Page 97 of Brighter Shades of Light
A guy popped up behind Tristen, and I acted on impulse. I pushed my friend out of the way and took the hit myself. Once I was ‘killed,’ I was out of the exercise and had to sit out. It didn’t take long for it to end.
Afterward, Captain Glover—who had been observing the exercise—approached Tristen. “You led your men into the wrong area,” he said, pointing at the trail. “Your navigation was off, and instead of taking them by surprise, you walked right into their den. You didn’t even scout the area first. I sat back here waiting for you to notice the unit flanking you from behind. If these were real bullets, you would’ve just gotten your entire platoon killed.”
I had never seen Tristen look so devastated.
He said very little for the rest of the day.
On the last day of The War, there was a live fire event. Instead of fighting another platoon, our unit stormed a defended hilltop and shot at targets that popped up on the uneven range, using live ammunition. Although intense, it was fucking exciting. I enjoyed the adrenaline rush of it.
Afterward, the field exercise was over and we had to trek six miles back to Camp Barrett. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the hundred and ten pounds of gear on my back and the past week of hunger, endless walking, and sleepless nights.
I crashed when we got back and was dead to the world.
***
Tristen and I were in the barracks days later. He sat beside me in my bunk, and his solemn expression didn’t bode well.
“What happened?” I asked, once the silence got to be too much.
“They cut me from the course.” Tristen put his hands together and balanced his chin on them, just like he used to do in the dorm room. It made him appear younger.
“They cut you?” I flipped around toward him. “But we’re about to graduate. What the actual fuck? Why?”
“I think I’m going to still graduate,” he said, his voice soft. “But they’re making me take a bunch of remedial courses first. Captain Glover pulled me aside when we got back and said he saw me freeze out there. Fuck, I’m not good at infantry.”
“Every Marine is a rifleman,” I said, repeating the motto I’d heard several times since joining the program. No matter your specialty, every Marine was given basic combat training. We were considered to be riflemen above anything, and our MOS came second to that. “What are you going to do?”
“Maybe go into administration, if they’ll let me.” Tristen drew his knees up and leaned against the wall. His bottom lip quivered as he looked at me. “I could’ve gotten you killed, Cody. When I was being shot at and froze, you jumped in front of me and took the fire. If that was real, I’d be going to your fucking funeral right now. I’m not cut out for this.”
Nothing I said would make him feel better. I had seen the signs but believed he would pull through. This life wasn’t for everyone.
Barry had said several of the Marines he was deployed with got out of the Corps as soon as their contracts were up. They didn’t look back.
“Before they left, they said, ‘Eat the Apple.’ Ya know what that means, boy?” Barry had asked. I shook my head. “Means ‘Fuck the Corps.’ Do your time and get out.”
“Then why are you here?” I asked. “You served your time and agreed to a warrant officer commission.”
“Because this is home. No other civilian job compares to this.”
Home. One word that had multiple meanings to different people. The Corps was Barry’s home, but mine was wherever Sebastian was. I owed five years of active duty to the Corps, and the three after that would be served in the reserves. Once I was done, I didn’t know if I would sign on for more.
It was too soon to say.
Chapter 25
Sebastian
We had just moved into our new home in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Cody was stationed at Camp Lejeune, and our house was only fifteen or so minutes away, which had worked out perfectly.
The past several months had flown by so fast they began to blur together. Cody had graduated The Basic School, and at his graduation, I had never been prouder of him. The ceremony had been amazing, and he’d looked too damn handsome dressed in his uniform. Then, he’d been sent to three more months of school for his MOS training. He was going to be a combat engineering officer.
When I asked what that was, he smiled and said, “I’m gonna blow shit up.”
Since then, I had researched the position and discovered it involved much more than that, but of course, that was what he was most excited for.
“Babe, can you call my phone?” Cody asked, poking his head into the room. “I think I’ve lost it in the mountains of empty boxes.”
Three days after moving in, we still hadn’t unpacked everything, mainly due to us spending most of our time in the bedroom.
