by Eric Vall
Anna sat next to the brunette and undid her braids. She shook her hair loose, and it flowed around her in a mane of beachy waves that made me feel like we should be spread out on towels by the ocean.
Bailey sat next to Tara with her sketchbook back in her lap. She held it at such an angle that nobody else could see what she was drawing, but I was so curious that I just had to ask.
“Bailey,” I said with a smile. “What are you working on?”
“Yeah,” Anna added. “I haven’t seen you draw since before Tav got here, I think.”
“I didn’t remember ever seeing her draw,” I chuckled.
“Well, we’re always pretty busy.” Bailey shrugged. “So I haven’t had much time, but I think I’m just a bit homesick.”
“Let us see,” Tara said, and she reached for the paper.
“It’s not finished yet,” Bailey protested, and she tried to pull the sketchbook out of Tara’s reach, but she was too slow, and the platinum-blonde snatched it up.
“Holy shit.” Tara grinned and turned the sketchbook around for us all to see.
It was a beautifully done portrait of Winchester sitting with his head slightly up, and his eyes were closed. His mouth was parted just enough to see his tongue loll to one side.
On Winchester’s head was Rolly’s hand. The old man was seated on a wooden bench, and next to him was an unfinished portrait of who I could only assume was Betty.
The drawing was beautifully done. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it captured the essence of the people in it, and they were immediately recognizable.
“That’s beautiful,” Paige said, and she reached out to grab the sketchbook and bring it closer to her.
“It’s not done.” Bailey bit her lip.
“It looks really realistic, though,” Anna said, and she sounded rather impressed. “I couldn’t draw that to save my life.”
“It really is a wonderful sketch,” I told Bailey.
“Thanks,” the blonde hippie replied, and her face went slightly red as she looked down.
“Here,” Paige said, and she passed the book back to Bailey. “We’d all love to see it when you’re done, though.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Okay.” Bailey nodded, and her smile widened just a bit.
“And on that note,” Tara said, and she stood up. “I’m starving.”
“Eating for two, now?” Anna teased.
“Uh, duh,” the platinum-blonde laughed.
“You know that’s a myth,” Paige said matter of factly. “When you’re pregnant you only need about five hundred extra calories a day. It’s about equal to one bagel without cream cheese.”
“You shut your whore mouth,” Tara said playfully. “I’m gonna eat for the two of us and like it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Paige laughed, and she put her hands up in mock surrender.
“You never know, there could be three of you,” Anna teased.
“Or more,” Paige added. “We can’t exactly do an ultrasound.”
“What, you all think I’m having quadruplets or something?” Tara asked, and she put her hand on her hip and cocked an eyebrow at the girls.
“You could be.” Paige shrugged. “Tav, do twins run in your family?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” I laughed.
“Wait, is that a factor?” Tara asked, and her eyes were suddenly wide, and her face was dead serious.
“Yeah,” Anna said, and her eyebrows furrowed together. “You didn’t know that?”
“Does it look like I knew that?” Tara asked, and she pointed to her concerned face.
“I guess not,” Anna laughed.
“Wait, do multiples run in your family?” Paige asked.
“My dad’s sisters were twins,” Tara said. “Does that count?”
“Yeah,” Bailey answered with a nod. “But twins can often skip a generation. My younger siblings were twins, so they run in my family, too. Don’t worry, I’m sure there’s just one in there.”
“There better be,” Tara muttered, and she turned and headed to the trailer to grab some things for dinner.
“Are you all enjoying freaking her out?” I asked with a small smile.
“A little,” Anna said, and she held up her thumb and forefinger close together.
“Tav’s right,” Bailey said softly. “This is totally new for her, we should be nice.”
“You’re always nice, Bailey,” I laughed.
“Well, I didn’t want to just blame them,” Bailey chuckled.
“Alright,” Anna sighed. “You said this earlier, too. I’m trying, but it’s hard. She’s just such an easy target right now.”
“Have your fun,” I told her. “Just know your limit.”
“Scouts honor,” Anna said, and she put one hand over her heart and held up the other as if she were swearing at a court stand.
A few minutes later, Tara returned with her small box filled with things for dinner. She filled a large pot with water and then set it on the stove to heat up while she pulled out the rest of her supplies. There were some fresh potatoes, cabbage, smoked venison sausage, and a few other things. Whatever she was making, I was excited.
I glanced around the small parking lot and found everyone else to be cooking as well. My eyes landed on Minji as she came out of the factory. The beautiful Korean woman looked at me and smiled, then she bit her lip and headed over to us.
“I hope you all don’t mind,” I said. “But I invited Minji to eat with us. I figured it was the least we could do after she thought to give Tara those candies.”
“Good idea,” the platinum-blonde told me with a smile. “Now I can thank her in person.”
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “I love Minji.”
“Hi, everyone,” Minji greeted us as she made it over to the fire. “Is it still okay if I join you for dinner?”
“I always make enough for an army,” Tara laughed and gestured to all our civilians sitting nearby chatting. “Literally.”
“Right,” Minji chuckled.
“Tav gave me the candies you sent for me,” the platinum-blonde said. “That was really nice of you, thanks.”
“Of course.” She nodded. “I think what you’re doing is really brave.”
“Why, thank you,” Tara said, and she turned slightly to glare at Anna. “Hear that? I’m brave.”
“Yeah, we’ll see how brave you are when labor hits and there’s no epidural,” Anna retorted.
I shook my head, but I couldn’t say anything. Tara brought it on herself. She joked too much, and it was her own undoing. Besides, I knew all the girls cared about each other, and they’d never say anything to actually hurt the others’ feelings. My only goal with talking to Anna was to remind her that Tara was especially sensitive at the moment.
I didn’t have a lot of experience with pregnant women, but I knew one woman in the army who had gotten pregnant. She had a desk job even before that, but I saw her often when I was training on base. She worked throughout the pregnancy, but there was one day where she broke down in tears because the copy machine wouldn’t work for her.
I told her it was fine, but she still cried anyways. I felt terrible, but I knew there was nothing I could do. She assured me that it was just the pregnancy hormones, and even said she cried while watching cartoons with her other child that morning.
So, even my limited experience with pregnant women was that they were sensitive as all hell. Tara was already a little bit sensitive, but now that she was pregnant, I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would become. I didn’t want one of the girls to hurt her feelings by joking with her like they always did.
“Potatoes?” Minji asked as Tara tossed a few into the pot.
“Potato, cabbage, and sausage stew,” Tara said with a small smile. “I’ve been craving it all day.”
“How are those pregnancy cravings treating you?” Minji asked. “When my cousin was pregnant all she wanted was grapes.”
“Grapes?” Tara asked, an
d she wrinkled her nose.
“I know,” Minji laughed. “They’re good and all, but they aren’t something I’d want to eat every day. She ate them all the time, though.”
“I guess if I’m craving anything, it’d probably be a Ding Dong,” Tara sighed. “A frozen Ding Dong would really hit the spot right now.”
“Frozen?” Paige asked.
“Yeah.” Tara nodded. “They’re so good.”
“Hm.” Paige shook her head. “I never tried it.”
“Oh, my God, we totally--” Tara started, but she was interrupted by Hammer rushing over to us.
“Tav,” the SEAL said, and I could tell from his voice that this was serious.
“What is it?” I asked as I stood up.
“I just got a radio from my guys on the boat,” he explained. “There’s some NK foot soldiers trying to recapture the ship.”
I had expected bad news, but I hadn’t expected that.
Chapter 3
I figured we’d left a few foot soldiers who weren’t on the ship when we attacked, but I didn’t think they would be bold enough to try and go after the ship again.
They were outmanned and outgunned. These guys had to be idiots to think they’d be able to get the ship back.
Then again, they weren’t complete idiots. They’d waited until there were only a few men on board for the night, so they had some semblance of sense.
And sense in an opponent was a dangerous thing.
“What?” I asked, and my eyebrows pulled together with confusion and concern. “How many?”
“They said only five or six.” Hammer shook his head. “But they have plasma weapons, and they’re firing at the destroyer.”
“Shit,” I breathed.
“The guys can’t get an angle on them to take them out,” Hammer added.
I looked over at the girls, and they had all stood up and were ready to go.
“Looks like dinner will have to wait,” I said. “Let’s go.”
If these foot soldiers thought they could take their boat back, they had another thing coming.
We all piled into the jeep, and the tires spun out on the dirt as I hit the gas and headed toward the water.
Hammer was in the passenger seat where Anna usually sat, and the redhead squeezed into the back with the rest of the girls.
“I instructed my men to move out,” Hammer said. “But they’re not experienced sailors.”
“I can’t believe those assholes are attacking,” Tara grumbled. “Like, you can clearly see we killed all your fucking friends, right?”
“How did so many survive anyways?” Paige inquired.
“Eh, I can definitely believe they’re attacking,” Anna countered. “You’re right. We did kill all their friends, and since they pretty much have nowhere to go, that means they have nothing to lose.”
“I hadn’t thought about that,” Paige said.
“And as far as how many survived,” Hammer added. “We must have underestimated the amount of men they had on shore still.”
“Right.” I nodded. “They must have been posted somewhere on the other side of the bridge.”
“Why not come across the bridge, then?” Paige asked. “They could have tried to take us out directly.”
“They may be assholes, but they’re not totally stupid,” I said. “They know they wouldn’t win that way. That’s why they’re fighting the way they are.”
“Yeah, like cowards,” Tara muttered.
“They’re being smart,” I countered. “They can’t win in a head to head battle, and they know it. But if they take out the men on the ship, then they’ll have control of the water again.”
“Not to mention all plasma weapons on board,” Anna added.
“Right,” I agreed. “We can’t let that happen.”
“Lieutenant,” a voice came in over the radio. “What’s your ETA?”
“Less than five minutes,” Hammer replied. “What’s going on?”
“They’re coming at us hard,” the SEAL on the other end said. “We’re firing back, but they’re behind one of the concrete barricades across the water. We can’t get a good view on them.”
“They must be firing with their plasma guns,” Paige said. “They can only shoot so far, but if they manage to hit the plasma weapons that’s going to cause one hell of an explosion.”
“Right,” I agreed, and I gritted my teeth and pushed harder on the gas.
It didn’t take long for us to get to the designated spot from the night before, and we all quickly hopped out and made our way to the concrete barricade on our side of the river.
We crouched down and watched.
“We’re in position,” Hammer said into the radio.
“Roger that,” the SEAL replied. “Do you have a line on them?”
“Not yet,” Hammer said.
Our boys were firing right then, but after a couple more shots they stopped. My eyes narrowed on the area across the bay as I searched for the NK soldiers that were hidden.
Suddenly, a flash of blue shot out from behind the barricade, then another and another. They were hitting the ship wherever they could.
It didn’t seem as if they had a specific area in mind, which was even worse than if they had. They were going to hit something by accident and fuck up the ship.
At that point, I wasn’t sure if they were trying to take down the men and get the ship back, or just take down the ship in general. The old ‘if we can’t have it nobody can’ bit.
Whatever the case, the larger plasma weapons on the deck of the ship were still intact, and those assholes were coming dangerously close to hitting them.
“Fuck,” I growled. “We need to take them out before they do any more damage.”
“I can get through that concrete,” Bailey said. “But it will take a couple of shots.”
“That’s no good,” I said, and I pursed my lips. “If it takes more than one shot, then they’ll just move down further.”
“Right.” My sniper frowned. “So, what’s our plan?”
“Is there any way we can get to them from here?” Anna asked.
“They’re hidden just like we are,” Hammer said. “We need to get them out of hiding somehow.”
“We have one of the grenade launchers in the jeep,” Anna said. “Will it reach across the water?”
“It might.” I nodded. We were a decent ways across the river, and with the darkness, it was difficult to tell the exact distance, but it was worth a try.
“I’ll be right back,” Anna said, and she slipped away.
The NK soldiers on the other side of the water continued to fire at the ship, and I knew it was only causing damage that we wouldn’t be able to repair. The grenade launcher was a good idea, but we needed to deter them.
“Everybody get your plasma guns and start shooting,” I instructed.
“What?” Paige asked, and she looked at me with eyes narrowed with concern.
“We need to draw their attention away from the ship,” I explained. “Now shoot.”
“Fuck, okay,” Paige said nervously, and she reached down and yanked her plasma gun off her hip.
Everyone else did the same, and we started to fire at the concrete area the NK soldiers were hidden behind.
They stopped firing at the ship for a second when they realized they were being attacked from somewhere else. Unfortunately, the blue lights went both ways. They alerted us to the presence of the NK soldiers, but it did the same for them.
There was no hiding when we were using the plasma weapons.
Once they figured out where we were at, they started firing in our direction instead of the direction of the ship. I guess they figured the ship wasn’t going anywhere, and they were right.
Usually, the sailors operating the ship would steer it away, or fire somehow, but the men on duty weren’t experienced sailors, and the larger plasma weapons were too out in the open for them to get to safety under fire.
It seemed the NK soldie
rs had figured that out, too, because they decided to come after us first, which was exactly what I wanted.
They were right, the ship wasn’t going anywhere, but we weren’t, either, and as long as they weren’t continuing to do damage to the ship, my plan was working. The concrete here was thick enough to protect us for quite a while, and we had plasma weapons just like they did, so this battle could go on for days.
It didn’t take long for Anna to return with the grenade launcher. The redhead knelt down next to me and loaded the machine, then she looked over at me and nodded.
“It’s ready,” she said.
“Good,” I told her. “We’ll give you some cover fire, only lift it up as far as you need to.”
“Right,” she agreed.
Just as I was about to give the order, the soldiers on the other side of the water started to fire at us continuously.
We ducked behind the barrier, and I could feel the impact of the plasma beams hitting the concrete. Some smoke and debris flew up from behind us, and I glanced over at Hammer.
The man’s eyes were serious, and he gave me a hard nod.
I could tell he’d been in this type of situation before, and it made me respect him that much more.
“You guys okay over there, Lieutenant?” the voice came through the radio again.
“We’re good,” Hammer said into the walkie. “As soon as they let up, you start firing, and don’t be surprised if you see an explosion.”
“Roger that,” the SEAL replied through the crackle of the walkie talkie.
We waited a moment more while the NK soldiers gave us everything they had, then, as soon as there was a split second of a break, I shot up and began to fire repeatedly. I’d never fired the plasma gun so quickly, and I hoped it wouldn’t overheat or something, but right then that was a chance I had to take. We couldn’t let these assholes get control of the water again.
The girls and Hammer hopped up and began to fire as well, and once we had some good cover fire going, Anna jolted up, and I heard the loud thud sound of the grenade launcher going off.
We continued to fire at the concrete across from us, but after a few seconds, the grenade exploded. It hit the barrier and went off with a loud bang and a blast of fire, but it didn’t make it far enough over the barrier that I could say for sure the soldiers were dead, or even injured.
