Scarecrow

1. We All Fall Down

Reckers's POV

Three years earlier...

"Fire!"
The sound of roughly forty gunshots fill the air as the newest batch of recruits desperately attempt to hit their target.
More shots sound.
That's not right.
Voices cry out and a siren wails.
"Perimeter breach!"
I grab my rifle and run to the balcony overlooking the base. I can see the new recruits panicking, the Staff Sergeant tasked with training them struggling to calm them and get them to a bunker.
A roar from above tells me that whoever is attacking is bombing the place just before the said bombs fall. Concrete and glass and metal fly through the air.
Brother.
I scramble up and charge through the door, heading for the emergency stairs, I grab an assault rifle on my way past. Another tremble makes the building shudder, I kick open the fire escape and run down the stairs. As I near the door at the bottom, I hear a shout and the door is blown off its hinges, men in dark uniforms pour in, I raise my gun and fire blindly, not needing to aim at the horde of hostiles. Three, four, five bodies fall down and my gun is out of bullets, I spin it round and use it as a club to smash the sixth mans skull into the wall, making a satisfying crunch. I drop the gun and draw my pistol, continuing to the medical wing where my brother lies. Bullets whip by and more bombs fall, gunfire and smoke fill the air making the once familiar camp seem strange and hostile. My com crackles in my ear and I strain to hear what is being said over the interference.
"Medical Wing breach! I repeat, Medical Wing breach!"
Shit.
I break into a sprint and I'm soon at the rear entrance to the medical wing. I bring my pistol up, settling into a defensive stance, checking all corners and doors before proceeding to the Critical Treatment Bay. I bang on the door and I am rewarded with the door falling open and two soldiers, each holding a gun, aiming at my head.
"Stand down!"
"He's with us!"
I get to my feet.
"Where's my brother?" I demand.
"Sir, please calm down. Return to the safe zone. Your brother will be fine with us."
"Sergeant Recker?" A doctor pokes his head round a curtain and looks at me with a warm smile.
"Doctor," I nod at him, "How's my brother?"
His face drew serious.
"It's not looking good. All the gunshots and bombs have worsened his situation and I believe the internal bleeding has started again as an effect of this." The doctor gives me a sympathetic look.
"He's going to be okay though, right? You can help him?" I desperately plead him.
"If this carries on, there will be nothing I can do, there's too much dust in here due to the bombs and it has made most things unsterilised." He sighs.
My heart sinks.
"Can I see him?"
"Of course."
I follow the doctor behind a curtain and see Jonas on his medical bed.
"I've had to put him into an induced coma due to-"
"You did what!?" I interrupt, "You're not meant to do anything major like that without it being cleared by one of his close relatives!"
"He gave permission himself, he signed all the correct forms, he understood it was for his own benefit."
"It'd better be," I growl," leave us."
He bows his head and walks out. I rush to Jonas' side and take his hand.
"Hey little brother, it's me. The doctor put you in a coma huh?"
Silence.
"Listen, I'm gonna have to move you, there's an attack going on, you see and it's unsafe for you here so I'm gon-"
"KHARQ!"
The door to the room explodes and the two soldiers posted as guards are immediately shot in the head. Both drop down and I vault my brothers bed and duck down behind a cabinet. Kharq? That's Arabic.
I hear another gunshot and a thud as the doctor drops down dead. I draw my pistol.
Take as many as you can with you.
I wait until one of the men are close enough then I pull out my combat knife and wrap my arm around his throat using him as a shield. I bring my pistol up and shoot at the other men, they turn, shouting out in surprise and fire their machine guns. The bullets shred the man I'm holding but I am okay and unscathed. I use the mans machine gun to finish off the rest and drop my arms down and breathe out a sigh of relief.
I hear a splutter and turn around to see my brother choking on his own blood. There is a hole in the side of his neck where a stray bullet hit him.
"Shit, no no no no no. Jonas, look at me! It's going to be okay, you'll be fine!" I start to apply pressure to the wound, the blood oozing through my fingers. I look into his eyes and plead with whatever God would listen, I pray in seven different languages, and when I'm done I start cursing everything that comes to mind.
I hold his hand with one hand and reach for my coms button with the other. I whisper to him, rocking us back and forth, I hold him until I can feel the cold spread through his body.

We stay like this until the siren stops and friendlies come in to safe-check the building. They take his body away to be prepared for burial, I beg them to let me go with them but they insist I rest. I go back to my barracks and lay down on my bed, staring at my bloodstained hands. I clench them into fists and punch the wall next to me. The pain sends a shock through my arm and I choke on a sob. He's gone. Oh shit what am I meant to tell Dad? Oh hey Dad you know how I said I'd take care of Jonas? Yeah well, he kinda got put into Critical Treatment after being shot in the rifle range and then died because I was being reckless and didn't save him. Somehow I thought it might not go down too well. My head starts to throb so I throw my pillow over it and yank the sheets over myself, curling up fully clothed, I let sleep take over.