Chapter 9 - Marks
"CAIT!" Curie screamed, aiming a killing shot at the Super Mutant who had just hit Cait.
"Cover me," Nate shouted to Piper who immediately put her weapon on automatic and began firing it at the remaining Super Mutants. Seeing that Nate intended to grab Cait and pull her out of harm's way, Curie also began to lay down covering fire as well.
Nate ran to where Cait was lying, grabbed at her lapel and hefted her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift. As he did, he heard a groan from Cait which made him smile. She was still alive he thought. In a quick dash he was next to Curie and putting Cait down he turned and began opening up on the Super Mutants as well.
"Go join Piper and cover me as I need to put an end to this," shouted Nate above the noise. Curie nodded and when Nate signalled, she ran over to join Piper where she was behind a wall of the hospital. Nate held up his left hand with his fingers splayed open. He counted down and at one the girls opened up towards the enemy position. Nate was up and running, scanning ahead for any cover. A slightly reckless move but safe enough if the girls could keep the greens skins heads down.
They did a superb job and soon Nate had taken up a flanking position, giving him an opportunity to take out the last three remaining Super Mutants. Thinking the battle won, Nate was about to break cover and signal to the girls when he heard a shout from on the roof of the local Fallons superstore. That was the great thing about these green skinned morons, they cannot ever keep quiet, even if it meant giving away their position. Three shots rang out from behind Nate and the Super Mutant fell off the side of the building, dead before he hit the ground. Turning around he saw Piper lowering her weapons and signalling a thumbs up to Nate.
Knowing that the coast was clear, Nate ran back to where Cait was being attended to by Curie. "She is breathing," Curie called out, readying a stimpack to inject into Cait's thigh. Stimpacks were first invented by the military, containing a number of stimulants as well as a goodly dose of morphine, these injections 'heal' the recipients enough to have them able to get themselves out of trouble, or in some cases, carry on fighting. Curie applied the injection and Cait groaned, then inhaled deeply as if struggling for breath.
"You are ok," Curie reassured her, "You were hit but your armour stopped the shot."
Cait grabbed her chest, struggling to sit up, "so why does it hurt so fucking much," she growled.
"Ok, let's get you up and into somewhere safe and we can take a look," busied Nate as he took Cait's right arm and hooked it over his shoulder, helping her to stand. Piper slid in the other side as the two carried Cait between them.
"Jesus, Cait, what were you thinking," exclaimed Piper, real concern showing on her face.
"This way," called Curie as she was signalling for the group to enter a small shop front just off the main square. They followed, Piper and Nate half carrying Cait and half dragging her. Inside the shop there were some stairs up to a second floor storeroom with good views over the main square, Fallon's and the metro station. Through the back window they could see the hospital. Nate and Piper set Cait down against a wall and set to making camp. The small stove was set up and all the sleeping bags were laid out around the camp fire. Helping Cait over to her sleeping bag and laying her down, Curie and Piper began to peel off the Sirius suit to examine the damage caused by the shotgun. Reaching round Cait's collar, Piper deactivated the suit and unclipped the fastener. Rolling Cait onto her side, Piper drew the zip down the back of the suit until it opened up down to her waist and allowed her to have her arms removed. With the top half of the suit off, and in just a black sports bra, Cait laid back on her sleeping bag, wincing at every move.
"That's some bruise you have there," exclaimed Piper, pointing out the obvious. From Cait's neck down to her sternum there was a massive and very angry purple bruise in the centre of her chest. Emanating out towards each breast, the bruise was about the size of a small plate and shone proudly against Cait's white skin.
Curie lent over "I need to check nothing is broken but this will hurt."
"Like it doesn't already!" Exhaled Cait, gripping at the side of her sleeping bag. Curie began to carefully press on the most bruised parts of Cait's chest, slowly working her way around the outside of the bruise and then into the middle. Whilst Cait grimaced a few times she did not suddenly cry out or grab Curies hands.
"There are no broken bones," declared Curie with obvious relief. "Here, let me give you this," and she showed Cait another stimpack.
"Listen save them for when someone really needs them, we don't have many and I was the idiot that got myself shot after all."
Curie was about to put the stimpack away, "you will have another one of those young lady, and no arguments," piped up Nate from the other side of the cooking fire. "Lying up here for a few days is not an option if we are to get to Fallons before the raiders do. They will soon hear that the Super Mutants have been cleared out and they will be back."
Curie gave the second injection and Cait managed to sit herself up. "That's much better, thanks," she said still rubbing the bruised area.
"Have another first thing tomorrow and you should be right as rain" Curie confirmed, "the bruises should clear up by tomorrow as well, now you have had a couple of stimpacks."
"I will have to take one for my poor backside anytime I get on the wrong side of Nate from now on" Piper smiled.
"You still got marks," asked Cait, still kneading her sore chest.
"Nah, not really, just thinking about the next time," Piper smiled and then looked at Cait as if she had said something wrong. "Oh, sorry."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I am going to get my arse skelped for that little stunt, great let's all laugh at Cait," she said in resignation "just as the bruises on my backside clear up, I go and earn another set, someone shoot me now!" Cait laughed and then grimaced at her words, "on second thoughts don't, it feckin hurts."
"No one is getting their arse skelped," stated Nate, which elicited a surprised look from Piper and Curie. Cait looked at Nate suspiciously. "Cait fucked up and is already feeling the consequences of her actions, that's a lesson enough in my book." Nate pointed at Cait's chest, where the bruising had already died down considerably since the second stimpack shot. "Come on, let's eat" Nate finished, handing a mess tray to Cait and Piper. Curie joined them and Nate served her a portion of the trail stew he had heated up and they all sat back around the tiny fire to eat their rations. Silence descended on the group as they ate their first hot meal of the day, the dusk turning to night-time outside.
"Why?" asked Piper quietly, almost hoping her question was too quiet for anyone to hear. When Nate looked over to where she was sat, he could see that Piper looked pained, "I am not wanting anyone to get a hiding or get into trouble, you have to believe me," pleaded Piper as she reached out to touch Cait's arm, who was sat to her left, "but does this mean our new arrangement isn't working?" Piper asked in a forlorn tone.
"Why would you say that?" Nate asked gently, not wanting to put Piper off her line of questioning.
"You said we must be honest, yes?" Piper looked at Nate for confirmation.
"Yes, always," responded Nate.
"And I am not trying to get Cait into trouble, I swear," pleaded Piper for a second time.
"I believe you, we…" Nate signalled to Cait and Curie "we believe you," hoping that Curie and especially Cait would let Piper speak. To her credit, Cait said nothing, no sarcastic jibe or flippant 'thanks friend' or similar comment. Whatever the reason, the two other girls remained mute and Nate signalled for Piper to continue.
"We agreed last Friday to enter into a new arrangement, a new dynamic where in a situation when one of us, or all of us, make a mistake, we get …. a hiding" Piper finished the sentence quietly.
"Yes, that is correct" answered Nate, but seeing Piper wasn't finished he stopped there.
"But here we are, five days later and you are not implementing that rule. And," Piper almost blurted out, "I would be asking the same if it were me or Curie who had been shot." She finished, obviously relieved to have got that off her chest.
"Yes," Nate began, "we have made an agreement where I have the power to punish each of you if I feel you have deserved it, at least whilst training or on patrol, but that doesn't mean every mistake is followed with by a spanking." Nate paused for a second.
"Our agreement was made so that I could see that you were serious about becoming a real team, and that you had consequences to help you with that aim. The end result of our agreement is not to see you all constantly draped over my knee getting your bare bottoms spanked." Cait smiled at that image. "If the rule was that you had to be spanked for each mistake you made, then none of you would be sitting comfortably right now."
Both Piper and Curie looked genuinely shocked by that comment. "You said we had done excellent drills when we were in the Fairline Estates." Curie exclaimed.
"Yeah, Blue! We were rocking it back there," Piper joined in.
"And you were," Nate said, "for a group of relative rookies at all of this. And I am proud of you all. The way you patrolled into the location, the house clearing and general way you were always alert and always covering your arcs. All brilliant work, but your 'hellooooo' wasn't in the drill manual, any Ghoul under the stairs or in the kitchen, neither areas we had cleared, could have jumped out at us after you announced your presence," Piper had the good grace to look sheepish at that. "Neither was how far forward Curie pushed this morning when we were closing in on the Super Mutants. That's extending the stack way past breaking point," Nate looked at Curie, "and what if it had been you shot when you were twenty yards in front of me. That would have meant any of us running to get you would have been easy pickings for a sniper as well." Curie took on a similar look to Piper and began chewing her lip.
"The end game here is to get you guys not only operating as a cohesive unit but in much less need of any kind of punishment at all. I am not sure what got you focused on your drills over the last few days, whether it was the threat of me breaking up the team or the spanking you all received last Friday, but whatever it was you guys were working hard out there. That is the aim of this arrangement. Imagine," Nate continued, "that even after a great patrol, or a fantastic training session, I still insisted on punishing you for some small error or split-second mistake. Imagine that even if you are trying your absolute best, you still end up getting punished, every single time we are out. I am sure you would all get sick and tired of our arrangement very quickly. Your motivation would seep away and you would all begin to feel as if trying wasn't worth it, as you would always end up with your noses in the corner and your backsides on fire." Nate put his mess tin down and looked at Piper. He waited until she looked up.
"You guys blew me away with your proposal last week. I cannot begin to describe the sheer elation I felt when you stated your intention to take the training more seriously. No, I didn't expect you to volunteer for a spanking, and certainly not one immediately to apologise for your previous behaviour, but the more you unveiled your plan the more I could see it being perfect. But perfect for what?" Nate asked Piper. "Why do you think I thought your plan was and still is perfect, anyone?" Nate looked at Cait and Curie.
"Because it was a way of getting us better at the training?" Asked Curie.
"Because it was a better way of keeping you three safe," answered Nate. "The training isn't what I want you to be good at because I am a stickler for protocol and a mean task master."
"You sure about that" quipped Cait.
"I know it sounds soppy and not at all like grizzly and grouchy Nate, but my main aim will and has always been to keep you three safe. I don't know what I would do with myself if one of you were to get really hurt or worse. I love you three so much that if I need to blister your backsides once in a while to keep you from doing something foolish then I would anyway, but the fact that you guys came to me with exactly that as a way of me being able to keep you safe, it was all my Christmases come at once." Piper smiled at that, and Nate could have sworn he saw a glistening in Curies eyes.
"Yes Cait, you deserve the biggest hiding of your life for frightening us all like that today, but I cannot get mad at you as you weren't doing anything other than being in a gun fight, and they are dangerous." Nate took a sip from his now cold coffee.
"Shall I make some more?" Asked Curie. Looking at Piper and Cait and getting nods back Nate said "Yes please."
"So, what I did wasn't stupid?" Asked Cait, doubt clear in her voice.
"You were in a situation we had not covered in any of our training, and so how can I call your actions stupid when you hadn't been trained to cope with that scenario. If anyone is at fault it is me for not practicing that situation with you."
"So, we get to spank you then?" Asked a very enthusiastic Cait.
"Hardly Nate's fault if he hasn't covered a particular scenario with us as there must be hundreds?" Piper chimes in.
"Spoil sport," Cait huffed in a mock sulk.
"Yes, there are literally thousands of possibilities when in combat and so the best we can do is train to be able to think quickly and effectively. But don't expect miracles, a tier one operator doesn't get to consider themselves fully qualified for many years after leaving basic training. Your problem Cait was that both you and Curie had taken up the same firing position, firing around the corner of the building. In a situation where you were basing yourself at that location then you would take it in turns to fire, as one withdraws to reload the other leans round to continue firing. Not ideal but it works. Another way is for one to lie prone whilst the other fires from a standing position. The problem with that setup is the one on the floor gets hot spent ammo cases raining down on them. Some of those down the back of your combat smock is not fun, and I should know."
Curies handed Nate a fresh coffee, "thank you, yes, you were in a tough spot and leaning further out to get a better firing spot is always risky. I am only thankful to all the gods that he didn't aim a little higher with his shotgun.
"As am I," mirrored Cait, raising her coffee mug.
"But what I can't say," continued Nate, "is that you were reckless. Just inexperienced and that can't be a reason on its own to start dishing out punishments."
Nate turned to Piper, "I love your commitment to this new plan and I promise you now, if I ever have doubts, I ever have questions and you all will be the first to hear them. As I said when you made your proposal to me, you are not the only ones who get to care about keeping this team together."
Nate smiled at each of his companions and then stood. "Right, I have done far too much talking tonight so I'll take first watch, try and get some sleep as we have a fun day ahead of us." Nate knelt besides Cait resting his hand on her shoulder, "do you think you'll be ok for a look around Fallons tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'll be right as rain in the morning," she smiled, looking up at Nate and enjoying his touch.
©Agoodhiding 2023