He wasn’t gentle with her, or kind to her, he abused her in every way possible. She accepted it, even though, it was the one thing Lui, would not have tolerated. She had deemed us to filthy to touch. Eliza accepted his abuse willingly, to save me. I knew nothing of any of this until after she was gone. When she was seventeen, they found her crumpled body, in a dumpster, outside our dormitory. She was naked, covered in bruises, and his belt was around her neck.
He didn’t even have the decency to put cloths on her, or the good sense to take his belt from around her neck. He just threw her away like a piece of trash. They did prosecute the guard, and he spent five years in prison for, damaging government property. I found out that day, from a nasty little girl, just what my sister did to ensure my survival. And then, after I beat the living shit out of that girl, for saying those things about my sister…I found out, that I could ensure my own survival. That girl was a couple of years older than me, but I had been well fed and I was strong. She never looked in my direction again.
So, I know just what survivor’s guilt feels like. I also know that, there is no greater suffering, then what I have already experienced. There is a kind of freedom in that, you know that freedom also. I could see it in training, you have already been broken, and put yourself back together… they can’t break you again.”
We sit silently for a long time as we absorb all the information we have shared. Suddenly we both turn to each other. The shit has just hit the fan. Twenty, new heat signatures have just stormed the perimeter. And, though it is probably silent outside, our sound amplifying equipment picks up the telltale sounds of weapons being put in place. I immediately notify the team.
“Off the street now! Ten coming up the middle, five on each flank, take the long way around. Move! Move! They’re coming in fast, ten seconds.”
I say all this and realize the only one that heard was Abram. There is nothing but static in my headset, our com is down. Abram tries with the same result. I try again and the com is back on but it’s too late. I look out the window just as Doc Love steps onto the street, and two large caliber bullets tear through his right thigh. He falls back, and Garcia who is right behind him catches him, and drags him back off the street, as bullets whiz by. I grab my weapon and head for the door. As I run down the stairs, I can hear Abram, calling out the locations of the incoming attackers. With our communications back up, they don’t stand a chance and are quickly, eliminated but, more are on the way we have three minutes tops. We radio in for a new closer pick up location. We all gather around doc Love, while Doc Young, quickly and efficiently tourniquets Doc Love’s leg. It is clear he is going to lose it. What was once a massive tree trunk of a leg, solidly covered in tattoos, is nothing more than a ravaged, mess of flesh hanging together by a couple of tendons. Captain Harkins, Crowder, Kelsey, and I are all about the same height, so we load Doc Love onto our shoulders, while Abram, does the best she can to support what is left of his leg. We make a run for the new pick up spot a block away. The night stalkers are there when we arrive. We jump in and are in the air in seconds. Doc Young immediately administers morphine and starts a blood transfusion. Thirty minutes later, we are at the nearest outpost and Doc Love is in surgery.
Chapter Thirteen Familiar Faces
T he team was put on administrative leave for two months, following the disaster of our last mission. We all went out and got tattoos in honor of Doc Love. A single phrase, on the inside, of our right forearms, “custos fratris mei sum."
The day after Weber, shows up with his orders. He came to replace Doc Love. It’s, bittersweet, I am happy to see him, but every time I look at him, all I can think is…the only reason he is here, is because Doc Love isn’t.
The new team falls into a rhythm, and mission after mission, is completed without complication. The missions are almost always related to Agrisin. The legislation that allows Agrisin to sell its super seeds has long since passed, but it created worldwide discord. Some governments refused to allow the seeds into their borders. While the ones that did, heavily monitored the results. The lines of aggression between neighboring countries only deepened, when the seeds carried either by wind or birds ended up in countries that did not want them. Doc Love got released from in patient therapy, and much to the team’s dismay, decided to move to Natchez, MS. Everyone, on the team, at some point tried to convince him to stay closer, where we could check in on him. His response was always the same, “I am a grown man, I, don’t need fucking babysitters, especially, a bunch of hairy, stinky, tattooed ones. Natchez is home, and that’s where I am going.” About a month after he leaves, I catch a ride with a chopper heading to Esler Airfield and rent a car to make the hour drive to Natchez. I
