SPECTRE

CHAPTER IV

Inside the medical bay towards the south end of the base, Harlot sat in bed. The white sheets covered body and she was wore a blue gown. The sun’s bleak light, bleeding through the dull grey clouds above, came in through the window to the left of her. She felt the warm rays hit against her pale forehead. Her short black hair, straight,  glimmered in the light while she looked out at the endless black sea. The waves were calm but still slammed against the side of the cliffs below.

The door opened and AJ and Sev entered the room. They walked over and stood beside her bed. AJ held in his hand a small vase with a droopy flower inside. Its stem was bent and the leaves were a pale green.

Harlot looked up at AJ and smiled.

“So this is what you look like huh?” AJ said, setting the flower vase on the wooden table next to her. “I always saw you...as a more rugged girl.”

Harlot was not something he’d imagine her to be. A girl who shot at him, and held out as long as she did with the injuries she had. She was a soft young girl, about twenty four years old.

“I didn’t think ya be the fighter ya were,” she replied. She looked at Sev. “So who is this?”

“This is my friend Sev,” AJ said. “Sev this is Harlot.”

“Hey what’s up?”

“Hello.”

AJ glanced down at her hand. It was wrapped in tight bandages that had to be cleaned every so often. A few people had came to sign it, just those who wanted to make her feel better. She didn’t know them, they were just good strangers.

“So how’s your arm?” he asked.

Harlot held her head down. Her eyes grew sad and she leaned back in bed. “The doctors said the damage in my arms were more extensive than it seemed. Most of the nerves were snapped so I’ll never be able to use my left hand ever ever again.”

“But I saw you holding onto the briefcase earlier,” AJ said.

“My hand never went limp, so even though it was dead I didn’t let go. Nothing told it too...that’s what the doctors told me anyways.”

“So what’s going to happen now?” AJ asked.

“She’ll have to pack her bags and stop being a soldier,” Sev answered. “That’s the best choice for now.”

“I don’t think I could live outside the military,” Harlot said.

“Why do you say that?” AJ asked.

“I’ve grew up in the military, joined at a young age. All I know how to do is shoot a gun and take orders from my superiors.”

Harlot grew up near the Canadian and US borders. Combat was often fierce and battles between spectres happened all the time. Like AJ she was drafted into the military at a young age. After that she never saw her mother or father or their house again. For when she returned after basic bootcamp there was nothing left her town. It was burned, destroyed, flatted into the ground by constant shelling and battle between US and Canadian forces. A young girl, sixteen, Harlot had the luxury of not experiencing first hand what had happened to her parents.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something Sev,” AJ said. “What happens when you quit the military?”

Sev shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, rarely anybody lives long enough to retires. But if the military has no more use for you...well you get thrown away.”

Harlot clenched the sheets between her fingers and gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to end her military career. It was all that she knew. She wanted to cry but her eyes were too dry from crying before, so all she did was huffed.