Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan - Year 2

XXIII

The doctors came out of the operating room a little before dinner. They were in better shape than in the morning. They gave us news of Katja and Kaczynski.

Katja would be fine, with no consequence other than a scar on her head and a lock of white hair. And maybe a hole in her memory, like me.

For Kaczynski, they would leave him in a coma for a little longer before getting him out of it with Revarol, a substance discovered by ATS while looking for something else and which helped patients to come out of comas.

We went on patrol the next day. Erk was carrying, in his bag, five kilos of clay for the mother of the two kids we had found dead. She was happy to see us, and welcomed us all into her home. Sabra now lived alone with her husband, Asif.

There were too much of us, so we just had dinner in their house, then we settled outside for the night. We stayed on the steps to drink the mint tea she had prepared for us, while Erk, borrowing some of her quick-drying clay, quickly fashioned two small statuettes about ten centimeters high. Sabra and Asif recognized each other and were moved by this tribute.

- You are good with your hands, Erk, she said.

- Oh, fuck yes! Baby Jane added, making the giant blush.

Sabra exchanged a look with the beautiful Englishwoman and Asif joined Erk in the red-cheeks club. Funny. When I made the same remark to him just before Christmas, he had come out with some bullshit and there, it was a woman, and he was blushing.

This was the highlight of our November patrols. Damn, November, already... it was cold, we added layers, especially to Tito to prevent some weakness from waking up his malaria. He always had his hydrochloroquine tablets with him, now that we knew he had malaria.

And Doc had made us all carry a mini first aid kit with those pills on top of everything else. The rest being enough to heal a wound for Erk, since he could heal us.

Coming back from one of our patrols, the little doctor gave us news of the wounded. Elise was out of casts, and Alex had concocted a fitness regimen that exhausted her every night, much to the Company's relief. She was adorable but needed to be useful. She also had plenty of energy to burn, and Alex's program did the job.

Katja had woken up, had no memory of what had happened between her first injury and her waking up at our house. She had taken a piece of roof on her helmet when the house she was hiding in with Vlad and little Dragunov had taken a rocket hit from the Durranites. Vlad told her she was functioning normally after that, until the bullet. But she had forgotten everything. Doc says that's pretty normal. Well.

Kaczynski had been awakened with Revarol and, if his head was clear, the rest... Both his legs were paralyzed. Alive, but... motionless. Kris reacted before me, threatening Erk to knock him out if he tried anything. Doc went on to say that there were excellent surgeons in Europe and very efficient, light and reliable exo-skeletons and that if he wanted to be a fool at all costs, she would give real morphine to Kris so he can knock him out.

Erk sat down.

- But, Kris, I'll do this for you and...

- I know, big boy, and that's what scares me.

- But...

- Erik, please.

The Viking obeyed.

The next morning, Erk was restless. He was up before Kris, exceptionally enough, and he couldn't sit still at the table. Even when Kris put his hand on his jiggling leg and pressed down with all his might, the giant still managed to shake the table.