Chapter 1
An annoying beep wakes me from another restless sleep.Fuck, I can’t wait to get out of this shithole. Reaching over, I grab my phone, glancing at the screen. I’m immediately blinded by the light it gives off.
“Fuck,” I groan, dimming the brightness so I can determine what the time is.
Shit, I better get dressed and out to chow before all theedible choices are gone. I rush through my morning routine, then haul ass.
Dropping my tray onto the table, I sit down with what the military considers breakfast, digging in quickly, since we have to hit the road soon. Miguel and Chad plop down beside me, giving me a quick fist bump.
“Fuck, this shit again,” Miguel grumbles, and I grunt in commiseration. “You would think the government could afford to award us with some better food. We are out here all day, every day, in this fucking heat, busting our asses, and now we have to eat this shit,” he continues.
Chad looks over and laughs. “Just put a little hot sauce on it to add some flavor,” he says with a smirk, pushing the bottle closer to us.
“Get that shit out of here.” Miguel huffs as Christopher walks in and sits down on the other side of Chad. He gives me a scoff when he sees I’ve already eaten half of mine.
“Hey, Chad,” Chris says, giving him and Miguel a fist bump before bending his head to say grace.
I watch as the other guys copy his movements and laugh under my breath. I wait ‘til they are done before leaning closer to Miguel.
“I don’t know why you guys insist on wasting your time with that, it’s not like anyone is listening,” I mutter and Miguel clenches his fist in annoyance.
“Why do you have to shit on us every time we do our thing?” he snaps. I drop my fork and lean in closer.
“Because I’ve been doing this long enough to know that if there was a higher power, then they don’t give a shit about us, so why would I return the favor?” I reply earnestly.
Chris butts in, “You might not have faith in him, but he has faith in you, Evander.”
We don’t have time for this debate again. Breaking the conversation, I stand up abruptly.
“Mount up, girls, we have to do a valley run today,” I order and they all look at each other before simultaneously saying, “FUCK!”
“I thought we were done with that fucking route,” Chad replies quickly, frustrated.
“I thought Delta company was doing that,” Christopher whines.
“Sorry, guys, Delta got pulled off it to provide additional coverage for troop movement coming into the country,” I say, grabbing my trash and moving toward the door.
“Evander, would you know if they are our replacements?” Miguel asks, bringing all eyes on me. I sigh, watching the hope in their eyes diminish.
“All I know is that the timing is about right for them to be our relief, but we all know how much Uncle Sam loves telling us one thing, then fucking us at the last minute.”
“Fuck, I hope they are. We have been in this shithole for almost a year now,” Miguel grunts before standing and tossing his trash.
“Regardless, we have a job to do, so mount up,” I say again, moving toward the exit. I don’t bother looking back, footsteps sound behind me so I know they are following, even if their steps hold a bit of hesitance. Miguel is right though, this shit is getting old.
When we get outside, I place my hat on my head. The sun blinds me for a second as the hundred and fifteendegree heat punches me in the face. Getting to the Hummer, I notice Robin in the driver’s seat ready to head out.
“Good morning,” I say, jumping in the passenger side, “didn’t see you at chow,” I continue, leering at her.
“I’m all set, Sir,” she replies, raising her travel mug full of coffee. Laughing to myself, I lean out the window. “Chad, you’re on the fifty.”
“Got it,” he replies, climbing up.
“Let’s go, ladies, we’re burning daylight. The faster we hit the road, the sooner we’re back,” I shout out the window to the others.
Miguel gets in the backseat behind me and Christopher jumps in behind Robin. We take off and head through the poor excuse of a gate into the desert. We have about a four hour drive until we get to the town that marks our return point.
Rolling through the desert,everyone in the Hummer is joking around and I notice that Robin looks on edge. “Calm down. We have done this run dozens of times before without a problem,” I shout, so she can hear me over the engine. “Just past this next ridge is the town we have to run through and we’ll be at our halfway point for this route,” I say in a failed attempt to calm her down.
