"If you're in so much pain you should have come to the medbay and allowed me to put you inside the tank."
Natasha said as she injected my neck with a syringe of morphine.
"I thought I said that all of you are dismissed including you."
I said with a chilly tone as I felt the drug do its job almost immediately while looking at Natasha's face with red long hair tied into a high bun and amber eyes with light makeup whose black space uniform couldn't hide her voluptuous body.
"Strip."
Natasha said to me completely ignoring my tone causing my face to start twitching.
"Doctors orders."
Natasha added.
Causing me to sigh in frustration as I unzipped my top, pulled out my hands from my sleeves, and took off my skintight black shirt whose short sleeves were threatening to rupture because of my muscular arms revealing my naked top.
"Jesus Christ Captain are you nuts!? You need to get into the tank ASAP! No wonder Lilith gave Catherine a mouthful."
Natasha exclaimed in shock seeing the real degree of my injury after her eyes cybernetic lenses scanned my body.
"No."
I said as I started putting my shirt back on causing my newly healed skin to rupture slightly and a trickle of blood to come out which coagulated immediately but still produced a red spot in my bandaged waist causing Natasha to sigh in frustration.
"Sigh. At least come to the medbay for a regular checkup okay Cap?"
"I will."
I said as I pulled my top zipper up to my scarred neck causing Natasha to sigh once again because she knew full well that I wasn't going to come for a check-up at all.
"Fine, I'll come to do a regular check-up myself."
Natasha said as she turned around and exited the room leaving me to my thoughts.
...
"Leave."
I ordered the fully geared-up MP soldier who accompanied me to the medbays morge with a voice full of authority making the soldier salute me and leave.
"Yes sir!"
Clink.
As the soldier closed the cold room's doors I grabbed the handle of the first freezer and pulled back revealing a mangled frozen corpse from which bone-chilling vapor rose into the air.
I took out my pistol loaded with lead-tipped normal rounds from my holster tied around my space uniform's pants right thigh while turning off its safety, pointed it to the dead corpse's forehead, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
I inserted my pistol back into my holster while picking up the spent hot cartridge which was rapidly cooling off because of the room's temperature and placed it inside the corpse's mouth.
"Tell them that I still haven't forgotten my promise to them."
I said as I yanked off a dog tag from the corpse dog tags chain leaving one from the pair with him and as I did I heard the dead soldier whisper into my ears.
"I will Captain..."
I just ignored it because it was already considered normal for me after I came back to life and started hearing the whispers of the dead and occasionally seeing them and after pulling out my combat knife cut my left tattooed forearm which was filled with self-inflicted scars.
"Seven hundred eighty-fifth."
I muttered under my breath as I forcefully squeezed out my blood and allowed it to drop into the corpse's mouth.
After I could no longer squeeze out any blood I pushed the freezer back and moved on to the next freezer.
Bang!...
...
After entering my room I took my green rusted with peeled off paint ammunition box with the reapers carved out insignia from under my one-person-sized bed and opened it up revealing hundreds of different model dried blood covered rusted and deformed dog tags.
After wordlessly tossing the dog tags into the box I closed it and hid it under my bed once again.
Then I started changing into my black service uniform full of merits of service.
...
Aim!
Lilith dressed in her black service uniform with a short skirt exposing her black stockings-covered athletic legs and a black service cap on her head gave the command causing the first and second squad lined up in two rows behind the 7 coffins made by the ships onboard 3D printers dressed in the same service uniforms except that the males had black pants and knee-length black leather boots opposed to the female's high heels to snap to attention then place their right leg forward and point their service rifles to the ceiling of the hangar.
Eric Garrett, Damon Dickinson, Theodore Mullins, Queenie Bell, Celeste Buckley, Mun Hee-Young, Yeva Osipova.
I recounted the names of my dead soldiers as I looked at the black coffins with bloodred reaper insignias while saluting with my right tattooed and scarred ungloved hand with black nails.
"Fire!"
Bang!
A gust of flames and smoke came out from the muzzles of the rifles but no bullets.
"Reload!"
The marines pulled back their bolts causing the hot imitation ammunition cartridges to fall onto the floor while fresh blanks got inserted into the firing chamber.
"Fire!"
Bang!
"Reload!"
"Fire!"
Bang!
"Cap, will you be giving a speech?"
AM standing on my left whispered into my ear after lowering down his right arm just like everyone else including me.
"No."
I whispered back causing AM to sigh in frustration as he shook his head to the watching Lilith indicating that she should proceed with the ceremony.
What good is a fucking speech? It won't bring the dead back and I would only be pouring salt into their friends, family, and lover's wounds after all I'm the one who got them killed.
I cursed as I watched the close ones of the dead with tears in their eyes leave our square line up, grab the coffin's four handles and carry them into the hangar's bays left doors where two fully geared up MP soldiers were waiting to send them off.
After the last coffin was carried in the inner large doors closed themselves and all the air inside got sucked out once it was done the outer doors opened revealing the new sols blue burning star.
The two soldiers picked up the first coffin and gently tossed it into the darkness of space leaving them to float in space for the rest of eternity.
After all the coffins got flunked out the crew wearing the same service uniforms left one by one until only I and AM were left.
"Sigh* Let's go Drac we both need a drink."
AM said after letting out a bitter sigh as he wrapped his left hand around my neck.
"Yeah."
I muttered back as I inserted my hands into my pockets.
...
"Two glasses of whiskey."
AM shouted at top of his voice as we sat down on the ship's bars counters chairs while he and I placed our service hats onto the table while the bars techno music rang in our ears.
The muscular barmen without his space uniforms top gave a thumbs up as he danced in place to the DJ's rhythm only for AM's mood to change upon seeing me roll up my sleeves to my elbows.
"You're still doing that?"
AM asked with anger evident in his voice as he looked at the fresh scabs on my left forearm.
"Yeah got a problem with it?"
I asked as I grabbed the glass of whiskey with pieces of ice that the barman just placed on the counter and downed it in one go."
Upon hearing my tone AM immediately could tell that I wasn't in the mood and he knew full well that he should be very careful from now on in order not to trigger me or else all hell will break loose.
"No not really it's just how should I say this..."
AM said as he thought about how he should nicely tell me that I got mental problems while sipping on his whiskey.
"That im a psycho? That's what you're trying to say isn't it?"
I finished AM's words for him as I extended my right index finger signaling the barmen that I want a refill while with my right hand I loosened my red tie and unbuttoned my gray smart T-shirt collar.
AM almost choked on his whiskey.
"Cough*Cough* Yes you're a complete psycho bro! I mean who the fuck in their right mind would self-harm himself like that?!"
AM said after he decided not to beat around the bush.
"You know AM once you experience Hell on Earth and live to tell about it..."
I started saying in my usual emotionless and cold tone as the unpleasant memories of what I experienced during my 30 years of service surfaced in my mind.
"...well let's just say that you can't be normal after that."
I finished my words as I downed the filled-up glass that the barman just placed in one go and asked for a refill again.
"Hell on Earth huh?"
AM quietly repeated my words as he remembered what he felt during his first battle but he knew it was nothing compared to what Dracula experienced after finishing his mandatory service for which he volunteered while AM got drafted but since he started studying in a college so he never got to experience an army grunts life.
While Dracula stayed in the military after finishing his mandatory service and joined a mechanized infantry brigade which later got sent to fight a foreign war as a volunteer force.