EPTWhere am I. “Easy now. You’re safe.” Who’s that voice? “He is bleeding. Give him some meds, quickly!”
He tried to open his eyes, but his lids felt so heavy. His head throbbed with dull, aching pain. Hell, what happened? “Mr. Solomon, can you hear me?” There is the voice again. He heard somebody groan, a deep throaty sound. “Where… where… am I?” He realized that it was him groaning. “Easy Mr. Solomon or the stitches will rip open.” “What stitches?”
He tried to open his eyes again, this time he succeeded. Bright spears of artificial light blinded his sight. “Damn hell… Wh-“, he croaked. “Mr. Solomon, you’ve been in an artificial coma for three days. Your eyes need to adjust.” Who’s that, damn it? “Who are you?”, he asked the darkness, as he kept his eyes closed not to risk feeling the stabs of pain again.
He heard feet shuffling, a low whisper. He couldn’t make out what was said, but it irritated him that whoever held him kept his secrets. “Damn it, I feel like a tank rolled right over me. Give me some fucking answers, blast it!”, he growled. “You’re aboard a medivac inbound for the Hercules. Hercules? A battlecruiser? But… “Why? I still have fighting to do. My last order was to hold the line with my men”, he trailed off, uncertainty entering his voice. “Didn’t I?” A short pause. “Where are my men?”
Another moment of loaded silence. Before he could utter another curse at his invisible companion she spoke again. “Mr. Solomon, how to say? Your squad is dead-“ “The fuck they’re dead… how?”, he cut her off. “Please, Mr. Solomon. Can’t you remember anything?” She sounded pleading.
“Not much”, he offered. “We were in the plains, waiting for redeployment. Captain Graven said we had to guard our supplies. To hold the line”, he trailed off. After a few seconds he seemed to recover some memory. “I remember a loud bang and then…”, his voice became almost a whisper. They’re dead… hell, all my men. “… screams.” He felt tears run down his face. “Why-“, he was trying to make up his mind. “Why am I here and not down there, on that blasted planet and torn to bits and pieces.” His mood suddenly changed, growing steadily angry. “I should’ve fucking died down there with them”, he raged at the top of his voice. Pain, like shards of ice piercing him wrecked his whole body. His head felt like splitting, his eyes burned from tears and something else. What has happened to me?
“I’m sorry Mr. Solomon. I have to put you to sleep again. We need you in one piece. Maybe…”, she stopped herself. Maybe what? He couldn’t talk. His body felt odd, numb almost. “I’ve injected a sleeping med into your system. You will sleep for some more.” And blackness took him again.
