The Unexpected War

by Jean-pierre Breton

  “Your boy’s losing it. He’s going to get us killed,” Grant told me that night as I rested on a log, trying to clean my wound, which had started bleeding again.

  David was playing fetch with his invisible dog, yelling at the top of his lungs for it to stop peeing on the neighbor’s yard.

  “What do you suggest I do about it? He’s a good friend. He’s saved me plenty of times, just like you have,” I told him.

  “I don’t know. I don’t think my leg can push me much farther anyway. I’m starting to get a tight feeling around my chest. I think the infection’s spreading.”

  “You’re telling me,” I said, drowsily reaching into my jacket pocket and pulling out the map to Brawklin. I threw it on his lap.

  “Why are you giving this to me?”

  “I’m done. I quit. I can’t go any farther,” I said in resignation. “It’s over for me.”

  “Don’t talk that way, man,” Grant said angrily. “You have a daughter and wife to get home to.”

  “Look at me, Grant. I’m whiter than a ghost. It hurts to even take a breath. I’m not even gonna last two more days. I’ll be surprised if I wake up tomorrow.” Grant remained silent; he seemed to refuse to accept the fact that I was dying. “I want you to keep heading west to Brawklin. Take David with you. It’s only two or three more days of a hike.”

  “I’m not leaving you here, Lance. You’re a hero. You may have forgotten about all the things you’ve done, but I haven’t, and there’s no way you’re going to die here in the middle of the damn forest, alone. Rachel wouldn’t allow you to give up, and I certainly won’t either.”

  I knew there was nothing I could do or say to persuade him to listen to me, so I didn’t try.

  “I’ll wake you up tomorrow when it’s time to go,” he said after a moment. He got up awkwardly, went over to David, and put him to bed—after reluctantly petting his invisible dog.

  I woke up five times throughout the night, puking up blood, but Grant’s passionate speech seemed to give me hope. I kept telling myself that I had to make it back to Lara and Rashellia. I woke up slowly the next morning as Grant shook me roughly.

  “Time to get up, trooper,” he said. He went to wake David, and I stood up groggily, bending down to grab my sniper. The world spun around me as I face-planted into the snow. That was the last thing I remembered.

  When I came to, all I could see were blurs of people around me with masks over their mouths. One injected a needle into my arm. I lashed out with a grunt before passing out again, almost immediately.

  I could occasionally hear people talking around me and feel the soft touch of a female. One day, the medicine wore off a bit, and I could make out a girl in a chair, sleeping at the foot of my bed. I realized excitedly that it was Lara.

  I’d made it somehow; I was in Brawklin! I moved my hand painfully on top of hers, giving it a light squeeze, which seemed to take up all my energy. She woke up instantly, and I felt her gently squeeze my hand.

  I tried to talk, but it came out completely incomprehensible. Lara’s face was all a blur in my eyes, but I could make out her beautiful smile. She put a finger on my lips, whispering, “Shhh.”

  I squeezed her hand again, which she returned. She propped herself up beside me, casting a spell inside a bowl of soup on the counter, which instantly started steaming. I felt her loving stare burning through me as she fed me the soup. I could feel the warmth of it as it trickled down my throat.

  She hummed to me softly while feeding me like a baby. I ended up coughing most of it out, but I managed to get some down before I drifted back off into my world of unconsciousness. When I woke up the next morning, I was ecstatic to realize that I could talk and move my right arm a bit.

  The rest of my body was still numb from the medication. I knew Lara must have put some sort of healing remedy in my soup for my recovery to be so swift. The fiend doctor came in later that morning, surprised by my progress, telling me that he was happy with the healing of my frostbite and wounds.

  I must have dozed off, because when I woke up, Lara was at my side, cradling Rashellia in her arms. “Good afternoon, sexy,” she greeted me happily, putting Rashellia on my chest.

  I slowly put my arm around the baby, patting her lovingly. “Hey, mini me,” I said in a childish voice, as Rashellia looked up, staring at me with her sparkling blue eyes. “She has your eyes,” I told Lara, trying to wipe off the silly grin plastered to my face. I played with Rashellia for a bit; she growled affectionately. I could tell Lara was deep in thought as she watched me playing with Rashellia.

  “She has your face, though,” Lara told me, purring softly as she closed the curtain around my bed. “Lance, I don’t know if we can trust these people here. I told them about Rashellia, and they seemed very interested, wanting to do tests and blood samples,” Lara whispered worriedly while glancing nervously around the room.

  “Why’d you tell them?” I whispered back, trying to sit up as I stared at her in disbelief.

  “I had to. They instantly noticed her difference from a regular fiend baby and wouldn’t let me or Carana into the city until we explained to them about Rashellia.”

  “Well, let’s just let it go. Maybe they were just curious,” I told her, convincing myself that she was just being overly protective.

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” she replied uneasily, trying to calm down a bit.

  “How did I end up here? Are Grant and David all right?” I asked, finally getting a chance to ask the question that had been burning on my mind ever since I realized I was alive.

  “Well, Grant popped a flare. I knew it had to be you guys. I saw it way off in the distance. I was so worried about you guys. I would sit on the wall every night, waiting for you to emerge through the tree line.” A tear fought its way down her face as she spoke.

  I wiped it away, comforting her. “I’m here now; don’t cry,” I told her gently.

  “Anyway, the police sent out a chopper and picked you guys up before the enemy could kill you—that was after Carana and I screamed our lungs off at them to go rescue you.” She wiped away another tear. “We flew with the chopper and killed some NWO fighters who were looting your bodies. All three of you were unconscious by the time we got there. I thought you might be dead already.”

  “Ouch! You little bugger!” I exclaimed, interrupting Lara as I glanced down at Rashellia, who was happily sucking blood from my arm. She let go a minute later and let out a tiny burp, purring affectionately. We both laughed at our daughter. I passed her over to Lara, who started breast-feeding her. She laughed at me as I turned my head away, giving her privacy.

  “What’s wrong, Lance? You had no problem staring at my two friends here before she was born.”

  “I don’t want to get turned on by you feeding our little girl,” I said with a smirk. She gave me a playful punch. “So how are David and Grant?” I asked, now that the mood had been lightened, thanks to Rashellia.

  “David’s fine. He just had a serious concussion, but he’s already out of the hospital wing and in Carana’s assigned room. Grant is getting an operation on his leg tomorrow to have shrapnel removed, and then he will be released tomorrow, and you, hopefully, will be released the day after.” She happily leaned over and gave me a kiss after Rashellia was done eating. “She’s cranky today,” Lara added, as Rashellia began to cry. Lara slung the baby over her shoulder, attempting to burp her. “So how did you get that wound in your stomach?” she asked curiously.

  “Artillery,” I replied simply, with a shrug.

  “So there were no survivors?” she asked me gently.

  “Philip survived, but he didn’t make it here. He needed a real doctor, not some useless infantry. There was nothing we could do.”

  “Hey, don’t say that. He knew he would die one day for his freedom. Don’t take away his pride like that.
He died doing what he loved,” she said, trying to reassure me.

  As if on cue, my doctor came in, glanced over my medical chart, and showed me places that were recovering from the frostbite. He informed Lara and me that I would be able to leave the hospital wing in two or three days. He then gave me some pills to knock me out and left to attend to another soldier.

  “I love you. Have a good night’s sleep, buddy,” Lara whispered gently, giving me a peck on my cheek. “Bye-bye, Daddy,” she called to me in a babyish voice, waving Rashellia’s little fiend paw, which was sprouting claws.

  “Bye-bye,” I replied, waving to them enthusiastically.

  To my relief, the pills kicked in a few moments later, leaving me in the comfort of my dreams.

  Chapter 18

  “’Sup?” Grant called over to us. He and Ellie sauntered toward us, happily holding hands.

  “Nothing much,” I said, greeting him with our usual handshake as they sat down next to us on the bleachers.

  I pulled out the envelope of money I had received from Captain Murphy for our last mission, splitting it between the four of us. “So Murphy put us on bivouac duties for three days as a reward for our hard work,” I told them, leaning back on the railing of the bleachers as the sun beamed down on me.

  “Awesome. So we basically just get to keep the generators running, collect resources, and stuff like that?” Ellie asked.

  I nodded lazily. “I’m going to go hunting in a bit, if anyone wants to come,” I offered, them already knowing the answer as I saw Grant and Ellie share a disinterested look.

  “I’ll come!” Rachel volunteered quickly.

  I smiled thankfully. She returned it with a playful wink, as I mouthed the words “thank you” to her. “So you guys are going to hold things down around here while we’re gone?” I asked Ellie and Grant.

  They nodded lazily, basking in the sun. “You guys want to do something tonight?” Ellie asked Rachel and me as we got up to leave.

  “Sure,” we both agreed as we left.

  Rachel and I made our way up the path to our squad’s shelter, where I grabbed my loyal Timberwolf sniper rifle, putting a sling on it while patiently waiting for Rachel to get her hunting kit prepared, departing a short time later. As we walked along the woods, we would occasionally stop as she set up a few snares in some good escape routes for rabbits. After about twenty minutes of walking, we found a nice place on a mountaintop, overlooking a valley below us, about eight hundred meters away.

  I set up my Timberwolf, glancing through the sight down at the valley below.

  “This is a beautiful spot,” Rachel commented, pulling out her binoculars and glancing around at the layout of the ground. “I’d say that’s about eight hundred meters to a kilometer, by the way, Lance.”

  I nodded, having already finished the calculations for my shot in my head. A few minutes passed by as I stared through the sight, patiently surveying the land below.

  “Geeze, it’s going be a long day if you plan on doing that,” Rachel joked.

  I smirked, setting the butt of the sniper rifle down on the ground. I knew something was on her mind and that she wanted to talk about it. A silence passed between us for a moment until Rachel finally said, “Do you remember what life was like before the war?”

  “Not really,” I told her honestly.

  “Yeah, me neither,” she muttered, pausing for a second to look at me and then tearing her eyes away from me and back to the field. “I was trying to go through my memories of my life before the war the other day, and nothing was coming up. I can’t even see my parents’ faces anymore.”

  I didn’t say anything, knowing if I did, it would just upset her even more.

  “I suppose it’s not all bad, though. If it wasn’t for this war, I would have never met you, Lance,” she told me, smiling faintly. I gave her a pat on the back, which she returned with a peck on the cheek. Her attention diverted back to the field below us. “I wish the fiends would just hurry up and lose this war.” She took her hair band out to let her long blonde hair drape down her back as we lay there motionless for a while. “Do you think we’re going to win this war?” she asked.

  “Honestly?” I asked. “I don’t think we are going to be around to find that out, Rachel.” Her smile faded away in disappointment. “Besides, there are no winners in war anyway. Wars are just fought to pave the road to a political solution—in this case, who gets which parts of the world when all is said and done.”

  She remained silent; I knew that was not the answer she was looking for. “Well, that’s cheery, Lance,” she finally said.

  “It’s realistic; look around. It’s been three years now, and I’ve still seen no progress by the PLF.”

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked quietly after a few minutes.

  “Huh?” I said, confused.

  “You’ve been so distant over the past few days,” she told me, inching a little closer to me in an attempt to cuddle.

  “I’m sorry; I’m just tired of this,” I said, feeling emotionless.

  “Help me—somebody help me!” A wounded soldier was screaming at the top of his lungs in his sleep.

  I glanced around the military hospital wing I was sharing with nine other guys. At first confused, the sad reality of where I was slowly began to sink in, and I realized, unhappily, that I was only dreaming of my past. Most people here were wounded fiends and humans, deeply scared with post-traumatic stress and an endless list of other issues caused by the war. Don’t get me wrong—most of them were awesome to hang around with, but by nightfall, the memories of our fallen comrades would always come back to haunt us, making grown men cry themselves to sleep.

  Some were even too scared to close their eyes—they knew they would see their dead loved ones in their dreams. I was the lucky one; I had a family to go back to now, and I could finally leave this stupid war behind me, unlike them. I painfully sat up, resting on the side of my bed for a moment, while sleepily rubbing the crud from my eyes.

  I struggled out of my bed and into my wheelchair opening the door and wheeling myself down the hall to the wing where Grant was being held. “Yo, man, you up?” I whispered to Grant.

  “I am now,” he grunted sleepily. “Oh hey, Lance, what’s up?” He looked surprised to see me.

  “Nothing much; can’t sleep,” I muttered unhappily, glancing two beds down at a soldier who was crying to himself.

  “Yeah, there seems to be a lot of that going on around here,” Grant said, nodding his head toward the soldier. “I can’t wait to get out of here.”

  “Same here,” I agreed, thinking of being reunited with Lara and Rashellia again.

  “Ha-ha, man, I’ll be living the life once I’m back up on my feet, hitting the gym again, so I can get back out on that court,” he told me excitedly, referring to basketball.

  “I know what you mean. It’s been forever. There was a court in Monatello that I use to play on. I hope there’s one here.”

  “You playing basketball? What a joke. I’m pretty sure a fifth-grade girl could beat you,” he joked.

  “Laugh it up, man. I actually had a pretty pro female partner in Monatello,” I said, and the fond memories of Tracy began to come back to me.

  “Really? Where is she now? I’ll kick her ass any day of the week.”

  “She’s dead,” I said quietly. “Killed in that fiends’ assault on the city.” I turned my head so that he couldn’t see the emotion that was gripping me, making it hard to breathe.

  “That’s too bad, man. What was her name?” he asked.

  “Tracy. She was a pretty switched-on girl, kind of like Ellie. You would have liked her,” I told him.

  He nodded understandingly. “We had the two best girls in the world, man. Screw this war. If I could go back in time, I would say the four of us should
have just bailed on the resistance and gone to live somewhere deep in the forest, where no one could find us.”

  I laughed in agreement. “I have Lara now, though.”

  His expression kind of changed when I reminded him of my situation. “Aw, yeah. I almost forgot about that. You love her, right?” I nodded. “Well, then, good for you. At least one of us found someone who’s right for him.”

  “Really? You’re not weirded-out by her being a fiend?” I asked, surprised.

  He shrugged carelessly. “You never did do the dirty deed with Rachel, did you?”

  I shook my head, kind of embarrassed.

  “Ha-ha, that’s hilarious. I never would have thought I’d see you anywhere near a fiend, let alone lose your virginity to one.”

  “Shut up, man!” I shot back, straightening up and giving him a playful punch on the shoulder. “So how did you escape Dublin City?”

  “Luck, I guess,” Grant said. “I saw them surround you. I thought you were dead. I was low on ammo, so I fought my way out of the city and rejoined the new camp—the one that your sisters and the others had set up once we left.” He kind of looked ashamed that he hadn’t stuck it out in the city until the bitter end.

  “It’s all good. You did the right thing,” I reassured him. “So were Tina and Kate there?” I was dying for information about my sisters’ haven, not having spoken to them in over a year.

  “They were there,” he told me hesitantly.

  I knew something was wrong. He avoided my eyes for a second. “What’s up, man?” I asked nervously, not wanting to hear whatever it was he was about to tell me.

  “They got it stuck in their heads that you were still alive. I kept telling them I saw you get overrun, but they wouldn’t let it go. One night, they snuck out to go to Dublin City to rescue you … and they never came back,” he informed me. “I’m really sorry, man. I tried to keep an eye on them for you, but they just wouldn’t listen.”