Misplaced In Time

Chapter 7

I jerk awake to someone gently shaking my shoulder. I sit up blinking my eyes to try and clear the sleep from them. "I'm sorry to have woken you sir, but you really should eat something and then go to your bunk and get some proper rest."

I stare at the nurse for several seconds before her words really register. How long was I asleep? Judging by how stiff my muscles are, I might have actually gotten a few hours in. It's the first that I have slept since before I left to rescue the 107th.

First there was the march back to the base, through out which I refused to sit, even just for a few minutes, in one of the trucks. Many of the uninjured would take turns sitting in the precious few spots unoccupied by the injured. And even after we returned to the base I made sure all the other men were well taken care of before I allowed myself to rest.

When I did finally sit down it was in the chair that I have just woken up in. I have the chair pulled up to the right side of Bucky's cot as I wait for him to wake up. To my left and slightly behind me is the cot that Bucky's man, Percy, is being carefully monitored by the medical personnel assigned to this post.

Percy has yet to show any signs of waking up and that concerns the doctors greatly. We don't know what hydra did to him and we don't have anyway of fnding out. I had described the machines as best I could but the doctors couldn't do more than speculate from the little information I had provided. I had only seen the machines for a brief period of time and I don't have the medical or scientific knowledge to make a guess as to their purpose.

Another cause for concern is that Bucky said that Percy had been shot before they had been captured, but there is no evidence of such an injury other then the bandages wraped security around his middle. The doctors had removed the bandages expecting to find an infected wound, only to be met instead by the decidedly stocking sight of countless scars covering every square inch of his chest, stomach and upper arms. Scars that were not made by Hydra.

Many appear to be from knifes that were dragged across his skin or plunged deep within. Other scars are red and textured like an open flame had been allowed to sit against his skin. And still other looked like teeth or claws had been used rather than conventional weapons, as if he had been attacked by wild animals.

But the worst by far are the letter carved into his chest. I don't know what the 'T' stands for, but I'm sure the pain had been horrific.

After seeing this, they had carefully rolled him onto his side to get a look at his back. If possible, it was an even more gruesome sight than the front.
I've seen many unpleasant and disturbing things since coming to the front, but all of them, and I mean all of them, pale in comparison. How this man, no, boy no older than 20, acquired them, I don't even want to imagine.

"Sir? Are you alright?" I had completely forgotten that the nurse was there. I bring my mind back to the present as I focus on the nurse. "Yes, thank you. Has there been any change? Any signs of him waking up?"

The nurse looks at Percy with sympathy and concern shinning in her eyes. "I'm afraid not, sir. I'm beginning to worry he won't wake up at all, though there doesn't appear to be anything medically wrong with him. Just another unfortunate life lost to a vicious war." The nurse moves to make a notation on the chart hanging from the back of Bucky's bed. She then turns to once again take in the sight of the young man damaged by war. "I wonder if he had any family waiting for him?"

At the mention of family I can't help but think back to my own. If cancer hadn't taken my mother would she have sat at home, worry for me consuming her mind day and night? She had already fought and lost her own war. Perhaps it's best that she didn't ever have to go through the experience of fearing that her beloved son would not be returning to her safe and sound. She had always been so strong, to put on a brave face to hide her fear from me. To keep secret all of her pain and exhaustion. Yes, perhaps it was for the best.

I shake away those depressing thoughts as I focus back on the matter at hand. "I don't know. He is in Bucky's unit so he might know. I will ask when Bucky wakes up. Do you perhaps know when that might be?"

"Theres nothing medically keeping him asleep, it's simply exhaustion from his ordeal. But don't try to disturb his rest, he needs his sleep." She shifts her gaze from the kid to me. "As do you." I can tell from her tone of voice that she feels very strongly about this.

I finally admit defeat and rise stiffly from the chair to instead search out a bunk of my own. And as soon as my body meets said bunk and my head the pillow, the exhaustion that has been following doggedly at my heels claims me as it's own and I know no more.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

I had woken up a few hours after Steve had left to find his own rest, though I didn't know that at the time. After a nurse informed me of Percy's condition and a doctor approved my dismissal, I was sent on my way with a begged promise to inform me when Percy wakes. That was two days ago. And still there has been no word.

Theres a sense of victory as you walk through the camp. Though it was a small victory it was a victory nonetheless and it has raised the spirits of the men.

But I still can't bring myself to join in. Percy and I are the only two members of my unit that survived, all the rest were either killed in the initial battle or later on at the base. All of them had family and or a special girl waiting for them back home.

I'm pulled from my morose thoughts by the sound of someone approaching. I look up to see Steve walking towards me, an unreadable expression on his face.

"He's awake."

-R.J.