“I owe you, Sergeant… what in the hell is your name?”
“Sergeant Robins, Sir. Just doing my job.” She untangled herself from his grasp as the other EMT checked mother and children over again.
“All healthy, Major. Doctor Rice is waiting to admit Major Smirnov, though. Just as a precaution. She’ll meet us at the ER door.”
Moments later, the crash truck was at the ER. One of the male EMTs had the doors open in a flash, and standing at the ER entrance were Major Rice and Colonel Bardun. Having been notified by Central Security Control, both women had made it to the hospital in record time. Major Rice had even brought her six year old son along. Christmas morning or not, this was an important birth.
Both of the officers broke into wide grins when they saw Aleks on the gurney with her two sons.
“Those are two gorgeous looking babies, Aleks. And it looks like they came out just fine,” declared Major Rice.
“Hey, they’re boys. That means they’re handsome, not gorgeous,” Torbin protested.
“Bottom line, they look healthy as hell, Major,” Bettie Bardun interjected. Torbin helped get the gurney down and the two doctors quickly clustered around the mother and children.
“Eight, nine, ten. All fingers and toes accounted for.” Rica Rice was checking everything twice. After working out with Col. Bardun the possible ramifications of Aleks having been “affected” by the Tschaaa, they had checked and rechecked everything during Aleks’ pregnancy. Bettie Bardun had helped work up special protein drinks for Aleks during pregnancy and had others standing by now that she given birth. Rica Rice had monitored every stage of the babies heightened development, fretting over every ultrasound, x-ray, blood test, and examination. Of course, she never let on to anyone how concerned she was about this birth. Aleks was literally the first known pregnancy directly related to Squid tinkering with female hormones, DNA, pregnancy and fetal development. What happened this day would be a template for the unknown numbers of other affected pregnant women to follow.
“Come on, let’s get her into the examination room.”
Torbin followed his wife’s gurney in as two orderlies and the two doctors made certain everything was as it should be. In the examination room, Aleks finally allowed the Doctors to remove her sons from her breasts. They checked heartbeats, respiration, etc.
“Col. Bardun is going to hang on to the placenta and afterbirth, and run some diagnostics on them. It will help prevent us from poking and prodding these two anymore than we have to. We will just need workups on their blood and cellular development.”
“They are fine, Doctor Rice. A mother knows. They are my big, beautiful sons, two of the best things that have ever happened to me.” Suddenly, she sensed where Torbin was standing nearby, and grabbed his hand. “Come closer, husband.”
Torbin moved in and Aleks pulled him in and hugged him.
“You have given me two beautiful sons, my love. I never imagined this would happen. I love you. I always will.”
She began to tear up as Torbin kissed her neck, then whispered into her ear, “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You will be in my heart. Always.”
Rica and Bettie tried to remain detached, professional, but couldn’t. They wiped tears from their eyes, gazing at each other with stupid grins under their surgical masks. This was a great day.
“Okay, Aleks, which one is this one?” Bettie asked.
“Gage, the oldest. The other, Tristan, is just maybe thirty seconds younger.”
Rica handed Tristan to Aleks. “I have never seen two more identical babies. How you will be able to tell them apart is beyond me.”
“I just know. My husband will just have to learn.”
“Come on, let’s get Aleks and her babies to her room,” directed Rica Rice. “We’re going to hold you for observation for twenty-four hours, Aleks. Doctors’ and General Reed’s orders.”
“If you must, but I feel fine. Without all that extra weight, I feel light as a balloon.”
Aleks was soon placed in a private room. After an exam, it was decided there was no reason to hook her up to any monitoring machines. She seemed in excellent shape, especially considering she had just given birth to two large boys.
“I’ll put a cot in here for you, Major Torbin,” Rica said.
“Just get me a bedroll, Ma’am. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Oh, Torbin. Don’t be stubborn. I have this nice soft bed. Don’t be such a hard-ass Marine,” Aleks scolded.
“Hey, that’s one of the endearing qualities that made you want to marry me. Admit it.”
Aleks looked at Torbin, a slight smile on her face. “Here, take your sons. I must visit the ladies room.”
“Here. I’ll help…” Bettie Bardun began to say.
“No need, Colonel. If I could manage to pee with two large trolls in my belly, I can do it now that I am a lot less burdened.” She slid to the floor with ease.
Rica produced a hospital gown, the hated type with the opening in back that a patient could never quite keep closed. “Please put this on while you’re up. Hospital rules.”
“You people just like to make us as uncomfortable as possible with those damn gowns, Doc,” Torbin grumbled. “Makes us want to go home, and open up the bed for other patients.”
“Hey, I didn’t design them. They’ve been around for as long as I can remember.”
“Quit changing the subject, husband, and take your sons. They will want to be fed again soon, and I really have to pee.”
Torbin took his two sons and sat in the well-stuffed reclining chair provided in the room. It suddenly dawned on him that this was the first time he ever held his sons. As a shit-eating grin started to form on his face, he heard a small click. He looked up to see Colonel Bardun with a small digital camera.
“Thought we should memorialize this moment. I know I would want to if it were my children.”
Torbin smiled at the tall woman. “You are good people, Bettie Bardun. As are you, Rica Rice. I owe you big time for all the time and effort you two spent making sure Aleks delivered our sons safely. I’ll always remember those who helped me and mine. Ever need anything, just holler.”
“Just doing our jobs,” Rica answered. “In this case, it was my distinct pleasure. My son asks me all the time about you, the ‘Hero of Key West’, and Aleks, the Russian spy. He thinks you two are cool.”
“Tell him his mother is the cool one. You make sure kids come out with all their fingers and toes. How cool is that?”
Rica flashed him a smile. “I’ll let you tell him that. He’s with me today, down by the nurses’ station. I didn’t want to leave him at home alone this early, and I didn’t want to dump him onto someone on Christmas morning. This is family time.”
“Well, as soon as my wife comes out of the bathroom, I’ll pass Gage and Tristan back to her, and visit your son.”
“I am here, my husband,” Aleks announced as she stepped from the bathroom. “Go and entertain Rica’s boy. You’ll have plenty of time to watch me feed our sons. A young boy is probably fit to be tied being stuck in a hospital on Christmas morning.”
Rica smiled. “Thank you both. He’ll be thrilled to meet a person who’s been on television, and in the newspapers. The more strong male figures he sees and meets, the better it is. He misses never having known his father, other than through pictures, and my stories.”
Torbin noticed a haunted look in Rica’s eyes. It had been years, but she still really hurt. She must have really loved him. Probably as much as he and Aleks loved each other.
“Consider me gone. If you don’t mind, Doctor, I’ll take your son to the cafeteria. I need a cup of coffee, so I’ll get him something to eat. Young boys need food in the morning to feed their growing bodies.”
Rica paused for a moment, looking, examining Torbin. Finally, she spoke. “You know, for someone with a reputation as a hard-ass, you sure have an empathetic side.”
“Hey, don’t let that get around. P
eople will think I’m soft.”
The three female officers all laughed at this statement. The thought of anyone thinking the Hero of Key West as “soft” was one of the more humorous concepts they had heard lately.
“I don’t think there is any danger of that, Major,” Bettie Bardun remarked.
“Anybody else want something? No? Then, off I go.” He bent over and kissed his wife. “You look beautiful.”
She snorted. “You say that to all the women who just gave birth.”
“No, you’re the first. See you in a bit.”
“We’ll stay a while, to observe your wife and your sons,” explained Rica. “We just want to err on the side of caution.”
Torbin nodded, then left the room. Bettie Bardun turned and smiled at Aleks. “You are one lucky woman, Aleks. Now, mind if I hold your sons for a moment? I promise I won’t drop them.”
Torbin made his way to the nurses’ station and saw a slender young dark-haired boy sitting, with a stack of comic books piled on the chair next to him.
“Hi there. You’re Major Rice’s son, right?”
The boy seemed startled a bit by being addressed by an adult. He stood up quickly, dropping a comic on the floor. ‘Yes, Sir. Richard, Sir.” He was a bit bleary eyed, tired, and now nervous.
“Well Richard, I’m Major Torbin Bender.” He stuck out his hand to shake the boy’s. Richard had a firm handshake for one so young. Suddenly, Torbin’s name sunk in and his eyes went wide.
“You’re Major Bender? The Squid killer, like in the comic book?”
“What comic book is that, Richard?” Torbin asked, with a quizzical look on his face.
“H-h-here, Sir. I dropped it.” He bent over, and picked it up nervously. Torbin took it and looked at the cover.
A very muscular depiction of Torbin Bender was on the cover, a gun in one hand, a huge bowie knife in the other. He was slaying smaller versions of real Tschaaa warriors, with bluish blood flowing everywhere. Protecting his back was a larger than life Ichiro, wielding a katana a good foot longer than his real one. Severed tentacles were flying everywhere.
“Who did this? Do you know?”
“The kids at school say they’re making them in Minot, North Dakota. They sell them in a bookstore downtown. This is the first issue. I have two others, here with the other comics.”
He started to show Torbin. “That’s okay, Richard. I can only read one at a time. Say, I need some coffee. Let’s go to the cafeteria. I’ll get you some breakfast while I’ll tell you what really happened.”
Richard’s mouth fell open at Torbin’s suggestion. “You will? You’ll tell me?”
“Sure. You’re the son of a friend of mine—your mother—who just helped my wife deliver two handsome, healthy sons. The least I can do is tell her son the real deal.”
Richard broke into a big grin. “Man, wait until I go back to school. They won’t believe I talked to you… Sir.”
“Tell you what. I’ll even sign and write a note on the comic. That ought to convince them,” Torbin suggested. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Can I have pancakes? My mom is really busy these days, and doesn’t make them much anymore.”
“My good man, you can have anything you want. You’re with Major Torbin Bender, Squid killer extraordinaire. I think I’ll join you in those pancakes. They sound great.”
A half hour later, and Richard was finishing up a huge stack of pancakes, with Torbin not too far behind. He hadn’t had pancakes in a while either. They tasted surprisingly good this morning.
“So, that’s what happened. I managed to kill that one Squid, I think the ‘man upstairs’ was smiling on me that day. Then, Petty Officer Faust tried to cut me and Ichiro—Major Yamamoto—knocked her out. She was good. Too bad she’s not on our side.”
Richard swallowed his last bite of pancakes, and guzzled some milk. “Then you fought your way out?” He finally asked.
“Yes, but not with a bowie knife. I had a captured automatic rifle, and Ichiro had his sword. Although the comic got one thing right. There were Squids everywhere. Somehow, we made our way up to the causeway.”
“Then you fought a robocop?”
Torbin laughed. “I shot at it to give Ichiro a chance to get away. The robocop threw a rock at me, and hit my helmet so hard it put a dent in and knocked me on my butt. Then he captured me.”
“He? It was a man?”
Torbin paused, and regarded Richard more closely. “His name is Andrew. He is part man, part machine. A cyborg. He captured me, then saved me from being torn apart by a bunch of crazed Squids. He took me and turned me over to Deseret. Captain Abigail Young helped get me home.”
“Captain Young? The Avenging Angel?”
“Why yes. Is she in that comic also?”
Richard looked through the stack of comics, pulled one out. “Here, Issue Two.”
Torbin opened it and found the comic book version of Abigail. The illustrated version was a very voluptuous female, with everything about two sizes bigger than it was in real life, and a hint of a halo around her head. The comic book author took the “angel” literally in some respects, but made her look like a shield maiden in others. She kicked the ass of any Eaters or Krakens that came around.
“The third issue tells about…the Pits.”
Torbin slowly opened it up, looked at the pages. This one showed the beasts, the creatures surprisingly realistic. Too realistic. There was the part about Torbin finding the young girls in the cell. The way the comic artist drew the look of horror on Torbin’s face suddenly made him shiver with the memory. He dropped the comic to the table.
“Everything okay, Major?” Richard asked with a nervous quiver.
“Yeah. Just brought back some bad memories. But things turned out just fine. We rescued the five survivors. They have a good home now.”
“People... soldiers died.” Richard said.
“Yes, young man, they did. For a good cause.”
“My dad was killed by the Squids before I was born.” Richard tried to say this in a matter of fact manner. But Torbin could see in his eyes longing… and sadness.
“My dad was killed also, Richard. By the Squids. As was my mother, and my Brother.”
They sat silent for a moment.
“You miss your dad, don’t you Richard?”
Richard’s lip quivered a bit, then he stopped it. “Yeah. I never got to see him for real. But my mom has told me about him. She says I look like him. She has a couple of pictures of him, and I guess I do.”
“You want to know a secret? I miss my dad too, Richard. So, we have something in common.”
“Yeah.”
They sat quietly again for a moment. Then Torbin broke the silence.
“I’d like it if we were friends, Rich. Can I call you Rich?”
The young boy gazed intently at Torbin. “You want to be my friend?”
“Yeah. We both lost our dads to the Squids. Friends help friends get through bad times together. Losing your dad is a bad time. So, I’d like you to be my friend. Then we can help each other. Okay?”
Suddenly, Richard smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“Great. Shake.” The young boy shook Torbin’s hand.
“Now you are an official friend of the infamous… Squid killer.” The last part Torbin did in a deep falsetto. Richard began to laugh. The laughter was music to Torbin’s ears.
A few minutes later, Rica Rice appeared to recover her son. As she saw Richard now smiling while drinking some hot chocolate, her stomach did a little flip flop. He usually looked rather serious, and smiled infrequently. He no longer seemed sad or depressed. He just seemed… somewhat unhappy. As she stood back and watched him for a moment, he began to laugh. A lump formed in her throat as she he heard his boyish laugh. She held back the tears, smiled, and walked over to the table.
“Time to go, Richie.” She addressed Torbin. “Hopefully he wasn’t too much trouble.”
“Trouble? Nah. That’s me
. My middle name is Trouble—just ask my wife.” Her son began to laugh gain, and she saw a twinkle in his eyes which was a very rare event these days.
“Major Bender was just telling me what really happened in Key West. He said a robocop knocked him on his butt with a rock. Nothing like what the comics say.”
Rica gave him a quizzical look. “Rich was just showing his comic collection. I didn’t know I had my own comic. Guess I’ll have to see about getting royalties.”
Richie interrupted. “See, Mom, he signed this one.” He opened the aforementioned comic and showed it to his mother. Rica picked it up and read the inscription.
“Let it be known that this comic book belongs to one Rich Rica, friend to Major Torbin Bender, aka the Squid Killer. Woe to any person, Squid, Eater or Kraken who harrasses or bothers said Rich Rica and his comics. For the Squid Killer knows and sees all.”
Below was written a P.S. “This warning also applies to creatures, beasties and nasties of the night. Be warned.” This was followed by Torbin’s official scrawl that passed as a signature. Penmanship had never been his strong suit.
Rica tried to hold back her tears. “Honey, could you go get mom a soft drink, my regular? I’ll wait here with Major Bender.”
“Sure, Mom.” He grinned as he went to the soda dispenser.
Rica took a deep breath, as a tear ran down her face. Torbin grabbed a napkin and handed to her.
“Hey I didn’t mean to upset you. If I did, said something wrong…”
“Torbin Bender, you Sir, are a Saint. I have not seen my son laugh like that in…aw shit.” She began to cry. Torbin stood up and put his hand on her arm.
“Hey. It’s okay. He’s a kid. They’re very resilient. Especially when they have a Mom who loves him to death. Come on, dry your tears. It’s Christmas morning. He’s got presents to open.”
Rica took a deep breath, dabbed her eyes. “Major, you just gave my son and I Christmas presents that I will never forget. You made him laugh.”
“Well, I always was a class clown. Got me in a lot of trouble in Basic Training.”
The Tsunami Page 56
