Soldiers of misfortune

A Dance With Demons

Finally, I got away from the guys. Mason realized this was the first time in months he's had some actual alone time. It was still a few hours till the search began. He sat next to a tall douglas fir. His back rested on the giant tree. He scanned the valley with his NVGs having turned off the thermal function; the blue tinted gen 3 tubes gave the area a ghostly look.

What the fuck has my life come to? I'm on an alien planet in all senses of the word. He started to get anxious as his true thoughts that he had been holding in for the past few days, and some of the thoughts months, finally came out.

How am I supposed to keep these guys alive? I almost failed that on the first night. He grew angry,his anxiety piled on as well. Then he remembered something that he had been keeping out of his mind for the better part of 4 years.

How can I keep them alive when I couldn't even keep Jeff alive?! Or that little boy that helped me in mexico? The only person I've saved is Anna, and that was a fluke. What kind of fucking leader am I to have failed so many people and still expect my men to follow me into battle. His thoughts sent him spiraling.

And now I have 2 gods that expect me to effectively save the world. How the fuck am I supposed to do that?!

He tried to get his thoughts under control as he heard Brick walking up to him.

"You doing alright sir?" Mason turned to look at him. "Don't call me sir when it's just us. It's kinda weird you being older than I am." Brick chuckled, "You know Mason one of these days you'll get used to it." Mason flipped him off "I always have to deal with it when I go down to Fort Moore. For some reason Hyrum thought it would be a good idea to make me a captain. I look like a butter bar." Brick snickered "You look much older than you really are. Shit man you have gray hairs coming in already and you don't exactly have a fuckboys face."

"Fuck you to" Brick held his hands up in surrender "all im saying is that you were ment for this job. I've dealt with majors and lieutenant colonels whose IQ could compete with a hockey puck and lose. Not only that, but I have had officers that routinely disregard the advice of their NCOs and gotten men killed.

I have never in the entire time I've known you, I have never seen you make the same stupid mistakes as men 20 years your senior." Brick laid his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I know just how difficult it is to find a good officer let alone a good one that has the rank to do something. You deserve that rank more than most generals. You never ran from conflict,never gave in when men were dying and you were about to be killed by an enemy charge. I have seen some of the toughest sons of bitches in the US military break down and you never did, you always completed the mission even if it meant doing it alone."

Brick pointed over to the IR strobes in the distance. "Those boys need someone like you to keep them alive, I need you. Don't go breaking on me yet, soldier, we still have a world to save." Brick clapped him on the shoulder and started walking away. "I couldn't ask for a much better NCO, let alone a friend, Brick." Fatal said as he stood up grunting as he did so. Brick half turned toward him. Fatal bent down and grabbed his assault pack (Eberlestock High speed II, multicam)

"Thank you man, This is gonna be our toughest mission yet and we need everyone to get their head in the game... including me." Brick grunted his assent as he caught up to him and they made their way over two the rest of Phantom since Slender had yet to come down yet. While they walked Brick mumbled to himself "Rangers lead the way."

Mason heard Brick talking to himself but didn't say anything. 

It's been a good while since i've thought about the 75th, My knees and back still remember though. He thought about the time he spent going through Bricks basic training which was anything but basic and going on to become a Ranger. It was more for him to be able to move through the US Army without being questioned too much.