Welcome to my brand new fanfic! I think it's an exciting adventure filled with action, adventure, romance, drama and angst, and it's bechloe and jaubrey, so what better? Feel free to leave reviews, they're gladly appreciated.
Chapter 1: Between sand and dirtiness.
The small town of Kakrola, Delhi (India) woke up particularly cold enough that January 4th, 2016, or at least that's what two twenty six year old thought as they entered the car early around two in the morning. They had a long day ahead on the road on their way to Depalpur, Pakistan, where they had to go for something related with their job as archeologists. They wouldn't take less than ten hours on the road, and it wasn't the safest trip in the world since Pakistan was in war with like everybody, so they would try to make it as fast as possible and go with their eyes wide open.
"Aubrey must be angry you're spending the whole day out on a trip while she's in New Delhi working her ass off at that hospital." The woman of the two said looking with a smirk at her mate as they got comfortable in the car and the man started the engine.
He was a handsome, tall and skinny boy, with a dark brown beard, a thick brown hair, and dark brown eyes. He had a kind smile and looked athletic. As for the girl who was looking at him with a smirk and playful glance while he drove, she was a skinny, shorter redhead, with gorgeous light blue eyes and a very light skin. He was wearing a sweater and a jacket, old jeans and boots, while she was wearing a scarf, a coat, old jeans and boats, her hair was free. Each had a big bag and a suitcase, and those rested in the trunk.
The boy smiled kindly at the redhead, looking at her for a moment before turning his sight back to the road in front of them, as he drove through the small town and crossed the Najafgarh Drain he had gotten too used to, to be disgusted by now.
"She was more worried that something would happen to us and I wasn't wearing enough clothes than anything else." He replied with a chuckle, and the redhead let go a guffaw "So, Beale, have you brought any good music for this road trip?"
"Sure thing, Swanson." The woman, Beale, looked through the pockets of her brown jacket and found a small cassette, putting it into the car's cassette entry, and soon the pair was singing out loud the songs, the worries in the back of their minds for now.
The two archeologists took turns to drive the car towards Pakistan, using the resting times to take small naps from time to time, also feeling a bit guilty for being asleep while the other was driving. However, only a bit past noun they reached their destination near some ruins at the same time they finished their last sandwiches. They got entertained with work until late in the afternoon, and as they walked back to their car, tired and carrying their heavy bags, the redhead stopped her friend.
"What?" he asked her with a puzzled look. By all answer, she, with the saddest expression and glassy eyes, pointed to a lump near the road, half hidden in a gap that a wall of a building had formed. The boy already knew his friend wasn't still used and would probably never be used to the fact that Pakistan was in war and sometimes those things happened. They found dead bodies in India too. He put a gently arm around his friend "It's okay Chlo… he's dead. Let's go home, okay? We'll see some Disney movie while we have dinner." The redhead was about to follow him back to the car when she shook her head and started walking quickly towards the lump "Chloe!"
"If he's dead, he deserves a proper burial Jesse, not to root in the middle of the street and be eaten by rats!" Chloe yelled back with her eyes fixed on the lump. Jesse sighed and ran towards her. This wasn't the first time something like that happened and he knew arguing was a loss of time.
Approaching the body, Chloe gasped realizing the gravel under their feet was covered in blood stains. When she got closer, she realized he was a she, judging by the shoulder length brown hair that formed a perfect tangled mess, and that she was also a soldier who had probably been attacked and stripped from her belongings. She was bare feet, and her feet were dirty and covered in small injuries, the skin of the sole a bit teared. Her pants were military, green camouflage pants, and were dirty and had many holes. Her hair covered her face, as the girl lied on her side. She was really skinny, unhealthily skinny, she was so pale she was practically white, and seemed to have tried to protect herself in a fetal position, that was now relaxed as the girl was dead. Hands that seemed to have been gripping her camouflage jacket close to protect herself from the cold had now let her body fall so her front was against the gravel, a pale hand with some blood stains and scratches lying lifelessly on the gravel, the other probably under her body. She was covered in dirtiness and blood stains.
With trembling hands and tearful eyes, Chloe took the cold hand between her own and tried to feel a pulse. She thought she could feel something, so she moved a bit her hair to press her fingers against the neck, and gasped.
"Jesse's she's alive!" Chloe yelled. Jesse was standing next to her, and kneeled "She's barely holding on. Let's bring her home and we'll try to assist her while we think what the hell to do with her."
"Right." Jesse nodded "Let's turn her face up, shall we?" Chloe nodded and slowly and carefully they pushed her back against the gravel "She's an US Army soldier!" Jesse exclaimed suddenly pointing at the patch where that could be read, that was on the chest of her jacket. In the other chest, another patch said Mitchell "I think she's a Sergeant." He added, looking at the arms of the jacket, that had the symbols of her rank and stuff.
"Poor thing." Chloe said putting the hair aside of the girls' face to reveal a pale, lifeless face with dry parted lips, a bloody nose, a bloody cut on the corner of her forehead, and dust. The eyes were closed and Chloe carefully cupped the face between her hands, using a hand to palm her cheek very tenderly "Hi, wake up, wake up soldier… Come on Mitchell, open those pretty eyes of yours…" She got no answer.
"Are you sure she's alive?" Jesse asked doubtful.
"Yes. But she's freezing and she probably hasn't eaten in God knows how long, or drank anything, so she's frozen and dehydrated, and wounded. I wasn't expecting for her to open her eyes really. Give me a bottle of water." Jesse rummaged into his bag and pulled a half full plastic bottle. Chloe opened it and tried to get some water into the soldier's mouth.
"Mm…" the woman painfully grunted a bit, but was still unconscious "Rehem… rehem…" she whispered with the lowest whisper and a broken voice that broke Chloe's heart.
"What honey?" Chloe asked.
"She's speaking Urdu Chloe. That means mercy. She's asking for mercy." Jesse said in a sad voice.
"Let's bring her home."
Soon, they had her lying on the backseat, and Chloe took an old blanket from the trunk and put it over the girl, carefully tucking her. She had previously put her Chloe's own jacket on. They drove faster that time. Mitchell didn't move or flinch, not even when Jesse took her bridal style, in the morning, from the car to Chloe's apartment.
Chloe had been living in that rented apartment for almost three years, a first floor of a building that only had two floors, and she lived above a tiny fruit shop. The apartment was the tiniest and was warm only because Chloe had decorated it with her big heart to make it a home. When you entered it, you found yourself in front of the tiny kitchen, that was between a tiny bathroom and a tiny room that was used as a dinning-living room. At the other side of the bathroom was an equally tiny bedroom with its door at the end of the minuscule corridor. Jesse carefully left soldier Mitchell on the bed, and offered to stay for a bit and help Chloe out with her but Chloe sent him home. He promised he'd be back with Aubrey after a long nap.
Chloe approached the woman and sat on the verge of her big bed, next to the woman. She took a brush and brushed the soldiers' hair tenderly and softly, and then put it in a low ponytail. She felt that if the girl felt neater she would get better faster. Chloe removed her own jacket from the soldier, and then the soldier's dirty jacket, revealing a long, dark green t-shirt, with holes, just like the jacket, dirtiness and bloodstains. Chloe took some scissors and cut the t-shirt open to remove it easier. When she did so, she gasped. The woman was really skinny, her bra was broken and easily removed, her skin was covered in bruises and cuts, and worst of it, her back was completely destroyed. It seemed like she had been lashed, and her back's skin was torn and covered in dry blood that had soaked the t-shirt.
"Oh my God… what have they done to you, sweetie?" Chloe gently caressed her cheek, but the woman was still out cold. Chloe removed her pants and panties, seeing all her body was covered in bruises and cuts, but at least it didn't look like she had been rapped which was good.
Chloe had lived there enough time to have a good first aid kit, and she quickly took it. She filled a container with warm water and a little bit of soap, and sat beside Mitchell. With a towel soaked in the water, she carefully spent a good half an hour cleaning the soldier, being the most disgusting part her back, since she had to cut dead skin, and even put some bugs out of her skin. At the end, it looked pretty neat and the woman was clean and even smelled better, although without the dust, her paleness and bruises were more obvious. Chloe had a big, loose-fitting, super soft shirt, that she put on the soldier after cleaning her back properly and even stitching up the deeper cuts in her body, that were a couple on her back and one on her forehead. Mitchell's eye was a bit swollen and her cheeks were bruised, and she had a cut in the lip that had to be cleaned up. Chloe realized the soldier flinched a little when she touched one of her wrists and one of her ankles, so she bandaged them up. Also, her wrists were bruised and had chafing, like if she had been tied up, so she bandaged the other wrist too. Her knees were incredibly bruised. Then, she made sure to leave the bed neat and tuck the woman under the covers.
Chloe then took a nap for several hours and when she woke up, she realized the girl hadn't moved an inch, but she seemed to be breathing stronger, as she know could hear her breathing. She moved and tried to wake the woman up. Finally, two pale and dark blue eyes opened a little, blinking and then focusing on Chloe's light blue eyes. Chloe smiled a little at the woman.
"Good morning sweetheart." Chloe said tenderly holding her healthy hand between hers and rubbing the back of it with her thumb. The soldier frowned a little and let a breath out.
"Please..." the woman whispered with a raspy voice "Don't hurt me… just… let me die… alone…" the woman added, closing her eyes a little. Chloe's expression reflected all the sadness she was feeling, and she shook her head.
"Hey, I won't hurt you and I won't let you die alone, I promise." Chloe said kindly, whispering too "I'm Chloe, and I'm American just like you. You're on my bed, and I'm gonna take such good care of you and bring you back to health so you can go back to your home in the States. You're gonna be alright, everything is going to be fine. I promise."
The woman fixed her eyes on hers for a moment and then Chloe said her eyes got a bit glassy.
"Thank… you…" the woman whispered, and closed her eyes "Angel…" Chloe heard her say, and she smiled widely. Then, the doorbell rang.
"I'm gonna leave for just a moment, I'll be back in less than a minute." Chloe whispered rubbing a strand of hair out of her face kindly. Chloe got up and approached the door "Who is it?" she asked.
"Us!" a voice she knew all too well replied. Chloe opened the door and soon her blonde best friend was hugging her tightly, her blue eyes closed as her lips pressed against Chloe's cheek "You okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. And soldier Mitchell is better too." Chloe replied with a smile as they pulled apart. Jesse hugged her too and the three walked into the house, closing the door again.
"Has she woken up yet?" Doctor Aubrey Posen asked.
"Just now, but I think she drifted back to sleep. They destroyed her back Aubrey." Chloe said as they entered her bedroom "I think she was tortured. Her back is completely teared, it even had bugs, and she has cuts and bruises all over her body, but I cleaned them up. She's been shaking from time to time, so I've covered her well… but I think she's feverish."
Aubrey nodded and left her bag with her medical stuff on the floor before sitting on the verge of the bed and rummaging through the bag. She pulled out a thermometer, and she carefully put it inside the woman's mouth. Her eyes snapped open in fear and Aubrey was quick to calm her down. She cured dozens of very sick children every day.
"Sh… it's just a thermometer, it's okay. I'm Aubrey, I'm a doctor and I just want to help you." Aubrey said, and the soldier's eyes closed almost completely "100,4 degrees." Aubrey sighed cleaning the thermometer and putting it back into her bag "Well, it's not so bad. Has she thrown up or something?" she asked looking back at Chloe, who stood next to them and shook her head.
"No, nothing." Chloe replied "I doubt she has eaten or drank anything in days if not weeks, Aubrey. Well, I gave her some water, that's all." Aubrey nodded.
"I'm gonna touch you a bit, is that alright?" Aubrey whispered leaning over the soldier, who nodded.
"Just don't hurt me, please…? I… I did nothing… wrong, I swear…" Aubrey smiled a bit.
"I'm sure you didn't. I'll do my best to avoid hurting you, okay?" She opened her shirt and used her stethoscope to feel for her heart and lungs, and then palmed around her torso. The soldier winced and that's how Aubrey concluded she had three broken ribs, and swollen organs, but probably nothing big, since she hadn't thrown up blood, or coughed it, or looked yellowish. It was more like she had been beaten up quite badly. She also concluded she had a twisted ankle and wrist, and said the nose wasn't broken, that the blood was probably from the brain trauma.
"Should we take her to her hospital?" Chloe asked. Aubrey shook her head slowly.
"No… I mean, if we were in another country, yes, but the closest hospital is too many hours away and has too little doctors for the incredible amount of patients. She would be more ignored than anything and she could get typhoid fever, cholera…" she sighed "I guess she had her vaccines just like any other American soldier, but still getting her in a dirty small building filled with very sick people is not a good idea. Plus, even if I took her to New Delhi, the hospital is expensive and she doesn't even have an ID. I'll come as often as I can and she should be fine here with someone like you looking for her all the time. Unless you want me to take her to New Delhi." She added looking at Chloe.
"No, no, she will be fine here. I'll take care of her, promise." Chloe affirmed eagerly.
"Okay. I'll try to bring some meds when possible." Aubrey added and looked at the patient again "Hey, your surname is Mitchell right? Do you know your name sweetie?" Mitchell opened her eyes and looked at Aubrey with a puzzled expression.
"Name? uhm… no… no… sorry. I don't remember…" she suddenly looked terrified "Anything. I have no memories!" she started panicking.
"Sh…" Aubrey smiled at her "Calm down okay? Don't worry about it. You have quite a lump in your head plus a bad cut, so you probably have temporal amnesia. It'll go away with time and rest, okay?" the soldier nodded slowly "So this is what we know about you. My friend Chloe here, and my boyfriend Jesse…" she moved to point at them and the soldier nodded "found you yesterday in Depalpur, Pakistan. Does that name rings any bells?"
"No…" Mitchell shook her head "I mean, geographically, I know more or less where Pakistan is, but that's it." She coughed a little and Aubrey helped her sit up against a bunch of pillows Chloe brought from the living.
"It's okay, it's just a cold… your throat it's a bit irritated." Aubrey said after taking a look at her throat, and the brunette nodded lying back "So… my friend Chloe brought her to her house, that's where we are now. This is in Kakrola, a small town part of Delhi, in India." The other woman nodded slowly.
"India sounds prettier." Mitchell whispered with a raspy voice and Aubrey and Chloe smiled. Jesse sat on the bed next to the wounded soldier "So… do you guys… like… live here? Not… America?"
"Oh no." Chloe smiled "Jesse and I are archeologists. Dusty places are like home for us." Jesse chuckled and nodded. The girl nodded a little.
"Are you in any pain?" Aubrey asked and the soldier nodded.
"Throat… head…" she whispered "And…" Her eyes became a bit glassy and she looked down.
"What is it honey?" Aubrey asked kindly. The soldier shrugged. It was hard to believe such a miserable woman was a strong soldier.
"I… might be… starving a tiny bit… and thirsty." Mitchell then looked up, scared "But I can hold on!" she exclaimed suddenly, and then coughed "I don't wanna be a weight or disturb anyone… just… forget it…"
"No, I said I would take care of you, you're not a weight. If you need anything, I wanna give it to you." Chloe said kindly "I'd bring you some water and warm up some soup I have, is that good?" Mitchell nodded.
Later, Chloe even helped her to eat, since Mitchell was still weak.
"I promise it's just one meal and I'll go and you'll never see me again." The soldier whispered after a while with puppy eyes. She had only thanked and complimented the food in the past ten minutes "Just one meal."
"God no." Chloe smiled kindly "You're staying here at least until you're completely good, and then you can do what you want because I don't want you to feel arrested or anything. But I'd really appreciate the company, so it would be really nice if you could stay… well, we'd look for your family in America, I assure you, and we'll find them and help you get back to them whenever you want."
"America?" soldier Mitchell looked confused.
"Oh, yeah, we forgot! You were wearing an US Army camouflage uniform." Chloe explained "It doesn't say your name but it says your surname is Mitchell."
"Oh." The woman nodded slowly "That makes sense I guess. So I'm American?" she took another spoon of soup.
"Indeed." Jesse affirmed. He was looking through his phone and then smiled "And according to the Internet, your uniform indicates you're Sergeant Mitchell of the US Army." Sergeant Mitchell nodded.
"I guess. I really don't remember. Last thing I remember is waking up in the middle of the streets during a storm."
"It rained five days ago in Pakistan." Aubrey explained "Around where you were, actually."
"Then, that was five days ago… I felt horrible and I tried to beg to some Pakistani who yelled at me and then slapped me. Next thing I know I'm here." Sergeant Mitchell explained.
"Well, let's rest that brain of yours for a while, uh? Just sleep and I'll be around for anything you need. If you need to go to the bathroom, you call me and I'll help you. And if I've fallen asleep or something and I didn't hear, you the bathroom is the first door at the right." Chloe indicated "This apartment only has four rooms, so you won't get lost. Feel free to go around, my house is your house." She smiled kindly and the brunette nodded with a tiny smile.
"Thank you so much guys. If I can ever do anything for you, just let me know." Sergeant Mitchell said. After some more chatting, the brunette patient felt asleep, and Chloe tucked her before moving to the kitchen with her friends to prepare some lunch.