JAA Ch. 02: Time and Again

Copyright © 2019 - This is an original work by Zeb Carter and is protected under copyright by U.S. copyright law. It is only submitted at Literotica.Com and any submission to any other site has not been authorized by the Copyright Holder/Author.

Note: This is the second in the John Abernathy series. There is no sex in this story. I will be posting other John Abernathy stories in the future in the order they should be read.

Order of the John Abernathy Adventures...

1. Aftermath

2. Time and Again

3. The Kings Undoing

4. The Lives of John Abernathy

5. Rerun

6. Winds of Change

Falling through the grayness, lost in a reality of my own, I dropped through the air hitting the ground hard. How long I lay there, I do not know, but when I woke, I was cold. Cold wet snow blurred my vision. I struggled to my feet, staggering a few meters down the hill on which I landed. Falling forward, I tumbled in the snow, further down slamming against the trunk of a tree. Stunned, I sat there looking up watching the snow, fall from the sky, along with flashes of lights from out of nowhere. My bones ached and my joints tingled. They told me they would.

I don't know how long I sat there watching the snowfall, surprised by the wetness that hit my face. I started to shiver as a gust of wind swirled the white flakes around me. Pulling my canteen from its holder on my belt, I drank until the liquid quenched my need. Searching in the cold snow beside me, I found my rifle. Shaking it free of the clinging white flakes, I slung it over my shoulder. Groaning loudly I struggled to my feet again to continue my journey.

Looking around I found a landmark and knew instantly where I am. Pushing off the tree I headed west through the woods. I had to find the house. I knew the address, but not which house it was on the street. It was dark, the streetlights glowed an eerie greenish white, casting shadows in the recesses of the shrubbery. Finding the house among the row of houses, I saw it all was dark inside. Around the side of the garage peeking in the window, I saw both bays were empty, nobody home. With my back to the wall, exhaustion overtook me as I slide down to rest, hoping she would be home directly.

After a significant passage of time, I decided my waiting was over. I struggled to my feet and turned back toward the woods. Once beyond the tree line, I turned north. There was another who could help me. I hoped she was home and would be kind enough to give me shelter while I regained my strength. The snow continued to fall as I struggled through drifts knee deep. Staying out of sight was imperative. I stuck to the woods, only crossing roads when no traffic was present until I came to the interstate. Fifty meters to the east of where I came upon the bustling freeway was an underpass for animals and hikers.

Two hours later, I was on the front porch of her house. I rang the bell, but there was no answer. I was too exhausted to continue. I needed rest and nourishment. I needed her help. My last thought was of her smile, as I crumpled to the wooden deck of the porch.

As I pulled up in my driveway, Missus Jennings, my neighbor from across the street, was standing by my mailbox staring at my porch. I stopped my car at the mailbox and rolled down the window.

"Marge, what are you doing out in this weather?"

"Oh, Susan, I'm glad you're home. There is a man on your front porch. He's been lying there for quite some time. I was just about to go check on him when you pulled up."

I put the car in park, opened the door and climbed out. With Marge by my side, I walked up to my front porch. There was the form of a man lying there covered in snow. I could see the vapor of his breath coming from a hole in the snow cover. Climbing the rest of the way onto the porch I gently cleared the snow from around his face. I pulled back in shock as I saw who it was. I recognized him immediately.

"Marge, help me clear the snow off him, please," I asked her brushing the snow from his body.

Marge joined me and we had him uncovered in minutes. I knelt beside him pulling my glove off my right hand. I pressed my palm to his forehead. He was feverish and as I watched, his eyes flickered open.

"Should I call 911, Susan?" Marge asked.

"Please, no," he croaked, looking at me with sparkling blue eyes.

"No thank you, Marge, I can handle this. He's a friend and I know just what to do," I told her, smiling down at him.

"Is he some kind of soldier?" Marge asked.

"Uh, I don't know, though it sure looks like he is, doesn't it. Maybe he's just home from Iraq?"

"With his rifle," Marge said pointing at the muzzle of the gun sticking out from under him.

"Marge, could you help me get him inside please?"

"Sure, sure, get the front door open."

I had to run back to the car to get my keys. I pulled the car up the drive, shut it off and hurried to the front door. Once the door was open, I bent and with Marge's help, we were able to drag him indoors. We put him on the hearth by the fireplace for now. Stepping back out on the porch I retrieved the rifle and brought it in, placing it against the wall by the door.

"Thank you, Marge. Could you not mention this to anyone until we talk again?"

"Sure thing Susan, you will tell me who he is, though?"

"Yes, I will. I will tell you he has been a patient of mine for a long time."

"Oh, okay. I just didn't want to worry about you over here alone with a stranger with a gun."

"No need to worry Marge, really. Now I need to get him warmed up..."

"And I would just be in the way..."

"No, no, not at all..."

"You don't have to entertain an old lady Susan. I know the way out. Tell your friend it was nice meeting him, even though I didn't really."

"I will, and thank you again, dear."

Marge was out the door and I couldn't hear her response. I knew she would be talking to me all the way back to her house. Marge was a dear, but sometimes got lost in her past. Her son would be looking for her shortly so I didn't have to worry about her.

Stripping off my coat and the other glove, I walked to where he lay. He was breathing shallowly and still shivering. Stepping over him, I realized too late, that he was awake and I am wearing a dress. Shaking my head, I bent over and lit a fire in the fireplace. Turning, I knelt down next to him. He was smiling at me as I started to undress him.

"I have..." he coughed.

"Shush, don't talk," I told him, pulling the jacket sleeve off his right arm.

Rolling him toward me, I pulled the left sleeve off. I unbuttoned his shirt, pulling it from his pants. He wore a gray-green t-shirt so I pulled his shirtsleeves off too. Moving to his feet, I untied his bootlaces and pulled them off. His socks were soaking wet and stained with blood. Gently as I could, I peeled them off also. The blood was coming from raw places on the sides of his feet. They weren't too bad but would be painful for the next couple of days.

I undid his belt, both of them, unzipped his pants and pulled them off as gently as I could. His legs were red from the cold. Holding his pants in my hand, I noticed blood on the back of them. Picking up his right leg, I saw that it had multiple puncture wounds. I was never in the service, but ever since nine-eleven, we had training on what shrapnel wounds looked like and how to deal with them just in case. Shrapnel peppered the back of his leg making it look like raw hamburger. So was his left leg.

Ever so gently, I rolled his torso to the right. Bending down I looked at his back. Blood was soaking his t-shirt and dripping down onto his shirt. Shrapnel wounds covered his back. He was a mess, from the back of his neck down to his calves. I pulled a blanket from the couch and covered him. I stripped out of my dress and crawled under the blanket with him. He was still shivering. His head turned toward mine his eyes open.

A smile crossed his lips as I slid my arm across his chest.

"Thank you..."

"I told you not to talk. I should call an ambulance to take you to the hospital, you know that."

"Yes..."

"Shut up and close your eyes," I told him.

I lay next to him under the blanket until he stopped shivering. Once he was warm enough I crawled out from under the blanket, went upstairs and got dressed. Slacks and a t-shirt were the uniform of the day. I collected some peroxide and sterile gauze from the medicine cabinet. Pulling my bag from the table by the bedroom door, I was back beside him in next to no time. He was still smiling when I knelt down beside him.

My back was on fire as were the backs of my legs. Thousands of little needle pricks up and down my back. Having Susan pressed against me was delightful, and it was warming me up. The shivering stopped and she got up leaving me covered.

She returned shortly frowning at my smile. I couldn't help myself, smiling I mean. She always made me smile.

I pulled the blanket from him as I knelt beside him. He was still smiling at me and for some reason this made me frown. I hadn't meant to frown but I did, so I kept it there. Pulling on his shoulders, I rolled him toward me so he was resting on my legs. He grunted.

"If you..."

"I told you to be quiet," I said as sternly as I could.

He remained quiet as I picked the scissors out of my bag and cut his t-shirt up the back before he could say anything. I then went to work on his back with tweezers and a flashlight. Most of the shrapnel was big enough to see with the naked eye, but some I needed a magnifying glass to see it so I could pry it out.

Once I had his back clear of those little pieces of metal I started to clean the wounds. As gently as I could, I dabbed the bloody wounds with gauze soaked in peroxide. With its reaction to blood and bacteria, his back glistened, covered in soft foam. After a while, I cleaned the foam off with warm water. It was then that I discovered some of his wounds were deep enough to require stitching.

"Damn," I whispered.

"Butterflies," he croaked.

Smiling I nodded knowing he couldn't see. I pulled a handful of butterfly tape out of my bag and went to work. I soon had the deepest wounds closed. The oozing of blood had stopped. I cleared the floor of his clothing, spreading the blanket under him. Gently as I could, I rolled him onto his back, then on over to his stomach. He moaned as he settled into place.

"I'm going to fix your legs up now. Just lay as still as possible please."

He nodded. I went to work on his legs and lower back. His boxers were bloody too. An hour later, I was finished and he lay naked before me. He had started to shiver again, so I pulled the blanket around him and gently rolled him onto his back. His smiling face looked up at me, his eyes sparkling.

"If I help you up, can you walk?"

"Yes," he croaked.

He rolled back over onto his stomach. Pushing himself up on his hands and knees, he grabbed my hand, using me to steady himself and climbed to his feet. He groaned as his full weight pressed down on the wounds on his feet. Placing my arm around his waist, I then led him upstairs stopping at the top trying to decide where to put him. The deciding factor was the convenience, so I led him to the master bedroom. Pulling back the bed covers with one hand, while I steadied him with my other, we, it was a joint effort, finally got him situated in bed.

"I will be downstairs getting you something to eat and drink. Don't try to get out of bed alone. Do you understand?"

"Yes, and thank you."

I felt my lips curl at the ends in a slight smile, but then I just turned, hurried out and downstairs.

She was gone quickly. My back was still burning and starting to itch. I lay there staring at the ceiling, so glad she had taken me in and patched me up. I knew I had some explaining to do and was ready for that. What I wasn't ready for was what was happening with her. I lay there wondering about her family. From what I could see, I was in the master bedroom. The closet was open enough that I could see there were only her clothes hanging there. Where were her husband's things? Where were her children? Had we been wrong in our calculations? Had we been wrong on what the device would do? Where it would send me?

Rummaging around in the cabinets I found I only had a couple of cans of soup and some crackers. Inside the fridge was no better, just some juice of questionable freshness, canned soda, and bottled water. I did the best I could with what I had. Soup, crackers and water, some nourishment he needed and water to hydrate him.

Climbing the stairs, I had so many questions for him, but they would have to wait, I had a patient in need of my care. I placed the tray on the dresser and stepped to his side. He was still awake and smiled when I came into his view.

"Can you sit up without pain?"

"Yes."

I helped him into a sitting position, placing pillows behind his back to let him lean back. I retrieved the tray and set it on his lap. He immediately picked up the water bottle and drank deeply. The bottle was half-empty when he set it down.

"Thank you," his voice was much clearer now.

"Don't talk, just eat. It's only soup but I think that is probably all you can handle right now."

"It will do, thank you, I know," he waved his hand as he picked up the spoon and began to consume the soup.

As I watched, he tentatively picked up a soda cracker and nibbled at it, wincing in pain as he did. Concerned I pushed his hand away from his mouth.

"Open, open," I told him.

He grimaced but complied with my request. Looking inside his mouth I was shocked to see ... well, let's just say I was shocked.

"What the hell happened here? No, don't tell me, finish your soup, leave the crackers or break them up in the soup."

Nodding he took the crackers and crumbled them into small pieces, dropping them in the warm liquid. Then he began to slurp up the soup. When he was finished he drank the rest of the water and leaned heavily back into the pillows behind him. I could feel his eyes on me as I took the tray and placed it on the dresser. Looking in the mirror, I saw his lips curl into a smile as our eyes met.

Turning back to the bed I gently pulled the back of his head up off the pillows and pulled them out. Then gently lay him back.

"I really like to lie on my side," he told me.

Helping him turn, I pulled the covers up over his shoulder.

"Now get some sleep, we will talk in the morning."

He nodded and closed his eyes. I stepped into the bathroom and disrobed down to my panties. I took my pajamas off the hook on the door and pulled them on. I went to the opposite side of the bed and turned on the lamp on the nightstand there. I then turned off the overhead light and climbed into bed. It was a king size bed and constructed in such a way that I wouldn't disturb him as he slept.

"Good night Susan and thank you again," came his voice from the opposite side.

"Good night. Now be quiet and go to sleep," I told him turning off the bedside light.

As quiet descended I closed my eyes and was soon falling into the darkness of sleep.

I lay there in the darkness of the bedroom thinking how lucky I was. Not only was she here, but she was for some reason, alone. I hoped the reason wasn't due to some tragedy, as I didn't want her to have any sadness in her life. Well, no more than she would normally have. I knew she had a lot of questions, some I wouldn't be able to answer and others would be beyond me to answer.

Listening to her breath, I cleared my mind of all the thoughts flying around in it and dropped into sleep.

I woke at my usual time, my internal alarm clock niggling at my consciousness. The first thing I noticed was every inch of my back and legs was burning. Little pinpricks of pain dotted my back causing me great distress. Sometime during the night, I had turned on my back. I was so sore I couldn't move.

I felt, more than heard, Susan breathing next to me. Turning my head, I saw she had migrated to lie beside me. Her face was serene in her slumber. I smiled even though I was in pain. I lay there a long time watching her sleep. As the sun was peeking over the tops of the trees to light up the room I fell back into the darkness of sleep my pain chasing me.

When I had gotten home last night, my husband noticed footprints in the snow around the house. He told me after he came in that they had gone around the side of the house and that there was blood on the siding of the garage. It looked as if someone had leaned against the wall and slid down to sit in the snow. There was no one there now, but footprints did lead into the woods behind the house.

I put my coat back on and went out to look at the side of the house. There was blood there all right and it looked like the bleeding was significant. Going back into the house, I changed into a pair of slacks and boots.

"Where are you going?" my husband asked.

"To look for whoever is out there. They need help, that is a lot of blood on the wall."

"They may be dangerous..."

"Not with that blood loss they won't."

"You don't know how long ago they were here..."

"No more than three hours ago."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Now I'm going, I won't go far, but I'm going. You could come with. Miranda can watch Allison."

"I'm ready," he said, he is such a dear.

We spent the next hour following the tracks in the snow. When we arrived at the interstate, we lost them at the underpass. It looked like a herd of deer had scrambled through and obliterated all tracks on the other side. Turning back, we trudged home, cold and wet.

Once warmed up, I noticed that there was a message waiting on voice mail. Picking up the phone, I looked through the caller id log and saw that Susan had called about two hours ago, just before we had returned home. Pressing the voice mail button I listened to her message. She wanted me to come over in the morning and give her a hand with something. She didn't say what it was.

The poor dear was my best friend and has had a rough time of late. Her husband had chosen this time of year to separate from her, for some reason she wouldn't even tell me. She was alone, her children staying with her parents until things between her and him settled down.

Well, morning would be fast approaching after our little jaunt in the woods, so I turned in with my husband for the night. Stopping at Allison's door, I smiled as I watched her sleep. Miranda, smiled at me getting up from the chair she used and left the room.

"Good night Miranda."

"Good night Miss Shelly," Miranda replied heading for her own room.

Slipping silently into Allison's room I leaned over her and kissed her cheek.

"Good night my sweet," I whispered, then hurried to my own bed.

I woke early, kissed my husband and Allison good-bye and left for Susan's house. Gerry, my husband understood why I was going as he flung the snow off the drive with the snow blower. It took all of ten minutes to drive to Susan's house. I parked in the drive behind her snow-covered car. The drive was deep with snow as I trudged up to the back door. I knocked and waited in the bright sunshine feeling the frigid temperature swirl around me.

After the third time knocking, I bent taking the key from under the fake rock by the stoop. I unlocked the door and replaced the key. I quietly entered the house, climbing the stairs slowly. Why I did this I couldn't tell anyone at the time, but I sensed something. It was a smell and one I had encountered before. Blood, dried blood, I was glad I had worn my sneakers.