"Barnes been shot seven times and he ain't dead. Does that mean anything to you, huh?" Rhah's wide eyed gaze burned into Taylor, the question gnawing at him.
"Barnes ain't meant to die.. The only thing that can kill Barnes, is Barnes!"
"Talkin' bout killin'?" A wavering voice said.
Rhah flung his head to where the voice was, and there he stood, clad in the outermost parts of his uniform, toting a bottle of whiskey. Sergeant Barnes.
It seemed every man's breath was caught in their throats at that very moment.
Barnes took a lazy swig of his poison, letting some spill down his perspiring chest.
Walking leisurely in front of the two boys, he turned his head, looking the both of them in the eye, but not quite straight into it. His gaze was glazed over, drunk. Taylor tried not to wince from his stale whiskey odor.
"Ya'll experts?" Barnes continued. Nobody said a word.
Barnes gave up on receiving a response, so his boots carried him past the two men.
"Well I'd like to hear about it, potheads." He grabbed a pipe out of one boy's hand as he passed him by. He inspected it with something not quite of disappointment, or judgement. It was difficult to tell as only the scarred side of his face was visible.
He smoked the pipe and struggled to say, "D'you smoke this shit to escape from reality?"
"Me, I don't need this shit."
He stopped at the far wall and leaned against it, finally gazing up at every uncomfortable face in the dark room.
"I am reality."
The whiskey met his lips once again, without spilling.
A long pause ensued and only left some time for the boys to think over what their sergeant said to them. Like a teacher giving a lecture to their students. The air was heavy and unsettling.
The disheveled sergeant sighed.
"There's the way it oughta be, and theres the way it is." He paused again.
"Elias was full of shit."
Barnes continues his slow pace around the room and leans against the cube of hay Rhah was sitting on. Putting his arms forward and on top of it.
"Now I ain't got no fight when a man does what he's told… But when he don't, the machine breaks down."
"And when the machine breaks down, we break down." He finished loudly and tilted his head down, out of view. He scratched at his face, in a seemingly stressed manor. Or perhaps it was just to get something off of his face.
"And I ain't gonna allow that.. From any of you.. Not one."
Barnes lifted his head and shoved the pipe beside Rhah's head so he could take it. Rhah almost snatched it, shifting in his seat even more without looking at the sergeant. But the sergeant looked at him, before standing and walking over to his previous spot in the front of the room.
Barnes didn't face them all like last time, and instead shifted uncomfortably in place. He turned half of his body around, angry breaths audible.
"Ya'll loved Elias.. Yeah you wanna kick ass.. Yeah." He nodded, his head looking down at the ground.
"Well here I am, all by my lonesome. And ain't nobody gonna know.. Six you boys against me.." He faced them, looking more weak than any of the boys had ever seen him. Desperate, pleading for something. He looked like a sad child.
"Kill me."
The boys avoided his gaze, all of them shifting in their spot and looking away. Had he really asked such a thing, is why they couldn't even bare looking at him. It was ridiculous. The last thing they were actually gonna do right on the spot was kill the guy.
Taylor on the other hand, was a bit different. He was young, impulsive, a little more straightforward than the rest of his platoon.
Barnes only nodded his head and made a noise that sounded slightly like a "yeah", and his boots stopped at the edge of the room, right before a wooden beam.
He looked angry.
"I shit on all of you." He walked slowly, almost inching his way to the brighter exit.
Taylor rose from his seat.
"You motherfucker!" He charged at the sergeant, grabbing at him like a bear, and wrestled Barnes' body into the beam, slamming his head against it a few times. The other boys hurried up from their seats, commotion and yells heard all around. Some of them laughed. They gathered around the fight like high school students.
Barnes may had been caught off guard for that amount of time, but he was certainly alert of what was going on right now as his head slammed into a pole. This angered him, even further than originally at the younger boy.
He made a swift move to get Taylor away from him and spun around, punching him square in the face and tackling him to the ground in a split second. Something almost impressive for how wasted he was.
Barnes held him firmly by the neck and pulled out a small knife, holding it up to Taylor's face. The sergeant's eyes were crazed, wide open, mostly the whites showing. He stared at Taylor with rage and intent. Taylor desperately tried regaining his composure, heavily breathing through the mouth.
Rhah scampered up beside the two.
"Barnes, don't do it, man. They'll put ya in jail. Ten years, climb the fuckin' walls, man." His husky voice said, looking right at the sergeant.
"Don't do it.."
Barnes practically ignored Rhah, but physically he was pulling away from Taylor, very slowly. He kept his angered gaze stabbing into the boy under him.
Taylor steadied his breathing, hoping to god to finally be released from this monster's grip.
And right before Barnes stood up, he swung the knife across Taylor's cheek. A sudden sting overwhelmed Taylor's senses, but it wasn't as bad as the injury he got in the bush. Some of his first days in the 'Nam.
The horizontal cut oozed out blood immediately, and Taylor covered it upon reflex, wincing.
Barnes backed up from the crowd and looked around at them. Everything silent but his voice once again.
"Death? What do ya'll know about death?" A small smirk almost played at his mangled lips, moving his eyes around the room. The question seemed almost threatening as he finally took his leave from the bunker. Taylor couldn't help but wonder if Barnes had heard everything, had he listened in on the entire conversation about the murder of Elias. In his heart-and he didn't need to convince anyone-he knew that Bob Barnes fragged him.