This story is being written for the lovely Andrella07- or Blue in a more eyebrow raised, smirky, low moan of a voice type way- and I'm happy to be sharing it with all of you as well. Thanks in advance for reviews or thoughts and I hope you all enjoy. Especially you, woman!
"Ballpoint pen. I need a ballpoint pen," Psychological operations, second class Lewis shouted as she tried to control the slow spill of blood from the wounded soldiers neck wound. He had caught a fire bomb in the face out on patrol and he had, stupidly Lewis fumed in her mind, inhaled the fire and smoke. If she didn't get a ballpoint pen in her hand freaking now, the soldier was going to suffocate to death.
Thankfully one of the soldiers, Paul was his name, swiftly took out a pen and handed it to her. Saying a quick 'Thanks', Lewis quickly unscrewed the components and took out the small casing tube. She had already cut a small slit into the cricothyroid membrane and all she had to do was breathe into the tube to get the soldier breathing again. Taking a deep breath as she leaned over the soldier, shit he was still lucid she thought as his eyes watched her and then back up at the sky, Lewis talked to him calmly as he panicked, telling him exactly what she was doing.
"Hey, look at me," Lewis said kindly, her brown eyes finding his light blue ones as they fell from the sky to look at her. "Hi there, soldier." Looking down at the soldier's tags, the same tags Lewis wore with slightly different markings, she said, "Rameriez, I'm going to have you back on your feet in no time, okay? You just have to trust me. Can you do that for me, gunny?"
The gunny nodded, what little he could nod, and Lewis nodded her head, a small smile loosening the tension in her face but not in her mind.
"I'm going to breathe for you now, okay? It's not going to hurt, but you will feel a tingling sensation as I put the tube in. Do you get me?"
Lewis knew the soldier would reply with "I get you" but the wound was compromising everything that had to do with his throat, he began to suck in harsh breaths again, trying to respond and Lauren had to quickly deter him. Putting a hand gently down on his shoulder, she looked at him with a cold seriousness in her eyes. The soldier immediately calmed, what other choice did he have, and tried to breath normally again. They had gone through that same song and dance since he had come to her on a small dark green cot, his face more bloodied than it was now, until Lewis had washed it away.
"M-my hands, my fingers, are they..." The gunny choked out after calming, and despite the better judgment of Lewis, she allowed him to ask the question in full.
"You'll be sniping these guys with grace in no time." She smiled, a fake smile even if she told the truth, but a smile none the less. The gunny slowly nodded, all that he could nod, and looked up toward the sky again as he tried to calm himself from his inability to drink in a long stream of air.
Sighing softly, she pinched open the small bit membrane and inserted the tube. Quickly grabbing a tourniquet, she quickly tied it around the soldier's neck to keep the shaft in place. Bending down after she had done this, Lewis quickly put her lips over the pen's outer casing and blew a small breath of air. Looking back up at Rameriez showed he still couldn't breath on his own. Placing her lips around the casing again, she breathed another puff of air, then another, and another.
Lewis was about to give up, she would have traded out the duties of blowing air into the man's lungs, but the gunny's chest rose suddenly as he took his first gulp of air on his own. Coughing laughter escaped his lips and he looked down towards where the corpsman knelt beside him.
"T-thank you," He whispered, trying his hardest to choke out the syllables.
"Hey," Lewis put her hand on the kid's shoulder and looked down at him, a smile on her lips again, "it's my job. Now you rest up so that and the next thing you know, you'll be back home."
The gunny slowly closed his eyes as he nodded slightly, believing in the doctor's words with every fiber of his being, and either it was the sheer weight of what he had to ordeal or the pain killer kicking in, the gunny fell immediately to sleep without another word.
"Petty officer Lewis," One of her subordinate's said just as she finished, a hint of some unrecognizable emotion in her voice, and the blonde turned to see what had her third class riled.
"We just lost our gunny here and they're already sending a new one? The fuck is that about," Another subordinate scoffed, looking towards the jeep that was riding along the dirt path.
Lewis, her hands still bloodied from the minor surgery; as she hadn't had time to get a pair of elastic gloves, and had scrubbed in with alcohol, and a few other germ killing materials, looked hard into the jeep and saw a very tall, her leg gave her height away as it was propped on the dash of the jeep, woman who also had a large high powered sniper rifle in her hand that gave away her position.
"He's not even out of here yet..." Lewis looked at the ground, wonderment of how the higher ups had known their gunny was taken down, and back up toward the approaching jeep. Lewis watched the lighter blonde only as the wind whipped around her face, small strands catching in her lips for an instant to blow away in the next, her eyes only trained on the corpsman. The darker blonde raised an eyebrow but shook her head quickly, she was sure the new gunny was just scoping out the unit's medic, and looked back down to Rameriez.
"Let's get him bagged and tagged, folks. We don't have all day."
The third classes swiftly moved around her, lifted up the cot the former gunny rested in, and walked into the large medical tent. Lewis watched them go, her head dipping down in frustration, the gunny had been the fourth man wounded in the past two days, and instead of looking at the approaching jeep, she simply walked over to the small spout that was connected to an underground well in the small encampment. Turning it on, thankfully they had added a turning lever instead of a pumping one, the cool water splashed out onto the ground and she bent slowly as she moved her hands and lower arms into the water.
Lewis watched sidelong as the jeep stopped, just before entering camp, and the new female gunny get out. She moved pretty agile, Lewis thought, as the woman seemed to exit the jeep- her hands on the upper handlebars, and she had used only her upper body strength to get out- gracefully and with no hitch at all. If not agile, she was strong at least, Lewis thought. She watched as the gunny moved around to the jeeps driver door, salute the driving officer, and talk to him for a few moments. Lewis had just unwrapped a bar of soap, soap that was set up neatly on the sides of the water spout, and began to lather her hands and arms as the gunny finished her talk.
Without another look back, or another salute, the gunny walked into camp, her high powered rifle slung across her left shoulder. She at least knew how to stay aware of danger, Lewis thought as the gunny would take less than two seconds to pull it off her shoulder, place the trigger in her dominant hand, and pull the catch. Rameriez, bless him, had not been so smart.
Catching the medic's eye, the gunny sauntered over and watched, her eyes trailing toward the small stream Lewis was making with the water, as the second class washed her hands free of blood.
Moments passed and, finally, the gunny spoke. "You know how to shoot that thing," She asked, eying Lewis' side arm. The semi-automatic, Heckler & Koch pistol, which Lewis had never used in the field, hung on her belt securely and as Lewis looked down at it, she realized she always forgot she was wearing one.
"Yes, I know how to shoot," Lewis said polity. The gunny was two grades higher than Lewis herself, but instead of saluting her, she simply shook her hands to dry them. Droplets of water flew onto the gunny's shoes and Lewis smiled up polity. Eying the deadly looking sniper rifle, more deadly than even the one issued to their unit's last gunny, she said, "Do you know how to shoot that thing?"
The gunny smiled, her smile was brilliant Lewis found, and she said, "Light Fifty here, yeah, I can shoot her. I would have gone for the Barrett, but this one's prettier." The gunny winked and Lewis rolled her eyes. Some people still knew there was a war on.
"How did command know we needed another gunny? Ours got wounded no longer than an hour ago."
"Word gets by in an hour, doc."
"Doc?"
"You are the doctor here, aren't you?"
Lewis sighed and placed her now clean hands to her temple, leaving a cooling water mark at the bridge of her nose. "I'm a corpsman, I'm not a real doctor yet. I have to go to school for that, which obviously an enlisted geek like me did not do." Lewis clapped her hands together, a feigned smile plastered on her face, as she looked up at the taller woman.
"You always in such a bad mood?"
Lewis was struck by this and quickly shook her head. Pinching the bridge of her nose again, she said, "I'm...sorry, gunny. I didn't mean to come off like a normal..."
"Jar-head?"
"Exactly."
"No problem, doc. I get it all the time. A female sniper, what are the chances, right?" The gunny shifted her weight to her left foot and adjusted her rifle across her shoulder. "So. Whaddya guys do for fun? Please tell me you have beer."
"Gunny, that's the one thing we've got abundance of." Lewis waved her hand toward a small tent, the designated bar tent, and the gunny smiled ruefully.
"Let the games begin, doc."
Tamsin had watched her target since the small military unit camp came into sight. Her hair whipped in front of her face, obscuring her vision for only a few moments here or there, but her eyes never left that of the brilliant brown ones of the corpsman. She was pretty, Tamsin thought as the jeep jumped to and fro on the dirt path, and she had a very nice body. The woman, the valkyrie, knew the thoughts were just passing ones, the real reason why she was there pretty much destroyed fraternization, but she enjoyed the way the blonde's eyebrow raised slightly before she clapped her hands after turning to her subordinates.
Her commanding officer, or so everyone else believed, was a dark fae merman that went by the name of Harold. He had just so happened to have gotten the order the gunny in the unit had taken a nasty fire bomb to the face, and here Tamsin was, exiting the vehicle and coming around to the driver's side with a rifle around her shoulder. To make things look official, the valkyrie saluted and whispered a couple of nonsense words to the merman. Harold nodded, playing along with the game, and as they both saw the corpsman go towards the spout and get out a new, fresh piece of soap, only then did Tamsin make her move.
Coming into the camp she had befriended herself to the woman, the very shorter woman Tamsin found as she got closer, and she had to roll her eyes at herself for even noticing. The woman was feisty, Tamsin found she didn't even salute her after seeing her higher rank or change her already unshy nature to fit the gunny's attendance, but she had chipped her only a little as she had asked for a bar. The medic had smiled broadly, but not a real smile, and motioned back toward the large tent at the left center of the camp. They had gone to the doc's tent quickly, Tamsin didn't have her own set up yet, and she had put down her gear and her weapon. Looking around the tent, Tamsin found no sign of anyone really living in it, no pictures to remind a soldier of home, nothing. For such a strong human, she really didn't keep any sentimentality.
So here they were, drinking shots and laughing over the stupidity of the war in Afghanistan, among other things. Tamsin had told the blonde her full name- Rundstrom, A. Tamsin- and the blonde had been kind, and sober enough, to confirm to Tamsin who she really was. Lewis, E. Lauren...
Instead of dwelling on it, Tamsin quickly turned the conversation back to the war. It was common place for soldiers to talk about it, of course it was, but others, such as the idiots in the corner that had been getting profusely heated over the blonde's discussion did not like the topic. In their minds, they were there to follow orders, and that was that. They were there to fight and die for their country in the ultimate act of patriotism, and that was all their lives required, all it asked of them to do.
"And you know," Lewis slurred, she had had way too many drinks that would make even the most hardened jar-head swoon with want, "I'm so tired of carrying a weapon. I'm- I'm a doctor not a gunny." She had moved her hand, and her drink, in the direction of the valkyrie and it split slightly onto her commandos. "Oop," Lewis said, her fingers flying to her lips as she realized what she had done. Not that she was in the right mind to really comprehend it, as she began giggling immediately.
Tamsin smiled and said, "Yeah, I think you've had enough. Where's your tent, doc?"
The corpsman didn't have time to answer as a strong hand clamped down onto Tamsin's shoulder and spun her around, if she hadn't have let go of the blonde when she did, they would have gone spinning together. An alcohol stinking man's breath was in her face almost instantly and Tamsin had to hold back her nausea from being around all these humans.
"You're talkin' about our lives, our country here, gunny," The man breathed, looking into her eyes squarely.
Tamsin was tall, taller than most women, and she realized she was just as tall as the burly man that disputed their conversation. It would have been easy, Tamsin knew, it would have been so easy to take out the man and his companions in little under a minute. But, the valkyrie knew, she wasn't there for that. She was there for Lewis and that was it. Everything else was... useless.
"Hey man," She said, holding up her hands, "we're both drunk and we just want to go back to our tents. Sorry and ra-ra-ra, okay, dude?"
That seemed to get the man even angrier. As Tamsin turned, placing a hand on Lewis' arm, she quickly turned when she sensed the air displace around her. Catching the man's outstretched arm, the arm that was coming to swing right towards her, she directed it smoothly into the bar's wooden feature and the man groaned in pain. Kicking him in the kneecap made him fall uselessly to the floor and Tamsin brought up a hard knee into his face. The marine went down instantly and Tamsin eyed the second.
One of his jar-head buddies lunged at her, and she quickly dodged that too, her right hand going up to one side of his hand, the left on the other, and she pushed hard on the wrist, making it groan and pop as it was dislocated. The marine howled in pain and grabbed his wrist as if it was dislodged and Tamsin rolled her eyes.
"You'll sleep it off," She said nonchalantly. Eying the rest of the bar, the occupants either looking at her with admiration or foam laced hatred, and she made sure before she turned around again that no one would try to attack. Turning and putting a hand on Lewis' arm again, she said in a chipper tone, "How 'bout we go now."
"Works for me," Lewis said groggily.
Walking out into the hot air, strange how hot it still was out there, Tamsin led Lewis back to the tent. The human was whispering something, a tune or something, and Tamsin tuned it out as she opened the small flap of the tent. Laying the doc gently onto her cot, the valkyrie put the covers around her with care. She was about to grab her weapon and leave, but the darker blonde caught her arm before she had grabbed her rifle and walk out of the flap of the tent.
"Thanks for tonight. I haven't laughed like that in... years."
"Yeah, no problem, doc."
"You can sleep here if you want. I don't have a roommate... bunk-mate... mate."
Tamsin looked over at the empty cot on the opposite side of the room and shrugged, why the hell not, and shrugged off her boots. Twisting down onto the cot to get comfortable, as much as one could get comfortable on a bed like razors, she lay on her side looking at Lewis, her head resting on her bent arm.
She had to admit, that night was pretty damn fun. The doc sure knew how to party and have a good time.
But, the valkyrie's side whispered in her ear, she's going to die soon. It's no good getting infatuated with-
I'm not infatuated!
-with a mark. You know that.
Tamsin rolled her eyes at her own conscious talking to her, but she couldn't help it, the darker blonde had a way of pulling people in immediately. It wasn't like it was a big deal, Tamsin would do her job, she would wait until Lewis died in the red soaked fields, and she would deliver her up to Valhalla. It wasn't like Tamsin was... betraying herself in some way. She was doing her job, her birth right, her genetics.
Lewis, however human and frail, had earned herself a seat in Valhalla. That accomplishment alone was enough to propel Tamsin's guilty pleasure in the woman. How she moved, how she talked, and how she held herself. She enjoyed just... watching the woman. A woman who knew she wad dying every moment, but still was content to live her remaining hours, days, years, to the fullest by helping and healing others.
The valkyrie chuckled to herself, putting her hand to her brow, and sighed halfheartedly. What was she doing? It was only the first night. She had so many more to go before the medic reached her untimely end. And there was nothing.
Nothing.
Tamsin was going to do about it but let it play out like it should. After all, Lauren was her mark. And if there was one thing Tamsin knew, when you were assigned a mark... you never let it go.
Never.