C. Brown - Fraternizing

I grabbed his t-shirt, pulling him up to my face as his face contorted with all sorts of pain and yelled, “You thought you’d get away with this shit, you fuckin’ bitch! Fight a real man, asshole! Get up and fucking fight!”

His eyes swirled around in his head and I thrust him back down, then got to my feet and began kicking him relentlessly in the sides and on his back as he twisted and turned from the bashing of my sneakers meeting his body with manic force. My foot came down in forceful stomps, further knocking his head onto the floor. My heart rate sped as my breathing spiked. There wasn’t enough pain in the world that I could inflict to get even with him for whatever he had done to Cassie.

I stood, breathing hard and ready to go another round on him when Riley came up behind me, grabbing me around my middle and pulling me away. I wasn’t ready to let Allen go just yet, but Riley held on tight, backing me away from him.

“Get the fuck off of me, Riley! Fuck you!” I tried pulling my way out of his grip, but he held on tight.

“Alex, calm the fuck down. You’ve done enough.”

I turned and looked at him, then looked down at my aching, bloody hands as my chest violently heaved up and down. I spit on Allen, feeling unsatisfied that the motherfucker was still breathing.

“He’s done. You’re going to fucking kill him. Get over there and take care of your girl. We’ve got this.”

In that moment, it dawned on me that Cassie was still in the room, huddled up in the corner, looking completely dismantled and crying her fucking eyes out. My right mind came back to me, and I turned around and watched her sad, defeated, eyes meet with mine. My heart broke all over again.

I should have been there for her. I should have been with her, and none of this shit would have ever happened. Nothing else mattered anymore, so I rushed over to her, dropping to the ground and taking her in my arms. She lazily dropped her head to my shoulder and began to sob as I held her, holding the back of her head and running my hand down it, trying my best to console her.

“Shhh… I’m here, babe. Everything is going to be okay.”

She didn’t let up. Her sobs only grew heavier and deeper, her tears soaking my shirt. I placed my arm around her waist, my hand resting on her ass as I tried to shield her body away from the onlookers in the room. When I looked up, the firewatch was watching me quizzically, but I didn’t care. My care for anything except for Cassie was long fucking gone by this point.

“Get me a towel or something for her,” I lowly told Ruiz, who swiftly got up from her position. She brought me a towel that I placed around Cassie, then positioned her in my lap and gently swept her hair away from her face, placing soft, consoling kisses on her cheek.

“Uh… Sergeant Cruz, I had the A-duty call for the MPs. They’ll be here any minute.”

I didn’t even look at the firewatch as he spoke, just simply nodded my head and continued to console Cassie, whispering how much I loved her in her ear.

“Hey, man. You want me to stay? The MPs just got here,” Riley asked, looking concerned and worried.

“Do whatever, man. I don’t fucking care.”

Four MPs and two EMTs ran up to the room, stopping in the doorway where Allen lay, painfully breathing in his own blood. They surveyed the scene, mentally putting the picture together before asking any questions. One of them pulled Riley aside and asked him a few questions as I continued holding Cassie. She had finally stopped sobbing, but was moaning from the aches and pains that asshat had ravished on her body.

“What did he do to you, Cassie? Please tell me. Please.”

She stilled, growing silent as I waited, hoping she would tell me exactly what had happened to her. She never said anything, just clung tighter to me as the tears began to fall once again. With every tear a piece of me died, fearing the worst and knowing that there was absolutely nothing that I could do to erase it, or to take her pain away.

“Um, Sergeant Cruz, I’m Sergeant Nicks. The EMTs here would like to take a look at Pfc. Bennett.”

“She isn’t dressed,” I grumbled, not wanting to let her go.

“I—I know that, Sergeant, but they’ll need to check her out.”

Riley walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder, looking sympathetic.

“Man, just let them do what they’ve got to do. They’ll take care of her.”

I stared into his eyes for a few seconds longer, seeing the sincerity pouring through them, but still not wanting to let her go. I finally looked back down to Cassie, who I knew needed medical attention, then I turned to Ruiz.

“Get me some goddamned clothes for her. Get me something.”

She quickly moved to Cassie’s drawers, pulling out a pair of panties and some mesh shorts. I took them from her, picking Cassie up and moving her over to her bed before dressing her. A big bruise was beginning to take shape on the side of her face, her nose was bleeding, and she had marks on the sides of her neck. Tears stung my eyes as I looked down on her, feeling helpless and drained. She held up her wrists, mouthing, “It hurts,” as I wiped a tear away from my face and then hers, taking her back in my arms.

Two more EMTs came into the room and loaded Allen up, wheeling him out of the room. I turned to Ruiz and told her to get dressed since there would surely be more people coming to investigate what had happened in this room. She nodded her head, and for the first time since I had met the girl, I saw decency in her eyes. She looked sad, scared, and concerned.

She looked human.

The EMTs came for Cassie. Riley walked behind them to try and get me to let her leave with them, but I didn’t want to let her go. I was too afraid that she would break, or I would break, or one of us would break if we were pulled apart. This traumatic fate had sealed us. She was my lifeline--the air to my fucking lungs, the blood to my fucking heart. I knew that there was nothing else in the world more important than her.

“Hey, Alex, they need to take her, man,” Riley cautiously stated, once again putting his hand on my shoulder. I didn’t budge, I felt like any second that she wasn’t in my arms was a second too long. “Alex—“

“I fucking know, Riley. Fuck!” I yelled. My frustration was mounting as a few large teardrops rolled down my face. I finally let her go and the EMTs carefully loaded Cassie up on the stretcher as she winced from the pain of merely touching her body. I sat on the bed looking as they held her in place, not strapping her too tightly for fear of hurting her even further. I sat with my hand over my mouth as a few more tears trickled down, the saltiness mixing with blood as it fell onto my hand.

Once they were done loading Cassie up, they began to push her out of the room, prompting me to follow. Sergeant Nicks stood, standing before me and saying, “If you don’t mind, Sergeant Cruz, we’d like for you to stay behind so we can get a statement.”

I looked at him through the gloss of my eyes and then over to Cassie.

“Get my statement at the fucking hospital,” I answered back, not even bothering to look at him as I followed Cassie out of the room. Riley walked out behind me, throwing his arm around my shoulder as I tried hard to hold back more fucking tears. It hurt too much to see her in this state, and to know who the culprit was—and what that animal was capable of doing to her—flooded me with an inane amount of visuals that did nothing but make me sicker with each step I took. When we made it to the bottom, I saw Allen’s dick in my head again and I fucking lost it, violently throwing up as I prayed to anyone who would listen to please not have allowed that sick, demented bastard to put his shit inside of her. My head was spinning as I grew weaker with the thought, making me dizzy and unable to swallow.