Chapter 21

Eve pinned Tector's arm under hers as she gripped his hand tightly and with her other hand gripped the pair of tweezers. "How did you manage these splinters again?"

Tector liked the fact her back was towards him, he could stare at her without her even noticing as he sat on the medical table. "Moving shit around...not being careful I guess."

"If it's not one thing, it's another...you have a headache and need aspirin, you cut yourself and need a band aid, now you have a palm full of splinters and can't get them out...if you keep this up I'm going to think you're doing this all on purpose just to spend time with me." Eve remarked as she plucked the splinters from his hand.

"OW!...God that hurts..." Tector remarked as he flinched.

"Quit being such a baby..." Eve joked.

"Maybe I am..." Tector replied.

Eve stopped and turned towards him as she laughed a little. "Maybe you are a baby?"

Tector laughed and he could feel his cheeks flush. "No...I mean...maybe I just want to have a reason to see you..."

Eve's face grew serious as Tector realized how he had crossed a line he shouldn't have. "Ah...I...I shouldn't have said that...I don't know why I did..." Tector laughed awkwardly as he grew more embarrassed. "I'm sorry...God I can be an idiot..."

Eve just stared at him in silence but she still had yet to let go of his hand. He could tell she was breathing harder. Slowly she turned her back towards him and finished pulling the splinters from his hand. Tector felt like the silence between them was deafening.

"Ok...you're as good as new..." Eve told him as she stepped away but turned back towards him. She refused to make eye contact with him.

Tector couldn't help but feel like a jerk as he stepped to his feet and rubbed his sore palm with his thumb. "Eve...I really am sorry...I can say the stupidest things sometimes...just forget I even said it...I don't want things to be weird between us...I mean...not that there's an us but I don't want things to be weird...even though now they are...and it's my fault...I don't know when to keep my mouth shut sometimes..."

"Tec..." Eve interrupted his babbling. "It's ok...it just caught me off guard...I'm not upset..."

"Ok...good...well...I guess I'll be going then..." Tector reluctantly headed towards the exit. He still felt like things were weird and the last thing he had wanted was to make her uncomfortable.

"Tec..." Eve called after him. Tector stopped and turned back towards her as she started to speak again. "I look forward to your stupid reasons for coming in here..."

Tector couldn't help but smile as he nodded...

... "That is the most boring story I've ever heard!" Pope remarked as he sat next to Eve on the floor near Brandon's bed as they ate oatmeal. "There's more action in a Disney movie that between you two...is there a rating lower than G because I think you found it?"

Eve looked at Pope irritated. "It's not boring...it was sweet...besides...it's not like there were a lot of opportunities for romance in the middle of a war in the desert.

"Screw romance... that's what quickies are for...passionate...animalistic...raw...unadulterated sex..." Pope remarked. "Please tell me it happened at least once...that all your cutesiness wasn't for nothing besides making me want to vomit up my breakfast here..."

"You know all relationships aren't just about sex..." Eve stated.

"No but it's been awhile since I got any so I'd like to hear at least one good story to live vicariously through not a let's just hold hands and giggle story...man...I don't know if you guys are perfect for each other or the worst thing for both of you!...Seriously...this is far worse than I expected...you guys are both gonna owe me if I help you patch things up..." Pope sat his bowl on the floor and sighed heavily.

"You are a big ass..." Eve stated.

Pope cut his eyes towards her and grinned slightly. "Trust me...you'll thank me later...so nothing ever happened between you two? Really?"

"Really..." Eve replied.

"Man...I thought for sure he was full of it when he said that...that maybe he was just too proud or embarrassed to admit it...I don't get it...so why is he acting so weird with you?" Pope asked.

"I have no idea...he won't talk to me long enough for me to find out..." Eve replied. "Maybe it was all in my head...I just thought there was a connection between us but considering where we were and his position...we just couldn't act on it...your guess is as good as mine."

"And nothing ever happened?...Really?" Pope seemed even more confused than before.

"No...we'd just have these little moments or we'd have time to talk and it was just different with him...he was open and honest with me about everything he was dealing with...all his worries but also little things like what he missed about the states...and I shared stuff with him I didn't think I'd tell anyone...we were just there for each other...on more of an emotional level I guess you could say." Eve explained.

"I think I just threw up in my mouth a little..." Pope pressed his fist against his chest.

"Why am I even bothering talking to you?" Eve shook her head and focused her attention back on her food.

"Ok...so...something had to have happened..." Pope started to speak but Eve interrupted him.

"Really? Get over it already!" Eve snapped.

"No I mean what happened when you parted ways...maybe it was then something happened that you're forgetting about..." Pope insisted.

Eve thought for a moment then shook her head. "One of his men in his unit was injured and they had to ship him out to recover...my brother was a Marine...he's what made me want to join the military in the first place and they ended up reassigning him to Tec's unit so they had to send me somewhere else, they wouldn't let us stay together...it was sudden...like I was there one day, we got the orders and I was gone the next...that's it..."

Pope scratched his chin for a moment. "Yeah...I'm at a loss on this one...doesn't sound like shit happened with you two...in any sense...no action...at all..."

"Ok...I get it...Disney movie...blah, blah, blah...you're insufferable you know that?" Eve stated.

.

"You ready?" Weaver asked as he saw Tector approach.

"I'm ready when you are boss..." Tector replied but Colonel Weaver shot him a dirty look. "Old habits Colonel..."

"Well then take these men and move out...see what kind of supplies might still be out there." Weaver instructed.

Tector led the small group of men down the subway tunnel where Pope, Maggie and Hal originally entered and exited out the subway station. They tried their best not to draw any attention to City Hall in hopes that even if they were discovered that they would still be far enough away from the building to keep the others safe.

"Fill your backpacks with whatever supplies you can...whatever we can't carry back ourselves we'll come back later with one of the vehicles..." Tector ordered as they began to go from building to building.

Most of the buildings in the immediate area of camp had been cleaned out. Tector figured Eve had already made the rounds and he knew he was wasting time searching so close.

"Come on...let's head west...venture out further into the city and see what we can find..." Tector ordered as the men followed. Weaver had suggested he get with Eve and discuss where she had previously hit and he had told him he would but he didn't. He wasn't ready to talk to her about anything. He wasn't ready for her to find out the truth.

"We could split off into two groups...maybe hit a couple buildings at a time, cover more ground that way." Lyle suggested.

"We're not splitting up...there's not enough of us to do that and still be safe...we stick together..." Tector argued.

Lyle sighed heavily.

"You got a problem with that?" Tector snapped back at him. "Because if you think you can be a better leader then maybe you should've said something to Weaver yourself..."

"Woah...Tec come on...it was just a suggestion...it's nothing...I just don't want to be out here all day and night." Lyle replied.

"Well I'm sorry finding supplies and food for everyone has become such an inconvenience to you..." Tector couldn't help but grow angrier but much of his anger wasn't from Lyle's remarks but his own anger at himself. He tried to take a deep breath to calm down.

"Tec...man you alright? You seem tense...it ain't like you..." Lyle looked at him concerned.

Tector started to snap at him again but seeing the look on his face and genuine concern calmed him and kept him from speaking. He looked at the faces of the other men and they all stared back at him with a similar expression of concern. Tec couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of himself for focusing on his own problems rather than focusing on them and the mission at hand. If he kept this up he would just be repeating past mistakes and he couldn't let anything happen to these men or anyone else again and have it weigh on his conscience.

"Woke up on the wrong side of the floor this morning I guess..." Tector forced a laugh as he tried to joke. "Come on...let's have this be a good day..."

..

.

"WE'RE ALMOST THERE TEC...JUST HANG ON!" Lyle shouted as he and another were on both sides of Tector, carrying him towards the subway entrance. Others followed in a short distance behind, making sure they weren't followed.

"TAKE HIM STRAIGHT TO THE BUILDING...WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THE TUNNEL..." Lyle ordered.

"NO!" Tector struggled to stay conscious as he gritted his teeth. "CAN'T RISK IT...GO THROUGH THE WAY WE CAME...DON'T LEAD THEM STRAIGHT TO THE BUILDING..."

"WE CAN'T RISK IT TEC YOU'RE BLEEDING OUT!" Lyle insisted.

"I AIN'T ASKING I'M ORDERING YOU...DO AS I SAY!" Tector grabbed hold of Lyle's jacket tightly.

Lyle reluctantly followed his orders. "FUCK! LET'S GO THROUGH THE TUNNEL BUT FAST!"

.

One of the men ran through the tunnel as fast as he could to alert the others. Ann rolled a gurney to the edge of the subway platform as she called for others to help her as Lyle and the other men with Tector came into sight.

"Let's get him on the gurney..." Ann ordered as Weaver and a few others grabbed hold of Tector from Lyle and the others and lifted him from the subway track to the platform. "Quickly..."

Colonel Weaver followed in soon after. "I want to know what happened."

"Colonel that will have to wait I need to get him stabilized." Ann insisted.

Eve ran up to the side of the gurney. "I can help..." She insisted to Ann.

"Keep pressure on that leg until we can figure out what else is happening.." Ann ordered as she noticed his blood continued to steadily soak through his pant leg. "Tec...are you hurt anywhere else?"

Eve quickly applied a better tourniquet to his leg to slow the bleeding.

Tector kept drifting in and out of consciousness. "It's so cold in here." He complained.

Eve couldn't help but notice how pale he was as she quickly cut off all his clothing and looked for additional wounds.

Tector looked up at her and smiled. "Just like old times huh?...". His eyes rolled back in his head as Ann gently smacked his cheek.

"Tec can you hear me?" Ann asked. "Do you know where you are and what's happening?"

"Yeah..." Tector replied as he opened his eyes again and stared at Eve. "I'm about to bleed to death..."

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