When the Well Runs Dry
by
Kristin E. Monteith
SMASHWORDS EDITION
* * * * *
PUBLISHED BY:
Kristin E. Monteith on Smashwords
When the Well Runs Dry
Copyright © 2011 by Kristin E. Monteith
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* * * * *
I could only explain this overwhelming heat as burning. My unnecessarily dark uniform was wet with sweat and clung to my skin uncomfortably. I tried to concentrate on my slow march to get my mind off the heat, but unfortunately the dull routine was too monotonous to do anything but drain my energy.
“It sure is hot, huh?” Hughs said as he walked up from behind, giving me a firm pat on the shoulder.
“I suppose you can say that, sir.” I kept my gaze straight ahead, knowing that if I turned his way I’d only see the massive sun.
“Marcus, I may be older than you, but we’re the same rank. There’s no need for you to go and call me ‘sir’.” Hughs marched along side me, simultaneously taking off his own hat and resting it on my head. With the sun finally out of my eyes I could see the smirk on Hughs’ face as he broke stride and went back to the other side of our patrolling area.
“Patrol will be over soon, just give it back at dinner,” Hughs shouted over his shoulder. I stopped for a second, tempted to shout back my thanks but by the time I turned around, he had already gone around the corner.
I looked over the dam wall and out to the water. It was a rare sight these days to see a peaceful body of water, yet I could never enjoy it. Sure we had been fighting over this one precious source for years now, but it was still here and a permanent reason to feud.
* * * * *
“Raymond, you and Montag have level 12 patrol since you had level 1 this afternoon,” Kenneth said as he sat across from me at the table. The dining hall was full of a quiet buzz, soldiers of all sorts mixed together to complain about all of the miscellaneous struggles of the day.
“Guess all that time out in the heat earned us some time in the shade,” Hughs said, giving my shoulder a small tap. I nodded silently, my mouth full of whatever had been carelessly slopped on my plate.
Hughs was playing with his hat that I had returned and then tossed it across to the table, landing it in Jonas’ lap. He looked up confused, staring at Hughs suspiciously.
“What? If me and Marcus here have the lowest level, that means you and Greg have level 1,” Hughs pointed out.
“Then why not loan your hat out to Greg?” Jonas asked.
“Well between you and him, you have the fairest skin. You’re so pale, I bet just being out in the sun for a few hours will make you as red as a lobster.” Offended, Jonas threw the hat back over to Hughs, who caught it just before it fell into his food.
“Hey now, my kids sent me this hat,” Hughs complained as he checked to make sure it had suffered no harm.
“If it’s so important to you, then don’t just go offering it to other people,” Jonas retorted, pouting over his pale-ness.
“I’m just trying to be nice. You know, sharing is caring,” Hughs said, inciting a small chuckle from all at the table.
I had already spent a few months with these four guys yet the only one I ever had a real conversation with was Hughs, mainly because he practically forces you to talk. The other three, Commander Kenneth O’Brien, Gregory Rand, and Jonas Galt, seemed to understand that I wasn’t exactly talkative. But otherwise, being with them was pleasant enough and I could bear my life as a useless soldier.
“Jonas, let’s get going now or else we won’t have time for you to put on sunscreen,” Greg said as he rose. Without another word, Greg left, carrying his tray over to the trash chute.
“God, just because I’m the youngest doesn’t mean that I need a big brother telling me what to do,” Jonas mumbled as he dutifully followed behind Greg.
“Commander, what’s your job for this evening?” Hughs asked, trying to strike a conversation that would hold off patrol.
“The same as always, Montag. To make sure you are doing your job. So hurry up and finish so you can go on patrol.” And with that Kenneth got up to leave, walking off in something between a march and smooth stride.
“And then there were two,” Hughs said dully, obviously disappointed that his plan failed.
“Well then, we’d better get down to patrol,” I said as I got up, taking Hughs tray as well and dumping them both down the chute. Hughs sighed and followed behind as we went towards the stairs and down to level 12.
* * * * *
“Marcus, I’m bored.” Hughs kept an even stride as we marched evenly to one side of the hall and then the other.
“Would you rather be on dish duty?”
“Well when you put it that way, I guess walking down here isn’t too bad. But hey, why not use this time to get to know one another better. So, where you from?” Hughs asked, curiosity lighting his eyes.
“Pennsylvania.”
“What? Is that all you have to say?” Hughs asked after a brief silence.
“You asked where I’m from, I gave you an answer.” I knew I sounded rather cold, but I wanted to avoid thoughts of home.
“Fine by me. You mind if I talk then?” Hughs looked over towards me and I shook my head no, feeling as if it’d be a shame for the two of us to just continue marching in this dull silence.
“Good. I live out in New York, far out from the city. Both Rebecca, my wife, and I met in the city though but we decided that we wanted James and Stephanie to grow up in a small town. So we moved when James was born and Steph came five years later.” Hughs paused, pulling out a picture from his pocket of his wife and children smiling happily.
“See James here is going into fourth grade and Steph is in preschool now. The two are always bringing home something from school. And Rebecca works as a high school English teacher though it was always her dream to be a writer, but she decided on her back up until she gets published,” Hughs rambled on and on, giving me his whole family background.
“You must really love them,” I said flatly, unfamiliar with his fatherly love.
“Of course, they’re my family. They’re the reason I’m here, if I can’t protect them at home I should at least be able to protect them out here. What about you?” Hughs asked. I was confused about what he was asking, but decided he meant what I was fighting for.
“I came here because I’m too chicken to watch my mom have to stand in line just for some water.” Hughs paused for a second, barely stopping in our march.
“Well, chickens love too.”
And with that we both kept quiet, letting the silence engulf us and kill our conversation. Thoughts of the family I had abandoned control of my mind, which left me feeling numb and guilty. I reached to my pocket and clutched the letter from home I received earlier that day and fingered the unopened envelope, tempted to tear it open. But in the end, I just left the letter be, forever to stay folded up in my pocket.
“It’s too quiet,” Hughs said suddenly serious.
“What do you mean? We’re at the lowest floor, there’s nothing down here but the pipes.”
“Exactly. I don’t hear any water going through those pipes, do you?” I stopped to listen, suddenly noticing what Hughs was talking about.
“Well maybe they’re fixing the pipes,” I said, shrugging it off and continued on.
“There’s no way they’d do that and not inform anyone,” Hughs said, still standing in place, surveying the dark hall.
“Well there’s nothing we can do. Unless you want us to go find Commander O’Brien and report.”
“We might-“ Hughs started, cut off by a loud bang coming from the floor above us. Rumble fell and the lights flickered while distant screams and shouts ran through my ears accompanied by a roaring siren. A flashing red light lined the hall, swallowing up everything with its eerie glow.
“Come on!” Hughs yelled, as he pulled me along behind him from my sleeve. We rushed towards the stair case, and while I cautiously opened the door, Hughs grabbed the guns that sat on the rack by the wall. The stairs seemed to shake as various bombs went off above and bits of gravel fell all around. Pushing me forward, Hughs ran me up the stairs, placing a gun in my hands as he ran ahead of me.
I instinctively followed, not taking the time to think of how I could run away. We ran up the stairs silently, yet the noise of war seemed to be louder than our silence.
After three flights of stairs, we hit a literal dead end. The stairs had collapsed, leaving one dead, unrecognizable soldier there as a warning that there was no way to get past the rubble the stairs had become.
Hughs mumbled some select words under his breath and turned back around to find the door to level 10. The door was jammed and it took our combined effort to break through. The whole hall was covered in dust and blood. Sounds of guns and falling wall overwhelmed my ears and for a brief second I couldn’t hear Hughs yell for me to follow.
We rushed into action, suddenly in the middle of the fight. Bodies fell from both sides and I fought the urge to see which vaguely familiar face was lying on the floor as I passed. Different soldiers ran past me, guns at the ready, aimed at an unknown enemy.
But then I was the one face to face with this “unknown enemy”. He was running in my direction, his gun aimed directly towards my head. But I had frozen, fingering my own gun that I was too afraid to use.
The guy fell, joining the rest of the dead and bleeding bodies, with two holes through his head. I looked behind me, trying to figure out who had shot the guy for me. Both Hughs and Kenneth stood, just bringing down their guns.
“Montag, take Raymond and go find the other two. I’ll take care of everything down here,” Kenneth said before taking off, gun at the ready.
“Marcus, it’s your life or theirs. Our job isn’t just to patrol anymore.”
I nodded, griping my gun tightly. I knew what he was trying to tell me, I can’t afford to be a chicken anymore, because I’d hurt even more by dying here without a word.
We ran. Taking corners and going up stairs I hadn’t known existed. We went through dark halls and stairs that looked as if they hadn’t been visited in years. But no matter how far we had gone from the original bombing site, the sounds of war carried everywhere. For the most part the halls were vacant, but once or twice we came across one of the “invaders” and had no choice but to shot to kill.
Then we were back in the middle of everything, Hughs looking for Jonas and Greg and me covering him. I had shot six men at least and my mind was turning numb at any thoughts of my past morals.
Finally we found Greg and Jonas, both hiding behind a pile of rubble, taking shots in turn. Hughs jumped down to join them and I followed suit.
“Commander Kenneth wanted me to get you two and evacuate.”
“He’s an idiot if he thinks I’m leaving, our duty is to protect this base. You take Jonas and Marcus out the back way. I’ll go find the Commander and we’ll meet up on the west side of level 1,” Greg said in a rush. The two’s faces were so serious that I could no longer hope that this was a dream. They seemed to concoct a plan without any other words.
“We left him at level 10. Jonas, Marcus. We’re leaving in four.” Though Hughs acted as if his plan was full proof, I couldn’t figure whether he meant seconds or minutes. We fired, each in turn, four shots ringing amongst all the others and then Hughs was up.
I followed Hughs and Jonas followed me. Between the two of them, I no longer had to fire and I took relief that I could hide for this short time. But my pride hit me, and I wondered if Jonas really was the youngest out of the group.
When finally opened the door to level 1, it was surprisingly bright. A helicopter flew over the dam, blowing down waves of wind and sending down a blinding light.
Hughs motioned for us to squat down and hide behind the door. Quietly he took aim and shot out the copter’s light, letting the night engulf our world. There were screams and shots from above and bullets were suddenly flying through the air.
“Keep quiet. Stick close to the wall and keep down. We’ll each go in turns. Marcus, you’ll go first and stop at the half point. Jonas, you’ll start in ten, then I’ll go in another ten. We’ll meet at the half way.”
Without another word I went off silently, keeping low and clinging to the wall. The night was silent and the shots seemed to have decreased, but rather than feeling relived, the silence put me on edge.
I reached my stopping point with no problems, except those that spun ‘round in my head. I waited for ten silent seconds, prepared to fire. But nothing happened.
Anxious I sent a shot towards the helicopter, praying that the only reason I was alone was because Hughs was counting shots instead of seconds.
A hand reached out and grabbed my gun. Pulling back, I pointed it towards the mysterious person, only to find it was Hughs propping up an injured Jonas.
“What happened?”
“It’s nothing, Hughs is just over reacting,” Jonas said, moving so that he could lean against the wall instead of Hughs.
“He got shot in the leg because he waited ten seconds,” Hughs said solemnly.
“Well, who in the world would think ten would mean ten shots?” Jonas asked in a yelled whisper.
“Marcus got it, that’s why he sent up a tenth shot.”
“Whatever,” Jonas mumbled, rubbing at his sore leg.
“I could at least patch up the wound, but not until we get to the other side of the dam,” I said, trying to see his leg through the shroud of darkness.
“It’s too risky to do it now anyways. How you holdin’ up, Jonas?” Hughs asked, squinting through the dark.
“I told you, I’m fine. Let’s just hurry up and get to the other side.”
So we did just that. I led, Jonas right behind me, holding on to my shoulder with one hand and holding the wall with the other, and then Hughs followed from behind. We went slowly, afraid that if we went too quickly Jonas would strain himself and blow our cover.
Once we reached the tall, mountainous end of the dam, Hughs motioned over the edge. Down the side of the dam was a rod ladder that went straight down. There was barely any cover, but in the night it was highly unlikely that we’d be spotted. But with Jonas’ bad leg, the likelihood that we’d take too much time going down was high.
“Hughs, we can’t. Jonas won’t be able to mange for too long.”
“Hey, I said I was fine. I don’t need to be babied all the time,” Jonas said, jumping over the wall and slowly making his way down the steps. Hughs and I exchanged a look, sharing the thought that he was an idiot, and then followed him down.
“Found you!” I looked up and into the barrel of a gun pointed down at all three of us. But before I even realized that I couldn’t even grab my gun without falling, there was a shot. The guy fell forward and landed with a hard splat on the concrete edge below.
“You guys sure are lucky!” Greg bellowed down to us. Though I couldn’t see it, I felt Hughs’ huge sigh of relief as both Greg and Kenneth headed down towards us.
Once we all reached the bottom, Jonas collapsed down, inciting a look of worry from Greg. I leaned him up against the dam wall and pulled up his pants’ leg to get a good look at the wound.
“How bad is it?” Greg asked, obviously worried about the kid who he had taken on as his little brother.
“Luckily it only skidded through the side. Give me a knife or something,” I said, focusing on treating the wound with my basic knowledge. Once I was handed a Swiss army knife, I cut through Jonas pants, cutting up small pieces of fabric, tying one over the injury and the other above. I pulled out my jug of water and handed it to him. He thankfully took a sip, only vaguely aware that he couldn’t have all of it. He stopped himself grudgingly and handed it back to me, mumbling some thanks.
“That should keep him for awhile since it’s not too bad.”
“Well, all’s well that ends well. So what are your orders Commander?” Hughs asked, trying to make light of a tense situation.
“Of course we need to leave Marcus here to watch Jonas and go back with just the three of us,” Greg said, earning a glare from Kenneth.
“Did you lose your head on the way down here? We had enough trouble getting out with our lives, there’s no way that we could back in and do anything productive,” Kenneth said, his voice rising with each word. I finally took notice that Jonas wasn’t the only one wounded. Both Greg and Kenneth were covered in scrapes and bruises and blood, but I couldn’t tell if it was theirs or another’s.
“He’s right Greg. It’s likely that whoever invaded took over the base. We’re probably the only lucky few who made it out alive,” Hughs said and slowly walked off.
“Hughs I didn’t say you could go!” Kenneth yelled.
“Well, I’m not going to stay here until they find and kill us. I’d much rather take my chances out there,” Hughs said without turning around. Kenneth started walking towards him, then stopped and took a look at the sky, as if he could see some answer up there.
“Idiot! If you’re trying to survive out here, you should at least go south,” Kenneth said making an abrupt turn. Hughs finally turned around with a smile and followed behind Kenneth.
“Where’s the honor in running away?” Greg mumbled as he helped Jonas up, lending him his shoulder. As they all went off, I took one second to stare back up at the dam. It was oddly silent and I could barely hear the sound of the rushing water from the other side. It wasn’t exactly a sad sight, but knowing what had happened inside, I couldn’t help but turn away scared.
* * * * *
We were heading south, according to Kenneth. To be frank Kenneth could be leading us to hell and I wouldn’t be the wiser. Every direction looked the same to me and I could no longer tell which way we had come from. Kenneth kept saying we’d run into water some time or another, but I was beginning to think the heat was getting to him. We’d been walking through a forest for hours now, but not once had I seen a green, healthy tree. Everything was dead and dry, which sucked out all our energy.
“Commander O’Brien, we need to stop and check Jonas’ wound.” Greg looked back at me, nodding as he sat Jonas down against a tree.
“Raymond, I’m good.” I ignored Jonas and took off the make shift bandages. The wound was still red but had luckily stopped bleeding. With no better idea I spat on the cleanest of rags and began to rub the area near the wound. Jonas made a face, but kept quiet, cringing whenever I got too close to his wound.
“He’ll be good.” I got up and held my hand out so Jonas could get up.
“See, I told y’all I’d be fine.” Jonas took my hand and got up. Greg took a minute to look over him skeptically. After awhile, Greg turned and kept walking.
“Is that all the break we get?” Hughs asked, slowly getting up from where he had seated himself.
“Yes,” Kenneth said, already far ahead.
“Well can’t we at least strike up a conversation? The silence is killing me.” Hughs dragged his feet as he followed behind everyone.
“There’s nothing to talk about, except the heat,” Greg said, sticking right to Jonas’ side.
“Oh I’m sure I can think of something. So who out of us has got a girl waiting back home?” Hughs caught up with everyone, so that now I was the one lagging behind.
“My girlfriend is waiting for me back in Kentucky,” Jonas said bashfully. Despite his grown up attitude it was obvious that Jonas was still a kid and didn’t know much about life, but I wasn’t much older so I couldn’t talk.
“Sweet puppy love,” Hughs mocked earning a well deserved glare from Jonas. I chuckled at the two of them, which sadly brought the attention back on me.
“How ‘bout you, Marcus? Got a girl you’re head over heels for?”
“No, I’ve spent most of my years helpin’ out with the fam.”
“Booooooring,” Hughs said, elongating the ‘o’ to exaggerate.
“Hughs stop with the stupid questions…And that’s an order,” Kenneth said. I was amazed he could hear us as far ahead as he was, but assumed his years working in the military had trained him for it.
“Fine …. Commander, have you ever thought of your last words?”
“Didn’t I tell you to stop with the stupid questions!” Kenneth turned round and made as if he was going to hit Hughs but purposely missed him by an inch.
“Aw, now come on. I don’t think it’s a stupid question.”
“It is stupid. How are you going to remember what you want to say on the brink of death?” Greg pointed out, turning back to his usual sarcastic self since Jonas was no longer in immediate danger.
“But if you could pick out your last words here and now, what would you say so you wouldn’t die with any regrets?”
“Thank God I know what I’m dying for.” Jonas said, not skipping a beat. But somehow it made everyone pause and turn to look at him. After a moment everyone started walking again, this time following the injured Jonas who just showed us all up. The kid, who was really only 19, always had the knack of saying the right things. His one little sentence brought to mind all the reasons why I joined the military, specifically those that I had purposely forgotten.
* * * * *
We stopped to sleep the night through, however my mind was just as restless as it had been during battle. I sat by the fire, keeping quiet so as not to wake the others up, just watching the stars through the bare tree limbs.
I reached back into my pocket and pulled out the letter. Thinking about Jonas’ words, I slowly opened it and dumped out all the contents. There was a small picture of my mom and my two siblings, Monica and Chris. They all smiled up at me and I could almost picture Mom huddling them all in front of the camera saying something like ‘show Marcus how much we love him with our smiles’. The letter held dog tags within its folds, one for each member of the family, including my run away dad. I undid the clasp and threw the tag with my father’s name into the fire, ready to watch it burn away the past memories that were trapped inside my mind.
But a hand quickly reached through the flames and grabbed the tag.
“What’d you do that for?” Hughs asked as he sat down beside me, waving his hand in the air to cool it off.
“I should be asking you that.” I wanted to yell at Hughs for his idiocy, but with the others sleeping I had to settle for a dull roar.
“You got this from your family, right?
“Doesn’t mean you should burn your arm for it.”
“You’ll regret throwing it away. No matter what this…Ethan Raymond has done.” Hughs had paused to read the inscription then handed it back over to me. It was hot in my hands so I quickly placed it back on the chain to humor Hughs.
“Is your hand hurt?”
“Nah, its fine.”
We sat in silence, me staring down at the tags and Hughs blowing on his hand as if it would help.
“So, what’d the letter say?”
“I haven’t read it yet.” And so I turned back to the letter. Mom’s smooth handwriting covered the page telling tales of how Monica had brought a worm to show and tale and how Chris ran a homerun. She then on explained that the dog tags were meant to identify a person, but my identity was based on my family. The letter was signed with love by everyone and though the letter didn’t contain anything heart retching, I still felt tears form at the corner of my eyes.
“So why’d you throw the tag in the fire?”
“It’s my dad’s. He wasn’t exactly the loving father type, if you catch my drift.” I hated talking about my dad, it had nothing to do with my life now.
“Well he is still your dad. You know he’s done at least one thing right.”
“Really? What’s that?”
“He had you as a son.” And with that Hughs got back up and went over to where he had been sleeping before. I wanted to say something, but I never really had the words to say anything. Not many people had ever told me I was something right.
* * * * *
Once we had gotten up we walked. We’d all ran out of water and it was only a matter of time before one of us dropped of heat exhaustion. It seemed as if we had been walking for days, but I knew that in reality it had only been two days after the explosion.
“Montag have you noticed any change?” Kenneth asked suddenly. He stopped and the rest of us followed suit.
“Yeah, you keep calling me by my last name. You know you can call me Hughs.”
Kenneth glared at Hughs, who just sighed and looked back around.
“This area is a whole lot greener. So we must be close to some kind of water source, right?” Hughs said in a serious tone. Kenneth nodded and pulled at his gun that had been draped over his shoulder.
We continued slowly, tension in the air. If there was water near-by there had to be people around too and if we didn’t know about it, it was likely these people weren’t on our side.
Sure enough, we could soon hear running water. My mouth began to drool and I started to realize how hot I had been. By this time most of us had taken off our jackets and tore our pants into shorts, all except Kenneth who had been too stubborn to go against protocol.
Kenneth motioned us to crouch down and I suddenly knew that he had already figured out what was behind the bushes that blocked our way to the water. Kenneth motioned to Hughs and Greg with a series of hand gestures, they both nodded. Jonas and I exchanged looks of confusion. They had obviously formed some kind of plan and already pre-calculated what we would do.
Hughs held up 5 fingers to Jonas and I. I took a deep breath, still not adapted to ‘battling’. We each took turns loading our guns, slowly and silently so as not to be heard by the strangers beyond the bushes. Once we were all ready, we silently counted down.
5. I held my breath, not exactly ready to take yet another person’s life.
4. My clothes already seemed to drip with sweat.
3. Greg shuffled anxiously. In retrospect this was probably better than walking aimlessly.
2. Looking over to Hughs, I saw a solemn face that I could have never before pictured him wearing.
1. One more big deep breath
And Kenneth and Greg were gone through the bushes. Hughs stopped Jonas and I from following. Five different shots were fired from varying directions before he went through and we followed.
Once I broke free from the green barrier I saw the clear blue water and across from that, a hut like building. The shoots were coming from across the lake and I could barely see anyone, let alone figure out where to take aim.
“Just aim in the general area,” Hughs shouted, as if he could read my mind.
I took shots towards the hut, hoping to hit somebody but still wishing no one died. There was a point when all I could hear was one gun shot after another. Then everything suddenly stopped.
“Quick, let’s go over and check ‘em!” Kenneth shouted, running around the side of the pound. Jonas and Greg ran after him, but Hughs was staggering on the edge to the pond.
With adrenaline still pumping through my blood I rushed over to him. He clutched at his chest, but despite his efforts I could still see the blood. I pulled away his armed and ripped away his shirt so I could see the wound. In a frantic rush I rushed to the lake and curled my hands to collect enough water to clean the wound. But no matter how much water I got it couldn’t wash away all the blood. I pressed down on the wound trying to stop the bleeding but it was as futile as trying to stop the tears.
“Marcus, just give me a sip of water.” His voice was weak, but I did as he requested cupping my hands to get some water and giving it to Hughs in return.
“God, I’d almost forgotten what water tasted like.”
“Now Montag, let’s get over to the others.” I was just about to drag him up and over, praying he’d make it that long.
“No, I won’t make it. But since I was the one to bring up last words I feel a little pressured in to saying something great,” Hughs said with a chuckle. I shook my head, still not willing to give up.
“Don’t waste your energy. Maybe those guys here have some first aid stuff we can use,” I said in a mumbled rush.
“You know I always figured I’d just steal somebody’s words, like ‘life’s a gamble at terrible odds’ or something stupid like ‘I’ll be back’. But I’d rather just get you to promise me something.” I nodded, wiping the tears from my eyes.
“I’d like you to go see my family and tell them how much I missed them and all that cheesy junk.” Hughs was laughing weakly, but we both knew he was using up his last few breaths.
“Montag, thanks.” I really couldn’t think of much to say, but no matter what I had to get across how much Hughs meant to me.
“You’ll like the kids once you meet them, they’ve got this bright disposition that’ll make anyone smile and Rebecca’s got this great family recipe for…” Hughs’ voice trailed off just as his eyes began to flutter closed.
And that was it.
* * * * *
“There are flares and radios in here!” Jonas shouted from the hut as I slowly treaded towards it. Kenneth gave one look at me and raised an eyebrow.
“Montag?” I shook my head and that was the end of the discussion.
We took turns going in and out of the small storage hut, treating our wounds, getting cups for water, and even tuning the radio. Eventually we were able to connect to a US station and could call for help.
The time went by dully, as if we had just finished some exciting adventure but had nothing left to do. None of us really talked and we just kept after ourselves. We exchanged very few words, and I began to notice Hughs was the only reason any of us had talked to begin with
Jonas had helped me carry Hughs’ body up so that once we were rescued we could return his body back to his family. I thought this was something Hughs would want, but Greg and Kenneth seemed to just shake their heads and turn away.
* * * * *
It took days for a small helicopter to come rescue us. But seeing as we had water and some food we were perfectly fine waiting. Rather than being returned to our homes or be reassigned to another base, we were taken to the capital and receive honors and the title of heroes. Hughs on the other hand was ‘shipped’ home, though his family would be given the “honor” to attend the ceremony.
The idea of us becoming heroes took on differently with each of us. Jonas seemed secretly thrilled with the idea. Greg only seemed satisfied with the idea in and of itself, but otherwise I doubt he care. This was only another ceremony he had to carry out before he could head home. Kenneth treated the honor in the stead of Hughs. He had repeated to us multiple times that Hughs would have wanted us to go through with this and that we should honor him by accepting.
I on the other hand hated the very idea. I was nothing more than a scared newbie soldier that just happened to be around the right people at the right time. I would have been killed just like all the others if Hughs hadn’t been watching my back. I deserved none of the honors they were prepared to bestow upon me, all because we had just stumbled upon a lost water source. Worst of all they expected us to give a little speech after we accepted our ‘awards’.
* * * * *
“Today we honor Commander Kenneth O’Brien and Privates Jonas Galt, Gregory Rand, and Marcus Raymond for their excellent service during the time of panic, in which they were able to bring about a great result. We also would like to honor Hughs Montag, who died in service and had worked alongside these men.” The opening speech seemed just as dull and boring as I imagined it would. He then turned to us and placed a medallion over each of our heads. We had decided to draw straws to figure who would speak first, unfortunately I drew the shortest one.
I stepped up to the microphone once my turn came. I had written multiple speeches but none of them seemed adequate. I searched the audience for familiar face and finally caught sight of my family sitting in the middle of the audience next to Hughs’ wife and children.
“A couple of weeks ago my world turned upside down. Suddenly the base was attacked and I was forced to fight for my life. At that time these guys behind me and Hughs had my back and I could never thank them enough.
All the while I’ve been thinking about this war in general. I realized that we’re no longer fighting over stupid stuff as we used to, but something necessary and vital for life. It must have been some kind of luxury to fight over something we really didn’t need. But I suppose the only thing we could fight over is stuff like that. Yet we, as people, never really appreciated that and just wasted all our water on luxuries.
But we can’t change the past, can we? /we can certainly learn from it though. I watch tons of young soldiers fall in battle because we wasted what we had. I learned how to live with barely anything while we traveled out in the forest, so I guess you can say I’ve gained perspective. If I could go days with barely anything, so can everyone else. However I know this can’t happen. All I ask is that we start treating some things with the respect they deserve. You can never truly appreciate something till it’s gone, and now that we know what water means we shouldn’t forget that lesson.
I am the last person that would ever realize any of this. I’ve always just stayed lost in my own problems. Hughs with just a few words was able to snap me out of that and I hope my few, badly put together words can do the same for you.”
There was some applause, the quiet mind blown kind where everything starts out slow and never really seems to stop because in your mind you can’t believe there had been any clapping to begin with.