The Fallen Among Us

Chapter 6

As we embraced I looked around, feeling as if I forgot something- or someone.

“Where’s Bruno?” I asked worried but she she looked up at me with reassuring eyes. The same eyes I had given her earlier. Was she also a monster like me? does she actually care? I didn‘t have time to ponder before she answered.

“He came by earlier and I told him where to go, I said i’d wait for you” then I smiled relieved Bruno was ok. Bruno I can trust. Rachel reminds me to much of myself. “but we have to go so you can suit up. You’re in a special company. You can bypass basic training if you choose too”

I nodded and thought to myself ‘well it all depends on what my squad acts like.’ then I leaned into her half trying to make this moment last and half trying to find out her intentions. She smelled like flowers, which is a nice change from the arid desert.

“We should leave now, I don’t think your instructor will like to be waiting, but first.” I looked down at her and saw her sultry smile as she pressed her finger to my lip “say you love me” I rolled my eyes and smiled, it was the first real smile I had in years.

Before I knew it, we were entering my barracks.

“Ray!” shouted Bruno and he hugged me, nearly knocking me down.

“Hey” I laughed and patted his back like a childs. “glad you made it out alive, most chickens aren’t so lucky”

“Can it-- you woulda done the same” I laughed and pushed him away.

“‘cept I didn’t” he glared at me then smiled before fake hitting me. Rachel laughed to herself and I looked at her, I felt so confused.

“Well look what the pansy dragged in, what took you so long soldier?” I recognized the voice, and tone. Obviously it was my sergeant. They all sound the same to me. I looked up at him and too my surprise he was even buffer then I was. He was wearing a desert camouflage outfit that was tight against him yet he smiled at me and shook hands with Rachel. “bout time you brought him here little lady”

“Sorry about that, there was a mix up and we weren’t sure where to go” she winked at me because we both knew we held each other the whole afternoon. The sergeant saw her wink and laughed full heartedly.

“Well I’m glad you two are acquainted. Now its my turn for me and his lazy butt to get introduced” He smiled and extended his hand and I shook it. His handshake was firm but not crushing. He was full of surprises.
“My name is Sergeant Willows, you can call me Will”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ray Woodshaw”

“Oh polite and a lady’s man, I like you soldier” he smiled and let go of my hand. “If your wondering why I’m so informal it’s because this isn’t the army. As far as I’m concerned your down on your luck citizens.”

“That’s mighty nice of you Will” I said generally astonished. He treated me as an equal and I haven’t had that much respect in a long time.

“Unfortunately your lady friend is going to have to go while I let you meet your troop and explain our objectives as a team” he smiled at her and whispered “but after that’s done I can let you two do whatever you like” and he laughed again in such a manly but down to earth tone.

“Ha-ha way to make me feel right at home Sarge,” I turned over to Rachel. I was still uncertain of my feelings for her. “Do you mind if you take off for a bit?” I asked Rachel with a false smile on my face.

“Nah, its alright i’ll see what I can do at the hospitable, you have fun alright? Ill miss you” she embraced me in a hug and I grinned another honest smile. My stomach kept feeling like it flipping over and over again. Then I whispered “take care” before squeezing my arms around her waist and letting her go.

“Bye Rachel” I said with another honest smile

“bye Ray, bye Bruno, bye Will” she said while turning around and waving heading to the door.

“See yeah”Said Will and Bruno

I heard them both laugh looking at me. Then I heard Willow said “hot potato” as he pointed to my face “boy are you a soldier of a fruit, I haven’t seen a face that red since I went to Texas with a half albino woman” I glared at him then laughed.

“Do you have a wife Sarge?” I asked genuinely interested. He nodded happily and immediately reached inside his pocket and pulled out his wallet handing a picture that was inside to me. “That’s her, beauty ain’t she?” I looked at the photo with Bruno and we opened our mouths and stared. She was super model material with a sweet smile.

“no wonder your always in a good mood Sarge” whispered Bruno while I nodded.

“Ha-ha thanks little man let me get that back, I only got a pocketful of pictures” he gently grabbled it and put it back in his wallet then his pocket.

“I think we should introduce Ray too the fellow soldiers, right Bruno?” Bruno groaned and mumbled “I guess” before nudging me and saying “lets go”

Will decided to stay at the entrance of the door because he was expecting our suits too be coming soon. Me and Bruno adventured the complex ourselves. it looked like it used to be a office building before the war. There were seats and sofas littered about along with makeshift beds and other tools. The wall was made of marble except occasionally turning into the basic white eggshell color found in most houses. The marble only lined the hallways while each room had that eggshell color. Besides that a blue carpet enveloped the entire office building. It looked old and rugged but it still felt nicer then the sand and dirt outside. I saw a man in one of the office rooms setting up a bed. He glanced up at us and smiled.

“Hey nice to see yeah Bruno, who’s you bud?” he extended his hand and I shook it. His was weak. I could see he is putting up a bravery act in front of us.

“My names Ray, its good to see you. What’s your name?” I asked looking at him and judging to see if he’s a good soldier or just a good person.

“My names Ryan, its good too see you too. Bruno’s quite the handful sometimes, don’t know how you two stayed buds so long but I gotta set up my bed incase of inspection. Jason is down the hall a bit if you wanna see him. He’s my brother. Tell him too bring down a pillow will you?” I nodded and realized I scared him a tiny bit by judging. I said a final nice to meet you, and took off to see his brother.

“He’s a good kid” mumbled Bruno and I nodded. In my head though I knew he was here for a reason just like me. He was in death row.

“Yeah, lets hope his brother is a bit braver though” as soon as I said that I saw Jason. He was very, very tall, nearly my height. Strong looking too, he intimidated even me. But by just looking at him i could tell he was a brute nothing more. He didn’t have the brains behind the brawn to put up a threat.

“Yo’ bud, this Ray you were talking bout?” Bruno said yes and looked him in the eyes. No fear or intimidation. I guess this means I was right about him not being a threat.

“It’s good to meet a friend of Bruno’s. I hope you don’t mind, we set your bed up in here” I looked around and it was an alright space, I saw three beds, one for me, Jason, and Bruno. Next to each of them was a bag stuffed with clothes and supplies. Bruno’s was taken apart and thrown around, mine was untouched, and Jason’s stuff was neatly lined up. The way a soldier would during expectation.

“Nah, looks good, there’s carpet in this room which is a step up from outside, so its all good” he smiled pleased with himself.

“Told you he wouldn’t care if this was his room” he looked at Bruno and Bruno shrugged

“Then maybe its just me” I shoved Bruno lightly and his eyes lit up and he laughed grabbing his stomach from the force of his laughter.

“What is it man?” I yelled jumping slightly, this sudden explosion of laughter was surprising. Jason did the same. We stared at him with alien eyes as if we had no clue what a laugh was.

“ha-ha-ha its just th-that, when Rachel comes back and you two wanna hit the hay me and Jay over there are gonna see it all” I laughed too and Jason chuckled slightly.

“shut up” I grinned rolling my eyes “we wouldn’t do anything even if you weren’t here so cool it” I looked over as Jason who was a tad confused but happy.

“Sorry Jason, hah, Rachel is a girl I met, so if I see you eyeing her I’m gonna take a bite out of your ass” he smiled and laughed

“No worries man” he said and sat down on his bed “oh Bruno did Ray see James?”

“Nah, but who would want too see him? A religious nut, ha-ha”

“Hey Bruno, I’m atheist and all, but I still wanna meet my squad” Bruno looked slightly upset

“fine man, ill talk to you soon jay”

“see yeah bud” he waved at us as we left the door and went to the last room we havent seen. We opened the door and I saw a black haired average built man with a cross around his neck.

“Hey James” Bruno said slyly.

“oh hey, what’s up, who’s your friend?” He looked me over before peering back down too his luggage and sorting things out like toothpaste and hair combs.

“This is Ray, Ray this is James” I smiled and said “hey” he was the first one to give me the cold shoulder and not offer a hand too shake.

“we just wanted to do rounds and show Ray who everyone was, so now that he’s seen you he’s seen everyone-- shit!” I heard Bruno yell before taking off down the hall “sorry Ray, I forgot Ryan’s pillow!” I laughed.

“Ha-ha, I guess I should take off, nice meeting you James” I smiled and waved but he paid no attention.

“You too Ray. See you when we suit up” he then pointed to the door not letting his eyes drift from his supplies. I left eagerly feeling uncomfortable around him.

As soon as I left and entered the hall I saw Bruno running up and down the hallway with a pillow under his arm before he darted into Ryan’s room. I laughed and went into my room and met up with Jason. We talked for a bit about Bruno and about sports and regular man stuff but just before we started talking about how damn hungry we were the loud speaker came on and the Sarge said too line up in the grand hall. Me and Jason left the room and walked down the hall while seeing Bruno and Ryan leaving there dorm in front of us. They waited for us to catch up and we walked down together.

Once all of us, including James, were in the hall, the sergeant greeted us.

“Hello soldiers, I hope you all got acquainted” he nodded at me. “I just want you too know that these suits were not my idea and I do not like them one bit but they’re necessary. You made some bad choices and lost some trust. Hopefully we wont need to have these suits in the future.”

He pulled a brown box out and opened it exposing a grey military outfit suited for environments like Russia and Europe that are more dull and cold. “These are your uniforms. You don’t gotta wear them at base but you do in the field of war.” he threw the uniform at Ryan who caught it and he began to reach into the box and distributing uniforms to everyone. “however, as you know there is one more item for you. It’s this/” he reached into the bag and pulled out a thick collar that was a slate black color. “This is insurance. Insurance you wont run, hurt, kill or abandon your allies. I do not like it but for some people its necessary. Do not, I repeat, do not, put them on at base, they might go off accidentally if the satellites that control them shift or go offline. It’ll send a shock through your neck and kill you instantly.”

We all kind of flinched imagining the shock driving into our Adams apples and spines.
“Now that’s about it. There are ranks for soldiers that were conscripted but all you need to know is your at the beginning rank, the expendable. When you complete missions your rank will increase and missions will get harder but safer, all clear?” “yes sir!” we shouted, which brought me once again thinking about my days in drill camp.

“you’ll get your collars before each mission and they will be taken off when your safely back at base. That’s all I have to say. All of you are dismissed, cept Ray. I need to talk to you” he laughed and tugged me away from the group as they left for the dorms. Bruno and Jason waved at me before they left, Ryan nodded and James took off right away.

“Yes Sarge, what is it?” I looked at him questionably but with respect.

“First off outside this base your in charge of your squad mates. Your second in charge got it? I’m the one in active duty right now and the only one of this group that hasn’t been to death row. They trust me as a figurehead. In all honesty though, it’s all about you. Second, about Rachel, I know what its like to be in love so I wanna make a deal. You’ve experienced leading men in war before. These other soldiers are grunts, I want you too lead them on the battle field if I ever hit the dirt or have to stay here. If you do this for me you can go and see Rachel whenever you want, deal?”

I thought about it for a few moments, not liking the idea of being responsible for lives but I eventually succumbed and agreed.

“Excellent! And for today only I set up a romantic date for you two. No need to thank me, after I saw you two wander in here lookin’ like that I knew I hadda do somethin’ so while you were meeting your squad i had a talk with some people.” he laughed as he smiled brightly and proudly. “You see Ray, imma bit of a big shot here” he rubbed his fingernails against his chest and smirked. I laughed and he smiled. “And I used my power to set you up at a small restaurant that only high ranking officers can go too. What do you say, you bring Rachel there?” I nodded and had too hold myself back from grinning. He laughed and patted my back and said “have fun” before handing me car keys.

“this is for the jeep. I’m trusting you a lot so don’t screw anything up. I want you back before sunrise and I want the jeep in perfect condition, deal?” I nodded and saluted him before he laughed and said see yeah and I said bye before bursting out laughing and running out the door.