Chapter 13: Preparations
I never noticed it, but Friesly also drew us on his drawing. On the front, it was him and his parents. On the back, it was our squad. We really were family. We were all brothers. Two down...two down. Honestly, I can't help but feel...that Westheld and O'Reilly really will be gone. After that operation, we were given some days to rest. One of the nights, I had a nightmare. I saw O'Reilly being killed inside a room. There were stacks of boxes everywhere. Meats and rifles scattered all over the room. Ammo supplies, medical supplies, what was this place?
We spent some more time with training ourselves. Aiming practices, handling different weapons, CQC, we did it all. In three days, we were sore beyond relief. Nonstop training, day and night. 12 hours, with only breaks for eating and relieving ourselves and sleeping. That was it. We'll relax when it's time to relax. It's only three of us now. We have to get stronger.
It was almost time for our new mission briefing. Before that though, we went out to Oasis once again. Tori saw the three of us. Once again, he knew what happened to us. We didn't talk much at first. We only drank and drank, drowning out our sorrows. It's bad to drink it out, I know, but it's what I'll do right now. We shared our hopes and dreams after a while. It wasn't all that great though. Terres and Friesly weren't even there for their dreams. I suppose we should be glad that we're still alive and able to fight it out for Terres and Friesly. But I don't know. I just don't know anymore.
Afterwards, we went to Zeldine for the next operation.
"Hello Squad 7. You'll be joining us on our raid of the Kartel Supply Camp."
Kartel Supply Camp. Kartel Supply Camp. Those words echoed inside my mind. It made me look back to the nightmare. Food, ammo, guns, medkits...it all made sense and I feared it. Now I fear it even more, and I can't help but think of O'Reilly's death. No, no, no! Stop thinking such grave details. O'Reilly's well and alive. What are you thinking! It was only a dream, a nightmare. It's not real, it won't be real. How silly it was for me to think that way.
Zeldine continued, "The Kartels foolishly packed all of their supplies in one location. We'll be taking advantage of this by either taking them or destroying them so that the Kartels won't be able to get any supplies. After that, it won't be long before we can rescue the princess and win this."
We all agreed to it. Zeldine already knew of Friesly's death. But that's okay. We were already past it. We practiced day in and day out. That was proof enough. We walked to our base, vehicles approaching it for the next day, the day of the operation. That night, there were no nightmares. Only sleep, and maybe a dream.