The door to the living room is shoved open by Jackson as Corbin And Doc help move smith. As they pull him through the door I can hear Jasper saying “Clear the couch! We need space!” Ackerson and others can be heard saying “What the hell happened to you?”. The door closes as they continue their movement. I turned to face Gomez, who was now in the corner of the room, a scowl on his face as his eyes never left the unknown woman. I walk towards him and lift my hand. I lay my hand on his shoulder and grip tightly to his Platecarrier strap. I pull him close and say “Gomez, remember what you told me, you aren’t like that anymore. Now get a grip on yourself.” I shook him slightly as the words left my mouth. He blinked as he turned his head towards me. “Lo siento, no tengo idea de lo que podría haber causado que yo actuara así.” He said with a large sigh as his head and shoulders dropped in shame. “Gomez, I have no idea what you just said, but I am going to hope it was an apology.” I began to lower my voice and speak softer. “Now look, We are in a lot of shit right now, and you’re the only one with a radio that can possibly reach command. I need you to get upstairs to get a hold of them. You squared away enough to do that?” “Sí Lieutenant.” He responds with reassured certainty. I pat his right arm and smiled at him. “Alright, good! Then please get going! Grab Morris since Doc has his hands full with Smith. Besides, if you decide to go full Spanish at least he can understand you.” I laughed attempting to lighten the mood. Gomez began laughing “Man, his espanol is atroz.” We chuckled for a minute as I hit Gomez’s helmet twice lightly and told him to get going. He started moving towards the door. Ow rushes past me with several water bottles.
“Doc, i foun sumtin!” He shouts as barrels through the door, following Gomez.
The door shuts as an awkward silence fills the room. I turn to my left and begin walking towards the dining table in the room. I feel the glare of the young woman sitting in the chair. I lift my rifle and set it down on the table. I then reach to my left shoulder and pull out my M9 from its sheath and drop it on the table. The noise of the knife hitting the table echoed in the room as the woman jolted. I then took off my helmet. “My name is Jason, Jason Thane.” I said holding my helmet. I turn my gaze directly at her. “What’s yours?” I ask with a kind tone. She just stares at me. I set my helmet on the table and began walking towards her. With every step I cautiously watch her every move. Then her eyes finally dart to the right, but only for a moment. I followed her gaze and found a kitchen knife rack. My eyes went back to her and I stopped.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” I said. As she looked at me, I could tell she didn’t believe me.
I wasn’t sure exactly what to say. My mind is racing with what to say, or what to do. This girl has literally lost everything. I looked back to the table to see if any other chairs sat there. There was one. I began walking towards the chair and pulled it over across from the woman. I sit down and look at her. Her shoulders were up and her neck was stiff. Her eyes felt like they were staring into my soul. I lifted my hand and she jumped in her seat. “Easy, I'm just getting something out of my pocket.” I say as I reach into my pocket and pull out my pack of big red. “You know, when I was little. Whenever I was stressed or angry, my mom would always sit down next to me. And just stay there, occasionally she’d look over at me with a silly face or something to try and make me smile. And to her credit it normally worked. But one day, it didn’t, I don’t remember what happened exactly, but nothing she tried worked. So, she tried something else. she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small case of big red gum. And she’d set it down right in front of me and she’d say “Jason, I gave up smoking when I was pregnant with you, but sometimes I just needed that burning sensation, something to ease my nerves. So I started chewing this.” Now, I was about eight years old when this happened, so my curiosity peaked, I had never seen the gum before nor did I have any idea what she meant by burning taste. So I grabbed one and tried it. I don’t know what it was about the gum, but it became a stress reliever for me later in life. So here.” I pull a stick of gum out of the container and realize I only have three left. I put a stick of gum on the ground in front of me and, with my non-bloodied boot, I kicked it towards her. The stick of gum glided across the floor And landed in front of her shoe. She hesitated for a moment.
“Come on, you can’t tell me you’re not at least curious.” I said. She blinked and slowly reached down to grab the piece of gum. She came back up and unwrapped the gum and put it in her mouth. After a few chews, her shoulders went from tense to relaxed in a second.
“How is it?“ I asked.
She gave no response. Her eyes staring down at the floor. Every chew echoed in the quiet room. As a single tear fell from her eyes. I get up from my chair and walk towards her. I kneel down and look at her, attempting to get her attention.
“Don’t worry, you’re safe now.” I said. Her eyes locked with mine as I said those words. Her body began shaking as her eyes darted around my face. Her face contorted as tears fell down her face. In seconds, she rushed out of the chair and slammed into me. Her arms wrapped around my neck as she collapsed into me, sobbing into my shoulder. I put my arms around her gently, attempting to calm her down. Feelings of doubt began to enter my mind, “was she truly safe?” I thought to myself thinking on all the men we’ve lost. Yet I have this odd sense of relief, it’s nice to finally have a civilian who is genuinely glad to see us. I just hate the context of the situation. I gently pull away from her, putting my hands on her arms and take a look at her. The grime and mascara on her face mixed and smeared over her face. I reached down into my plate carrier and pull out a piece of cloth from my pouches. I move it towards her face, but she recoils. “Easy, Im just going to help you a tiny bit. She reluctantly eases back down. I move the piece of cloth up to her face. With every stroke, a porcelain white reveals itself. Within a few strokes I clean up the grim, tears, and makeup smearing her face. When I’m done, I set the cloth down and look back to her, her raven black hair a stark contrast to her now, seemingly, glowing face. I gently help her get up as I set her back in the chair. Before I could attempt to ask any questions, a knock is heard at the door. “Uh, come in?” I said. The door opens as Jasper walks in with a large, metal pan. He closes the door behind him. His face is emotionless as he walks towards the table and drops the pan onto it. He then takes his helmet off, showing his dirty black hair, and sets it on the table. He puts both of his hands on the table as he drops his head. A sense of dread quickly washed over me.
“Jasper, Are you-“ I began to speak but was quickly cut off. “Seventeen.” Jasper said. “What?” I ask, confused by his statement. “Seventeen pieces of wood. Seventeen goddamn pieces Doc and I had to remove from his leg.” He said in disappointment as his hand slams on the table. “Lieutenant, did you pull him out of that so shittily?” He asked. “Jasper, when we were pulling him up, he put his weight on the railing and-“ my attempt to explain what happened was quickly shot down. He clenched his fist so tight I could hear the seams in his gloves start to tear. “How could you be so careless.” He said under his breath. “Jas, We didn’t have a-“ Jasper turned towards me throwing his helmet full force at me. I duck down, barely avoiding it. The helmet barrels passed both myself and the girl and slams into a glass cabinet, shattering it and anything inside of it. My gaze immediately went to the girl sitting by me. She was terrified, but okay. I climb back up shouting “What the fuck Jasper!” He stood in front of me, full of rage. “How in the fuck could you be so careless! God Fucking Damnit!” Straightening my back, I shouted, “Jasper, I don’t know what in the fuck had gotten into you, but cool your shit right now!” He looked away with a crooked smile, “What has gotten into me?” He licks his lips and stares directly at me as if he is peering into my soul. “Within the span of thirty minutes Miller was torn apart by literal hellspawn, and Now Smith’s leg looks like he went through a Goddamn wood chipper! It’s amazing how so much sacrifice goes into so little gain whenever you call the shots.” My angered scowl turns to one of pain, he was right. My shoulders drop as I stagger back. I lower my head in shame and clench my fists. “You don’t think I know that.” Whistles through my grinding teeth. “You think I don’t see every single one of the men I lost Every single time I fall asleep? I-“ I am cut off by loud smack. I quickly wipe the tears from my face as I looked up to find that Doc had backhanded Jasper.
“Jasper, you rage induced hate fuck! Are you listening to yourself? The Lieutenant had nothing to do with that! If anything, he’s the reason you, me, and everyone else out there are standing here!” Doc takes a deep breath as Jasper staggered back, lifting his gaze at Doc's words. “I get it! You’re fucked up, you miss your friends, but snap out of it! They need us out there to be United! We cannot stand to be separated with this petty bullshit! If we don’t get it together, we all die! How can’t you see that?” He says as tears fall down his face. In this moment I realized I had kept giving advice, yet not following it myself. They need me to lead, not mope about because I can’t handle the pressure. I wiped my face with my sleeve and straightened my back. Before I could say anything, Jackson and Gomez walked in.
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“Hey, Lieutenant, have you se-.” Jackson stops short, his eyes gazing over the situation unfolding. His eyes scan over Jasper, myself, Doc, and his eyes stop by my side. His eyes widen as he seemingly realizes what’s happening.
“Que? What is going on?” Gomez shoots up.
“Uh, Yeah, what is going on? And uh, oh fuck!” Jackson raises his rifle and points it in my direction. “Put it down! Now!” He commands. I turn to find what exactly he’s talking about. The young woman stood behind me, a large kitchen knife with a black hilt in her hands. The knife laid at her side, she looked at me, her eyes full of fear. I raised my hand, “Easy Jackson, I let her have it.” I say with a calming tone. Jackson shakes himself and shouts “You did what?” His voice echoed with confusion. “Jackson, we are literally in a zombie apocalypse, I think she can at least have a knife to protect herself? But fine, if you feel so strongly about it.” I slowly walk towards the woman. I reach down to her hand, slowly staring at her. I mouth the words “Please Trust Me.” I grab the knife out of her hands. And slowly walk to the counter. “See, there, completely safe.” I set the knife on the counter gently.
“Anyways, Jasper was just voicing some personal concerns, and Doc was attempting to help acknowledge and fix them accordingly, especially with Smith. He also wanted to acknowledge the viability of helmets in such a weird combat zone. As they are rather cumbersome, well compared to the FAST helmets we were supposed to be given.” I walk over and picked up his ACH helmet. And walked over to him. I extended my hand and offer his helmet to him. He reached out and grabbed it. As he put it on I also iterated, “He was also about to get me a full status report on equipment and morale. Right, Jasper.” I said with a half smile. Jasper stared at me, in shock of my change of personality. His eyes darted to doc then back to mine. “Yes, I’ll get it done Sir.” I nod my head at him and say “Great. Thank you Jasper.”
I turn to look at Jackson as Jasper walks out. “What’s up?” Jackson and Gomez stare at each other and back at me. “We can’t find Morris.” Jackson says. I shake my head, “What?”.
“Uh, yeah, I have no idea where he is. We searched everywhere our guys are. And not a thing. We were wondering if you may have sent him seperate or something?” Jackson responded.
“Why in the fuck would I do that? I told Gomez to take him and get up towards the roof. Where the fuck is he?” I said, irate at the situation.
“Well, we can confirm he was in the building. Ackerson and Ow both saw him. So there is that?” Jackson said with a shrug.
“What about sentries on the second floor, have they seen anything?” I asked.
“Uh, about that. We kinda don’t got anyone on the second or third floors.” Jackson cowardly said.
My scowl turns to one of anger, “Why in the fuck do we not have anyone Up there! Does just everyone negate what I say or is this just a recent phase of rebellious teenage angst!” I raise my hand to my eyes and grip the bridge of my nose. I take a deep breath and open my eyes at the two men, now backed up closer to the door.
“Lieutenant, you realize there are only thirteen to fourteen of us in the building, right? If we give each person a battle buddy that is at most seven groups, now the front door is currently being held along with three windows out there. We have smith down, Morris is MIA, so we only have six groups. You and Doc are indisposed, so five groups. Gomez is attempting to get anyone on the radio, so that’s four groups with one group of three. Ackerson is trying to work with Tex and Wilson. But honestly the only one who could round those two was Vasquez. And after seeing what they did I can only imagine their operational capability. We don’t really have enough guys to fully garrison this building.” Jackson says bringing with it a slap of reality to me.
“Fuck. Fuck! Alright, hang on.” I take a second to think, desperately trying to come up with some sort of plan. My eyes light up as I say “Alright, I got it! Jackson, I want you to take everyone left besides Doc, Smith, Gomez, and Ackerson, make ad hoc fireteams and organize them under either you or Jasper. We will have to use more of a World War Two idea of the squad working more as a single unit instead of breaking away. But it can work. Now Doc, I want you to go watch Smith and keep him solid. I want Gomez to get on that fucking radio right goddamn now, right here, fuck the roof. I’ll take Ackerson and find Morris. Besides I want to make sure he’s good, if he is, he can roll into one of the Ad hoc groups. If not, I’ll keep him close to me. Everyone tracking?” I say with a newfound enthusiasm, attempting to lift everyone’s spirits. All of a sudden, as if the Gates of hell had opened up outside. The building began shaking as the sounds of explosions battered the city. Helicopters, Jets, artillery fire all opened up on the silent city. I immediately turned to the woman and ran towards her. I grabbed her and huddled over her, shouting “Get down!”. The bombardment kept hammering every inch of the city. Suddenly the kitchen window that showed the dark outline of the city shattered, throwing glass shards throughout the kitchen. I attempted to look up only to find what looked like plumes of flame rising from the inner city. We were dropping napalm in the streets. I ripped off my earpro and put it on her ears. As she looked up at me, the room changed and the woman looked like a little girl, her clothes reminiscent of a burlap bag, her skin turned from a porcelain white to a soft tan. The fear in her eyes is as prolific as ever. I blinked and found myself back in the room with the young woman. The bombing had ended. As I attempted to stagger myself back up. I could only hear ringing, I look over and find Jackson shouting, but I can’t hear him. I stagger to my feet as I help the girl up. Doc, realizing my earpro is on the woman, rushes to me. Grabbing a chair he pushes me into it attempting to do something. He keeps talking, but I can’t hear him. He puts his hands up to my ears doing something. I can read his lips “fuck.” He begins frantically trying to get my attention. But suddenly my hearing slowly drones back as I hear him cursing obscenities.
“God fuck! They Finna kill us at this rate! That was fucking danger close! You brass wearing fucks! Iran couldn’t kill me! Zombies couldn’t kill me! But fuck me Big Army is finna fuck my ass and string me up like I’m in the Middle of the South! Fuck!” He shouts as he slams his hand into the drywall, breaking right through it.
“Jesus, Jackson, you okay?” I said. “Oh thank God Lieutenant, can you hear?” Doc says. “Yeah I can, now.” I say as my radio lights up.
“Lieutenant! Please respond! Hello! Please, anyone! Lieutenant Thane, Sergeant Jackson? Patterson? Fuck even Jasper? Hello?” Carmine’s voice is frantic and stressed. I grab my radio, and say “Carmine? Can you hear me?” I respond.
“Lieutenant? Oh thank God! I… I…” sobbing can be heard over the radio. “Lieutenant, Saber two and three, they’re all dead. I… I… they… they’re completely torn apart.” He says as he attempts to calm himself.
“Carmine, it’s gonna be okay, where are you? We are attempting to regroup with you.”
“Lieutenant, I…” carmines audio cut out. Suddenly the radio cut off.
“Lieutenant, this is Private First Class Hesky. One Three alpha. Sergeant Carmine is a bit. Messed up. We are currently at the police station. There are signs of a last stand here. We believe we have seen movement inside, but we aren’t sure how to proceed there are at least, I don’t know fifteen of our guys here just ripped apart like a fuckin bear or something got to em. Over.”
“Solid, Hesky, I need you to get all of your guys to link up with us immediately. If I remember correctly you should only be five or six blocks away. Are you still at the Police station?” I say attempting to get a read on the situation.
“Solid, what is your current pos- Shit! Contact left in the doorway!” Suddenly the comms cut off.
“Hesky! Hesky do you read? Over.” I try a couple of more times to no response. I take a deep breath and attempt to gather my thoughts.
“Fuck it!” I shout, I raise my head to stare at the confused men around me. “What’re y’all waiting for? You have your orders! Get moving!” I say. The guys all begin to scramble as I turn to look at the young woman. I removed my ear pro from her and put them back on my head. “I still have some questions for you. But I can wait.” I walk over and grab my equipment, I put my helmet, gloves, and Rifle back on. I move through the door back into the living room to find the squads scurrying, attempting to figure out what’s going on. “Ackerson, on me!” I shout as I check my mag for ammo.