Never Coming Home

It was six in the morning, and I was absolutely exhausted from my lack of sleep. After the cab dropped me off, I walked a few blocks down the street to a cheap motel. I couldn't sleep, though, as I tossed and turned in the uncomfortable bed. All night I had thought about death and other morbid thoughts of war. I thought of seeing everyone dying right before my eyes, blood spilling all over. All I could see behind my closed eye lids were explosions and bombs. I was beginning to regret running away, but I couldn't come to the point where I should head home. I needed to be here.

I had arrived at the training facility for new recruits, and the place sent shivers down my back. It looked like a death camp from the likes of it. At least the blue sky didn't make it so depressing. There were guards stationed everywhere, watching over the place. At the entrance where a booth was, a guard with a thick mustache stood there, holding a clipboard and checking in other recruits who had made it. I hastily made my way over there, my heart pounding as my anxiety took over. I desperately hoped that no one would recognize me as a girl. Before I knew it I was standing directly in front of the guard. He looked me up and down, and his eyes narrowed.

"Name?" He said.

"Uh...uh..." Name? What was I going to tell him? I pulled the letter out of my pocket and gave it to him.

"Adam Miller?" He eyed me suspiciously. "You're not him..."

"I...I'm his younger brother," I lied. "Monty Miller. He's fallen ill, so they sent me instead."

He stared at me for a few seconds, looking at me as if he saw through my lie.

"Alright, go ahead; you're in squadron 7B," He said, stepped aside for me to pass.

I nodded to him and went through the entrance, immediately star stricken at the camp. There were soldiers everywhere! Some marching in groups, some practicing with their gunfire, others going through obstacle courses. There were some tents set up, some very large which I guessed to be where they ate and had infirmaries. There were smaller tents, and I sadly guessed that that's where we would all sleep. It really was a spectacle. But the one thing that I found absolutely horrifying was...their nature. They belched every few minutes, scratched at their bottoms and their nether regions. They were filthy and they didn't even care about their stenches! Even some men started breaking out in fights, pushing each other and punching, scaring the living hell out of me. How could I possibly spend probably the next few months here with such imbeciles?!

I walked around more, shifting the weight of my duffel on my shoulder. It was all so fascinating though, to see all this action. All of sudden I tripped over a metal rod of a tent, falling over and bumping into a few men.

"Hey!" One of them said. "Watch it, punk!"

I looked up apologetically and saw two men standing side by side with scowling faces. One was tall and had blonde hair with ice blue eyes, and the other was rather short with black hair and had a tattoo of a scorpion on his neck.

"Sorry," I said. "Really sorry...sorry, sir."

"Sir?" The short one said, chuckling darkly. "We got ourselves a newbie, don't we, Bob?"
The blonde, I guessed to be Bob, nodded and grinned evilly, cracking his knuckles. "Indeed. Let's show this newbie how to treat his superiors with respect."

Before I could comprehend what had just happened, the blonde shoved me down to the ground, where I landed in a puddle of mud. I had the urge to start crying, but then that would blow my cover and be exposed as a girl, and men don't cry. I stood my ground, and had to let go of my feminine feelings, and glared down Bob and his short friend.

"Bastards," I hissed, getting up.

They stopped laughing, and started to stare a hole right through me. Suddenly a fist came in contact with my face, knocking me backwards and into the mud again. The pain was excruciating, mostly because I have never gotten punched in the face before. I felt a small trickle of warm wetness come from my nose. Another blow came in contact with my stomach, making me gasp. The short guy grabbed me from behind while Bob started to pummel me, throwing punches to my stomach and my face. A crowd gathered around us, cheering on Bob as he beat me to a pulp. They started chanting, "Fight, fight, fight!" Whatever happened to the fact that boys can't hit girls?

Oh, wait, no one knows I'm a girl, I remembered I wished for the pain to stop, but it never did. All I could taste was blood in my mouth.

"Bob!" I heard someone say, and the sound of running footsteps. "Bob, stop!"

The punching never ceased however, and I thought that I was about to faint, and all I could hear were the cheers and laughter of the soldiers. I heard the running footsteps come closer, and I looked up, blood appearing from my cuts and lip. Finally the punching stopped and Bob tu
rned around to another man.

"Bob, stop it right now!" I heard him say. I focused my gaze on the man; he looked to be nineteen or eighteen years old, he had round glasses, a skinny frame, mouse brown hair, and light brown eyes. "Quit it, Bob, and same to you Frank! You can't do that!"

"Keep out of this, Mikey!" Bob said. "I need to teach this twerp a lesson!" He turned back to me and grabbed me by the scruff of my collar, his fist pulling back.

Mikey pushed Bob away from me, and did the same to the short one, now that I know as Frank, from behind me, leaving me to fall again to the mud. I was in too much pain to even get up. Mikey kneeled down beside me, and helped me up.

"You okay?" He asked.

I nodded, looking up at him with a grateful expression on my face. I wiped the blood off my nose with the back of my hand, sniffing. I shot a glare at Bob and Frank, and I knew that I had already made some enemies of my own.

"What's going on here?" I heard someone shout from the distance.

"Shit," Mikey muttered from under his breath, then turning to Bob. "Now you've done it!"

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Bastard.

Two soldiers started to push through the crowd, one with curly hair tied back into a tight bun and the other... the sight of him was scary. He had jet black hair that was slicked back, startling hazel eyes, and the uniform of a Major. He walked up to us, an expression of annoyance and anger on his face. I was frightened by his hard glare and grim expression. He turned to Mikey, scowling.

"What the hell is going on here?" He growled.

"Nothing, just helping a friend," He said, nodding towards me.

The black-haired man turned to me, his eyes bored into mine. "State your name."

"M-Monty M-miller," I stuttered.

He sniffed, and turned around to see the crowd of soldiers gathered around.

"ATTENTION!" He screamed, and all of the soldiers rushed to stand in a line, and I was squeezed between Mikey and Frank.

The dark haired man walked up and down the line of men, pushing some of them to straighten their postures and composures. He passed by me, shooting me a look of disgust that had made my insides turn. He shot a glare at Bob and Frank, but they both had seemed unfazed.

"Listen up!" He shouted, making us flinch. "I am Major Gerard Arthur Way. I am your commanding officer of this squad 7B, and I welcome you to your first day of hell!"

I didn't dare look around me, but I could tell that all of these men were braver than I was. I was practically afraid of Gerard.

"For the next for next few months," Gerard continued. "You will all be training to have agility, to have strength, to be braver, and most importantly, how to handle a gun. You will all be assigned partners, and you will help each other to become a soldier. All of you imbeciles will obey my every command; you will all either address me as either Sir or Major. Understood?"

Nobody said anything, triggering the annoyance displayed on Gerard's face.
"I SAID IS EVERYTHING UNDERSTOOD?!" He screamed, making my flesh crawl.

"SIR, YES, SIR!" All of the men shouted in usion.

"Good!" He shouted, then turning to the man next to him with curly hair, bearing the patch of a Corporal sewn onto the sleeve of his jacket. "Corporal Toro will call out your names and you will be paired up with another. You will help one another for the next few months of training!"

Corporal Toro seemed like a quiet gentlemen to me, and I doubted the possibility of him yelling at the top of his lungs. I guess I was once again proven wrong.

"Men! I will call out each of you by last name, and you shall step forward!" He yelled loudly, but not as loud as Gerard had. "I will pair you up and you will all report to your camp quarters!"

My stomach churned with anxiety as I desperately prayed that I wouldn't get paired up with Frank or Bob. Heaven knows what they would have in store for me.

"Andrews!" Toro called. "Ganders!"

Oh, God! If I were to be sleeping in the same tent as them, what would happen?! What if they find out about who I really am?

"Charles! Banter!"

If they find out that I'm a girl, what if they report me to Major Way?

"James! O’Brien!"

They can't find out about me! The possibilities made me weak at the knees.

"Miller!"

I snapped out of my stream of thoughts, and stepped forward, only to have that bastard Frank trip me, causing all the men, but Mikey, to laugh at my misfortune. Twats. Corporal Toro showed me a glance of sympathy, and turned to look at his clip board, ready to call out my partner's name. I held my breath, mentally praying that it wouldn't be Frank or Bob.

"Way!"

I saw Mikey step out of the line, and smile at me. I mentally sighed, glad that I had gotten a partner who was decent and not so rude. Toro had finished assigning us partners and gave us a card that told us where our camp quarters were. I noticed that Mikey was rather quiet, or maybe it was just me since I was just too afraid to speak to him.

"I'm Michael, but you can call me Mikey," He said, breaking the silence between his, holding his hand out for me to shake.

"Monty," I said, shaking his hand.

"Sorry about those two," Mikey said, nodding towards Bob and Frank who were standing by some weapons. "They're normally friendly."

"Doesn't seem like it," I said, touching my nose which felt rather sore. "But thanks for coming to my rescue, though."

"No problem," He smiled, looking at the card in his hands. "Well, I guess we should head towards our camp and settle down before reporting for training."

I nodded, and hauled my duffel over my shoulder. I followed Mikey through a sea of soldiers, weaving our way towards the camping site. I noticed that Mikey was probably the most decent and least disgusting of all the men, making me sigh with relief that I wouldn't be spending my time with an imbecile. There was this quality that I really liked about him, and he seemed like a sweet boy.

I studied him, he had these light brown eyes, nearly hazel, and he was awfully skinny. He seemed weak at the knees most of the time, and walked a little oddly. His hair was fair and the color of brown wheat, which was slicked back although it stuck out a little. I really liked his glasses, as he reminded me of a child somehow. I think I would get along nicely with Mikey. However, the only thing that worried me the most is if I ever get caught when I was indecent, and he runs off telling everyone who I really am, and I could get arrested. I frowned at this thought; I didn't want someone as nice as Mikey doing this to me.

We stopped, and I nearly plummeted into Mikey. I peered around him, and my stomach lurched. When I thought of camping, I thought of a building where there were beds lined up next to each other with fresh linen, but this...this was pathetic. It was a small makeshift tent with a sign indicating what number it is. It was a tanish olive green color, and obviously stained with dirt at the edges. It looked like it could fit about three people inside, which was good, but I just didn't understand how I could live in this for a few months!

"Is this it?" I blurted out, not bothering to show my disgust.

Mikey shrugged. "I guess so."

We went in, and there were two cots side by side and a lantern in between them. In the corner of the tent was a rusty old bucket, and I scrunched up my nose.

"Uh...what's that for?" I asked, pointing to the bucket.

"That's where we need to take a leak," He said, raising a brow as if I was stupid.

I felt the back of my neck heat up, hoping that he was bluffing. "You're kidding right? We have to go piss in that?"

"Yep," He nodded.

I shuddered, still in oblivion to how I was to survive in these conditions. And I was jealous of Mikey at the moment, because how on earth was I supposed to relieve myself into that bucket? Mikey is lucky and all just because he can piss standing up, and this is completely unsatisfactory for a girl just to go to the bathroom without making a mess on herself if I were to stand up and urinate. It's revolting!

Heaven help me.