Cry to Me

20.

She kept reminding herself that there was only one reason they had put her here – because they could. The days continued to go by, and she did her best to avoid Commander Cooper. He was doing the same, almost ignoring her except to give quick orders in passing with the rest of the squad. There were still times, though, when she would accidentally look at him and she would see him looking at her. No matter how hard she tried, she could never tell what he was thinking behind the shield he held up to the world. It was during their next debriefing that the new orders were revealed.

Commander Cooper: Alright, everyone. We have orders to move to a different campsite - again. Pack your things and we leave first thing in the morning.

One of the other medics, Lindy, raised his hand. Commander Cooper pointed to him.

Lindy: Commander, there are injured refugees that still need our help here.

Commander Cooper: Orders are orders, Lindy.

Lindy: Yes I know, sir, but we were supposed to bring back some medicine tomorrow, for a couple of kids with malaria.

Commander Cooper: What would you like me to do?

Lindy: I'd like to request permission to stay behind, sir?

Commander Cooper: Denied. The whole camp has to be out of here by first light tomorrow, no exceptions. We cannot allocate any more resources to this area.

Lindy looked horrified, and Taylor knew why. There was a lot more they could be doing for the civilians in the refugee camp, and she did not understand why they would be moving when there were still so many sick, defenseless people. It just did not make sense. Commander Cooper looked at Lindy, and his face became softer somehow.

Commander Cooper: Sorry, Lindy.

He walked out and a quiet mumble began amongst the officers as they began discussing the orders.

Clearwater: You know, I bet they're getting paid out to move, by some hot-shot guerilla leader or something. Lots of money in exchange for an emaciated army.

Evans: No, I doubt it's for money. It's probably for resources – but god knows what they think they'll find here.

Clearwater: Maybe... You know, there's a bunch of untouched land here because the region's so unstable. I bet there's a gold mine here – figuratively speaking – that they're trying to find. Like in Indian Jones, when they're looking for the arc in the desert...

Evans: So you're saying we're working for a bunch of Nazis?

Clearwater: All I'm sayin' is that I'm not here because I wanna be...

Overhearing them made Taylor question, for the umpteen-thousandth time, what their real mission was. Why were they moving from base to base, helping and getting to know the people in the towns and camps before abandoning them altogether? What was the purpose, and why waste the resources in the first place if they were going to go back to square one anyways?

The entire base was relocated to another remote area, but this time there were towns nearby instead of one large camp. It was almost refreshing to go on patrol in an area where people actually lived, with shacks instead of overcrowded tents. There were kids running around playing and laughing, and people going about there daily routine. The squad was able to help at the local hospital – a small building with ten stain-ridden beds – and it soon became established that a medic would stay at the hospital during each excursion while the rest of the squad was out on patrol around the town.

The first few times Taylor was stationed at the town hospital, she found the most challenging part to be interacting with the so-called physician they had. From what little she could understand, he seemed to believe in prayer and exorcism more then actual medications and treatments. As a result, she had to use her own judgement to carefully try and determine when it was harmless to let the physician treat a patient and when she thought she should step in to give the patient something that they needed. She also never truly realized how important understanding spoken language was before this trip, and found herself using hand gestures constantly to try and communicate with the locals.