"Bitch." Lewis muttered.
"Call her a bitch again, and I'll stomp your broken legs, you ungrateful cock." Bomber said, his voice low and ugly.
Footsteps moved over in front of me, and Bomber squeezed my hand.
"Ant, can you see this?" Nagle asked me.
"No." I admitted. "I lost my hat, Nancy."
"Lean forward." She told me, and then cursed. I felt cold fingers touch the back of my scalp and flinched. "Hold still, dammit." She poked at the back of my head some more, and I dry heaved for a few moment when she pressed on my skull. My vision went white and a rushing noise filled my ears.
"Fuck." She said. "All right, give me the suture kit."
"Where did you learn all this?" Lewis asked. I went to turn my head but strong hands grabbed either side of my head and held me still.
"Correspondence courses." She admitted. "Dammit, I'd give my clit and both nipples for a real aid kit. Like one of the SF bags."
She pulled at my lower lips, and lifted my upper lip with her fingers, then touched my nose. I didn't make much noise, but let's be honest, it hurt like a motherfucker.
"Ant, baby, put your hands behind your back." She told me. I let go of Bomber's hand and put my hands behind me in the chair. A noose went over my wrists and pulled snug, and I tried to pull forward, but a hand and Nagle's voice stopped me. I sat there while my hands were tied behind the chair.
"Bomber, hold his head." She ordered, and I felt strong hands grab under my chin and the top of my head and arms wrapped around my skull in a modified sleeper. "He might pass out, but he's going to try to fight us."
Nagle stitched up my lips, the left corner of my upper lip, and four splits in my lower lip. She then put her fingers on either side of my nose and wrenched it into place. Sharp pains ticked up the back of my skull, and the tugging feeling meant someone was prodding at my brain.
I was being tortured. For the site codes. For the arming codes.
"I'm not telling you shit." I grumbled, and spat blood out. The lizard hissed in agreement.
More pain and I tried to pull my head free, but whoever was tuning me up had me held too tight. Pain in my shoulder that made me yell, and I slumped forward when it was done.
"Fuck you." I spit. "Your mother sucks cock in Hell."
They started on my face again. The lizard took the pain and let me focus on the pain, just the pain, and ignore everything else.
"Stillwater, Anthony, Corporal, US Army," I ground out.
No matter what they did, I wouldn't talk. The lizard would keep me from talking. The pain continued, getting worse, but the lizard kept me from telling them whatever they wanted to hear to stop the pain.
"Stillwater, Anthony, Corporal, US Army," I repeated.
Finally it was over. Whoever had me by the neck let go and I sagged forward. I sat in the darkness for a long time, the pain finally ebbing, and I remembered where I was and lifted my face.
"Ant, do you know who I am?" A woman's voice asked.
"Nancy." I breathed, and leaned forward as far as my bound wrists would let me, trying to find her. My cheek hit her stomach, warm and covered by a T-shirt. Her arms went around me gently.
"Untie his wrists." She said, and the cords were unwrapped. I threw my arms around her and held tight.
"So what's the bright plan now?" Lewis bitched from where he was at.
"Ant might have killed him. I saw part of the fight, my Ant got a little stabby." Nancy said, gently rubbing my back. "So now we try to wait out the storm."
"Someone needs to go for help." Lewis said, like none of us had thought of that before.
"I might as well cut their throat myself." Nancy retorted. "Anyone who goes out there is a fucking dead man. The wind is up, the temperature is dropping, and daylight is coming."
"So fucking what? At least in the daylight they might make it." Lewis sneered.
"Anyone out there in the daylight is going to get blinded, confused, and lost." Carter added. "Snowblindness, remember, dumbass?"
"Then someone needs to..." Lewis voice suddenly broke off and there was a sigh.
"Lewis?" Hernandez asked.
"Move!" Nancy yelled, pushing my arms away and leaving my touch. I groped around blindly and found another hand to hold. Whoever it was squeezed gently, and I held on tight.
"What's wrong with him?" Carter asked. "He was fine a second ago!"
There was silence for a long time.
"I don't know. He's dead." Nancy said softly. "I don't know why, but he's dead." She sobbed for a moment. "God dammit, there's nothing that wrong with him! Just broken legs."
"Come away, Nagle, there's nothing you can do." Hernandez said softly. I could hear Nancy weeping quietly, and after a few moments someone took my free hand.
"Come on, Ant." Hernandez said, pulling me to my feet. Whoever was holding my other hand let go as I stood up. I retched for a moment, Hernandez helping me keep my balance. When I was done Hernandez led me through the darkness, until my feet bumped a mattress.
"Lay down, keep her calm." Hernandez said, pulling my hand over till I felt Nagle's hair.
I pulled her down on the mattress and wrapped my arms around her. She was shaking from her tears, and I nuzzled the back of her head, making noises that really didn't mean anything, but meant everything to the two of us.
We stayed that way for a long time, until she rolled over in my arms and kissed my bottom lip.
"Can you see me?" She asked.
"Nope." I admitted. "I lost my hat."
"That's OK, I'll get you another one," She nestled against me for a long moment, then raised her head and kissed the side of my neck.
"I love you." I told her.
"I..." She began.
There was a hammering on the door.
"Guys, let me in." Daniels voice carried through the wood. "It's cold out here."
Don't...
Another three hard blows on the door.
Open...
"Guys, come on, this isn't funny: I'm cold." Daniels voice was devoid of any inflection, drained of everything that made his voice his. Even his Brooklyn accent was gone.
The door...
"Come on, guys, I'm cold. I found Stillwater's hat."
Tell Me You Love Me
My Nancy...
"Ignore it." Carter said, his voice low. "He'll go away."
"It's cold out here, guys. And I think that someone's after me." Daniels voice said, and this time I could hear a faint bubbling sound.
From where Tandy bit out his throat...
"That's... that's not Daniels." Hernandez said quietly.
"Just ignore it." Carter repeated.
Daniels hammered on the door again.
In my arms, Nagle whimpered, pushed past her limit. Fear, pain, exhaustion, stress had all conspired to unravel her. She'd been with us almost every time, had kept her cool, but it was finally all catching up with her. The facts we were being stalked through a barracks that was more a ruin than a home, chased by someone living who got off on us suffering, and that she had faced off against someone who was trying to murder her, had all piled together and buried her beneath an avalanche of fear and pain.
"Let me in." Daniels whispered, his voice clear as a bell over the howl of the wind and the snowflakes whispering against the blanket covered glass.
The winter had been let in, and with it...
"Fuck off, Tandy!" Bomber yelled from where he was laying on a mattress. "We know who it is!"
There was a sudden pounding on the door, loud enough that it made my vision flash again. I could hear the door creak and groan with the force of the blows, and knew it was bowing inward.
"LET ME IN!" The voice howled.
Above us, a voice shouted and boots crashed against the floor.
Nagle whimpered again and burrowed against me, shivering against the blanket I hadn't been aware we were under until the wool grazed my painfully swollen cheek. The lizard was shivering in fear, curled up on the floor of
his little room.
"OPEN THE DOOR!" The voice roared, and I heard the shattering of glass.
The wind picked up, howling around us, and the blanket was almost torn off of us. Snow cascaded across us, and I could hear the blankets snapping against the walls as the wind drove into the room.
Carter and Hernandez began swearing.
"The windows!" Hernandez yelled, somewhat unnecessarily in my opinion.
I went to get up, but Nancy's arms tightened around me, holding me tightly. Her hand moved up and wrapped around the back of my neck, drawing my face down till she could kiss my swollen lip.
"Stay with me, Ant, please." She whispered into my mouth. I could feel tears on my face.
There was a banging on the door again, but not nearly the thunderous impacts that had shaken the air of the room. I could hear Hernandez and Carter swearing, hear things moving around. Nancy was kissing me again, running her tongue over my lip and causing sparks of pain.
"Tell me I'm still beautiful." She whispered. She was shivering, but her skin felt warm under my hands, it felt warm where I'd put my hands under her shirt to press my hands against her thick lower back.
I mumbled to her that she was still beautiful.
"Tell me you love me." She said, kissing my lips softly.
The wind was cutting down, and I could hear things being moved around.
"I love you." I whispered to her.
She was still shivering.
"He stabbed me, Ant, I think I'm going into shock." She said, hugging me tight.
I squeezed her tight with my arms, squeezing with my hands at her lower back.
"We're going to die, aren't we?" She whispered in my ear.
"I hope not." I answered honestly.
"Do you think Tandy is going to get us?" She asked, still shivering.
"Me, probably, same as Carter. The rest of you? Who knows?" I wrapped my legs in hers, rubbing her back. Her skin was getting cold. I pulled up her shirt and then mine then pressed my skin against hers.
Her breasts were cold and her nipples felt like ice chips pressed against my skin.
"I'm cold, Ant." She told me, her teeth chattering.
She was dropping into shock fast.
"Please don't die." I knew I was crying again. Lost in the dark and one of the few bright points in my life was dimming in my arms while the other one faded on a mattress nearby. I held her tightly, kissing her face in the darkness, rubbing her skin, trying to keep her warm, trying to keep her alive against me.
I kissed the side of her face, and my lips found an upraised tear in her face with rough thread crisscrossing it. I kissed up the line, then across her forehead, ignoring the sound of the wind, pulling one hand back to shove down her pants in the front and the other one down the back of her pants.
My fingers were clumsy, but I squeezed and tickled, kissing the front of her face, ignoring the way it made my mouth throb. She shivered again, and pulled tighter against me as the banging picked up. I could hear Hernandez and Carter talking, but it was distant, far away, all that mattered was Nagle.
My Nancy...
Her skin was cold, even where in the secret places she should have been warm. She was shivering in my arms but mostly limp, barely responding to my movements. Her breathing was ragged and shallow, and she didn't even react when I bit her earlobe hard.
The last time I bit her ear that way, she'd been in a drunken stupor and I'd used the pain to wake her up enough to get her off the floor of my room, out of the puddle of drunken vomit, and into the bed. The time before that I'd used biting her ear to wake her up enough to get her out of the shower and into my bed.
Now she didn't even twitch, just shivered, her skin getting colder as the wind from the broken windows twitched under the blanket. I squeezed and pinched, trying to get her to move, to do something, anything.
...please don't die...
Heat blossomed in her skin, under my hands, and her shivering stopped. I was consumed with the feel of her skin under my fingertips, paying attention only to her. One hand was squeezing where she was firm, the other caressing where she was soft. I kept kissing her face, her lips, and her neck.
She pushed me away suddenly, reaching down and pulling my hands out of her pants. Her arms wrapped around me suddenly and pulled me tight, holding onto me. Her skin was warm again, hot against mine, and she pecked a kiss at my face.
"Go to sleep, Ant." She teased me with little kisses on my lip, holding onto me. "Hold me tight and go to sleep."
"I love you." I told her softly.
"I know, Ant." She whispered back.
I let her hold me, and let the darkness, warm and speckled with dancing white sparks, pull me in. I didn't care about the wind howling, or the flapping of fabric whipping by the wind, or even the other voices. The lizard knew that it was over, that I would either sleep, or die, and so curled up on the floor, its eyes hidden by its tail. Warm water started to cover me, lapping at me as it rose over my body.
I let the warmth and darkness lower me down.
I had Nancy, that's all that mattered.
...please don't die...
Use Until Destruction
It's OK to be expendable.
"Wake up, Ant." Nancy's voice pulled me from a dream of sitting in my brother's room, holding still while his girlfriend mopped the blood off my face and he told me that I needed to stop getting my ass kicked so often.
I opened my eyes, and could see her above me.
The lizard rejoiced at the sight of her. She was smiling, and I could see her eyes, her hair, and her skin. Past her I could see the white of the ceiling.
I couldn't make out any features, I couldn't tell her expression beyond guessing from her teeth that she was smiling. I looked around, and I could see fuzzy blobs scattered around, but at least I could see something instead of darkness everywhere.
"I can see you." I told her, wincing as speaking pulled at the stitches in my lips.
"You can?" She sounded happy, and a hand popped up, holding up three fingers. "How many..."
"Three. No pinky." I said, and she leaned down and hugged me.
She lit a cigarette, and held it out to me. I was proud of myself for being able to grab the tiny white blur without burning myself. I knew it was a test, she was seeing if I was lying to her.
The nicotine felt good, easing the pain.
I noticed it was really warm in the room, and light was coming from the window. I looked over, but all I could see was brown with white edges.
"How do you feel?" She asked, leaning in close. She suddenly came into focus, and I could see she had a roughly stitched up line from her eye to the bottom of her jaw.
"My head hurts." I told her, pushing myself into a sitting condition. "How's Bomber?"
"Unconscious, but breathing strong." She told me, bending down and covering one of my eyes. She flashed the flashlight in my open eye, uncovered it, and then repeated it with the other eye.
"Still concussed." She said, and then made a face. "I think you might have a skull fracture." She sighed and rubbed the side of her face. "We're all beat up."
I looked around, unable to identify the man shaped blobs standing up.
"How's Lewis?" I asked. I didn't really care, but I figured I should at least act like it mattered to me.
"Dead." She admitted. "Can you get up?"
"Yeah." I began fighting to get up. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" She asked me.
"No. Last thing I remember was..." I wracked my brain and winced at a sudden sharp stabbing pain. "You telling me I was blind and dragging me up the stairwell."
"I don't know. One minute he was speaking, the next minute he was dead. No wounds, no nothing." She admitted, stepping back and turning into a blurry blob as I got to my feet. She took the cigarette away from me and didn't give it back.
"Why's it so warm in here?" I asked, finding a chair shaped blur and sitting down. I should tell her that I still can't see worth a shit
, but right now, they needed me. They'd been there for me; I needed to be there for them.
"Hernandez and Carter figured it out, and we made it while you were asleep." She sat on my lap and kissed my forehead. "We went down to the war stocks, dragged up a pair of GP Mediums, put one over the door, put one over the window and used tables and tent poles to hold it there.
"We put up the tent liners on the walls, and on the floor. Then we set up a stove, ran the stovepipe through the hole in the tent and out the broken window, and fired it up." She told me. "Hernandez might have saved all of us."
"You didn't wake me up?" I asked.
She snorted. "Not even. There were a couple of painkillers in one of the bags, I gave them to you and Bomber to keep the two of you down. You needed the time to heal."
I nodded, and moved over to the blurry tables, finding a box quickly. I lifted up the brown bag, having to bring it almost to my nose to read the label. 'Chicken ala King'. Great, well, with my teeth, it beat cat shit and rice.
"Ant..." Nagle was next to me. I turned and looked at her, squinting.
"What?" I smiled.
"Give me the MRE." She said, and I handed it over. She moved. I couldn't tell what she was doing very well. She held up the package. "What does this say?"
I squinted again, tilting my head to try to read it.
I couldn't even make out the black printing.
"Chicken and Rice." I guessed.
She held it closer and closer, until I could see the blurry black lines and then it swam into focus.
Pork Patty with Beans.
"You can't see, can you?" She asked. Someone else was coming up behind her.
"I can see." I protested, fumbling in the box and pulling out another one. I held it up to my nose. 'Chicken ala King' I tore it open and turned around to see another blur standing there. Since it was skinny and light skinned, I figured out who it was.
"Carter." I nodded, moving over to the chair and pulling open the bag.
"Nagle says you can't see." He told me.
"I can see just fine." I lied, squinting at my food.
Three Little Snowmen (Damned of the 2/19th) Page 32