Under the dim emergency lights, six medics were desperately sustaining the vital signs of their comrades with rapidly depleting medicines and the last remaining medical supplies.
The blood plasma required for the critically injured was down to the last two units, guarded like gold, reserved for those in greatest need.
Colonel Lemont carefully observed the darkness beyond the walls through the periscope extending from the reinforced command post observation port.
The shelling had ceased for over two minutes, yet the sudden silence was more unnerving than the deafening explosions before.
Through the night vision goggles, the Tenth Division's tank convoy had come to a complete stop about two kilometers away from the base's perimeter, headlights still on.
"What are they waiting for?" Ryan whispered.
"Waiting for us to make a mistake, to show a flaw," Lemont's eyes did not leave the periscope, "or... waiting for a change of mind from Washington, a new order."
