Page 100 of After 5
“Marco,” I said. He didn’t budge.
I raised a concerned eyebrow at Gertie.
“Sorry, when the medics started to take him away, I swiped the bottle of Dover’s powder from your medical pouch.”
“Why?”
“He threatened to use his key to go home and get someone to take us home. I told him you had a plan, and if he’d stop acting like a titty baby, I’d give him some medicine to help with the pain. I wasn’t too sure about the dosage. You have a plan, right?”
I nodded and hoped one would develop soon.
All the transporters had traveled except for Ace, and it was risky for him to travel so close to his arrival.
“Ace is working to find my vessel.”
“Good,” Gertie said and glanced down at Marco. “After we got here, he was really doped up. Told nurse pain-in-the-ass he was calling his racecar and going back to his home in the twenty-first century. The nurse confiscated the medicine.”
I kneeled and gave his shoulder a shake. “Marco.”
His eyes opened and he blinked a few times. “Hey, Jen.” His lips pulled into a crooked grin. “You have a caterpillar on your lip.”
He reached out and petted my mustache.
“Lordy, he’s high as a kite,” Gertie said.
“Let’s go, big boy.” I helped him stand and he looped an arm around Gertie and me, using us like a pair of crutches.
Gertie grabbed the blanket he used.
I pushed aside the image of lice and maggots and took the blanket from her. We headed toward the exit.
“Uh-oh, here comes nurse crotchety,” Gertie bobbed her head in the direction of a slim, heavily mustached man marching toward us.
“Where do you think you’re going with that soldier?” He blocked our path, hands on hips.
“He’s the nephew of a colonel. I have orders to take him to the base hospital,” I said.
“Which colonel?”
“Colonel Sanders,” Marco slurred, and then laughed at his own joke.
“Sanders, never heard of him.” The man flipped his delicate wrist at us. “He’s merely a leg wound. Soon as the drug wears off, he can report back to duty. He should stay here, close to his regiment.”
The man stood his ground and I decided to pull rank. “Out of our way, Sergeant.”
His chin raised as he noted my insignia. Refusing to salute, he turned on his heel and left.
We moved outside. Gertie helped Marco drink water from the canteen.
I attached the confiscated beard to Marco’s little scruff of chin hairs, batting away his hand when he tried to touch it.
“No touching, I’m making you look sexy.”
Marco gave me a toothy grin.
I inspected the rest of him. His pant leg, torn and stained where the bullet ripped through, might be a problem. A bandage poked through the hole in the fabric, but there wasn’t any sign of blood. At least the bleeding had stopped, and with the cover of darkness, maybe my idea had a chance to fly.
We moved toward the trees where Sam waited in the shadows with General Lee’s horse.
