Soldier Dream

Sink or Swim

Her commanding officer was strapped down onto a gurney, naked from the trousers up save for bandages, skin glistening with sweat and faint red stains. He's been shot by mistake, though it was certainly hard to believe it was a mistake. Cereza cocked a hip and looked down at him. He was sleeping, breathing raggedly. His face was twisted into a grimace, short blonde hair stuck back in damp tufts. He was not a liked man by most, although Cereza had no qualms. He got things done. Not humanely, but that wasn't surprising. It was in their best interests to hunt them and take a few back to experiment on. They had to know everything about them.

It was imperative. They weren't human, but they were like humans in structure at least. Two arms, two legs, furless skin but body hair. They had been named the Abdima. Most simply named them monsters. Doctor Berry didn't approve of them being called monsters. The Wing Corporation that were currently seeking to experiment on them were all about those specific scientific terms, Doctor Berry being first and foremost. He was a suspicious character in Cereza's eyes. He was too clean. His skin was a soft warm peach colour, his hair was always washed and flopped over his eyes in a styled manner, and there was nearly never a speck of dirt on that perfect white lab coat. He took care of himself a little too well considering what was going on. The blood that stained his hands was nigh on invisible. Cereza's never seemed to wash off.

Cereza pressed closer to the gurney, leaning over to look at his eyes. They were in a state of REM fluttering intensely. She wondered if he was having a nightmare.

"Excuse me ma'am? Could you please leave? The patient needs his rest," a nurse excused. She avoided making direct eye contact, the skin of her throat sucking in as she swallowed. Nervous. Not a good sign.

"He won't live, if your Doctor is correct. What does it matter if I stay with him to the end?"

The nurse hesitated, "There may still be a-"

"Not if been determined already by someone," Cereza responded, "and you know exactly what I mean by that."

"What are you saying!"

Her lips half twisted, and she rested a palm firmly on her commander's head. It was soaked. He coughed roughly in his sleep. She grabbed the wet cloth and small bucket the nurse had and wrung out the cloth, daubing it on his head.

"Do what you think you have to, but make sure you're sure."

She wrung out the cloth and left it on the rim of the bucket. "Take care of him. And watch your back if you know he's going to conveniently die in the next hour."

She strode out of the Injury Ward.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Where was she getting these words, words like Abdima, where could she have heard it, seen it, that would make it appear in the back of her head in her dreams? Tiredly, she blinked sleep crusted eyelashes, eyes focusing on the alarm clock. She curled her tongue as she said it aloud, testing it. Ab-dee-ma.

"Callie, dinner!"

Stifling a sigh, she stretched out and reluctantly pulled back the quilt. Her eyes felt bruised. A quick glance in her mirror confirmed she looked about as good as she felt. Still in her pajamas, her blonde hair stuck up. Underneath her eyes were bags, shadowed with pinks and purple. She opened her door and stuck her feet in her slippers before she went down the stairs. Her mother was sitting on a stool by the open back door, smoking.

"What we having?" Callie asked..

"Pie and mash."

She held back a grimace. "What pie?"

"Uhh....chicken and mushroom."

"Awww..."

"What?"

Callie shrugged, picked up her plate and went to the living room to eat. Sasha immediately noticed the presence of food and came to sit by her feet and beg.

"Oi...oi, go away."

Sasha rolled over and offered up a paw excitedly, tail wagging.

"No."

She rolled her eyes, placing the plate of food on the sofa's arm and setting her laptop on her thighs. She opened up the search engine and typed in, "Abdina." A few names. And then, finally, it's meaning appeared. "Wretched, unfortunate....destructive."

Callie inhaled deeply. She still couldn't figure out just where the word had come from. She sucked in her cheeks and tilted her head.