guarding the heart

Chapter 11: Life and Death

They all stared at the images on the video screen in shock—the entire city looked like it had been demolished by a giant bulldozer. There was a general sense of defeat and desolation coming through the facial expressions of those still in the devastated city as they worked quickly to find people trapped in the rubble of buildings and houses. Debris lay scattered across the roads and parks, cars were overturned or lying crumpled on their sides; trees lay across the tops of houses, completely uprooted from the ground; fires were blazing from too many different locations to count.

The troops sat in the briefing room, all dressed in casual, civilian attire despite the official nature of the briefing. Sergeant Banks indicated the screen and spoke. "This is the city of Joplin, Missouri. It was struck with an F5 tornado, as measured by the Fujita-Pearson scale, less than ten hours ago. As you can see from the footage before you, the tornado pretty much destroyed everything in its wake. The damage is extensive, and both the federal and state governments have declared the entire region a disaster area. The Missouri National Guard units were activated just a few hours ago, and they have called in for assistance from nearby states. Headquarters have assigned all Ohio units to assist with the clean-up and security duties." Banks turned and cast a serious gaze in their direction. "This isn't a drill or an exercise, Recruits. This is a legitimate deployment. We're going into the region to help however we can. Martial Law has been temporarily declared in the area and you'll all be armed with loaded weapons while you perform your duties. You are expected to behave accordingly; that is, as troops of the National Guard who are serious about their assignments. Can I trust that all of the recruits sitting in front of me will serve their state and national governments with pride and purpose?"

"YES, SERGEANT!" The group responded loudly in unison, as trained.

Banks smiled at them all. "I don't doubt you'll do us and yourselves a great service. I suggest all of you return to your quarters and get some sleep. We fly out to Joplin at 09:00 hours tomorrow morning. AT-TEN-TION!" The group all quickly stood from their seated positions with their arms going straight down their sides. "DIS-MISSED!" Banks quickly grabbed his laptop computer and file folder and headed out of the meeting room, followed by Corporal Antho.

Finn blew out a noisy breath as he continued watching the horrific images on the screen in front of him. He swallowed a bit nervously as he glanced at his other friends, noticing all of them had looks of either fear or anxiousness at the prospect of being dropped into such a volatile situation. Trying to lighten up the suddenly tense mood, he flashed them all a disarming half-grin. "Guess our training is taking a slight 'twist' from normal, isn't it?"

Nervous laughter erupted from Marquez and Omeasoo, but Wayfor just groaned and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Hudson? That pun was completely lame. Like, not even lame; just plain sad."

Graham chuckled. "You'll have to forgive Candi. She's lost her sense of humour lately." He turned to his girlfriend suddenly, his face scrunched up in confusion. "And really? Your parents named you Candi Wayfor?"

"Candace Wayfor." She scowled at him even as she pulled her long hair back and secured it behind her head with a hair elastic. "And it's not like I had any say in the naming process at the time."

Finn suppressed the urge to ask what would happen if her and Graham's eventually got married. Would she have the nerve to change her name to Candi Graham? In a way, it was kind of a lose-lose situation for his newest friend.

And Quinn thought I was stupid for wanting to name the baby 'Drizzle'? Clearly he wasn't the only guy who liked unusual names. Maybe Quinn's opinion about that little issue could finally be dismissed from his mind without further thought—not that he thought about it much anymore anyway.