Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

LXVI

Doc's order was followed to the letter, Kris almost carrying his brother to the showers. The tub was half full when we got there, we stripped Erk faster than light, put his hair up on top of his head, and helped him to sit in there. It is a large aluminum tub, which, it seems, was already there when the Company arrived, when it still wore a blue and white badge.

As the Viking is gigantic, he looked a bit cramped, but the tub is deep and we continued filling it until Erk's gentlest movement caused it to overflow slightly.

He relaxed, so much that he almost sank under the water and Kris moved up behind him, putting his arms under his. Erk leaned his head against his brother's and closed his eyes.

When Mustard arrived with two mugs of broth, he was still shivering. She helped him drink.

I went to the commissary to get some dry clothes and blankets for Erk and a heater, which I put by his bed in his bedroom. Then I put the shirt and pants in the dryer. They would come out a little warmer.

When Erk stopped shivering – and started falling asleep – Nanny went to get a stand and an IV drip, I got the warmed clothes and Kris pulled his brother out of the tub.

Once dried and dressed, Kris and I carried him to the brothers room, where Kris helped him lie down on his bed and covered him with all the blankets I had brought, Nanny set up the stand and bag and we let him to his rest. I think he was already fast asleep when Nanny stuck the IV in his hand.

Kris leaned over him, whispered "I'm proud of you" and kissed the giant on the temple. I was so used to the tenderness between the two men that it didn't shock me any more. Like, that night, when Erk had kissed his brother's hair.

On the way to the mess hall, the Company's usual meeting place, I detained Kris.
- Kris, why did you tell him you were proud of him? I mean, except to keep him from feeling guilty.
- Ah, you got that?

And as I nodded, he continued:
- This is the first time he has managed to save someone with a gut wound. You must have seen that in the books, the movies... Gut wounds lead to a painful, slow death. It's true. Of course, less and less so with the advances in medicine and nanites, provided we act quickly. But here, without nanites...

He shrugged, letting me grasp the archaic conditions in which the Viking, Doc and Nanny worked.
- Anyway, Erik tried something. I just hope he didn't burn himself.
- Burn?
- He's... he's expended so much energy, he's tried so hard to stretch his Gift's abilities, that I hope he hasn't exceeded them. Like a rubber band that's so stretched out that it will never return to its normal size...
- Oh. Damn, I hope not. Okay, come to the mess hall, we have to report and brainstorm.
- I'm coming.

Doc reported on the injuries and, thanks to Erk, the prognosis was pretty good for all of them, even JD who, while we were warming up the Viking, had made spectacular progress: his fever had gone down, his heart rate was getting closer to normal, all those good signs...

Stig and Dio, the corporals, had opened their eyes, as if surprised to be still alive and, apart from a slightly elevated heart rate due to the loss of blood – and of course, a great weakness – were doing quite well. Mike was desperate to get back to her post yet she wore her right arm in a sling and couldn't stand because of the second bullet in her leg, and Alma, our cameraman, was still unconscious, but with encouraging constants.

Our minor injuries, Clem, Quenotte, Jo and Bloody Mary were doing pretty well, all in all. According to Doc, in two days they would reach the painful phase where they felt like they could pretend they hadn't hurt...

On the teenagers front, things were going pretty well too. The nurses-in-training, apart from one girl, who had gone to the kitchen, were beginning to be able to do simple chores without supervision. The young girl who had stayed had been shocked to learn that she was going to have to wash men, to which Doc replied that she could always go and peel carrots and cucumbers. She had chosen phallic vegetables on purpose, and the kid, Fara, understood very well that washing men during their short stay in sick bay would be less of a pain than peeling dozens of vegetables every day.