A Soldier in Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

The numbing cream was cool and it
made her shiver since the ship was already extremely cold.

 
    “I did,” she replied.

 
    He unclipped the gadget
and held gauze to the open wound as small red droplets of blood began to pour
out.

 
    “Hold this to your
ear,” he said handing her the gauze.

 
    She held it to her ear
as he rummaged around. He gently moved her hand down as he examined the area
once more. He took the scalpel while she held the gauze below to attempt to
soak up the blood and began to slice the cartilage between the top part of her ear.

 
    She winced in pain and
gritted her teeth. The pain was intense. She could feel every movement of the
knife severing through her cartilage. It cut lower, and lower, she thought the
pain would never end as it shot through her body. Each slice became more and
more painful.

 
    “Fuck, that hurts,” she
stammered then gritted her teeth again. She wished he would have given her
something to bite down on.

 
    “I’m sorry,” he
stammered. “I hate to hurt you.”

 
    “It’s OK,” she barely
replied as she sucked in another deep breath of air as the sharp pain
continued. She wondered if it would ever stop.

 
    He quickly inserted the
small silver chip into the cartilage and then began to sew a few stitches to
hold it together.

 
    Her knuckles went white
as she balled her hands in fists to deal with the pain. She could feel every
movement he made.

 
    “These stitches will
dissolve in your ear. They will leave no evidence that you have an IS chip.
Your cartilage will grow around the chip and it should be stable in almost any
atmosphere sheltered inside your body,” he whispered.

 
    “Thank you,” she said
as his blue eyes met her green ones.

 
    “I only wish we had
enough time for you to implant me with one,” he said.

 
    She shrugged her
shoulders. “Yeah, I don’t know you might have had a Frankenstein ear if I would
have done it.”

 
    “Maybe so. I guess , it is a good
thing we are friends. I will be relying on you for information now,” he
grinned.

 
    “We had better go,” she
whispered.

 
    He nodded. “Yes, let me
disinfect this and apply a salve and we can go,”

 
    “Thank you, and thank
you for being a friend. You’re the first one I’ve had in a very long time,” she
added quietly.

 
    He smiled and slowly
made his way out the door as she followed.

 
    Michelle and Aaron
jogged towards the launching zone and got in line with the other soldiers. They
were the last ones in line, but it didn’t seem to matter, everyone was
distracted with something.

 
    Michelle was amazed
that the pain in her ear was almost gone. She wanted to rub over the area with
her fingertips to see what it felt like, but she didn’t want to draw attention
to herself.

 
    “Chip, soldier,” a tall
uniformed office said as she came forward in line.

 
    Michelle held out her
left wrist and he scanned over it. She couldn’t help but to feet like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse.

 
    “On board, soldier,” he
waved her on.

 
    Michelle scrambled
forward and got on board. She turned around to see that Aaron too was scanned
and not far behind her. She barely knew him but it gave her such a great comfort.    

 
    Michelle sat down in
the uncomfortable seat and this time Aaron sat next to her. The shuttle was
eerily quiet. She could tell that this trip was going to be a silent one. The
nervous tension filled the air. There were only 15 others on this flight. Her
stomach knotted, she could have sworn Aaron said all 30 were going to Redex. She
wanted to ask him, but knew she couldn’t even if she could have, he probably
didn’t know.

 
    She strapped herself in
and tried to relax in her seat. She jolted slightly as the oxygen masks suddenly
deployed.

 
    Michelle put the mask
to her face and fastened the straps securely around her head. She watched as
Aaron did the same. She took a deep breath in. This