Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

XXXII

So, the same evening, we left on patrol with the brothers.

As it was impossible for Lin to separate them without making them significantly less efficient, this was the composition of our patrol: the two Icelanders, Tito, Baby Jane with her new toy, Quenotte, JD and Yaka. One is missing. And I. I was forgetting myself, idiot that I am.

We went north on a Puma patrol. Four days of trudging through rocky terrain. Oh, we weren't bored at all, because of Erk. Poor guy, he didn't do it on purpose, but we all had a bad night because of him.

It was the third night out, the others were sleeping, I was on guard with JD. As we were close to the Dotard's territory, we preferred to be at least two on duty.

I heard low moans, Yaka woke up and went to push Erk with her nose. But he didn't wake up. Kris did, though, and he understood the problem right away.

He started by trying to wake his brother softly, going for the right shoulder (safe awakenings on the right, ready to fight on the left) but nothing, no waking up and Erk started to mumble and all we could identify was his brother's name. The way he called for him was... it was heartbreaking. He sounded like a lost little boy. It was... seeing this big guy cry like a child was really hard on us. There was so much anguish in that call.

Then the nightmare changed and Erk started to struggle, wailing "No no no" and slipped away from Kris and it was so weird to see him struggling while being almost still.
- Fucking Chechens! Kris spat.

He knelt down, straddling his brother, took his face in his hands and started talking to him very softly. Erk gradually calmed down, then a pebble rolled out from under Yaka's paw and the Viking really started struggling, arms and legs hitting all over the place, arching and lifting Kris who was using all his weight to try and keep him down.

We wanted to help, so Quenotte and I caught his hands and blocked them above his head.
- Fuck, no, Kris said. Along his sides, right away. Tito, Baby Jane, on his legs, but keep them together.

We obeyed, JD stayed on guard. And Kris kept talking to his brother, stroking his face, patting his cheeks, talking, talking all the way to breathlessness. And the giant calmed down. He slowly stopped struggling, his breathing slowed. Kris put a hand on his plexus, sliding it down close to his navel and up again to the plexus, at a rate always slower that the Viking's jerky breathing. And his voice was oh so very calm, soothing.

Without opening his eyes, calmed, appeased, Erk grabbed his hand and didn't let go, so Kris laid down beside him, his head on his shoulder and his hand trapped in his brother's.

Baby Jane retrieved the Viking's blanket and covered the brothers with it, with Kris' thanks and they went back to sleep.

We went back to sentry duty, JD and I, shaken, like the others, by this episode. If you want my opinion, that was a panic attack worthy of a PTSD. A PTSD caused by Chechens, then.

With Russia back to being a religious monarchy (Christian ascendant orthodox, this time), Chechnya, Muslim, fundamentalist and belligerent, had more or less seceded and compensated for its small size with incredible aggressiveness. With no more subsidies from Moscow, the Chechen government turned to racketeering, extortion and kidnapping for funding. Not to mention trafficking of all kinds (human beings, drugs, weapons, etc.)

For now, the UN and NATO were watching from afar, trying to extricate themselves for the Middle East. It is possible that, once this region is stabilized, it will be used as a forward base to fight against Chechnya. And the others in the area who would think of screwing things up.

In the morning, Erk opened an eye, sleep drunk, surprised that it was this late. He had had a night guard scheduled, but given his condition and the absence of senior officers – they were both asleep – I decided to take it away from him. Feeling a weight on his shoulder, he flinched, waking up his brother.
- What are you doing here?
- Nightmares, Kris said, blinking sleepily.
- At your age?
- No, you, silly. He was now wide awake, the little brother, disentangling himself from the big one.
- I? But...