A Soldier in Love by A. Petrov Page B

    Michelle rushed to Kate
and gave her a quick hug.

 
    “I mean, it won’t be a
lot but it could be enough to get out of a bind,” Kate offered.

 
    “It will do,” Michelle
replied warmly.

 
    “I’ll fix them tonight.
If The Commander asks we can say yours are broken,” Aaron said decisively.

 
    ***

 
    The next day Michelle
awoke to the sound of the screams. She heard it again. It wasn’t just a scream
of fright or shock, no, it was a scream of pure agony
and pain.

 
    She jolted out of bed
and quickly threw her uniform on. She ran down the hall with no boots on. Her
bare feet hit the rough concrete floor.

 
    “Aaron? Aaron?” she
called out to him as he was stooped down the hallway by someone.

 
    “Help me,” the voice
called out.

 
    “Michelle,” Aaron was
barely able to get her name out. He had an intensely worried expression on his
face.

 
    Michelle looked down to
see Alex, another soldier who was part of their squad. She hadn’t really talked
to him that much. From the interactions she did have, she recalled he was
always kind. She examined his body; it was bloody and mangled. It seemed almost
though he was covered in blood. His leg was bad, really bad. She could see a
slim white bone protruding from his thigh. Most of all his exposed skin was
bloodied by deep scratch marks. She could almost see his muscle against part of
a piece that had been ripped away. His face was ghost white.

 
    It felt like a dream, a
bad dream.

 
    “Help me get him to the
medic station. Try not to let him talk, he’s got a lot of internal injuries,”
Aaron directed as he wrapped his wounds and hoisted him up on a gurney. Michelle
looked down at the part of the bone that was protruding from his leg. It was
broken, very broken. She looked closer, no it wasn’t just
broken; he had lost part of it. He had lost part of his leg. Her stomach turned
but she stayed by his side.

 
    Michelle moved him
towards to the medic station on the gurney and Aaron trailed closely behind
her.

 
    “Aaron,” a voice called
out.

 
    “Aaron, there’s more,”
it was Kate’s voice.

 
    “Go, Michelle. Take
care of him,” Aaron commanded.

 
    “Where were you?” Michelle
asked ignoring Aaron’s prior instructions. She stopped in the hallway. She
didn’t know much about medicine but she was certain that he wasn’t going to
make it; his injuries were just too bad. She had to get information and get it
fast. He was almost dead.

 
    “Trying to make it to
the shuttle,” his words were strained and soft.  

 
    Michelle tried to apply
pressure to some of his wounds. She wished for anyone or anything that could
help her take his pain away. Her hands were quickly
becoming covered in his blood. He was losing more and more. She wasn’t sure
what to do; she had never had any sort of medical training. She wrapped his
wounds as best she could to keep the blood from escaping from his body. Her own hands and arms becoming bloody in the process.

 
    “Not what you think,
Commander sent us,” he whispered as his frightened brown eyes met her green
gaze.

 
    Her stomach turned. “Us? Who is us? Do I need to go for
them?”

 
    “Please, Michelle,
please help me,” he said barely over a whisper. She could tell his words were stressed.

 
    “Michelle, it hurts, it
hurts,” he whimpered.

 
    “Alex, it’ll be OK.
You’ll be OK,” she offered softly unsure of what to say or what to do. She
brushed her fingertips over the side of his face affectionately.

 
    “Michelle,” he called
out hoarsely.

 
    “ Shhh ,
Alex, don’t speak. Aaron will be right back with help. We will get you through
this,” she said as soothingly as she could muster.

 
    “No,” he shook his
head. “No, you have to help the others then you have to get out of here,” he
said in barely a whisper.

 
    His body began to shake
and he began to convulse. Michelle toppled on top of him as she held him