Drafted- A Story Of Heroes

6

I woke up past sunrise. I sat up quickly on my elbows, trying to get ready in time. 

"Calm down." I turned to my side and saw Fen. He breathed in heavily, like he was thinking of what to say next and needed an excuse to pause.

"This will be the last moment of peace you will have, for a while." My arms dropped slightly, causing my shoulders to be higher than my chest. 

"What are you talking about, Fen?" 

"Regiment 5 has been assigned to the Lemka area. They are to depart as soon as possible due to the sudden lack of troops." He spoke like he was reading off a paper. "They are to depart in two days time." My chest rose and fell with every heavy breath.

"We have processing to go through and it'll take all night. The rest of the men are still on their run. They won't know until the messenger gets to them." He looked like he wanted to say something else but held it in. I wanted him to tell me it was a joke and that everything would be fine but he didn't.

"Lack of troops?" He nodded his head and sighed.

"Reg 6 and 4. Over a hundred deaths. It's the most active location we are stationed. They need our back up if they want to invade Lemka."

"Lemka is miles back where we were, not even a week ago." 

"Yeah, we lost the city two days ago. The news just got back." He looked angry. 

"They were supposed to hold it. The fuckin' vise!" He yelled and slammed his hands down.

"Hold on, what happened with the vise?" 

"They surrendered!" He yelled once more. 

"Over a hundred dead because they left us fighting over a city with insufficient troops! We should have never trusted those Vise. They wouldn't know their asses from their mouths." He stomped his foot on the ground to blow off steam.

"Do we have anymore allies there?" 

"Yeah." He cleared his throat. "We still have the Gale and Marnon troops stationed their. But most of their troops are in Kilar or dead. When we win, I'm going to personally spit on Vice's "president". I promise you that." The Gale only sent a hundred and fifty troops, and Marnon's country is small, the fact they offered to help is a miracle. The war has devastated them. What good does war do? For who does it offer anything other than suffering? 

"Let's think about this clearly..." I trailed off. My mouth tasted sour. 

"What's to think about?" He huffed.

"Call your sister." He grabbed his bag and walked out of the quort. I sat in my bed. It wasn't anything special but it was still home. Warm, and close to the people I love. I sat over the edge of the bed and put my shoes on. Like a machine I moved on my own, without thinking about anything. My hand reached for my bag and I walked to the main building. A line of men came back. They had been hiking for the last few hours and yet they were running back. Jones came up to me.

"Doesn't your hand hurt?" I looked down and saw my bad hand holding the bag.

"No sir." I lied and held the straps tighter. He nodded his head, his eyebrows clashing together in a manner only described of affirming his belief in me. 

"Get your documents ready, Davis." 

I don't think it'd be possible to forget waiting in the line to get processed. It took hours and was nerve wreaking. And yet it was the clearest my mind had ever been. If I die, then I die for a cause. May my sister never have to see the horrible nature of war. The people of Lemka may have been slaughtered and other atrocities that are to...to...things unspoken of. No. I cannot die. I will not die. My mind was clear in one thought and that was that I must see my sister and Linda again. I will not leave them alone in this world.

"Davis!" I stood up and brought my bag over with me.

"Papers." She held her hand out without looking at me. She read them over and glanced up at me. She held her hand up to her head. I smiled and nodded. She took a stamp and pounded it on the folder. 

"From now on you are to not tell anything to your family. Anything relating to where you are stationed, to what you eat. If you do, you are putting yourself and your members in danger. Good luck, and try to make it back." She handed me my folder. 

"Do you honestly mean that?" I asked. 

"Why wouldn't I? You are a soldier, but you are human first. And one fighting for me and my family. I have nothing but respect and gratitude toward you." She pulled a photo out. 

"It's because of people like you, I can live." I stood straight and saluted her back.

"Ma'am." She nodded and I picked up my bag and walked back to my seat. Fen had already been processed and was pacing the floor. I thought he would have been the most calm out of all of us but he couldn't stand still. He was holding his hat to his chest and muttering something to himself. 

"Fen." He turned to me.

"Your making it worse for the rest of us." He looked around and saw the rest of our reg and others watching him. He sat down next to me, but his leg bounced.

"It was just few weeks ago that I was on my way here. Ten weeks..... I should've had more time." 

"Ten weeks would have been nice..." I sighed and leaned back in my chair. I had made a promise to man up. To not cry. And I was doing my best to keep that promise, especially since he needed me to.

"How are you so calm?" He stared at me, his eyes were wide and he looked insane. 

"I've just excepted my fate."

"To die?" He exasperated.

"No. To go there and come back in one piece." I hit my chest with my hand and looked him in the eyes.

"I will make it back. So will you." He nodded and leaned back in his chair.

"I always wanted a family..." He looked up to the ceiling lights. They buzzed and flickered.

"I wanted to marry Linda." 

"Do you want kids?" He asked without looking.

"No. I don't want to put them through what I'm putting myself through. I could barely eat before coming here. When I get back....I don't think much will change." 

"I want kids." He patted his leg.

"I want to have the family I never had." He turned his head my way. 

"I want a reason to fight." I felt the urge to hug him but held it back.

"Fight for that reason. Fight for the future." Jones came back and we all sat straight.