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18
Landon
Crickets chimed with the setting sun and lizards scurried off warm rocks to hide their bodies for the night. They waited on the hill overlooking the desert valley with no coverage to block them from sight. Landon knew it made Sgt. Sierra uncomfortable, the man hadn’t dropped his watch on the road, but it was the easiest location to send Sgt. Brittany coordinates to without tracking gear that wasn’t working.
Besides, it had the advantage of keeping GySgt. Fuimaono contained. He couldn’t storm down the hill in broad daylight by himself without losing the element of surprise. He may be pissed, but he was still a seasoned warrior, and wouldn’t purposefully lose the battle in a fit of rage.
Landon kept trying to close his eyes and rest in the back of the AAV with the doors open to catch the breeze. The sun had beat down hard on the metal sides of the vehicle all afternoon and whatever shade it provided had screamed with the warmth as they waited.
Sgt. Brittany’s last radio transmission over an hour ago had told of a minor skirmish on base, but he didn’t give any further details over an unsecured frequency. Protocol is ingrained.
At least you’re not catching flies. Landon raised the canteen to his lips, remembering a time a few years ago when he was deployed overseas and the black swarm of insects was so thick that he’d been able to fill plastic water bottles full of them. He sighed and tried to close his eyes again.
But just like all afternoon, baking in the Southern California desert heat, he wasn’t able to keep them shut for long without seeing an image of Tessa. And it wasn’t the calming one he’d built in his mind to get him through the hard times. The images took on a life of their own and he imagined her screaming, tearing out her fiery red hair with her fists.
He knew what stress could do to a person, distort their perception of reality, so he focused hard on drumming up mental pictures of her somewhere safe—laughing as she played with the kids, smiling over her shoulder when he asked what was for breakfast, the deep calm as she relaxed into a candlelit bath. But her face kept twisting into a feral rage unlike any she’d ever shown.
Landon blinked, deciding to keep his eyes open. Maybe he was going crazy. He set down his canteen and checked his pulse to find the steady, slow beat.
“They’re finally here.” Sgt. Sierra beat his fists against the top of the vehicle, cheering as the AAV climbed the mountain road.
GySgt. Fuimaono stopped his pacing and sat down next to Landon as he put his head in his hands. “I’m going to kill them all.”
“You sure will, Gunny.” Landon clapped him on the back. I’ll be home soon, beautiful.
“Sorry it took so long.” Sgt. Brittany poked his head up through the open driver’s hatch. The fading sun illuminated his face with a warm glow. “We had just gotten the van to base and they refused to open the gates again. Word is there is a skirmish up near the northern border with civilians breaking through the unfenced terrain. The CO’s got the base on lockdown, trying to move the troops out and explain the nuclear situation to the people trying to break in.”
GySgt. Fuimaono’s muscles twitched at this news, the internal fight tearing him apart. But by this point, Landon was too detached to care. Handle this situation and get home. His mission was as clear as day.
“What do you got for us, Gunny?” LCpl. Wallis came running out from the back of the AAV with her bandaged hand cradling her M4. Cpl. Hemming and LCpl. Launce were right behind her.
“Yeah, Gunny.” Cpl. Bailey stretched his neck from side to side as he cracked his knuckles, standing from the crew chief hatch. “What trouble are we getting into now?” GySgt. Fuimaono hesitated, looking to the junior Marines, and for the first time since he’d seen the mattress, his expression softened as the mask of anger slipped.
“I don’t know why you brought them here for this,” GySgt. Fuimaono turned, redirecting his rage at Landon.
“Are you serious?” Landon clenched his jaw.
Sgt. Sierra rested his hand on Landon’s shoulder, shooting him a worried look as he stepped out of the AAV to explain, “Gunny, we are moving into unknown territory without ariel coverage or any other intel than a gang is holed up in some house. No idea what they’re packing. No local cooperation. We need cover for recon at least. Don’t put us at a disadvantage.”
GySgt. Fuimaono paused, anger radiating from his tense muscles, as his gaze swept the second AAV and all the troops he’d already sent back to base safely with their families.
Landon saw him for who he was, and released his frustration as he whispered, “Please let them help. I don’t want to mess this up. And I want to get home to my wife.”
“Yeah, Doc really drew the short end of the stick location wise. Let’s hurry up and take care of these freaks so we can finish the mission.” Cpl. Hemming brushed past the men as he reclaimed his spot in the back of their AAV.
“Besides, Gunny,” LCpl. Wallis straightened her shoulders in determination, “you fought for us. So we fight for you.”
Are those tears in his eyes? Landon blinked, thinking he must be tired and seeing things as GySgt. Fuimaono climbed into the AAV to head to the driver seat.
“Alright then, Marines. Load up.”
The sun was dipping below the horizon leaving the stars to peek out through the night sky that was tinted hazy by the thin layer of smoke in the foothills outside Escondido and the full moon was already rising. Celestial light reflected from the granite and pyrite rocks, making the ground shine with false gems like a clear and unmuddied river years ago when settlers flocked to this barren land in search of gold.
“Why do we keep drawing the short sticks?” Sgt. Sierra muttered, so quiet Landon seemed to hear him inside his head, as the Marine pushed a prickly pear cactus away from his arm.
Belly on the ground, they slithered behind GySgt. Fuimaono’s boots, hidden by the low lying shrubs as the three men crawled to the perimeter of the property surrounded with a chain link fence. The noise of the party raging in the compound covered their movements, but Landon glanced over his shoulder and reached back to thump Sierra on the head anyway.
The two AAVs sat waiting on the hilltop, black boulders blending in with the dark horizon about a mile away but still within accurate firing range. Landon tried not to worry that this was the only cover they had on the recon mission as he continued to low crawl after Gunny, never letting the man get too far ahead.
