I didn’t deserve the kindness I was getting, especially from Beth. But she seemed to think otherwise, along with Victoria and Ron. They had invited Mera and me back into their lives, and I was very thankful.
The best news was yet to come, for I had asked Beth to go on a date with me, and she had accepted. We had gone on multiple dates after that, so you could call us a couple. Ron always joked that he thought Beth and I would get together way before he and Vic did, and Beth countered that we had gotten together before them, we just hadn’t stayed together.
“Ron,” I said, “How did you and Vic end up getting married anyway? When I left you weren’t even dating, and you’ve been married for a year already.”
“Funny story,” Ron laughed. “You see…”
“Funny story?” Vic said, “You’re lucky to be alive!”
Ron coughed something, and continued
“Well you see, I had been commissioned for a mission trip. I was on my way to Zimbabwe for at least a year, maybe more. Vic wasn’t too happy but-“
“Wasn’t too happy” Vic muttered under her breath “You really think I ‘wasn’t too happy’”
“ANYWAY,” Ron continued, “I left, and Vic can tell you the rest.”
I turned to Vic, who looked like she was trying very hard not to get mad
“Well, Ron was gone for a long time,” she said, “And I met a guy named…what was his name?”
“Frank,” Ron muttered
“Oh yeah, Frank.” Vic said, “So anyway, we hit off and a few months later he proposed to me and we were going to get married.”
“And then I came back on the day of the wedding, checked my email, and burst into the church.”
“He was yelling ‘I OBJECT’ over and over again”
“And Vic was all angry and Beth was ecstatic”
“And Frank didn’t mind, he wasn’t so sure about getting married either”
“So Vic and I got married instead of Frank and Vic”
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By this point they had been overlapping each other’s sentences, and I was slightly confused, but I got the idea.
“Oh,” I said, “Okay then.”
Everyone laughed, it was just like the old times.
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For some odd reason my battalion had been sending me on more and more trips overseas. I wasn’t necessarily a combat soldier, I was more of a stay-at-the-base-and-work kind of guy. Not a lot of risk; but a hell of an amount of trips needing to be made.
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They called me in for two weeks, not too long but seriously annoying. The message said something about a training meeting; no one ever looked forward to those. So I went, left Mera with Beth again, and went. The meeting itself wasn’t that long, but two weeks gave me flight time and some jetlag-rest.498Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jIkqSRawn
The meetings weren’t long, but they seemed to drag on for hours and hours. As a Captain, I had attended these meetings multiple times, but then again everyone had. But they were procedure, and we couldn’t ignore the procedure.
The base was in the middle of the desert, nearly thirty miles away from the nearest town. The Afghanistan desert was quite beautiful in this area though; mixtures of red and brown sand set against a blue sky, with little trees in sight for miles around.
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Halfway through the last meeting, we took a snack break. People milled around, talking and chatting with each other. Everyone was glad to be talking about something other than diversionary tactics and first aid rules. I struck up a conversation with two men from San Francisco, (my hometown), and we chatted about the old days.
Then the alarms started.
First just the alarms, then the bomb sirens. Either an invasion from the Israeli extremists in the area, or a bombing.
“Attention everyone,” a cool voice came over the loud-speaker, “We are under att-BANG”
A gunshot rang out through the speaker.
“Alright military girlies,” a gruff voice replaced the cool one, “Get this; we’re attacking you. We just want the weapons and the ammo, so give it up and nobody will die.”
This didn’t sound very extremist, in fact, the man speaking was American.
“Oh man,” someone close to me muttered, “The grenades.”
Remembering that, I darted towards the door. My mind was racing and I wasn’t in the time-frame or situation to listen to reason. I had to protect the new grenades; prototypes that weren’t ready for use.498Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKPRvmlcbn
My boots pounded on the stone floor, my breath came in short gasps. I heard shouts and gunfire all around me. People were dying, but if I didn’t get to the grenades in time, all hell would break loose.
I burst into the lab, made straight for the bombs, and began packing them into the case. I closed it up and made for the door, but two men with guns blocked my way out.
“What’s in the case?” one of them asked tauntingly, “Let us have it, and we won’t kill you.”
My mind was going through all of the defensive tactics I could use. Of course I knew that they didn’t mean it; they would kill me anyway, but I couldn’t let them get the bombs.
“Sure as hell you won’t kill me,” I muttered, “And you aren’t getting these weapons either.”
One of them heard me, and a nasty grin spread over his face.
“Oh you think so?” he said, “We plan on getting all of those weapons, bombs, prototypes, and dangerous materials to make our boss very, very happy.”
I began to run towards the door, “Over my dead body,” I said as I pushed through the men.
I almost made it to the door.
In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea, but I was out of time, and insults. I think they were aiming for me when they fired, but instead hit the wall of grenades in front of me.
And it all exploded, launching me and the case into the air. I gripped its handle tightly, never wanting to let it go.
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I remember flying through the air, my body weightless. I remember thinking that if I died to protect military secrets; it would be worth dying for.
Then I thought of Mera, and Beth.
Then it all went black.
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