Fight or Flight

Veronica Scott watched her peers wrestle on the floor of their "living room" from her top bunk. Nathaniel and Max playfully fought, repeatedly rolling over and pinning each other to the ground. Their friends hollered and encouraged one to beat the other.

"Get him!"

"Take him down!"

Nathaniel shoved Max to the floor. He held Max's shoulder down and pressed his knee to his chest, forcing Max to stay down. As everyone yelled and cheered, Nathaniel pumped a victorious fist into the air. Defeated, Max grabbed at Nathaniel's knee pressed to his sternum and shoved him off.

"Alright, guys, break it up," Sergeant Collier interrupted, walking into the trailer.

Nathaniel offered a hand to Max, pulling him to stand upright. Everyone whined in protest. Sergeant Collier stood with both hands on his hips, commanding attention from the soldiers.

"We've got some guests coming in tomorrow," He started.

"Who is it?" Brandon asked.

"It's uh," Sergeant trailed off, forgetting the name of who was to come. He searched his pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "A rock band, Avenged Sevenfold. I don't know what you kids listen to these days."

Sergeant referred to anyone younger than him as a "kid". At forty-five years old, he thought about retiring from the military within the next five years.

"Cool," Max nodded. "I listen to their stuff."

"They any good?" Nathaniel asked.

"Close to Metallica," Max responded.

Veronica remained in her bunk silently, her ears perked up at the sound of Metallica. She knew there weren't many bands out there even close to Metallica. She'd heard of Avenged Sevenfold but she'd never listened to them. She made a mental note to check out their music the next time she got internet access, which probably wouldn't be soon.

"So are they doing a concert for the Iraqis?" Sam asked, curiously. He was the new kid in the unit.

"No. They're playing for us goddamn troops," Collier answered, his eyes wrinkling when he snickered. "They're doing a USO tour to the bases in Kuwait and Afghanistan, too."

At that, many of their moods perked up. It wasn't often that musicians went out of their way to play for those who serve. U.S. troops would have been forgotten about if it hadn't been for the United Services Organization, and if you wanted to watch a concert, you'd better check Youtube.

They rejoiced whenever a shipment of donations arrived or someone's family sent out care packages full of boxes of snacks and other goods for the whole unit. There were people that cared about them and they enjoyed every single item they got, including live entertainment.

"Alright, you guys can talk about the band later but we have some actual things to do," Collier clasped his hands together. "They are coming with a lot of people and a lot of stuff. This can be dangerous and there's some stuff to be done. The 3-4-2 will be scanning the area for IEDs. We have a simple mission to complete in the morning. From there, we hopefully enjoy a safe show."

"Yes sir," The unit chorused.

Veronica zoned out while Sergeant Collier began to throw out a list of things for each person to do. She jumped when he shouted her name from down below.

“Scott,” Collier continued when he got her attention. “You only have one thing to do while the band is here- protect them. Show them around, make them as comfortable as they can get out here, and keep them safe. Got it?”

“Yes sir,” She said, nodding her head once.

She wondered how she’d been given the job of protecting the metal band. With one mission to complete tomorrow, she’d practically be off duty until the band left. Protecting a couple of guys couldn’t be that hard; she did it for her unit every damn day.