Brothers

Chapter 8

I woke up to the sound of shuffling feet. My immediate thought was the other Lieutenants and their safety.

In a flash, I grabbed my m4 that was right besides the cot and pointed it at the intruder with my finger hovering over the trigger.

"Hold your fire!" a female voice called out. "It's okay, Lieutenant. It's just me."

After my eyes adjust to the light, I saw Lieutenant Buchmann at the foot of my cot with her hands up in surrender.

I took a deep breath before lowering my gun.

"Sorry, Lieutenant. I thought you were someone else." I rubbed my my eyes with my forefinger and thumb while the other hand was securely holding the gun.

"It's okay. I get it." she whispered.

When I looked up at her, her hands were down by her side.

I sat the gun by its place and looked around to see Liam and Zach in their cots sleeping.

I swear, if a bomb landed, they would still be asleep.

I turned my attention back to Mariah and noticed that Dante was besides her.

"What are you doing up?" I whispered back. Her hair was down in wavy locks, framing her face.

She shrugged.

"I couldn't sleep." She looked away.

It was silent.

We were both thinking about him and what happened the other day.

"Besides," she continued. "I needed some fresh air." she looked towards the flap. "See what the citizens are doing."

"You need sleep."

"Lieutenant...." she had warning in her voice.

"I mean no disrespect, Lieutenant, but for the war that is about to happen, you need your rest."

She sighed and looked back at the flap. She knew I was right. With this war coming, we all need to be on the lookout.

She went back to her cot and laid down. She grabbed a small pillow from the floor and put under her head, fluffing it up.

Dante laid besides the cot next to her backpack, guns and helmet.

"I won't promise that I'll fall asleep." she muttered quietly.

"You don't have to." I muttered back, laying down.

***

"Before you ask," Kyle started. "We didn't see anything suspicious."

I let out an aggravated sigh.

Liam, Mariah, Zack and I were all getting ready for our patrols.

"I wish they'd give us something to work with."

"I have noticed how people are disappearing every day." all attention was turned towards Drew, who was sitting on the cot with his elbows resting on hid knees.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

"I've noticed that less people are out during the day." he looked up at us.

"They could be inside their homes." Zach suggested.

Drew shook his head.

"I've watched them go inside somewhere and they never come back out."

"We should get somebody to watch them and go with them." Jason said, looking at Drew. "And you can show them where they are disappearing to."

"Good idea, Lieutenant." Mariah nodded.

"Yeah, but whoever is going to follow them, make sure that you do not engage the enemy." Kyle said. "The last thing we need is for them to figure out that we are spying on them."

"Right."

"Okay." I said, standing up. "You guys figure out who is going to follow them, but make sure that you get some sleep."

They nodded their heads as I strapped my pistol around my waist then bent down to strap it around my thigh.

Grabbing my rifle, I looked at Mariah, Zach and Liam before heading out the door with them following behind. We went our separate ways to our posts.

Just like the night before, there was minimal activity except for a couple of bystanders, who retreated into their homes when we walked by.

When the blackness started to turn into lighter shade of blue, we decided to head back.

As we get closer to the tent, Dante had his ears and head perked up.

Mariah and I looked at each other before getting our guns ready. Dante did a low bark before shaking his head and trotting into the tent.

"What?" Mariah murmured, lowering her gun. She lifted the flap and walked in with me following her with my gun still raised.

As soon as I entered, I immediately lowered my gun.

Standing right in front of Mariah and I was Sergeant Wood.