The team and I were working on a team-building exercise at a paintball arena. It was down to Arrow and I, and whoever won wouldn’t have to participate in a grueling workout afterward. I had already worked out this morning and did not want to endure Chief’s workout. The man was a machine, and he really knew how to kick our asses.
“Eat a bag of dicks, Arrow!” I bit back, moving silently behind a cushioned pillar.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, no need to be a sore loser, B,” he taunted.
“Get ‘em, Badge!” Buddha cheered, breaking the silence in the group.
“My money is on Badger,” Zombie confirmed.
“Same,” Phantom agreed.
“Y’all have little faith in me! Do I need to remind you who got you out, Z?” Arrow complained.
“Only because my gun jammed!” Zombie refuted.
“It’s because they know who is better!” I teased.
Movement caught my eye as I slowly moved to the next pillar. Before questioning myself, I moved swiftly behind anotherobstacle and aimed my gun at Arrow’s shoulder, then down to his butt. He was so preoccupied going back and forth with the team that he didn’t notice me getting closer to him.
With almost miraculous accuracy, I shot the gun and hit Arrow in the asscheek. He yowled in pain as the yellow paintball exploded on his rear.
“Fuck!” he cursed. He grabbed his cheek and hobbled around, the team laughing from the sidelines. He turned to me and frowned, looking like a sad puppy. “You couldn’t have shot where the padding was?”
I smirked. “Next time, don’t be a pain in the ass!”
The team all laughed, and for a minute, my mind was clear from all of the stress of finding Lily. Two years of dead ends and close calls, but never close enough to find her.
THREE
MACHINE
I stared into the mirror, examining the scars that littered my torso and arms. Although they were covered with ink, I could still see them for what they were. Some would call them “battle wounds” or “scars.” To me, they were a reminder of what I had lost seven years ago.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. The nagging sound of something beeping in the distance immediately irritated me. I groaned as the light of the sterile hospital room came into view.
My head felt like someone was stabbing it with a dull knife. “I was beginning to think you were going to take up all the beauty sleep from the rest of us,fratello.”
The sound of my childhood best friend’s voice let me know I was alive and back stateside from Afghanistan. I was back, but they weren’t. I blinked my eyes a few more times to adjust to the bright lights above me.
Meeting my best friend’s eyes, piercing me with so much emotion, I almost had to look away.
“How bad is it?” I asked, knowing I didn’t have to explain further.
Kade leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Well, the doctors say it's a miracle that you survived after having that much metal sent into your body.”
I looked down at my bandaged arms and tried to remember what had happened before I blacked out.
“Only took three tours for my mortality to be tested,” I joked dryly.
Kade let out a humorless laugh. “We’ll get you fixed up, buddy. Don’t worry.”
If only I believed him. Nothing would change the loss and guilt that threatened to consume me.
“The others?” I croaked out.
Kade looked down at the floor and clenched his jaw, then looked back up at me and shook his head. “I’m sorry, man. They didn’t make it.”
Memories of my squadmate’s strawberry-blonde hair, freckles dusting her cheeks, and panicked green eyes flooded my mind. The beeping got more intense as more memories of what happened before I got here overwhelmed me.
