Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

XLIII

In the end, it all worked out. Well, kind of.

We set out, at the march as always, to the shooting range and I saw Kitty looking for the best way to fall and pretend to break her wrist. We got to the shooting range without her finding anything. As a result, she was a little distracted during practice, so much so Kris got exasperated. She was then more attentive and, like all of us, forgot that she was supposed to have an accident.

When we decided to finish our training, it was getting dark, which made shooting tricky, but that was also the point of the exercise. Dusk, along with dawn, is the hardest part of the night for the eyes. We lose the notion of depth, everything is gray. That would explain why Kitty actually tripped. But that doesn't explain why she had a bad reception, unless, in the fraction of second she felt herself falling, she remembered the project formed in the brothers' room.

She let out a little cry, reached out with her left hand, the right being occupied by her EMA 7, fell down, rolled over in a veehema reflex, and sat up, a little dazed. Erk went to her side, as he does whenever one of us gets hurt. He crouched down, pulled out a tiny pencil light from his pocket, and played it on the miss. Kitty was white, her pupils fully dilated, not very responsive to light.
- Skítt!
- What?

Erk didn't answer, he felt the miss' arm and wrist.
- She has a broken radius, and her wrist is busted.

And he gave his brother a look and Kris's eyes widened. The giant took his own keffiyeh, used it to immobilize Kitty's left arm, then, like the last time, took her in his arms and carried her to sick bay. We hung out nearby, wanting to know what had happened.

After putting her on the exam table, he helped Doc get the scanner ready. It's a fairly new machine, which has nothing in common with the old machines that used to take up a whole room. The exam table, a former morgue table, had been modified so it could be polarized. Then, an articulated arm supporting a special camera, stored below, was fixed to the table, which fed it power, on a rail allowing it to slide along the table. The rail went around the table, allowing for an exam from all angles.

Kitty had never seen the scanner in action, and the only ones who had been under it, Erk, Igor and I, had been either unconscious when it happened or were no longer there. He tried to reassure her, but she was shaking.
- Kitty, what are you afraid of? Doc asked. The machine?

She nodded, starting to come to her senses. The adrenaline, however, was playing with her a bit and she spoke without really censoring her speech.
- Of being in pain. And... of Erk, too.

The Viking looked surprised and then relaxed with a smile.
- Kitty, I have no reason to tell you off tonight.
- But I fucked up...
- Fuck up what? Your fracture is quite the success, you know.
- Exactly...
- Kitty, it's bad luck, that's all.
- But...

The scared look she gave Erk seemed to hurt the giant and he looked sad. He turned away, and we in the yard saw his expression better, a mixture of frustration, dejection and grief.
- Yet he will have to stay, Kitty, said Doc, I'll ask Nanny to...
- No! I...

It's true that Nanny is physically impressive, even though he's nowhere close to the Viking. He must be able to lift us up, turn us around, move us, when we are injured.
- Well, she said, Tito, come help us, would you?

Following the doctor's instructions, Tito stood next to the miss's head, took her right hand and spoke softly to her, stroking her hair.
- Okay, Kitty, Doc said, I can't give you morphine right away, but I promise you that as soon as the scan is done, I'll shoot you with it. Erk is going to stay, since he's going to start the healing...
- He explained that to us a bit, earlier.
- Fine. Start of scan.