2-3
Yellow Sunshine

began to groan in pain as the medic put a cast on his foot. He pressed against the metal doors behind his head, and caught his nails on the windowsill.

"Jesus fuck…" The Scotsman moaned in pain while he kept his eyes shut tight.

"Hold still!" The doe-ctor complained as she slipped a cast stocking down his cast, wiggling and jerking his foot around to the chagrin of her patient. "We're almost done, this isn't that bad."

"You're not the one going through it- Agh!" He grunted through gritted teeth.

"It's just bandages!" The deer shot back before taking some scissors and cutting away the overhang of the casts' stocking. "Aaaaand, done!" She proudly announced before she turned to drown her hands in hand sanitizer while he looked down at his foot, the pain already beginning to subside.

"This your first time?" He panted while leaning up against the back door. They were in the back of a large van, which was kitted out with just about everything a medic would need to work effectively on the go. The girl in question was sitting on a small swivel chair in the middle of it all, with his bed in the right back corner. Against the left wall were several shelves filled with all kinds of medical equipment, including more containers of hand sanitizer than what could be considered reasonable.

"Well no, in the field then, yes." She awkwardly explained through a thick asian accent. "Do you want some hand sanitizer?" She asked while drenching her hands in it.

"You treated my foot like you were fighting it, otherwise you did a good job. How long have you been doing this for? And no, thanks." He looked at her hands funny, which appeared to have been dunked in a large vat of jell

"A few years, I went to school for it." She explained while cleaning her hands.

"Ah." He exhaled. "The name's Prince, if you were wondering." He stuck his arm out for a handshake.

"I'm Xiu." She smiled as she shook his hand, the hand sanitizer making it sticky. A look of realization spread across her face and she began to panic. "Oh no wait, I mean, uh, Dolly! It's Dolly." She stammered.

"You would have been fine if you'd stuck with Xiu, you know?" He chuckled while wiping his hands on the mattress. "It's fine, I won't hold it against you. My real name is Clyde."

"Oh, well it's good to meet you, Clyde." She replied as she picked up a roll of bandages and put them away.

"You too Xiu. Just be more careful, OK?" He cautioned.

"Mhm." The two of them sat in silence for a moment, with Clyde rubbing his fingers against the scratchy blanket he was draped in, while Xiu cleaned up the medical equipment that was strewn about. "Elvis called while you were asleep." She mentioned.

"What did he say?" The goats' ears perked up.

"Um, I don't remember but he's really mad at you." Clyde answered with a shrug.

"Figures." Xiu looked over at him with a curious expression.

"Why?" She asked.

"I dropped the ball on some basic shit and fucked everything up."

"Sounds like me in school." Clyde laughed in response.

"Me too." He grinned.

"He also said you're going back into cold storage, whatever that means."

"It means I'm going on hiatus; if I'm being honest I'd prefer it that way."

"Why? Isn't it fun?" Clyde paused and looked at her with a confused expression.

"Fun?" He asked, head cocked to the side slightly.

"Yeah, you're a spy, James Bond stuff." The goat scoffed at her reply.

"It's nothing like that."

"Well obviously, but there's always a grain of truth, right?" He paused, leaned back and thought about it.

'So that's why she's here' He thought. "Ah, I see…" They muttered as their eyes wandered off.

"See what?" She furrowed her brow.

"Nothing. Did he say anything else?" They quickly changed the subject.

"Something about this girl, Barbra I think? Something with a B." Clyde's body tensed up; his eyes went wide as he sat up. "Said you need to keep focused." Xiu continued.

"Did he say anything else about her?" He asked, panic apparent in his voice. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck! Please don't have killed her.'

"He said that this was a warning, that's it." The goat hung in the air for a moment, before he felt the weight had been lifted off his chest, and he let out a deep sigh as he collapsed back onto the bed. She wasn't dead, or at least he was going to keep believing that until proven otherwise.

"OK then, good." He exhaled.

"Do you know her?" The doe was rather concerned now, looking down at him with unease.

"Where are you from?" Clyde asked as he stretched his body out and moaned softly.

"You didn't answer my question-"

"What country?" He looked back at her, and she gave it up. Whatever was going on with her she'd rather not know about it now.

"China." Xiu answered.

"Oh really? What's it like up there?" He rested his head and stared up at the ceiling.

"Cold and miserable, Manchuria anyways."

"Reminds me of home." Clyde chuckled.

"Is it that bad?"

"Oh like you wouldn't believe. It's shit being Scottish." The boy couldn't help but be a little cheeky with that last line, even if he meant it. The girl simply nodded before going back to her work.

"Got any sunshine?" Clyde asked as he looked over at her.

"What?" He looked up at her again.

"Sunshine."

"I… I think I know what you mean?" She opened a drawer and began to rummage around until she pulled out a small pill bottle. "I was told about these."

"Thank you, Xiu. Billy told you, I'd bet."

"Who?" She inquired.

"The medic before you, he was a real rocket. Used to do these with him after missions." He held the bottle up to his face and rattled it around.

"What are they?" She inquired.

"LSD. Want some?"

"Oh, I don't do drugs." She held her hand up defensively as he raised an eyebrow.

"Does that mean I can keep these?" He asked.

"Sure." The goat gave her a sly smile.

"Fuck yeah." He cheered quietly as he steadily slid himself over the side of the bed. "You got, uhhh, the walkie stick things?"

"Oh yeah, right." She reached behind her and handed him a pair of crutches.

"Mmh." He nodded as he grabbed them. "Thanks." He gave her a nod, then clambered out of the van. She had parked underneath the abandoned gas station he'd visited earlier, the truck looked as if it was about to get some gas from one of the derelict pumps. You couldn't tell it was a little hospital from the outside, it was just a simple white pedo van like every other little white pedo van out there. People would think there were kids in there, not medical equipment.

"Oh wait one more thing." He turned to look at the Chinese girl, who was in the middle of throwing him a pill bottle, which hit the floor. Yet another one was lobbed at him and it bounced off one of his pecs and hit the bed. He reached over then bent down to pick both up, chuckling to himself. "Your actual medicine, sorry." She apologized.

"Thanks." He slipped them into his jacket pocket before leaning his crutches against the doors of the van and hoisting himself up onto the roof. His bad foot certainly didn't help him achieve this maneuver, but he wasn't gonna let it bring him down. Xiu looked up at the ceiling with a bewildered expression, she could see him awkwardly putting dents in the roof, but decided not to say anything and just went back to cleaning up. He sat down crisscross right in the middle of the roof to watch the sun peak over the horizon and splash the world around him in a bright yellow glow.

A memory began to play in his head, it was when he was just a young boy on a trip to summer camp. He and the other kids were playing tug of war, and his team was losing. Three of his team members were stuck in the mud, and the rope was just about to be on the enemy's side. Just as all hope seemed lost one of the opposing members let out the loudest sneeze he'd ever heard and scared the shit out of everyone on their team, but more importantly drew their focus. He remembered letting the rope slack for a moment before suddenly pulling back and dragging one of the opposing team members with him. That was the turning point, and as he and his team dragged the rope back more and more opponents fell into the mud, and he felt his pride grow bigger and bigger until the rope was on their side and they'd won. Life had never felt as good as it did in that moment, and Clyde didn't expect to top it in his lifetime.