There exists a tragic tale of a lost maiden, cast out from her homeland and into the wilderness. From royalty to poverty, her story is as uplifting as it is tragic.
This is not her story.
At all.
RUBY SLIPPERS
Chapter 1
"How long you think till he figures out there's no store?" asked the maroon one.
"I'd say… at least a week," replied the orange one.
"Why, because that's how long it took you to figure it out?"
"Hey that wasn't funny, I almost died from dehydration!"
"Yet you had no problem sending the rookie on the exact same mission," Simmons pointed out. Grif thought about this for a moment, but decided he didn't care.
"Meh, he'll be okay."
"Probably. And if not, it's not like we knew him long enough to feel bad," he said cheerfully.
"Ha, good point," said Grif. "Wait a minute, is that what you and Sarge said when I first showed up?"
"Kind of."
"What the fuck does kind of mean?"
"Well it was kind of like Sarge was hoping you'd get lost. Something along those lines. I wouldn't worry about it too much."
"How reassuring," said Grif flatly. In the distance, they could see Donut walking around one of the massive boulders that were littered about the canyon. Then he walked around it again. And again.
"Do you think we were too hard on him?" asked Simmons, turning back to Grif.
"Meh, he'll probably just wander around the cliffs for a few hours and head back. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Well either way, we'd better get started on the equipment maintenance," said Simmons, as he began walking down the ramp. "Sarge is going to be pissed if he gets back and we haven't cleaned out all the rifles yet."
"Now that I think about it, I'm a bit worried about the rookie," Grif said hastily. "Equipment maintenance is important, but so is the safety of our new recruits."
"Sure, I can tell you're real concerned," Simmons replied with as much sarcasm as he could muster.
"I am, Simmons," he replied. "Since you're better than me at cleaning, I'll stay here and watch on Donut, make sure he's okay. Hey this is serious; it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt."
Simmons let out a long sigh of disgust. "You know, sometimes I wish we didn't wear helmets here. I'd pay good money to see you try to say shit like that with a straight face. Whatever. I'll clean the damn rifles. I'm sure you'd just fuck it up anyways," he concluded as he walked into the base.
Alone, Grif checked on Donut through the sniper rifle. Just as he thought, he was still wandering about the cliffs. Finally, thought Grif, I can get a decent nap going today.