"Church, Holy Crap Church You Have To Come Fast!" Tucker yelled as he ran into blue base
"What could possibly be so important?" Church asked annoyed
"The red guy, Sarge, chased Caboose up the cliff" Tucker said sounding somewhat out of breath
Without a word Church got up from where he sat and followed Tucker out. Sure enough there was Caboose, almost to the top of the canyon, clinging on for dear life.
"What are you blues doing out here?" Simmons asked as he aimed his rifle at them.
"Your sergeant chased Caboose up the cliff." Church said sounding more and more annoyed as time went on. Simmons lowered his rifle and looked to where Church was pointing. It was hard to see Caboose, at this point he looked like a little blue dot.
"I guess someone has to go get him" Tucker said
Everyone stayed silent, they were all thinking the same thing but none dared voice it. Instead the two soldiers continued to glance over at Church, who knew they were looking even though his eyes were on Caboose.
"Are we having a party or something?" Grif asked
"Caboose is stuck on the cliff edge" Simmons said
"So how are you getting him down?" Grif asked "not that I care much as long as I don't have to do anything"
"Tucker, give me your knife" Church said as he pulled out his own.
"Dude what are you going to do?" Tucker asked as he handed the knife to Church.
Church took in a deep breath before gripping the knives tightly. He walked over to the cliff and started to climb. The three soldiers stood in a sort of shocked state.
"Ten bucks says he falls before getting to Caboose" Simmons said
Grif looked at Tucker before looking at Simmons.
"I'll take that bet" Grif said
Tucker remained silent; he was debating whether or not he was on Simmon's or Grif's side of the bet. Only a moment of thinking and he mentally slapped himself for having to even think about it.
Church continued to scale the cliff until he was close to Caboose.
"Caboose, I need you to listen okay" Church called
"Church? Church I'm scared" Caboose called back as he turned his head to look at his friend.
Soon Church was beside Caboose, he couldn't see the man's face but he knew he, either had been crying or was crying at that moment.
"Okay Caboose, I need you to grab onto my back and let go of the rocks" Church said
"But Church, I'm scared" Caboose whimpered
Church groaned a little as this whole thing was strenuous and was just going to be more so once Caboose was on his back.
"You won't fall I promise" Church said
Caboose slowly nodded his head before reaching out to Church. He got one arm around Church and Church could feel the young soldier's body shaking. Caboose finally got his other arm around Church and was hanging on tight enough to almost chock the older man. Church carefully got his feet positioned in some crevasses before slowly making his way back down, the exact way he had come up.
The soldiers down below were somewhat surprised as they watched the two make their way back down. Simmons somewhat absentmindedly handed Grif ten dollars as they continued to watch.
Church was having difficulties seeing where he was going, but he didn't say a word for two reasons. One he didn't want to sound like he had no idea what he was doing and two he knew it would only frighten Caboose further. They were almost to the bottom when a bullet hit the rock beside Church's head.
"What The Hell!" he yelled
The three at the bottom turned to see Sarge holding up his shotgun.
"Sarge what are you doing?" Simmons asked
"Trying to shoot down the blues" Sarge said
"Tucker!" Church yelled
Tucker let out a sigh before turning to face the reds.
"If you want to shoot them down you're going to have to deal with me first" his voice sounded annoyed but sincere all the same. Simmons and Grif looked at each other before looking back at Tucker, who had pulled out his energy sword. Simmons pulled up his rifle and Grif stepped back. Sarge walked up to stand beside Simmons and Grif stood there as if he didn't know what to do.
"Come on Grif" Sarge said "Let's take down these dirty blues"
Grif didn't say a word as he glanced towards Church and Caboose who were close to the ground now.
"Sarge if you don't mind I would prefer to take the option that keeps me alive" Grif said
"You honestly think he could beat us with that?" Sarge asked
"I don't know if you've noticed but I am pretty damn sure he knows how to kill with that thing" Grif said
The orange clad Spartan tilted his head a little and Tucker glanced in that direction to see that Church and Caboose were down safely. Tucker and Grif glanced at each other before Grif stealth fully dropped a grenade on the ground and jumped back. Simmons and Sarge saw the grenade and also jumped back as it exploded. The smoke from the grenade provided Tucker enough cover to run back to his base along with Church and Caboose.
"Grif you let them get away" Sarge said sternly
"Yeah I guess so" Grif said in a bored tone.
Inside blue base Caboose was still clinging to Church's back, even though Church had assured him long ago they were back on the ground.
"Caboose, really we are on the ground and safe" Church said for the millionth time.
Caboose unlatched his legs from Church's waist and touched one toe to the ground. He had done this several times before and Church fully expected the young man to latch right back onto him. However this time Tucker walked past and pulled Caboose right to the ground. The blonde soldier let out a yelp as he hit the ground , Tucker laughed as he watched Church stumble back.
"What the hell Tucker" Church growled
Church turned to see Caboose was getting up. The young soldier removed his helmet and rubbed his eyes before walking to his room.
"Oh real smooth Tucker" Church said
Church followed the rookie to his room; he slowly opened the door to see Caboose was lying on his bed. Church had removed his helmet and was leaning against the doorframe.
"You okay?" Church asked
Caboose didn't answer, but Church knew he was awake.
"Michael" Church said in somewhat a stern voice
Caboose sat up and saw Church walking over to him. The rookie rubbed his eyes to try and keep from showing he had been crying. Church sat down beside Caboose and without speaking a word he embraced the other. Caboose was genuinely surprised that Church was hugging him, but he quickly put his arms around his commanding officer and hugged him back. Church himself had no idea what he was doing, but he did know why. He knew that Caboose was upset and the one way to show he was genuinely concerned was to hold him.
Meanwhile Tucker had left blue base and snuck over to red base. He walked up to one of the windows and knocked lightly on it. He waited a moment, he wasn't dressed in his armor at all and despite being in a somewhat desert area the nights were cold. The window was opened and Grif poked his head out. He blinked a few times as he looked at the shivering man.
"You want to come in?" Grif asked with concern laced in his voice
"Uh no," Tucker responded "I just wanted to, you know, thank you for your help before"
Grif couldn't help the smirk that tugged at his lips. He leaned against the window sill and gave Tucker an odd look.
"You sure you don't want to come in," Grif said "you look like your about to freeze to death."
"Grif" Tucker said in somewhat a warning voice. Not that he didn't want to comply he was just too concerned about the others.
"Come on, just to warm up" Grif could no longer stop the smirk from becoming clear on his face.
"Dex, you know if your sergeant catches me here, he will kill us both" Tucker said sternly, trying to hide the fact that he really wanted in.
"Yeah, he tries to kill us both on a daily bases though" Grif said
"Fine" Tucker said giving into the other man. Grif was about to help Tucker in the window when they heard someone.
"Grif! Sarge wants to talk to you" Simmons called as he knocked on the door.
Grif glanced at the door before looking back to the window to see that Tucker had gone.
"Damn" Grif cursed, he was going to be in a bad mood the rest of the night.
Tucker chuckled as he jogged back to his base.