Another Morning

by Leah

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asl/leah/anoam.php
Summary: Another bad day

I'm looking out into the pale green haze of an ocean, calling out for someone.

I'm terrified. I can feel that, but it's a distant thing, like it's somewhere outside of myself. Or like it's an old terror, and what I'm feeling is the ghost of it; just the remains.

Or maybe I'm the ghost, and nothing seems real because I'm not here anymore. Maybe the one I'm calling to is my last link to the world, where I should be. Maybe he's the one meant to lead me back--

"Sir! Sir, wake up!"

--And I'm blinking up into the worried brown eyes of Aiden Ford. And we're on yet another planet, and it's morning.

"We have to keep moving, sir," he says. "They've found us again."

"All right." I roll up to my knees, wiping my mouth with the back of my forearm. The bandage is rough against my skin. The white cloth is dirty and torn, and the wound feels hot. I'd like to have Carson check on it, but we don't have time. We have to run.

And Carson's dead, anyway. I keep forgetting that. I keep forgetting a lot of things.

I shoulder my pack and take one last look around: at the faces of the Athosians we had to bring with us, the blank resignation in their expressions; at this almost anonymous planet--we've only been here a few days.

The very last thing I look at is the graves: five mounds in a neat little row. Five unmarked stones.

It doesn't matter how short a time we stay, we always leave graves. Soon there won't be any of us left to dig them.

"Come on, sir," Aiden says. Good kid. Such a good soldier.

I finish fastening my pack and move out with the others. But I take just one more look at the graveyard. I have to.

I pretend that one of the new graves is Rodney's. I always do that. It gives me a chance to say goodbye.

I can't remember what planet we actually buried him on. But like I said, I keep forgetting a lot of things.