Chapter 4: Memories to Never Forget

Diesel woke to the sun shining through the window and onto his face. He stretched his legs before swinging them over the side of his hammock and stood with a stiff, morning body. He deeply inhaled before standing tall and stretching his arms toward the ceiling to alleviate the tense state of his muscles. As he did so he noticed Boomer was awake and was starting to get out of his own hammock.

Mornings, weekday or weekend, always began with an hour of power yoga for both Boomer and Diesel. This not only eased mental stress, but drastically increased strength as well as flexibility and ballance. As big as Boomer was, he was suprisingly flexible, courtesy of his daily, hour-long yoga routine. Diesel was naturally lithe and limber as it was, but the amount of yoga he faithfully exercised turned his body into that of a cat; able to twist and contort into unusual postures and positions. His exercises had also increased his balance, both on his hands and his feet. Diesel could do a handstand, touch his chest to the floor, and push back up into his vertical handstand, all without the aid of a wall to balance himself. He could do pushups like that in sets of ten, and that number was gradually increasing.

With the first hour of the morning complete, Boomer began to unpack yesterday's luggage from their bundles and sacks. It had been over two years since they had purchased goods from any human infrastructure, and Diesel was ready for some clothes that were something other than tough leather.

Boomer began unpacking and, without looking, tossed something behind his back. Diesel caught it out of its mid-air flight. It was a particular pair of pants. He didn't know if this clothing had numerical specifications and names, but it was a pair of military surplus pants. Of course, the only options were in different types of camoflauge and, wisely so, Boomer picked up woodland camo. It was tough but comfortable and didn't inhibit his range of motion and didn't usually get sticky after sweating as some thicker denim fabrics did. Diesel always prefered baggier clothes than normal.

With Boomer handing his brother a pair of underwear and a large T-shirt, Diesel redressed himself and applied the new garments. Last ,but not least, came the boots, OD green combat boots. After handing out the new clothes, Boomer redressed also.

With that order of buisness done, it was time to go to work. It was mostly housework for the day: butchering the smoked elk meat into sizable portions, cleaning guns, continuing the tanning process for the elk skin, and collecting wood for winter. They had their work cut out for them.

Boomer started with the meat while Diesel continued working on the hide.

Their work continued for several hours in silence, but it wasn't at all awkward. Boomer had been thinking about what they were going to do for the rest of the day if they finished early. If they were done early enough they might have the option to race to the waterfall about two miles away. On the other hand they might not have any spare time at the end of the day. Available time would limit the options so Boomer wanted his brother's input.

"Diesel!", Boomer called.

At this, Diesel paused his work and looked at Boomer.

Boomer continued, "If we have the time, what do you suppose we should do this afternoon?"

Diesel responded promptly, which told Boomer that Diesel had been thinking about it, "I'm thinking it'd be nice to race to the waterfall. But if there isn't time we could always hone our hand-to-hand combat skills in a spar."

He thinks a lot like I do, Boomer thought to himself with a jovial smile.

"Or maybe," Diesel continued, "I could just put in extra time to practice my swordplay."

Boomer chuckled slightly as he shook his head, "I never quite understood why you like your sword so much. In all honesty it has very little practical uses other than exercising your hand-eye corordination."

"I find it thereputic," Diesel responded as he continued his work, "I think you would too. The biggest problem I have, though, is that I don't have anyone to practice that particular skill with."

"I suppose," Boomer admitted, " But I must say you're still quite good with it."

They continued their tasks in relative silence for the rest of the day. Later that evening they were finished with the chores that they had set to do that morning. Boomer had already stocked some firewood and Diesel had finished his own work, and they had about half an hour left in the day.

They decided to spar.

"Here," Boomer said as he tossed a long strand of fabric to his brother.

Diesel caught the cloth and tied it around his eyes as a blindfold after removing his shirt and his father's dogtags.

"Whenever you're ready," Boomer said after he removed his own upper garment.

Diesel deeply inhaled through his nose as he focused all of his senses. The slight breeze lightly gracing his shirtless body; the smell of the short grass in the medow where they stood; the sound of Boomer's ever-so faint breathing; it all came to Diesel as he began to see the world surrounding him without his eyes to aid him.

With one slow and relaxed exhale Diesel was ready, "Begin."

Diesel was breathing very heavily from the fight. The left side of his ribcage ached, his right shoulder was sore, and his heart felt like it was about to pound itself out of his chest as he lay supinely in the grass. The spar was reaching its ten minute mark and Diesel was wiped out.

"I'm done," Diesel panted as he untied his blindfold.

"You get noticably better every time we do this," Boomer replied.

"Yeah, but you still owned me…again," Diesel smiled.

"You were wearing a blindfold."

"You'd sill own me."

"True. But that's mostly because I'm your big brother. Plus I'm almost three times your , given how fast your learning I think the time will come when you'll be the one teaching me how to fight."

"You think so?"

"You're a man of many talents, Diesel. You're an exceptionally fast learner and you can do almost anything you put your mind to. You've already surpassed me when it comes to shooting things. You have an eagle's eye and a steady hand, and you can speak over three languages. Your an exceptional young man. Always keep that in mind."

"Yeah. I just wish that the rest of the family was still here to see us and how we turned out," Diesel said with nostalgia.

"Well, one thing's for sure: Dad taught you well."

Diesel shook his head as he corrected, " Dad taught you well. And, in turn, you taught me well."

"Which reminds me: stay here for a sec," Boomer chimed as he jogged off toward to cabin.

It wasn't five seconds later that he emerged from the cabin door with a tripod and his camera. That particular camera wasn't just any camera. It was one of the highest end, very expensive, hand-held cameras one could come by.

Boomer promply set and leveled the tripod before mounting the camera on the top. He then set a ten second timer and then stood beside Diesel.

"Smile," Boomer said playfully as the timer was halfway through the countdown. A sly grin etched itself into Boomer's features. At the very last second, Boomer quickly wrapped his right arm around his brother's neck and curled his left hand into a fist before giving Diesel a noogy. Diesel's cat-like reflexes kicked in and he began futile attempts of pulling away as he franticly flailed his hands in the direction of Boomer's face. Boomer instinctively pulled his head away but continued his barage of knuckles upon the top of his little brother's head.

The camera flashed, indicating that the picture was shot. Boomer released his prisoner before making his way to the camera as it spat out a thick piece of paper. Boomer pulled the picture out of the slot and observed it with a smile on his face.

The picture showed Boomer with his head craned to the side to avoid his brother's hand while at the same time Diesel was pulling the other way while his face held an expression of surprise, amusement, and fun as his scalp was rubbed back and forth.

"That's a keeper," Boomer said as he turned to Diesel.

Diesel rubbed his head with a joyful, toothy smile as he observed the picture.

Boomer dissasembled his "memory keeping equipment" and they both headed into the house. Diesel sat down at the only table in the cabin while Boomer rummaged through his stuff before aquiring what he needed. He headed to the table and began working. He opened a pocket sized booklet and began flipping throught the pages before stopping at a blank one. He rubbed some glue onto the page before carefully positioning the recently produced photograph squarely into the booklet. The picture nearly filled the entirety of the page with only a small margine left at the bottom.

With the picture fitted properly onto the page, Boomer grabbed his pen and began writing slowly. He then handed the finished project to his brother across the table.

Boomer's picture booklet contained pictures from since their parents wedding, and now to the present. Chronologically, it maintained memories of each of the brother's first successful hunts, family reunions, birthdays, to other memorable family photos. Boomer had been collecting such moments and placing them into that booklet ever since he was nine. When the Covenant attacked Eridanus II that booklet happened to be one of the things that escaped with Boomer.

Diesel found the caption on the bottom of the most recent page which was written in very neat print "Bros after Blows". Diesel smiled and handed it back to Boomer who in turn put the booklet, pen, and glue back were they belonged.

Diesel commented in refference to Boomer's perpencity to add to his picture booklet of the family, "I still don't understand why you do that."

"I find it thereputic. Besides, it helps me look back on fond memories and ensures that I won't ever forget them. It's the same reason you keep those dogtags around your neck."

"What good does that do?"

"Well,Diesel, you might not realize it but it is a collection of special moments and lessons that shouldn't ever be forgotten. Besides, if one or both of us ever have kids it'll be a good piece of family history."

Diesel internally rolled his eyes as he smiled and thought to himself, Whatever, Bro, before he spoke, "Its not like having kids is a likely or desireable prospect."

"You say that now. But you just wait and see."

"I'll do that," Diesel concluded skeptically of his brother's words.

The day was beginning to fade and so the two brothers prepared for the day to come as they settled down into their hammocks and rested for the night. They had their plans for tomorrow. But, who really knew what tomorrow would bring? Afterall, the future was never certain.