Into the Apocalypse

by William Dunaway

  “Oh, I remember those days. But to be honest, I wasn’t quite eighteen yet. I had a fake I.D.”

  “Did you really?”

  “Yeah, I really did. When I joined the Army the first time, I was a holdover for a while until A.I.T. started so they asked if anyone could type? Even though I was told never to volunteer in the Army, I did, and they had me typing up military driver’s license…. so, I typed myself a fake one. In the civilian world, all the bars would see was, Department of Defense, and they took it every time.”

  “Sounds like you,” Red said laughing.

  “What’s A.I.T.?” Blake asked.

  “Oh, sorry. Advanced Individual Training. After basic training, you go to A.I.T. to learn whatever your specialized job is.”

  “How long is that?”

  “Well, it depends on your M.O.S., which is your job. For Scouts, it was one unit training, which meant sixteen weeks of solid training.”

  “Wow! That must have been fun.”

  I laughed, “Yeah, it definitely wasn’t just like going to school for sixteen weeks. They busted your butt, that’s for sure. Hell, that’s where I learned to sleep wherever I was at and whatever position I was in. Do you know, to this day every time I go to a dentist, I halfway fall asleep.”

  “You're kidding me?”

  Red spoke up, “No, he’s not. You sleep when you can, anyplace you can.”

  I added, “And that’s just the beginning. Once you’re doing it for real, when the rest of the Battalion is sitting back sleeping or chilling out in the staging area, you’re out trying to find the enemy without getting blown away in the process. Sleep is not on the agenda.”

  Mia jumped in, “Vince, I don’t mean to interrupt but if you don’t make your wish and blow out the candle, this cake is going to be covered with wax icing,”

  I thought to myself, “Oh, a wish. If only it would come true. I wish we could go back in time to the day Orville and his sons arrived at the house. So many lives would’ve been saved.”

  I ended up wishing that we would have many more days of happiness, at least for a while. I then blew out the candle.

  “Well, it’s a little early for the cake, but the ladies made a big breakfast buffet for everyone,” Kim stated.

  We all lined up to go into the kitchen and everyone said that I was to go first as I was the birthday boy. When I walked into the kitchen, I couldn’t believe it. The ladies had made scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, and hash browns. Plus there was toast, milk and orange juice.

  “What time did you guys start all of this?”

  Mia said with a very sweet smile, “We’ve been up a while. Not cooking the whole time but setting up the place.”

  “Where did you get the orange juice?”

  “I found it in the freezer. You had six cans of frozen orange juice hidden away. I have no idea how old it was, but it tastes ok. It may taste a little weak as we made it with extra water to make sure we would have enough.” Kim replied.

  “How long have you guys been planning this?”

  Brandy spoke up, “Oh my gosh, Carmen brought it up………”

  She stopped as she just realized it was Carmen’s idea several weeks earlier.

  She started to look sad, and I walked over to her and gave her a big hug and said, “Nope, remember? We’re not going to do that. We’re going to remember her.”

  She wiped the tears that were just started to form, “I’m sorry, one time I can talk about her and the next time it will just hit me, but your right, that’s what Carmen would want us to do.”

  I gave her another hug, “I’m going to eat.”

  Kim came over and leaned against my shoulder to show me some comfort but said, “Come, Sir, we have your table set up outside,” and stuck out her arm for me to take it.

  I walked out the front door and was surprised as I hadn’t noticed that they had several portable tables set up in the front yard. I was worried that it was going to be too cold, but it was a pretty nice day. No wind and it seemed like it was at least in the sixties.

  I sat down, and everyone slowly came out with their food. Santiago came over and said happy birthday and told me he would’ve said something earlier but he figured I’d want the family to give their greetings first.

  “Santiago, I don’t know you that well but you’re part of our community now, so you and your children are now part of our family.”

  “Well, that’s a nice sentiment, but I know you can’t really feel that way.”

  “Yes, I do. You’re a part of us now.”

  He got a sincere and happy smile, “Thank you! That really means a lot to me,” and he walked back over to his children. I could see that it truly made him feel good.

  While everyone ate, it was a flashback in time to a family function before all hell broke out. If you had taken a picture of everyone, it would’ve looked like a family reunion or get together. It was hard to imagine that just outside of our community people were suffering. Once again I had to force myself not to think about it.

  We were all sitting around drinking coffee when Mia and Brandy stood up and with excitement said.” It’s time for presents.”

  “Wow! Presents?”

  Lulu and Santiago’s girls came walking up with a plate full of cookies. “Happy Birthday, Vince.”

  “Cookies? Oh wow! I love cookies.” I reached to the plate and ate one and then rolled my eyes and groaned like I was in heaven. “Did you guys make these?”

  Isabella said with a smile of pride, “Yes we did. Well, Angela helped us, but we did all the work, she just told us how.”

  “I can honestly say these are some of the best cookies I’ve eaten in a long time.”

  They started walking away, “Wait a minute. I owe you a hug,” and I reached over and gave each one of them a hug and said, “Thank you!”

  Paul and Mike walked up saying happy birthday again and said that their gift was going to be for Mike to fine tune all of my scoped rifles and Paul was going to clean them all. I had been asking Mike for months to do that for me, but due to his schedule, we never made it happen.

  Cleaning several guns at once is no fun especially cleaning M-4s, M-16s and of course the SAW, so Pauls gift was outstanding as well.

  Kim handed me a certificate for one day of being my servant and she had to wait on me hand and foot.

  Tag spoke up, “So you have to do whatever he asks?

  “Yes,” Kim responded

  I asked in a very seductive way, “Anything?”

  Everyone laughed, and Mia said, “Well, whatever day that is, let us know so we can stay out of the house. We don’t want to hear the sounds that are going to come from inside.”

  Kim turned very red, then laughed and threw her empty cup at Mia.

  After a couple of moments, Mia walked up to Kim and whispered, “Are you sure I should do this?”

  Kim nodded her head yes.

  Then Mia took two steps towards me and with a bit of a worried look, she said.“Vince, I’m reluctant to give this to you but Kim and I talked, and we thought you would want it. This gift is what Carmen bought for you.”

  When she said that, a strange sensation came over me. I understood why Mia was reluctant to give it to me, but I knew if I meant what I said about honoring Carmen, I couldn’t let it bother me too much.

  She smiled sweetly, “She bought this for you two years ago. She wanted to give it to you then, but she knew you would have a fit that she spent this much money on you, so she chickened out. But she was determined to give it to you this year.”

  When she handed me the box, I opened the envelope holding a card in it, and it said, “Thank you for being you. I love you, Carmen.”

  I couldn’t stop the tears from coming out. Kim squeezed my arm and leaned against me and with a sweet smile of her own, said: “Open it.”

  When I opened the box, my mouth fell open. All I could say was “Oh, my gosh.”

  It was a Rolex watch.

  I
had always respected Carmen because even though she had a lot of money, she didn’t live that way. She bought very nice things but not like someone that was a daughter of a multi-millionaire. Even though she had her trust fund, she earned her own living and spent her own money and Brandy was the same way from what I could see and was told.

  I had complimented Carmen on her attitude and told her that if I ever won a hundred million dollars playing Powerball or something, of course, I’d build a new home and maybe even buy a thousand acre ranch somewhere. I would buy a new truck and tractor, and pay off all of our family member’s bills and give them some of the money. I would also want to give a lot to some of my favorite charities like Shriner’s Hospital for Kids, Wounded Warrior Project, The American Red Cross, and Harvesters.…. But,…. I’d still buy my clothes from places like Kohl’s and Cabela’s and still shop at Sam’s Club and Walmart a lot.

  After she asked me if I had to buy one extravagant personal item for myself, what it would be, I told her I would probably buy a nice Rolex watch.

  I pulled the watch out, and it was beautiful. It was President Datejust and eighteen karat gold and had diamonds for the numbers.

  “Oh, my gosh” Kim said.

  Several came around to look at it. When Mo saw it, he let out a loud whistle. All the guys made different comments and complimenting it.

  I couldn’t help but continue to tear up, but it did bring a smile to my face.

  “I can’t believe that dingbat. What did she do, spend a couple of grand on this?” I asked

  Mia responded with a chuckle, “Oooh, nooo. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you, but I know what she paid for it.”

  I looked at her suspiciously,What?”

  “Hmmm. She paid $10,790.00. It listed for $12,500.00 but she kept working the guy down on the price.”

  “You have got to be kidding me?”

  Mia grinned and shook her head no.

  Several people made comments, and Tag said, “Let me see it. I can't imagine a $12,000 watch.

  I loved Carmen, but Carmen was right. I would’ve been mad at her for spending that much money on me. Now, to Carmen and especially her family, spending $12,000 was like us spending $120.00 but just the idea of it blew my mind.

  “There’s an inscription on the back,” Mia said with a sweet smile.

  Tag handed the watch back, and I turned it over, and it read, “Remembering Hatchet Falls. Love Carmen.”

  Mia, Kim, and I all started laughing. No one else knew what we were laughing at, but we knew.

  “Hatchet Falls is one of the places Carmen insisted that we go to when we visited her and Mia in California. It’s a great swimming hole that you have to walk a long ways to get there but it is well worth it, and it was beautiful. It was a waterfall, and it poured into the crystal clear area. And it was deep enough that you would climb up this huge tree trunk that was leaning against the falls and you’d get up on the twenty-foot cliff at the top of the falls and jump or dive in. I absolutely loved it, so I climbed the tree and jumped off the cliff several times. Well, the last time, apparently the band broke on my Seiko watch, and we couldn’t find it. Even as clear as the water was, it just seemed to disappear. Now, I loved that watch, but besides the frustration, it wasn’t life-shattering or anything. But Carmen always felt so bad that I lost it.”

  Mo asked, “Why did losing your watch make you guys laugh like that?”

  Mia starting laughing, “We weren’t laughing about the watch, there is more to the story.”

  “Oh my gosh! You’re not going to tell that story are you?” Kim asked laughing.

  “Of course I am. Kim didn’t want to jump off the cliff, so we started giving her a hard time. It seemed like it took us a half hour to talk her into it, then when she agreed, it seemed like another half hour for her to finally get up to the top. Once she got up there, she refused to jump off, so she tried backing down the tree but when she did, she fell off doing a backward flip into the water anyway.”

  When Mia got done with the story, Kim, Mia, and I couldn’t stop laughing. The ones that heard the story laughed, but I think they laughed more at us laughing. Finally, we settled down.

  “I can’t believe she did this,” I said with a smile while wiping the remaining tears from my eyes.

  Then Mia said, “Well, Kim, she also bought you a present. It was really for all four of us, and it won’t do us much good now, but apparently, at one of your lunches you had with Carmen, she mentioned one of her favorite photo shoots was at Antigua in the Caribbean. Well, she remembered how you said you saw it on The Travel Channel and remarked how beautiful it was. So, she bought the four of us a week’s vacation at Hermitage Bay in Antigua.”

  Kim started tearing up a bit, “I can’t believe she remembered that conversation besides doing this.”

  We made different comments but then it turned kind of odd because I think everyone started thinking about those days being over. No more vacations, no more trips. Now, all everyone is thinking about is survival.

  Seeing this on several of our faces, I laughed, “Ok. What’s next?”

  That seem to bring everyone back to a relaxed and happier mood.

  After a couple of minutes of talking, Blake got up and set a chair in front of everyone as though it was a stage and his wife brought a guitar from inside the house. He then sat down and checked his guitar to make sure it was in tune.

  “Did you know Blake played the guitar?” I asked Kim.

  “No.”

  Mia walked up next to Blake and said “Now first of all, please excuse the suffering that we’re about to put you through. Blake and I have only been able to practice this twice together so please bear with us…… Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I came up with this idea…. This song is for Vince and Kim. It’s a song that I know is very special to them.”

  Blake was acting uncomfortable and then stated, “Now, this song wasn’t necessarily written for a guitar to be the instrument of choice and please forgive my playing ability.” He looked up at Mia, “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” which got everyone to laugh.

  “Vince, Kim, this is for you. If it wasn’t for you guys, many of us wouldn’t be here, and we may not even be alive. You guys saved us. So not only is this your birthday gift but this is also our way of saying thank you. We love you guys.”

  I blew her a kiss and Kim cocked her head and gave her a sweet smile.

  Blake played a very short introduction which we both immediately picked up on. Then on cue, they both started together. It was our wedding song, “From This Moment” by Shania Twain. Kim immediately started tearing up, and I was shocked. As I stated, I didn’t know Blake played the guitar, and he was really good. Mia really blew my mind. I knew she liked to sing as she sent us some pictures of her singing on stage in some club in Hollywood but we didn’t realize how good she was. Her voice is beautiful. I don’t know why I was surprised, Mia is very very talented. Earlier in the year, she sent us a video of her figure skating and she’s even awesome at that.

  After getting over the shock of how good they were, we listened for a bit then I thought I’d shock Kim and I stood up and acted as though I wanted to dance with her. Her mouth fell open but she immediately stood up, and we danced where we stood. We could hear some of the ladies in our group say how romantic it was.

  When Mia got to the highest parts though, we had to stop and just watch her sing as she was so good. Kim even made the comment that she was surprised Mia hadn’t become a professional singer.

  As soon as the song was over, everyone burst out into cheers and we all gave them a standing ovation. Blake and Mia were both embarrassed momentarily, but Blake stood up and grabbed Mia’s hand and hammed it up a bit in fun and started bowing.

  We walked up to Mia, and both of us gave her a hug and told her how good she was, and then I looked at Blake, “Blake, we’re going to have to book you to play at our weekly dinners.”

  “Oh no. No, you’re not. This was a one-time deal.” />
  “Why, you're so good.”

  He just shook his head and gave his wife a kiss and handed his guitar to his son. He then looked at me, “No!” with a sheepish smile.

  After everyone had settled down, Tag jumped up, “It’s time for our present now.”

  I laughed, “I’ve heard you try to sing before Tag, I hope you’re not going to sing a song.”

  He gave me a snide look and said with a chuckle, “Hardly! No, this gift is from the guys, including Jake. To be honest, Jake did most of the work, but Mike and the rest of us were down there giving him specifications and ideas.

  I hadn’t noticed that Red and Mo had walked around the corner. I then heard the jeep start, and it pulled up in the driveway where we could see it. It was the SAW mounted on the jeep and what looked like an armored plate on the front to protect the gunner. My mouth dropped open, and Mo yelled out, “We’re now the Rat Patrol!”

  The “Rat Patrol” was a series on television about an Allied commando mobile patrol squad and they were known for their Jeeps having a machine gun mounted in the center of the jeep.

  I had mentioned how I wish we had a mount for the Jeep right after Red and Wit showed us the SAW but I didn’t dream we would really ever have one, but somehow they came up with one.

  I let out a high pitched, “Oooooh yeah!” and I ran over to the jeep. I climbed into the rear area standing there and put the SAW to my shoulder. I noticed that they had the SAW loaded with a belt of ammunition, as they knew I’d have to try it. I told Mo to pull out into the road and turn to the west and drive up even with our open field. He stopped, and I pulled the trigger for a short burst. I looked back at the group that was staring at me, and I could see many of them holding their ears. When you're in a firefight, you don’t notice how loud a weapon is. The same goes when you're hunting; you don’t even notice, but when your adrenaline isn’t flowing, any weapon, for the most part, is going to hurt your ears. That’s why so many come out of the Army and Marines with a hearing loss of some type. My adrenaline had to be flowing though because I didn’t even notice.