Nurses. One filling the other in on his condition.
He forced his eyes open.
Time to face reality.
"Oh, you're finally awake." Surprise filled the middle-aged nurse's voice. She leaned over him. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I was hit by a semi-truck." The words rasped through a dry throat that felt like it was full of sand.
"Pretty close." She gave him a sympathetic smile. "Would you like a drink of water?"
"Yes, please." He attempted to sit up, but pain ricocheted through his body, so he laid back and waited for the nurse to raise the bed. He took several swallows of the cool liquid through a straw. "Thank you."
The older nurse looked at the younger one. "Go ahead and take his vitals. I'll let Dr. Campbell know he's awake before I head out."
Damon looked warily at the young nurse as she studied the monitor beside his bed and made notes on the computer. Then she ran a thermometer over his forehead and made more notes.
He kept waiting for her to look at him. When she didn't, he asked, "Where am I?"
She looked up in surprise. "You're at Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland."
I'm stateside.
He fumbled around in his head trying to remember the other questions that plagued him earlier. Then he remembered.
Amputation.
His chest tightened, squeezing the air from his lungs.
He lifted his head and looked at each of his arms. Both sported bandages. He opened and closed both hands. They hurt because they were covered in cuts and scrapes, but they worked.
Dreading what he'd find, he shifted his gaze to his legs. The heavy thudding of his heart accelerated at the sight of his left leg propped up on a pillow, a bulky dressing eight inches below his knee.
No!
Memories came rushing back. The blast. The screaming. At least one of the voices was his. The agonizing pain.
King!
Ford!
What happened to them? Everyone kept yelling their names, but Damon was pretty sure they loaded him on the medevac helicopter first. What about McDonald?
Mind racing with questions, he looked up at the nurse, but she was already walking toward the door.
"I'll be back in half an hour with your next dose of pain meds."
"Wait." His voice croaked, sounding little more than a whisper.
The door closed behind her, and panic seized his chest. His gaze darted back to his missing leg again. She just left him here. Alone. Crippled.
He shook his head.
This can't be happening. Not to me.
But it did. It happened. It's done.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was supposed to come home to Grace whole. Not as an invalid who would be dependent on her.
