The rapid rattle of machine gun fire was deafening to his ears. He was standing alone in the middle of the desert. Where was the machine gun fire coming from? He searched. He shouted. He screamed. No one was around.
"It's entirely your fault",
The machine gun fire stopped. Jack halted, he had heard this voice before, it sounded so familiar, however he just couldn't put his finger on whose it was,
"You killed us Jack",
He turned around at the feminine voice; it was familiar, but the tone was cold, isolating, He started to run, he had an idea on who the voices belonged to, and he needed to get away. Fast.
He ran as fast as his feet would carry him. A woman suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his path, sending him sprawling onto the floor. He recognised the face; it was the face of his mother, but not the mother he had seen in the pictures, where she looked stunningly beautiful, which her soft chocolate brown eyes and sandy brown hair, no, this wasn't her. He yelped at her face covered in burns. Her eyes were dark black, and her hair was singed from the fire. He scrambled to his feet to escape the other way, but his father stopped him, he had fared far worse in the house fire, his burns were so bad that some of his skin had peeled off completely, revealing his bones. His father's skull was partly showing and his hair was dark black to match his eyes; the sight of him was truly horrific.
"All your fault Jack, it's all your fault" His mother cried,
"You are no son of mine", His father continued,
"I- It- It wasn't me! I didn't start the fire! I swear! Let me go!" Jack shouted as his mother took his arm, his father grabbed the machine gun,
"Dad, I didn't kill you! Please!"
Jack opened his eyes, he realised he was screaming. He put his hand over his mouth. He sat up, his hands were shaking violently, he stared at the ceiling, what was he going to do?
Jack slowly lifted himself out of bed, these dreams were getting much worse, he glanced at the clock to find it was 3am, he hoped that he hadn't woken Luke. He shuffled to the bathroom and opened his travel bag with shaky hands. He rifled through his bag to find his tablets that his Doctor had given him back in America. He knocked them back. These tablets were supposed to get rid of any hallucinations or dreams that troubled him, hopefully they would kick in soon, he didn't fancy another visit from his charred parents.
"Jack, mate, you alright in there?", Luke was knocking at the door, Jack steadied his voice,
"Yeah, sorry Luke, just a nightmare", Jack replied slowly, hoping his voice wouldn't give away the trauma he was going through,
"Oh alright, I just checked our location, we'll arrive in Flowerbud in approximately 2 hours, try and get maybe another hour of sleep, ok? You're going to need it",
"Sure", Jack sighed inwardly, he wasn't sure what his Grandfather would make of all this, military experiences that have messed up his mind, his parents haunting his dreams accusing him of killing them. Maybe he didn't have to tell him everything that had happened, just maybe.
He proceeded to shower and then get dressed in some plain khaki shorts with a dark red shirt, he wanted to look good for his Grandfather, whom he hadn't seen for just over 9 years, and they had a lot of catching up to do, he smoothed his hair down.
Jack put on his white trainers and walked to the front of the boat and watched as the sun rose. He was really looking forward to returning to where he grew up, he missed his friends, but he doubted they would remember him, he looked mostly the same as he did when he was younger, he just had bigger muscles from all the training he had been doing, but he was the same old Jack. He watched the waves calmly move. The old Jack wasn't much to remember, but he just wanted to make his Grandfather proud.
"Hey Jack, we'll be arriving in Flowerbud soon, I assume you know your way round well enough? Or do you want me to help? It's quite a big village", Luke came up behind him and leaned on the rails,
"Oh, thanks Luke, but I was just planning to head to my Grandfather's farm first",
"That's alright, tell him I said hello, I haven't seen him for a few seasons; will I see you on Saturday? The guys gather at the Inn and drink until the sun rises, have some games of darts, few card games, the usual",
"Yeah, that sounds great, thanks for inviting me, I'll be there", Jack smiled, it was nice to know that Luke liked him, he was hoping to meet some new friends, he doubted he would see most of his friends from the city ever again.
"Need some help with your bags? We'll be arriving in around 10 minutes",
"Yeah, thanks Luke",
After hauling 4 suitcases and 2 backpacks out of his room and onto the deck, Luke and Jack shook hands and Jack carried the luggage onto the beach. He carried his bags up the beach and onto the path, while admiring the view of how much the village had changed since he had been gone, he heard a girl behind him;
"Um, who are you?" Jack turned to see Karen, in some very short shorts holding boxes which looked quite heavy, and a blush formed on his cheeks, Karen was his childhood crush, how did she not remember him? Did he really look that different? Jack cleared his throat,
"It's me Karen, Jack? You know? I used to live with my Grandfather up on the farm, and we got Gotz to make us a tree house. Gee, Karen, do I really look that different?"
Karen walked downstairs into the General Store in some comfy shorts and a purple t-shirt yawning, she was startled when her father immediately loaded her up with boxes full with empty wine bottles to go down to Daryl's wine cellar,
"Off you go Karen, he wants them delivered by 7 and you know how grumpy he gets, go on",
Karen stumbled under the weight down the steps and outside, she saw a tall figure walking down the path in front of her with several bags. She narrowed her eyes, she didn't recognise him, and Flowerbud rarely has visitors, she walked a little faster towards him, she wanted to know who he was.
"It's me Karen, Jack? You know? I used to live with my Grandfather up on the farm, and we got Gotz to make us a tree house. Gee, Karen, do I really look that different?"
"Jack? Is it really you? Jack Cooper?" Karen dropped the boxes of wine and launched herself into a hug, causing Jack to drop all of his bags,
"Oh Jack, where have you been? You look so different!" Karen exclaimed,
"Do I rea- really look that different?" He stuttered, she was stunning, even more than before, and he didn't think that possible,
"You look very different" A faint blush appeared on her cheeks as she scanned his body with her eyes, he was so well built, he had the same chocolate brown eyes that he always had, and the floppy brown hair that she's always loved, she was tempted to run her fingers through his hair to see if it was as soft as it looked, "You're in great shape aren't you?" Maybe she shouldn't have said that, she inwardly kicked herself, "I bet it gets you some action with the ladies eh?"
"No, not really, I've never had a girlfriend, actually," that was true, he did have offers of course, he may not have seemed like it to Karen, but he was quite shy when it came to girls, "after I left I joined the military, so I didn't really have time for romance",
"The military? You're brave, you could have gotten killed! You're not going back are you? Please don't go back I've missed you so much!" She blurted out without thinking about what she was saying, "I mean, we've all missed you Jack, especially your Grandfather", Jack was saddened by this, he felt bad for leaving his Grandfather with all the farm work,
"That's why I came back, I figured he's the only family I have left, and he needs my help running the farm, he's getting a bit old", Jack smiled, he hoped he could make his Grandfather proud, as well as his parents, "I should probably go now, I'll probably see you later", Jack picked up his bags and smiled at Karen, she loved it when he smiled, after a few seconds she snapped herself out of her daze,
"Yes, I will see you later Jack", she picked up the boxes of wine bottles and prayed to the Goddess that they weren't broken,
"Bye!" Jack walked down the path towards his Grandfather's farm, Karen watched him go until she could no longer see him, then she walked down the path towards Daryl's house.
Jack carried his bags up the sloped path, then he saw the farm, it was in great shape, he didn't think his Grandfather had it in him; Jack smiled to himself and walked to the small house next to the farm, and knocked on the door.
A/N Thank you for reading, please leave a review, I will do my best to get the next one up soon, I hope you liked it!