Fire From The Sky | Book 11 | Ashes

by Reed, N. C.

  “I got in a little while ago and figured you were either asleep already, or else waiting to continue our little discussion. I didn’t want to wake you if you were asleep, and I definitely didn’t need another lecture on how crass and classless I and my men are, so I chose the cot. In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that the fact that I was exhausted also played a part in that decision.” He reached for a cannister he normally kept water in and shook it. Hearing a very slight sloshing sound, he removed the top and drank the water, swishing it around his mouth before swallowing.

  Red-faced, Lainie waited for him to get a drink before replying.

  “I apologized to you for that,” her voice was quiet.

  “Which did nothing to calm my anger at that point,” Clay nodded. “Rather than stay and maybe say something I’d regret, I left. Same reason I stayed here. Still angry, still didn’t want to risk the possibility that I’d say something I couldn’t take back or make up for. Isn’t worth it.”

  “What isn’t worth it?” Lainie felt a flutter in her stomach suddenly.

  “The risk of saying something to you that I would regret,” he replied, missing any indication of how his former statement had shaken her. “I’d rather just sleep on this cot than say something ugly to you in anger. And I was very angry. I don’t think I’d have said anything bad, but better to remove the risk, I figured. And the cot ain’t too bad,” he shrugged. “I’ve definitely slept in worse places.”

  Lainie felt the urge to cry at that but fought it down. Despite his anger, despite her careless words, he would rather be uncomfortable than risk saying something equally bad to her in return.

  “I really don’t deserve you,” she all but whispered.

  “What?” he frowned, looking at her as he placed the water bottle back on his table. “I couldn’t hear you, sorry.”

  “Nothing,” she shook her head. “If you think you’re over your mad now, why don’t you come home?” she asked him gently. “That’s where you belong.”

  “Okay,” he shrugged, getting to his feet. He walked behind the table and picked up his gear before moving to her side.

  “Let’s go before I fall asleep again,” he almost smiled, his mouth twitching at the corners.

  “Okay.”

  -

  Amanda felt as if she was fighting against some unseen force that was trying to hold her down by standing on her stomach. She tried to get up, but no matter how hard she struggled, the foot, or whatever, on her torso would not move at all. She grabbed for the knife she carried on her harness, but found that she had left it behind, somewhere. In fact, all her gear was missing. She was wearing her harness, even her vest, but there was nothing there. Every pouch, every pocket, every sling was empty.

  She tried to cry out by all she could manage was a wordless bellow that sounded more like a moan than anything. Try as she might, she could not form any words, even though she could think them. She tried to use her hands to get the weight off her but couldn’t find it. She hesitated as she thought she heard her name being called from far off.

  Yes, definitely someone calling her, demanding she wake up. Wake up? Did it look like she was asleep, laying here fighting whatever giant had smashed her to the ground like this? Did this look like sleep?

  “-nda! Wake up, sweetie, and stop fighting us!”

  Who in the hell was that? And she wasn’t fighting anything except the weight that kept her pinned. Did that voice sound familiar at all?

  “Amanda!”

  Definitely sounded familiar. She knew that voice from somewhere.

  “Wake up, Mavis!”

  Amanda Lowery’s eyes snapped open, then closed as the brightness of the lights overhead dazzled her vision.

  “Why in the hell are you calling me Mavis for?!” she demanded. Or tried to. All she produced, however, was a croaking sound.

  “Hang on, Amanda,” she heard a woman’s voice say. “Open your mouth, dear. Take the straw and get some water. You’re dry after all this time.”

  She did as she was ordered, sucking at the water greedily once it started, realizing that she really was starving for hydration. She drank as much as she could as fast as she could it seemed, until she heard the sound indicating she had hit the bottom of the cup.

  “Better?” the voice asked, and Amanda recognized it as Patricia Sanders.

  “Much,” Amanda’s voice was more than a croak this time. “Now who in the hell called me Mavis?”

  “Is that all you can think of?” Petra Shannon rolled her eyes, moving to look straight down at her friend. “Damn, girl. You need to adjust your priorities a little.”

  “Where am I?” Amanda ignored the advice. “Wait…I got shot. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I got shot!” it finally hit her, and she struggled to get up.

  “Hold up, there, Bonnie,” Patricia pushed her back down. “I’m afraid you aren’t going anywhere for a bit. Yes, you were shot. In the abdomen in fact, right near where your appendix would be had you not had it removed. You weren’t wearing the plates for your vest and the bullet went right on through and hit you. You lost a lot of blood, and you can expect a progression of ass-chewings I’m sure, but you’re going to recover.”

  “I took them out because they rubbed,” Amanda mumbled. “I shouldn’t have done that. I just thought since it was a holiday that things would be quiet.”

  “Anyone who ever worked an emergency room anywhere would assure you it wouldn’t be,” Patricia snorted. “Holidays and full moons are always interesting.”

  “How much trouble am I in?” she asked, looking at Petra.

  “Not up to me,” Petra was shaking her head. “I don’t know. You scared a lot of people, though. Me included, you silly bitch,” she leaned down and gently hugged Amanda close.

  “Sorry,” Amanda promised. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “We know,” Petra assured her. “Someone is already trying to fix problems like yours,” she added, and Amanda blushed a bit. “Don’t worry about that now, though. I don’t think you’ll be in a position where you’re going to need a vest or anything else anytime soon.”

  “No, definitely not,” Patricia was back, this time taking vitals. “I’m afraid you’re down for the moment, kiddo.” She stuck a thermometer to Amanda’s head, then grabbed her wrist to check her pulse. She checked both wrists and then both ankles.

  “How long, do you think?” Amanda asked, thinking about her lessons with Xavier Adair.

  “Depends on your healing ability, really,” Patricia explained. “How fast your body recovers. You had a hunk of metal moving at a high rate of speed tear into your body tissue. It will take a few minutes for that to heal, and that was before we had to open you up to repair the damage and find the bullet. At a conservative guess, a minimum of two months before you can get around without aid or difficulty.”

  “Two months!” Amanda almost wailed.

  “You got no one to blame but you, girl,” Petra reminded her. “Might as well get used to hearing that.”

  “I’m afraid that is true as well,” Patricia agreed.

  “Two frigging months, just trying to avoid some chafing,” Amanda sighed, laying back and closing her eyes. “I can’t imagine what they said.”

  “It wasn’t all bad,” Petra shrugged. “Honestly, I think they were more scared than mad, except for Tandi Maseo. He was mad.”

  “He’s also a medic,” Patricia reminded them both. “He’s had to patch up people before. One of his friends was killed even though he was wearing his vest, plates and all. Another nearly met the same fate not long ago. Your injury would have been much less severe had you been wearing your plates.”

  “I know,” Amanda nodded. “It was just the one time, and this had to happen.”

  “Try not to worry about that now,” Patricia told her. “I’ve already sent for-,”

  “I see Sleeping Beauty has awakened!” Greg Holloway said as he entered the clinic. He did not look as if he had rested all that well, but his cheery
disposition went a long way to hide it.

  “Ha, ha,” Amanda said in way of greeting. “Sorry,” she added immediately after.

  “Me too,” Greg nodded, moving to stand beside her. “You were hurt pretty bad, Amanda, and it could have been a lot worse. You were very lucky. We were very lucky. Had Tandi Maseo not happened to have been along with us, you might not have made it.”

  “What happened, anyway?” she asked him. Greg gave her an abbreviated version of events, concentrating only on the parts that had included her.

  “Damn, I really screwed us up good, didn’t I?” Amanda almost moaned.

  “The only part of this that was your fault was not wearing your safety gear,” Greg replied at once. “That ambush was laying there for days, waiting for us to come by. Had you not removed the plates from your carrier, you would have an ugly bruise instead of a nasty scar, but we would still have faced the ambush.”

  “Yeah, and without having to take care of my bleeding ass, you could have caught the guys who did it, too,” Amanda snorted. “Damn. The one frigging day I screw up, too. It’s like there’s some higher power watching for that kind of shit.”

  “His name is Murphy,” Greg nodded, smiling. “As in Murphy’s Law. The military edition is somewhat different from the civilian one. Helpful gems such as ‘if the enemy is in range, so are you’, for instance. In this case, the one day you leave behind that unneeded equipment, you’re sure to need it.”

  “No shit,” Amanda snorted. “Patricia says I’m out for at least two months, and that’s just until I can get around on my own. At which point I will be sorely out of shape.”

  “I’m afraid that is true,” Greg nodded. “But your job is still there if you want it. It will wait for you to heal. You need to concentrate on that more than anything right now.” He paused, looking at her so directly that she began to flush slightly under his scrutiny.

  “From now on,” his tone grew much more serious, “when you have a problem, and I don’t care what kind of problem it is,” he held a hand up to silence her before she could object, “then tell me. No one will think less of you. Guys have chafing problems too, you know. Just in different areas. They can be debilitating and require a visit to the medic and being scrubbed from a patrol. If you tell me you’re having problems, then all anyone else needs to know is that you’re on sick call and can’t make the patrol. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” Amanda nodded, her face red.

  “Make sure that you do, Amanda, because you only get one free screwup, and this was yours,” Greg was dead serious now. “Rest up. Do what the doctors tell you. You’ll be on your feet and moving again before you know it.”

  With that he departed, leaving Amanda once more with just Patricia and Petra.

  “He’s a pretty good guy, isn’t he?” she asked Patricia suddenly, and the older woman smiled as she nodded.

  “He is indeed,” she agreed. “He, Clay and Jake Sidell have been friends since they were old enough to understand the meaning of the word. Got into all manner of trouble when they were younger,” she laughed. “Painted Greg’s girlfriend’s name on the Jordan water tower, and then Jake’s future wife’s name on the one in Peabody.”

  “Katie?” Amanda asked suddenly. “With a heart over the ‘I’?”

  “That would be the one,” Patricia affirmed. “Used John Deere Green paint because of a song by Joe Diffie. Who apparently did some research because the water department painted over it at least three times and her name just kept bleeding through it.”

  “That is so cool,” Petra sighed. “Where are the guys like that now?” she lamented.

  “There are a few of them still around,” Patricia promised. “But no more water towers these days. And paint is scarce as well. We’re back to carving initials into tree trunks, now.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Well, I see someone is awake and once more part of the land of the living,” Xavier Adair’s voice sounded airy. Amanda looked toward the door to see her…mentor? teacher? walking toward her, geared up to stand watch.

  “Another joker,” Amanda smiled. “And yes, I’m awake. I may not be part of the land of the living until tomorrow, though,” she added.

  “I understand that you will be sidelined for a good few weeks due to your injury,” Xavier nodded his understanding.

  “At least two months before I can even start getting back into shape,” she confirmed, long faced. “No telling how long I’ll be just laying here. And you can forget keeping any dignity, too,” she added, her face reddening.

  “I’m familiar,” Xavier assured her. “At any rate, I am pleased to see that you will survive and be able to return to duty, assuming of course that is your desire. Listening to your litany of complaints, however, I believe that to be a safe assumption, no?”

  “Yes,” Amanda nodded firmly. “I’m not quitting. Now, I may get thrown out,” she raised her hands in a gesture of helplessness, “due to excess stupidness, but I’m not quitting.”

  “I don’t believe you’ll be in danger of being cast aside, either,” Xavier smiled slightly. “You can expect a serious lecture, what my less cultured friends refer to as an ‘ass-chewing’, followed by a guilt trip, something which Clayton excels at, I assure you. But I believe it is safe to say that when you are ready to return to the game, your position will still be there, awaiting your arrival.”

  “Thanks,” Amanda smiled for the first time since waking up. “I suppose Kim will be way ahead of me by the time I can get back into the swing of things,” her smile lost some of its shine. “I was working hard to stay ahead of her, too.”

  “Then you shall have to work just as hard to catch up, will you not?” Xavier returned her smile. “I must go and check in for watch. I had heard you were awake and wanted to wish you a speedy recovery. Chin up, dear girl,” he actually used an index finger to flip her chin up. “It could have been much worse. Accept the good things and cast the bad aside. Get some rest.” With that he departed, leaving Amanda smiling still.

  -

  Her next visitor was Zachary Willis, still munching on a sandwich as he entered the clinic.

  “Zach, don’t eat that in here!” Patricia complained, though smiling as she did so.

  “She eats in here, don’t she?” he pointed to Amanda.

  “She doesn’t have much choice in the matter,” Patricia reminded him.

  “Neither do I if I want to see her while I’m supposed to be at lunch,” Zach shrugged. When Patricia gave him ‘the look’, he hurriedly shoved the remainder of his sandwich into his mouth before holding his empty hands out as if for inspection. Rolling her eyes, Patricia returned to work and let Zach go and visit.

  “’ell, ‘ou ‘ook ‘ike ‘shi’,” he told her around a mouthful of food.

  “I would say thanks, but I’m fairly certain you just told me I look like shit,” Amanda looked at him with a raised eyebrow of her own.

  “Ah ‘id,” Zach nodded, eyes twinkling. He made a great show of swallowing and then drained his canteen of water before speaking again.

  “I meant it in the nicest way,” he promised with a grin. “Seriously though, how are you? You look better than I expected from the way things sounded yesterday. I about half expected to see you laying here on a monitor with tubes running in and out of you.”

  “Well, I got the tubes part, anyway,” Amanda’s face reddened a bit. “Some you can see, some you can’t.”

  “I hear ya,” he nodded without pressing her or making fun. “Are you in a lot of pain?”

  “Not as much as I’d feared,” she admitted. “It does hurt, and I mean all the time, but unless I move a wrong way or too fast, it keeps to a dull ache for the most part. It could be worse.”

  “Yeah, you could be dead, stupid,” Zach didn’t pull any punches the way Xavier had. “Hell is wrong with you, leaving your plates out like that? You could have died, Amanda.”

  “I know,” she held up a hand as if to ward off his pronouncements. �
��I’ve had this lecture from more than one source and expect it at least once more today. It was a stupid thing to do, which I have acknowledged from the outset. I took something for granted, and I paid for it. I’m lucky it was just me paying for it and not someone else.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say that,” Clay’s voice caught her by surprise. She looked to the door to see him standing there, just inside. “At least you’ve learned something from all this.”

  “Well, that’s my cue to leave you behind, Mavis,” Zach shot her a grin. “Good luck with all this,” he winked.

  “Damn you, Zach,” Amanda muttered, but couldn’t help smiling at the departing teen. Clay nodded to him as they passed one another, then stopped at her bed side.

  “I’d ask how you feel, but I already know,” he told her simply.

  “How?” she asked, frowning in confusion.

  “I’ve been shot before,” he told her with a shrug. “More than once. It hurts.”

  “Like a bitch,” Amanda agreed. “Is there a merit badge for this or anything?” she tried to go for lighthearted.

  “It’s called a Purple Heart,” Clay didn’t smile. “Too many of them are awarded posthumously. Yours could very easily have been the same.”

  “I know,” she looked down at her hands, all she could do for the moment since she was stuck in bed. “I’m sorry. Doesn’t really help, but it’s all I can do at the moment. I thought it was just another patrol and then we’d have the holiday…damn, it’s Thanksgiving!” she interrupted herself.

  “It is indeed,” Clay nodded. “And thanks to you, the medical staff will have to rotate through here in shifts rather than join the festivities for the entire day.”

  “Clayton,” Patricia sent a warning his way without looking.

  “I doubt you even understand how lucky you are right now,” he sighed, rubbing his face. For the first time she noticed how tired he looked. “That was a dumb thing to do, and it was made worse by the fact that you knew it. How many times were you warned in training about your safety gear?”

  “More than enough that I should have known better,” Amanda replied, taking it without dodging. “Like I said before, I took something for granted. And I did know better, Clay. I just didn’t think about it. I made that terrible mistake of assuming something.”