Page 20 of The Infinite Light of Dust

She smiled at him but anyone with eyes could see that she was beyond uncomfortable and surprised to say the least. The worry on her face made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I didn’t think Fischer realized it, but he had turned his body to face her, creating a small barrier between her and Phillips.

“Breathing is good,” Gloria added awkwardly.

Phillips sat down on the plastic chair and put his elbows on his knees, staring from one of us to the next. It was so fucking awkward and tense that it made me want to tell everyone it was time to wrap it up and go home. I watched him.

“What’s there to drink? Is no one going to offer me a drink?” He smiled; the fire reflecting on his face made him look menacing.

“Phillip, I don’t think you should—” Elodie began to say, but he held up a hand to cut her off.

“Honey,” he said in the least affectionate tone I’d ever fucking heard. “I don’t think you should tell me what I should and shouldn’t be doing.”

Karina tensed and turned to him. “Don’t talk to her like that.”

I groaned, knowing she was right but wishing she wasn’t as drunk as she was, because I could see exactly what was going to happen if this escalated. And it wasn’t going to be good at fucking all. I lifted Karina a little and held her at her waist, watching Phillips as he glared at her before speaking.

“Sorry, but what do you have to do with me talking to my wife?”

“Phillips,” I warned him.

Karina attempted to move her body but I held on to her, so she didn’t go far. I pulled her back onto my lap and she leaned her torso toward him.

“Because she’s my friend and you’re being an asshole and embarrassing her. And yourself.” Karina’s words seem to crackle with the fire. My body was in full preparation mode now; I planted my feet in the grass and scanned the group, my eyes landing on Phillips as he laughed.

“I’m embarrassing her?” He smiled, pulling at his mouth and thin lips with one hand.

“Stop it. Both of you,” Elodie pleaded.

Fischer looked like he was one second away from exploding. He was visibly shaking.

“No, no. I want to know how I’m embarrassing you. Do you feel embarrassed, El?”

Elodie put her face in her hands and shook her head gently. “I’m going to go.”

“But I just got here,” Phillips retorted. “And someone needs to tell me how I’m embarrassing my wife by being here. This is my unit, not hers, or yours.” He pointed at Karina and my adrenaline began to spike. “They’re the ones who don’t belong.”

“Enough!” Fischer yelled. Karina jerked in my lap. “I can smell the whiskey on you from here. You need to shut the fuck up or leave,” Fischer hissed, leaning up like he was ready to pounce at any moment.

I rearranged Karina again so I could move between them if I needed to. It was clear that no one knew what to do, or what Phillips would do.

“And I can smell my fucking wife on you from here. Speaking of embarrassing, the two of you”—he pointed at Fischer and then Elodie—“are the ones who should be embarrassed.”

“Okay, okay. This is a party and you’re fucking up the vibes,” Mendoza interrupted. “Either chill the fuck out or leave my house.”

“Whoa, really, dude? You’re taking the drug addict’s side over your battle buddy? He’s been fucking my wife but I’m the bad guy?” Phillips seethed.

He stood up and kicked the chair he’d been sitting in, knocking it to the ground.

Fischer was on his feet now, and I put Karina on the chair and stood up, moving between them. Karina and Elodie looked like they were going into shock as everything from the night sky to the fire, to the chairs, to the faces around me began to spin slowly, moving out of focus. I was back in Afghanistan, the smell of tar and dirt filling my nose. The sound of round after round of bullets sweeping next to my ears—so close the heat pulsed from them onto my skin. I felt my hands hitting against my ears in the present, but I couldn’t bring my mind back to it with my body.

“Kael!” I could hear Karina’s voice but could only see crumbling buildings, the devastating looks on the faces of nearly starving children, whose only crime was being born in the wrong country.

I shook my head, trying to find her, and felt her arms wrap around my back, squeezing my torso. I blinked; bits of reality began to shimmer through in waves. Mendoza was between Fischer and Phillips, and Karina screamed. The sound pulled me fully into the present and without thinking, I moved as soon as I saw the black gun in Phillips’s hand. It was pointed directly at Fischer.

Karina’s and Elodie’s voices melted together into a swirl of agony, and I felt the metal of his pistol dig into my hip as I tackled Phillips to the ground. I reached between us and gripped the pistol, pushing it out of his reach. There were too many voices to know who was saying what, but all I cared about was that Phillips was pinned beneath me, unable to move. He thrashed, and I dug his wrists into the ground with all my body weight on his thighs.

“Call the MPs!” Toni screeched. “Call them right now!”

“Get off of me!” Phillips yelled, still trying to move.

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