Page 7 of The Long Walk Back

‘I withhold consent.’

Kate snapped her head towards the voice. Cooper looked determined, resigned to his decision and angry, as though he was daring them to challenge him. Her heart sank.

‘Captain, you do realise that?—’

‘Yes, Missy. I realise what I am saying, and I withhold consent. You can’t take my leg.’

‘You have to live, you can live without a leg. With modern-day medical advances, you can still live a good life. It’s not over for you.’ She was speaking too much, going against her training, but she wanted him to have the facts. That was her job, to lay out the options. She had no personal stake in this, even though everything in her was screaming that she wanted him to live. What was the point if not? Of meeting him, of the boy being saved, just for another life to be wasted in its place?

‘I withhold consent. You can keep your medical advances.’

Kate opened her mouth to argue, moving closer to the bed, but Trevor stood up to stop her.

‘Captain, that is your decision, but let’s see what happens over the next few hours, okay? Think it over, we realise it’s a huge decision to make.’

The captain snorted. ‘No shit, Doc. I won’t change my mind.’

Trevor nodded, an almost imperceptive movement. ‘Kate, keep me updated.’ He left the area to tend to other patients.

The captain looked at her again, and she felt a flush creep across her skin as his eyes ran over her body. For a nude man, he had the undressing people with your eyes thing nailed. She was the one who felt naked, exposed in front of him.

‘I know you don’t get it, but this is my life. Without it, there’s not much to stay alive for.’

‘I get it more than you think,’ she sighed. ‘But we are not there yet. The medication could still turn things around.’ She put the papers down at the side of his bed. ‘Is there anyone I can call for you?’

‘Nope, everyone’s already here.’ Cooper crossed his arms gently, his pale face wincing at the pain of his movements. Which meant he was getting worse, if the injuries were making themselves known even over the pain meds. She checked his morphine drip as his eyes followed her movements. He was looking sicker and sicker as time passed, and she knew he must feel it.

‘So,’ he rasped. ‘Your husband serve too?’

The mention of a husband had her head turning towards him.

‘No, he’s back home, with my son.’

Cooper nodded, his jaw tightening. ‘What does he think of you being out here, in all this?’

‘Well,’ she checked the monitors again and sagged down into the chair she’d slept in. ‘My son is still little and believes in superheroes, so he thinks I’m pretty cool. Like Captain America or something.’

‘Wonderwoman,’ Cooper added. ‘What about your husband?’

The smile dropped from her lips. ‘Well, he’s my soon to be ex-husband, so he’s not so keen about…’ She waved a hand around the tent. ‘…all this. He thinks I ran away.’

‘Did you?’ When she met his green eyes, she saw no judgement.

She laughed a little, despite herself. ‘No. Yes. A little bit. I wanted to come and help, do something. Learn new skills, I guess, but I can’t say that I wasn’t glad to come out here.’

‘How long you been married?’

‘Too long,’ was all she would allow herself to say. ‘We had Jamie by accident, really. It seemed like the natural thing to do.’

‘Jamie’s your son?’

‘Yeah.’ She pulled out her phone, showed him her screensaver of him in his football kit.

‘Cute kid.’

‘What about you?’

His dark brows knitted together. ‘What about me?’

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