12 Seconds (#1 in Military series)

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Julia fought to control her voice.

“Hey sleepyhead,” Julia smiled down at Ray who was sat up in bed, a tray of food laid out before him.

Ray’s head jerked up in surprise, his hair had been allowed to grow out showing Jules that his hair was the colour of charcoal, contrasting beautifully with his olive skin.

“Julia?” Ray asked, unsure whether to trust his senses as he tilted his head, hearing where her boots connected with the ground.

Jules took a deep breath; her body was flooded with relief when she had heard the news.

“I tried to come sooner,” Jules stood at the bottom of his bunk.

Rays brushed her comment away as he tried to move the tray.

Not seeing where he could put it, and unused to his surroundings, Julia rushed forward and took it from his grasp.

“Thanks,” Ray muttered.

Jules saw that his food was just as bad as hers.

“They told me that you were all still out at the base,” Ray’s eyes flickered around her general area but Julia was just thankful to see his eyes once again.

She had been afraid he would never wake up again.

She coughed around the lump in her throat, “We flew in to Bastian this morning, when I got the news. But Strong wouldn’t let me come until we had gone through the drills.”

Ray shook his head, his legs resting over the side of the bed. Out of his uniform, Julia could see how thin he was.

She hadn’t thought about it before but it seemed logical that he had to be peg-fed when he was unconscious, and they had been in those mountains for hours-

Julia closed her eyes, she didn’t like to think about it which just meant that her brain bombarded her with memories every second of the day.

It was ironic, really, since she couldn’t remember anything else.

“Did they say anything about any long-term effects?” Julia sat on the cot across from him, it felt too formal standing.

“They said that I had some swelling in my brain,” Ray made it sound like it wasn’t as bad as it sounded, but it did nothing to help her nerves, “But once it had gone down I woke up. They wanted to fly me back to England but some poor sod got his arm blown off and took my place.”

Julia didn’t say anything, trying to think it all through.

“They brought me some fancy cards to look at,” Ray shrugged, a sad smile coming to his lips as he tried to inject some humour into the situation, “That was a strange situation.”

“I can imagine,” Jules returned the smile but she wasn’t behind it, she was thinking too much about how she had put him here.

Whether through his heightened other senses or just because he was a good person all around, Ray sensed her dilemma and reached across.

After a moment, his fingers found the edge of her elbow and ran down her forearm until he found her hand.

Julia turned her wrist so that her palm was facing upwards and clasped his fingers with vigour, as if he was a buoy and she was lost at sea.

As if he was the only thing that could keep her there in that moment.

“I’m fine, Julia,” Ray tried to ease her doubts, “If you hadn’t done what you did I would be dead right now. You saved my life.”