the floor, falling until she was low enough to grab it, at which point she hung there for a while before letting go and landing with a slight bend of her knees.<br/><br/>A look around the room told her everything she needed to know. Helicopter hanging out a hole in the wall, Staff Sergeant unconscious in the corner, two people in the cockpit of said helicopter with one banging on its window... all in all a pretty bad situation to be in. A pointed finger at the woman banging on the cockpit was accompanied by "<span style="color: Magenta">You! Go see if the Mr. Unconscious is okay. I'll check on the two in the cockpit. Let me know how banged up he is and if he has any serious injuries that need tending.</span>"<br/><br/>Jess broke in to a jog, quickly retrieving her med-kit and entering the chopper. When she walked in to the cockpit she saw a pilot with a hell of a lot of blood on her face and a soldier that looked tired and dizzy. She decided the one with the blood on her face should come first, and so in a professional voice she turned to the man and said "<span style="color: Magenta">Make yourself useful and move that console away from her</span>" while placing down her med-kit and opening it, grabbing what she needed, then closing it.<br/><br/>Pulling her helmet from her head and placing it on the floor to get a better look at her patient, Jess picked up a small sponge-like item in her hand she quickly mopped the blood away from the pilot's face. A minor wound and hardly anything to worry about. Just a lot of blood. Next she grabbed some disinfectant, saying in a soft voice, "<span style="color: Magenta">This'll sting a little, but I'm sure you can handle it.</span>" After cleaning the cut she said "<span style="color: Magenta">I won't have time to stitch it now, so that'll come later. For now I'll just bandage it up.</span>" She grabbed a little pad, then the woman's hand and pressed the pad against the cut, then the woman's hand against the pad. With a quick "<span style="color: Magenta">Hold that there</span>" she began bandaging the woman's head.<br/><br/>After her task was finished, Jess turned to the man and asked, "<span style="color: Magenta">Now, how are you feeling? I noticed you had blood on the back of your hair and all down your left arm. Are you dizzy at all? Tired?</span>"<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>