A Solder's Tale (Book 1 of Something Series) (Completed)

Chapter 1 (Edited)

I woke up to a knock on my door, to my apartment. I moved a hand through my hair a little annoyed about being woken this early. "Go away," I called out pulling my pillow over my head. I closed my eyes again, letting my body relax a little as I started to fall back asleep again.

Another knock, this one a little sharper and a lot more impatient.

"Damn it. Can't you let me sleep in peace?" I asked as I took my pillow off of my head before I turned onto my back. Again, I moved my hand through my shaggy, blonde hair before I pulled off the covers so that I can sit up, without getting tangled up in the blankets and fall out of the bed. "It's not like I lost an arm, for this country, to get waken up by somebody," I muttered as I stood not bothering to put on a shirt.

There was another knock on the door this one sounding more urgent than the others.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I muttered as I made it to the door. I unlocked it and opened it, keeping the chain in, so it was halfway opened. Two figures stood at the other side of the door, both dressed in outfits that I really wanted to forget about.

"Captain Ryder James Castille?" one of the men asked. He saluted me, and I had no choice but salute him back. "May we come in?"

"Please, don't use that cursed middle name," I said before I closed the door. I moved the chain off of it's place and opened it fully to see that the young male was going to knock again. His face turned a little red as he placed his head again, back at his side.

"Who's asking for me?" I asked not letting them in just yet. It's not that I don't trust these people. I mean, I've been in the Army since I was 18 years old, but... no one had really called on me like this before. They usually just called on the home phone, if they wanted to talk.

"Can we talk indoors please, Captain?"  the other male asked with authority in his voice.

I studied the male with the authoritative tone. He had brown eyes that was as hard as his face. He had a manner of a high ranking officer and brown hair speckled with gray, of being in office for long. Maybe too long.

I bit back a grunt of annoyance and moved aside. After they came in,  I looked outside, making sure that they were the only ones, before closing the door again.

I could feel eyes on my back as if someone was watching me. I closed my eyes, knowing what the younger male was staring at my missing arm. "There is a reason why I don't normally take house visits, Private," I said, spotting the rank on his uniform as he followed the Major General.

A small smirk appeared on my lips as it was around 85^F in the morning, and they had to wear those uniforms that seemed a little hot.

I could hear the younger male shuffle on his feet, as if I made him nervous. "And why's that Captain? If I'm not speaking out of terms, Sir."

I turned around to look at the two of them and studied the male. I would say he was around his late twenties and early thirties, so around my age. He had soft brown eyes, that made me think of a doe or a baby. He had black hair that had been shaved Army style, one of the things that I really didn't enjoy when I was in the Military.

He looked down from my critical gaze, making me want to smirk a little. He probably had been in the Army for a short time, before he was sent on this "mission".

"What's your name, Kid?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Private Michael M. Ward, Sir," he said as he saluted me again.

I bit back a sigh as I saluted him. "And to answer your question, Private," I said. "It's because people will look at where my left arm is supposed to be and wonder where it is now. They want to know what had happened to it? And how the hell am I still living?"