The Power of Five Oblivion

for further orders.
    Cain shook his head and walked back into the tent.

FIFTY
    It had been a disaster. The list of the dead was endless and the field hospitals had been working without pause to help the living. All through the afternoon, they had been performing operations, amputations – and by the time the clocks showed that night had arrived, they had run out of anaesthetic, bandages, basic supplies. But still they worked on in the Antarctic light, using alcohol and torn strips of sheet, doing what they could. The doctors were faced with horrible injuries, all the worse because they had been deliberately inflicted to wound, not to kill outright. The tents were crammed with men and women, lying in shock, stretched out on camp beds. The nurses and stretcher-bearers were in and out constantly, checking on who was still living and who had died, quietly removing the bodies and burying them out of sight, beneath the snow.
    Those who were still able to walk had left the ice shelf, returning to the boats. There was talk of a mass evacuation. Certainly, a second attack on the fortress was out of the question. The World Army had been outnumbered to begin with. Now there were just a thousand of them left and the great fear was that the Old Ones would press home their advantage and launch a counter-attack. If that happened, they would be wiped out. Ammunition was running low. Few people had the strength or the resolve to fight. All they wanted to do was to leave this dreadful place. Most of them wished they had never come to begin with.
    Matt, Scarlett, Richard and Lohan had returned to the Airbus just in time to meet the pilot, climbing down the ice steps. He was carrying a suitcase and looked pale and worn out.
    “Good luck to you,” he said and they noted the bitterness in his voice. “I’m getting a berth on the Polar Star . There’s no point in hanging around here.”
    “Where’s Zack?” Scarlett asked.
    “He’s already gone.”
    There was nothing else to say. Larry brushed past them and hurried towards the edge of the cliff and the pathway leading down.
    The four of them made their way back to the upper cabin. The lower section of the plane was empty, abandoned, the metal framework, with its snow-covered windows, stretching into darkness. At least some food had been left behind and Richard was able to make them a meal of hot soup, tinned fruit, cheese and biscuits. None of them talked very much as they ate. Richard was coldly furious. Why hadn’t the commander listened to Matt? Why did he have to be so pig-headed? Lohan wanted to leave. As far as he was concerned, there was no further reason to stay. Scarlett was exhausted. Zack and Larry had gone. Everyone was abandoning them. Matt kept his thoughts to himself.
    When the hours of night arrived, they were still sitting together in silence. Lohan had managed to retrieve a bottle of brandy and he and Richard were sipping from it. Outside, it was snowing softly. Although it was eight o’clock, the light was unchanged, a pale silver-grey without a shred of warmth. Lohan wiped some of the condensation from the window and looked across the ice shelf.
    “Why don’t they come?” he asked. “They know we’re weak, defenceless. They could come over here and finish us off, one by one.”
    Richard turned to Matt. “So what happens now? Do we leave?”
    “We can’t leave without Scott,” Matt said.
    “Scott?” Richard sighed. “Do you know, I’d forgotten all about him.” He shook his head. “Even if you could reach him, do you really think he’d want to come? And what about Jamie and Pedro? Maybe we should try to find them.”
    There was a movement at the cabin entrance and one of the American officers appeared, dressed in a greatcoat and cap. For a moment, Richard struggled to remember his name. Of course … Greyson. That was it. With his straw-coloured hair and upturned nose he looked like he should still be in college. He had driven in with Wolf Squadron and had been in the thick of the fighting but it seemed that he hadn’t been hurt.
    “Good evening,” he said. “I’m sorry to break in. But Commander Cain very much wants to see you. Something’s happened that you should know about. He asked if you would accompany me back to command HQ.”
    Command HQ. That was just another name for the big tent. Richard glanced at Matt wearily, wondering if he would want to go out in the cold again. They’d all had more than enough of Commander David Cain.