White Lily
“Where am I…?” I asked myself.
I opened my eyes vigorously, but my vision was foggy. I didn’t move my head, yet the entire world was spinning before me. The first sense I regained wasn’t my foggy vision, but my smell. Maybe it was my imagination, but the fragrance of a white lily by the side registered with every cell in my nose.
A young individual in white hurried over and lifted my eyelids. I couldn’t understand what he shouted to me. He then picked up a syringe. He shouted something. He was right by my face, yet it sounded as though he was miles away…
“Don’t move. Don’t move. I’m glad you’re awake. You need some rest, and then you’ll be fine. Stay calm. Relax…”
“Gee… you’re not giving me a chance to be tense, Buddy,” I said to myself.
When he injected me, my conscious faded again…
When I woke up again, I still felt dizzy. Fortunately, the world had stopped spinning. My blurry vision and erratic senses were rebooted. With that said, I felt a painful sensation from my head. It felt as if somebody was vandalising my head. I tried to grab my head, only to discover that my hand refused to heed my command. It was as if I had lost my arm…
“Is this happening to me, too…?” I wondered to myself.
Speaking of which, I always thought I’d end up in this state with time. That was why I wasn’t too upset about it. At the very least, I was alive. Yes, we declared that we were willing to sacrifice our life for the republic’s safety when we pledged our oath, but you’d still be glad to get out of peril with your life.
“Are you awake? Congratulations. You’ve made it through your critical period,” said a female, tone cold.
My ears were bandaged, hence why I couldn’t process what she said right away. I turned my head to see a female with a stern expression in a uniform. Her red uniform was somewhat apprehensive. I suddenly remembered the last scene in my memory.
The elite among elites encountered a group of young girls. Despite the team being in their best shape, the young girls ripped through the team.
“What were those young black girls? Why did sparks fly instead of blood when our bullets hit them? Why were they still able to fight when we ripped all of their limbs off? How were they able to perform such unusual movements? How were they able to rip a live human apart? What were those girls?” I wondered.
“Because you cannot speak yet, please calmly listen to what I have to say. My name is Helianthus Therese, Griffon’s senior deputy. Once you can speak again, you can call me Helian,” solemnly said the stern woman in front of me, after pushing her glasses up.
I discovered my jaw was held in place when I went to speak, so shut up I did. I didn’t quite understand why there was an unrelated woman in the camp… Obviously, if she could give me a pain relief injection, then that’d be fantastic, as my head throbbed.
“Let me summarise the status quo for you first. Two weeks ago, your team went to rescue our M4A1 combat robot. On the way back, you were pursued by the Blood and Iron soldiers. Your group engaged them in combat, but were defeated. You were the only one that M4A1 and the Team AR managed to rescue. You are currently being treated at our hospital. You were hit in the head with a bullet. Our doctors’ skills are limited, so we cannot remove the shrapnel still in your head. As such, we have to leave it in. It shouldn’t impact your daily life in the future, fortunately.”
Well, that matched up with what I remembered. So, my head suffered a heavy hit to the head. My brain still functioned, and my memories were also intact. I wanted to thank her. Sadly, I couldn’t speak. My only option was to try to express my gratitude with my eyes. Helian seemed capable of reading my mind. Rather seriously, she nodded: “No need to thank me. By the way, your team deemed you incapable of combat due to your severe injury. Hence, you will be removed. Owing to you not having a military ID, you won’t receive any awards or medals. All you’re getting is this: ‘the organisation is very pleased with your service.’”
That line was enough for me to feel content. I didn’t join the team for awards. Those words were the best consolation prize and honour for me and our fallen brothers.
“What now, though?” I asked myself.
“However, we need to communicate with your team. We are very pleased with your abilities and courage as a commander after your commander fell. For that reason, we conducted a hand over. Henceforth, you will be part of our Griffon and Kryuger’s military contractors and security consultants as the combat robots’ commander. After you recover, you can come to our Strategic Area S09 to take up your post. Also…”
I couldn’t tell if Helian could read minds or what, but she read mine. Tone serious, she added, “This is a mission the brass have assigned you. They wanted you to join our Griffon and Kryuger military contractor and security consultant centre. We look forward to your performance at Kryuger. Now, please rest up. May I also remind you: please do not recklessly use pain killers. A little bit of pain can keep one sober.”
Helian then got up and transferred the documents on her thighs to the head of my bed before leaving. I looked over to see the lily in my dreams…
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Outside perimeter of the hospital.
M16 stood arms folded with a smile. She looked at M4A1, who just handed the doctor a lily and came back. She said, “M4A1, you seem very interested in him…”
M4A1 shook her head. Tone quiet, she replied, “It was my fault… Had I made it clear… their team wouldn’t have been dragged into our fight… They are humans… They shouldn’t have been dragged in… I’m not interested… I’m just… contrite…”
“It wasn’t your fault. They made the decision. I must say, they were a brave bunch. That’s my first time I’ve seen humans who could put up a fight against the Sangvis Ferri robots. The way the last human slipped the agent’s bullet to the face was splendid. The agent’s expression was hilarious when he was pulled down.”
“Stop laughing, M16. He nearly died…”
M4A1’s voice was quiet, but she looked at M16 with a firm gaze. M16 stopped chuckling. Then, she shut her mouth.
Helian came out. She looked at M4A1 and M16. Seriously, she said, “Let’s go, Team AR. We have a very important mission for you coming up…”
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