Billy Yank

Ch.4: The Angel

"Will he be okay?"

"He'll be fine, he's just a bit injured"

I heard voices whisper around me as I slowly opened my eyes. I felt an arm wrapped around me as I felt something cool against my forehead. I felt my vision become clearer as I coughed a bit.

"He's awake"

I saw a girl staring at me with deep blue eyes, as deep as the ocean. She had tan skin that seemed kissed by the sun and she had dark chocolate brown hair that went down passed her shoulders, near her mid-back. She smiled sweetly at me. I groaned weakly as I felt no energy left in my body, all I felt was pain.

"Wh-Where am I?" I asked in a hoarse voice.

"Sh…" the girl cooed. "You'll be okay"

She bumped a place where pain hit my body.

"Ah"

I dropped my shoulders as I allowed her to tend to my wounds.

"Wh-What happened?" I asked.

"I don't really know," the girl replied. "I found you in the battlefield after the battle was over"

"Who won?" was all I asked.

"The Union Army did" Katara told me.

"We won," I cooed. Thank God. "We won"

"You seem a little young to be fighting" she said as she dabbed my forehead with a rag.

"I'm 16" I replied. "I'm old enough to fight"

I tensed up at another surge of pain and then relaxed again once it was over.

"And die" I finished.

"Katara is he awake?" came another voice, this time an old lady. A boy walked up to her side.

"Yeah" the girl said.

"Who are you?" I asked, more or less disrespectfully.

"I'm Katara," the girl said. She pointed to the boy. "That's my brother Sokka and my grandma"

I nodded.

"Who are you?" the boy asked.

"Private A-Aang Hamilton," I stuttered as another wave of pain crashed on me.

"You must have been through a lot" the grandmother said. I had garnered enough strength to sit up. I felt a cast around my arm and felt something wrapped around my head. I groaned slightly.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"At our home" Katara said, "When we found you in the battlefield, we saw you move a little bit and we had to get you away from that place"

"Thank you" I said weakly, managing to give a smile. But that smile slowly faded as I remembered my fallen comrades. "Where's my company?"

"They must have left without you" Sokka said.

"No" I whispered. "No!"

"Sir relax" Katara said. "This isn't helping your wounds at all"

"I need to find my comrades" I said. "I need to find the 63rd"

"Not today" Katara said. "Don't worry, you'll be with them again soon"

"He's still too young to fight" Sokka said. "Look at him, I bet he's more injured than most of his friends"

"Sokka!" Katara snapped, glaring at her brother. She turned to face me as I smiled. "My brother is just jealous that you got to fight and not him"

"Why can't he fight?" I asked.

"Their father is out in the war," the Grandma said. "He needs to stay back and watch the farm"

"You live on a farm?" I asked. She nodded. "I used to live on one"

"Where are you from?" the grandma, who asked me to call her Gran-Gran, asked.

"I'm from Sherrill, New York" I replied.

"That far huh?" Sokka asked. I nodded.

"I need to find the 63rd" I said. "Col. Burke needs me"

I was about to get up but Katara stopped me again.

"Sir please," she begged, she sure did try her hardest not to say my name. "You need to stay and relax a few days, you're pretty injured"

"I'm a soldier," I said. "I need to find my boys"

"No," she said. "You'll find them another day, please just relax"

I lied back down, as I relaxed my bandaged arm.

"Get some rest" she told me. "You were hurt pretty bad"

I nodded.

"Thank you" I muttered before sleep overtook me.

To be continued.