2
Carter
Shivering in the November chill, Carter walked back to the Les DesChamps base with his friends. Tyler was half carrying Leo, who had just spent the majority of his paycheck on alcohol.
"I should have won," Carter complained.
Leo flung an arm around his shoulders. "You were great," he said.
His alcohol-laced breath made Carter gag.
"Hold on," his friend slurred. "Gotta use the men's room." He staggered over to a pile of trash. "Hold me up," he said as he unbuttoned his pants, swaying.
Carter propped his friend up as Leo watered the garbage heap. Carter heard something rustling in the trash pile.
Leo yelled, "It's a rat! It's going to bite my—"
"It's not a rat," Carter said as the animal nosed its way out of the garbage pile. "It’s a dog!"
"That is the ugliest dog I've ever seen," said Tyler.
"Here, pup pup!" Carter called, bending down and holding his hand out for the dog to sniff. The little white dog crept over to him, shivering.
"She's probably cold," he said. "You're so skinny!"
The dog looked ill. It was missing an eye and part of an ear, and it walked with a limp due to an amputated front leg.
"What’s her name, do you reckon?" Tyler asked as Leo pitched forward and landed face-first in the urine-soaked garbage pile.
Carter picked up the dog with one hand and used the other to help Tyler haul Leo up. Gagging from the smell, the men slowly started the walk of shame back to base.
"I think I'm going to call her Maggot," Carter said. "She's little and white."
Tyler nodded. "Makes sense to me."
"Should we do a rideshare?" Carter asked.
"Not with that animal and Pukey McPuke-Face over here. A walk is good. It's not that long. We'll sober up in time for PT," Tyler replied.
The sun was just starting to rise as the guard at the gate greeted them. They weren't allowed to have pets in the barracks, so Carter shoved the dog down the front of his pants.
"I bet we make it back just in time for PT," Tyler said.
Leo yawned and stretched as he handed over his ID. "Nice walk."
"We carried you through most of it," Tyler said with a glare.
The guard waved them through, not asking about the bulge in Carter's pants. He and his friends jogged the rest of the way back to the barracks and changed for PT.
"This sucks," Carter said under his breath as their lieutenant stood in front of them, practically dancing on the balls of his feet as he gave some stupid motivational speech.
"At least you're almost out," Tyler whispered him. "Couple more months, and you're a free man."
"I won't miss this place for one minute," Carter said as they all started off on the morning run.
Carter could smell the alcohol wafting off of Leo's sweat as they walked back to the barracks after the lieutenant released them.
"I think you might have a drinking problem," he told his friend.
