Fraternizing

by C. C. Brown

  He rummaged through the bag and smiled as he pulled out a Red Bull. He popped open the top, taking a long swig.

  “Thanks for this. I hate fucking duty.”

  “You and me both, brother.”

  Riley started going on and on about needing a break as soon as this class graduated, wanting to take a boating trip to Laughlin, when the frantic voice of the firewatch came blasting through the radio. We were deep in conversation when it started, and Riley picked up the radio, shushing me, holding it up to his ear.

  “Sergeant Riley, female being assaulted on third deck, female being assaulted on third deck.”

  I was out the door before anything else could be said. I didn’t know for sure if it was Cassie--I wasn’t sure if she was even home, but I knew that she lived on the third deck and I wasn’t about to take any chances. I ran fast, heart pumping furiously, blood moving through my body like a streak of lightening. My gut was telling me that this wasn’t good, but I kept moving as fast as my feet would take me, hoping that I was wrong. The more steps I took, the more steps seemed to magically appear, making it seem as if I would never reach the top.

  As I reached second deck, a sickening feeling began to weigh me down as I could hear where the music was coming from. It was coming from the direction of Cassie’s room, and I just continued to pray that it was not her actual room where the assault was taking place. Sweat began to dampen my face as I breathed hard, still propelling myself up the stairs, trying as best I could to get there and hopefully put my mind at ease.

  When I reached third deck, I turned the corner and my heart sank as I saw the door to Cassie’s room was left open. The music was definitely coming from there, so I hurried along, praying for the best but expecting the worst. I looked inside and found the firewatch in a scuffle on the ground with a half nude Private Allen. His shorts were pulled down, displaying his hard dick, puzzling the fuck out of me.

  Then it hit me.

  My heart shattered and crumbled into a million fucking pieces.

  I took one look to the right and found Cassie-- huddled up with a towel clad, dripping wet, Ruiz--red faced, her hair an absolute mess, and naked, from the waist down. I lunged for the guys, pulling the firewatch off of Allen and pummeling him in the face and anywhere on the body that I could connect. He was kicking, while shielding his body, but I had lost my mind. It was like an out of body experience as I fell to the ground, repeatedly punching him in the face, connecting several times, square with his nose, feeling the crack of the bridge up against the throbbing pain of the bones in my hand. Rage and adrenaline fueled me as I continued pounding his face in.

  I wasn’t exactly sure what had gone down between him and Cassie, but none of the details fucking mattered. She was half naked and crying, and he was getting his ass beat by the firewatch. Nothing else fucking mattered.

  I realized that I was situated in a good enough spot to knee him in his fucking dick, so I did, repeating the move over and over as he howled in pain, sounding like a dying dog that needed to be put out of its misery. He scrunched up, yelling out as tears ran down his now blood soaked face. Seeing red sent me to another level, and I just knew that even with what I had already done to him, it still wasn’t enough.

  I grabbed his t-shirt, pulling him up to my face as his face contorted with all sorts of pain and yelled, “You thought you’d get away with this shit, you fuckin’ bitch! Fight a real man, asshole! Get up and fucking fight!”

  His eyes swirled around in his head and I thrust him back down, then got to my feet and began kicking him relentlessly in the sides and on his back as he twisted and turned from the bashing of my sneakers meeting his body with manic force. My foot came down in forceful stomps, further knocking his head onto the floor. My heart rate sped as my breathing spiked. There wasn’t enough pain in the world that I could inflict to get even with him for whatever he had done to Cassie.

  I stood, breathing hard and ready to go another round on him when Riley came up behind me, grabbing me around my middle and pulling me away. I wasn’t ready to let Allen go just yet, but Riley held on tight, backing me away from him.

  “Get the fuck off of me, Riley! Fuck you!” I tried pulling my way out of his grip, but he held on tight.

  “Alex, calm the fuck down. You’ve done enough.”

  I turned and looked at him, then looked down at my aching, bloody hands as my chest violently heaved up and down. I spit on Allen, feeling unsatisfied that the motherfucker was still breathing.

  “He’s done. You’re going to fucking kill him. Get over there and take care of your girl. We’ve got this.”

  In that moment, it dawned on me that Cassie was still in the room, huddled up in the corner, looking completely dismantled and crying her fucking eyes out. My right mind came back to me, and I turned around and watched her sad, defeated, eyes meet with mine. My heart broke all over again.

  I should have been there for her. I should have been with her, and none of this shit would have ever happened. Nothing else mattered anymore, so I rushed over to her, dropping to the ground and taking her in my arms. She lazily dropped her head to my shoulder and began to sob as I held her, holding the back of her head and running my hand down it, trying my best to console her.

  “Shhh… I’m here, babe. Everything is going to be okay.”

  She didn’t let up. Her sobs only grew heavier and deeper, her tears soaking my shirt. I placed my arm around her waist, my hand resting on her ass as I tried to shield her body away from the onlookers in the room. When I looked up, the firewatch was watching me quizzically, but I didn’t care. My care for anything except for Cassie was long fucking gone by this point.

  “Get me a towel or something for her,” I lowly told Ruiz, who swiftly got up from her position. She brought me a towel that I placed around Cassie, then positioned her in my lap and gently swept her hair away from her face, placing soft, consoling kisses on her cheek.

  “Uh… Sergeant Cruz, I had the A-duty call for the MPs. They’ll be here any minute.”

  I didn’t even look at the firewatch as he spoke, just simply nodded my head and continued to console Cassie, whispering how much I loved her in her ear.

  “Hey, man. You want me to stay? The MPs just got here,” Riley asked, looking concerned and worried.

  “Do whatever, man. I don’t fucking care.”

  Four MPs and two EMTs ran up to the room, stopping in the doorway where Allen lay, painfully breathing in his own blood. They surveyed the scene, mentally putting the picture together before asking any questions. One of them pulled Riley aside and asked him a few questions as I continued holding Cassie. She had finally stopped sobbing, but was moaning from the aches and pains that asshat had ravished on her body.

  “What did he do to you, Cassie? Please tell me. Please.”

  She stilled, growing silent as I waited, hoping she would tell me exactly what had happened to her. She never said anything, just clung tighter to me as the tears began to fall once again. With every tear a piece of me died, fearing the worst and knowing that there was absolutely nothing that I could do to erase it, or to take her pain away.

  “Um, Sergeant Cruz, I’m Sergeant Nicks. The EMTs here would like to take a look at Pfc. Bennett.”

  “She isn’t dressed,” I grumbled, not wanting to let her go.

  “I—I know that, Sergeant, but they’ll need to check her out.”

  Riley walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder, looking sympathetic.

  “Man, just let them do what they’ve got to do. They’ll take care of her.”

  I stared into his eyes for a few seconds longer, seeing the sincerity pouring through them, but still not wanting to let her go. I finally looked back down to Cassie, who I knew needed medical attention, then I turned to Ruiz.

  “Get me some goddamned clothes for her. Get me something.”

  She quickly moved to Cassie’s drawers, pulling out a pair of panties and some mesh shorts. I took them from her, picking Cassie up and movi
ng her over to her bed before dressing her. A big bruise was beginning to take shape on the side of her face, her nose was bleeding, and she had marks on the sides of her neck. Tears stung my eyes as I looked down on her, feeling helpless and drained. She held up her wrists, mouthing, “It hurts,” as I wiped a tear away from my face and then hers, taking her back in my arms.

  Two more EMTs came into the room and loaded Allen up, wheeling him out of the room. I turned to Ruiz and told her to get dressed since there would surely be more people coming to investigate what had happened in this room. She nodded her head, and for the first time since I had met the girl, I saw decency in her eyes. She looked sad, scared, and concerned.

  She looked human.

  The EMTs came for Cassie. Riley walked behind them to try and get me to let her leave with them, but I didn’t want to let her go. I was too afraid that she would break, or I would break, or one of us would break if we were pulled apart. This traumatic fate had sealed us. She was my lifeline--the air to my fucking lungs, the blood to my fucking heart. I knew that there was nothing else in the world more important than her.

  “Hey, Alex, they need to take her, man,” Riley cautiously stated, once again putting his hand on my shoulder. I didn’t budge, I felt like any second that she wasn’t in my arms was a second too long. “Alex—“

  “I fucking know, Riley. Fuck!” I yelled. My frustration was mounting as a few large teardrops rolled down my face. I finally let her go and the EMTs carefully loaded Cassie up on the stretcher as she winced from the pain of merely touching her body. I sat on the bed looking as they held her in place, not strapping her too tightly for fear of hurting her even further. I sat with my hand over my mouth as a few more tears trickled down, the saltiness mixing with blood as it fell onto my hand.

  Once they were done loading Cassie up, they began to push her out of the room, prompting me to follow. Sergeant Nicks stood, standing before me and saying, “If you don’t mind, Sergeant Cruz, we’d like for you to stay behind so we can get a statement.”

  I looked at him through the gloss of my eyes and then over to Cassie.

  “Get my statement at the fucking hospital,” I answered back, not even bothering to look at him as I followed Cassie out of the room. Riley walked out behind me, throwing his arm around my shoulder as I tried hard to hold back more fucking tears. It hurt too much to see her in this state, and to know who the culprit was—and what that animal was capable of doing to her—flooded me with an inane amount of visuals that did nothing but make me sicker with each step I took. When we made it to the bottom, I saw Allen’s dick in my head again and I fucking lost it, violently throwing up as I prayed to anyone who would listen to please not have allowed that sick, demented bastard to put his shit inside of her. My head was spinning as I grew weaker with the thought, making me dizzy and unable to swallow.

  “You okay, Alex?” Riley asked, steadying me on his arm. “I’m not letting you drive like this.”

  “Fuck off, dude. I’m going to the hospital.”

  “You’re not driving yourself. Here, Private Jacobs is my A-duty, he can take you in my truck.”

  Riley tossed the keys to Jacobs, who looked stunned but quickly walked out to the parking lot, not saying anything to anyone. I looked around at the mass amounts of spectators who had formed around the area, my eyes landing on Dalton who looked about as sick as I was, and had been crying as much as I had, if not more. Our eyes met and he nodded, letting me know that he was right there with me. Ruiz was there as well, the same broken look I had seen in the room was still filling her face.

  I waited for the EMTs to load her up in the back of the ambulance before Riley pushed me off in the direction of his truck. Once I was there, I hopped in and Jacobs took off for the base hospital, gunning it to get me there without a lag in time between our arrival and hers. I jumped out as he came to a stop, still feeling my stomach churning from my earlier thoughts, but finding enough resolve to brush past the people moseying along near the entrance. I rushed to the front desk, sweating and breathing hard, nearly scaring the nurse who stood there to help me.

  “I’m here for Pfc. Cassie Bennett,” I breathed, nervously running my blood riddled hands over the back of my neck.

  She stared at me for a second before typing something into the computer, then warily looked back up to me, politely saying, “She’s just being brought in. It’ll be a while.” She typed something else into the computer and then looked back at me and asked, “Are you family?”

  The question froze me. I wasn’t Cassie’s family. I wasn’t anything to her. As far as everyone knew, I was just an instructor and she was just a student.

  “No. I’m not.” I answered, hoping she would look beyond it and allow me to see her.

  “Well I’m sorry—“ she stopped and I slid my ID card to her before continuing, “Sergeant Cruz. You’ll need to take a seat in the waiting area and we’ll let you know when the doctor has examined her, and if she can have visitors.”

  I slowly turned away from the counter, feeling bogged down with overly sensitized emotions. I was certain that she was scared, hurting--emotionally and physically--and right now, all I wanted was to see her…to hold her…to console her… to just let her know that I was here and she was safe. That wasn’t going to happen, so I sat down in the first open seat I found, blowing out a heavily lodged breath, then dropping my face in my hands as I choked back a new set of tears that were threatening to spill. My phone buzzed, pulling me out of my overwhelming sadness and giving me something else to focus on.

  Riley: Hey! First Sergeant O’Hara was up here. He’s speaking to EVERYONE about what happened. He’ll be at the hospital either tonight or some time tomorrow.

  Me: Good shit. Did you speak to him?

  Riley: Yeah! I told him exactly what happened. Nothing more, nothing less.

  Me: Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

  Riley: I’ll see you first thing in the morning. Go home, try and get some rest.

  Me: I’m not fucking leaving. I’ll sleep in this goddamned waiting room if I have to.

  Riley: Well in that case, I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I’m off duty. I’ll bring you some clothes and shit.

  Me: Thanks!

  Riley: No problem, brother!

  I laid my head back on the seat, the pain from my hand beginning to take hold as my head filled with a throbbing ache. I didn’t care. I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

  When I woke up, the nurse from earlier was standing over me, calling my name while holding an icepack to my hand. The cold compress up against my warm and sensitized skin intensified the sting that came with the touch. I tried to focus as she asked me to please follow her, standing and stretching as the pain from my hand was now filling my body. She led me into a treatment room and asked me to sit on the examination table.

  “What am I in here for?” I asked, wondering how I had somehow become the patient.

  “Your hand is swollen and it needs to be looked at.”

  She took her blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around my arm, then placed a thermometer in my mouth, and watched the time.

  “You’re all good,” she said, unstrapping the cuff and taking the thermometer out of my mouth. “The doctor will be in to see you shortly.”

  I stopped her, gently grabbing her arm as she turned to walk out of the room. She looked back to me, her eyes wide, almost sympathetic.

  “Please just let me know how Pfc. Bennett is doing. I just need to see her. I need to know she’s okay.”

  Her look softened. She pressed her lips together, contemplating if she should talk or not. Her compassionate side won out as she blew out a breath and began talking.

  “She is going to be okay. She was battered pretty badly, but her scans showed no internal damage. She has a slight concussion, a bruised nose and cheek bone, and sprained wrists. She was lucky. It could have been much worse.”

  I closed my eyes as I listened to the nurse read me what felt like a fu
cking laundry list of things wrong with Cassie. But after thinking about how much worse things could have been, I finally settled down, knowing that she was hurt, but that she was going to be alright.

  “Can I please see her? I’m not family, but I need to see her. I’m begging you.”

  She thought about it for a minute. “Let the doctor examine you, and get your x-rays because you’re going to need them. Then I’ll take you to see her.”

  A smile touched my lips. I finally had a reason to feel some sort of happiness.

  The doctor came in, an older gentleman with a head full of grey hair. He took one look at my hands and immediately said I had broken a knuckle, but that he wanted x-rays to confirm and pinpoint it. I didn’t argue, just followed everything they wanted to do so that I could get back to see Cassie. I wouldn’t rest until I could drink in her beautiful face.