Michael
The youngest member of our squad was up in my face, the boy's voice was so screechy I could barely hear myself think. He had red hair cut short, and beaded with sweat. I didn't like him and he kept saying the same shit. "WHAT THE FUCK, IS WRONG WITH YOU?! HUH? ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?" To me he sounded like an annoying fly and I almost wanted to point my rifle at him. Instead I took a long draw of my cigarette and blew it in his face, oddly that was all it took to shut him up. The rest of the squad stood still, staring silently. Wind rustled over bodies and through the hovels. No one shuffled, or moved or spoke. No, no they just stared. Lieutenant Kiki or whatever her name was, kept her eyes unblinking on me, and finally she spoke over silence. "You're going to be court marshalled. You know that right?" I admired her; she really tried to get into that position of power, as if she were above me … she was above me. I liked her drive, her tenacity however the trouble was, she didn't know me. What it would mean for her if this came to light.
For the first time since I got out of the Hum-v I spoke, and I had all their attention. "Lieutenant, what's my last name."
She looked at me perplexed. "Excuse me, but what the FUCK does that have to do with anything?" I smirked, she was so green.
"Lieutenant, this was your first command right?" She blinked several times. "It'll look really bad on your record, that you couldn't control your first command."
She opened her mouth and her face was full of vim and verve as she prepared to yell at me, but she stopped, she realized I was right. "The reason I ask if you know who I am is because my name is Michael Finns." Beside me the screechy little redhead spoke up "As in, the…the Governor of Illinois' son?" I looked at him and exhaled smoke as I spoke "The same. So now while I have your attention, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen: we rolled up as per the plan, we got nothing out of the villagers so we left, after that a death squad showed up. Problem solved."
The Lieutenant began breathing heavily and ignored what I thought was a reasonable explanation for her plight. "Why the fuck did you do that?" I rolled a shoulder, "One of them looked at me funny."
She scoffed "Are you serious? Are you fucking insane?" I squinted at her, "He looked suspicious; he was probably an insurgent friendly"
She walked towards me and forcefully grabbed my collar. The squad all jumped and began yelling, most likely to get her to let go of me. Hell maybe they cheered her on, I didn't bother listening, instead she stared at me and I stared back. Above the yelling of my squad mates I listened carefully to her. "So that gives you the authority to hose them all?" I paused and waited till it was quiet and I answered plainly. "I was thinking about our safety." She threw her fist at me. Her intentions were pretty obvious and I could have stopped her if I wanted. But I thought she needed to let it out. When her tiny fist landed on my face my smoke fell out and I felt my jaw pop a little. I clenched my teeth as she hit me again and again. She probably would have kept going but one of the squad members stopped her. I looked at her spitefully as I defiantly spat blood on my boots. "You done little girl?" She looked at me with these eyes of utter bewilderment before pointing to the Hum-V. "Everyone, get in the goddamn V."
We drove in silence until the village was long behind us. We kept going for several minutes before the Lieutenant finally worked up her nerve and she announced loudly; "Everyone fall out! Sven grab that piece of shit."
The screechy ginger took hold of my shoulder and pushed me towards the door. I opened it and got out, while slinging my rifle. The ginger kid had his rifle leveled at me but I towered over the little shit and even with his cocked, locked and loaded M17 he didn't feel safe while looking at me, I liked that feeling. The lieutenant came around the hood and walked up behind me, audibly drawing her pistol while doing so. She tried to speak calmly, but I could hear her uneasiness and fear thinly veiled behind the false confidence. "Get the fuck down an-and put your hands on your goddamn head."
I smiled as I complied. When I got into the position I asked her quietly, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
After a few seconds of silence she walked in front of me with her pistol leveled. "You may have connections; you may not get court martialed. Hell you could even get me kicked out for some bullshit reason and walk away. But I will not act like you didn't do what we watched you do." She looked around at the team. "Everyone here will attest that you got hit by a Taliban sniper. And no one will know any different."
I nodded; and let her continue; mostly because I didn't think she'd have it in her, but also because I wanted to hear her reaction. I'd never had any audience to what I've done before, and I wanted to hear what these regular people thought of my actions. Her bottom lip quivered slightly, she searched for some big words or a more eloquent sentence but eventually she gave up and said almost exactly what I thought she'd say, "You are a sick fuck." She stared at me contemplating before eventually continuing. "What the hell are you? Huh?" She pulled the hammer back on her pistol and pressed the muzzle to my forehead. I looked right up at her with a wordless message in my eyes as I thought; Do it, be a big girl. Pull the trigger. She shook, and at first it was subtle; in her other arm and a little in her legs. But as she stood there with her gun to my head, it began to shake. Her wrist seemed as if it had Parkinson's and began to shake violently. Her eyes got a little glossy and her chest heaved up and down both sporadically and visibly. One of the squad piped up, "Ma'am I knew he was bad news as soon as I saw him. We should never have taken him on." She nodded; it was about all she could do. The little screechy kid broke his silence and voiced his worry, "Ma'am, we don't have to do this." She didn't look up this time; a few others spoke up advocating the redhead's statement. She wasn't listening; she was in a different place, with only me. Eventually I risked a shot at her, "You don't have it in you, little girl."
She looked, and continued shaking, "Have you ever killed a man? Hmm? Maybe you have, but never at this close a range." She took a deep breath and waited expectantly for me to continue talking.
"Now while I know I'm in no position to tell you how to do your jobs, but did any of you bother to look around and make sure this area was safe before getting out of the Hum-V?" She raised an eyebrow and looked up, almost as if on cue a scream erupted over the land. A RPG roared towards the Hum-v and blew it off its wheels. I didn't have time to see her face; I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy her reaction. No, all I got to enjoy was a piece of shrapnel smash into my back and helmet. I was probably dead, because all I could see was darkness.
Infinite, unyielding, beautiful;
Darkness
Now I hate when the author does shit like this so I'll try to be quick:
I wanted to release at least some of the third chapter, so I hope you've enjoyed it. I'm still working on it as much as I can and I'll release the rest when I can. I'll post the date for completion on both my profile and the story blurb. I am so sorry for the last date I put, and I promise to never do it again. You're not here for a long winded explanation so I won't give one, but there it is. I won't be doing another little talk like this again so I want to thank everyone for reading, reviewing and plainly stopping by. I'll not give up on this until it's done, Billy the Kid can guarantee ya that.