December // A Winter Soldier Story

8

ｄｅｃｅｍｂｅｒ ２０ｔｈ， ２０１３

１６°

𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓰𝓲𝓻𝓵 (𝓛𝓮𝓪)

They are halfway through closing the soldier's gaping leg wound when a guttural noise comes from his throat. The girl whips around to look at his face, hoping he has awakened, but his eyes are still closed.

"He is unconscious from the pain, but he won't be out for very long," her friend says, glancing at her with tired eyes. She takes a quick break from stitching to stretch her hands, and while doing so, she gestures to the soldier's torso.

His uniform has a large slash on the front of it, and a small slit of skin is exposed. The girl's friend points to this slit.

"Look at his chest, Lea. Look at the amount of scarring. I don't know where you know him from, or why he is bleeding out on your floor, but whoever he is...he's clearly dangerous. You should really just call the police."

Lea shakes her head. She can't expect her friend to understand what she is doing, especially not when she barely understands it herself. All Lea knows is she can't let him go.

"I can't go to the police," she replies simply, with no further explanation. Her friend closes her eyes and lets out a sigh before returning to her stitching.

"Well then please just...be careful. Seriously. I can't lose you," her friend pleads, thankfully not questioning her anymore. Lea's eyes soften.

"I'm not going anywhere, Riley. I promise."

Riley nods, half-believing her, and continues putting the soldier back together. Lea stares at the man's face, and the soft skin and light stubble that adorns it. His hair is shoulder length and dirty, and his uniform is covered in dirt, grime, and blood. She looks closer at the scars that litter his stomach and chest. They are numerous. Some are thick and white, some are thin and pink. She finds herself wanting to know where he got them, what happened to him.

This man before her now holds so many secrets. She hopes to maybe know a few after he wakes.

Riley has finished stitching his leg, but there is still blood staining his uniform, his skin, and the floor beneath him. Lea doesn't think she's ever seen so much of it before, and she has an intense urge to wash it all away from him. She stands and heads towards the kitchen, grabbing some towels and some wipes. When she comes back, she kneels before the man, and starts cleaning the area around the wound

Riley leans in to help. Slowly, the deep red is replaced by a light pink, and then by the normal color of his skin. They try and wipe at some of the blood on his uniform too, to avoid having more blood seep into his skin. But the uniform is drenched in the stuff.

"Is he wearing anything under this?" Riley asks, once it's obvious that the blood won't wash out. Lea shrugs.

"I don't know. Check around the rip from where he was shot, see if there's a layer under the uniform," she suggests, and Riley does just that. She discovers that the man is wearing a flimsy pair of shorts underneath of everything.

"Should we...take his uniform off?" She asks. Lea stares at him for a second, taking in the grossness of the uniform, before nodding.

"Yeah, we probably should."

So they get to work to peel the disgusting outer layer off of him. The suit already has many rips, so they grab some scissors and just cut the thing off of him. It comes off relatively easily, and the full extent of his injuries suddenly comes to light, as well as the fact that his metal arm is indeed directly attached to his shoulder.

Lea sits back on her heels to fully take him in. He is pale, and his body is extremely toned. His muscles are bulging. But his stomach, while muscular, doesn't have much too it, as if he hasn't been getting enough food. The scars are almost everywhere you look. They alternate between old knife wounds and old bullet wounds, and other old wounds that could've been caused by anything. The stitches on his leg stand out against his skin, the area around the cut pink and inflamed, before Riley covers the wound with a white bandage.

His metal arm clicks every now and then, automatically adjusting itself when he shifts. It is grimy, but she has a feeling it is an extremely advanced piece of technology. She can't imagine where it came from. It also looks painful. Where it is attached to the skin, there is heavy, thick scarring, and the skin itself is pink and angry. The sheer weight of the piece of machinery has clearly taken it's toll on the flesh surrounding it.

Now, as he sleeps, he looks like nothing more than a victim of some horrible nightmare. His face looks boyish, and his eyebrows are scrunched together as if he is dreaming of something terrifying. She wants to gather him in her arms and keep him safe from whatever is after him. She won't, but she wants to.

Riley had been analyzing him during this time, too, but now she is no longer interested, just tired. She glances at Lea with an expression that says she is craving sleep.

"Will you be ok from here on out?" She asks, her eyes briefly shifting to the soldier and back again. Lea nods.

"Yeah, I'll be ok. I just need to change the dressing every day, right?"

Riley's head bobs up and down. "Changing it once a day should do the trick. Make sure he drinks lots of water once he wakes, and eats food heavy in proteins and vitamins. He should remain on bedrest for at least two days, and get back to full time movement once the pain and swelling has gone down."

Lea is seriously thankful she has a friend that is a doctor, or else she wouldn't have known what to do in this situation. She stands when Riley does, imitating her move to leave.

Lea walks her to the door, and pulls her into a hug before she is able to slip out. Riley squeezes her back.

"Thank you, Riley. Sorry to wake you up and get you caught up in all of this."

Riley smiles faintly. "When you need help, I come. That's what friends are for."

Lea hopes her gratefulness is written across her face as Riley exits the door and jumps in her car. She watches her friend drive away before she crosses the house again, heading for her soldier.

As she catches sight of him again, she wonders if he might be cold, sitting on the ground in next to nothing. She suddenly remembers that she has an old pair of sweatpants from a past boyfriend of hers that may fit the soldier. She walks toward her bedroom and searches her room for them, finding them in her closet. They come with her when she returns to the soldier's side.

She moves them up his legs, settling them on his waist. They are a perfect fit. She wants to move him onto the couch or something, so he doesn't have to be uncomfortable, but she knows there is no way in hell she'd be able to lift the guy. So instead she grabs some blankets and pillows from her room, checks to make sure there's no more blood anywhere near him, and throws a blanket over his body, slipping a pillow under his head while she's at it. The rest of the pillows and blankets are thrown onto the couch, where she has decided she will be sleeping tonight.

But just before she lays down, she remembers the blood that is still covering her back porch. She can't afford to have someone see all of that in the morning and call the police or something. That would just get her in trouble, and get the soldier taken away forever.

So with a sigh, Lea rises, grabs some cleaning supplies, and heads outside.

It is another hour before she feels like things are clean enough for her to get to bed, and another two hours past that until she is actually able to sleep.