AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kane inhaled a sharp breath. Ricky was the youngest of the group, the one they all considered their kid brother.
He’d been with Kane for two months now, learning everything he could from the experienced marine. The kid was like a sponge, eager to absorb anything Kane would feed him.
He knew he came from a big family who didn’t much care for him, but when he joined the marines, he’d finally found the close-knit bond he’d been searching for. It was such a close parallel of his own past that the two had become inseparable.
Now Ricky’s life lay in his hands.
Tears of desperation stung his eyes as he dug out the rubble, shouting for help though none came. Maybe they couldn’t hear him. Maybe they were all dead. Whatever it was, Kane was alone with Ricky when the ground suddenly shifted beneath his feet.
He knew without looking that the surrounding buildings had started to crumble once more.
Ricky’s eyes were pinned on him. The world slowed to a crawl as an unspoken thought came between them. Both knew it immediately, but neither could find it in them to say the words.
They had run out of time.
“Go,” Ricky cried weakly, wheezing, refusing to allow Kane to suffer the same fate.
But Kane could not move his feet.
He couldn’t leave his brother to die, not when he was so close to saving him. He’d gotten one of Ricky’s arms free now. It was crushed in several places and sat there limply, but it was free. He only needed a little more time. A few more minutes and he would have him out.
With a frenzied war cry, he made a Herculean effort to continue his efforts when with a rumble that made the ground move, the top of the building started coming down toward them.
“You can’t save me, Kane. You’ve got to go! GO!”
Kane froze, his mind desperate to find a solution, but there were none. His eyes filled with guilt and anguish.
“It’s been an honor, Brother.”
Ricky shot him a resigned smile as Kane backed away. When the building came down onto Ricky, he bolted, moving as fast as his legs could carry him.
He could barely see, blinded by the tears that streaked his face. His heart was numb, his mind destroyed. It was too much.
It was all too much.
He was still running when he had cleared the village, their screams and devastated cries an indelible soundtrack that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
He fell to the ground, so exhausted that he couldn’t move. He was at mercy to this hostile world, but he didn’t care anymore. Nothing mattered. Nothing would ever matter again.
But then a great weight came over him.
A pressure that covered him from head to toe. Rather than induce further panic, the weight seemed to comfort him. It was soft and warm.
It was familiar.
Kane opened his eyes to see neon stars blinking down at him. It took a moment to realize that they weren’t real: these stars didn’t rest in the midnight sky. These stars he had stuck onto the ceiling of the trailer for the very nights he would wake in a blind panic like this.
They were a visible reminder that the past was just that: he was safe and there was nothing to fear.
Bud’s breath blew into his face, providing yet more comfort as his tongue snaked out to lick the tears that had escaped from his eyes.
His heart still pounded in his chest, his body unable to discern the difference between the nightmare flashback he regularly suffered from and the reality that he was safe, far away from the terrors of war.
He stared at his dog, letting the love he felt for him calm the turmoil inside.
He didn’t know when this had started.
Soon after he had brought Bud home, he had woken in the middle of another of his night terrors to find his new dog lying on top of him. Somehow, Bud had sensed that he needed him, that his very presence was able to calm him through the ordeal. Like the weighted blankets used by the Autistic community, Bud would lie on top of him until he eventually fell asleep again.
