Fight or Flight

"You're going where?"

It was 4am, but she wasn’t getting ready for a regular day at work. No, she got a last minute call about a week-long field operation.

"To the desert," Veronica answered vaguely. She ran a brush through her dark, tangled locks.

“The desert…” Matt leaned against the doorframe of her bathroom.

“The Mojave Desert,” She specified. “Not too far from here.”

The Mojave Desert was just about four hours away from the coastal city, almost near the California-Nevada state line.

"And you're going because?" He inquired. It was too early in the morning for surprise information.

"It's just for training." Her eyes flickered to his. "It's only for a week."

"A week..."

"Not even a week," She clarified. "Five days."

"Just for training?" He raised his eyebrows at her like he didn't believe what she was telling him.

"Yup," She nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" He asked, folding his arms across his broad chest. "Why did you wait until the day of?"

"Sometimes we don't get advanced notices in the military," She said, looking at herself in the mirror. She brushed her hair away from her face. "It's just a surprise field op to be on top of our game, to be prepared... sort of like a pop quiz."

"A field op," He sounded like he was questioning it.

"Field operation," She explained. "It's just...training, like if we were in combat."

"Oh.”

"Nothing to be worried about." She gave him a reassuring smile as she tied her hair into a neat bun at the base of her neck. She walked towards him, placing her arms around his neck and looking into his sleepy, hazel eyes. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Okay.” He snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her to him.

"It'll be like I'm not even gone," She continued. "I won't really be able to talk to you much, but I'll still be back by Friday evening."

He kissed her full lips, sliding his tongue between her parted lips. She couldn’t resist kissing him. She liked the intensity of his lips. His hands moved over her hips, grasping her bottom in her baggy cargo pants. A warmth spread throughout her body, and she knew how strong her temptations could be.

"I've gotta get ready," She pulled away, glancing at the clock. She looked down at her field operation packing list. She packed her clothes first, checking items off as she packed.

"So what exactly are field operations? What do you do?"

"Uh, we go on hikes." She dreaded the miles that they would have to walk. She packed her flashlight and first aid kit into the side pockets of her backpack. "Do some target practice." She packed her insect repellent and sunscreen. "Just do everything like we would if we were actually in the field."

She packed and organized her entire bag in a quick fifteen minutes. She just about had the packing list memorized and knew exactly where to put everything in order to make everything fit.

"Yay for living in a tent for a week," She said, almost apathetically. "It should be fun, though."

Her phone vibrated in her pants pocket. She found her phone in her cargos, opening a text message from Nathaniel.

In the parking lot, hurry up so we're not late.

"Nate's downstairs, so I've gotta go.” She was decently cheery for an early morning. She kissed his lips for another moment, running her hand through his messy bed hair. "I'll see you on Friday."

"Mm, bye, babe," He murmured against her lips. "Have fun. I love you."

"You too," She said, throwing her backpack over her shoulders. She stumbled back a step, getting the weight adjusted on her back. "Lock up when you leave."

She said her goodbyes one more time before she rushed downstairs as fast as her heavy backpack would let her. She would be away from Matt for five days, and she still hadn't even told him that she would be leaving for nine months.


The Mojave Desert was a cool sixty-five degrees, according to the weather app on Veronica’s cell phone. It felt like one hundred degrees in her full combat uniform when they walked the three miles from where the bus let them off to their actual designation. The designation for the field operation was a dry area, almost completely surrounded by the mountains. It was supposed to resemble the terrain of Afghanistan.

"Fucking hell," Veronica cursed. The wind prevented her from properly setting up her tent. Being the only female meant that she got to have her own tent while the men had to share. "Why doesn't the military issue pop up tents?"

"Those are for kids camping in the backyard," Cherry answered from a few feet away, setting up a tent for himself. "Those pop up tents are shit."

"You know, it's funny how it takes an hour for a Marine to set up a tent, but only fifteen minutes to take it down," Nathaniel chuckled.

Veronica rolled her eyes. She was going to set up her tent one way or another.

"Is this how long it's going to take to set up sleeping quarters when we get to Afghanistan?" A booming voice yelled at the group of Marines. "We'll all die before we get a place to sleep!"

Veronica drove the tent sticks into the ground. She kicked the stakes into the hard, rocky ground out of frustration. Setting everything up was her least favorite part of field ops, and it took another twenty-five minutes before their tents were either completely or almost completely set up.

"You don't get to sleep until tonight, Marines," The voice bellowed. "I know you're tired, but we've got work to do."

Running on little sleep was also a least favorite of hers, but she did it because she had to. Actually, there were a lot of things she didn't like about field operations. She just liked to shoot stuff and feel the adrenaline coursing through her body.

"And you still didn't him you're leaving..." A voice murmured from next to her while one of the higher ranking sergeants spoke.

"Stop bothering me about it," She hissed at Nathaniel. "I'll tell him...eventually.