Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

V

I had teased, in spite of myself, with the beginning of the previous chapter, but so much happened since, I couldn't write. Lin asked me to do it. She gave some of my corporal duties to the other ones and asked me to spend at least an hour a day writing down what happened.

The Viking is in sick bay, on morphine – extracted from the opium by Lin –, Kris found out he has a price on his head and... and we are all quite worried about our gentle giant.

We never thought we would come to like those two men, and this woman, who turned our lives upside down, but we actually did. Maybe because they gave us rules, and structure, which we needed so much?

While I am writing, Kris sits at his brother's side, eyes dark with exhaustion and red with grief. We don't know if Erk is gonna make it. And we want revenge.

We cannot, of course, the Blood Lily forbade us. But we can't help and hatch Machiavellian schemes for retribution.

Just two hours ago, the men brought the Viking back. Blood-covered, barely able to stand on his feet and struggling away when Doc tried to treat him. We were all hanging out within range of sick bay, to see what took that man down, that man who is so tall and so strong.

He gave us quite a show, poor man! He bolted out of the room, refusing to let the little doctor take care of him. His stomach was but a single bruise, he had a wound – bullet or knife? – in his left shoulder, his back had started bleeding again and there was blood on his thighs. His face, badly bruised, was twisted in pain and he was screaming that absolutely no one would touch him.

Kris stood in front of him, calling him king of assholes and queen of sissies and Lin knocked him out from behind. Then, in a fireman carry, she took him (!!) to the exam table where she gently laid him down, with the help of his brother.

Kris and Doc closed the door, pushing Lin out of sick bay. She stared at us for a moment so we all skedaddled as fast as possible, but not before I saw a wet glint in the dark eyes. The Blood Lily, moved to tears? What the hell happened?

It took me a while to piece the whole puzzle together. Of course, the Viking was the best source but, in his condition, dried up. Kris was second best, if he'd been willing to open up.

In the end, Lin had to pull him out manu militari (now or never for that one) of the room where the giant was lying, to get drunk with him and then put him in bed when he started singing in Icelandic. Even hammered, he has a nice voice, a lovely tenor, a little hoarse, holding up well. Rumor has it she spent the whole night holding him in her arms.

So he could rest and sleep a little, we decided to set up a rotation in sick bay, to watch over Erk. It's time for me to go.

It's bad. He is covered in bandages, his breathing is shallow and slow, too slow. He is perfectly still, because of morphine, but under the eyelid which is not hidden by the gauze, I can see his eye rolling any which way, like he is having a nightmare.

I want to give him an anchor point, so I take his big paw in mine. He is hot, a very slight tremor, barely noticeable, shakes him. I talk to him, I reassure him. Can't remember what I said. I have must have talked about revenge, retribution, whatever.

Nanny came in at that point, to check his variables or whatever they are called. He put his hand on my shoulder and told me to go on, that my voice, like that of the others, seems to be doing him some good.

That's right, it looks like his eye is not moving so much. Nanny shows me his electroencephalogram. He presses a button and prints the recording, to show me the difference before and after I started talking. It is quite visible that after I spoke his EEG is much calmer. So much the better. I'll spread the word with the others.