Have You Lost Your Way

Posted on Fri Mar 1st, 2019 @ 5:40pm by Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus

Mission: Aftermath
Location: Infirmary, Cheyenne Mtn

Jeremy was slow to wake, like swimming upstream and from a great depth. He became ‘aware’ of things first and it was that awareness that brought the rest of him to the fore. He heard the soft beeping, the antiseptic smell and the soft whispering that indicated some form of medical setting. Yet, before he was fully conscious he also discovered that at least one of his arms was restrained. He was comfortable and warm but that meant very little. He was an airman in the United States Air Force and, as he was trying to come out of the darkness he remembered he made it back to base. If he was to be a prisoner, it wouldn’t be of the ‘torture until you talk’ variety. He’d be made comfortable even if in custody. Because he was an American and that’s how they treated their prisoners.

But he doubted he was in custody because, as he was blinking his eyes open, trying to adjust to the unfamiliar surroundings, he discovered only one of his arms was bound. There was a slight burning in that arm which indicated to him he had an IV running into his arm. Still tired, still groggy, he turned to look and saw an emptying saline bag. Further, he had warm but functional blankets over him and…

“Where’re my clothes?” he asked, slurring as he kept trying to come awake. He reached over and began to undo the velcro straps that held the IV arm. He was in a recovery bed, elevated upper body so he didn’t expect to find himself with any major medical interventions performed. The IV was hooked up to simple saline, indicating a treatment for dehydration, at the most, because there was no associated blood pack which would have indicated some form of blood loss. He did have a large bandage on his arm and now that he was walking up, felt some burning there.

Best of all was the tablet hanging off the side of the bed. He grabbed that and gave a look at the readings. It may have been a mistake to do that. He was sore all over. Not in pain, just sore. Which was not a surprise. He ran all out, several times, not just in full gear but then carrying half again the amount of gear. Then another full out run, with gear and the added weight of a body, the subsequent rounds of chest compressions.

What would have been a problem is if he weren’t sore at this point. Still, he could handle the sore, he just didn’t want to be here, in the infirmary, where he had no memory of being. He recalled coming through the gate, a medical team arriving to take over CPR for the old Asian man, then he recalled saying he was going to just take a moment to catch his breath and then-

His team! He was going to go back and help cover the gate until the rest of the team got through! He looked at his arm, the bandage there. Did something happen after that? He sat up, tossing aside the covers and hating the hospital gown.

“Sergeant!” a voice called out, the staccato of the just two syllables matching a hurried pace. “Don’t you dare pull out that IV again!”

Jeremy stopped, in the middle of doing just what she said. “I need to get back-”

“No, you need to lie back down,” the nurse said, grabbing his hand as if she were able to prevent him from pulling out the IV from just sheer force of will. “Your team is safe, everyone returned safely. The one woman was treated for her burns but she’s recovering nicely. Same as you, if you leave the IV alone!”

Woman? Burns? He recalled then how Shae took a hit in the field. He suspected she was actually hurt but she would never submit to let him actually verify she was going to be okay, she even said it herself. She hated him. Not that she didn’t have cause.

“Everybody else is fine,” the nurse said, putting pressure. “Just as you’ll be, if you just lie back and let us finish treatment.”

“Treatment?” Jeremy asked. “Saline bag, slightly elevated history of BP. I’m fine,” he said. “Just a bit of dehydration, loss of electrolytes. I’m fine.”

“Yes, so ‘fine’ that you passed out in the embarkation room. So fine that you couldn’t be rully revived and was brought down here dehydrated and exhausted. Now that you’re awake the doctor may let you discharge, but only after you finish receiving fluids.”

“Passed out?” he asked, turning red from embarrassment and shame. “In front of everyone?” He lie back against the bed then, throwing his good arm over his eyes to try to hide the shame written all over his face.

“Well, I heard it was more like ‘curling up and going to sleep, like an overstimulated toddler at naptime.”

“Oh yeah, that helps make it so much better,” Jeremy said, still covering his face while she reaffixed the IV line with fresh tape.

“If it makes you feel big and strong again, you did fight us as we tried to treat you. There was some heated discussion that you wouldn’t ‘let a woman undress’ you without ‘benefit of marriage’. That was sweet.”

“Oh, holy grail!” he swore, well, the best he was able and looked down. Yep...gown. Nothing but gown. Not even socks. Man, he hated wearing socks while sleeping! But -

“Undress?” he said, sitting up again.

“Lie back, Sergeant, we let a chaste and modest CNA come in and avert her gaze while you changed.” She had a smile that suggested she was being facetious. But of which part. “Your weapons were secured but a member of your team, you don’t have to worry about that and we’ve already had clean clothes brought down for you, which I will let you have when the doctor says you can be discharged.”

Jeremy glanced over. “Oxygen sat is good, heart rate good, BP good. I’m fine, I can go now.”

“Worst. Idea. Ever. Giving you specops boys medical training. Now you all think you know best all the time and make the worst patients ever. You are to remain here, under orders, Sergeant. I will call security if I have to do so.”

“No, ma’am,” he said, not seeing her rank on her scrubs so the honorific was just a throwback to his upbringing. The threat of security was only a capstone, if he’d been ordered to remain here, than that’s what he would do.

Despite his recent performance, he did know how to follow orders.

“The Major,” he muttered. He’d been insubordinate. He called the Major a spoiled brat. He recalled some part of a rant about how they ruined his first time offworld as if he were a teenage girl and they were...well...parents. He acted shamefully and in full view of the entire team! He didn’t take his complaint to the Major in private, he didn’t seek to get permission to speak his mind. No, he just threw a hissy. It didn’t matter that both of them were arguing at cross purposes, not listening to the other. The UCMJ didn’t say “thou shalt not be insubordinate unless thy CO is being a thickheaded fool”.

“The Major is fine, as is everyone else. As I said, checked out and pronounced good.”

The rest of the team, Jeremy, said, shaking his head. He abandoned them as well. Ran through the Gate while they were under fire. While two armies were battling...over the village. He ran through the Gate and left them to fend for themselves. He wasn’t there to help cover their six, to help stabilize them if someone should get hurt!

What the ECH EE DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS was wrong with him? He was better than this! Heck, they thought he was better than this which is why they brought him in to this team in the first place! How has he acted? Ready to kill one member of the team, insubordinate, abandoning the team! He lie back against the bed. Where would he go? Once he was done here, didn’t he have to find the Major, keep good on his word to submit himself for disciplinary action for his actions.

“Shouldn’t be much longer to be here,” the nurse said, mistaking his reaction for one of dismay for being stuck in the infirmary. “You’re almost through with this bag, and yes, your vitals do look good. I’m sure the doctor is going to order you to rest though, you know what that means?”

“Medical orders,” Jeremy said, shrugging. He would be stood down until the doctors pronounced him fit enough to resume duty. “How long?”

“That’s up to the doctor, but I don’t imagine it would be long.”

Jeremy looked over at the display again, taking in the readings. No, he didn’t think he should be on medical orders for very long either. Not for a simple case of dehydration and exhaustion. No, that’s not what he had to worry about.

“I passed out?” he asked again. “In the Gate room?”

“Yes,” the nurse said, fixing the blankets he tossed aside when he woke up.

“In front of everybody?” he asked. “Even the General?”

“Curled right up. But don’t worry, you put up a good fight when we tried to bring you to Medical. The General has to be proud of the way you, half asleep, resisted as much as you could. Until someone had the bright idea to order you to medical. That was cute. Really, it was,” she said, smiling while she tucked the blankets around him. “Not as cute as the dance you did when you took your clothes off though, you must have watched ‘Magic Mike’ several times over to practice those moves.”

“WHAT?” he asked, sitting up again. “I didn’t! No...not...no!” He was turning red faced again.

The nurse laughed, “I’m only kidding. A little. It was quite the show. If only there were pockets in scrubs for dollar bills!”

“You’re kidding, please say you’re kidding!” Acting indecently on top of everything else?

“Okay, I’m just teasing you,” she said, but her smile lingered. What did it matter, the truth would always come out. “Now, I don’t have to secure you to the bed if you give me your word that you will behave yourself and wait for your discharge. Otherwise, I will secure you again.”

“No, ma’am,” he said, staring at the ceiling. “I’ll behave myself.”

“Alright then, I’ll come by and check on you again in a little bit, you try to get some rest.”

“Yeah, and the moment I do you’ll be back to poke at something, prod at something or just generally be intrusive. I know how this works,” Jeremy said, trying to regain his sense of humor. “I didn’t really…dance?” he uttered the last word as a whisper, as if it were something dark and dirty. Something unnatural and supremely naughty.

“No,” the nurse said. “Not really…dance.” She smiled again, patted his shoulder in a matronly way before she went to check on someone else, humming under her breath and throwing her hip in a suggestion of a dance kind of way. Jeremy felt himself blushing once again.