This is the second to last chapter in this story so I really hope you like it. This is where it starts to get a little violent because this is a war story so I really hope you like it. Here it is. Also this has a brief mention of drugs in it so don't get mad.
Ch.7: Travelin' Soldiers
Early the next morning everyone at the base gathered at the entrance to bid their soldiers farewell. Cheer showed up with Kate and Mary to see her husband, daughter and her husband before they got on the buses.
"Now don't get yourselves killed because I don't want to pay for a funeral." She said and then turned to Seafriend. "And you better not have that baby over there because I want to see it."
"Yes mom, I'll be fine." Seafriend sighed and picked up her bags.
"Don't worry Mrs. Rogers, I'll keep her safe. I won't let her out of my sight." Lieutenant Tavington laid a hand on his wife's shoulder and then General Flint walked up.
"Time to go. Don't worry, we'll be safe."
All of the soldiers gathered up by the buses and filed on by their ranks, starting with the officers.
Seafriend stepped onto the bus after Colonel Rogers and followed by Lieutenant Tavington. After all of the students had loaded up and got ready to leave Cheer walked up to the side of the bus to say one last thing to her loved ones.
"Now you better take care of my baby, Rocko, or I'll be after you like stink on ugly." Cheer warned.
"Will do." Lieutenant Tavington replied.
After they sat down on the bus the driver got on the bus and started up the engine.
"Seafriend! Remember to change your underwear every day! And don't forget to take your birth control!" Cheer called out to her daughter.
Seafriend sunk down into her seat and turned red while everyone turned and looked at her. Then Cheer yelled a message to her husband.
"Honey! Now don't you get anyone pregnant while you're over there, ya here!" Colonel Rogers slapped his hand on his forehead and sighed while everyone snickered loudly.
Then they pulled out of the base and all of the families cheered and some even cried, but out of joy for their sons and daughters and in some cases husbands and wives.
When they were driving through Tulsa a few hours later Colonel Rogers sat down captain and Lieutenant Tavington.
"You alright? It'll be fine, you'll see." He tried to comfort his daughter but saw that it wasn't working.
"I guess, but what if I really do have my baby while we're over there?" She questioned.
"Then you'll just have to have it."
"I don't want to think about that right now." She put in her earphones and turned her iPod on.
Seafriend fell asleep next to Lieutenant tavington around seven o' clock when they were rolling through Arkansas. She had gotten bored when she had listened to all of the ten songs that were on her iPod. About ten o' clock they had to do a head count after they made a pit stop at Quick Trip in Memphis.
"Lieutenant Tavington!" Colonel Rogers called.
"Here!" He answered.
"Captain Tavington!" he looked around when he didn't hear her answer. "Captain Tavington! Is she here?"
"We'll go get her." Cadet Murphy said and grabbed Lieutenant Tavington.
They ran back into the store and looked around the Cadet Murphy walked into the restroom. She stopped when she heard a noise and then she kicked down the stall door. There, sitting on the toilet sound asleep, was Seafriend.
"What in heaven's name are you doing, Seafriend?" She questioned.
Her friend didn't wake up so she smacked her across the face. Seafriend finally woke up.
"Nana, I don't want another pickle." She mumbled and dozed off again.
"It's not Nana. Come on Seafriend, the bus is leaving." Cadet Murphy tried to pick her up but she grabbed onto the toilet paper holder and wouldn't let go. "Uh, Tavington! I need your help!"
A minute later he showed up and looked around for the women. Then he heard one of them whimper so he walked over to the stall they were in and raised an eyebrow.
"What happened?"
"She fell asleep on the toilet." Cadet Murphy confirmed.
"Let's get her back to the bus."
Five minutes later they hauled her limp body onto the bus and everyone gasped. Lieutenant Tavington dragged her down the aisle and laid her down on their seat.
"Has she been doing drugs?" Colonel Rogers questioned as he walked over to them.
"No, she's just asleep. Sound asleep." Lieutenant Tavington responded and sat down.
"Why is she asleep?"
"I don't know! Quit asking me things that I don't know the answer to, for crying out loud!" Lieutenant Tavington raised his voice. "Maybe she's just tired from the trip and also from the baby?"
"Sorry, but we can't have a drowsy soldier out fighting."
"We aren't even out of the U.S. yet!"
"Wake her up."
"No. And I'd like to see you try to make me." Lieutenant Tavington stood up and got right up into Colonel Rogers' face.
"Ooh. Cat fight." Flynn whispered to a cadet.
"More like a cockfight." He answered.
"You have a gutter mind."
"I didn't mean for it to sound like that!"
Colonel Rogers went back to his seat and sat down. Meanwhile all of the underclassmen were cheering for Lieutenant Tavington because he had stood up to Colonel Rogers. Right when they stopped clapping Seafriend woke up and looked around.
"What'd I miss?" She asked groggily.
"Your husband getting ready to shove his foot up Colonel Rogers's a…"Cadet Murphy started to say but was cut off.
"Listen up! We're about to arrive at the airport so get your things together." The bus driver spoke over the intercom.
Seafriend gathered up all of her belongings and waited to get off of the bus. When they arrived at the airport they filed out and went over to another bus to get the rest of the items. While the gear and bags were being taken into the terminal Lieutenant and captain Tavington went to get the horses and load them onto the plane. They had to run back so they wouldn't miss the plane. Once all of the platoons were onboard the plane started to taxi down the runway and Seafriend popped some gum into her mouth so her ears wouldn't pop on the takeoff.
"You want some?" She asked her husband.
"Nah, I'm good. My ears don't pop." He looked out of the window and watched the plane climb higher.
The sun was just beginning to rise when the pilot came over the intercom and said that they were over the Atlantic Ocean in the area where Titanic had sank. Seafriend was snoozing in her seat when she jumped suddenly. She looked around to see what had touched her and then went back to sleep. A minute or so later she jumped again and punched her husband in the shoulder.
"What? Quit punching me." He said and shifted in his seat.
"Well quit touching me."
"I haven't touched you since we left the airport."
She paused to ponder the situation and then came to the conclusion that seemed possible. A big smile came across her face and she glanced down at her enlarged belly. Lieutenant Tavington saw her and raised his eyebrows then he got up to go talk to General Flint who was sitting at the front of the plane. A minute later he came back and handed Seafriend a map.
"What's this?" She questioned when she saw it.
"This is a map of the area that the platoon will be patrolling."
"Okay, so you're meaning battling at."
"Pretty much."
"Great."
Around five o' clock they landed in the Middle Eastern country of Iraq. The entire platoon assembled by the plane and took orders from General Flint and then followed their higher officers to the camp they were staying at. When they walked into the camp the other platoon from California stared at them like they were a foreign group of people. They made the new arrivals sleep by the restroom and be last to eat at dinner. Seafriend and her officers called a meeting out by the mess tent.
"We are going to change their attitude real quick. They aren't going to do anything to us when I get through with them." Seafriend bragged and got some of the officer's votes.
"So what are you going to do, Captain?" A staff sergeant questioned her.
"You'll see."
They went back to the mess tent and went right to the front of the line. Meanwhile Seafriend took that opportunity to get back at the other platoon. She loosened up the pin that held the table together and placed a block of wood in that area of the table. While all of the soldiers were eating Seafriend threw a sideways glance at the other officers and they snickered. She thrust her foot out and knocked the block of wood, causing the half of the table where the rival platoon was sitting to collapse. Their dinner splattered to the floor and they started yelling at the officers.
"Whoops." Seafriend said and laughed with the rest of her platoon.
One of the officers from the other platoon got up and walked over to where Seafriend and her platoon were sitting. She looked up and then stood up and saluted the other officer, who was ready to start a battle between the two platoons. He returned the salute unwillingly and looked around at the other officers who were listening intently to what this rival officer had to say about them. Lieutenant Tavington walked over to his wife and the other officer.
"Let's just get one thing straight. My platoon will not be intimidated by your little band of munchkins." The other officer informed rudely.
"Munchkins? Well these munchkins are some of the finest soldiers I have ever met." Seafriend rebounded.
"Let me talk to your captain about what your platoon did to mine. Go get him, now."
"You're looking at her." She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest and scowled.
"You? You're a woman. A woman cannot be a captain." The other officer roared and his platoon burst out in an uproar.
"You wanna bet? I may be pregnant but I can sure kick your butt." She got up into the officer's face. "Now stay away from my platoon or there's gonna be a war between us."
"I don't take orders from women!" The officer shouted and was hit in the head by Seafriend's combat boot.
Seafriend walked back to her table and grabbed her things then she walked past some of her platoon.
"You tell him, Captain!" Flynn rejoiced.
"Flynn…" She glared at him.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am."
Later that night while General Flint's platoon slept the platoon from California made a plan to get back at Seafriend and the rest of her platoon for the escapade earlier. They snuck over to where she and her husband were asleep in their new bunks and took all of their clothes out of their suitcases, and they even stripped the clothes off of their bodies. Once that was over they decided to ransack the rest of the platoon. Once they completed the mission they threw the clothes into a hole that their captain had dug.
The next morning, bright and early, Seafriend woke up and reached for her BDU but stopped when she didn't feel it. She dug through her suitcase and got mad when she couldn't find any of her clothes except a towel. After wrapping the towel around her bare body and walked over to her sleeping husband she smacked his stomach. He immediately woke up and saw her glaring at him.
"Where are my clothes?" She snarled.
"I don't know, in your suitcase." He replied and reached for his BDU and gawked around when it wasn't in his hand. "Where are my clothes?"
They both stared at each other and then realized who had taken their clothes and they both yelled. "Flynn!!!"
Both of them stormed over to where Flynn was snoozing and shoved him off of his bed.
"Where are our clothes?"
"I don't know!" He looked up and said, "Where are my underwear?"
Right then Colonel Rogers walked into the tent wearing a beer keg around his body. He walked over to them and saluted but the keg started to slip so he grabbed it. They figured out that they had to get out at the practice at the shooting range, naked or not.
"Alright, let's get out there and practice." Colonel Rogers said cheerily.
"But we're naked!" Seafriend complained.
"Soldier up, captain later all!"
Fifteen minutes later the entire platoon was out shooting targets. All of them had towels wrapped around them and were trying to keep them from falling off.
"I've got a very uncomfortable breeze down here." Seafriend commented and fired her gun.
Bullets flew in every direction, causing Colonel Rogers to dodge them. He ran up the shooting range, yelling out commands and holding onto the keg to keep it from falling as he ran. All of a sudden five bullets hit the keg, destroying it.
"Jeez! Hit the targets, not me! I know you might hate me but still, hit the targets!"
Finally, one of the privates hit the target and knocked it over. When it fell they saw a bunch of men from the other platoon fighting over something hot pink. Then it flew up into the air and Seafriend realized what it was as it fell back to the ground.
"My bra!" She shrieked and saw everyone looking at her.
At that moment they heard the women from the other platoon squabbling over something. A few seconds later they saw it fly across the shooting range.
"Was that Spongebob?" Seafriend questioned.
"My boxers!" Lieutenant Tavington. Exclaimed.
"You wear Spongebob boxers?"
"Hey, my mama got them for me."
" I'm not even going to ask."
Later on during the day it got boiling hot so the platoon decided to get tans since they hadn't gotten their clothes back yet. Seafriend put a lawn chair out in the middle of the camp where the sun was hitting most directly and then she put on sunglasses and tanning oil. A few minutes later Lieutenant Tavington walked up and stood up in front of her.
"Excuse me! You're blocking my sun." She complained and took off her sunglasses.
"Well, excuse me. It's not like we don't have miles of nothing but sun!" he shot back.
She got up and walked over to him and crossed her arms over her chest.
"No husband of mine is going to have pecs and chest hair. They've got to go!" She turned and yelled at her friends. "Cadet Murphy, bring me the hot wax! Flynn, Caesar. Get over here."
Upon hearing the words 'hot wax' Lieutenant Tavington pleaded her not to do what she was going to do. The two guys and Cadet Murphy walked over with the wax. Lieutenant Tavington was trying everything he could to get out of the oncoming torture but it didn't work.
"Hold 'em down, boys." Seafriend commanded and put some wax onto a strip of cloth.
The guys shoved him down onto the sand and held his arms and legs down.
She laid the strip onto his chest and pressed it down. "I'm gonna yank it off on the count of three. One…"
All of a sudden she yanked it off and he jumped. "Owwwww!!! What happened to two and three?" He yelled.
"You would have tensed up." She confirmed. "Now get down! We have one more ripping."
Flynn shoved him back and sat on his arms. Seafriend laid another strip on his chest and smashed it down.
"On the count of three." She didn't get through the first number before she ripped it off.
"Owwwwwwww!!!!"
Right then Colonel Rogers strolled up and just stared at the scene. He just stared at them with a raised eyebrow and didn't say a word. Then Seafriend turned around and saw him.
"What?"
"I didn't say a word." He said and laughed.
After she finished waxing him, Seafriend poured some tanning oil all over him and rubbed it into his skin. After, she threw her sunglasses to him and walked off. Lieutenant Tavington got up and rubbed his stomach to make it feel better but Flynn was stupid enough to slap him in the spot where he had been waxed. As soon as he did he took off running because Lieutenant Tavington was going to choke him for slapping him.
That evening at dinner Seafriend stormed into the mess tent and plopped down onto the bench causing the plates and silverware to fly up a few inches. She started to eat a piece of spiced pound cake when her husband tapped her on the shoulder and she turned on him with a snarl.
"What?!"
"Why are you acting like a female bear with a baby?" He questioned.
She stared at him and then answered his question. "Maybe because I'm sick and sure as heck tired of walking around this camp while I have a belly the size of a basketball while those no good idiots over there are having a good time because they took our clothes!"
"How do you know they did?"
"Look at them!" She turned her head and then saw a young woman wearing her tank top. "Oh, no she isn't."
She got up from the table and stomped over to where the other platoon was sitting and tapped the woman on her shoulder. She turned around and as soon as she did Seafriend punched her in the face, causing the woman to have a bloody nose.
"You like that nose job to go with that pretty manicure of yours? There's plenty more if you morons don't leave us alone." She turned around and remembered something. "Oh, and another thing. Give us back our clothes!"
Right as she was about to punch her again the rest of the platoon walked up behind her to back her up. All of them crossed their arms over their chest and scowled. Colonel Rogers showed up and stood by his daughter to support her. All of the soldiers glared at each other for a long time before a major from the California platoon ran into the camp, yelling.
"We're under fire!"
Seafriend forgot all about the dispute and shouted out instructions to the platoon. "To arms! To arms!"
Both platoons ran and grabbed their weapons and grabbed their guns and ammunition. When they were getting ready to head out the other platoon gave back the BDUs and gear. Both groups of men and women hurried out of the camp and got behind sand dunes to wait for the horror lurking in the dunes. They waited in silence for several minutes before they heard Colonel Rogers yelled out and order.
"Forward."
His platoon crept out from behind the dunes and walked forward, guns at hand. They advanced for about five minutes before they heard a scream and saw one of the privates fall. Seafriend was so scared that she was shaking as she walked. Finally they couldn't move any further because the enemy was just on the other side of the ridge. It had gotten darker out since the sun had gone down. They waited for what seemed like an eternity before enemy shots were fired. Three soldiers fell but their fellow soldiers held their ground. Meanwhile, Seafriend said a prayer for all of them and then felt an arm around her and she spun around, ready to fire. She came close to husband when he touched her.
"You okay?" He asked.
"No. I'm scared we're going to die out here in this god forsaken desert." She said through tears.
"We're going to make it."
All of a sudden a major on the other side of Lieutenant Tavington fell from a bullet in the stomach. Everything turned into a scene from a horror movie in the seconds that followed. Colonel Rogers' words were lost in the firing of guns and the screams and yells of soldiers dying. Seafriend was close to getting hit but Cadet Murphy shoved her out of the way. She watched as her friends fought for their lives in the minutes that followed. After she saw her husband fire his gun she watched as Flynn fell onto the sand after a bullet hit him in the thigh. Lieutenant Tavington ran over and dragged his body over behind a dune and went back into the battle.
After an hour of fighting and more than fifty dead and wounded, the battle still raged. Seafriend had been firing her gun for several minutes when a bullet hit her in the shoulder. She fell to the ground and clutched her shoulder as blood gushed out of the wound. She looked around and saw men and women bleeding and crying out for help. And then her heart exploded from heartache. Lieutenant Tavington was lying on the ground after being shot in the chest. Seafriend threw her gun and crawled over to him and rolled him over He was still alive but his breathing was broken and shallow.
"Rocko! It's me!" She cried and held him up.
"You've been shot." He wheezed.
"I don't care. All I care about is you."
"I love you, Seafriend."
She held back her tears until her father rode up on his black stallion and looked down at her and hopped down and crouched down next to them.
"General Flint's given the order to retreat."
"I can't leave Rocko, dad. He's been shot." She cried.
"Seafriend, we have to leave the wounded."
"What?! I am not leaving him!"
"The helicopters are coming." He stood back up and got back onto his horse. "You have a decision to make. Stay with Rocko and die or get on the helicopter and live?"
This is the end of this chapter so stay tuned for the final chapter. I hope to get it up as soon as I can so don't getmad if it takes me a lot of time. Read Ch.8: One Tough Decision. Love ya!
