18

Get Behind Me!

Hawkeye woke to Irene screaming and fighting against him. He tried to get his arms around her but she was caught up in a fever dream. The blankets tangled around them as she struggled until at last he pinned her down, laying on her and cradling her head with one arm while restraining her arms with the other.

"Irene!"

The screams turned into sobbing when she finally opened her eyes. She didn't fight him anymore, but instead clung to him for dear life. His heart pounded in his ears and he shook almost as violently as she did. It was the corpsman. Most of what she said was incomprehensible, but he caught enough to understand. Seeing him sliced in half had been her breaking point. They all had one and it happened at different times for different people. That was hers.

All he could do was hold her and say comforting things until she calmed down. As her cries abated, the sounds from outside became clearer. The shelling was still going on but a little farther away and the shots farther apart. Wind whistled through the broken window and snow had piled up on the floor below.

Hawk sat up, pulling Irene up with him. He wrapped the blankets around her and noticed her lips were slightly tinged blue. Shivers wracked his body and his teeth began to chatter.

"Are you alright?" he asked, palm to her cheek. Irene nodded and he wiped away her tears with his thumbs. "It's freezing."

"I'm sorry," she sniffed. "I still have your coat. Here—"

Hawkeye stopped her when she started stripping off his jacket. "Keep it. What kind of gentleman would I be if I took my date's coat?" The joke had no levity. It fell flat from his mouth and he wished he wouldn't have said it. "Just keep it."

"No one is coming for us," she said, eyes welling up once more.

"Of course, they are. Colonel Potter won't just leave us out here. He'll find a way. Him and Beej… we'll be out of here in no time. I need you to stay right here. I'm going to look outside."

He stepped up onto a box to see outside the narrow window. The field was covered in a fresh blanket of snow, covering the body of the corpsman, but parts of the helicopter were still visible. A few sprigs of brown grass poked out but most of it had been weighed down. More snow had fallen than he expected in the few short hours they'd been asleep. He bet it'd be nearly knee deep in some places and unease settled in his belly. Irene might be right. Getting through the snow would prove difficult. Maybe impossible.

He looked back at Irene who had huddled up on the mattress, blankets pulled close to her chin. And that was the last thing he saw. A shell hit close to the side of the supply hut, blowing a hole in it and knocking Hawkeye to the floor in a rain of dirt and sheet metal. The blast knocked him out for a few seconds and the dust was still falling when his eyes opened but his vision was blurry.

Irene hovered over him, her hands on his face but her voice was lost to the ringing in his ears. He blinked rapidly and the world came back into focus. She withdrew her hand from his head and there was blood.

Something must have hit him on the head. If he had a concussion, they'd be in worse trouble than they already were. He tried to speak to her but couldn't hear his own words, just a faint murmuring in his head. She covered his mouth with her fingers, head snapping toward the door. What was she doing? It was like she was hearing something… something she didn't like.

Scrambling, she rushed to his medical bag and pulled out the belt with his service pistol before coming back to him. Her injured leg must have given out on her because she dropped to the floor between his knees, partially blocking his view. He tried to sit up but his head swam and he fell back. Irene aimed the pistol at the door, hands shaking.

There must have been someone out there. The Chinese? His stomach churned and he tried again to sit up. He didn't want to think of the things the enemy would do to her if they found them and he couldn't protect her in the state he was in. And here she was, weapon drawn, protecting him. The ringing in his ears began to fade.

"Irene?"

"Shhh…. I hear someone."

Hawk pushed himself up to a sitting position. "Get behind me."

"Hawkeye, please, be quiet."

Footsteps crunching in the snow outside grew closer to the door. His heart nearly stopped when the strangers moved around to the side wall that had been destroyed. Irene nearly fell over his leg when she turned to aim the gun at the hole.

"Don't shoot." He grabbed the barrel and tried to pull it away from her but she snatched it away and got close to his face, fear in her eyes.

"You can't protect us. Somebody has to. I'm not dying here and I'm not letting them get you either." Her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. She turned back to the hole in the wall and he put an arm around her shoulders. "Come any closer and I'll shoot," she yelled, and the footsteps stopped.

The silence was unbearable. "Maybe they don't understand English."

A stick with a white scrap of cloth popped around the corner and a voice followed.

"We're here to help," a man called. "Are you the doctor and nurse from the 4077th? We were sent looking for you."

"That's us," Hawk said as he put his hand over the gun and lowered it. She was still shaking like a leaf and resisted at first, but she allowed him to pull the gun away and set it beside them. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"You have a head injury."

"They're here to help."

An MP came around the corner, hands up. "We need to get you two out of here. A bad storm's headed this way and we're expecting more snow."

"How'd you manage to get here?" Hawk asked as another MP entered and helped him stand. The first man picked Irene up and walked out with her.

"Jeeps can still make it, but barely. How's your head, doc?"

"Not great but as long as I don't go to sleep, I should be fine." He reached up to touch the small gash on his head. The blood was warm and sticky in his hair and the pain came in throbs with his heartbeat, but he'd been worse.

The MP who was settling Irene in covered her with blankets and proceeded to jump in the jeep Hawk and Irene had ridden in. With some assistance from Irene, Hawkeye was able to dress the wound on his head as they bounced along the snowy road. When they were finished, they wrapped up in the blankets and hunkered down in the back seat. Irene was asleep within a few minutes, exhausted by the whole ordeal, but Hawk had to stay awake. He occupied himself with watching for snipers and twisting a lock of her hair around his finger.

He caught a glimpse of his medical bag shoved between the front seats, the glint of sunlight on his service pistol. She'd drawn the gun without hesitation to protect them when he couldn't. How far was she willing to go? He looked down at her sleeping face, peaceful against his chest. So sweet and innocent but that look in her eye when she put herself between him and assumed danger. No matter what she said, he wanted to believe she loved him.

But she'd be gone soon. Transferred. He'd lose her forever and he wasn't the kind to take losing well.