*authors note*
I just wanted to thank y'all for your feedback from the first chapter. I started writing this and didn't know if you guys would like it at all, and I guess you do, so here you go!
Once again, this is purely fiction, written for entertainment, but with that being said, everything I write has some of me or something from my life in it, so if you don't like my stories, you probably won't like me much.
Thank you all for your continued support, both on this story, and on "It'll Never Happen," that story is far from over, so just keep patient and the next chapter will be out before you know it.
Chapter 2
"Where the hell are we even going?" A private asked me.
Yes, I was a section leader, and usually the chain of command goes team leader, squad leader, THEN section leader, but since I was young, about the same age as most of the guys, and since I thought myself pretty friendly and approachable, a lot of the guys came to me for things, which I didn't mind in the slightest, since it took some of the load off the team and squad leaders, and since I liked feeling like I was still a part of things and not just behind the scenes.
"I could tell you, but it would make absolutely no sense, and you would just get confused and pissed off, so I'd rather not, but that's up to you private." I joked.
We were on patrol, moving as sections, as a part of a two platoon patrol. Each platoon is broken into two sections, and since there's four main cardinal directions from any given point, we tended to use a section to patrol each one off the FOB. We were headed north today.
"Well shit Sargeant," the kid thought for a moment. "Fuck it, lay it on me."
"Well first, around the FOB and anyone who outranks me, I'm sergeant, but when we're out here it's just Richardson or Snake." I paused to light a smoke and offer him one, which he gladly took. "We're headed about fifteen clicks north to the mountain, there's supposed to be a little outfit of op-for and a weapons cache there, but it's hidden inside and we can't seem to find it. The thermal on the drones are picking up nothing, but we've got good intel it's there, so we're the hide and seek team who got the lucky card to look for it. That's why we're combat heavy right now."
"Well fuckin a. I'd rather the bastards not have stuff they can kill us with so let's go kill them with our stuff we can kill them with before they kill us with their killing stuff." He said with a laugh. It was good to see morale wasn't low.
"Couldn't have put it better myself kid." I laughed
Not long after that conversation we stopped to pop open some MREs and have a quick bite to eat. It was around noon and everyone was exhausted from humping all day.
Right when we were about done with lunch we heard what sounded like a mini explosion and we all turned our heads to look at Murphy, the first squad alpha team leader. He didn't say anything at first, just had a pained expression on his face.
"What the fuck was that Murph?" I asked.
"God damn these motha fuckin MREs makin me spew more shit than a politician giving a three day speech!" He exploded.
"So you're saying you shit yourself?" I said, barely containing my laughter.
"I have indeed shit myself." He said with his own laugh.
"Welp, let's break here for an hour, twenty five percent security, y'all figure it out. I'm gonna take Murph here down to that little creek over there. One of y'all come with to keep watch."
"Oh fuck off I can change my own drawers." He drawled, being from Georgia.
"Oh fuck off you shit yourself, someone's gotta wipe ya." I said with a wink.
Man there really was nothing more sick and more gay than a straight dude in the Army.
**
I woke up and couldn't help but chuckle to myself. That was definitely one of the better days on deployment. Barely any contact, and the weapons cache was full. They must have been out and about because there were only two hajis guarding the place. I think maybe five rounds went off total. Quick and easy. It was always good to get to joke around like that
**
It had been a week since Katie came over and it seemed like me and her were on good terms again. She made it seem like we were never on bad terms, but her sister had another thing to say about it. I still hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Katie about how I hurt her, but I knew I had to do it soon, since I wasn't sure when I would be leaving again.
I had been working out every day since I had been home. I started slow, more so doing just some rehab work trying to get my body back to normal, but apparently I was a quick healer, and soon I was doing actual work outs like I used to. My physical therapist couldn't believe how far I had come, and honestly neither could I. I had to fly down to Fort Drum in New York in a week to get checked out by an Army Doc, and he would decide if I was fit to return to duty. I was starting to get excited, but also was dreading having to leave.
It was a Sunday, and we had nothing to do, so when Jason said we should all head out to the island, who was I to complain? I snuffed out my cigarette on the railing of the back deck, put the butt in the coffee can, and headed back inside to pack a few things. I was out in the garage loading up a cooler when my mom came out to say hi before she headed off to work. She drew the short end of the stick at the hospital this week and had nights and weekends. This was her last shift before she had two days off, then back to the normal day shift.
"Headed to the creek?" She asked with a knowing smile.
"Actually no ma, we're headed out to the island for some partying."
"I always hated when y'all would go out there. No service, nobody around. What if someone got hurt?"
"There was always enough of us, so the chances of everyone getting hurt and nobody being able to drive to the hospital was slim."
"You know that doesn't change anything. I'm still your mother and I still worry."
"I'm pretty sure I've been in worse situations." I said with a chuckle.
"Not funny Matt." She shot back with a stern look.
"I'm sorry Ma." I said as I got up to give her a hug before she left.
I went upstairs to grab some extra clothes and my wallet before heading out. As I headed back down the hallway towards the stairs I stopped in front of Kyle's room. Making a last minute decision, I busted open his door and started yelling.
"Hey Runt! Get your ass out of bed! We got shit to do!" I yelled in my best Drill Sergeant voice.
"Hey what, what's up? What the fuck!" He yelled, still half asleep as he rolled out of bed.
"We got shit to do dumbass!" I yelled back trying to hide my grin.
"Fuck. Ok. Calm down I'm coming. What are we doing?"
I had to laugh at how he had absolutely no idea what time it was, absolutely no idea what we were going to be doing, but he still didn't hesitate getting up and going. He'd definitely make a good soldier I mused to myself.
"Goin to the island. You're coming along. Get your shit and get ready. I'll be outside."
"Gimme five."
"Roger. Don't be late Runt!"
With that I headed back downstairs. I knew my little brother looked up to me, and all in all he was a cool kid, so it didn't bother me any dragging him along. Plus, I could slip the kid a beer or two and he'd be on cloud nine. Just don't tell Momma.
By the time I had the truck fired up and the cooler loaded in the back, Kyle came walking out the front door. I put the truck in reverse and started slowly rolling away. Throwing his arms up in the air in frustration he took off running towards me, throwing his bag in the bed as he got close, then throwing himself in the bed right after.
As I started to pick up speed he opened the slider window and slid in, cursing me the whole time. I could help but laugh at the kid. He may have been only fifteen, but I swear he had the mouth of someone who's spent years in the Army.
It only took us a few minutes to get up to Lake Superior as our little town wasn't very far from it to begin with. As I pulled into the boat launch parking lot, I saw Jason already had the boat in the water and Jack was loading up the grill and a cooler. Shutting off my truck Kyle and I grabbed our cooler and put it on the boat.
It wasn't long after we were settled in that Todd and Danny came pulling in and shut the truck down next to mine. We had already moved the boat over to another dock to open up the launch for anyone who needed it, so we just popped the top on a beer and lounged around waiting for Katie and Allison.
It was a beautiful day, the sun was peeking its way through the few clouds that blocked it at that moment, and you could feel the excess warmth when it hit you. After all the time I spent in the desert, sweltering in the dry heat, it was nice to get a day with some humidity and sub hundred temperatures to grace the day.
The birds were chirping, singing their happy little songs, the waves were audibly rolling off the rocks along the shore, and the wind was gently rustling the leaves on the trees. I couldn't have asked for a better day
We were already a beer a piece deep, opening up our second when Katie's Jeep pulled in and parked next to our trucks. As soon as their doors opened and they stepped out, we all had to have a laugh at Kyle's expense. Since he was a freshman at the same time Allison had been a senior, he'd had a huge crush on her. Can't really blame the kid, but we all had to laugh about it.
Allison was a bombshell in her own way. Long red hair, milky white skin with a few freckles here and there, and a totally stacked body that had every guy drooling over her. We even caught a couple of the guys looking at her too. She knew it, and she reveled in it. She really was a little show off.
Kyle's mouth was quite literally hanging open at the sight. I leaned over, made a big show of closing it for him, and handed him a beer hoping it would calm him down some.
"You tell mom..." I started.
"Yea yea I know, you'll skin me alive, wear me as a coat and deny any of it."
"Good. Not quit staring and be a normal kid for Christ's sake."
The girls didn't have anything to bring with them other than a little beach bag, so it didn't take them long at all to get loaded up, and before long we were headed towards the little island that sat about a mile off the shore. There wasn't much on the island, most of it was rock, but there was a little cut on the back side facing away from land that had a sandy shallow part and a little beach, with some grass growing behind it.
