The Price Of War [Daryl Dixon Pre-Apocalypse]

Top Of The Spear II

Sonny and I drove home in my Jeep, after all, his motorcycle was still parked in the garage at home.

The wind blew, fluttering the leaves of the plants in the front yard of the house to the rhythm of of both flags that hung from the pole.

The house already came with the American flag firmly attached to the flagpole placed in the front of the property, however, Sonny had thought it was missing something. The Texas flag. It'd serve as a constant reminder of his beloved southern homeland.

We both got out of the car now parked in front of the front steps and headed for the main entrance.

Sonny moved uncomfortably under his own skin, as if something bothered him, or worse, like he was about to say something that would bother me. "Sonny, spit it out." I sighed tiredly.

I had spent that morning in the gym before meeting the blue-eyed man at the bar for lunch, of which I had barely taken a bite before being called in. Now we only had an hour before wheels were up and the team was thousands of feet above the ground headed for Liberia. "Do you remember what I told you before, about Big Chief and his little family reunion?" He consulted me. I nodded as I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing the bottle of milk before noticing the expiration date. "Well, Big Chief Dixon told me that he will be sent to Afghanistan to accompany Echo, he will be taking over for Mike, who injured his hip in the last mission."

24/03/2015

I groaned in frustration. It was due tomorrow. I removed the lid before letting the liquid spill into the kitchen sink. "Did he cancel the trip?" I asked, paying him little to no attention as I discarded the container in the garbage bin marked as plastics .

"Not exactly, he asked if his younger brother could stay with us until he gets back. Apparently there's a family problem and he doesn't want his little brother to go home for a while." My movements stopped drastically as my mind processed his words. With my back to the redneck, I turned around, meeting his worried gaze and raised an eyebrow, questioning his body language, which was radiating distress right now.

"I'd like to think that you gave them the address to the nearest hotel and not to our house." I said almost in a whisper. Sonny hid his hands in the front pockets of his jeans before turning his gaze to some fixed point on the white wall next to him. "Sonny! He's a complete stranger! And direct family to Merle Dixon! Are you crazy?"

"I know, I know... It's just, I didn't think it was such a bad idea at the time. Besides, it's always nice to be hospitable to our southern brothers and sisters, don't you think?" He asked. I just crossed my arms in front of him.

"I'm from upstate New York, Sonny. Where I come from, we don't let strangers in our homes. And if they still come in, we hit them over the head with a bat." My cell phone vibrated in my jeans pocket, notifying me of a new message. I stared at the screen for a moment, my fractions relaxing as I realized it was Jason. "J wants us to bring him the bag that he keeps under his bed." I warned, returning to put away the mobile. I looked up to meet my best friend's gaze and pointed my index finger at him. "This conversation isn't over. You're lucky we're half an hour away from deployment."

I entered the plane with my bag in hand. The first face I saw was Ray's, who was anxiously awaiting for the arrival of the rest of the team. "I see the ISUs are all loaded." I commented, walking over to Ray, smacking my right wrist against his.

"TOC up and ready too, baby. We're just waiting on Jason." He said, giving me a smile. Behind him, a face caught my attention. A young man a few years older than me, with blond hair and light eyes. A strap, I guessed.