Page 19 of Infinite
“No. I’m not. I don’t want to be with her, but I want my fucking life back. I want the dreams to stop. I want to stop walking around wondering if someone is hiding around every corner.”
So many guys come home fucked up from war. Many are too proud to get help. Some don’t think it’s an issue or that they can handle it. I’ll never know what it was like for him. He was held captive for a long time and by people who weren’t worried about his food.
He went days without eating and months without any communication. It took Charlie figuring out who he was for him to be extracted.
What he endured makes me want to go there and kill them, but then I remember that he’s doing the same thing to me.
Maybe that’s the angle I need to play at.
“Then why are you doing that now?”
“Doing what?”
“This,” I say as I look around the room he has me in. “You’ve got me locked up like you were. I don’t get it, man. We’re friends, or at least I thought we were.”
He moves closer. “We are friends. I’m not doing this to punish anyone. I can’t sit back and watch it happen again. It starts as a mission and then ends with your entire life being gone like that!” His hands slam together, making a loudclap.
As he’s been talking, I’ve been working at getting my hands free. While the last thing I want to do is hurt him, I’m done.
I can’t fight him when I’m knocked out, but I can now.
This is the first opportunity that has arisen where I have him alone and unguarded.
“What makes you think that Ashton is going to run off with someone else or that I’m going to get hurt?”
Aaron scoffs. “Look at everyone. Name one guy who hasn’t ended up in trouble.”
“That’s who we are,” I remind him.
We’re warriors and we fight. When you’re in a war, casualties and injuries will happen, it’s unavoidable, but we’re not at war now and this isn’t my fight.
“No, that’s just it.” His voice becomes animated. “There’s this whole other world where we don’t have to be shot or killed. We can raise families, have normal lives. I want that, Quinn, but it’s too late for me. It’s not for you, though.”
“I’m going to raise a family and have the life I want, Aaron. This, though? This isn’t what I want.”
He gets to his feet, and his eyes fill with rage. “You don’t know what you want. I’m going to show you how wrong you are. You see, this is a long game. It’s not just about you. It’s about all of us. Once the team figures out it’s me, they’ll come, and then I’ll finally be able to breathe, because it’ll be over.”
“You said this wasn’t about revenge.”
“It’s not. It’s about justice. Everyone needs to see the errors we made. It all started when we signed up. We were promised the navy would take care of us, but they didn’t. They sent us into a war without any idea of what was to come. Then we trusted Jackson.” He sneers his name. “I gave my life to him and he left me there to rot. I’m giving you the chance here, Quinn. Choose right because you don’t know what you’re giving up.”
Aaron apparently missed the training part of our lives. “I knew what I was signing up for.”
“This?” he screams. “Was this what you thought it would be?”
I shake my head with a laugh as I try not to lunge at him. There’s no way I can anyway. I don’t know where I am or what traps he’s laid out. It’s clear that he’s thought this through, and he would expect me to do that. I need to be patient, wait him out, keep him talking to give me more slip-ups.
“No, I guess I didn’t think that my friend would fucking abduct me, keep me locked in a room, drug me, and hit me,” I spit back at him.
Aaron goes to say something, but there’s a loudbangand dust fills the room as the door comes flying off the hinges. I scramble to my feet, trying to get out of the way. I’m tired, and my legs are like jelly, but I keep myself upright. When I look over, Mark and Jackson are standing there. Their guns are raised, pointed at Aaron and he grins.
“Took you boys long enough.” Aaron heads my way, getting closer even though their muzzles are trained on him.
Jackson’s gaze doesn’t waver from Aaron, and Mark takes a step toward me. “Aaron, move away from Quinn.”
“Or what? You’re going to shoot me, brother?”
Adrenaline fills my body, giving me back the strength that’s been stolen from me. I watch for their cues. Anything to tell me the next play. Mark moves his head side to side just enough to tell me to stay put.
