Intermission: In the Forest
Bob paced amongst the trees, not bothering to show any signs of relaxing. Bill
looked up from his position, sitting against a tree.
"Will you calm down?" he asked.
Bob shook his head, then stopped pacing and looked down at Bill. "How can I
be calm? Day after day, the same routine, go off to fight some Tau. No rest.
Just kill the other guy before he kills you."
"I can understand it taking a toll, Bob, but... there's something more.
You're not just tired."
"No, no. There is something more. All this death, all the friends dying.
I'm not sure I can take much more of it." Bob ran a hand through his hair,
then looked to the side. "I don't know, maybe I'm just worried about seeing
more friends die, feeling more pain."
"Keep thinking like that and you're likely to distance yourself from the
friends you've got."
Bob closed his eyes. "Maybe I should do that."
Bill jumped to his feet. "No! Don't ever think that way! No matter how bad
things get, no matter how many you see killed, you need your friends. Without
them, you have no one." Bill pointed north, toward the enemy held
territory. "Out there, there's no one who's going to show you a bit of
kindness. Not a damn soul who's going to worry about you. Here, you have people
who care. People who can help you through hard times."
Bob looked at Bill, his eyes showing tremendous pain. "But the hurt I feel
inside..."
"Is nothing new. We all have to put up with it. You think you're any
different? None of us feel pain when a friend dies?"
"No, that's not what I meant."
"Well, it sure comes out that way."
The two stood silent for a moment, then Bill broke the silence.
"Bob, I want to ask you a question. Be honest with me, okay?"
"Yeah, sure. Fire away."
"If someone came up and confessed their love for you, what would you
do?"
Bob's jaw fell open. He shook his head, then said, "What?"
"If one of the girls in the platoon came up and said, 'I love you', what
would you do? Shove them off?"
"I... I... I don't know. I mean, I can't see loving someone who I could
lose..."
"Hasn't stopped Jim and Sara. Terry and Mack. Me and Lisa. Why let it stop
you?"
"I don't think I could handle it..."
"Bullshit, Bob!" Bill stepped forward so that he was inches from Bob.
"You're afraid of how you'd feel. You don't know how to cope. I think you
just don't know what you'd do if a woman ever loved you."
"Now wait just a damned minute!" Bob shouted.
Bill brought his arm up and poked his finger into Bob's chest. "No, you
wait a minute, Bob. I'm sick of your pity attitude. You won't let yourself live,
and that's bad enough, but hoping we're all gonna' pity you for it? That's sad,
man. You can't bring yourself to accept that death's going to happen. It happens
to everyone, sooner or later. You're not the only one who's lost a friend.
You're not the only one afraid of getting in a relationship. You're just the
only one of us who's too damn scared to let himself live, let himself breathe
and enjoy life."
Bob's arm shot up and into Bill's face, knocking him to ground. Bill looked up,
saw Bob standing there, his face shifting from very angry to shocked. "See
what I mean? You know it's the truth. You're mad. That's good. But instead of
taking it out on the person who's telling you, do something about it. Let
yourself live, Bob."
Bob stared at Bill, horrified. "I'm sorry, Bill, I'm sorry, man. Let me
help you up..."
Bill waved off the offer. "No, I can get up by myself. You're the one that
needs help, Bob. If you don't get it, we won't need the enemy to kill you.
You'll kill yourself."
Bill got to his feet and walked away, leaving Bob to contemplate his words.
* * *
Sara and Jim ran through the woods, far from the base, then stopped abruptly.
Jim looked up, panting. "So what are we doing out here?"
Sara looked at him, smiling. "I wanted to get away from base."
"Oh, good, a retreat from the dullness of duty. Good idea, Sara."
Sara took Jim's hand and pulled him to her, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"I just wanted to have a little fun and excitement for once."
"Excitement? Fun? Don't you get that in base?" Jim asked.
Sara grinned and lightly slapped Jim's arm. "Silly. That's not what I
meant."
"Oh, I see where this is headed," Jim said. "You're going to try
that line, 'Sleep with me today because tomorrow we might die, aren't you?"
Sara laughed. "Actually, I thought you'd be the one who did that. But
you're close."
"Good. I was hoping you'd say that." He leaned forward and gave Sara a
passionate kiss, then leaned backward, falling to the ground with Sara landing
on top.
She giggled, then said, "What are you doing?"
"Tomorrow we might die..." Jim said, grinning and edging her shirt up.
* * *
Becker, Mel, and Jessy sat in chairs, watching the forest and the animals within
it. They sipped cold drinks and leaned back, relaxing in the cool temperatures
that passed for the world's winter.
"Rather peaceful, I'll have to admit," Mel said.
Becker nodded. "I did this a lot as a child. It's remarkably calming."
"That's something all of us need," Jesse added, sipping the last of
her drink through a straw.
Mel looked over at Becker. "You think there's going to be yet another
assignment for us tomorrow, Dennis?"
"Count on it, Mel."
"What do they think we are, invincible?"
Becker sighed. "Not really."
Jesse snorted, folding her arms across her chest. "Expendable is more like
it."
Mel looked over at her. "Pessimistic today, aren't we?"
"She's right," Becker said. "Much as any of us wouldn't admit it
to ourselves, the truth is clearly evident. We aren't super soldiers like the
Space Marines. We aren't any planet's law enforcement, the last line of defense
against rioters. Truth is, there's billions, even trillions, of poor saps like
us out there waiting to be recruited and thrown against the enemy. Long as we
kill them, that's all that matters to the bureaucracy. We can all die, but if
they get their 'victory', they're happy."
Jesse unfolded her arms and took one of Mel's hands in hers. "That's why we
all have to look after each other. You, me, everyone. No one else is worried
about whether we live or die, just us and our friends on the line."
Mel shook his head, feeling very weary. "That's not what I'd think is a
healthy attitude."
"It is," Jesse said. "If we think we're invincible, or that we'll
only be sent on missions where the odds favor us, into battles we can win
easily, we're going to start losing friends left and right. But if we step back
and realize we're the only ones looking out for each other, we'll look out for
each other even more on the field of battle, and it's a lot less likely we lose
so many friends."
Becker blinked. "Wow. And here I thought you were just an irresponsible
trickster. Never knew you were so philosophical."
Jesse half-grinned. "You change a lot with war, even a couple months. Sure,
I'll keep doing my pranks-"
"I'd miss them if you didn't," Mel said.
"-but I have to let myself see what's going on around me. Especially now
that I've found someone I feel I can share my future with."
Becker nodded. "Especially important."
Mel shook his head. "Okay, can we stop this talk? We came out here to
relax, not stress each other out."
Becker and Jesse readily agreed, and the three went back to watching the trees.
END "INTERMISSION"
Continued in Chapter VIII: Friendly Fire
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