- 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 -
"It's knowing that this can't go on forever... likely one of us will have to spend some days alone."
In the three years since Hunter Callahan had joined firehouse 118, she had found a family that no matter how hard she tri...
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LET YOU DOWN chapter nine.
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"ARE YOU OKAY?"
"No," Hunter immediately responded to Buck's question. Her voice was quiet and hoarse like the didn't trust it.
Looking down in her hands, she ran her fingers over the stars that sat on the top of the neatly folded flag, "If I get one more of these handed to me, I'm going to be next-"
"Don't say that," Buck whispered to her. Hunter sighed, not looking him in the eyes. This was her third one since 2016. Lane Dunn, Earl Callahan, and now Cody Callahan, would all have a flag in a decorative case hanging on the wall of Hunter's apartment.
"Gunnery Sergeant?" One of the soldiers from the 21 gun salute tried to get her attention. Head snapping up, she looked it him, "Here's the things you asked for."
Hunter gently took the box from his hand, "Thank you," she tried to say with a strong voice but no one was fooled. The soldier nodded as he walked away.
"Are you going to open it?"
Hunter shook her head no, "I- I, uh, don't think I can."
"That's okay," Buck said, taking the box from her hands and placing it on the seat next to them. The service was over. All that was left was for Cody's casket to be lowered into the plot next to her father's.
Hunter didn't speak, she didn't think she would have been able to get a full sentence out. Kyle had elected to speak on Cody's behalf which was difficult for him too, he sat a few rows away holding Miranda Tio tight as he looked at the grave.
The twins' grandfather took one last look as he supported himself against his cane, walking slowly past his granddaughter. The man, John Callahan, laid a wrinkled hand over Hunter's shoulder as he gave a comforting squeeze before walking further away, his only remaining son following behind him.
John Callahan loved his grandchildren, although he had one less than just a week ago. However he had never been good at showing it. John had served his country too, drafted freshly in the Vietnam war, just like his father had been drafted into the Second World War. Truth was, John had never wanted his grandchildren, or children for that matter, to join the military. He knew all too well the horrors of fighting a war.
