Take cover

Clone Soldier Shen stood before the closed doors of the medbay. He had given up to walk up and down. Medic Zero had tried twice to send him away. And now no one else tried that now, because Shen looked so grim. Every one of his brothers, who saw him, showed compassion, but no one wanted to be in his place. Too many brothers had been, where he was now, with a good or a bad ending. And to much more would have to stand before the doors of a medbay in the future.

Shen didn't dare to lean against the wall. He didn't dare to shift to a more comfortable position, as if that might influence what happened behind that doors. He stand at attention, arms clasped firm behind his back. One hand lay in the other. Shen wasn't sure, if he could ever let go, even if he tried. Behind that doors, his brother-among-brothers Easy and the medics fought for Easy's life. Shen was sure, without Easy, he would never smile again.

It had been a really quite shift. Easy, Mecky, Calm and himself had been assigned to control Civvies, who wanted to visit the government building and the senat. A thief tried to steal the bag of a woman. Another civvie interfered. When Easy tried to take control of the situation, the thieve had suddenly a blaster in his hands and shoot Easy from a short distance. Easy didn`t even have time to get his own blaster up, before he went down with a hole in his belly. The thieve was able to flee a few meters before Calm and Mecky got him. The thieve ended with a few broken rips, a crooked nose, without a few teethes and a shattered wrist in custody. Shen hadn't take his turn on the thieve, because he had taken care of Easy. The medics had promised Shen, they wouldn't treat the thieve, before they were done with Easy. And even then they would unintentionally forgot the pain killers. Clones could take something like that very personally. It was like that, if all soldiers of an army were brothers.

Then suddenly the doors opened and Zero came up to Shen.

„Okay. We are done. The rest is up to Easy."

Shen nodded without saying a word. "Can I see him?"

„Yes, he is not in a bacta tank, because the wound was not that big. We put him back together and replaced the lost blood. You can stay, if you stay calm and quite. He is lying in the last bed on the right side." Shen had nearly passed Zero, when he stopped and lay his hand on the shoulder of the medic. "Thanks, Zero." The medic smiled half sided. „This is my job, brother."

The medicbay was half full. Two clones seemed to sleep, on starred with his eyes open to the ceiling, a brother without a leg tried to walk a few steps with the help of another medic and a crutch and to clones had visitors. Years long training kept Shen to recognize his surrounding while thinking of something else. In the last bed in the far corner lay Easy unusual quite. Shen knew, that he was still anesthetized. Still this was not Easy. Shen stopped to his bed.

Easy looked calm and sleeping. He was covered up with a blanket, but Shen could see his bare shoulder, so this meant his upper body was without clothing. A tube with a clear liquid disappeared under the blanket, presumably an infusion of some kind. A monitor showed Easys heart beat and his breathing. He was ghostly white. Shen lifted the blanket. There was a very big bacta patch over his belly button and the area over and right from it. Shen let go of the blanket and got himself a chair, that stood nearby. "If you die, I kill you." He whispered half loud and took his brothers hand. "Don't you dare to leave me alone here." Shen's next shift would start at oh seven hundred. Until then he planned to stay here. Even if he would regret that tomorrow. No medic tried to keep a clone away from a bed of his brother. It was easier to teach an bantha to walk on two feeds.

Two hours and a imagined eternity later the medbay was much quieter. The visitors where gone, most patients seemed to sleep, two played cards and one clone read on his datapad. In the meantime a clone with a broken arm was treated.

Zero approached and looked at Easy's vital signs and the bacta patch. "Looks good. It's going to be alright." He slapped lightly on Shen's shoulder. „My shift is over, Breaker has the next. He's better than his name implies." That sounded like a joke, which Zero told often. Shen forced himself to smile. Zero took a ration bar out of his belt pouch and gave it to Shen. "Ask Breaker for water. You can have one of the empty beds. You are going to wake up, if something happens, or Braker will wake you up."

Shen nodded. "Thanks. I think, I will sit here for a while." Shen turned, when Zero indicated to go. "Really, thank you, Zero. I appreciate everything." He gave Zero a wink with the ration bar. Zero grinned and left the medbay.

The hairless Clone soldier woke up with a start, when something in his hand moved. He needed a moment to realize where he was and why. The medbay was silent apart from a snoring brother. It was softly lit now. Someone had put a blanket over Shen, even so he was wearing a full amour. And Easy was grinning.

A heavy weight fell of Shen's heart. Shen pressed softly Easy's hand.

"You are an idiot." Creaked Easy.

„Why?" Shen was confused.

„That's not comfortable." Easy moved carefully over, without setting off the alarms of the monitor, which recorded his vital signs. Then Easy lifted his blanket.

"Take cover." Ordered Easy. Shen huffed, but followed the invitation.

It was no rare sight, when two clones shared a bed, a meal or anything else. Everyone would just see two brothers, who had nearly lost each other.