An Accident

[6 months later.]

Over the past half a year, my life took on a type of routine.

Slowly I managed to get pretty close to Dr. Banner, which allowed me to bring any information I could from the Doctor and give to the general.

While at the same time taking care of my men, and training them to a point where they could actually be useful.

At the moment, Dr Banners experiments were actually started to go somewhere.

For the first few months, he did nothing but write weird mathematical equations on large whiteboards that filled the room.

But now, there was a large piece of technology placed dead center in the room, which supposedly does something to reverse gamma radiation.

Tomorrow was the big day, where it was going to make its grand first test, and in all honesty, I don't know if I trust it.

Slowly creeping up over the months was a constant feeling of uneasiness, which only inforced how I felt about it.

But that was tomorrow's problem, today we trained.

Once a week, I would have a training exercise for all of my team in different hand to hand fighting styles. From how to fight with a knife, to different ground techniques.

Today was knife day.

I was showing my men the best way to stab with a knife when in close quarters.

"What did I tell you about holding the knife in a reverse grip?" I asked Privet Garcia, who I had just taken the plastic knife away from.

"Hold the knife away from you and towards your opponent. If you hold it towards yourself you're more likely to hurt yourself then your enemy." I said, giving him back the plastic blue knife, showing him the best way to hold it.

"You see when you have it like this you have more~" I was cut off as the lights over our heads snapped to a dark red and a loud alarm started to Blair overhead.

"Gamma radiation leads detected! Evacuate immediately!" A loud monotone voice said through the base.

Turning in surprise, I saw all of my men also standing there, clearly shocked.

"Don't just stand there you dumb asses, move." I yelled, pulling them out of their shock.

"Corporal Jacob's, get everyone to the main exit, don't stop, just move. Once there, help everyone you can out but don't put yourselves at risk!" I shouted as I started to move towards a side door to our training area.

"And where are you going!" He shouted back to be heard over the blaring alarms.

"To find the Doctor!" I shouted, hoping he could hear me as I slammed the door open.

Pumping my legs, I jogged through the cramped halls as people ran towards the exit.

Not caring who was in my way, I used force to remove them from my path.

Sholdercheacking, pushing, and even one trample, I made it through the halls, looking for the Doctor the entire time, but had yet to see him.

As I got farther into the base and closer to Dr.Banners lab, the halls slowly began to clear, until it was just me running full speed through the halls.

I didn't know where the leak might have been, or how much time I had, just that I needed to make sure Banner got out alive.

Skidding to a halt, I threw open the Doctors doors, only to be greeted by the doctor panickly tapping away at a part of the large machine that sat in the center of his lab, which was beeping and making a loud humming sound.

"Banner!" I yelled as he turned for a moment to look at me. "We need to get the fuck out of here!" I yelled as I marched towards him, ready to grab hold of his lab coat and drag him out of there.

"I cant!" the doctor yelled over the alarms and hum of his machine. "if I leave, it will explode. It will be like a nuke going off!"

"What!" I yelled, my feet coming to a dead halt.

"I was preparing it for tomorrow, when it just started. Then I realized something was wrong with the energy readings. The gamma levels were spiking beyond anything I had anticipated. I thought I could contain it, but now it's spilling out of control!" Dr. Banner's voice trembled with urgency, his fingers flying over the controls as he tried to stabilize the machine.

"Then shut it down!" I shouted, panic creeping into my voice. "You have to shut it down now before it's too late!"

"I can't!" he replied, eyes wide with fear. "If I shut it down abruptly, it could trigger a chain reaction. I need to recalibrate the system first!"

Frustration boiled within me. "How much time do we have?" I demanded, glancing nervously at the door, wishing I could be heading for the exit of the base.

"Maybe three minutes, at best!" he said, sweat beading on his forehead. "I need your help! I can't do this alone!"

"Fine! What do you need me to do?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady as I stepped closer to him.

"Over there!" He pointed to a panel on the wall filled with switches and dials. "You need to monitor the energy levels as I recalibrate. If they spike too high, I need you to pull the emergency lever. It'll trigger a containment field around the machine. It might not hold, but it's our best shot!"

With a nod, I sprinted to the panel, heart racing. I grabbed the dial and adjusted the settings, trying to focus on the readings as they fluctuated wildly.

"Come on, come on!" I muttered under my breath, watching the numbers climb. "Stay steady… please!"

Dr. Banner grunted as he worked, the tension palpable in the air. "Just a few more seconds… I need you to keep the energy levels at a minimum!" Banner said to himself.

I glanced at the readings. They were dangerously high, and I could feel the hum of the machine intensifying.

Suddenly, the lights flickered, and the alarms blared even louder. "We're running out of time!" I yelled, panic rising in my chest.

"Almost there!" Dr. Banner replied, his face contorted in concentration. "Just a little more—"

Without warning, the machine let out a deafening roar, and the lights turned from red to an ominous, flashing yellow. "Shit! It's too late!" I screamed, reaching for the emergency lever.

"Pull it! Now!" he cried out, his voice filled with desperation.

I turned to pull the lever, but as I turned my vision turned white as my ears were assaulted by a loud screeching scream of metal, a wash of what I could only describe as fire rolled over me, sending burning pain washing over me as I let out a scream or agony.