Chapter 10

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They didn't tell any of us where the bus was going until about ten minutes after we left the base. Not that they didn't neccessarily trust our parents, but anyone could get careless at times. We were on our way to Greenport, a small farming community about two hours away. The aliens were trying to take the town, most likely for the crops to feed themselves. We wanted the crops for our side, so we would fight them there. It was dark long before we reached the town, I guess that was on purpose. No sense in letting the enemy know our numbers. I was sent to a farm, along with Joker and Hudson. We had to keep the place safe from the enemy, who could attack at any time. We all reported to colonel Sadler and were assigned quarters. I was sent to a tent with about ten other female soldiers, Hudson was the only one I knew too well. I had been given the next day's assignment, I would guard the barn, have to be ready to fight if the enemy came. I was a little nervous, the war was becoming more real. I was glad that it was almost summer, warm enough to sleep in tents as if it were a camping trip. But I also realized that it would rain, and there was no reason to believe that the war would be over before the winter cold came. I had been told that a tour of duty lasted one year, 365 days. So I began counting the days until June 8th 2065, 365 days to go.

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Once again I had to adapt to new surroundings. Once again I had menial duties like peeing potatoes, digging latrines, as well as guard duty. The day typically began with roll call at 5am, and ended with lights out at 10pm. Unless ofcourse I had night guard duty or had to help prepare breakfast. Schedules for the week were usually posted on Fridays. You only had one day off and it was really anyone's guess what day it would be. Friday mornings were also when colonel Sadler posted the names of local soldiers who'd been killed. We had a superstition, if the colonel seemed in a relatively good mood, your loved ones were safe. If he was in a particularly foul mood, you had lost a loved one. It was just a superstition. Rank has it's priviledges, but officers are not immune to losing loved ones themselves. Like everyone else on the farm I looked, saw the names of people I knew from basic training. I wondered how long it would be before others saw my name on one of these lists. I found myself attending the weekly prayer services. The chaplain knew he had a congregation of christians, muslims, jews, buddhists, and assorted others. He tried to combine all of these traditions into the service. Mainly it was about giving us hope that if we died, and we all thought about that, then we would get into Heaven. Some of us wondered, did the aliens also believe in some God? Was there chaplain telling them the same thing? Other chaplains preached that the aliens were the spawn of Satan, that killing them sent them to Hell. I tried not to think about that. The chaplain was a lot like colonel Sadler, to them it was more about keeping us alive than preaching hatred of the enemy. Sadler always said he wouldn't go looking for battle, but wanted us all prepared if it came to us.

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There wasn't much to do here when off duty. There was always the fear of an attack, but there was no reason to think that would change if you were playing cards. There was the occassional poker game, but I stayed away from the high stakes game, didn't want to wind up in debt. Sometimes we would organize a baseball game, I could't play but I liked to watch. There was a tradition that the winning team would get to name this little field, names of old parks like "Polo Grounds" "Shibe Park" of "Ebbets Field" and we would all call it that, at least until another team took the title. Movies were shown at least once a week, but we were limited in what we had to watch. I still got care packages from home, Willow would send me drawings that essentially wished me well. These helped remind us all what we were fighting for. One time, a young private was told that his parents had died in an air raid. A few days later he got a care package from them, mail didn't always arrive in a timely manner. He just broke down, the chaplain comforted him as best he could.

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The first time we were attacked, I had been here less than a week. I was guarding the barn, and eating beans for lunch. All of a sudden we were shelled. We all took cover under the sand bags, the others kept eating their beans. I thought I had experienced enough air raids to be immune, but somehow it's scarier when they're shooting at you directly. I thought "How can these others keep eating their beans right now." But then I was the new girl. Before this tour of duty was over I would be the one who calmly ate their beans while the new guy was shaking in terror. This time we beat the enemy back, both sides suffered casualties.

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On July 4th we raised the flag, just like we did every morning. It had become a symbol of defiance, that this place was still american territory. There was a barbeque this day to celebrate our nation's independence. It might not have been like the barbeques we'd known only a year ago, we were amazed that colonel Sadler got what he could for this celebration. In any event, it wasn't just about the food. Playing patriotic music, laughing and dancing, it was our way of rubbing our noses at the enemy.

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It was shortly after this that we were attacked again. This time the enemy made it near the barn. Hudson and I were stationed there, and an enemy soldier shot her in the head. Just like that, her brains were all over the barn. Alive one minute, dead the next. Just another name to be posted on some paper, a visit to her parents' house. I shot back, killed one of them. I can't be certain it was the same one who shot Hudson, I hoped it was.