Midnight

19. Weathered

I had been out here for eight long exhausting months now.... This was my third tour. 112 degrees and dirt. That's all I ever saw. Sun and dirt. My boys had to be exactly as crazy as me for coming back. The first tour was mandated or our sentence. The second and third was by choice...or dares. Whatever it was we used to enjoy it. We enjoyed the perching high on buildings knocking off trigger happy Talibans and Al Quedas. It became an addiction. Cobe sniped, Jared scoped, and I hacked. Cobe wanted to end my record strike for the longest. I was 178 and counting.

"Make that 179 boys." I watched as my monitor detected high frequency waves from a guy standing about two yards away on a rooftop. He was beginning to detonate using his cell when I intercepted. I could see the blood drain from his terrorist face across the way as the M.E.C.A.W, or Military Enhanced Computerized Analyst and Weaponry, drone was sighted by him. My technology was far more advanced than Iraq had ever planned on encountering. The drone flew undetected remotely by my bracer and tablet. I could scope out anyone within a 70 mile radius using any technology. Talibans retorted to writing letters as a means of communication once they realized I was on their asses. No place was safe for them. They couldn't email, text, talk, skype or check their fucking facebook with me knowing about it. Mecaw was my most innovative project at the time. With my control, it could scan for life forms, deliver real-time visuals, and tactical data back to my tablet. I armed her with twin guns and silencers. She was the real MVP.

"That has to be cheating...we can't accept your body count. You fucking cheat!" Cobe radioed. Him and Jared were above me a few buildings behind. Eli was our third EOD. He dismantled bombs while wearing a hot ass bomb suit. Smart guy. My job was to cover him while in mission. Creeps hung around with cell phones. That was suicide on their parts. I had no hesitation in me. I couldn't differentiate whether they were checking up on grandmom or detonating Eli's last bomb. So I didn't. I protected my boys. We all looked out for each other, but I wouldn't sleep for the fear of being ambushed. Not fearing for my life but for theirs. I was constantly reminded every time I closed my eyes, how I sat with my hands over my sister's mouth in a closet. Then watched as my mom's brains splattered onto my dad's crying face before he was shot in the chest. I didn't know what to do with these images that swarmed my mind every second of the day. When the Navy found me, I was almost happy. I wanted to replace those images of my parents with something worse so that I could finally close my eyes and not see my mom pleading with her pinky for me to stay put. It was how she got me to behave. That Dr. Evil pinky...damn I love that woman.

"You bitches jealous? Pack it up, Eli's finished. We need to head to the Humvee and get back to base."

"Copy that bitch." Jared harassed.

"Over and out techno pussy," Jacobe added in a radio-like voice.

"I love when you two fight over me...settle down ladies. Please!" I mimicked.

Eli walked over like a dessert astronaut carrying the wires to the bombs he had just dismantled. We took too lightly to the shit we did. Growing into the habit of our "jobs" it was a crazy feeling when you dwelled. That's why I didn't.

"Ou! Can I see?" Jared reached across me in the humvee for Eli's wires. He collected them shits.

"That one had a timer." Eli gleamed.

"A fucking what!?" Jacobe exclaimed sitting straight up to check the wire out for himself. "You didn't say shit!" He juggled the wires in his hand like a hot potato.

"Why would I? I was down to 48 seconds... had I said something would you've stayed to cover?"

"Fuck no! Forty- eight! 48 fucking seconds! Jesus Christ man! Rely, did you know?"