Casserine Read Online Free Page A

look as bad as you think itfeels.”
    “God, I hope not. It feels like a helium balloon with a rock inside.”
    “Follow me.” Byers led him back to his room in their infirmary. She lowered the gurney he had been strapped to, and motioned for Jake to sit down. She proceeded to take the bandage away carefully from around his skull. The special head bandage had worked in healing the skin around the furrow on the side of Jake’s head. His close-cropped brown hair outlined the white scarred furrow.
    “How’s it feel?” She asked.
    “Better actually,” Jake replied, running his hands over his scalp.
    “Want to see it in a mirror? That panel over there opens into a bathroom with shower.”
    Jake walked over to the panel, and it hissed open by way of the touch release on the side. He went in and checked out his new scar. Byers followed him in, watching as a smile spread on his face in the mirror.
    “What’s funny?” She asked curiously.
    “I just thought of how much it resembles the ones on my back.” He pulled down the top of his jumpsuit, and turned to show her.
    Whitened scar mounds ran in crisscross patterns over his back. Some were larger than others, as they extended from the tops of his shoulders down past his waist. Byers ran her hand over them.
    “You received these scars on Omaha?”
    ‘Tea, like I said, she opened me up pretty good.”
    “Why did they leave the scars? You were on a hospital ship, were you not?”
    “We had thousands of casualties who didn’t die, Adrian. I looked good next to most of them. They thought the poison would do for me anyway. Now my head matches.” Jake pulled up his top again.
    “And you think that’s funny?”
    “I never claimed I was a comedian, just not taciturn.”
    Adrian laughed. “Now that was funny. What’s this about poison?”
    “Just something they monitor from time to time. I’ve been sending them blood samples periodically,” Jake said guardedly. “I’m glad they left my hair alone.”
    “It’s too short to even worry about, next to the potential scarring.”
    Jake touched Adrian’s hair admiringly. “I love your hair, but you may not want it long on Casserine. Even tied up or back, it will still feel like carrying around a weight.”
    “My hair? You’re joking, right?”
    “You’ll see Adrian. I hope your stay there will not be as bad for you as I think it will be; because, I am afraid you will blame me for not making the difficulties clear enough for you.”
    “I will never blame you, Jake,” Adrian promised.

Chapter 3 
    Casserine
    “You bastard,” Adrian grunted as she tried to get off her knees without success. She stayed braced with her arms locked in front of her. They trembled with the exertion to keep her upper body from dropping. Even holding her head in an upright position required conscious effort. She had tried for the first time in the twenty-four hours since arriving on Casserine to move from her bed without Jake’s help. Jake came in from the outer room. He walked over and knelt down beside her. He dipped down so he could look up into her sweating face.
    “Hi Honey. Remember, you said you would never blame me.”
    “Don’t ever call me honey, you no good, rotten excuse for a man.”
    Jake laughed appreciatively. “You may work out here after all. If I put you over in front of my chair, I believe you would make a great foot rest, depending of course on how long you can maintain this position.”
    “Oh, you will so pay for this. As soon as I can hold a weapon in my hands, you will be fertilizer,” she quipped tiredly. “Quit fooling around and take me to the bathroom.”
    Jake carefully positioned himself under her left arm, gripping her wrist with his left hand, and putting his other hand around her waist. “Okay, are you ready.”
    “God, I hope so.”
    Jake straightened slowly until he had her upright, and then picked his left foot up and positioned it to push upwards off of. If he did not take this chore