Nevada, 1962. Not much had changed in the city that ran the state, a few casinos here, few new motels there. Life was pretty peachy, for some.
"Get the fuck out of this house!" Were the last words Harris's step father screamed at him before slamming the wire door on him. Another argument over Kassy, his little sister, all because those two couldn't pull their fucking heads in and not smoke crack on the couch in front of her, or looked stoned when she walked in from school, or forget to pick her up, or just fucking remember her.
"How's the lip?" Kassy looked over to her older brother, an indifferent look on her face. Harris rolled his tongue around in his mouth for a second before winding up and spitting whatever blood and saliva he'd collected. He shrugged and sighed, dropping his head down between his knees and running a hand through his brown hair. Getting into fights with their step-dad was what you'd call a frequent occurrence, and it was always over something petty, like only a few nights ago Harris dared to clean up the kitchen before Kassy got home from school, throwing out half bottles of cheap alcohol, packing away cigarettes and cleaning the longe. Turns out he'd thrown out some pretty expensive liquor and got his head kicked in because of it. It all looked the same.
"Yeah I'll be alright. What'da 'bout you?" He turns to look down to the short pig tailed brunette, a small smile on his face. She did the same, shrugging her shoulders and sighing, putting her head between her knees and shaking it. "Yeah…" He leaned back onto the dried grass, a few laughs and some talking caught the ear of Kassy, spinning around to look. Whenever there was a fight and Harris was kicked out they would only go to three places, Moe's Diner, Salreri's Bar and Giovanna's house, of course taking a walk across the other side of the city and into the "snob zone" as Harris had expertly nicknamed it, wasn't exactly a thing he liked to frequent, especially on a weekend when he'd walk up that side walk with his little sister, battered and often beaten only to march up the stones towards one of the largest houses of the area which was owned by one of Vegas's biggest mob families the Scatori's, he wasn't worried about his image he already knew what they thought, he was always worried about Geo's.
"Isn't that Vinny Scatori?" Kassy pointed towards a group of kids gathered around an orange Bel Air, must have been eight and low and behold amongst them sat Vinny Scatori. Him and Harris never exactly got along, not for Harris being Irish and Vinny being Italian but it was a number of reasons. Harris turned his head down towards the bitumen, groaning. Either Kassy got their attention or Harris's half second check got him but before he could even attempt to breeze, "Is that Jamie Harrington!?" A voice called out, must have been one of his lackeys, maybe Mathew. "Yeah I think it is!" Another called out, one of the girls. Fuck.
Harris stood, Kassy immediately doing the same and jumping behind her brother, the group making their way over to them, slowing down as Vinny did, "Wo-ho-ho-hooo! Look at that shiner! Who gave 'dat to ya' Jamie? Ya' old man?"
"You know who gave it to-"
"Oh no I wantcha' ta' say it. We all wants ta' know!" He turned, directing his words to the group, some nodding and others looking a little board by this situation, one of them actually looked a little worried.
"Yeah, it was my dead shit of a father. What the fuck are you gonna' do about it you greasy fuck!" Harris stepped forward, throwing his weight into the shove, Vinny almost falling back onto his arse, the group shifting back slightly, two of his goons stepping off the side, yeah, it was Mathew and Billy, couple of chucklenuts.
Vinny got his foot and stood up, shoving both of them out of the way and getting into Harris's space, "Ya' really wanna' do this now ya' ginny cunt." He bared his teeth, venom on every word. Both of them often got into fights over Harris's home life, Vinny loved rubbing salt into the wound and Harris could never back down from a fight.
"Yeah, and your father is gonna' be wheeling you around in a fucking wheelchair with one of those new fuckin' breathing machines tapped into ya' chest after I make you a fuckin' vegetable!" The two almost butted heads as Harris stepped close, hands wrapped into fists.
"James! Vincent!" A voice called out, both of the boys shrinking as it did. "What the fuck have I said about you two fighting! Especially in front of Kassy!" Giovanna. How the fuck did she ever get with a deadshit like Harris. She was around an inch or two taller then Harris, long left, beautiful olive skin, dark black hair that almost absorbed sunlight, nice rack and a beautiful ass, though her brains did it most for Harris. He loved someone he could bounce shit off or even out smart him in a game of wits. But she was ferocious, much like her mother and father.
She scooped up Kassy, sitting her on her hip, running her fingers through her hair, "Is your brother being a big dummy again?" She pouted to Kassy, getting the nine year old to laugh as she did. Giovanna snapped her eyes to both of them, staring straight through them, "Vinny, get the fuck outta' here, Robert needs you over at the Grin and you mister." She snapped to Harris who threw his hands up in defence.
Without much protest besides a huff, Vinny stormed off, dragging what was left of his group back to the car, looks like a few of the girls didn't like the look of the big tough Vinny getting talked down to by not only his sister by a bottom feeding Paddy.
They made their way away from the Diner, heading in the general direction of Sal's, it wasn't too far from Harris and Kassy's joint but it was safe, considering their step-father had a seeming attraction to such places, but after a little scuffle with Harris on his 17th he wasn't allowed back so it became their little safe zone, even though the only kids stuff on the menu was lemonade and maybe some french fries but that was if they could be fucked turning on the fryer.
The walk was pretty silent for the most part. Harris walked slightly ahead of the two, hands in his pockets, slumped over, his eyes always scanning in front of him for any cars or dangers to the only two things that meant anything in his life. "What happened this time?" Giovanna finally broke the silence, Harris looking back for a second before sighing, slowing down enough to fall back next to her, keeping her pace.
"Tom just being Tom." Harris gave a simple answer to a very simple situation. That was most of his answers now. He hated to elaborate it because last time he did Geovana ran to her father who was about to send a couple of guys over there to kick his door down but since then it was four words and that was it.
"Come on Jamie. You know what I'm talking about." She pressed on. It wasn't easy to get Harris to say much these days, a simple 'hello' was more than enough to suit him at school when it came to conversing with people. He'd distanced himself from his friends or what little he had and mostly isolated himself. Choosing to sit in the gym area and smoke. That was before he dropped out. After his 17th and after he'd had to spend a night in the hospital because Kassy got flogged within an inch of her life he decided to drop out, choosing to take care of her full time then let those two fuckheads have anything to do with her. Though he still hung around campus, sitting around in the gym storage area and hanging out with Giovanna.
He stopped and sighed, staring at the ground, kicking at nothing. "He says I've wasted all the hot water in the house. I'm the one that's wasting the water. The dumb fuck doesn't even realise he's the one that sat in the fucking shower for three fucking hours last night, high off his fucking kite." Harris sighed and shook his head, "So he got angry, we got into another fight, big fucking deal."
"Harris, come on. You're 19 now, you're old enough to leave." Giovanna stopped, setting down Kassy.
"19 and no fucking job. No one is going to hire a worker that comes to work everyday with bruises. Like time I got a job Tom went for my face with every punch or slap so I would get fired!" The brunette through his hands into the air, raising his voice. Giovanna sighed and shook her hand, sitting her hands on his hips.
"Look. I can take Kassy away. What's Tom going to do?"
"Huuuuuh… You realise he's got ties to Becket right? The head honcho of the Department up here?"
"Yeah, and my father owns the fuckin' cops, big woop. Look. I'll take Kassy home, she can stay there and so can you." Giovanna stepped forward, reaching out her hands to Harris's and taking them, "Please. You have options."
Her hands were so soft, like a thousand feathers. He sighed and dropped his head, falling against her chest as it did. "Take her… I've got a plan anyway." He raises his head and looks her in the eyes.
"You're not still-"
"Yes I am." He nodded. Giovanna groaned, letting go and stepping away. "Why the fuck are you enlisting!? Do you wanna' die? Do you not wanna' see me or Kassy anymore!?"
"Oh come on Geo. I'm not gonna' die. You know me." He stepped back, putting his hands on his hips. As he stepped back he hit something, almost tripping back he watched as Kassy slipped out from behind him. He turned and knelt down, raising his hands to meet hers, "Hey Kassy. You wanna' go stay with Geo for a bit?"
She gave a small nod and a small smile before she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, Harris letting out a half laugh and half groan as she stood, wrapping his arms around her to support her, a hand resting on her back. "Geo, it's the only thing I can do to get away. Jackie definitely won't take me so there's no point and like fuck I'm working in a factory. Easiest thing I can do is enlist. I get good pay and a guarantee that when I get out I'll get a job and if I don't, I stay, career soldier like my old man."
"Because he got his head taken off by a Korean sniper!" She turned, he looks like she was about to start screaming. She let out a frustrated groan before stomping her feet, "Fucking hell Jamie you don't think! The only reason they're giving you that money is Hazard pay! Death money! If you die then where will Kassy stay?"
"I won't. Plus if I get enough money I can get to the courts and have custody transferred over to my name. Once I go through basic I'll be on base wherever I'm deployed. It won't be much but I know they have schools for families there and I know the Marines can help her get through school and all that. It'll be tough to get used to but fuck I got used to it." He looked to Kassy who now had her eyes closed. Little gremlin was exhausted. He looked to Geo who seemed like she'd calmed down, her hands on her hips, deep in thought. She stood there for a minute before looking up, snapping her finger and looking pointing at him.
"Alright. I'll look after Kassy. You go through Basic and I'll look after her the whole time. My pop has connections in Cali so if you go to San Diego which is the most likely place I can have a place set up there for her to stay when you've done your basic." She stepped forward, placing both her hands on his face, "Just promise me, promise me, you'll come home safe."
Harris gave a chuckle before leaning forward and kissing her, "We're not currently at war with anyone. So I'll be fine." He smiled before turning, "Come on, I'm fuckin' starving."
As stated in the opening prologue, something majorly different. I've chosen to focus on Husker and I understand that Viv kneecapped the fan theory that Husk was a vet of some description but, who cares, Fanfiction am I right? I love history, adore it, I especially enjoy war history, so I'll be trying my hardest to focus on the boots on the ground aspects of the Vietnam war through the eyes of our beloved Cat. I'm going to also be attempting to mimic in some way what we know about Husk as close as possible whilst perhaps stretching or changing some things here and there, but the overall character will remain the same. I can tell you now, things aren't always going to be cherry, so expect some sad and often time gruesome depictions and descriptions of the Vietnam War because I am not holding back.