The Neverending War (modern war)

Anaa peaked around the corner, shrugged, and slid down the wall into a crouch. "Fine by me, have fun," she said waving a hand.

Andre snapped his rifle up to his shoulder once again and he quickly put each soldier into his cross-hairs. Each time his aim fell upon them, he pulled the trigger, and with no more than a single shot they dropped to the ground. Within a few heartbeats, they were all dead. Andre looked back toward the corner where he had left Anaa, and he called out to her. "Clear!"

Anaa's head snapped up and looked around. "Well that was short," she said standing and coming around the corner. At the barricade she stopped, looking up at it with a frown and crossed arms. With a little growl she crouched and jumped over landing silently on her bare feet but slipping slightly with the bandages around them.

Andre quickly reached out to help her keep her balance and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. Well, as gentle a pat as someone genetically modified and damn near twice her size could manage. He turned around and jumped down to the ground on the other side of the barricade. Bad idea.
Not fifty yards behind that barricade was another one, manned with at least four times as many soldiers. It was the same exact design, just larger to accommodate the extra force.
"Shit." Andre cursed and he ducked down and bolted toward the wall. There was zero cover between the two barricades, and the second that he hit the ground they opened fire. When he got near the wall he jumped up, put both feet on it, then launched himself high into the air toward the barricade. Shots zipped past him and impacted his armor and now very weak energy shield. He landed on the barricade with a crash that crushed part of the concrete structure. The resulting shockwave launched a few soldiers into the air, and stunned those that weren't hit with enough force to launch them.

"Umph!" Anaa grunted as the lieutenant patted her shoulder. She looked up in time to see him making for the other side of the barricade. "I wouldn't -" she began but he jumped and bullets flew. Anaa sighed. "Here we go again," she said to herself with a shake of her head. She got on her knees and shuffled over to the edge. She sighed again got out her bow knocked an arrow and started firing taking care not to hit the lieutenant.

Andre pulled his two pistols from his hip holsters and aimed each one at a separate target. He fired a few rounds into each target, the pistols being a considerable bit weaker than his rifle, and not to mention not nearly as accurate. He aimed for center mass, not making things too incredibly fancy this time.

Anaa saw something that the lieutenant had apparently not seen. Her heart skipped a beat and her violet eyes widened. "Thats a big gun," she whispered. "Lieutenant!!" she shrieked as loud as she could. "Lieutenant! Turn around! Turn Around!!!!"

Andre's ears bolted upright and he spun around as fast as he could. He had both his pistols facing forward and ready to shoot, but he soon learned that they would do no good, even if he did pull the trigger. "What the f-"
Just before he managed to swear, an artillery cannon that had been jerry-rigged as a point defense cannon fired at him. He crouched and jumped to the side with every last ounce of power he could pull from his muscles. He managed to avoid the most damaging part of the blast, but the shockwave slammed him into the nearest wall. He grunted from the impact, but his shields barely held enough to let him stand back up as if nothing had happened.

Anaa was knocked back about a foot by the shock wave. She leaped to her feet and sighed in relief when the lieutenant stood up again. She had to do something about that thing but what? She couldnt use her poison gases it would have no affect on those that fired it and it was to far away for her arrows. "Any ideas?" she asked the lieutenant.

"Just one." He said as he spun his pistols on his fingers and holstered them. He cracked his knuckles and his neck as he walked toward the cannon. He rolled his shoulders once or twice, then stood there for a second. He closed his eyes, and waited.
It took the cannon only a few more seconds after that to finish reloading. It pivoted to find him again, and the second he was within it's cross-hairs, it fired. At that same instant, Andre lifted his right hand. It had a purple, slightly smoky aura flowing from it. The shell from the cannon suddenly stopped in mid air, not ten feet from him. This same aura surrounded the shell. Andre's face showed just how much strain he was putting into this maneuver. He raised his other hand to completely halt the momentum of the shell. He then brought both hands back to his right hip, then he thrust them forward. The shell shot back into the barrel of the cannon, and detonated. Shrapnel, body parts, and smoke flew into the air. Andre dropped to one knee and released the breath he had been holding.
"Fuck's sake, I forgot how much energy that takes..." He bitched as he stared at the ground slightly winded.

Anaa shot down the rest of the enemy between her and the next barricade. She hoped down, slipping again on the bandages and sprinted for the next one not hesitating before the jump up next time. Anaa skittered over to the lieutenant and put a hand one his shoulder, kneeling beside him. "You all right?" asked the healer worriedly.

Andre raised a hand and patted hers with it. "Yes... Yes, I'm fine. Just drained. It's a very trying task to stop a fifty pound projectile traveling three times the speed of sound with just your mind... And just as much to send it back." He stumbled back to his feet, shook his head, and acted like he was fine, although a small amount of blood oozed from underneath his eye and out his tear ducts.

"Nuh-uh lieutenant sit back down," Anaa commanded in as good an imitation of her mentor as could come from a snow leopard rather then a retriever, trying to force him back down.

Andre stumbled back a few inches as she pushed him, which would not happen if he were totally up to speed. He submitted and sat down as she commanded. His head thumped with each pulse of his heart. He brushed away the blood going down his face with the back of his hand and heaved a sigh. "I don't think I can do this, Anaa..." He whispered, his typically stern and confident voice now diminished and weak.

Anaa looked up from her rummaging in her bag. "I know," she said, slowly pulling a larger bag from her bag. She pulled a slice of dried fruit from it and handed it to him, then dug in the bag once more and pulled out a hunk of bread and handed that to him as well. "Eat. It will help you regain your energy but not to fast our youll get a stomach ake." She shifted so she was completely kneeling and sat back on her heals. Her head hung and her hands clenched on her knees. "All this death, all this blood spilled, all the light of life that have been snuffed because of me. It tears me a new scar, each life thats lost. I'm a healer.....and a warrior..... Such contradicting life styles. The pain is why the Warrior Healers faded away. Its why Im the only one." She looked up at him, violet eyes clouded, head slightly tilted. "How many lives will be saved once we have accomplished this? How many with no blood on their hands will be lost? I could faint from the thought of all those life lights going out. But we must..... So our people may go back to living in peace. It is good, the pain, it means I havent lost myself. What about you?" Her head tilted in the other direction.

"Me?" Andre questioned, only for a worthless confirmation that she was truly asking him that question. "I have always been here to kill. I killed my first man when I was seven, fought my first war at ten. Since then, our people have been turning me into the most perfect fighting machine that has ever seen existence." He half ass bragged for a moment, then he went silent as he gathered his thoughts. "But never have I been asked to kill a civilian. Let alone millions of them. My blade and my bullets have always torn the flesh of the wicked, or those who intend harm upon the innocent." He stopped again, took a few breaths, then spoke again. "But they brought this upon themselves. They waged total war upon our people, therefore they shall receive nothing less in return." With that, he took a hefty bite out of the food she had given him, and he chewed slowly, as if every bite were to be his last.

"I was never meant to be a warrior....or a healer," she said dully. "I only became them for mentor raised me, and to avenge my mother and the caravan." Her head lowered and she mechanically rummaged in her bag for the dried fruit. Snagging a dried plum she nibbled on the flaky sweet fruit. Taking a deep breath she pulled herself together and looked up and around them. "Only once before have I been called upon as Warrior. Hopefully, this will be the last."

"For your sake, Anaa, I hope so as well." He said as he got to his feet after finishing the food. He stretched and took a nice deep breath. "Let's be done with this, then."

Anaa looked up with dull eyes and nodded. She finished her plum, brushed off her hands and stood. "Lead the way lieutenant Arashi," bowing slightly with a smirk on her lips and a mischievous glint in her eye. It was the first time she had used his name, and she hoped it wouldnt be that last.

{:} gonna do a quick fast forward {:}
Together, Andre and Anaa blew their way through the remaining barricades on each tier of the defensive walls. Each barricade was more heavily defended than the one before, and each tier gave birth to new obstacles and dangers. Against Andre's merciless might, and the combined cunning of the two, their foes stood no chance.
However, by the time the last barricade fell and they were at the doors of the reactor facility, Andre was exhausted. His eyes bled from overuse of his psychic abilities and his head pounded with a severe migraine. He was nearing his physical limit, despite what Anaa could provide him for sustenance. He bent over in front of the facility and put his hands on his knees and he allowed his head to hang down. He panted heavilly as he tried to get his breath back into his chest.
Behind them lay the wreckage of numerous dropships and miscellaneous support aircraft that Andre had torn straight out of the sky. Smoke billowed all around, creating a perfect curtain to conceal them from the rest of the city. Alarms sounded throughout the entire ship as civilians were told to hide in their homes and vacate the streets. Soldiers that remained in the city had been directed to head straight for the reactor. The entire bulk of the enemy's city defenses were now pointed straight at them. Within a few minutes, the reactor would be overrun with hostiles.
"We need to get in there and overheat at least one of these reactors. Once we accomplish that, it should cause a chain reaction and overload the rest. Otherwise it would take us far too long to overload them all." He said as he stood back up after regaining his breath. He walked straight for the door, and with one stiff kick, burst it open, making way for their entry.

"I think I have something in here that will help us achieve over heating quickly," Anaa said digging with both hands in her bag, following the lieutenant. She seemed to remember backing a powder that the Healers called 'Jalapeno Powder'. As long as they were given a spark the little bulbs burned extremely hot for a very long time, typically reaching 1,000 degrees in 5 seconds and burning at a constant heat for an hour. "How hot does it need to get? HA! There you are," triumphantly she pulled a box the size of her hand from the bag. "Knew I packed these," she flipped open the lip with a nail to see how much of the 'Jalapeno' she had.

"Well, perhaps overheating isn't the proper term." He chuckled as she took his wording very literally. "They need to be overloaded, which pretty much means we have to make the reactor work too hard to cause the nuclear materials to go into a frenzy and cause a nuclear reaction that exceeds the detainment capacities of the reactors, which will cause it to explode much like a nuclear bomb." He explained, hoping she would get it. He didn't know the extent of a mage's knowledge of technology.

Anaa raised an eyebrow at him. "Good luck with that," she said stuffing the Jalapeno box back into her bag. All of this technology talk was way beyond her. Anaa had grown up away from all of the technology and didnt even really know how to work the simplest of calculators.

"Let's do this." Andre said finally after a few moments' hesitation. He placed his rifle on the magnetic holster on the back of his armor and he drew his two pistols. He walked to the door with a cool composure and gave it a firm kick. The metal creaked, dented, but did not go much of anywhere. With his vision he could see a squad of men preparing themselves around the door. He memorized their positions, and kicked again. The door gave and snapped right off it's hinges, slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the room, and ultimately landed face first four feet from the wall. Andre stepped inside, raised both his arms so that his pistols aimed both left and right, and he began firing. Each shot found it's target, as they always did. With half of each clip spent, the final soldiers dropped to the ground. He hadn't taken a single round.

Anaa stood where she was, the picture of attitude with arms crossed, head to one side and one leg resting slightly. Once it got quiet again her ears pricked and she bacame fully alert. "Done?" she questioned. She stepped over the threshold, looked around and roled her eyes. "Show off," she sighed, making it sound as just a sigh, and shaking her head. "Lets get this over with I want to get my feet back on solid ground as soon as possible."

"I'm done playing around with these fools. I have yet to come across a single one worthy of being called a soldier." He said with a huff. He rolled his shoulders and turned on his heel to go left. He scanned ahead as they walked through the corridors for any additional defenses. "It would seem that they put every ounce of their military strength into the blockades on the way in. I sense no additional life in this reactor." He announced, but he was not at ease with this. It almost seemed too easy, considering how far they had come. Yes, the journey there was a royal pain in the ass worthy of never forgetting, but this ending stretch seemed rather... Anticlimactic.

Anaa frowned, looking around at their surroundings. "I dont like this," she said rubbing an arm. "It makes my fur itch." A thought came across her mind and she stopped. "Lieutenant?" She walked over and placed a hand on the wall. "Are you sure we are in the real reactor? Perhaps the Dracus made a decoy? Or used magic to put up a false image?"

Andre looked around and sniffed the air. They were sure enough in a reactor. The scents of metal and oil were unmistakable. "It's not impossible. Dracus spellcasters are nothing to be trifled with. But I sense no magic, and we are definitely in one of the reactors. There's no mistaking this smell." His tail hung limply behind him and he looked around slowly as they proceeded down the numerous corridors of the building.

A deep scowl persisted on Anaas features as she followed the lieutenant farther into the reactor. The stark lack of Dracus was making her uneasy though she was happy to get away from the fighting for a while.

As they continued on their way to the core of the reactor, lights began flashing, accompanied by a fairly loud, and odd alarm. Andre stopped in his tracks and looked around. His ears pinned back against his head, and he cursed under his breath. Over the speakers lining the halls, a robotic voice sounded. One he found very, VERY familiar.
"Andre Arashi. I knew they would be sending the best of their best to try and destroy us, and I had a very strong feeling that you would come for the reactors. After all, you and your kind are very smart. Finding the largest weakness of this ship must have been very easy for you." The voice stopped speaking for a moment, then chuckled. "Unfortunately, I am far smarter than all of you. I watched your progress through the ship, made sure that minimal forces were sacrificed to stop you before it would come to this. Alas, I not expected your healer to be so skilled. She has kept you alive fairly well, to this point. Sadly, there is no remedy for the death you will soon succumb to." The speakers popped as they were deactivated, and a different voice, obviously a recording, sounded through the reactor.
"Self destruct protocols activated. Isolating reactor from the ship to minimize collateral damage. Time to detonation: One minute, thirty seconds."
The ground under their feet began to rumble. From outside the ship, those battling on the surface could see the bottom of the ship underneath where the reactor was located open up. Grinding metal and creaks of all sorts played through the air as the reactor disconnected from the ship, and was being slowly lowered out of the opening.
Andre looked around desperately for what to do. The blast doors at either end of the corridor has been sealed. They were trapped in this single hallway. "Gods damnit! I should have known better!" He cursed under his breath as he continued to look around for any possible avenue of escape. He was beginning to lose his cool. He had not prepared for this, and he knew very well that, even with every ounce of his psychic abilities, he would not be able to shield the two of them from an atomic explosion, let alone the radiation. He punched the wall and growled angrily. "Damnit!"

When the alarm began Anaa halted and bent down, ready to flee or fight. Here ears twitched when the speakers came on and she looked in surprise at the lieutenant when the speaker said his name.

"Friend of yours?" she asked when the speakers popped off. Her violet eyes widened as the self destruct was announced. She spun to face each door, finding them sealed. "Uh oh."

Anaa ran to the door they had come through, tapping a claw against it to find out how they closed and where the seal was. "The explosive i used to get us through the wall when you jumped off the wrong side of the elevator," she began still tapping on the door with one ear turned toward it, "would it be enough to blow open the door, particularly if i added and exploding arrow to it?"

Andre looked at her with solemn eyes. "It wouldn't hurt to try. It's more than we have right now. My psychokinesis isn't strong enough to tear open these blast doors. They're approximately..." He closed his eyes and examined the door. "Five feet thick. They are made to withstand explosions, but anything that opens weak points at those openings." He added on.

A small "Ha!" escaped from her as Anaa finally found where the doors sealed. As quickly as she could Anaa dug in her bag for the exploding powder. Taking the bag she added some water to make it into a paste which she smeared at the latching point. "Might wanna stand back," she said pulling out her bow, an arrow, and a little green exploding pellet she had used on the enemys tanks before. Taking aim she spoke a word, fired, and ducked. The explosion shook the whole reactor area and left a jagged hole big enough for them to duck through. "Thats one tough door," Anaa coughed threw the dust, squinting at the door through streaming eyes. She stood a little straighter, ears twitching. She looked at her arm and yelped, slapping out the fire that had caught in her fur through a tear in her leather armor.

"Be careful!" Andre exclaimed, then he grabbed her by the hand and took her through the opening in the door into the corridor beyond.
"Forty five seconds to reactor detonation."
Andre quickly picked a route that would hopefully lead out of the reactor, or at least as close to the outer parts as possible. If he could at least get them to that point, he would be able to focus his barrier in the direction of the blast, and that would hopefully be enough to save them.

"Who has time to be careful when theyre about to be blown up!?" Anaa demanded. She gave a little squeak of surprise when she was spun around and dragged along by the lieutenant.
"Forty five seconds to reactor detonation."
Her ears twitched and eyes widened. "Hope you know where youre going!"

"Being careful is a part of not getting blown up." Andre responded, as he took her around weaving through the corridors.
"Ten seconds." The computer announced, then began to sound off the remaining nine seconds as they passed.
"This will have to do." Andre said as he carefully pushed Anaa to the wall. He pressed his back to her and held his arms out to each side, facing where the core of the reactor would be. He closed his eyes and focused every ounce of his energy into a force field in front of them. He continued to pour his energy into it as the seconds slipped away. As the computer's count reached zero, everything seemed to suddenly go silent. For two seconds, Andre almost thought that maybe the reactor hadn't or wouldn't go off, but he didn't let down his guard.
However, not a split second later, Andre was blinded by a flash as the metal of the structure was melted and blasted away in the blink of an eye. His head pounded with a searing pain as the nuclear blast sucked the energy from the field straight out of him. It didn't last more than ten seconds before it shattered, but it was long enough for them to avoid the worst of the blast. Debris and scorching hot air sent them both flying through the air.
Andre cried out in pain. He couldn't see. He closed his eyes and shook his head a few times. Slowly his vision returned, and he could see they were still hundreds of yards about the ground yet. Anaa was off to his right a couple yards. He shook his head again to regain his bearings, and he manuevered himself over to her. He wrapped his arms around her, rolled so that he would be between her and the ground, and he waited. Long seconds dragged on before finally, the moment he had been awaiting, but dreading, came. His back slammed into the ground. He could feel the sharp pain of a few of his bones shattering just before everything went black.

Anaa put her hands up as the lieutenant backed into her. Her eyes snapped shut as the countdown ended, her ears flattening.
The explosion was like nothing the snow leopard anthro had ever experienced. She cried out as her feet left the ground and they started to fall. Something slammed into her head with enough force to knock her out.
Anaa tentatively opened her eyes and hissed with pain. Everything hurt but nothing compared to the pounding in her head. Slowly she lifted a hand to tentatively inspect her head. Her hand came away red. She tried to raise herself up but only managed to role over and hit the ground pulling a whimper from her throat and she was in darkness again

Molten debris rained down around the two, turning the tattered forest into a raging inferno. Directly below where the reactor had been there was nothing but a molten crater. The city ship was retreating back into orbit as it exchanged earth shattering shots with the two battle carriers. One of them had been forced to land as it took a direct hit to it's engines.
Back in the underground hangars for the two carriers, the command and control center was in a bustle. The reactor had been ejected and detonated, the city ship was getting away, and Andre and Anaa had dropped out of contact. The commander in charged barked orders around the room as they attempted to find out what had happened to the team. After minutes of stressful work, one of their radars picked up a very faint signal from Andre's armor amongst the chaos of the radiation and heat and fires. Evac squads were quickly deployed to retrieve them.

Anaa slowly, painfully, came back into consciousness coughing and eyes streaming. She tried to see through the tears and what she saw, wasnt good.
"Fire," she coughed, trying to stand. "Gotta - gotta get, out of here." She collapsed. Her ears twitched as an odd rhythmic sound came closer. She lifted her head, half rising on her elbows to blearily see many people coming toward them. "Good," she coughed and let herself fall back to the ground.
The team lifted her onto a stretcher. She tried to tell them she needed a wet cloth to breath through but she couldnt stop coughing.

It took six men to lift Andre. His increased size and denser bone structure mixed with his armor -- or what was left of it -- made him at least four times the weight of your average soldier. At first glance, one would have assumed he was dead. He may as well have been. But one of the medics ran a quick in field diagnostic on him, and his heart was still beating, despite nearly his entire spine having been shattered, along with most of his ribs, his collar bone, and one of his legs. He had multiple burns and lacerations.
"What do you think, sergeant?" The officer in charge asked the medic as Andre was loaded into the armored medevac transport.
"It's going to take every technology we have to keep him alive, sir. It's a miracle that he's survived this long without medical attention."
The officer looked at him. "We can't afford to lose him."
~.~.~<.>~.~.~
Once the medevac arrived at the base, Andre was hurried immediately into the high security section of the hospital in the base. Every qualified surgeon in the base was called into action.

"Anaa!"
"Mentor?" Anaa coughed in surprise , lifting her head to see the old golden retriever looking unusually ruffled, hurrying over to the stretcher she was laying on carried by 4 evacs.
"Great Fates child! I knew it would be dangerous but this! What happened up there?"
"We got to the reactor. One of them knew we were coming. He closed of the corridors locking us in and created a reactor breach." Anaa rasped out before falling into a coughing fit.
Mentor inserted a listening device into a tear in her leather armor. "Smoke inhilation. Dont you trigger happys know to give wounded a wet cloth to breath through so they dont breath in smoke?" Mentor barked at the four.
The poor evacs looked at each other and said nothing.
"Where do you think your taking her?"
"To be transported to the base hospital Mentor," one of them answered both puzzled and respectful.
"Oh no. This child is a healer not one of your trigger happy lackys AND shes my apprentice. I will be treating her in my hut."

As soon as Andre was put into the surgical chamber, the doctors went to work. They carefully laid him on his stomach, stripped him of what scraps of armor he had left, as well as his clothing. Their first priority was to repair his bones and stop his bleeding before the little blood he had left was gone. The head surgeon sliced open his back along his spine while other lesser doctors began pumping medical foam into his wounds. The foam was a high tech medicine that replicated cells according to DNA to properly replace and repair dead cells.
"By the gods, there's nothing left of the percentage of his spine, nor his ribs." The surgeon said as he pulled away flesh to look at the fragments of bone scattered throughout it. "We're going to have to replace his entire spine and rib cage with synthetics. If he survives this..." He trailed off as the presiding general burst into the room. "Boys, tell me what we have here." He demanded. The head surgeon began to explain the extent of his injuries and what needed to be done.
"Wait here, keep him alive as best you can. I have to make some calls." The general said before he exited the room.

Anaa was in a lot better shape then the lieutenant, thanks to the lieutenant.
"Your burns are only 1st and 2nd degree. Hopefully your fur will grow back but it will give Rayas apprentice a chance to try out her new fur follicle rejuvenating balm."
"How good for her," Anaa muttered.
"Your skull if fractured," Mentor added after examining the wound in her head for a time. She picked up a bandage and wrapped up Anaas head. "You likely have a concussion." Mentor padded away then barked, "List the herbs."
"Now?" Anaa exclaimed wide and wincing, wishing she hadnt spoken so loudly.
"Yes now child. Begin!"
With an exasperated sigh Anaa laid on the cot and, stairing up at the ceiling, began to list off all of the healing herbs in alphabetical order. It went fine until she got to the Js. Anaa frowned slightly in confusion, gaping like a gold fish.
Mentor sighed. "I was afraid of that. Memory loss. Hopefully its only temporary."
"Hopefully," Anaa sighed with a bad feeling.

After a few moments, the general burst back into the room. "All right. I have granted you clearance to install some experimental tech into this soldier. We've recently developed a synthetic skeleton that enhances their physical capabilities, and is also much stronger than our most resistant alloy. You'll only be using what you need to replace the bones that are beyond repair, however. It is en route as we speak, gentleman, as well as an expert to assist you in the surgery. Keep him alive, gentlemen. We need him more than you know."
With that, the general left the room for the final time, and the doctors got Andre hooked up to life support.
Two hours later, the skeleton arrived. The bone fragments had been, in the meantime, removed from Andre's body. His heart rate was a frightening pace at this point. It took nearly five hours to replace the bones in his left leg, as well as his spine, collar bone, more than half his ribs with the synthetic replacements. A few microchips were installed on his skull to allow his brain waves to be translated to computer code to allow him to use the parts as if they were a normal part of his body. Everyone in the room gave a heavy sigh once the last stitch on his body had been made. They patched up his burns, transported him to a regular hospital room, hooked him up to monitoring equipment, and celebrated in silence as his vital signs all read normal. They had managed to save him, but barely. Now they just had to wait and hope he would wake up, and that his body would not reject the implants.

"Again."
Anaa rattled off the herb list . . . until the Ks.
Mentor sighed. "Well its better. Go feed the chickens."
"Yes Mentor," Anaa stood up slowly and carefully. She knew she wouldnt get any special treatment for being injured. It was chores and training as usual. But when Anaa got to the chicken coop........there were no chickens to feed.
"Mentor! The chickens are gone!"
"Oh bother," Mentor came trotting out of the hut whipping her hands on her apron. "Well lets find the stupid things."

It didn't take Andre long to wake up after the surgery, though the sedatives were still very much in effect. He tried to move, but he felt stiff. Much stiffer than normal. His ears set back and he remained as he was, minus lifting his arms to examine the patchwork. His vision was still blurry from over exerting his psychic abilities. He laid there, staring blankly at the ceiling. His only thought was: "How am I alive?"

"Um... Mentor?" Anaa said with a disgusted frown.
"What is it?"
"I think I found one of the chickens."
"What do you mean you think - Fates!" Mentor halted as she spotted the smoking remains of what was likely one of the chickens. "Tsk," she put hands on hips shaking her head. "Well there goes another flock. And this one was finally a good one." She heaved a heavy sigh and turned away. "Well need to buy some more. You rest tonight well go tomorrow morning."
"Yes Mentor," Anaa followed Mentor at a trot back to the hut and gratefully went upstairs to colapse on her bed. 'Im surprised she left me off so easily,' she thought.
'I wonder how the Lieutenant is doing.......Ill ask around town tomorrow and see if i can find out.'

Andre continued to stare at the ceiling for the better part of an hour before the exhausting effects of the sedatives caught on. He drifted off to a quick sleep, but his dreams were naught but nightmares, and he couldn't wake up.
~.~.~
In the morning he woke with a scream and was drenched with sweat. Doctors were all around him already tending to the problems. His thrashing in his sleep caused a few wounds to open back up, and was making his body not take to the implants very well. His entire body ached, and felt like it was on fire as his nerves connected to the artificial spine flared repetitively. "What is wrong with me?!" He demanded as he thrashed around and fought his binds. A doctor slipped an IV drip under his skin that was filled with morphine, and slowly the pain subsided while doctors continued to bandage and tend his opened wounds. He panted heavily, and dizzily.
"You barely escaped the claws of death, lieutenant. Half of your body was completely beyond repair, but thanks to General Landen, you're slowly making a full recovery." One of the doctors assured him.
"If half of my body was beyond repair, then how am I here and in one piece?" He demanded once more, and the doctor merely smiled.
"We replaced your badly broken bones with artificial ones. According to General Landen, it's experimental technology, and should make you better than you were before."
Andre was dumbfounded. Artificial bones? "What exactly was replaced?" He asked.
"Well, the biggest challenge was your spine. It was hardly more than dust. Also, at least three quarters of your rib cage and your left leg, as well as your hips and pelvis."
Andre didn't know how to react. His SPINE? His whole spine? He sat there with his mouth agape.

The next morning it took all of Anaas will power to get up, then there was the whol moving without falling over buisness. Getting dressed was a nightmare.
"Stairs," she stated flatly looking down them toward the 1st level. With a heavy sigh Anaa started the extremely slow and even more so painful process of reaching the first floor.
"Good your up," Mentor said glancing at her on her way to the door. "Were leaving."
"Yes Mentor," Anaa panted and set after her with a grimace grabbing her cloak and clasping it around herself.

"Yes." The doctor said, as if to reply to Andre's silent disbelief. "And because this is something incredibly new, we are keeping you in the hospital for at least three days to make sure your body takes to the implants properly and that your wound do indeed begin to heal, and assure there is no nerve damage, and all this other fun shit that I have to look over ever hour on the hour..." The doctor trailed off, completely throwing all professionalism out the window. Andre couldn't help but laugh, which hurt, like a bitch. He yelped and held his chest.
"Ah, yes, your muscles will be insanely sore as well. So, just try not to move, okay?"