Caught Red Handed

Chapter Thirteen, Recovering

Tom's Perspective

I stayed in the bleakly decorated safety room with Peter and his friends as the alarms continued to blare and I was reassured that I wouldn't be harmed. Peter was speaking into his radio constantly and listening for reports of where the shooters were, or reports of the conditions of the injured. So far all that we've heard is that the shooters can't be identified, and that only two of the generals are dead. Tord is having fluid drained from his lungs and he's being checked for severe damages right now. Honestly, I stopped listening after that and focused on calming down. One of the staff had been carrying lunches to the medical facilities, but since we were on lockdown she let everyone in here eat it instead. I ended up only eating a little, some lentil soup and a bread roll. It was light enough to not make me sick, but also warm enough and filling enough to keep me satisfied. There was a little girl with us too, she was being brought in from outside of the base.

I didn't know anything about her background, but she wanted to talk to me. "Mistaw you look silly! You have no eyes!" She said and giggled, reaching up to touch my face. I chuckled and gently picked up the kid, setting her in my lap and letting her touch my face. "Don't touch my eyes, they aren't actually empty. They're just black." I told her and she curiously tilted her head. "Owkay!" She said smiling and hugged me with a little stuffed cat in her hands. "What's your name kid? I'm Tom." I introduced myself first and the little blonde girl looked up at me. "It's JuJu! Julie!" She said and giggled when I booped her nose. "And why are you in an army base?" I asked and helped her get comfortable in my lap. She kept sliding off because of her dress. "Oh! My mama fell asleep so.. So the nice people here helped me!" She said with innocent sparkles in her eyes. "Hm, I see. Who's taking care of you?" I asked and looked around. The little girl hopped out of my lap and walked over to a taller male soldier who seemed to have been looking for her. "Oh! Julie, there you are." He said and looked over at me when Julie pulled his hand in my direction. He walked over and smiled nicely.

"Hello, I don't believe we've met Blue Angel. I'm Oliver Green, and I'm taking care of Julie with the help of some of my friends." He introduced himself and held out a hand to shake. I reluctantly shook his hand and looked down at Julie. "Did she already get fed?" I asked and looked back up at Oliver. "Yes, quite recently. She's just bored because the tablet she usually plays with is back in our room." Oliver reported and Julie huffed. "Life is bowing!" She complained and Oliver chuckled, handing her his phone to play on. She squealed happily and sat down on the floor, tapping on the phone repeatedly. "Well, It's nice to meet you Oliver. My name is actually Tom, but I suppose you can refer to be as Blue-?" I suggested and he grinned, giving me a thumbs-up. "No problem Blue! Nice to have you aboard." He said with a smile and kneeled down next to Julie. I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and turned to look at Peter. "Um, Blue Angel sir, because Red Leader is unconscious, would you like to meet with his higher officials so that you can lead temporarily with their help? I have Red Leader's head assistant on the phone." Peter said awkwardly with a hand over his phone mic.

"Oh- uh- yeah-." I decided and sighed, instantly nervous again. I definitely was not ready to lead this early, I suppose that's why his little upper circle is helping me. Peter spoke Norwegian into the phone before getting instructions. "Ah, follow me Blue Angel. Me and Joseph are going to guard you and bring you to the appointed meeting room." Peter said and hung up, standing at attention. Another shorter man quickly scrambled to get next to him. Obviously neither of them were trained to be in battle, because they had no guns. Just knifes for close combat. I suppose in all the panic, I wasn't yet assigned guards. "This way Blue Angel." Peter said and unlocked the tightly sealed door, leading me through the now rather empty halls with a few exceptions. Once I was brought into a room filled with officials who all seemed calmer than I was, I dismissed the two. "This way Blue Angel." A familiar voice said and led me to the head seat. I looked up at the soldier and saw Paul standing over me with a stern, serious expression. I suppose he's a senior officer because Tord trusts him.

"I'll be your guard until more soldiers are available." Paul informed me and stood at attention beside me. I glanced around the table and saw many senior officers and generals, though some seats were empty. "Hello Blue Angel, seeming as our Red Leader is out of commission, we are prepared to go to our plan B with the addition of you. Our plan is a very simple one really, normally we would vote in the most qualified official to take over temporarily and not make decisions that are too important until Red Leader is back. Since you are newly instated, we will elect a leader to co-lead with you until Red Leader is back in commission." One of the generals reported and many of the people nodded in agreement. So this has happened before? I'm not too surprised, Tord is reckless. "Do you agree with our plan Blue Angel? We need your permission to move forward." The same general told me and everyone stared at me for an answer. ".. Yes, yes I agree. Vote." I said and nervously shifted. I felt a hand gently grasp my shoulder and looked up at Paul. Even though he's probably stressed about Patryk, he's helping me out instead.

I smiled slightly at him and he smiled back before standing at attention once more. "Now, seeming as the person who we picked previously is not present, we shall vote once more." A different general said and Paul opened up a cabinet in the corner of the room, passing out small notecards to right the votes on along with pens. They probably voted on smaller things rather regularly. Paul was about to give me a card out of habit, but instead put the excess away. Once every member at the table had put a name, they handed their cards to Paul who then flipped through the stack and tallied the points in his head. "General Marshall is the co-leader with Blue Angel, unless a revote is required." Paul announced, but nobody spoke up against the decision. This "General Marshall" got up and came over to me, holding out his hand in a friendly manner. He was a very tall man who looked to be in his forties, with a scruffy beard and a semi-serious expression. He was being professional and friendly.

I shook his gloved hand and kept eye contact with the man. "It will be nice to work with you Blue Angel, we will begin straight away. Please, allow me to guide you through the next few hours of our time together." He said graciously and bowed. I suppose because I'm higher rank, I could punish him for not asking for permission? Or he's just being polite. "Yes of course, please do." I responded and watched as the generals and officials dispersed separately with guards. The only people left were me, Paul, General Marshall, and his two young guards. "This way sir, we will be operating from Red Leader's office for the time being." General Marshall told me and led me through the halls once more, all three of the guards surrounding us. "Paul, what is Red Leader's condition currently?" I asked and Paul took out his radio, contacting whoever was in charge of status reports. "Rød leder er bevisstløs og i stabil, men alvorlig tilstand. han mistet blod raskt og kan forbli ubevegelig i mange uker." The person on the radio spoke and I stared at Paul. "He said that Red Leader is in serious but stable condition and may be immobile for weeks." Paul translated before speaking into the radio again in Norwegian.

"ja, på grunn av demonblodet vil han helbrede raskere og viser allerede tegn til bedring." The radio man responded and Paul immediately translated. "His demon blood will help him heal faster, and he's already improving. My guess is that he may be up in a few hours." Paul told me and I stared at him in surprise. "Hours?" I asked confused. "Yes, hours. But that's just my estimate, I'm not sure." Paul told me honestly and turned off his radio. "... Well, I'm glad I won't have to deal with this for as long as I thought, but I'm still worried. How is Pat?" I asked and Paul sighed, his expression showing obvious worry. "He did lose a lot of blood, but there's only minor injuries to his arm. As long as he doesn't use it at all and lets the arm heal on its own, there's no worry." He said, though his expression was still one of worry. He must be thinking about how Patryk could have died. I gently wrapped an arm around him in a half hug and smiled reassuringly at him. "He's alright yeah? No need to be so stressed. You're happy and together, and nothing will change that." I reminded him and he nodded, attempting a smile. Neither of us were very smiley people, but he was trying just as I was.