Boy Soldier
Disclaimer: Only Tara and Purvis are my creations, all WOEICS characters belong to DIC. This story runs in the same timeline as my story Guns of October.
~ ~ ~ ~
May 2139: Private Larry Purvis, United Systems Army, 112th Light Infantry Division squinted as the fierce Mediterranean sun beat down upon him. It had been nearly four months since he violently left the Queensland Field Office.
He had sent his parents a letter a few months before joining the Army, saying that his life at ACME had become unbearable and that fleeing was the only alternative. They had talked him out of joining the Colonial Legion, a force that was currently fighting it out against the victims of an unusual virus that mutated its victims into mindless flesh eaters. They agreed to a compromise, joining the Army.
He sent Tara a letter a week into Basic training telling her the half truth that a pervasive and growing sense of isolation had forced him so violently away from ACME. That was only half of the truth concerning his flight into the Army.
He had known Tara since he was six, since his father had moved the family to Sapphire Bay, Australia. He still looked fondly on that day when he moved in for the first time. Tara had just stopped by their house, introduced herself, and then proceeded to introduce her family to their new neighbors. As they grew up together Purvis began to increasingly treasure the time spent with his childhood friend. When he hit puberty he began seeing Tara in a different light.
Purvis would always regard May 6, 2137, the year after he made it into ACME, as the day where he realized his true feelings for Tara. The fierce Mediterranean sun beating down on the lonely sentry brought back memories from the past of the boy soldier.
It was a partially cloudy day, with the sun poking teasingly through the clouds like a child playing peek-a-boo. He knew for certain that the way he felt about Tara when he awakened was not the same way he felt that night upon the 6th of May. He remembered waking up in his dorm, walking into the cafeteria and sitting over his morning coffee cup pondering thoughts long forgotten. It was then that she walked in, her short brown hair framing her intelligent oval face. He could see her lean frame walking towards his table and he admired her graceful beauty as she took her seat across from him. A few hours later, sitting at his computer, it hit him. He realized for the first time he was attracted to Tara, not merely on a physical level, but also to her warm and caring personality.
It wasn't as if his life was lacking affection at home. Nothing could be further from the truth, as he genuinely loved and adored his family as only a true and loyal son can. His father and mother cared for, nurtured, and supported their progeny very well. No, it was because he was so awkward around his peers, often categorized as a nerd by most of them. He tried to hide the pain of that isolation from his peers, but it left its marks in how slowly he made friends, how slow he was to trust people and his general shyness around people.
Tara was always there for him since first grade, a longtime childhood friend that made sure that he never would eat lunch alone. He suspected he always had a mild crush on her ever since he hit puberty but the true extent of his feelings he didn't figure out until May 6, 2137. Since that day, his life at ACME started to go to hell. Ironically this tragic 6th of May was his date of birth. He was sixteen at the time, but then he had always been a precocious child, wise beyond his years but also sensitive and prone to being hurt easily.
He remembered his last six months at ACME in particular. His supervisor, Matt Briggs, saw a lot of potential in Purvis when he first went to work for him. However, as Purvis' on the job performance started to decline and he was no longer able to accurately predict VILE's next move as he had been able to do earlier, Briggs started to come down hard. Eventually his poor performance brought him to the attention of Chief Inspector Bryce and then three months of a professional competence investigation.
As any ACME detective will attest, a professional competence investigation often involves ACME's internal security branch sending an investigator from a different field office to follow the subject and keep an eye on him at work and even when he's not at work depending on the seriousness of the competence problem. In Purvis' case his life was under a microscope for three months straight. Inspector Stuart, a short, mean spirited shrew of a woman shadowed his every waking hour.
Then to add insult to injury his fellow ACME detectives added their own rather sharp tongued remarks. Eventually, embittered, isolated, scorned and broken hearted, Larry Purvis lashed out. He proceeded to trash and destroy his room at ACME, cut apart his ID card, left a resignation letter on Bryce's desk, and headed to the Army recruitment station across town.
He was quickly sent to Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The first three weeks were arduous, as Purvis wasn't used to a lot of physical activity and again he was at the bottom of the heap as well as subject to a lot of verbal abuse from his drill sergeants. Somehow, after week three, the runs started getting easier, he could execute a lot more pushups and pull-ups, assembling and disassembling his rifle was no longer a major difficulty, and the Drill Sergeants became less frightening.
After he graduated Basic Training, he was soon sent off to the 112th Light Infantry Division based in Corinth, Greece. That had been the events of the last few months. He was sent with his battalion on a deployment to Gibraltar for six months less than four days after he had arrived.
That was how he got to where he now stood, at a sentry post overlooking the rugged peaks of the Pillars of Gibraltar one day before the 6th of May. He saw a figure approaching the fence line coming from the hills. "Halt!" he shouted.
"It's alright, mate." Said the figure, and approached into the sunlight from the shade of a copse of trees, "I was just going on a little hike."
The soldier wore a woodland patterned DPM (Disruptive Pattern Material) field jacket over his olive drab fatigues and a green beret. The beret was obviously well worn and saw quite a bit of use with a cap badge that consisted of a dagger with crossed arrows and a scroll bearing a Latin motto: De Oppresso Liber. His boots were a dusty shade of brown instead of black, evidence that he had been trekking through the Rock's countryside. His fatigues and DPM smock were equally dusty from his long trek, and his complexion was ruddy and flush. He was a curly haired fellow with a mustache and a five o'clock shadow. He carried a paratrooper's carbine with a folding stock with a desert brown finish, well worn and used web gear, and a rucksack that had seen just as much use.
The newcomer was a stark contrast to Purvis, who wore starched olive drab fatigues, well polished boots, and wore a rather weighty Kevlar helmet atop his head and carried his rifle with its standard gray finish and web gear with spare magazines, a canteen and bayonet, all of it freshly issued kit that was expected to look impeccable at all times.
"You're the first bloke that's seen me before I've seen him." The newcomer continued, "That's rare. I'm Sergeant Breck, No. 5 Commando."
"Private Purvis, 112th Light Infantry Division." Purvis replied.
"We get a lot of our good blokes from the Light Divisions. Have you ever heard of us?" Breck replied.
"Actually I have, Sergeant." Purvis replied, "The Special Forces Regiment, but I also heard a majority of them come from the Airborne."
"That's partially true, but the Regiment gets recruits from almost everywhere." Breck replied, "Where are you from, lad?"
The man had a slight Scottish accent, "I'm from Sapphire Bay, Australia." Purvis replied.
"I served with a couple Aussies from the 144th Australian Infantry Regiment that transferred into the Regiment." Breck replied, "You seem to be a keen, bright lad, and the mind numbing Army routine tends to drive a lot of that sort bonkers. If you'd like a different pace of life, remember the Regiment."
"I shall, Sergeant." Purvis replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Ivy!" Zack hollered from downstairs, waking up the entire house as he did so, "It's Tara for you."
Ivy ran downstairs, barefooted and wearing only a tank top and jogging pants. She stared at Zack with a look that spoke of death and daggers as well as a pair of sunken eyes. Clearly Ivy pulled another all-nighter.
"Hey Tara." Ivy said, brightening somewhat, "Sorry, you kinda caught me after I just woke up."
"Oh I'm sorry." Came the voice of the Australian sleuth over the phone, "I could always call back later."
"No, it's alright, what's up?" Ivy replied.
"Have you been watching the news lately?" Tara replied.
"Yeah, what about it?" Ivy asked.
"I'm worried about Larry." Tara replied, "You know that Biohazard virus that's been ravaging the outer colonies. Do you think they'll send Larry?"
"I don't know." Ivy replied.
"He wrote me a letter last week. He said that he wasn't going, but the unit's been training to deploy in case it has to." Tara replied.
Ivy knew that it was best to let Tara continue to speak. Ivy had been debating for months about whether to tell Tara that Purvis left because of her. 'Should I just tell Tara and break her heart or not tell her and let her wonder.'
"Larry's practically still a kid, it's just not fair that they could send to war." Tara replied.
"Wait a minute. Larry's old enough to make decisions like that for himself." Ivy replied
Ivy could almost visibly see Tara's shoulders slump, "I know, but I wish I knew why he left ACME just to join the army."
Ivy bit her lip as Tara continued on, "I just saw about three trucks full of soldiers drive by my house."
"Everyone's nervous Tara," Ivy replied, "We just had a bunch of jeeps come by the house last week."
"I hope that the high alert ends soon." Tara replied, "It's really worrying people, especially me."
Ivy did not want to mention that when she had been in France the other day, trying to track Carmen down, she had made a wrong turn down a street and wound up driving by Aubagne, the main base of the Colonial Legion. She saw a detail unloading what had to be dozens of body bags from the back of a cargo shuttle. What had to be a funeral march was playing in the background over a loudspeaker. She didn't want to make Tara more worried than she already was.
~ ~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Larry Purvis humped a heavy 100 pound rucksack up yet another hill side. He wasn't alone. A battalion of troops from the 112th Light Infantry went on a night march for training.
The weight of all his gear made him feel more like a pack mule than a soldier. A fine gift for one's eighteenth birthday, marching through the Gibraltar countryside. This march was to last four days. Four days of sleeping in foxholes with his boots on and rifle at hand. Four days of cold field rations, as campfires were prohibited.
As he finished digging his foxhole and placing a crude tarp cover over the hole he fell into an exhausted sleep. Boy soldier spurned by love, so far from home, yet longing to return.
Disclaimer: Only Tara and Purvis are my creations, all WOEICS characters belong to DIC. This story runs in the same timeline as my story Guns of October.
~ ~ ~ ~
May 2139: Private Larry Purvis, United Systems Army, 112th Light Infantry Division squinted as the fierce Mediterranean sun beat down upon him. It had been nearly four months since he violently left the Queensland Field Office.
He had sent his parents a letter a few months before joining the Army, saying that his life at ACME had become unbearable and that fleeing was the only alternative. They had talked him out of joining the Colonial Legion, a force that was currently fighting it out against the victims of an unusual virus that mutated its victims into mindless flesh eaters. They agreed to a compromise, joining the Army.
He sent Tara a letter a week into Basic training telling her the half truth that a pervasive and growing sense of isolation had forced him so violently away from ACME. That was only half of the truth concerning his flight into the Army.
He had known Tara since he was six, since his father had moved the family to Sapphire Bay, Australia. He still looked fondly on that day when he moved in for the first time. Tara had just stopped by their house, introduced herself, and then proceeded to introduce her family to their new neighbors. As they grew up together Purvis began to increasingly treasure the time spent with his childhood friend. When he hit puberty he began seeing Tara in a different light.
Purvis would always regard May 6, 2137, the year after he made it into ACME, as the day where he realized his true feelings for Tara. The fierce Mediterranean sun beating down on the lonely sentry brought back memories from the past of the boy soldier.
It was a partially cloudy day, with the sun poking teasingly through the clouds like a child playing peek-a-boo. He knew for certain that the way he felt about Tara when he awakened was not the same way he felt that night upon the 6th of May. He remembered waking up in his dorm, walking into the cafeteria and sitting over his morning coffee cup pondering thoughts long forgotten. It was then that she walked in, her short brown hair framing her intelligent oval face. He could see her lean frame walking towards his table and he admired her graceful beauty as she took her seat across from him. A few hours later, sitting at his computer, it hit him. He realized for the first time he was attracted to Tara, not merely on a physical level, but also to her warm and caring personality.
It wasn't as if his life was lacking affection at home. Nothing could be further from the truth, as he genuinely loved and adored his family as only a true and loyal son can. His father and mother cared for, nurtured, and supported their progeny very well. No, it was because he was so awkward around his peers, often categorized as a nerd by most of them. He tried to hide the pain of that isolation from his peers, but it left its marks in how slowly he made friends, how slow he was to trust people and his general shyness around people.
Tara was always there for him since first grade, a longtime childhood friend that made sure that he never would eat lunch alone. He suspected he always had a mild crush on her ever since he hit puberty but the true extent of his feelings he didn't figure out until May 6, 2137. Since that day, his life at ACME started to go to hell. Ironically this tragic 6th of May was his date of birth. He was sixteen at the time, but then he had always been a precocious child, wise beyond his years but also sensitive and prone to being hurt easily.
He remembered his last six months at ACME in particular. His supervisor, Matt Briggs, saw a lot of potential in Purvis when he first went to work for him. However, as Purvis' on the job performance started to decline and he was no longer able to accurately predict VILE's next move as he had been able to do earlier, Briggs started to come down hard. Eventually his poor performance brought him to the attention of Chief Inspector Bryce and then three months of a professional competence investigation.
As any ACME detective will attest, a professional competence investigation often involves ACME's internal security branch sending an investigator from a different field office to follow the subject and keep an eye on him at work and even when he's not at work depending on the seriousness of the competence problem. In Purvis' case his life was under a microscope for three months straight. Inspector Stuart, a short, mean spirited shrew of a woman shadowed his every waking hour.
Then to add insult to injury his fellow ACME detectives added their own rather sharp tongued remarks. Eventually, embittered, isolated, scorned and broken hearted, Larry Purvis lashed out. He proceeded to trash and destroy his room at ACME, cut apart his ID card, left a resignation letter on Bryce's desk, and headed to the Army recruitment station across town.
He was quickly sent to Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The first three weeks were arduous, as Purvis wasn't used to a lot of physical activity and again he was at the bottom of the heap as well as subject to a lot of verbal abuse from his drill sergeants. Somehow, after week three, the runs started getting easier, he could execute a lot more pushups and pull-ups, assembling and disassembling his rifle was no longer a major difficulty, and the Drill Sergeants became less frightening.
After he graduated Basic Training, he was soon sent off to the 112th Light Infantry Division based in Corinth, Greece. That had been the events of the last few months. He was sent with his battalion on a deployment to Gibraltar for six months less than four days after he had arrived.
That was how he got to where he now stood, at a sentry post overlooking the rugged peaks of the Pillars of Gibraltar one day before the 6th of May. He saw a figure approaching the fence line coming from the hills. "Halt!" he shouted.
"It's alright, mate." Said the figure, and approached into the sunlight from the shade of a copse of trees, "I was just going on a little hike."
The soldier wore a woodland patterned DPM (Disruptive Pattern Material) field jacket over his olive drab fatigues and a green beret. The beret was obviously well worn and saw quite a bit of use with a cap badge that consisted of a dagger with crossed arrows and a scroll bearing a Latin motto: De Oppresso Liber. His boots were a dusty shade of brown instead of black, evidence that he had been trekking through the Rock's countryside. His fatigues and DPM smock were equally dusty from his long trek, and his complexion was ruddy and flush. He was a curly haired fellow with a mustache and a five o'clock shadow. He carried a paratrooper's carbine with a folding stock with a desert brown finish, well worn and used web gear, and a rucksack that had seen just as much use.
The newcomer was a stark contrast to Purvis, who wore starched olive drab fatigues, well polished boots, and wore a rather weighty Kevlar helmet atop his head and carried his rifle with its standard gray finish and web gear with spare magazines, a canteen and bayonet, all of it freshly issued kit that was expected to look impeccable at all times.
"You're the first bloke that's seen me before I've seen him." The newcomer continued, "That's rare. I'm Sergeant Breck, No. 5 Commando."
"Private Purvis, 112th Light Infantry Division." Purvis replied.
"We get a lot of our good blokes from the Light Divisions. Have you ever heard of us?" Breck replied.
"Actually I have, Sergeant." Purvis replied, "The Special Forces Regiment, but I also heard a majority of them come from the Airborne."
"That's partially true, but the Regiment gets recruits from almost everywhere." Breck replied, "Where are you from, lad?"
The man had a slight Scottish accent, "I'm from Sapphire Bay, Australia." Purvis replied.
"I served with a couple Aussies from the 144th Australian Infantry Regiment that transferred into the Regiment." Breck replied, "You seem to be a keen, bright lad, and the mind numbing Army routine tends to drive a lot of that sort bonkers. If you'd like a different pace of life, remember the Regiment."
"I shall, Sergeant." Purvis replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Ivy!" Zack hollered from downstairs, waking up the entire house as he did so, "It's Tara for you."
Ivy ran downstairs, barefooted and wearing only a tank top and jogging pants. She stared at Zack with a look that spoke of death and daggers as well as a pair of sunken eyes. Clearly Ivy pulled another all-nighter.
"Hey Tara." Ivy said, brightening somewhat, "Sorry, you kinda caught me after I just woke up."
"Oh I'm sorry." Came the voice of the Australian sleuth over the phone, "I could always call back later."
"No, it's alright, what's up?" Ivy replied.
"Have you been watching the news lately?" Tara replied.
"Yeah, what about it?" Ivy asked.
"I'm worried about Larry." Tara replied, "You know that Biohazard virus that's been ravaging the outer colonies. Do you think they'll send Larry?"
"I don't know." Ivy replied.
"He wrote me a letter last week. He said that he wasn't going, but the unit's been training to deploy in case it has to." Tara replied.
Ivy knew that it was best to let Tara continue to speak. Ivy had been debating for months about whether to tell Tara that Purvis left because of her. 'Should I just tell Tara and break her heart or not tell her and let her wonder.'
"Larry's practically still a kid, it's just not fair that they could send to war." Tara replied.
"Wait a minute. Larry's old enough to make decisions like that for himself." Ivy replied
Ivy could almost visibly see Tara's shoulders slump, "I know, but I wish I knew why he left ACME just to join the army."
Ivy bit her lip as Tara continued on, "I just saw about three trucks full of soldiers drive by my house."
"Everyone's nervous Tara," Ivy replied, "We just had a bunch of jeeps come by the house last week."
"I hope that the high alert ends soon." Tara replied, "It's really worrying people, especially me."
Ivy did not want to mention that when she had been in France the other day, trying to track Carmen down, she had made a wrong turn down a street and wound up driving by Aubagne, the main base of the Colonial Legion. She saw a detail unloading what had to be dozens of body bags from the back of a cargo shuttle. What had to be a funeral march was playing in the background over a loudspeaker. She didn't want to make Tara more worried than she already was.
~ ~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Larry Purvis humped a heavy 100 pound rucksack up yet another hill side. He wasn't alone. A battalion of troops from the 112th Light Infantry went on a night march for training.
The weight of all his gear made him feel more like a pack mule than a soldier. A fine gift for one's eighteenth birthday, marching through the Gibraltar countryside. This march was to last four days. Four days of sleeping in foxholes with his boots on and rifle at hand. Four days of cold field rations, as campfires were prohibited.
As he finished digging his foxhole and placing a crude tarp cover over the hole he fell into an exhausted sleep. Boy soldier spurned by love, so far from home, yet longing to return.