My Chemical War

~POV: Gerard~
“Mom, have I gotten anything in the mail lately?” I asked, still on the phone with Bob. Mom looked through the envelopes, and handed me one.

“Shit,” I muttered when I saw it was from the army. I tore it open and read that I was to be on a bus to Florida tomorrow. “Damn it!” I shouted, hanging up the phone without thinking. “Did Mikey get anything like this?”

“Yeah, he has it in his bedroom.” Mom replied. I rushed to my little brother’s room and stormed in, looking around and finding his mail on a table beside his bed. When I came to a letter that looked just like the one I received, my blood ran cold. Not caring if he got pissed or not, I tore it open, and collapsed to the ground. October 20, 2001, he was scheduled to be on the same bus as Bob, Frank, and me.

“Fuck,” I cried as Mikey walked into the room. “Don’t you open your fucking mail?” I asked him, shoving the letter into his chest before storming back out of the room.

“Whoa, what the hell is this?” Mikey asked, chasing after me.

“Read it Mikey, and you’ll know,” sitting on the couch. He read over the letter, and his eyes grew wide.

“This has to be a mistake,” he muttered, lowering himself onto the couch beside me. “Frank, me, who else?”

“Bob and me,” I replied grimly.

“What the hell is going on here?” Mikey muttered.

“We’re at war Mikes, they don’t have enough people in the military, so they’re recruiting people.”

“You just got out of bed after being in the attacks, Frank’s daughter isn’t even a day old yet, so they pull us off to who the fuck knows where to fight in some war because they don’t have enough people. This is bullshit, you’re not well enough to do this and Frank needs to be here with his wife and kid. Who the hell knows how long it’ll be before he sees either one of them again.”

“Mikey, we’ve been over all of this before, and what about you? You and Alicia are close to getting engaged, I know you are.”

“That’s not the same, Frank’s married, you’re basically considered a national hero right now and still effected by it, even if you try to deny it.” I opened my mouth to protest the entire statement that just left his mouth, but he knew I would, so he cut me off before I could make a sound.

“I thought there was something passed that gave up the government’s right to draft people to the damn army anyway,” I spoke up as our mother walked into the room.

“In 73 they discontinued the draft to go on volunteered basis, but if it really needs to be done, a draft will be done.”

“So they really can draft people if they need it to happen?” Mikey asked, fear in his voice.

“What’s this about you two?” Our mother asked, her hand going onto her hip.

“This,” I muttered, handing her my letter. Mikey held his up as well. She took them both, and her hand flew to her mouth as she read them both.

“W-Wha? When did this happen?”

“I don’t know, but Frank got a phone call and Bob got a letter as well. We haven’t heard anything about Ray yet.” Mikey said.

“Goodness, both my boys? I can’t take this,” she said, rushing from the room. I looked up at Mikey, who looked down at me at the same time. We didn’t want to upset her like that, but there wasn’t a choice.

“Great, we just broke our mother’s heart.”

~POV: Ray~
“Hey sweetie,” My mother said as I walked into the house. “There was a phone call for you earlier, I left the number on the board.” I nodded and walked into the kitchen, where the chalkboard my parents hung up on the wall years ago was. Looking over the many notes and scribbles, I found the small printing of my mother’s handwriting, and dialed the number she left for me to call.

“Hello, United States Army Reserve, how can I direct your call?”

“Uhm, I’m not to sure,” I replied. “I was just informed I was called from this number.”

“One moment please,” the person said. A second later, someone came back on the line.

“Hello this is General Armand,” the person replied. “You are calling back from missing earlier, glad you did son. We need everyone we can get.”

“Pardon me?” I asked, confusion settling in.

“Welcome to the United States Army,” he said. He went on to give me a location and the time to be at, and hung up before I could say anything.

“Raymond, stop standing with your mouth open, you’ll let in flies.” My mom said walking into the room. I quickly swallowed the lump that hand formed and hung the phone back up.

“Mom, that was the army that called me,” I informed her. She looked at me with confusion. “They’re drafting people and…”

“They drafted you,” she finished. I nodded, rubbing my hands over my eyes.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it,” she sighed. “Just hope and pray that everything goes okay.”

~POV: Normal~
The next morning, everyone woke up slowly. They didn’t want to leave, especially Frank. He got up early to go visit Marissa and Asia before he left them for who knew how long. He held his daughter for a long time, sitting with his wife on the bed as they talked. When Annie fell asleep, he laid her down in her bassinette and sighed as he looked at the time.

“I love you, don’t ever forget that,” Frank said to his wife as he hugged and kissed her goodbye.

“I love you too Frank, we’ll be waiting for you.” Marissa promised, staring him deep in his honey colored eyes. Frank took one last look at his daughter before rushing from the room. He had his stuff ready for him in the car, so all he had to do was get in and head to the bus station.

Gerard and Mikey was saying goodbye to their parents at the station when he arrived. He heard that they all were drafted too, he just couldn’t believe it. His entire life was at risk because of everything. He couldn’t believe it was really happening, he was getting ready to leave his family, his wife and new born daughter, to fight for their freedom.

“Mikey,” Gerard said to his brother, looking at his best friend in the distance. It was more than apparent he was terrified, that he was deep in thought. Mikey looked back at Gerard with a grimace as Ray walked up to them, his girlfriend Christa and his parents beside him.

“Em didn’t come?” Gerard asked, referring to Ray’s little sister.

“No, she had school,” Ray replied, looking to where Gerard was still staring.

“He’s been like that since he got here,” Mikey muttered.

“Wouldn’t you be too if Allie had just given birth and you’re being forced into something that can take you away from them?” Gerard asked. Mikey didn’t reply, just wrapped his arm around Alicia more securely.

Bob walked into the bus station to see Frank standing away from everyone, even his parents.

“Frankie,” Bob said gently, walking up to him. Frank’s hand went to his neck, where his dog tags were. Bob noticed there was two more than what was given, and he knew they were the tags Marissa had given him. One of them had the date of their wedding with Marissa and Frank Iero etched into the metal. The second one was newer. Frank turned it over for Bob to read. Asia Nichole Iero, 10-18-01.

“You’re coming home to them Frank, even if I have to put myself in the line of fire, you will come home to them.”

“Even if you give your life for mine, there’s no way to know for sure Bob, so do me a favor and don’t make promises to me while were over there, there’s no fucking way to keep them.” Frank replied, walking toward the group off to the side of them.

“We’ll take care of them Frankie, you just worry about getting home.” Linda said to her son as he crushed her in a hug. A whistle sounded, announcing it was time for the newbies to load up on the bus. Frank was the first of them on the bus. Gerard and Mikey said goodbye to their parents and Alicia. Ray kissed Christa one more time and started to follow Frank, and Bob said goodbye to his parents. On the bus, Frank took out a picture of Marissa and Annie, taken the night before. He wiped a tear away as he slid the picture back into his pocket.

“Iero,” he heard called. He looked up and saw someone was taking attendance. He held his hand up, letting them know he was there, and went back to staring out of the window as Gerard, Mikey, Ray and Bob walked onto the bus. Bob sat next to him as Mikey and Gerard took a bench together in front of them. Ray ended up behind them with another person.

“Isn’t this exciting?” the person asked Ray. “John Marcum,” he introduced himself.

“Ray Toro,” Ray replied, holding out his hand.

“Damn, I can’t wait for this. My father was in the military, so it was only natural I entered. What about you, why did you join?”

“Drafted,” Was all Ray replied with. He was too concerned about Frank. He had to get his head on what was going on, otherwise when Frank came home, it wouldn’t be in one piece if they were put in the line of fire.

“I hope we get to see some action, nothing like getting in the danger line, possibility of not coming home, it just thrills me.” Marcum continued. Bob glanced over at Frank as the guy talking to Ray turned to someone else. Frank was staring out the window, his hand firmly clasping his dog tags and his eyes bright with his unshed tears.

“Don’t listen to him Frank,” Ray muttered. “He a fucking idiot.”

“I’m fine guys,” Frank muttered, sniffling as he let go of the jewelry on his neck.

“Yeah right dude, we know you better.” Gerard said, turning around to face him.

“Hey, it’s like I said to Bob earlier, don’t make any promises while we’re here. There’s no damn way for us to know it’ll be kept.”

“Promise,” Mikey said automatically. Gerard nodded his agreement, as did Bob and Ray.

“Do you all know each other?” Marcum asked, looking between the five of them.

“Yeah, we do,” Ray answered him. “We’re all best friends.”

“There are no friends out here, every man for himself, or herself now.” he said. “Better be ready to stand on your own.”

“Not going to happen,” Gerard said. “We each know how much each other has to live for, especially Frank here.”

“Hmm, you look terrified, my guess is new bride waiting at home for you?”

“I’ve been married to my wife for two years, we just had a daughter two days ago.” Frank answered him, trying to keep his temper down.

“Well, don’t get your head out of your ass, you’ll never see them again. The best way to get back to them, is to forget about them.”

“You know what, thank you, you’ve been very unhelpful,” Ray snapped, shoving Marcum away. The rest of the ride was long and silent. When they arrived to the camp, the first place they were led to was registration. After going through registration, they were led to a place filled with barber chairs.

“What’s this for?” Ray asked, watching as people sat in the chairs. Gerard’s heart jumped when he realized they were shaving everyone’s head.

“You, next,” one of the guys said to Frank. Frank didn’t hesitate a second, because he knew that if he did, then it would just take more time to get it done. He sat in the chair and watched as his head went from black to white. When he was finished, he stood up and walked out of the building, standing and waiting for the others.

“I hate this,” Ray muttered, rubbing his hand over his head where his afro used to be.

“Dude, you look weird without the big hair.” Gerard said, looking him up and down.

“Shut up Gee,” Ray said, shoving him slightly.

“Attent-tion!” a voice rang out. We turned around to find that a man who oozed nothing but authority was walking toward everyone just arriving.

“I am Major Hanson, and welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives.” Frank gulped slightly. His thoughts of seeing his wife and daughter again somehow slipped further away.