Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

LXIV

The officers and NCOs – the non-hurt, non-exhausted ones – gathered at a table in a corner, away from the others who got the idea. Doc, normally, as our medic, should have participated, but she declined, wanting to attend to the wounded.

Unfortunately for the seriousness of our meeting, several of our stomachs began to rumble when we smelled the good food smells wafting from the kitchen.
- Go on, said Lin, go get yourselves some food and come back here quickly.
- What about you, Lin? the giant asked.

She made a vague gesture that we ignored. She might not have been hungry, but we'd heard eight stomachs, not seven. And when I placed a plate in front of her, she tucked in just like the rest of us. We cleared our plates - I don't remember what I ate, which is not nice for our cook - and Cook himself brought us dessert and coffee . He put some more coffee back on right away. He understood that we'd be talking for a long time.

While we were drinking our hot coffee, I reported, so did Erk, not mentioning Kris's role in this attack.
- Thank you. Fatso confirmed Saint-Hélier and Gonzales have family. He has contacted them, we're waiting to know if they want to recover the bodies. As soon as we know, we'll charter a chopper to bring them back to Europe. For Rafa...
She recounted the contents of the prisoner's interrogation and Erk turned white when she mentioned the mattress and its... Sorry, I'm still having trouble talking about this.
- Lin, I... We shouldn't have... I... This is... horrible...

Our gentle giant was losing his words. He stammered, he looked on the verge of tears, the way his voice was strangled... Kris, who had nothing in common any more with the man he had been that night, rubbed his back, trying to calm him down, to offer him some modicum of comfort.
- Erik, I'm going to sound cynical, inhuman, cold, cruel, whatever adjectives you want, but that's what we wanted, right? Let him become a bastard in the eyes of others. In his case, for the purpose we're pursuing, we cannot apply Machiavelli's principle to him, you know, litla mín.
- I know, Lin, but... it's such a horrible death...
- Erik, you need to...
- Oh, I understand, Lin, don't worry, I know that's what we wanted, I know this guy wasn't innocent, maybe even had blood on his hands. That's what my head is telling me. But my heart... my heart is bleeding.
- And I wouldn't want it any other way, big boy. Never lose your ability to love Humanity. But we must concern ourselves with some of its other members.

Erk started recovering a little, Kris's hand still on his back, and let Lin continue.

We learned that we would burn our attackers that very day, with some of the gasoil from the generator. It would be an unrewarding and unpleasant task, so the brothers volunteered immediately. I did as well.

Lin told those who weren't there for the interrogation her proposition to Rafa. The brothers exchanged a look then Erk shrugged, accepting her decision.

And finally, once we knew for our dead, we would say goodbye to them in our own way.

Lin then turned to Kris. He exchanged a look with her and sighed deeply.
- I guess we can't wait for Stig and Dio to come out of sick bay.
- Damn right. Considering your brother's exhaustion, today won't be the day. So, out with it.

He rested his elbows on the table, his head in his hands. He started talking to his hands and then straightened as he went.
- I... What happened last night was that I had a premonition of the attack. And because all of these premonitions are always related to Erik or I, and almost always about injuries, because they are linked to blood, I decided to go ahead, to save him from one more injury, one more stay in the infirmary... When I saw the guys who had climbed the cliff and killed two sentries, I realized I had to act quickly if I wanted for him to avoid taking too much damage. I... let my training take over. But it isn't normal Legion training.