Chapter Seven

The walk to Jane's office was a bit of uncomfortable for Lily. A couple times, Lily would get random flares of pain in her back. She had to stay completely still and wait until the pain had passed.

I have to see the doctor after I talk to the colonel thought Lily.

When Lily finally got to Jane's office, she knocked on the door.

"Come in!" said Jane from the other side of the door.

Lily opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind her. She walked to the front of Jane's desk and stopped there.

"You wanted to talk about my brother's funeral colonel?" Lily asked.

"Yes I did," Jane replied. "Sit down lieutenant."

Lily sat down in one of the gray chairs that stood across from the desk.

"Right now we have Jack's body in the mortuary," said Jane. "We were thinking about burying his body in the veteran cemetery not too far from here."

"It's okay," said Lily. "Anyway, I was hoping to have a small funeral. Just have the formation, the tech crew for Shadow Samurai, Aleksis, and Sasha at the funeral."

"I understand. Anything else?"

"I don't want anything to snazzy. I was thinking we could have the wake at the church our grandparents went to.

"I think I can arrange that. Just one more question. When would be a good time for you?"

"Sooner the better would be best."

"Alright, how about this Saturday then?"

"Sounds good to me colonel."

"Alright then lieutenant, that is all. You are dismissed."

Lily stood up and thanked Jane before leaving her office. She stood in the hallway for a few seconds.

Today's Friday thought Lily. That means the funeral will be in will be tomorrow. It feels just like yesterday that Jack was taken from me.

Lily shook off the grief that was creeping into her heart and made her way to the nurse's office. The infirmary was almost empty, save for a couple people who may have broken a bone or dislocated their shoulder during training. One of the nurses walked up to her.

"How can I help you lieutenant?" he asked.

"I've been having some really bad pain in my back for the past several weeks," Lily replied. "It's starting to affect my movements."

"How so?"

"It is beginning to become very hard for me to move."

"I see. Well, I will see if I can schedule an appointment for check out of your back. Follow me please."

Lily followed the nurse into the office at the end of the infirmary. In it were a few desks. The nurse walked to the only available computer.

"When would be a good time for you lieutenant?" the nurse asked.

"I have a funeral to attend Saturday and a drift test Sunday but besides that, I'm free," Lily answered.

"Alright, will 2:00 today be good for you?"

"I'm fine with that."

The nurse typed the appointment into the computer and stood up.

"We will see you later lieutenant," he said.

"Thank you," Lily replied.

Lily looked at the clock sitting on the desk. It was noon. Lily than walked out of the infirmary, unsure what to do with herself.

I have two hours to kill thought Lily.

With nothing to do, Lily began to wander the corridors aimlessly. For a half hour, Lily walked the halls of the Anchorage shatterdome when Chuck caught up with her.

"Hey sheila, wait up!" Chuck called.

Lily could feel her heart begin to race when Chuck walked up to her.

"What are you to?" he asked, stopping in front of her.

"Nothing much," she replied. "I'm just trying to find something to do."

"Well the nerds want me to do some heavy lifting for them. You want to come with?"

Lily could feel her heart about to explode. It took quite a bit of willpower for her not to blush.

"Sure, I'm game," Lily said.

Lily followed Chuck to the labs. Kaiju parts were sprawled over the dissection tables with scientists surrounding them. Lily walked up to one of the tables. The kaiju part was covered in slime. It was grayish red and soft. Lily felt nauseous and walked away from the table, leaving the scientists to their specimen.

"So what are we lifting?" asked Lily.

"There is just some boxes they want us to move, that's all," Chuck replied.

One of the scientists walked up to them. He took off his slime covered gloves and pulled down his mask.

"Thank you for coming Ranger Hansen," he said.

"No problem," replied Chuck. "What do you want me to move?"

Before the scientist answered, his gaze moved to Lily's direction.

"I don't believe we met," the scientist said. "My name is Jack Rogers."

"I'm Lily," Lily said, not even bothering with her rank.

Jack extended his hand and said, "It's nice to meet you Lily."

"It's nice to meet you too," Lily replied, shaking his hand.

"Now that you two are introduced, what do you want me to do?" Chuck said impatiently.

Jack let go of Lily's hand and turned his gaze back to Chuck and said, "Follow me."

Lily and Chuck followed Jack to the back of the lab were there were several cardboard boxes.

"Kaiju parts just came in earlier this morning from Hong Kong," said Jack. "We would just like you to move the boxes to the tables over there."

Jack pointed to the tables by the entrance of the lab. It seemed rather far to Lily.

"Fine by me," said Chuck. "Leave it to us."

Lily's breath caught for a second when Chuck said "us."

"Thank you," said Jack before leaving.

When Jack was out of earshot, Lily looked at the boxes. They were a little over half her size.

"That's a lot of kaiju parts," Lily said.

"It keeps the scientists happy," Chuck said, walking toward one of the boxes. When he picked it up, he said, "They're not very heavy. You shouldn't have any problems carrying them."

Lily picked up one of the boxes. Despite the low weight-load, it was still hard for her to hold something that was almost as big as she was.

"No problems my butt," mumbled Lily.

Lily walked through the lab, trying her best not run into anything or anyone. She could hear Chuck chuckle as she approached the front of the room.

"Havin' trouble there sheila?" Chuck said.

"Shut up," Lily said.

Lily dumped her load onto the table and made her way back to the back of the lab, Chuck a step behind. By the time they were done, Lily's heart was racing and it felt like her arms were on fire. The pain in her back was on an all-time high

"I'm getting out of shape," said Lily.

"You're not that bad," Chuck replied.

Lily resisted the urge to blush and simple responded with a "thank you." Chuck and Lily left the lab without a single word to any of its other occupants and began to wander the halls of the shatterdome.

"So when is your brother's funeral?" asked Chuck after several minutes of silence.

"Tomorrow," Lily replied.

"That's soon."

"Yeah but I talked to the colonel and the marshal and they said that this Sunday we can do a drift test."

"Awesome. I'm itching to get back in the game."

"Me too."

"Well I'm going to the mess hall lunch for grub. You in sheila?"

Lily looked at her watch. It was 1:50.

"Nah, I'll pass. I got other stuff to do."

"Okay, have fun with whatever you're going to do."

"Thanks."

Lily walked off away from Chuck and went to the infirmary.