Page 26 of Retrograde

When I come to, the day is dawning pale and overcast. I’m lying on my back, grass blades crumpled underneath me.

The pain isn’t gone exactly, but it’s less blinding now, less overpowering. It’s like I’m too weak to feel it anymore. Everything is dull, indistinct.

I still can’t move, but I can turn my head.

Krasnik’s sitting with his back against a road sign pole, legs sprawled in front of him. He looks worse than I feel. White as a sheet, dark circles under his eyes, rib cage rising and falling with each ragged breath. He appears uninjured, but he is completely drenched in sweat. Not an inch of him is dry—his wet hair hangs limp and heavy around his face, whatever’s exposed of his skin is glistening, and his shirt is plastered to his well-defined abs.

Bastard got a lot stronger over the past few months. He’s all muscle now. I wouldn’t fancy meeting him in an empty alley anymore, not even outnumbered. But still, I don’t know how he managed to get me wherever the fuck we are now. I’m a heavy bloke. As one of the few, I haven’t lost any weight in the army.

“Oh, thank god, you’re awake!” he exclaims when his eyes land on me. “You’ve been in and out of it for hours.”

He leans over me with a worried frown, and some of his sweat drips on me like rainfall.

“Sorry, I just ... I had to stop for a bit. But we’re almost there,” he adds, still breathless.

“Where?”

“The city hospital.” He shakes his head, and more sweat drops land all over me. “I didn’t know where else to take you. The whole base is g-gone.” His voice breaks. “They bombarded everything, even the medics’ tent. I couldn’t think of anything better.”

“What city? The only city was ten miles away from the base!”

Have I hit my fucking head? Was there another city? I’m still trying to remember the base map with its pins when Krasnik destroys me with what he says next: “Yeah ... that’s the one.”

I bite my lip so hard I taste blood.

“You carried me for ten miles? You crazy bastard.”

Face buried in his hands, he’s rocking back and forth. Broken, desperate.

I think I’m about to faint again. There’s that tingly feeling under my skin, like ants, and a crushing pressure in my chest.

“Hey, Aron?” I address him, and he snaps his eyes to mine. “Why did we never become friends?”

“I don’t fucking know, man,” he scoffs, like he’s wondering the same.

“Yeah, me neither.”

I can’t keep my eyes open. The pressure in my chest increases, but there isn’t much pain anymore. Instead, a burst of intense joy flashes through me—a relief. I feel safe, comfortable, happy.

“Haqif!” Aron’s face pales ever more.

He gives my shoulders a little shake. But I barely feel that, and I only hear him from a distance.

“Haqif! Stay with me, man! We’re so close! Haqif! Please! Please!”

I close my eyes, but it doesn’t get dark. Instead, I see all sorts of colours around me.

Then I’m rising to the air, I’m weightless and flying, and it’s very warm and peaceful.

10

ARON

The HQ room goes quiet as I march in, tension crackling in the air. There are about ten men in here, but only Attila and Martin meet my gaze. The rest lower their eyes.

“Why the long faces?”

Not that I have to ask. My questioning sessions always make the men uneasy. I don’t get it. They are trained killing machines, lethal and vicious as fuck in combat. But the minute I start popping off kneecaps for information, they all tiptoe around me like I’m a landmine.