Antidote for the unknown soldier

[hajimenoippolit.livejournal.com]

It was odd, Polya thought as he opened the infirmary door, armed with the antidote Khostov had provided from the base's medical supplies. These past days he had been preserving life more often than deciphering the messages left in the act of dying. It did little to balance the harm he had done to a man already lost and afraid.

Maybe in the interim he had remembered his name.

The room was cool and white.

"I've brought the antidote," Rakitin said quietly, loath to unbalance the delicate approximation of peace.

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[zabytsya.livejournal.com]

"Okay," David said.

If even the pathologist - who was qualified to work with the living, but still - didn't think he should leave the infirmary early, he supposed he was stuck.

The antidote must have been starting to work, because he felt warm and dizzy, as if the cure was flushing all the poison from him forcibly.

David nodded, getting drowsy.

"Are you - "

He hesitated.

"Do you need to check to make sure the antidote's working, later?"

[hajimenoippolit.livejournal.com]

The man must have been tired if he was agreeing that easily. Though Rakitin could hardly say he knew him well, he suspected this was not someone accustomed to giving up.

"That's right," he said. "I'll be back as soon as I can. To check on the antidote."

Hopefully no one else gets poisoned or murdered for a while.

[zabytsya.livejournal.com]

David murmured his assent, and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, Rakitin was gone, and it was not difficult to close them again and succumb to the shadows.