The pain awoke Ortega.
He was lying on the ground and someone had removed the rucksack from his back and put it under his head, as a pillow.
The pain in his mouth was hallucinating, as if a thousand needles were running through his head.
And other than that, Ortega could feel the presence of a foreign body deep inside his mouth so far down that it was almost inside his throat.
Standing right over him there was a guy that he had met for the first time only that day: Daniel Messner, and Ortega looked at him as if it was the first time he saw him.
He was a guy of average height, with a long beard and curly hair so long that it made it difficult to see his face. It was odd to see hair like his amongst soldiers hoping to become professionals, but there was a rumor about the fact that the SOG was one of the very few units that allowed long hair, because of the classified nature of their operations.
And the fact that both Messner and Danforth had a beard seemed to confirm that.
“Don't try to talk”- said Messner from above Ortega -. Make a head movement if you understand what I am saying”
Ortega nodded.
Rambo was coming up to them.
He stopped right behind Messner then looked down at Ortega in silence.
“You have some gauze bandages inside your mouth – Messner said -. Your tongue wasn't chopped off, it will be like new again. But we can't search for someone to stitch you, 'cause you'll be rejected from selection if we do so. Do you want to quit?”
Ortega shook his head for a 'no'.
“I have already given you some morphine against the pain, so you are going to feel strange. Now listen to me. You were some kind of team leader to us....”
Ortega started shaking as if he was having spasms.
“What the hell is that?” Messner said.
“I don't know” Rambo replied.
Ortega opened his eyes wide, then they became white.
“Convulsions” said Messner.
Ortega moved his hand up to Messner's one, then held it tight.
“Maybe it's the pain” said Rambo.
Ortega nodded while mumbling.
Those weren't convulsions: Ortega was lucid. They were spasms because of twinges of sharp pain.
“Let's give him another morphine shot” Rambo said.
Messner had the vials already in his hands.
But Ortega was half conscious already and in that state, Messner couldn't be sure about how much morphine to give him. So he gave him just a little top of it, almost nothing at all, and Messner knew Ortega was going to suffer again, and soon.
In fact, Ortega immediately twisted in pain again.
As he was losing his senses - but this time for real - Rambo and Messner realized that injured and unable to talk, Ortega wasn't a leader anymore: the team's strength and morale had just received a very bad hit.
What's more, Ortega had just become a burden good for nothing except slowing them down, and so putting everybody's qualification at risk.
They turned him on his side, so that he wouldn't suffocate himself on his tongue, the bandages or the blood he had in his throat.