*Chapter 13*
The stones that made up the hallway looked like broken cement pieced back together. The edges were jagged, and Rea felt like the floor. His life was split apart with Karma gone. In the week since she left, he'd felt shattered somehow.
He walked down the hallway weary after the training today. Even though he'd promised himself he wasn't going to do it, he thought about her anyway.
Rea stopped at Gears' door. He had filled his life with every conceivable project he could think of. He had taken extra guard duty, helped in the mess hall, cleaned animal stalls, and polished weapons. He was running out of work to keep his mind off of her leaving him again.
While staring at Gears' door, he silently wished he could ask his friend for advice. If only the doctor could give him a drug that would make him forget her. Maybe Gears could erase all his memories of Karma.
Raising his hand, Rea knocked on the metal door with a loud rap. The sharp tap bounced off the cold stones of the large hallway. The base doctor opened the door.
"What is it, Mac?" His friend planted his shoulder against the door frame and touched the center of his glasses.
"I was hurt at training. I need you to fix it up. It's on the back of my leg. I can't see it very well. Cleanliness is next to godliness, right?"
"Fine, I'll be there in ten minutes." Gears started to close the door but then paused. "Is there anything else you want to say?"
"No," Rea stubbornly lied. After what happened with Karma, there was a separation between them. He couldn't forgive himself for what happened, and he didn't expect Gears to either. Damn it, but he hated her. Rea hated her for making him feel this way. She'd ruined his once peaceful world. He had plans to move on with his life. Rea planned to leave this base and start on a different path. Her showing up changed that somehow. Her intrusion into his life had him asking all sorts of questions about what he really wanted. The worst of it was, Rea discovered that maybe what he really wanted was her.
It was all Karma's fault that Gears and he couldn't get along anymore. It was all her fault he was now unhappy with his life, and he was doing a piss-poor job of training the men.
Well, none of it was actually her fault, but he was going to blame her anyway. What Rea needed was to be able to boot her out of his life as she'd done to him. They never really had anything but teenage puppy love. He should've listened to Gears from the beginning.
"Hey, Mac, did they ever find the missing equipment?" Gears asked before Rea could leave.
"No. She took the extra guns, Brice's winter clothes, and the new snowmobile with the heated cover you just perfected. She's long gone. I want to blame the men for leaving those items unsecured, but I should've tied her up or kept her in interrogation. I should've killed her in the greenhouse. I could've killed her a hundred times."
He waited for Gears to say "I told you so." It never came.
"I got to thinking about it, and if it had been my girlfriend, I'd have done what you did." Gears pushed up his glasses. "I had no right to judge you. Besides, I'll say this, you were happier with her here than I've ever seen you before."
Rea didn't want to hear that. He wanted everything to go back to the way it used to be.
Soon the training would be over, and then he would go far away. Someplace he wouldn't be able to remember Karma's name. Since she'd left, he'd talked briefly to Ken about the whole situation and the gap that existed with Gears. In the end, Ken didn't have answers, and he was still stuck on this water base. She haunted him in a way he couldn't explain.
Rea gave Gears a curt nod and didn't say goodbye. He couldn't trust himself to talk. He wanted to yell and punch something. Instead, he spun on his heel and walked back to his room. He was so strung out. His body ached with the tension to hold it all in. His mind begged for sleep, and that was part of the problem.
As he strolled along the corridor, Rea reviewed the events of his day. He'd been preoccupied at training, and one of the men had knifed him in the back of his leg. Ken had suggested he get some rest. He pointed out how absent he'd become at training.
After Gears looked at his injury, Rea would crash. Maybe Gears could give him a sleeping pill to knock him out until tomorrow. Sleep that didn't have him dreaming about Karma seemed like heaven. It had been a hellish week, and a part of him screamed that she wasn't coming back. He asked himself if he wanted her to. No, he couldn't have her back in his life. She would make him love her. Karma would fill his life with her energy and spirit, and then she would leave again. He couldn't go through that a second time. It hurt. He didn't want her to come back. That's what he insisted when he talked to Gears, Ken, and himself.
Rea stopped in front of his door. He dropped his forehead against the entrance instead of going inside. His hands refused to twist the knob. He couldn't stand looking at his bed and remembering how he held her. When he was all alone, he speculated on whether she was alive or dead. She was a killer. She was probably dead or killing people. Both were dark thoughts.
He wished he could go back in time and figure out a way to keep her. He wanted to know who had turned her into an assassin. Who had made her do this kind of work? Did she want to do this?
When he heard some of his men walking down the hall, Rea glanced up. He quickly opened his door and clicked the light switch for his overhead light. He frowned when the room stayed dark. He punched the switch again. The light above the bed flickered but didn't come on.
He'd tried to fix it by himself last night, but the lamp was still busted.
His mud-soaked shirt fought with him as he struggled to remove it. Finally, he tossed the garment to the floor. Walking to the bathroom, Rea flipped on the small light above the sink. He paused at the threshold of the bathroom.
Something was wrong. He spun around to assess what was making him uneasy.
As he turned, he found Karma staring at him.
She stood next to his table by the front door. Her hand held a compact handgun. It was a different weapon than what she'd taken from him. The firearm was aimed at the floor. He didn't move, just in case she changed her mind and decided to point it at him. To be fair, the last time he'd seen her, he had shot at her. It had been more of a gut reaction, but still, he wouldn't be surprised if she aimed at his head again.
She studied him. Her eyes were tired, and she was dirty. The bodysuit she wore was utterly filthy, and her dark hair looked matted to her head.
The stillness between them stretched to a breaking point. A bead of sweat traveled down Karma's forehead. It fell to her cheek leaving a path through the grime on her face. He couldn't see her well due to the insufficient light, but this was no dream. She was really here.
"You've come to kill me?" His voice remained steady, but inside an inner turmoil began. He didn't want her here. But he did want her here. He was furious with her—furious and happy she was alive, and furious that he was happy.
He did a mental calculation of the location of his closest weapon. Last time, she'd grabbed the one under his table. She probably knew where all the guns were in this room. He wished he was wearing a shirt. He felt vulnerable standing in the bathroom doorway half-dressed. He felt exposed and he hated how she could probably tell he was happy to see her. His body was more alive merely looking at her.
"I came because..." Karma wobbled slightly and trailed off.
When her pause became longer than normal, he noticed a bead of liquid dripping from the pistol clutched in her hand. Was she wet? He squinted at her.
"Are you okay?" Rea took a small step toward her and watched her slowly blink at him. The minor flutter of her eyes was telling. There was definitely something wrong. Even without his gift, he would be able to see it.
She raised her hand and wiped at her forehead. Black smudges made a trail on her skin.
"I'm fine. I only came here to warn you that you're a mark. And I..."
"You're not fine." He exhaled his exasperation that she would bother to lie. He frowned when she didn't have a rebuttal. Her eyes remained unblinking and glazed.
"Look, maybe I'd be willing to talk to you if you'd put down the gun."
Her eyes flared. She glanced down at her sidearm.
With a slow, jerky movement, she turned to set the weapon on the table. A smattering of blood dripped onto the wooden top.
"Rea, I came to warn you and I wanted to..." She faltered. Before she started to explain again, her eyes fluttered once more. Then she collapsed.
The faint was so unexpected Rea didn't react at first. She crumpled to the floor like a pile of heavy snow.
Shaking his head, Rea expelled his momentary paralysis. He didn't consider the risks and instead rushed to her side. Rea sank to the floor next to her. His hands ran along her cheeks. Karma's skin was fire under his fingertips. Her face was pale and lines of strain were carved around her mouth. She looked ill.
His mind started to problem-solve. While he reviewed all the things he could do to save her, he cradled her to his chest. He didn't know if he should take her to Gears or put her on his bed. He tapped her cheek, hoping she might wake. Why was every second with her so insane? One minute she was trying to kill him, the next she was the love of his life, and then she left him. She broke his heart again. He rocked her body gently. Rea couldn't keep this up.
Staring at her beautiful face, Rea wouldn't let her die. She couldn't not be alive in the world. He would do whatever it took to help her. When she was healthy again, he would lie to himself and say he saved her so that he could finally find out why she was here. Right now, with her sick in his arms, the truth stared him in the face. He loved her and he wanted her whole. He wanted her better, no matter what life she chose to live. It wasn't like him to think this way, but there it was.
The knock startled him. Rea stood with Karma in his arms. He glanced at the door camera on his computer to see Gears holding his medical bag. Rea opened the entrance with the hand under Karma's knee. Relief was written across his features. Gears would fix her.
Gears took one look at him and then gaped at Karma.
"Yeah, I know, it's Karma again. And, yeah, I know she's passed out. Come in and help me." Rea stepped aside and Gears nodded dumbly.
"Did you shoot her?" Gears shut the door and set his bag on the table. He started rummaging through the pockets.
"No. Why'd you think that?"
"I thought, you know, she's always trying to kill you. I thought maybe you beat her to it."
"Hilarious, Gears."
"I wasn't joking. You did shoot at her when she got all her memories back. Remember?" Gears gestured for Rea to put her on the bed.
"I knew that was going to come back to bite me in the ass." Rea bent over and placed her on his blanket.
"Did she hurt you?" Gears pointed at Karma's blood that streaked along his chest. Rea shook his head.
"What's wrong with her?" Gears asked.
"You're the doctor. You tell me. A second ago, I came in here after talking to you, and she was here."
"How did she get in?"
Rea shot Gears a look that could freeze a snowman. He began to take off her bodysuit.
"I get it, enough questions. You take off her bodysuit, and I'll do a quick exam of her and—" Gears paused. "She's filthy. What was she doing?"
Again, Rea didn't bother to answer. He wanted to know the exact same thing, but until she woke, they weren't going to get any answers. Right now, just healing her was the only thing he was concerned with.
"Why don't you help her, and when she wakes up, you can ask her all of these questions instead of me."
Rea got the top of her suit off quickly. Gears looked intently at her arm. A long, deep wound ran to the bicep. The gash bled heavily. As Gears adjusted her, blood smeared along the bedding.
"She was shot in the arm. That explains the blood." Gears turned to dig in his bag once more. "The bullet went through the soft part of her muscle and missed the bone. I can fix it. She might've passed out because of steady blood loss."
"She needs a shower." Rea tugged off the bottom part of her bodysuit. The smell was overwhelming. He gagged as he continued to strip her. After this, he would have to get a new blanket, if not a whole new mattress.
Gears reacted to the smell as well. He scrunched his face into a grimace.
Once the clothing was removed, his friend swore. In all the years Gears had been on the water bases, Rea had only heard him swear once. That was a long time ago.
Rea's eyes shot to the doctor, and he studied his grave expression. He tried to figure out what was wrong.
"Rea, here's what you have to do. I need you to really get her clean. Go wash her. I have to run to my room to get more supplies. I can't work on her with this smell, and this is bad."
"What's wrong with her? Is she going to be okay?"
"I think she has blood poisoning or sepsis. I'd figure, off the top of my head, it's some type of infection. This kind of thing can be dangerous. We need to handle it immediately. The cut on the top of her thigh from when she was here is infected. It looks like she tried to keep the wound clean and closed, but whatever made her so grimy took care of that. I have to check her out to be sure, but for now, you need to get her sterile so I can get started. Also, we don't want this area of her arm to get worse." Gears turned, and when Rea didn't look up, he added, "This is really gross."
Rea's eyes jumped to Gears. He didn't respond. His mind was on the one task he had right now. Get Karma clean.
"Gross... that's a fancy medical term." Gears gave him a small smile. "She'll be okay, Rea."
Normally, when things were bad, Gears and he joked to make light of the seriousness of life. They'd been doing that since the first time they met, but this time, Rea wasn't in the mood to joke.
When Rea didn't speak, Gears turned to leave. Fear stole the air from Rea's lungs. He reached out to hold Karma's hand. It was so slight in his.
Consumed with watching an unconscious Karma, Rea pulled her into his arms as tightly as he dared and headed to the bathroom. Get Karma clean, that was the first step in solving the problem.