This story contains ample swearing through dialogue, details and allusions to death and violence. This story is based on real events but is purely fictional and should not be taken seriously. I take the events mentioned during this story 100% seriously and have the full respect for the heroes who have fallen during war. Reader discretion is advised.
Fall of 1958, and only four brothers remain in school. Navy is helping his father with basic training of grunts along with some lesser jobs, while the others were still in school. The grouping of the brothers in their classes remained the same, except with one less member. Plus Crack completed his required Social Studies classes so he filled the spot with electives. One class was dedicated to teaching students 'How to argue', which Crack only took to prove how useless the class really was. Jig and Johnny had to take something, so they took up a class about World War II and the Holocaust.
Unanimously, there were certain types people they despised among all else. For historical reasons, they hated the Soviets, with their false propaganda, espionage and how they treat people. Then there are people who think they know everything, and they're really annoying to those people who do. And when some super-leftist starts calling the brothers out for apparently 'supporting the Neo-Nazi movement', for not being on the same political spectrum, there is no force on earth or heaven that could protect him from their wrath.
One day during the spring some kid was promoting the Soviet Union and how everyone who comes to live there will live in true freedom. The best thing would have been to ignore him, but the high school brothers couldn't hide their disgust as they passed by. The ignorant boy started pointing at them, calling them 'Fascist' and 'Nazis', and since World War II was just over a decade ago, the term Fascist wasn't exactly a compliment. As the better people, they decided to continue on ignoring him, but he was persistent. With the few people he had blindly following him, they decided to target the brothers as a whole, and while that was commendable to target the group instead of an individual, they were cruisin for a bruisin. The boy decided to approach them with his group of around four people behind him and tried to pick a fight. He didn't try to get physical, but instead threw insults. And as the brothers tried to ignore him, they ran in front of them trying to cut them off, only to be passed by like ghosts. When he realized they weren't listening, he decided to try again at a later time.
Everyone knew the best place to start a fight was either the flagpole or the lunchroom. However, the leftist had an apparent hatred for the United States and certainly her flag, so the brothers were confronted during lunch by the Communist supporters. For whatever reason they must of thought their cause was just and assumed that the other students would support him, but the boy must have not gotten the memo about the current Cold War. As the poor boy started calling the brothers out for being apparent Fascists, he only got looks of disgust. He eventually started calling out the whole room for being Fascists, so it was up to the brothers to put the boy in his place. They stood up from their seats, stood in front of the boy and began the roast one by one.
"The very fact that you attempt to stir up the whole room to get support shows how little you believe in your own cause" Crack began. "And when you turn on the whole room post-realization of how little support you have shows how petty you are." Will followed up with. Jig added "Moreover, when you thought to confront us during our time eating, our free time, proves how little you care for people's rights, just like the Communists." and Johnny ended with "And the heinous assumption that you thought anyone cared about your opinion shows how little you understand about your 'Soviet Russia', since over there you don't have that freedom, or any freedoms for that matter."
The boy soon realized that he was turned into the public enemy in just four sentences, and began to get angry. Like a real hot potato he started glowing red with anger and let any rational thought completely elude him. He attempted to strike at the shortest one first, Jig, to only end up lying on the ground as if he tripped over. The boy got up and targeted Johnny as he was then the closest, to find all his swings missing by inches as Johnny shifted himself to the side. Then he switched to Will with a leaping dropkick and hitting nothing but air. As he turned to Crack he was only stared down like a misbehaving mutt, but at least dogs were actually taken seriously.
The boy ended up dropping to his knees crying in defeat. And as he wept the brothers silently went back to their seats and then the rest of the students to theirs. However, like any Communist he was a sore loser, and as a last resort he grabbed one of the student's nearby Coca-Cola bottles, made of glass of course, and rushed Jig. He tried throwing the bottle, only for Jig to catch it without looking. The boy was stunned, puzzled and utterly baffled. Turning towards him, Jig stated "Now, you might be wondering why you didn't hit me-" Jig then gestures to the bottle, "It's because it just knows better, like you should've before trying to pick a fight with us." finished Jig with a smirk. The war between the brothers and the Communist started and ended on the same day, not to say it wouldn't continue on another.
June came around, and once again it was time for prom. Similar to before, Will was still the only one without a mate, but was given the job as Hall Monitor with a returning Navy. Apparently, Navy managed to land a job as a par-time substitute for Social Studies classes and a full-time coach. They resumed their partnership as Hall Monitors, searching around for any school code infractions, misdemeanors and acts of ill repute. This time however, they only found a bunch of teens under the bleachers with what they presumed to be alcohol, but was only Dr Pepper. They took the sodas from the teens under the pretense of suspected alcohol, but just took it for themselves. Later that night, there were rumors of a bunch of seniors from a school near the coast of New Jersey raiding the prom with eggs and malcontent in mind. After the rumors began circulating, Navy and Will came to the others asking them to patrol the school grounds with them to ensure no students were to be harmed.
At roughly 10pm, the sound of loud music could be heard coming from the forest behind the school, and the boys went to investigate. The brothers changed into something more discreet, black jeans, shirt and face paint they borrowed from the football locker room. They approached the sound, to find a bunch of unrecognizable teenagers grabbing something out of the trunk of a car. When one of the teenagers pulled out a carton of eggs, the brothers began Operation Rolling Thunder.
They surrounded the teenagers on all sides, and Crack with a voice very menacing through a megaphone "What do you think you're doing in our swamp?" The teenagers were on guard now, but they couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. Will, with a megaphone himself, stated "If you leave peacefully you will not be harmed." the teenagers realized there were more than one person around them. Then Navy stated through his own megaphone "Any form of retaliation will be seen as an act of aggression, and will be returned with due response." The teenagers either had to leave, or test if it was a bluff, and they chose the only wrong answer. "You kids are asking for a beating with this, we don't take kindly to kids trying to pull a prank." said the tallest teenager. "If this were a prank we'd have cameras, but the only ones that are going to know about this are you and us" replied by Jig. "No cameras? Then no one is going to find out what happened tall of you!" yelled the tallest teenager, eggs in hand and gesturing with his friends to move out and find the brothers.
Retaliation, therefore an act of aggression and therefore to be treated with due response, the brothers were now hunting. There were seven teenagers from the other school and there were the five brothers armed with nothing but rope. Navy went after the leader and his co-leader alone, and the other brothers went after the remaining ones separately. One by one the teenagers were caught, hogtied and placed in a bush for later extraction. Whenever they thought they'd seen one of the brothers, there was already another right next to them. Three minutes later it was just the leader and co-leader still standing. Navy was silently standing in their path but could not be seen, and when the co-leader bumped into him Navy stated "Heh, going somewhere?" and he picked up the teenager and placed him in a net that sealed the teenager tight. Now, it was just the leader of the group.
What exactly was said between Navy and the leader wasn't clear, only that the leader decided to strike first, just to find himself on the dirt. He realized that his shoes have been tied together, then falling into some hanging rope, which was pulled back, put him onto his knees with another rope coming from behind him, swinging under then back over his arms and being held in place. The other brothers appeared out of the forest with the five other teenagers in tow. They were all pushed together next to each other, they were defeated. The brothers only stared at them, waiting for them to speak up. "Only now do we realize that our efforts have been thwarted and we admit complete and total defeat by your hands…" said the co-leader. The brothers were initially stunned by the ease of acceptance, plus the speaker's astute choice of words. In return for their compliance, the brothers dragged the group back to their car, untied the leader, threw the others in the back and let them leave without any more conflict. In total, pre to post Operation Rolling Thunder took about ten minutes, and was just another of many victories for MWG.
Now, it is Crack's time to graduate. The brothers rolled in with a limo, however Johnny wasn't present. Johnny throughout the school year ran for Student Council President, he ran unopposed and became the junior student council president, and had the honor of speaking in front of the senior graduates after the current senior president. Crack went to his seat, Jig went to the pit, Navy stood with all the teachers and Will was left to play the anthem. Crack gave him lessons on how to play the guitar, and was given the go ahead to perform. Will went up on the stage with the same guitar and amp Crack used the year before. The orchestra played Fanfare, the Processional and once more it was time for the National Anthem. "Please rise for our National Anthem". Everyone stood up, hats off. Will walked onto the stage, placed down the amp, plugged in his guitar and stared at the crowed. He was looking for encouragement from his family, and he most certainly got it. With a thumbs up from each of them, he began to play.
He held the first note for four seconds, and then he took the Star Spangled banner and gave it his own spin. Playing higher octave notes, pinching harmonics and vibrato at all the right spots. Every octave change invigorating the soul, every vibrato shaking the stadium and every pinch forcing a tear. For his best friend, Will would do nothing less than beyond the call of duty. By 'And the rocket's red glare' crying could be heard around the room but no one moved a muscle. Jig was clenching his violin, Navy his sunglasses, Johnny his hat and Crack his cap. Will was staring into space the entire time, not needing to look at the guitar, because he knew he wouldn't make a mistake. Tears visible down his cheeks and his stance stiff. By 'For the land of the free' Will fell to one knee, and by 'brave' he was down on both. Silence for five seconds, then eruption.
Applause from the whole area. A tweed amp can reach pretty far even on moderate volume. So people not even involved with graduation came in to hear. Someone even said that the nearby highway at a four way intersection has traffic halted because they could hear the song. Will was using the guitar to hold him up, the song taking everything he had out of him. About a minute passed and Will was assisted off stage into a seat. Now it was time for the seniors to get their diplomas.
This year it was 180 seniors graduating. Crack was announced a third of the way through with applause and cheers. Crack waved to the crowd, however, he noticed that his tassel was slowly unraveling as he went up on the stage. But due to luck, he managed to save it. Prior to going to the graduation he had a small sandwich which came with a toothpick that he was chewing on and he forgot to spit out. He took the unraveled tassel, spun it and jammed a toothpick into the threads, pinning it to the cap. He stuck it in far enough to not be noticeable but the tassel now looked stuck onto his cap. He fixed the malfunction in a few seconds, and still managed to notice a gaggle of females that he was close to but obviously wasn't in a relationship with. He tipped his cap and the girls melted. He shook hands with the Superintendent. grabbing his diploma and maintaining his pearly white smile as he exited the stage. Will was there at the end and they hugged one out. Will returned the guitar, however Crack refused and assured Will that he earned it.
After everything finished, all five of them got into Navy's first generation Dodge Dart and they went to a firing range over in Scranton to go enjoy themselves. Navy pre-ordered a range with a laundry list of weapons for the boys to fire. When they got there, the place was empty except for the eagerly awaiting Gun Master, shuffling them to the range. It was an open ended field with about ten individual firing posts. And they were lead to a storage closet. If it was manufactured by an American company, this guy had it. Preserved Kentucky Rifles, a Henry Nettleton inspected Single Action Army Colt locked in a case up to a couple of Springfield M14s.
"First thing first boys, we'll start you out with a few 2nd generation Single Action Army revolvers and work our way up." The Gun Master expected that everyone who came into his shop to know the basics of firing a gun, and Navy made sure not to disappoint. The previous summer Navy gave everyone the gun detail of Basic Training. He managed to teach each of them how to disassemble, clean and reassemble all American firearms that the base could offer. The brothers took a piece and went to the range with three full speed loaders and six in the chamber. They each spread into every other post and waited for the signal. The targets were about five meters away and were fresh for the practice. 'Beep'...'Ding'. A three second beep followed by a ding from a bell. The signal.
Navy went from standoff position to a straightforward hand over hand grip. No fancy shooting, and pulling back the hammer slowly with his thumb. Johnny did similar, except angled his arms so the gun was rotated a few degrees counter clockwise. Crack, Will and Jig each asked the Gun Master for a left handed speed pull gloves ment to pull back the hammer using their palms, which if they did without gloves they'd lose about a pound of skin in the process. Will did the cowboy duel stance into rapid firing the revolver, fanning the hammer at his hip. Crack did an angle swing to eye level, angled the gun a little to the left and did a short fan of the hammer. Jig did a mix of the prior two, with holding the gun more at his chest, fanned the hammer fast and twisting his elbow like the others.
After a few minutes they went through their ammo, and the Gun Master gave his two cents. "Navy boy, I could tell you're not used to a revolver". "What'd you just say?". "Excluding Mr. Showoff hip firing, you're the only one who didn't twist your elbow to absorb the recoil. Your stance is more for an automatic, like a 1911. And as for the rest of you… you're pretty good." The brothers returned their pieces, and went back to the storage room. "Alrighty then, now that I know you all know your firearms, I came up with a sort of game. I have four more weapons for you all to try out, but a special reward will be given to those you complete my challenges. And the winner at the end, which by the way is elimination, will get to fire this beauty…" Under a drape, there was a protruding figure which seemed to be a large firearm, but was still concealed to not reveal its identity. "This… is an original, battle worned, Maschinengewhr Modell 42… or more colloquially know as the MG42. My father was one of the Raiders, and survivors of D-Day, and he climbed the wall, went into the nests full of Krauts and claimed one of the five MG42s as his. He was able to disassemble it, mail it to himself and came back home to reassemble it. I have six fifty round belts ready to be used." Navy and Jig were intimately inspecting a marvel of German engineering. They were enthralled with one of the most dangerous weapons in the German arsenal. "But of course, only one person will get to fire it, so make sure you bring your A-Game."
"With that aside, next up, Remington Model 870, its a big boomstick that'll blow your shoulder if you don't hold it right. 12 Gauge, eight for each of you, first person to load them all up I'll let them use some slug rounds." He then set five 870s on a large table, slid a plastic shell holder with eight shells for each of them, took a timer and said "Begin".
Most expected Navy to shell them all in before anyone, but Will was the first to finish, with Navy having two left, and the others having four. "Alright lad, you won the first round, you want to finish what you started or use your reward now?" he asked Will. Will looked at his work, and then at the 870 in the Gun Master's hand, with a very mischievous smile. "I said a hip, hop, the hippie the hippie dibby hip hop hop and you don't stop to rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jump the boogie, to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat." As Will was free styling he grabbed the 870 out of the Gun Master's hands and took his loaded one, walked out to his post both shotguns in his hands. "I said bang bang boogie gonna cap them raps with these loaded gats and drop some smack on that ass with these sticks that go-" Pop! Pop! He fired both the shotguns, one handed placed against each shoulder. At first, he seemed to have controlled the recoil on both the guns fairly well despite what the Gun Master warned, but then Will put the shotguns on the post in front of him, turned to his brothers and went "Blap…". They then noticed that Will's shoulder didn't look right. He then collapsed to his knees, slid against the barrier with his arms to his sides and said under his breath "Someone… get me… a fuckin medic!"
Johnny ripped off Will's shirt and two butt stock sized bruises were on each shoulder. "I'm going to need ice, splints and a lot of wrapping tape." Johnny felt the area around the bruise, got the ice and held it against the bruises. After a few seconds, "Navy, Crack, come here and hold either of these ice packs up for me." They did as asked, and Johnny, using a glove, put his fingers under the packs and examined the bruised areas. "No internal bleeding, I can't feel any fractured bones, your clavicle seems intact… But your Glenohumeral joint seems loose, you probably just popped a joint you can't normally pop with just stretching, and a lot of gas bubbles built up and released all at once, that's what stunned your arms. Then the impact of the shotguns must of caused your current state of immobility in your arms. The build up of pain informed your brain not to move your arms so you won't cause any more damage. The bruise itself is normal for not having on a secondary cushion over your arm before firing a shotgun, let alone two of them. Keep your arms moving, but keep the ice on too. If you stagnate your arms now it'll hurt more later, but if you don't ice that bruise it'll cause damage. You're a lucky sum bitch I tell you what."
"Thanks Doc, but where's my morphine?" "You'll get plenty of morphine when you're dead, now go walk around the front, rotate your cuffs a lot and keep those packs close, by the time they melt you'll be ready to go again". Johnny was taught a few medical practices, detecting damage, examining bones and the proper treatments. "Well, now that that's out of the way, you boys go fire your shotguns, and I'll get the next batch of guns ready. And as for you son, for firing one of my guns without so much as a warning, not waiting for the signal would normally just get you kicked out, but since you performed a pretty bad ass feat, I'll just disqualify you for the rounds.", the Gun Master smiled and walked back into the closet. The boys followed, except Johnny who walked Will to the front. Will had the ice wrapped over his shirt. Crack grabbed Johnny's shotgun for him and they continued on. About a few more minutes later, they fired off their shells. "No wonder Will got hurt, these things have no cushioning, it's just more wood." complained Jig, stretching his shoulder. "They're probably not going to use this in the Army, it's too high recoil and the pump is stiff" exclaimed Navy. "Well, I'm not hearing any more rounds so I guess you're all done. Come in here and I'll give you your next weapons!" yelled the Gun Master.
An assortment of rifles were now laid down on the table. "These are Springfield Model 1922s, normally I'd offer M1903s, by my supplier forgot my .30-06s, so we have to use the .22LRs. The challenge for the game, now between the four of you, is accuracy at range without optics. I have targets 750 yards away, half its maximum range. You get just five chances to hit your target in either the chest or head. If you can manage three chest shots, two headshots or some cumulative mix, you're safe. They're loaded, now go out to your posts and ready up."
The brothers, excluding Will, went to their posts and eyeballed the target. "I'll give you one free bullet each to distance the target, but that's all you're getting" He handed each of them one extra bullet. 'Beep'... "Ding'. They each fired their test shot, Navy hit the lower left, Crack the groin, Jig upper right off the target and Johnny missed. Twenty shots later, they were done. The Gun Master got out his binoculars and examined the targets. "Navy; Two chest, one head, safe. Crack; three chest, safe. Jig; Two head, two chest, safe. Johnny, one chest… nothing. You're eliminated". "Rats…" Johnny looked disappointed, but he took his defeat to go check up on Will. "Alright, you three come with me, I already have the next batch ready"
"Say hello to the M1 Thompson, an original which came out right after the first World War. Treat this one with respect, they're old as trees and their ACPs don't screw around. And for a reward for this weapon, a fifty round drum mag will be given to the man who can answer this question: What was the first noted submachine gun in the world?" As soon as he finished his sentence, Navy and Jig, in unison, said "The MP18. It was a development of Hugo Schmeisser in 1916 and produced by Theodor Bergmann under Bergmann Waffenfabrik, serving the German Army and others from 1918 through 1945. It operated from an open bolt/blowback principle and made use of 9x19mm Parabellum with a rate-of-fire equal to 500 rounds-per-minute." Navy knew German history, and Jig knew German weaponry, so it was bound to happen that they'd know the same thing. "Welp, I guess that means I'm out… damn…" Crack didn't even stand a chance, no amount of witty comebacks or snarky replies could save him from Navy and Jig's knowledge. "Don't worry, you'll still get to shoot, but these two get fifty round drums. And get to move on to the next round." "Yo Navy, get the hats and shades" said Jig. "Oh yeah, let's do it..." Jig and Navy were already dressed in a suit, but now they have pitch black fedoras and matching shades. Navy went to the car, grabbed their hats and shades and threw one pair to Jig.
They went to the posts, waited for the ding. "I got this…" said Jig to Navy. 'Ding'. "Hey Danny… the Don sends his regards…" Jig said in his best Italian accent. Navy and Jig then unloaded on a target barely 100 yards away." When they were done, there was nothing left but holes in a metal pole. "Riposa in pace" said Navy. "Bastardo" added Jig. They went back to the storage room and set down the Thompsons. "You boys definitely have Italian blood in your veins, do you know where from?" "Mine's from Sicily" said Navy, "And mine's Naples, we both have 10th century origins so we have original heritage" continued Jig. "Not surprising, I wouldn't doubt if you were sons of the Mafia." "Difference being I'm from New York, so I'm the more likely candidate, not like Jersey even has any organized Mafias anyway." "Hey, we totally have a Mafia far more experienced than New Yorkers!" replied Navy, bitter at the remark. "No ya don't!" replied Jig. "You callin me a liar?!" "I ain't callin ya for dinner!" They then lashed out at each other, forming a cloud of dust around them. When the Gun Master grabbed at them, they were still, Jig latched to Navy's back biting his shoulder and Navy was about to throw him over that shoulder. "No fighting in the war room! People died for the weapons you see here so show some damn respect!" They separated themselves, still showing signs of spite. "Huh… I guess up next is gonna prepare the winner for the final reward." He then rolled out two carts with what could only be described as perfect.
"These are two perfectly maintained Saco M60 General Purpose Machine Guns. Each with M13 belts along with 7.62 NATO rounds and fifth tracer rounds. For this challenge, I'm going to take you to the forest range in the door on the right. Roll these out for me and I'll tell you what to do next." They did as they were asked, and were met with a small, concealed range with trees. It was surrounded by bricks. "There are three layers of brick surrounding this field, it would take an anti-tank rifle to pierce these walls. They're also reinforced with special beads that, when heated, expand to fill up space. Similar to an airbag, they'll reduce the amount of energy in a passing bullet to decrease its power. So don't be worried if you miss" They separated four posts away from each other. "The final challenge for you two: You are equidistant away from an adjacent tree. With only one belt to spare, the first one to cut their tree into two will win. When you hear the ding, you may begin" The two put on earmuffs and stared eachother down. Both of them wanted desperately to shoot the MG42, and were ready to meet their destiny.
'Beep'... 'Ding'. Navy leaped to his machine gun and began firing dead center at the middle of the tree, attempting to cut it horizontally. Jig however, remained still, unmoved, and didn't even have his attention on the gun. He was inspecting the tree, seemingly for a weak point. Navy noticed Jig not moving, and just assumed who knew his place and was accepting his defeat. He was going to make snarky remarks, but wasn't going to give Jig the chance to come back. Navy didn't let go of the trigger. The Gun Master observed the scene, confused why Jig wasn't moving. "Boy! Did you hear the ding? You can start shooting now!" yelled the Gun Master. Jig looked to him, and merely smiled and waved. A few moments later, Navy finished his first belt, and tried moving onto the next, but the M60 overheated. "Gun Master, I need a new barrel!". "Did I say you could have a second barrel? You have the spare belt and that's all I promised." Navy went from cocky to worried, he would have to wait about a minute before being able to even touch the gun. He opened up the encasing to try to let it breath, and revealed a red hot barrel you could cook hotdogs on. Jig was still standing there, obviously uncaring about the whole thing. Navy was over halfway through the tree, and his last 100 rounds would definitely finish the job. "Hey… buddy… could I borrow that barrel of yours?" Navy jokingly asked Jig. "Hmm? Sure, I won't need it" Jig opened up his encasing and removed the barrel. He threw it to Navy, who was astonished. "What? Are you that sure you would lose to just give me this?" "Hmm? Who said I was going to lose? I had this win from the very beginning" Navy was still confused at the whole situation, Jig just gave him the key to victory yet boasts he already won, without firing a single bullet. "But you can't even fire ten rounds without a barrel or you'll break the encasings!" "Ten bullets? That should suffice". No one could even guess what Jig had in mind, he seemed so sure of himself yet hasn't made any attempts yet.
"Alright, if you're sure that you'll win, let's make a bet. If you can win with ten bullets, I'll change the belts on the MG42 for you. And same for you if I win." "You win with ten bullets or just win?" "If I just win, disregarding the amount." "Sure, why not? Let's go on one, ready?" Jig put his hands on his M60, not moving it anywhere. "Ready", Navy prepared to change the barrel, and he'd maybe need fifty bullets to finish the job. "Drei...Zwei…" Jig steadied the machine gun. "Einz!" Navy began unloading the barrel, only slightly cooled off. 'Bang, bang, bang, bang, P-ang'. Four regular bullets and one tracer. Jig fired them not at the base, but upwards towards the top. Jig examined his work and went back to aiming. Navy put in his next belt and was slapping down the hatch, when five for shots could be heard. 'Bang, bang, bang, bang, P-ang'... 'Crack!'. Then a tree branch fell from the top of the tree and slams against the ground with a smack. A few moments later, the sound of a whistle, then "We have a winner!" from the Gun Master.
Navy was looking at the tree branch, then at his tree which was seconds away from being chopped, and when he heard the whistle he was awestruck. "Jig has successfully cut that tree into two parts, and has won the final challenge for today!" The Gun Master had a smirk, he realized Jigs plan all along, while rather sadistic, definitely thinking outside the box. "No… No. NO! NO! NO! THAT'S CHEATING!" Navy began his rant. "That doesn't count! That wasn't the objective! It was to cut the tree in half!" Navy continued in disbelief. "Are you sure about that? Gun Master, what was the goal of this challenge?" Jig asked. "The first one to cut their tree into two will win." replied the Gun Master. "Never did it imply cutting it in half, even though that would be statistically impossible to cut an object into two equal parts, it was just to cut it into two, period." Jig was strutting around, not yet gloating, but with a sense of victory indefinitely. "You see Navy, it's not that what I did 'wasn't the objective'. It's that it wasn't your objective. When I said I already won, you should've realized I had everything planned out, and there's one thing you need to realize, Navy. Everything always goes my way… Oh, and if you want to go argue with the ref, be my guest, I won't intervene." It was already over, Navy lost and Jig was the victor. "Come on in here and receive your reward boy" the Gun Master was rolling out the MG42 in the other area. "Oh and Navy, you're belt boy. Come on"
An emptied MG42 stands on Jig's post ready to be fed. Five ammo boxes lie next to it and one belt is wrapped on top of the gun. "Come one Navy, you lost the bet so feed it up." Navy sulked over to the gun and admired its beauty. Wooden butt, slim frame and a beautiful shade of black. It fired 7.92x57mm Mauser German Rifle rounds, and had a rate of fire of about 1,200 rounds per minute, with a new barrel needed after every 250 rounds.
"I feel so cheated, so betrayed and so distraught…" Navy wouldn't break a bet, but that didn't stop his melancholy. Navy knew how to fix any problem with German weaponry, and knew how to get the best accuracy to fire rate ratio, yet could only reload the gun for his smart ass younger brother. He hugged the gun, apologizing that he was unable to shoot it, and then got to work. Navy unraveled the first belt and slapped down the hatch and gave Jig the go ahead. Jig steadied the MG42 in front of his shoulder and aimed at his target, which was an old 'Gama Goat' personnel transporter. Jig adjusted his sights, and unloaded on the truck. Three seconds later, the belt was already gone. Jig popped open the hatch and let Navy go to work. Within four seconds Navy was done and let Jig continue. He fired more into the truck, and repeated the process twice more. When Jig was on his fourth belt, he stopped, and removed himself from the gun. He looked to Navy, and motioned him to the gun. "I know you'd do the same for me, so I'd feel like an ass if I didn't let you use it." Navy's eyes brightened up and he stares at the gun. He slowly puts himself behind the stock, nuzzles it a little and switches places with Jig. Navy aims down the sights, adjusts it to his level and begins firing. Seconds later the sound of sizzling can be heard. "Der Fass hat überhitzt, hilf mir, es zu ändern!" yelled Navy. Jig then opens the hatch and Navy picks up the other barrel. He hits up the hot barrel out and Jig slams in the new barrel latches up the gun. He reloads it and Navy finishes off the last belt. When they look up, there is little left of the truck. Swiss cheese looks more filled than the remains of the truck, Jig and Navy fist bump and proudly look upon their work. The other brothers come in and inspect the damage. "Alright, the games are done for today. Now… Get off my property, it's midnight and you need to leave."
1960, now only three of the brothers remain, and they're all seniors. Navy was still helping his father with new recruits, while Crack found a job at the local guitar shop. Now the younger brothers are setting their goals on completing high school and finding their own calling in life. Will was taking ROTC, Johnny was planning on studying religion and Jig was looking for a job in the Government. Without Crack and Navy, the whole school year was stale, repetitive and had no more life to it. While the remaining brothers still tried to enjoy themselves they couldn't escape the feeling of emptiness. And even though they still hung out every once and awhile they seemed to grow more distant, with nothing keeping them bound together. Not all in the world was right. For the past decade Vietnam started to become a hazard towards Democracy, and the United States have made it their duty to cease all acts against the free world. More and more of the Viet Minh started to take control and eventually lay claim in northern Vietnam. Months after the Viet Minh seized the north they were supposedly receiving assistance from their Communist neighbors, China and Russia. With the Cold War still continuing the US is slowly getting more and more pushed into Vietnam and a war is seemingly closing in, but nothing substantial has occurred just yet.
The remaining brothers continue their high school careers to get out with diplomas in hand and set off on their lives. Jig finds himself in an internship with a Secret Service firm just a half hour away in New City, New York. Will went with Navy into Army training and Johnny was somewhat interning at his church. The brothers still remained in contact, but they didn't have much time for congregations at their old meet ups.
Emporer Moon here again, the first chapter received about ten views now, and I say as a first time writer is commendable. So this is the second chapter in our story. Once more I'd like to encourage people to write reviews on my stories for critiscisms, ideas or preferences. I enjoy all forms of feedback as long as it is constructive in some form. In addition, I already have the next chapter 'done' but I still need to revise it. Stay tuned for the next chapter.
-Emporer Moon